Letter To The Chibok Girls In Captivity, By Obed Minchakpu
The letter below was written by Obed Minchakpu 10 July, 2014 for female students who were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria, on the night of 14–15 April 2014 and later published by Leadership Newspaper.
Some of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State, paraded in a video released by the sect
My dear Chibok sisters,
It is now about two months since you were forcefully taken into captivity by your captors, the Boko Haram insurgents. I must say that your absence has been a very painful experience, not only for your families, but also for Christians and others in this country and in other parts of the world who love peace, fear God and have the belief that we are all created in the image of God. When I made the decision to write you this letter, I was fully aware that you may not have the privilege to read it. This is because I know that wherever you’re being held captive by these terrorists, you do not have the freedom and privilege to read newspapers, listen to the radio, or even have access to the television, not to talk of reading my letter.
However, the Spirit of God ministered to me that there is nothing that is impossible before God. So, it is out of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that I resolved to write you, believing that God can make a way for this message to get to you. Perhaps God will cause your captors to discuss the content of this letter and thus, the message may eventually get to you. Whatever it is, I have a deep conviction that this letter will get to you. I know how painful it is for you to be forced to live in an environment that you are not used to. There in Sambisa Forest, you do not have relations whom you can depend on for advice or even pour out your hearts’ problems to, but know that your God and your Lord is there with you.
For the Bible says “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.” So, pour out your heart problems to God, through supplications and prayers, and he will see you through your trials and travails. I recently had the privilege of interacting with one of you who escaped while you were being taken away to Sambisa Forest and what she told me about your experience on the night you were forcefully captured in your hostels made my heart bleed. I could not imagine how those who claim to be waging a war on behalf of a god they serve could mistreat you all in this manner. The god that these terrorists are serving is indeed a wicked god.
Otherwise, how could you, our sisters be violated and mistreated like slaves? The god they serve is a far cry from the Allah that real Muslims serve, who stands for peace. In a video clip that your captors sent to media houses, you were shown to have been forced into a religion that is alien to you. You were forced to be chanting things that you didn’t even understand. But from what I saw, I knew that your bodies were only being forced to utter these things, but your souls and spirits were intertwined with your Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
I know that you’ll be wondering why it is taking this long for our government to rescue you from your captors. We are as baffled as you are. We had thought that our political leaders will brave all odds and rescue you, but unfortunately, we have a leadership that is lame and incapable of protecting her citizens. The Nigerian political leadership does not have the political will to confront these insurgents in order to set you free. That is the reason I am writing to comfort you, pray with you, and urge you not to despair but to place your faith in the Almighty God that we serve.
Sometime ago, I read a book entitled: “The Ezekiel Option,” written by Joel Rosenberg. The book discusses the end time and how wickedness will take over the earth and terrible and unimaginable things will occur. Some of the difficulties that will confront Christian believers during this period include the persecution of Christians, and the destruction of all they have. But in the long run, God’s manifest power shall prevail and the anti-Christ and his followers as exemplified by Boko Haram, your captors, shall be destroyed completely.
Rosenberg is not the first person to write about the end time. There are many others like Tim LaHaye and his co-author of the Left Behind Series who have also extensively discussed about happenings that will usher in the end time. Rosenberg points out the prophecies of the Prophet Ezekiel on how evil forces shall in the end time, spread across the world with the devil and his agents in human governments working in concert to destroy the nation of Israel and those of us who have been grafted into the Kingdom of God. But the good news is that, God’s manifest power shall prevail and all believers in Christ shall be liberated from the clutches of evil.
These writers are only drawing our attention to the teachings of Jesus Christ, who over 2,000 years ago, taught that the world would hate us and persecute us his followers. All the teachings of Christ are contained in the Gospels and in the remaining portions of the New Testament part of the Bible. Matthew, a disciple of Jesus, quotes Jesus as saying in one of his teachings that: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
What Jesus is telling you my sisters here is that your captors will insult you; they will mock you and say your God is powerless. They will violate your womanhood, your pride, and even turn you into sex machines, just to humiliate you and force you to embrace their religion. But my dear sisters, if you stick to your faith, no matter the situation, your reward is a crown and a place with our Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven. There was once a man named Paul. Before he became a follower of Jesus, he behaved like Abubakar Shekau. He went to all places, killing Christians and boasting about it. He did as Shekau is doing in Nigeria today. But one day, Jesus Christ arrested him on his way to Damascus to attack Christians, and there and then, Paul repented of his crimes against the Church and Christians.
He became one of the greatest followers of Jesus thereafter, and wrote so many books about Jesus and his salvation to all of mankind. Paul too, on becoming a follower of Jesus, was persecuted by others for this. But he never turned away from Jesus. This is Paul’s message to you my sisters and all other Christians suffering because of their faith in Jesus Christ. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
What Apostle Paul is saying here is that all who desire to live rightly, based on the teachings of Jesus, shall be persecuted. According to Paul, those doing evil shall continue to even do more evil things but those of us who have embraced Jesus as our Lord and Saviour should continue to follow Jesus just as we were taught about his works of salvation right from when we were still children. We are urged to become wise as we have been instructed from the word of God and continue to place our faith in Christ Jesus. In the same vein, I want to urge you my sisters never to depart from the Christian faith you have been instructed while you were with your parents. No doubt, you will face difficulties and be humiliated, but don’t give up, as your salvation is on its way. The same Paul also says:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Therefore, my dear sisters, whatever Shekau and his followers do to you, count it all as a blessing as Jesus loves you and no man called Shekau can separate you from the love of Christ. Keep faith in Christ Jesus, and be still and see what your God shall do for you. These Boko Haram gunmen you see today, you shall see them no more forever after your deliverance; thus saith The Lord.
- By Obed Minchakpu
Source: Legit.ng
