Uganda Church Massacre

[Talmidah]

Uganda's army has accused the Lord's Resistance Army rebels of hacking to death 45 civilians in a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Capt Chris Magezi said the scene was "horrendous... dead bodies of mostly women and children cut in pieces". The attack happened on 26 December.

The UN says at least 189 people were killed in several attacks last week.
Some reports say more than 100 people were killed in the church alone.

Countries from Uganda to the Central African Republic have suffered 20 years of terror inflicted by the LRA.
Tens of thousands of children have been abducted to be fighters and sex slaves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7802804.stm

 

[JustMeSee]

Stories like these make me cry.

 

[Thekla]

Lord have mercy !

 

[ephesus32]

How lucky many of us are and yet take it for granted.

 

[Yusuf Evans]

Man, sometimes I really wonder if God really did leave Africa.

 

[BlackAndy]

A large part of that continent needs an enema.

 

[Talmidah]

From BBC today

More than 400 people have been killed by Ugandan rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in attacks since Christmas day, aid agency Caritas says.

...
An eyewitness told the BBC that five people in Faradje had their lips cut off by Lord's Resistance Army fighters.
...
Bruno Mitewo, head of the Catholic aid agency, says that from information they have collated from their parishes on the ground, more than 400 civilians have died in the attacks.
He said that in Faradje 150 civilians had died, almost 75 people in Duru and 215 in Doruma.
The victims had been hacked to death and forced into fires, he said.

 

[AirPo]

Man, sometimes I really wonder if God really did leave Africa.

Not according to the LRA. They want to create a theocracy based on the 10 commandments.

 

[Thekla]

Not according to the LRA. They want to create a theocracy based on the 10 commandments.

What a curious method they use to live them

 

[ACougar]

While their not truly representative of the Christian faith (anymore than Al Quada is representative of the Muslim faith) they are a Christian terrorist organization with evangelical roots. I suspect like many Protestant fundamentalist Christians, they view Catholicism as being evil. Here's one example, just in case someone is unaware: http://www.chick.com/information/religions/catholicism/vaticanholocaust.asp.

What a curious method they use to live them

 

[Alive4Evermore]

How many people who profess Christ here in America would renounce their faith if they were faced with such persecution? That would definitely separate the wheat and tares, (the sheep and goats, the bad fish from the good fish, the wise virgins from the foolish virgins) now wouldn't it?

 

[Thekla]

How many people who profess Christ here in America would renounce their faith if they were faced with such persecution? That would definitely separate the wheat and tares, (the sheep and goats, the bad fish from the good fish, the wise virgins from the foolish virgins) now wouldn't it?

This is true !
Not to knock the thread off track, but in response to your observation --
about ten or so years ago there was a similar massacre in the Chiapas region of Mexico. A group of RCatholic (iirc) Christians had sheltered from govt. forces in a Church, as they had been uninvolved in the ongoing violence (and had committed to following the way of Christ).

And now this ...

 

[Alive4Evermore]

Why should we be surprised to hear of such persecution? When we are hated, when we are insulted and cursed for our faith in Christ, it isn't because we fell out of God's favor. Scripture says, "and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Our Lord said, "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!" (Luke 6:22), and He said: "Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward in Heaven is great. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:10-12). I think very few would deny that the modern Church as a whole has fallen short of the powerful, disciplined, sanctified Church we see in the book of Acts.

 

[Thekla]

I'm not surprised
my Grandfather grew up Christian in a country where Christians were, and still are though much less, persecuted.

 

[Dale]

I'm sorry these atrocities have occurred. Since Uganda has suffered so much from senseless killing, you'd think folks there would have figured out that these things are to be abhorred.

Recently I saw a video, Beyond the Gates, about the Rwandan genocide in the 1990's. It has no name actors in it but it tells a true story from the viewpoint of people there at the time. It takes place at a Catholic Church, which has a school, and is also home to some French troops, there to monitor the situation.

As it becomes clear that a genocide in unfolding, hundreds of people take refuge in the church compound, either in hope that the church will not be attacked or that the troops will protect them. The French government apparently decides that the small number of troops they have in Rwanda cannot stand up to violence of this magnitude. The captain and his troops are ordered to retreat to the airport, probably a prelude to being ordered out of the country.

At this point the Tutsi who have taken refuge in the church compound have selected a leader, who has written out a statement on notebook paper. He approaches the French Captain, who is preparing his men to leave.

Tutsi Leader: "We have talked it over and we have decided that we would rather be shot than hacked to death. I'm sure that you have plenty of ammunition and we were hoping you'd take care of it before you go."
Captain: (Pauses. What is he supposed to say?) "Sir, I must decline your request."
Tutsi Leader: (He persists.) "If you can't take care of all of us, at least think of the children."
Captain: (He must be thinking, "You want me to demolish your children with a machine gun?") "Sir, I must decline your request."

From this dialogue, the people in the compound did not expect to survive. Some of them did, and served as advisers in the making of Beyond the Gates.

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