No holds barred

No holds barred (What Satan exploits continued)

As Jesus warns us in John’s gospel, “the thief breaks in only to steal, kill and destroy.”  Sometimes he does it subtly.  But if he can’t get the children through more inconspicuous means there is always force.  In spiritual warfare, just as in physical war, when diplomacy breaks down, you send in the door kickers. Satan does not shy away from this no-holds-barred approach. One glaring example is in Africa, the frontlines of the battle between Christianity and Radical Islam.  In Nigeria and other African nations the kidnapping of Christian children by Muslim raiders is becoming increasingly common.  These stolen children are forced to attend Muslim religious schools and convert to Islam.   The following account was extracted from an article in Compass Direct News,

“Victor Udo UsenSOKOTO, Nigeria, March 14 (Compass Direct News) – Beginning in November of last year, 13-year-old Victor Udo Usen, a member of the Christ Apostolic Church in this northern Nigeria city, went missing.

On February 20, news that young Victor was spotted in a Muslim neighbor’s house jolted his family. A young Christian girl had raced to the Usens’ home in the Mabera area of Sokoto city with the news.

Victor’s mother, Esther Udo Usen, told Compass that she ran to the house where her son had been seen. She met him, however, even as he was making frantic efforts to escape from the house where he has been held incommunicado for six months. “I quickly held his hands and dragged him along with me towards our house,” she said. “But within a twinkle of an eye, I heard shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar [GOD is great]!’ I was shocked as I saw a large number of Muslims rushing towards us.”

The mob surrounded them and snatched her son away from her, she told Compass with tears in her eyes. Before she could send for her husband, who was not home at the time, members of the mob told her that her son was now a Muslim and that she and her husband were no longer his parents.”

The examples of Satan’s targeted attacks on children go on and on.  The apostle’s warning in 1 Peter 5:8 to, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour,” is spot on. But while many Christians have taken steps to protect themselves, Satan is becoming more bold and crafty in his attacks on our children.  If our own children are at risk, even with our vigilance, imagine the children without that protection.  Like a lion picks out the young and defenseless, Satan targets the children of the world for indoctrination into his worldview because he knows, that if you raise up a child in the way that he should NOT go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.