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PERSECUTION

From the Ashes of Jihad, a Harvest of Souls

 

CBN News
June 5, 2002

 

By Andrea Garrett CBN News Reporter

WARNING: Information in this story may not be appropriate for small children.

CBN.com – It has not been front page news, so many Americans may not have heard what is happening to Christians in Indonesia. But for three years, Christians in that island nation have been persecuted, tortured, and killed by Muslim extremists. In fact, the Indonesian Islamic jihad has already claimed 10,000 lives.

Late last year, Muslim radicals threatened to massacre Christians on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. But Christians from around the world prayed, and the United States government got involved, calling on the Indonesian government to stop the Muslim radicals from attacking. As a result, the planned massacre never happened.

But after a few months of calm, the attacks started again. The latest attacks on Indonesian Christians left 14 people dead and hundreds homeless on the island of Ambon. Muslim extremists, believed to be with the Laskar Jihad, have declared holy war on Christians in Indonesia's only Christian area, the Maluku Islands.

Australian missionaries Jeff and Annette Hammond were among the first to see the damage. In a home video taken just after the attack, Jeff described what happened there.

"I'm standing at the location where a mother and her 8-year-old child were brutally killed on April 28, 2002. Their bodies were found right here at my feet. The child was killed when a bayonet was thrust through its nose and out the back of its head," Jeff explained.

An elderly couple was burned to death in their house. Bullet holes riddle what is left of other buildings. In the midst of the devastation and horror, someone left handwritten messages behind on the walls of their ruined home: "I love Jesus," and "Jesus is my life."

In the small village of Soya on Ambon Island a tiny church stood for more than 100 years. Now it lies in ruins, another victim of the Laskar Jihad.

But the Christians on Ambon Island press on, growing stronger in the midst of ongoing persecution, still gathering to pray and praise God. On a day that the Hammonds attended a church meeting there, gunfire and mortars were being fired outside the building.

In his video of that meeting, Jeff explained how the church service was over, but the Christians could hear gunfire and bombs going off, so the people stayed to worship and pray, believing that Jesus Christ is more powerful than the enemy.

"Just a week before this video was recorded, a mortar came through the church roof during the service, but didn't go off," he said.

Jeff said that many of the Christian villages destroyed by the jihad warriors are far away from Islamic areas. So as soon as they attack, the Muslims blame Christians for the destruction. In a predominantly Muslim country, that kind of propaganda gets widespread credibility.

The jihad against Christians in the Maluku Islands has been going on since 1999, with 10,000 people killed and 600,000 left homeless.

A seven year old girl named Christine cried as she told how she and her mother were held captive by jihad warriors for 18 months, and her mother forced to marry a Muslim.

"I didn't want my mother to be married. I have a father. I'd rather die. I didn't want to join Islam, but they forced me. I cried until I became ill. That's why I became ill and almost died," Christine said.

Eventually the two escaped and the family was reunited in a refugee camp.

A woman named Alwina and her family were attacked in a church. Jihad warriors killed her husband while he held their 4-year-old son.

"As soon as we saw the army, I said to my husband, run to them and take refuge. Get protection from them. But as soon as my husband went to the army, a soldier pulled out a gun and shot him. My husband was holding our son as he fell to the ground. [Laskar] Jihad came and cut his head off. When they did, the edge of the sword cut my son's face. My husband got cut to pieces by Jihad. My son, 4-year-old Christopher, was still with him when he died," Alwina said.

The Muslims then tried to force Alwina to convert to Islam. "They ordered me to make a ritual to convert to Islam. They ordered me to take off Christian clothes and put on Muslim clothes. They also wanted me to confess there is only one god, Allah, and there is only one prophet, Mohammed, but I refused to do it," she said.

Today, Alwina says her son is terrified of anyone in Islamic clothing.

Those are just two of the thousands of stories of terror at the hands of the Laskar Jihad, a group believed to be tied to al Qaeda.

But persecution has not extinguished the Christian church in the Maluku Islands. Instead, the Hammonds report a time of harvest. During the last 15 months, they have seen 8,000 Indonesians give their lives to Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. © 2002
 

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