The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Psalm 24:1
Maluku Christians (1999-2001)
“Butchered and Killed”
“Are you a follower of Christ? Then you will also follow him in his death.” These words were spoken by an Islamic extremist to an Indonesian Christian who was then crucified and left to die, like his Lord, amid a campaign of severe anti-Christian violence in the province of Maluku between 1999 and 2001.
In May 2000 Islamic extremists sent a 3,000-strong militia to the area to launch a jihad against the Christian population. Over 1,000 people were butchered in a single attack that completely destroyed a town. In another massacre over 200 were slaughtered, their bodies being horribly mutilated. In one incident three children were tied up and dragged to their deaths behind a speeding vehicle. The entire Christian population of Ternate, the capital of North Maluku, was driven from the city, and over 25,000 Christian refugees arrived in Manado on Sulawesi Island to escape the atrocities.
During the anti-Christian attacks in Maluku province at least 450 church buildings were destroyed as well as an estimated 55,000 homes.
While Christian and Muslim leaders called for international intervention, Ustad Attamimi, leader of the Islamic militant Laskar Jihad forces in Ambon, declared on 11 May 2001, “We will have no reconciliation before all Christian infidels and their leaders are butchered and killed.”
Let nothing disturb us, nothing alarm us:
while all things fade away
God is unchanging.
Help us be patient
so that we gain everything:
for with God in our hearts
nothing is lacking,
God meets our every need
Teresa of Avila (1515-82)