The Daily Jot ministry first started supporting the Christ Fellowship church in rural Busuafise about 10 years ago. At that time, there was hardly a cow path leading to the village of thatch-roofed huts with dirt floors. We have stood beside Pastor David Ablorah as he courageously has stood his ground as a Christian outpost against the wiles of Islamic aggression. The last time I was there, radical Islamists buzzed near the door of the chapel on motorbikes as I preached. This time, they did the same thing and made it known that they were walking by the church with machetes in hand. My son, Christian, Pastor William Agbeti, and myself support the church, but we can go home. Ablorah fights this intimidation daily.
In addition, the Muslims have come to the village and offered food and clothing, jobs and land if people will covert. Some took the bait. The church is about one-third less in size since I was last there in 2012. The land, however, is offered and controlled by the powerful mafia of Islamists. In addition, the Muslims have come in with earth moving equipment and have literally stripped the land of its topsoil, even up to the very foundations of serval huts and buildings. The Muslims also control the markets nearby and have prevented the villagers in Christ Fellowship from selling their farm products and pineapples unless they convert to Islam. Christ Fellowship is a thorn in Islam’s side.
Food, clothing, water, medical supplies are all part of what we do in this village. But the Muslim threat is constant and growing. Busuafise Christ Fellowship is an Ezekiel 22:30 church: “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” The Busuafise church is courageously standing in the gap that faces the gates of Islam’s hell. In 2018, a Daily Jot donor assisted with funding to help expand the church building, put a roof on it, and install electricity. The church members did all the work, accomplished more than what was promised and are trying to put together enough money to finish the plumbing for restrooms.
Pastor Ablorah’s wife Comfort had just passed. Yet he was there, completing his sermon when we arrived. There was joyous singing and dancing as they praised the Lord. I told them that we have watched as the Muslims raided the members of their church; they took their topsoil, and now they are building a structure right next to the church on land owned by the village. I said that while we cannot always stand with them shoulder to shoulder, that we stood by them from across the ocean. They were encouraged and uplifted by our visit. I know many reading this will not understand their situation and will question why they don’t violently take back what was stolen. It’s not that simple. The police are paid off, the military will not come, the law-abiding have no weapons, except the Sword of the Spirit, which they employ daily.
