Helping The Persecuted Church in Nigeria

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00:00

Welcome to the conversations that matter podcast. My name is john harris. We have a guest with us today. Mr Judd saul no stranger to the podcast.

00:07

Thank you judd for being with us Thanks for having me on. Mr. Harris. It's always a pleasure And uh today we're going to talk about something

00:15

I know we've talked about once before and you're going to give us kind of an update and let people know what they can do to help and just Encourage everyone with people are some people especially my listeners are kind of uh, you know

00:26

I think bummed out a little bit about kind of what's happening politically here um But there we're not to the point yet.

00:33

We're not we we haven't you know gone gone to the point of Enduring the kind of persecution they're enduring in nigeria and you judd have an organization in nigeria

00:44

Uh that uh is is growing as I understand helping uh christians on the ground pastors not just with um, you know spiritual needs and bibles and things like that, but you're

00:55

As I understand it Uh, you're supplying even things like bulletproof vests So I want

01:01

I want you to talk about that with us encourage us a little bit with how they're dealing with persecution And I know you were just there.

01:07

So, um, take it away Well, uh recently got back from africa just before christmas.

01:14

I was in nigeria I can't name the specific state that I was in or area uh due to security reasons, but um

01:25

One of the needs we've seen as a ministry, you know, we started off the ministry looking at trying to help, you know

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Kids get into education, you know after the villages are attacked. These kids really don't have anywhere to go to learn

01:37

Um, and we were looking at ways to further help intervene after a crisis situation um, and as Just over the year when covet hit we've seen a lot of attacks increase

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Where they're going into villages, uh killing Children indiscriminately and then people are pretty much permanently displaced and put into camps and um

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Since we started our mission we've been able to intervene um right after an attack

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Right about within 48 hours after an attack happens. We've been able to get in and help deliver food aid medical uh and Spiritual support for our fellow brothers and sisters in christ

02:22

Um, but along the way one of the other needs that we saw arise was we were looking at The security situation, um

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The front line of defense for these villages are what they call the vigilante service uh, the vigilante service

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Is essentially community watch That is recognized by the government to protect their communities

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But they don't get any government funding. They don't get any government really support or weapon support or anything like that uh, and they

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On their own dime and on their own time acquire their own Uh weapons get together and they protect the communities

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But the police and the government have left them to be the first line of defense when an attack happens

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And that led us to say, okay. Wow. Uh, I went down and saw it myself. I was like you guys

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Don't have hardly anything you don't have vests you don't even have communications

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Uh, so we've made it a part of our ministry to help these guys out by getting them, uh bulletproof vests, uh some other equipment and Long -range two -way radio so they can communicate with one another and that has been

03:39

That has gone Way further than we could have ever expected as far as an impact in ministry

03:45

I want to hear about some of the impact, uh Just to kind of bring people up to speed because I think we kind of jumped in the middle here

03:51

Um, we're talking about uh, boko haram, right muslim, uh more terrorist organization, um muslim -based, but they could go in into these villages small villages in nigeria and Uh, essentially commit acts of terrorism, right?

04:06

Shooting people taking hostages that kind of thing they Well first what they do is

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They they have a tactic where they go in They surround the village uh, and people start they start shooting they start setting houses on fire and They start funneling people in so once people start escaping and going in they kind of funnel in a group of people and then they kill

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And it's usually the the the kids that can't run fast enough in the elderly They get caught up in it or pregnant women um

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I i'm not trying to talk nonchalant about this, but this is What they do they this is their tactic and this is what happens and um

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Uh, and what it is is it is Boko haram believed that nigeria belongs to the muslims

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And that christian land is their rightful territory And so right now they're go after the weakest links

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So let's say you have a big city um You know, let's say there's nashville, right just give that as an example

05:16

Well, they'll go after the small towns that are about 20 miles outside of nashville And maybe have about a thousand people in them 500 800 people in them and they go after those villages first So that's what they're doing is they're picking off the world villages and world towns

05:32

Because that's the weakest link the government, uh doesn't have much security in those areas and they take advantage of that situation

05:39

Gotcha And it's sad and you've uh, I know posted some pictures of some of these terrorist attacks the aftermath, um, you've been part of Supplying aid do you have any numbers with you or stories?

05:54

Uh, you know, how many terrorist attacks have you since you started this about a year ago? Have you been involved with um, in responding to and uh

06:03

You know, maybe give us a story about one of them and kind of what your team did there Uh Unfortunately, it doesn't end, um, we pray for an end to it but uh, we've intervened in over 13 attacks thus far um

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One of the most recent ones is We were able to go in and no one had really

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Truly responded we we found our team found wounded That had not been treated and our team took wounded to the hospital and a few of them had such terrible wounds

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Uh, some of those surgeries were costly and our our mission picked up the cost of the surgeries

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Like removing bullets that were stuck in bones. Um Helping a child that survived a machete to the head um

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Little girl about four years old And um

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And so we were able to go in bring them into the hospital, uh take care of them I mean you have to understand in a place like nigeria.

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There is no coordinated police ambulance fire service Um people that probably could have gone into help or too afraid to go in Um, our team got word about it.

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They drove in risked their lives and were able to uh to help out that situation um

07:27

Um But this this is the kind of thing we do on a regular basis. Uh, you know, this is just the most recent story.

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Um in other situations what we do also as a ministry is We're we're we're seeing that pastors are targeted for for death

07:45

Um, they are killing pastors um And last time when

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I was in africa and and we'll we'll show some uh video and some testimony of this When this uh airs, uh, but uh

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I met with nine widows all whose husbands were pastors Combined between all those nine widows.

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There's about uh, 40 children That they have um, but boca haram

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Signaled out each and every one of their husbands on various attacks and uh and murdered them And um

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We find it we found it it's a very big calling to help support the widows and the kids of of of these fallen pastors and It's hard for people to comprehend, but it's a different world out there but here's the interesting thing in a positive outlook on this in a sense is

08:43

They still trust and have their faith in god I was going to ask you about that. So I mean they're joyful through this they're well, they're

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They're they're mourning. They're they're mourning. I'm sure Very upset, you know and sad about what happened, but they do

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Put their faith in god and find a joy and a peace in christ and um

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I can't tell you one of the things that happens after we go there after we intervene. Um the response from the people is

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You have given us hope You have given us hope you have boosted our faith and I just we our team tells them and I tell them it's like this isn't us.

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This isn't me. I said this is This is what we as christians are to do is to help take care of other christians

09:38

And support you guys This is jesus christ. This is christ in action Yeah, and god loves you and we're here to tell you that Um, well good good, um,

09:51

I I mean I can't even imagine I think for our context, uh, It's such a foreign thing.

09:57

I know you've gone over there You try to get there what once or twice a year yourself and you got a team on the ground Seeing these things sending you the pictures.

10:04

Um, i've been with you actually I think when they've sent you some of this stuff and You're trying to respond to things.

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Um You know, how can um christians in this country? Uh anyone watching this video, how can they help and pray and you know, where can they go to to be part of this?

10:23

well first The important thing is prayer We need prayer our brothers and sisters overseas that are being persecuted.

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It's just not nigeria I was called to that part of the world part of that country to serve but there's persecution happening all over Our persecuted brothers and sisters need your prayers

10:41

Um to help support our mission directly, uh, we have a website www .equippingthepersecuted

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.org And uh, you make a tax deductible donation to help out the persecuted we have no overhead everything that comes into our mission goes right to Facilitating and helping the persecuted christians on the ground

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And I mean it's it's almost immediate turnaround Once money comes in it goes right out to helping them

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And the needs are endless and uh, i'm just going to say one of the things we're looking for it's a big need for the ministry is um

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Our head team member was shot at uh had bullets riddle his vehicle while he was driving about a month ago

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Um, so I am praying and searching for a bulletproof Vehicle that our team can drive in deliver in and go to these dangerous territories in because uh now that's that's a big risk factor

11:41

Uh, he survived it hit his back window hit the back of his vehicle and he sped off driving and and fortunately, uh, he made it

11:51

Yeah, wow the They're so intense some of these stories and um, and it's just normal life for so many brothers and sisters

12:00

In other parts of the world, so god bless you for what you're doing. Um, You know share with us, you know any any things that hit you?

12:07

I know you were just there that uh, you're aware of the political situation in the united states any any profound just Observations or kernels of wisdom you want to drop here, uh about the contrast and and what you've seen and and Where our country's at here

12:24

I'll i'll just i'll just put it this way and um, you know Because of covid there's not too many americans or international people going to nigeria

12:33

Um, so let's just say I kind of stood out a little bit Um, but one of the questions people would walk up to and ask me about is is the election in the united states and what

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I noticed was, uh, and I and I partook at some conversations is that The muslims in nigeria

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All felt biden was their guy They felt biden was their own president Their presidential so the terrorists you're talking about the terrorist organized people

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Yeah, the terrorist people and the muslims in general. Okay love biden And promoted biden the christians in nigeria

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I met christians that fasted and that were praying for Because the the the the reality of the situation is this now that biden is president

13:27

The christians in nigeria feel that they are going to be attacked probably tenfold

13:34

Because the muslims are now empowered to do more damage Is that just is that a political reality or is that just a

13:43

Motivation because I don't know like how does that work? Why would I I believe it's a political reality Okay, so policies that biden will directly lead to more christians dying in nigeria, right?

13:55

Right Yeah, and we and we we saw some very gruesome attacks in uh in the obama years um more so Than there already are now.

14:06

What why is that though? Why why did it sort of get tempered during the trump years then or what policies led to that?

14:13

well, uh the the arab spring Oh, that's you're right. Yeah. Okay So so you look so so let's go back to the arab spring and show your audience

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This so libya gets destabilized iraq destabilized egypt destabilized

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And that empowered an isis group Okay So the boko haram has now aligned themselves with isis

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And they're starting to imply more brutal and more harsh isis tactics That kind of quelled when isis was was being pushed down.

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But what we saw was a lot of money in arms coming through Northern africa and these other countries coming into northern nigeria through niger

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Which is just north of nigeria and um now the

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To look at nigeria. What we call is we call it the muslim north and the christian south and since obama came in And northern nigeria is now fully controlled

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And militantly controlled by radical muslims Okay, and your goal is to further take over parts of nigeria and further move south

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And that's and that's what we're dealing with right now So one of the most dangerous territories is the middle belt between that christian

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South and muslim north. This is so sad to me because you know, one of the things that um, we were

15:46

I and others were concerned with and why we we expended so much energy um on the election integrity issue and before that even on trying to prevent biden from becoming president, um was

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Policies that would be downstream and some of the so many christians. Um, I feel like i'm ranting

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I don't mean to sound like that, but i'm just being honest so many Evangelical elites big eva, whatever whatever term you want to use so many of them seem to Be oblivious to um

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To to do anything outside their very limited experience. They're not paying attention perhaps politically and especially globally and uh

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There's brothers and sisters of ours that will likely be killed because of policies uh to be that will be enacted or or the removal of policies by the president that uh, the the usurping president, uh

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I will call him that um, or or as I I heard this morning on twitter the resident in chief instead of president.

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But anyway, um, and This is something that I hope we

16:53

May be too late, but hopefully some of us are paying attention and learning the lesson. I'm sure you're going to give us updates um over the next few years as You see this all play out and you know,

17:04

I just thank god someone like you's there. Uh, you have a team there i'm sure um Are there other teams are there other organizations doing the same kind of work in the area trying to?

17:14

Help defend these christians give them protection etc. Or are is your team kind of it?

17:21

We're it Um, I I spoke with the heads of the vigilante services in in several, uh, nigerian states and I asked him

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I was like is anybody from overseas from the west offered to Help you guys like give you any kind of support whatsoever.

17:37

They're like no you're the only one like wow a weirdo You know,

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I i'm the only one to do it. But you know, it's just it's just I was there. I we saw a need and fill it and um

17:52

But let me tell you this to show people that You know, it's not just bring Bringing food in is huge bringing medical aid in is huge.

18:00

But when you say hey, uh We think we can help you a little bit out maybe saving your lives with the you know some bulletproof vests and some, you know, long, you know long -range two -way radios and Um, it's actually created a little thing.

18:14

We're local nigerians. We showed them how to do it. They're building them Gotcha They're building the vest.

18:21

It's creating an account God for those guys and let me tell you, um For just a little bit of money going such a long way

18:30

Yeah, how much does it cost per vest We're doing it for about 25 bucks for a bulletproof vest.

18:36

Yeah, and they're tested locally made I mean, how much does that cost in the united states like between three and four hundred?

18:44

Yeah, i was gonna say it's a significantly more expensive. Um I don't know how you do that, but i'm glad that you are uh

18:52

I want to encourage the audience here if you are. Um If you're giving to an organization if you're good

18:58

I don't want to pick on any organization in particular and I don't want to I want I don't want this to be taken the wrong way but Um a persecuted church kind of organization if you're giving to an organization like that, but all they're doing is reporting

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On incidents of persecution which i've come to figure out Some of these organizations that's that's mainly what they do.

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They give you a magazine they report on what's happening But they're not actually doing much about it

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Um, I would just encourage you drop them give give to the brother judd here, uh, go to his website

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It is 501c3. It's tax deductible and you can Give to um some guys who are actually doing something about this and uh and judd

19:37

Where can they go to give and then to also get reports firsthand accounts pictures? Um to you know, see if they want us to know more about the specifics.

19:47

Where can they go? Facebook Equipping the persecuted and giving the recent social media craziness

19:54

We're looking at probably going on about 10 more alternative media platforms to get the word out

20:00

But you can go to facebook .com slash equipping the persecuted to get regular updates On what we're doing what's happening?

20:06

We'll have that link in the info section Is there isn't don't you have like a central website where they can find all the all the links that will be coming out as well

20:13

Yeah equipping the persecuted .org Org so that's that's the main website, uh where you can give and then if you want the updates or to go back through the timeline and see pictures from Um updates etc.

20:26

Go to the equipping the persecuted. Um slash, uh, i'm sorry facebook .com slash equipping the persecuted

20:32

So, um, so judd, I appreciate it. Um, i'm looking forward to seeing what's going to happen and I I hope that your operation gets bigger and that more people

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Uh give to it and you're able to get more supplies on the ground there because because we need this right now

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And I know it's not just nigeria. We need this in all kinds of countries um, especially in africa in the middle east and so Hey, thank you.

20:55

I appreciate it Thank you for having me on john. I appreciate it. Thank you. God bless I'm very happy to be here today

21:09

To appreciate to appreciate persecuted and persecuted in caribbean state

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Yeah, I don't know how to even say it to even thank them We normally assist the caribbean national civilian service and with this now we go a long way

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To assist the personal of the caribbean national civilian service not only the headquarter but the whole the 23 local government that we have in caribbean state

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We found and by the special grace of god We are not going to use this thing we are going to meet the excellency the executive

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And Give this this walking talking to him.

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He is the one that i'm commissioning this walking talking before we start using and we thank god today

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We are having a brief security council meeting from here now and we are going to go more house and I will show him

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How people have helped the caribbean national civilian service not only? Uh the state of the entire the 23 local government that we have in caribbean state

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We appreciate and by the special we thank you and we continue to pray to you in the almighty god continue to lift