During an evening worship service last week, suspected Islamist extremists shot dead a Baptist pastor and another worshipper and kidnapped a woman in Katsina state (highlighted), northwest Nigeria.
According to TruthNigeria, the news outlet, about 15 to 20 gunmen with Fulani accents stormed Bege Baptist Church in Yaribori village, Kafur county, and shot Rev Emmanuel Na’allah Auta and Mallam Samaila Gidan Taro.
Zakariya Jatau, a church member, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News (CDI-MSN) that the pastor was leading a worship service and Bible study when he was shot.
‘Another member, a lady, was also kidnapped and taken away to an unknown place,’ he said.
Members of the congregation said that Gidan Taro was a prominent convert from Islam, and that Pastor Na’allah had worked to reconcile the village’s Muslim and Christian communities, TruthNigeria reported.
Court protects Christian girl as other believers acquitted
Join us in thanking God that a court in Pakistan’s Punjab province refused to hand custody of a Christian girl to a Muslim who abducted and forcibly converted and married her, noting that as a minor she could not go with him even if she said she was willing to do so, sources said.
On July 3 Burewala magistrate Tajamal Hussain recorded the claim of the 14-year-old that she had converted to Islam and married of her own free will.
Rights activist Albert Patras told CDI-MSN: ‘The magistrate took note of her birth certificate presented by her parents, which showed that she was a minor, therefore her alleged marriage to a man twice her age was illegal under Punjab’s anti-child marriage laws.’
In a separate case two Christians were acquitted of a false blasphemy charge.
Adil Babar and Simon Nadeem were 18 and 14 years old respectively when they were charged in 2023. Last week a magistrate in Lahore exonerated them of the charge registered under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws, said Supreme Court advocate Naseeb Anjum.
The case had been filed after a minor altercation, Anjum said.
PRAISE AND PRAYER
- Thank God for the lives of Rev Emmanuel Na’allah Auta and Mallam Samaila Gidan Taro and pray that God would comfort all those affected by their deaths. Pray too that the woman abducted would be released unharmed
- Praise God that a court in Pakistan has protected a Christian minor. Pray that the teenager would remain safe and that more courts would act to protect vulnerable Christian girls
- Thank God that Adil Babar and Simon Nadeem have been acquitted. Pray that false blasphemy charges against other Christians as well as Muslims in Pakistan would be overturned by the courts and that those bringing false allegations would be held accountable
(Source: Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)
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