If Trump and Bill Maher agree it's bad, then it must be bad
Let's pray for the Christians in Nigeria who are under attack
US President Donald Trump recently made news when he posted on social media his outrage at the plight of Nigerian Christians, threatening to cut all aid, and drop lethal force in the country if the persecution doesn’t stop.
Most of the world said, “Wait, what? Christians are dying in Nigeria?”
They are.
News of ongoing persecution and killings of Christians in the country have now shocked the world. You may have seen the footage of churchgoers singing a hymn in the skeleton of their burnt out church, refusing to cower, continuing to worship despite the dangers they face, and having lost their place of worship.
There’s a growing chorus of voices, many outside the church, who are speaking the most loudly about the persecution, at least publicly.
Comedian Bill Maher is one. “I’m not a Christian but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria….They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this?”1
Newsweek reported in August that 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in 2025 already. That’s almost three times the size of the little town where I live.
According to Open Doors, “Nigeria ranks as the seventh most dangerous country for a Christian to live,” even though there are more than 100 million Christians living in the country (the number of believers there is more than double the entire population of Canada).
What do we do?
Whenever I think of the persecuted church, a list of martyrs and heroes come to mind and I remember the suffering experienced by Richard Wurmbrand behind the Iron Curtain.
He was part of the inspiration for We Are the Body, the play I wrote which examines the extent to which people suffer for their beliefs. I wrote one of the characters to suggest and remember Wurmbrand’s valiant life.
Richard Wurmbrand describes some of the torture he experienced at the hand of the Romanian Communists when he was imprisoned for his work in the Christian underground, after waiting in a cold cell for a month with almost no sleep or food, intimidated by the threat of torture with medieval tactics and brutality. Finally the terrible day arrived:
After a few strokes with [a nylon whip], I lost consciousness. Once a knife was held to my throat while [the torturer] urged me to talk, if I wished to stay alive. Two men held me down. I felt them tighten their grip and the blade pierced the skin. Again I fainted, and woke to find my chest covered with blood. Water was poured down a funnel into my throat, until my stomach was bursting; then the guards kicked and stepped on me.
In God’s Underground. Voice of the Martyrs, 2004. pg. 48
This was after being in prison for seven months. He would remain in prison for eight more years, before being released (and later re-arrested).
Wurmbrand’s book Alone with God, which is a compilation of sermons he constructed and memorized during an unimaginable three-year stint in solitary confinement, were one way for him to remain sane. They were, as he later described, “my deepest, perhaps my ultimate dying thoughts.”
It might well have been songs he constructed or poems, but he was a preacher and so he constructed sermons “only because it is in my character to do so, as it is in the nature of nightingales to sing.” (Alone with God, Hodder and Stoughton).
I hold up the pain I have known and have experienced against the pain others like Wurmbrand and the Nigerian church. When I do, I feel something akin to shame. How could he, how can others endure so much?
When I hold up the pain I have known to the pain of others, perhaps I also experience a form of wonder. That sort of thankful relief you feel for yourself mixed with regretful compassion you feel for the person pulled over by the traffic cop who just happened to zip past you on the highway. He got the penalty and you didn’t; both of you were speeding. The point is: It could’ve been me.
Pray for the Persecuted Church
People, throughout history, have suffered great pains for their beliefs. Wurmbrand is one such figure in particular. There are a thousand more examples to draw from, hundreds living out this terrible reality right now, every day. For me it was important to, in a small way, identify with that.
Every November, there is an International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians. This year it was on November 2. But every day is an opportunity to take up the prayers and join with others to remember those who suffer.
There are too many countries and incidents to name here. The 2025 Watchlist is a great place to start to learn about the most persecuted countries.
However, if like me you've been awakened lately, in the night because of the troubles in the world or, if you feel completely inadequate or unsure about what to do, as I feel, perhaps you will at least join me in your anger and confusion and your faith to, firstly, not look away. Let your heart be marked by this suffering. Perhaps at first you will feel shame, like I do, for how disconnected you may be from the pain of the global church. But move on from there, with the Spirit’s nudging, to pray for brothers and sisters around the world.
Need a way in?
It’s hard to think about the persecution of brothers and sisters of the same faith—or anyone’s terrible suffering for that matter. It makes sense that you’d want to look away. But you can’t. Scripture is clear. When one member of the body suffers, we all suffer.
If you need a way in, here are a few ways that I’ve personally ventured in.
Listen or read an exclusive passage from my play We Are the Body that grapples with the question of suffering.
Last year, to mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted church, I chatted with Open Doors. Listen to our conversation.
Learn. Visit the sites of organizations like Open Doors that brings awareness about and support and strength to the persecuted church. You can get prayer resources and donate.
Just pray.
So important…our prayers somehow are the cry in the wilderness preparing a way for the Lord