Nigeria is a country on the edge. It is not an Islamic state, yet is surrounded by Islamic states. It allows Christianity to be preached, yet regularly has riots involving Muslims determined to keep the Gospel from being preached. On July 6, when many Christians in the Western World were enjoying the remnants of a week filled with corn, hamburgers, fireworks and family, an unidentified women was savagely killed for telling teenagers about Jesus Christ.

David Atabo, of the Roman Catholic Church, in Izom, Nigeria said he witnessed the killing of the woman. He said that she had met a group of Muslim youths, shared the gospel with them and gave them some tracts to read.

Atabo said, “As soon as the woman left, some Muslim elders standing by sought to know from the youths what the woman told them. When they learned that the woman had preached to the youths, they claimed she insulted the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and directed that the woman must be killed.”

Atabo said the Muslim leaders allegations inspired hundreds of Muslims to pour into the streets to track down the woman. They caught up with her around the River Gurara area and started beating her, he said, but police rescued her. Officers took the woman into protective custody at the Izom police station. But the restive mob stormed the premises, demanding that the woman be released to be stoned to death in accordance with sharia (Islamic) law or else they would burn down the police station.

Atabo said, “The police, realizing that the Muslim crowd was overwhelming, smuggled the woman through a back door to escape with her, but the Muslims blocked all escape routes, and at this point the police abandoned the woman to save their lives and she was clubbed to death.”

Take the some time to remember the cost of telling others about Jesus and lift up those brothers and sisters in the world who consider the Gospel more important than there very lives. Read Hebrews 10:32-39 and contemplate the perspective of a God-centered life in comparison with the perspective you may have regarding life.