They hate you because of me - March 11, 2004, Maranatha, Indonesia. A mother walks along down the street in her village when roaring up the street rides four men on motorcycles.
The men weld machetes, striking out at villagers as they go.
They reach the woman with her baby. She reacts shielding the child in her bosom. The four men take time to hack her to death slicing through flesh into bone on her head, neck and back.
The woman's name was Nuci. She was forty years old and the mother of two. A witness who arrived after the murderous attack said Nuci was crawling towards her baby before she died.
The attackers are suspected Jemaah Islamiyah, the same bunch thought to be responsible for the Bali bombings and the church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000.
The attackers wounded five others, who were Efrain, 30, Kanus, 30, Kalfin, 25, Pianus, 18, and Listin, 17 (many Indonesians have just one name).
The situation in the village is still tense, but no further incidents have been recorded. Hundreds of villagers are now standing on guard with machetes, spears and hand-made guns. The dead woman’s relatives have called on the police to respond decisively as they fear that this is the start of another round of anti-Christian attacks.
Do not fail to remember our Christian brothers and sisters in prayer.
Incidently, the word Maranatha is Biblical. Easton's Revised Bible Dictionary defines it as such:
1Co 16:22 consists of two Aramean words, Maran’athah, meaning, "our Lord comes," or is "coming." If the latter interpretation is adopted, the meaning of the phrase is, "Our Lord is coming, and he will judge those who have set him at nought." (Comp.) Php 4:5 Jas 5:8,9
The Great Separation continues.
