Hundreds of Mormons plan to resign from the church in Salt Lake City this weekend at a protest against a church policy barring the children of married same-sex couples from receiving baptism, organizers said on Thursday. 

The policy, approved last week by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, added same-sex marriage to the list of acts considered to be a renunciation of the Mormon faith and thus subject to church discipline, including excommunication. 

At least 650 demonstrators plan to gather on Saturday at a park across the street from the headquarters complex of the Utah-based church, said organizer Lauren Elise McNamara. 

Most of them will collectively mail their letters of resignation there, while hundreds more are expected to mail them from elsewhere, she added. 

The church, which says it has more than 15 million adherents worldwide, has long kept records of its members. 

“When this announcement came out, there was no way I was going to leave my name on the books,” said McNamara, 29, who converted to the faith as an adult with her husband and plans to resign along with him. 

On a Facebook page created for the event, a woman in a same-sex marriage wrote that she grew up Mormon and feared the new church policy would lead her relatives to disavow her. 

A spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not return a call or emails seeking comment. 

The new church policy, which follows a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that legalized same-sex marriage, also prohibits natural or adopted children of gay married couples from being baptized in the faith until they turn 18, leave their parents’ home and personally disavow same-sex marriage or cohabitation. 

The church this year announced support for U.S. laws protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing and employment. But its leaders have said sex should only happen between a wedded couple, and that they cannot sanction same-sex marriage. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

Wall Street suffered its worst session in over a month on Thursday as lower commodity prices weighed on energy and materials stocks and comments by a Federal Reserve policymaker hinted at an approaching interest-rate hike. 

The rout hit all 10 major S&P sectors and pushed the Dow and S&P 500 below their 200-day moving averages, which some traders believe portends additional declines. 

Investors are keeping a watchful eye on whether the Fed in December will raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade, as is widely expected after recent strong jobs data. 

In a speech on Thursday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen did not comment on the economy or the timing of a rate hike. 

But New York Fed President William Dudley said “it is quite possible that the conditions the Committee has established to begin to normalize monetary policy could soon be satisfied.” 

Following rapid gains in October, stock investors still concerned about China’s economy and the effects of a U.S. rate hike have been taking money off the table, said Michael Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc in San Antonio, which manages about $1.3 billion. 

“Those are the two things one everyone’s minds,” Matousek said. “That’s why you have some of this selloff.” 

The S&P and Dow dipped the most in a day since Sept 28. 

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell percent to end at 17,, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 1.4 percent to 2,. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped percent to 5,. 

Crude oil prices <LCOc1> <CLc1> hit 2-1/2-month lows while copper <CMCU3> and other metal prices tumbled to multi-year lows, hurt by a strong dollar, weak Chinese data and concerns of oversupply. [O/R] 

The energy sector <.SPNY> sank 2.4 percent. Chevron <CVX.N> and Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> both fell more than 2.5 percent. 

The materials sector <.SPLRCM> lost 2 percent, hurt by a 1.3 percent fall in DuPont <DD.N> and a 2.5 percent drop in Dow Chemical <DOW.N>. 

Retailers were a bright spot after Kohl’s <KSS.N> reported better-than-expected quarterly net sales, sending its shares up 6.1 percent. 

But after the bell, Nordstrom <JWN.N> reported third-quarter results below its own expectations, blaming softer sales trends, and its shares slumped 16 percent in extended trade. 

Cisco <CSCO.O> fell 4 percent in extended trade after it posted its fiscal first-quarter results. 

During the regular trading session, PayPal’s shares <PYPL.O> slid 2.1 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported Apple <AAPL.O> was in talks with U.S. banks to develop a rival payment service. Apple lost 0.3 percent to $. 

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,521 to 557. On the Nasdaq, 2,177 issues fell and 629 advanced. 

The S&P 500 index showed four new 52-week highs and 19 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 34 new highs and 142 new lows. 

About 7.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, about the same as the daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

One of Canada’s largest churches said on Thursday it wants new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to bring attention to the case of its pastor detained in North Korea when he meets with Asian leaders next week in Manila. 

Trudeau, who ousted the 9-year-old government of former prime minister Stephen Harper last month, is under pressure to advance a multitude of issues as he embarks on his first global trip as Canada’s new leader, including the case of Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim. 

Lim, head of the 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, was detained during a humanitarian trip to North Korea in February, and in July confessed to crimes aimed at overthrowing the state. 

“We are hoping that the Trudeau government takes full advantage of whatever means and platform available—(for example) at APEC—to bring international awareness to Mr. Lim’s detainment that would help move diplomatic talks to a speedy and positive resolution,” church spokeswoman Lisa Pak said in an email. 

The church last week sent an email to Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion to “strenuously urge the new Liberal government to pursue all possible means to secure the immediate release and return” of Lim. 

Trudeau will meet with leaders of the Group of 20 in Turkey this weekend before heading on to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in the Philippines next week. 

Canada suspended diplomatic relations with Pyongyang in 2010, making progress on Lim’s case difficult. 

A spokesman for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs said consular officials are in contact with Lim’s family and Canada remains “deeply concerned” with the case. 

“We continue to advocate for consular access and for a resolution in his case,” spokesman Francois Lasalle said in an email. 

In July, Lim appeared at a news conference in North Korea and confessed that he had traveled to North Korea in the guise of humanitarian work and gathered information that he used in sermons outside the country in a bid to drive the regime to a collapse “with the love of God.” 

The church has said South Korean-born Lim has visited North Korea more than 100 times since 1997 and has helped establish an orphanage and a nursing home there. He has lived in Canada since 1986 and is a Canadian citizen. 

Both North Korea and China have clamped down on Christian groups over the past year, and several American Christians have been detained by North Korea. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

Ken Ham, founder and president of Answers in Genesis and visionary behind the Ark Encounter, announced today at a press conference on the Ark that the massive re-creation of Noah’s Ark will open to the public July 7, 2016. In looking for a creative strategy for comfortably accommodating the anticipated crowds, the Ark Encounter will be open for “40 days and 40 nights” during its first 40 days of operation, in reference to the 40 days and 40 nights of rain as the Flood commenced. We anticipate starting normal hours of operation after Aug. 15 unless crowds continue to be large.

“We are so excited that the construction progress and schedule landed on this 7/7 date. Genesis 7:7 states that Noah and his family entered the ark. So it’s fitting we allow the public to enter the life-size ark on 7/7,” Ham said.

For the first 40 days, guests can purchase daytime tickets for 9 a.m.–4 p.m. or nighttime tickets for 5 p.m.–midnight. The day and evening times will also offer some differing experiences. Anyone who has purchased a Charter Boarding Pass or has sponsored a plank or a beam will have access to a priority ticketing period beginning Jan. 5. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Jan. 19. Tickets cost $40 for adults, $28 for children and $31 for seniors. Parking is $10.

“While the Ark Encounter will be able to accommodate 16,000 guests per day, our consultant’s research has shown that we could possibly expect more than that during the first few weeks of opening, especially during the summer time frame,” Ham continued. “So to make sure this themed attraction remains an enjoyable experience for everyone, we are adding a nighttime shift for the first 40 days.”

Ham added: “Some supporters who have been watching the construction of the huge ship have said they believe this ark will be one of the ‘wonders of the modern world.'”

Another key time in the run-up to opening will be early December 2015, when it is expected that most of the shell, or outside structure of the main body of the ark, will be complete so that exhibits can start being installed on the ark. The stern will be constructed after the main body of the ark, with the bow to be added early in 2016.

In addition to announcing the project’s opening date, Ham confirmed that the majority of the funding for the Ark Encounter’s first phase has been raised—about $80 million of the $91.5 million needed. Ham is confident the rest will come in before construction is completed, including through sales of ark memberships (called boarding passes).

A special guest for today’s announcements was Princeton-trained scholar Dr. John Whitcomb (Ph.D., Grace Seminary), co-author of the classic book The Genesis Flood. He is acknowledged as the world’s leading theologian on the topic of the ark and flood of Noah, and is a great personal inspiration to Ken Ham. “Dr. Whitcomb,” declared Ham, “is one of my heroes of the faith.”

As home to the Ark Encounter, the city of Williamstown was represented at the event by Mayor Rick Skinner. State Sen. Damon Thayer and Rep. Brian Linder were also on hand at the press conference.

While the decision is still pending on whether the Ark Encounter will be able to participate in the state’s sales tax rebate program for tourist attractions now being litigated, there is no doubt the project will be a boon to local tourism. It is anticipated that thousands of new jobs will be created outside of the Ark theme park and new hotels and other businesses are under development near the Ark site. New tax revenue to the state will be in the millions, even without the portion to which the Ark Encounter will be entitled to in a rebate if the lawsuit is settled in its favor.

Another major outreach of AiG, an apologetics organization, is the Creation Museum, which has been visited by over 2.5 million guests since opening in 2007. Last year the museum unveiled a world-class $1.5 million exhibit of an allosaur dinosaur skeleton, and hosted the famous Bill Nye/Ken Ham evolution-creation debate (conservatively estimated to have now been watched by upwards of 15 million people). 

Atoning sacrifice is one of the most basic tenets of biblical Judaism. Today, however, Jewish people by and large have disavowed it.

How did this happen? In my last article, I discussed how misguided reverence for the Oral Law was developed and taught by the rabbinic leadership between 516 . 70. This view of Scripture interpreted through Oral Law ultimately contributed to Jewish rejection of Yeshua as Messiah.

Now we consider the next period of Jewish history, A.D. 70–135—from the fall of Jerusalem to the “Gentilization” of the church. What happened during this time inhibits my people even today from seeing Yeshua as their atoning sacrifice.

Temple Sacrifices

The faith of the Jewish people through their history was based on the sacrificial system centered in the tabernacle and later in the temple. One could only approach God by first offering a sacrifice. With that in mind, how could Jewish people today consider sacrificial atonement irrelevant to Judaism?  

With the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, the Jewish religious leaders faced an enormous problem: how were they to maintain a people of faith without the prescribed sacrifices at the altar and the temple? Incredibly, the way the religious leaders reinterpreted the meaning of sacrifices 2,000 years ago affects Jewish thought and theology to this day.

Symbolic Sacrifices

Even before the temple was destroyed, sacrifices were seen as symbolic. Philo (20 B.C.–A.D. 40), a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, Egypt, taught that Temple offerings were mainly symbolic in nature, and wrote that “the offering of domesticated animals [sheep, goats, bullocks] and gentle birds symbolized the submissive offerer.” Since these non-aggressive creatures were viewed as the ‘persecuted’ in the animal world, the rabbis went on to interpret that the offering spoke of the idea that “the one pursued is accepted by God...” (Leviticus Rabbah 27:5).

Secondary Sacrifices

Prayer

Since repentance or contrition has always been necessary along with a sacrifice (Lev. 23:27), the removal of the sacrifice merely enhanced repentance as the essential element for atonement. “Prayer,” therefore, was considered even “more efficacious than sacrifices” (Talmud Ber. 32b).  The rabbis and writers of the Talmud made much of certain Scriptures such as Psalm 51:17-“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.”  

Religious Rites

Along with prayer, other religious practices such as fasting came to be seen as equivalent substitutes for sacrifices. Even studying the verses of Scripture on sacrifice was regarded by the rabbis as one having offered the sacrifice: “whoever occupies himself with the study of Torah needs neither burnt offering, nor meal offering, nor sin offering nor guilt offering” (Talmud Men. 110a). The reciting of the Shema (“Hear O Israel…” Deut. 6:4) and the wearing of phylacteries were seen “as if he had built an altar and offered a sacrifice upon it” (Tal. Ber. 15a).

Archaic Sacrifice

Maimonides (famous 12th century rabbi, Moses ben Maimon) went so far as to declare that sacrifice was archaic religion from which God had weaned Israel. Thus modern Jewish writers such as Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, look upon faith in Yeshua and the doctrine of vicarious atonement as unreasonable: “The idea of ‘vicarious atonement,’ that is to say, the payment of the penalty not by the sinner but by a substitute, is irreconcilable with Jewish ethics” (Judaism & Christianity: The Differences, p. 52). What these scholars and rabbis have overlooked is that in the Scriptures, the Lord gave these truths regarding repentance and contrition in light of the need for blood sacrifice, and never apart from the offerings. God still considers sacrificial, substitutionary atonement to be of utmost importance, even when it isn’t convenient. 

Scriptural Sacrifice

Why is God such a stickler about sacrifices? Because the Word of God and God’s priorities cannot be overlooked. God has told us how He wants to be approached. It is not up to man to determine these things. For instance, if someone broke your $400 window, but offered you only $25 to replace it, that would be sheer arrogance on their part.

Rather than offering you what they thought the window was worth, it would be up to you to determine its value. The doctrine of atonement (see Isaiah 53) has been lost to my people. Thus in the eyes of many Jewish people, they see believers as making too much of sin, and Yeshua’s death seems to be an unnecessary sacrifice. Yet even a perusal of Scripture informs us that no one approaches God without a sacrifice: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (Lev. 17:11).

As it is Written

Surprisingly, even Yeshua’s disciples had a hard time understanding the need for Messiah’s atoning death and the promise of His resurrection, so He taught them: “These are My Words … that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day …” (Luke 24:44-46). As Yeshua taught His disciples then, the Jewish people need to be taught today: it is Scripture’s teaching that matters, not the traditions of men. Please pray that my people will come to understand not only the condemnation for sin, but their need for atonement, and that God allowed the temple to be destroyed because the ultimate and final atoning sacrifice has been made in Messiah’s death.

In the last article of this series next week, we’ll discuss one final era of Jewish history, the persecution of the Jewish people (A.D. 135 to the present day), and its continuing implications for Jewish unbelief in Yeshua today.

Dr. Sam Nadler is a Jewish believer in Jesus and has been in Messianic Jewish ministry for over 40 years. Sam is the president of Word of Messiah Ministries, which is bringing the Good News to the Jew first but not to the Jew only, and planting Messianic Congregations in Jewish communities worldwide. To encourage and equip the body of Messiah in our shared calling, Sam is invited to speak in churches across the country, and has written multiple books on Jewish evangelism, discipleship, and the Feasts of Israel. For more information and resources, or to invite Sam to speak at your church, visit: . 

In a rare media interview, megachurch pastor Steven Furtick opened up about many things, but not the one item many wanted to know: his personal finances.  

His reasoning? Furtick says it’s against what Jesus preached: “So, to go on record and say here’s how much money we’ve given and here’s what we do with our finances, to me, that would be the most arrogant thing I could do, and it would rob me of the blessings of what Jesus said, which is that when you give, you don’t get up and tell everyone how much you’ve given.”  

The Elevation Church pastor came under fire in 2013 for his house size and price.  

Later, he faced criticisms for spontaneous baptisms. Despite the controversy, the North Carolina-based Elevation Church has grown exponentially in recent years, donating large chunks of cash to charity, according to WCCB Charlotte. 

Despite the push for transparency and the publishing of financial reports, the Charlotte Observer says questions over Furtick’s finances remain.  

“Those who attend the church contribute about $500,000 to Elevation every weekend, but money matters—including Furtick’s salary—are still decided by a board of out-of-town pastors rather than locals active in the church. Unlike most churches, where lay leaders from the congregation help govern and make decisions, Furtick’s flock does not set or even know how much the pastor is paid,” the Charlotte Observer reports.

The pastor who will stand trial after calling Islam “Satanic” and “heathen” says he will embrace his court hearing for charges of sharing a “grossly offensive” message through public communication.  

“I am not running away, definitely not. I am going to take my stand for the Lord,” Pastor James McConnell tells BBC. 

McConnell will stand trial Dec. 14-16 for comments he made at the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast. 

Despite his bold Christian stances, even atheists defend McConnell over freedom of speech. Irish journalist and editor Suzanne Breen has come to McConnell’s defense in multiple articles, arguing he represents freedom of speech on trial.  

“As an atheist, I carry no candle for Christian fundamentalists, but there is something seriously wrong in hauling a pensioner pastor in ill-health through the courts for simply expressing his opinion,” Breen writes. “Let’s get this straight. James McConnell didn’t incite hatred or encourage violence against any Muslim. Had he done so, I’d be first in the queue to denounce him. He simply expressed his views about another religion. Freedom of speech should mean that he has every right to lambast Islam, as Islamic clerics have to lambast him and Christianity if they so choose.”

McConnell tells reporters he believes he is not on trial for the “Muslim issue.” 

Rather, “The issue is the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, the freedom of worship and the freedom of preaching the gospel and saying what is in your heart.” 

The pastor issued an appeal on his blog to both Muslims and Christians as he prepares to face the courts.  

“I also appeal and challenge every Muslim who lives in this country,” McConnell writes. “No one is questioning your right to worship here and practice your religion. If I was living in many Muslim countries in the world, I would be forbidden to practice my religion and would probably be imprisoned or even put to death for doing so. Yet you, as a Muslim, have perfect liberty here. So I appeal to you, come with me and protest.

“Once again I appeal to every child of God and every minister of God. If I am put in prison then, in a sense, you are also put in prison with me; for every sermon you preach and record will be examined and scrutinized!”

Oral Roberts University (ORU) has inducted five new members to the academic institution’s Board of Trustees, Robert W. Barron (’84), Camella Barnhill Binkley (’80), Dr. Michael Fletcher (’85), Tim Lyons (’82) CPA and Brad Thomas (’77 and MBA ’79).

“These new Board members are all alumni who have a passion for ORU,” said ORU Board Chair Rob Hoskins. “I am confident that their knowledge and expertise will be of great value as the University moves forward into the next five decades.”

“We are honored to welcome these new Board members who have volunteered their time and talents to advance the vision and mission of this great institution,” said ORU President William M. Wilson. “We pray that God will bless each of them and grant wisdom as they work with the rest of the Board to ensure the future success of ORU.”

Barron is a corporate and commercial real estate business attorney and partner with Berger Singerman LLP, and 85-plus Florida-based business law firm with four offices in Florida. As a student at ORU, he was a resident adviser and was a member of the summer music ministry team “Steadfast.” He is also a graduate of Louisiana State University Law Center. He has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Corporate Law and Real Estate Law, Florida’s Super Lawyer, Florida Trend Magazine’s Legal Elite and with other honors and awards. Barron and his wife, Dr. Laurie Scott (’83), have two boys.

Binkley graduated from ORU with a degree in psychology. While at ORU, she was a resident adviser and was involved with music ministry. She is the owner and COO of Express Employment Professionals in Waxahachie, Texas. Previously, she served on both the staffs of James Robison Evangelistic Association and Edwin Louis Cole Ministries. Binkley is also the vice president of the New Name Society International, a nonprofit organization that she and her husband, Bruce, founded to offer hope to disadvantaged people, especially orphans, in Cambodia, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mexico, Belize, Rwanda and Nicaragua. Binkley and her husband have two children and four grandsons.

Fletcher is a 20-plus-year private physician. He received a B.S. in biology with a minor in theology from ORU and an M.D. from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. While practicing in Northern Kentucky, he also serves as a US Air Force Flight Surgeon in the 123rd Airlift Wing, Kentucky Air National Guard and is a member of the Board for Teen Challenge Kentucky. Additionally, over the past many years he has participated in numerous short-term international medical mission outreaches with Healthcare Ministries and holds ministry credentials with the Assemblies of God. He and his wife, Deborah, live in Independence, Kentucky, and have five children. The three oldest are currently enrolled at ORU.

Lyons is president and CEO of TTCU the Credit Union, a 1.6 billion full-service financial institution that serves more than 115,000 members online through 16 branches in Tulsa and across northeastern Oklahoma. As the largest state-chartered credit union in Oklahoma, TTCU counts in its membership teachers, school employees, students and their family members, as well as employees from more than 700 companies. He is the chairman for the Temple Foundation, which seeks to meet the health, welfare and education needs of children in the Tulsa metropolitan area. Lyons and his wife, Carol, have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Thomas is president and CEO of Inter-Chem, a trading, distribution and logistics company with its roots in the plant nutrient industry headquartered in Tulsa. He joined the company as manager of operations in 1985. Previously, Thomas was Hewlett Packard’s national account sales manager for Phillips Petroleum Co. He holds a certificate in ocean chartering from the Association of Ship Brokers and Agents. He actively serves on the boards of SpiritLife Church, Oklahoma Department of Transportation Waterways Advisory Board, the Oral Roberts University Golden Eagle Club and India Practical Missions. Thomas and his wife, Brenda (’79), have two daughters, both of whom are ORU graduates, and two grandchildren.

A pastor’s wife has died after robbers shot her during a home invasion earlier this week, according to reports.  

Amanda Blackburn, wife of Resonate Church Indianapolis’ Davey Blackburn, was attacked in her home on Tuesday, Indianapolis Star reports. She was not killed immediately, hovering near death for two days while her church family began the mourning process. 

“It’s impossible to communicate all the emotions my heart has been forced to process,” Davey Blackburn writes in a statement. “My wife was such a beautiful, gracious, loving woman of God. I have not only lost my ministry partner and support but also my very best friend. There is no way to prepare yourself for circumstances like these. As deeply as I am hurting, I am hopeful and confident that good things will come of this. I rest in the truth of Romans 8:28 that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.”

The couple had one child already, and Amanda was reportedly pregnant with another. 

“Amanda made it her life’s calling to love and serve everyone she knew,” Blackburn writes. “Even more, she has made it her life’s mission to see as many people as possible come to know Jesus as their personal Savior. I know that in her death and legacy, even more people will come to a saving faith in Christ. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt her desire for me would be to continue what we’ve started here in Indy. I hold firm to the belief that God is still good, that He takes our tragedy and turns it into triumph, and that the best truly is yet to come.”

A special report by IRIN, built on field visits to Nigeria’s north-eastern region which the military has re-taken from the Boko Haram insurgency, reveals an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the Lake Chad Basin region.

In Europe, Syrian refugees who are able head for their country of choice with armies of aid workers and volunteers helping them along much of the way. In West Africa, Nigerians displaced by Boko Haram have relatively little help and find refuge where they can, IRIN says in its Nov. 2 report, “Fleeing Boko Haram: Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide.”

Some walk hundreds of miles, crossing the border into neighboring Chad, Niger or Cameroon. The majority remain as internally displaced people in Nigeria, reliant on the kindness of friends or extended family to get by, or crowded in schools converted into unsanitary camps.

The and IRIN, originally named Integrated Regional Information Networks, was until this year part of the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). IRIN reports on humanitarian aid around the world.

It reports that more than 25,000 people have lost their lives in the past six years, and more than 2.5 million others have been displaced in the Lake Chad Basin region since May 2013—around four times the number of migrants and refugees that have arrived in Europe so far this year.

Many of the displaced are Christians: for instance, 178 out of the kidnapped Chibok School girls are members of the Church of the Brethren, or Ekkliziyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN). EYN, based mainly in the northern part of the country, is the church worst affected by the insurgency. Boko Haram has almost wiped it out of existence in many areas of Borno, in part of Yobe, and in Adamawa, the three most affected states in Northern Nigeria.

The President of EYN, Reverend Samuel Dali, recently told World Watch Monitor that more than 8,000 of his church members have been killed. The church which has over one million members has seen about 700,000 of them displaced and now scattered in places like Jos, Abuja, Kaduna and Yola. Some 15,000 others have sought refuge in neighboring Cameroon. World Watch Monitor was told heart breaking stories of displaced people who fled from Mubi to Cameroon.

While running through the bush with Boko Haram fighters chasing after them in the night, one child running with his mother was bitten by a snake. Shortly after, the child started bleeding severely and getting weaker. The mother had no choice but to leave the child behind to die and run with the others to save her life.

Also, a man running while carrying two children suddenly fell down and died, perhaps from a heart attack. The little children tried to wake him up, calling “Daddy! Daddy! Stand up, let us run!” But he was dead. Unfortunately, none of those running away too could stop to help: The children were left behind with their dead father.

Another account is that of a pregnant woman who, while running, started having labor pains. The other women running with her could not stop to help her. But one of them out of sympathy untied one of her cloth wrappers and threw it to her saying “if you deliver, wrap the baby in this cloth”. Then everyone ran away, leaving her in labor.

For many who have fled Boko Haram, the violence follows them, notes IRIN. Scores of people have been killed in the last few weeks in a string of suicide bombings in the main northeastern cities where they seek refuge. Border areas where refugees flee are increasingly under attack. So pervasive is the insurgency, it is even starting to strike the displacement camps where the most desperate seek help, it says.

”The destruction of lives and property and the kidnapping of women, children, church leaders and school girls have the potential to become the genocide of Christians in northern Nigeria in general and, in particular, the members of EYN community in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states,” said Rev Dali before calling for help to end the ”the vicious cycle of death and displacement”.

In recent months, however, dozens of towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria that were taken by militants last year have been liberated by the Nigerian military, prompting the return of thousands of apprehensive residents. But the situation is still volatile as abandoned vehicles, burnt buildings, destroyed farmland and the stench of decomposed bodies provide constant reminders of what has gone before and what could happen again.

Apart from military bases and security checkpoints, few government institutions are functioning. Most health centers remain closed, while abandoned schools have been taken over by rodents and reptiles. EYN says it has suffered a huge loss, as about 70 percent of its properties have been destroyed. Since 2009, more than 1,600 churches have been destroyed and all EYN training and health centers in northeastern Nigeria have been also destroyed or closed down.

The IRIN report provides firsthand account of the disaster, with pictures of victims and survivors. It includes charts detailing the impact in numbers, and a timeline of the crisis, and asks “where should these uprooted millions of refugees go?” It’s not an easy question to answer.