I am sure that many of you have seen, or at least have heard
of, the recent box office hits, The Hunger
Games (2012) and the Hunger
Games: Catching Fire (2013). If
you are unfamiliar with these films, they are about a strong girl, named
Katniss Everdeen, who, through her trials and hardships, raises a nation to
fight against a tyrannical government that pushes for the subjugation and slow annihilation
of its citizens—it’s the plotline of too many of the nations of the last
century and is increasingly coloring our own story in the West.
In the beginning of the second movie, Katniss comes home to
find President Snow, leader of the quasi-post-apocalyptic nation moving toward
another revolution by its citizenry, waiting for her. Long story short, more than a few threats
were given her, and in closing President Snow says, “If a girl from District 12...can
defy the Capitol...what is to prevent an uprising that can lead to revolution,
and then in a fraction of time, the whole system collapses.”
Katniss replies with her character candor, “That must be a
fragile system, if it can be brought down by just a few berries.”
“Yes, it is indeed,” is President Snow’s last word on the
matter.
Even though this is a fictional conversation in a fictional movie,
there is more truth at the heart of President Snow’s fear than most would
admit. Both our Reformational Philosophy,
world history, and our confessional, historical Calvinism teaches us: Any form of tyrannical government is only as
strong as its citizens are weak.
Brave Katniss’ and bullying President Snow’s conversation
remarkably reflects the reality of current events going on in Sudan. The Islamic
government’s fear of losing its religious death-grip on its citizens is so
strong, rightfully phobic, that they are providing the global audience an epic
presentation that moves the singular courage of the character and conviction of
a Katniss Everdeen from fiction to fact, from the box office to the nightly
news. Enter Meriam Ibrahim.
The
London Guardian newspaper reports that Meriam Yahya Ibrahim was arrested,
after a Muslim relative claimed that her marriage to U.S. citizen Daniel Wani was
invalid, thus adulterous, on the ridiculous grounds that Wani is a Christian. This only sheds more light on her situation in
front of the court. She is a Christian. She has refused to renounce her faith
and has turned her back to her Muslim heritage. Meriam told the Islamic court
during her trial that her father was a Sudanese Muslim, but also that he
abandoned his family when Meriam was a mere 6 years old. She was subsequently
was raised and nurtured in her Christian faith by her Ethiopian Orthodox
mother.
As a result of our dear sister Meriams steadfast commitment the
Christ and unflinching faith, she has been sentenced to hang for her refusal to
renounce the faith, but not before she receives 100 lashes for the “adulterous”
relationship with her husband. She has
been in shackles, chained to the floor, along with her 20 month old son, who has
been held captive with her and is an American citizen, for three months. Also, she was pregnant with her second child,
when she was arrested in February of this year.
According to Life
News, Meriam had a heart-wrenching conversation with her husband during a
rare prison visit. She told Daniel: “If they want to execute me, then they
should go ahead and do it, because I’m not going to change my faith.” “I refuse
to change. I am not giving up Christianity just so that I can live. I know I
could stay alive by becoming a Muslim, and I would be able to look after our
family, but I need to be true to myself.”
For three months she has been
shackled in a Sudanese prison on death row, as though she is a huge threat to
the Islamic government—and she is! In a
turn of events, Meriam had her second child this week, May 27, 2014, while shackled
in prison. Early reports claimed that
she was to be executed after giving birth; however, now, as The
Guardian reports, she has been given a two year stay of execution to wean
her beautiful baby girl.
Let us pray this gives the organizations,
governments, and individuals that are working on her release enough time to ensure
it. May God stretch out his mighty right arm and deliver Meriam, his daughter,
our sister; destroy his enemies and hers, and bring release and jubilee to all
our faith-family in Sudan. And let us understand that living before our very
eyes—whether Meriam lives or dies—is one “of whom the world was not worthy”
(Heb. 11:38).
