Our people say that when a disturbed individual strays into the church and vandalises it the veracity and permanence of the person’s insanity is thereby confirmed. Everyone seems to know instinctively that whatever is set apart for the worship of God acquires, by that very fact, a certain sacredness and dignity that in and by itself commands respect.
So the meaning of the prohibition of Psalm 105:15, “touch not my anointed ones and do my prophets no harm”, should be obvious to everyone. Everyone knows that churches are sacred places. Everyone knows that a validly ordained minister of the Gospel commands some basic human respect by virtue of his divine election. Thus, churches may not be treated like toilets and priests like monkeys just because one has a gun in hand.
If anyone still doubted that our country is truly experiencing first degree madness, they are certainly now being reassured. What is ultimately behind this targeting of priests and church institutions if not full-blown insanity? Or has Satan actually taken over the reins? Let us forthrightly put things in perspective.
Who could have believed it that elements of Cameroon’s highly professional military would summon their might to invade and vandalise a church premise and torture a defenceless priest? I almost ran out of breath when the report arrived concerning the lawlessness and disorder that the forces of law and order brought upon St Jude’s Parish, Bolifamba, on Monday December 24, 2018. It still sounds incredible that a detachment of BIR could have broken into the Bolifamba presbytery, dragged out its pastor, the Reverend Father Tobias Bekong, and subjected him to unbelievable savage molestation.
While we thank God that Father Bekong was not summarily executed like the Reverend Father Cosmas Ondari of Kembong, we cannot help asking what the republican army of Cameroon really wants from priests and from the Church of Jesus Christ.
The matter is very worrying because this veritable lunacy is neatly complemented by the reign of terror now being brought upon the Church here and there by factions of the resistance army. The saga of the kidnap and torture of, and the financial extortions from, the Reverend Father Jude Basebang and his charity team by the Amba group in Munyenge still stares us in the face. So does the insanity of the sealing of the Church in Munyenge. The numerous incidences of interceptions, oppressions and extortions involving priests and religious women on various highways by diverse Amba groups, are a chapter on their own.
Does this not give one reason to suspect that the ghost towns called on Christmas and New Year days were calculated satanic attempts to disrupt the worship of Almighty God at those sacred periods? So, what really is the business of the Amba boys now with priests and the Catholic Church?
From both the part of the republican army and that of the resistance army, the vexing question that urgently begs to be answered is this: What is ultimately behind this bizarre phenomenon? Who is pulling the strings and why?
Well, what has already happened has happened; what is still to happen will happen. But as sure as death, some day, somewhere, somehow, someone will have to answer for these acts of desecration that are now being committed with seeming impunity. There is just no way that sacrileges of this magnitude can simply vanish into thin air. No way! Experience frightfully demonstrates that people who try to mess up the life and ministry of priests almost always end up living miserable lives and dying tragic deaths. And one has reason to fear for their eternal salvation!
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How do you assess the morality of armed resistance against the state?