Sensor Newspaper

The church is the sanctuary of God. It is a holy place where people who have given their lives to Christ assemble to sing praises to the Glory of God and then learn the scriptures.

This religious ritual in the Christendom is in conformity with the biblical injunction that Christians should not neglect to assembly themselves together as the manner of some is, for the purposes of exhorting one another. Heb.10:25.
The early Christians religiously adhered to this scriptural injunction as they were steadfastly continuing daily with one accord in the temple Acts 2:46.
The temple was held in awe. It was a place where the presence of God was believed to be dwelling.
Every person who entered the temple for the purposes of reverencing God conducted himself with utmost decorum as anti-temple activity or behavouir would surely earn the defaulter God's wrath.
No wonder Jesus Christ up-turned the tables of persons who were trading in the temple, warning them that His father's house was a house of prayer.
No manner of evil was welcomed in the temple. We are familiar with the catastrophy which befell a couple who lied to the Apostles in the temple. There were Ananias and Saphira. We do not intend to bore you with this story as you already know.
A place which is named after God was not just a place. It was a place where people could reap instant death for misbehaviour.
The presence of God was flowing in the temple and those who worshipped Him or did anything in the name of God, were conscious of the fact that God would not condone sin.
In our times, things have really changed. The church as a place of worship is no longer reverenced. This does not mean that God who existed in the days of the Apostles is no more living. It is only because His will grinds slowly but exceedingly fast. He is not quick to punish sinners, but He gives them time to repent for no one can stand His wrath.
The Church is defiled today. The rising wave of kidnapping does not spare any facet of our life.
When kidnapping reared its ugly head in the Niger Delta region, where oil workers were frequently  abducted for a ransom, we erroneously thought it was the people's struggle for emancipation in the Niger Delta where it has been gravely devastated by oil exploitation and exploration.
We had thought, mistakenly too, that militancy was born as a result of the age-long neglect of the region by oil multinational whose interest is to milk the region dry, leading to their abduction by militants for a ransom.
Little did we know that the tempestuous wave of kidnapping was going to blow in Akwa Ibom State and even turbulently.
Again, we thought and wrongly too, that kidnapers were out for politicians. No doubt, they have been abducting and freeing politicians after getting the ransom while others have lost their liveseven after payment of ransom.
As insecurity situation gets worsen by the day, the tidal wave of kidnapping has permeated all facets of our life, and the church has not been spared.
The first person to have fallen a prey to kidnappers was Major General Edet Akpan (rtd) in 2010. He had gone to worship God in Qua Iboe Church, Iwok, Nsit Atai on one fateful Sunday when kidnappers struck.
Church members were thrown into pandemium as they scampered for their safety. We learnt that the kidnappers had shot sporadically into the air, injuring some church members while others lost their lives.
Church service was brought to an abrupt end as they whisked away Major General Edet  Akpan (rtd).
It then dammed on church goers that the church was no longer a safe place for people to go and worship God.
Just as we were trying to recover from the rude shock of the kidnap of General Akpan in the church, another bomb shell fell in Ibesikpo Asutan LGA.
People who worship God at Ebenezar African Church in Mbierebe Akpawat, Ibesikpo Asutan, still last year, had gone to church to worship God, only for their church service to be disrupted.
Persons suspected to be hired assassins visited the church and unleashed havoc on a frontline politician in the area, late Paul Inyang. They sniffed life out of him. Late Paul Inyang was alleged to have shot one of the assassins before they murdered him. If this allegation was anything to go by, how many of church goers can afford a licence to own a gun?
Sadly, our state is fast degenerating into a police state where everyone is to himself and God for us all.
The Managing Director of Jumawin Filing Station,  along Ikot Ekpene Road, Pastor Joseph Umaego while presiding over a church evening programme at Abak did not return home but he was abducted to called off in the kidnappers den for some days.
Members of the church could not continue again in the church programme because they were thrown into fear. After all, why would they have continued when the shepherd was struck.
For worshippers of God at God's Own Ministry international a.k.a God's Own Family, it was their turn to sight kidnappers.
At the peak of church service on that fateful Sunday, kidnappers appeared bringing fear upon the church as they abducted the founder of the church, Arc. Ime Ekpo.
What about Rev. Ntia Ntia of Full Life Christian Centres. He is also a victim of kidnapping.
We cannot easily forget the kidnap of the wife of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Education maters, Etubom Jerry Emah. His wife was kidnapped while worshipping God at Methodist Church, Etinan.
There have been other unreported cases of kidnapping in the church, but the recent is the kidnap of the husband of the vice chancellor of the University of Uyo. Dr. Memfin Ekpo.
Dr. Ekpo was abducted on Sunday January 16, 2011 while worshipping God at the Goodnews Community International Church, Uyo branch. The academic don is yet to regain his freedom.
Already, Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) Uniuyo branch, Non Academic Staff of University, (NASU) Uniuyo branch, and Senior Staff Association of University (SSANU) Uniuyo branch, have downed tools to protect the kidnapp of Dr. Ekpo.
Similarly, Doctors in the state owned and private hospitals under the auspices of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Akwa Ibom State branch, have gone on strike, vowing not to call it off unless Dr. Ekpo was released.
There is a challenge before the church. The church cannot afford to fold her arms while more havocs are unleashed on the church.
We think there must be a stop to kidnapping in the church. The church should arise and lament to God for deliverance.
Kidnapers should respect the sanctuary  of the church and repent from this devilish act if they must escape the wrath of God.
Because God does not give them instant punishment for defiling His place of worship, kidnappers should not think God is going to be too patient with them. Repent, kidnappers.

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