Most people, even those who were born after the incidents on September 11, 2001, have heard of the horrific events at the World Trade Center in New York City. 2,977 victims died that day and thousands more were injured.
Most people don’t know that the country of Nigeria has it’s own World Trade Center complex. I didn’t know about it until I was researching the tallest buildings in Nigeria and found the video above and others like it. In July of 2020, a fire broke out on the top floor of one of the Nigerian World Trade Center buildings in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Thankfully, no one was injured. Here is a video and short report of that event.
The reason Nigeria is the subject of this post is because of what happened there last year. It continues to be on my mind. By November of last year, 4,000 Christians in Nigeria had been killed by Islamic jihadist groups. I couldn’t help but think that this number was greater than the death toll in America’s 9/11 event yet few in the world had heard of it. One of my friends posted the story to her social media page and it prompted me to pray for Christians in Nigeria. Here is that story as it was posted in Christian Today.
Very few mainstream media reports are given about the persecution of Christians. After reading about the problems in Nigeria, it wasn’t surprising to find that Nigeria was #6 on Open Doors’ 2023 annual World Watch List ranking the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. According to the Open Doors’ organization, more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. That number is greater than the entire population of the United States.
Click on this link of you would like to see a map of the 2023 Open Door rankings.
The number of Christians killed in Nigeria is by far the most of any country in 2022. I’ve posted this thinking that you might like to pray for a place where Christians are experiencing severe persecution in 2023. If so, click on the link above. There are plenty of places from which to choose.
Chris Reimers
Wings of the Wind 
Thanks for highlighting this awful persecution Chris and for encouraging people to pray for these countries.
You’re welcome, Elizabeth, and thank you for your kind comment!
Chris, thanks for alerting us to this ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Of course, Muslim extremists don’t differentiate between fellowships of genuine believers and pseudo-(c)hristians. It’s jarring to juxtapose the modern architecture in the video with the reality that Christians are being killed.
You’re welcome, Tom, and I appreciate the two good points you have made. Nigeria has not escaped the problems that you and I have “discussed” on our blogs regarding false teachings and false teachers.
On this topic I found an article from 2020 titled “Christianity in Nigeria: The prophets are false; the profits are real.” Here is the link to that article if you are interested:
https://qwenu.com/2020/04/26/christianity-in-nigeria-the-prophets-are-false-the-profits-are-real-ezinwanne-onwuka/
I experienced the same feelings you did when I saw some of the infrastructure in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. The video I’ve shared here is pretty raw compared to others that have been made. https://wtcabuja.com/ is a pretty upscale site describing one of the buildings at Nigeria’s WTC.
I thought an online search for the tallest building in Nigeria would yield few results. The modern buildings were a surprise to me as well.
Thanks for the links to the article and to the website for the amazing WTC complex. Yes, I was thinking about the prosperity gospel churches that are mushrooming in Nigeria and all over the world due to their get-rich appeal AND RC-ism, which is also doing well in “third world” countries because of its many parallels with shamanism. The murder of any person is appalling, but it’s disturbing that such ecumenical evangelical organizations as Voice of the Martyrs identifies RC priests and nuns as genuine Christians. I’m guessing VOM doesn’t as yet embrace LDS or JWs as Christians.
I think that would be a good guess but I don’t know either. I wasn’t aware of VOM’s position on RC priests and nuns. I know very little about the VOM and Open Doors organizations.
I was surprised that three of the largest 15 mega churches in the world have their home bases in Nigeria. Here is a video about one of those and it seems pretty clear that the prosperity gospel is on full display there:
Thanks for the revealing video. It’s no wonder these “health and wealth” prosperity gospel pseudo-churches are spreading like wildfire. Sinful mankind desires to live the lifestyle of Bishop X with his 3 mansions and associated perks.
You’re welcome. Tom. It is tragic how this man is benefitting off of the false hopes of so many. It is also very sad to think that much of this nonsense has its roots in America which once sent sincere Christian missionaries all over the world.
Just Prayed for the Nigerian brethren
God bless you, Pastor Jim.
Blessings to you Chris
Thank you, Pastor Jim!
Blessings to you for bringing this awareness to us
Thank you, Pastor Jim!