I will never forget……….
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE (BP) – The genocide that left more than 800,000 Rwandans dead and millions displaced during a 100-day period in 1994 demonstrated the depths of depravity found in hearts not redeemed by Jesus, former missionary Nik Ripken said.
“When Billy Graham was asked what was the number one hindrance to the Kingdom of God, he said it was racism,” said Ripken, who served overseas for 37 years, including in Kenya during the early 1990s. “Racism is a sin in the human heart.”
The violence in Rwanda 30 years ago was the culmination of long-simmering hatred between Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Neighbors were instructed to kill neighbors, and pastors slaughtered congregants.
Ripken remembers crossing into Rwanda just long enough to evacuate missionaries who needed to leave but couldn’t.
“They had gotten too close to everything, and they were sitting around waiting to die with their people,” he told Baptist Press. “What they talked about was how people were possessed by the demonic.”
Genocide is possible when people let racism grow in their hearts, then gather a likeminded crowd, then obtain weapons and act on that racism, often where governments are weak or are in collusion, Ripken said. More Here