Home 
I love watching Discovery on TV. It’s the only channel where you can learn how to build AK-47s in the streets of Lebanon and be taught how to catch crab in the Bering Sea. Next to Holy Week, Shark Week is the 7 best days of my year! But, some of the stuff on Discovery can be heartbreaking.
Take, for example, a video I recently watched of a newborn zebra.
The scene opened up with a tiny zebra stumbling through a bright green field of grass. His black and white coat stood out in sharp contrast against the lush vegetation he wobbled through. Unfortunately, that contrast was part of his undoing.
Not too far away lurked one lone hyena that had spotted an easy target. Perhaps this animal has the most ironic name of all those in Africa; while watching them do their gruesome business, the last thing I think about is “laughing.”
As the predator got closer, the newborn zebra finally took note of his presence…but it was too late. The veteran assassin of the African plains was on him like lightning. He ran into the young zebra and knocked him down. He quickly pounced on top and lashed at the zebra’s neck with his teeth.
The young colt’s own blood was splashed against his black and white fur. But the little zebra still had some fight left in him. He thrashed as much as he could, and finally squirmed loose. He tried to get up, but was instantly attacked again by the deadly and ruthless hyena.
This time, the hyena forced his way on top of the colt and gnashed at the zebra’s stomach. It would prove to be the mortal blow. The zebra began to make a bleating sound, but it wouldn’t change his situation. He watched, powerless, as the hyena held him down and began to eat him alive.
Moments later, the hyena gripped the still-living zebra in his teeth, picked the whole animal up, and trotted off with him in his mouth. Mercifully, that’s where the video ended.
What I just described to you can actually be viewed on YouTube, but I warn you: you’ll need a strong stomach to watch it. You’ll also need a tough heart, because I didn’t even tell you the worst part.
You want to know what the most gruesome element of that video was?
It wasn’t the fact that nature was taking its course – that happens every day around the world. It wasn’t that the people filming the deadly scene did nothing to rescue the poor zebra – they were documenting the animal kingdom.
The most heart-wrenching aspect of this footage was the fact that the poor little zebra, locked in a life-and-death fight that he would eventually lose, was surrounded by hundreds of other adult zebras…adult zebras that did nothing to help the smallest, weakest, and most inexperienced among them. They just watched as the lone hyena killed the young colt.
Unfortunately, that happens in the church too often. We see fellow believers being attacked…and we do nothing. Sure, we might “spiritualize” our lack of action by saying “we’ll pray,” but the truth is, when we do that, we’re no better than a bunch of wild animals in Africa!
The Apostle Peter would never let this happen to a fellow believer. 2,000 years ago, he wrote:
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
Hyenas. Lions. It’s all the same if we stand by and do nothing. We must take action on behalf of our brothers and sisters who are under attack…here and around the world.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Africa
Alone
Animals
Church
Death
Devil
Help
Nature
Persecution
Protection
Spiritual Warfare
Taking Action
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
