Seattle Seahawks left tackle Russell Okung recently discussed his strong faith in God and the horrific genocide committed by the Boko Haram group in Nigeria as he and his team prepare to battle the New England Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday.

The 27-year-old Fort Bend, Texas native was born from Nigerian parents Victor Okung and Dorothy Akpabio on October 7, 1987.

"I will continue to pray for those people sacrificing their lives day-in, and day-out for what they believe in," said Okung to Breitbart Sports at his team's Super Bowl XLIX press conference on January 28 at the Arizona Grand Resort.

"I'm not surprised people are being slaughtered, people are being martyred. Our hope isn't in this world as believers, it's in the eternity. To be absent of body is to be present with the Lord, so they are dying for something that is real and will last forever."

The Christian athlete also used Scripture to give hope to his fellow Nigerian Christians who are being systematically murdered by the Nigerian based terrorist group.

 "This won't last forever and you will overcome," said Okung.

"Like it says in [the book of] James, 'This can only make you stronger.'"

Okung also expressed his thoughts regarding his colleagues not being vocal about the atrocities being committed against Christians and other minorities groups living in the aforementioned African nation.

"I believe guys should be involved-we have been given a platform to bring about radical change. But not just through twitter window-dressing like #bringbackourgirls," said Okung.

"You can only do so much putting out a tweet. My hope is to really become involved and be involved in the right way to see radical change. I've been working on that and seeing how that idea can reach fruition."

During last year's Super Bowl run, Okung and his Seahawks teammates Russell Wilson and Chris Maragos were among some of the people within the Seattle organization to publicly express their Christian faith before they won their first ever Championship versus the Denver Broncos (by a final score of Denver 43-8) on February 2, 2014.

"Jesus is everything," said Okung to Pastor Mark Driscoll in an interview days prior to Super Bowl XLVIII.

"And the great thing about Jesus is He'll meet you right where you're at. It's free. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to work for it. He gives it because he loves us and He is full of grace. "

The Seattle Seahawks will clash with the New England Patriots at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 1.