Welcome to the Hackberry House of Choson. My name is Bob. I'm reading from a devotional book that was put out by Voice of the Martyrs. It's called Extreme Devotion. This book catalogs the struggles of God's people over past years. Today we're going back to old Romania and we're going to visit Dimitru Bacu. He was a Christian prisoner during the 1950s and 60s. Like so many others, his crime was simply being a Christian. Dimitri used his 20 years in prison to compose poetry of love to God. The poems were carefully written in small bars of soap or tapped through the walls in Morse code so that others could learn and pass them from cell to cell. The pains which weakened our bodies were not able to master our hearts, Baku said after his release. Instead of hate, we cultivated love, understanding, and wisdom. Here's one of his poems, composed in solitary confinement, in a cell infested with rats, bedbugs, and lice. Jesus appeared in my cell last night. He was tall. He was sad. but oh, he was light. The moonbeams I treasured grew suddenly dim. As startled and happy, I looked upon him. He came and he stood by the mat where I tossed and silently showed what his sufferings cost. The scars were all there, in his hands and his feet, and a wound in his side where his heart did beat. He smiled and was gone, and I fell on the stone and cried out, Dear Jesus, don't leave me alone. Clutching the bars, I was pierced through the palms. Blessed gift, blessed scars. Philippians 4.11 I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. A dingy prison cell and the loss of basic freedoms aren't usually the stuff of poetic inspiration. Dumitru was able to turn his sufferings into opportunities to praise God and impact other people's lives for Christ. His sufferings paled to him when he considered what Christ had suffered on his behalf. Experiencing what Dumitru faced, Many believers would feel frustrated or insulted, not inspired. Some would doubt that God cared about them at all. Composing lines of poetic praise to God would be about the farthest thing from their minds, and yet Dmitry focused on Christ instead of his cell, and he was filled with praise. How do you react in times of suffering, when you are called to suffer? Will you see obstacles to your happiness or opportunities to praise and serve God? And you may want your own copy of this book that I read from every time that we do this. Extreme Devotion, it's called. You can just email voiceofthemartyrs at thevoice at vom.org. They'll tell you how you can get a copy. I'm waiting still on my March edition of the newsletter that VOM puts out. I don't know what happened to it. I've talked to them about it and they're going to send me a new one, but it won't be here in time for today or next week even maybe. But I did receive from them a special report. And I would like to read to you about this special report about the Democratic Republic of the Congo. where Islamists are seeking to eradicate Christians. Sunday, January 15, 2023, Christians took their seats as usual in the hand-hewn pews of the church in Kasindi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, we will call it. Though they couldn't have expected it, their lives were about to change in an instant. When the bomb went off, it was very hot, Bridget said. People were injured and dead around us. Now, Kassindi is located in the northeastern DRC, an area of the majority Christian nation, where Islamists severely persecute Christians. One of the primary persecutors is the Allied Democratic Forces, ADF. which, after pledging allegiance to the self-proclaimed Islamic State, ISIS, in 2018, began targeting Christians in recurring attacks. The ADF is active in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces of northeastern DRC, and the group has openly stated its intent to eradicate Christians from the area while establishing Islamic law throughout the region. On the day of the bombing, Bridget was sitting in an outdoor area under the shade of a tarp. Her four-year-old son, James, was on her back, and her eight-year-old son, Patrick, had just sat down next to her after singing in the church choir. And then the bomb exploded. causing chaos among the group of believers. We realized that some enemy of ours had come, said Moises. That was an assistant pastor at the church, Moises. The bomb killed 15 people, including Bridget's son, James. Bridget was hospitalized for months with severe shrapnel wounds to her legs, and her son Patrick was also among the more than 70 people injured in the blast. The Cassindi Church was targeted by the ADF because of its bold witness in the community. The church's senior pastor had received a threatening phone call from the group a year earlier. We heard that you were praying against those who were doing the killings, and specifically against ADF, they told him. We're warning you that you need to leave or you will be killed. The DRC is the largest country geographically in sub-Saharan Africa. And while 90% of Congolese identify as Christians, Islam is a growing influence. In Africa, most persecution occurs along a southeastern trending line from Mauritania to the coastline of Kenya. which separates most of the Muslim-majority nations from Christian-majority nations. That's what a VOM worker reported. But in recent years, persecution against Christians has increased in predominantly Christian countries, such as Uganda, Mozambique, and the DRC. And Islamist opposition has been especially fierce in areas where there's been a strong Christian witness. In addition to the ADF's increased anti-Christian activity in the Northeast, more than 100 other armed groups in the DRC also target Christians. A particular area of concern is the Ubuari Peninsula, where Christians have experienced ongoing opposition from Muslims. During the past two decades, Muslims in this area have attempted to expel Christians from the peninsula by burning their churches and killing local church leaders. Some of these attacks have extended beyond the peninsula into the mainland. Most Congolese are subsistence farmers, growing crops on small plots of land called shambas or gardens. Their location in or near dense areas of jungle, gives rebel groups like the ADF a place to hide and launch surprise attacks. It is war, said Noela, a 27-year-old mother of three. People use the knives and machetes, cutting, killing. It is so terrible. Noela fled from the ADF in early 2023 after the Islamist murdered 20 members of her extended family, including her brother and sisters. Murder is not the only atrocity inflicted on Christians in the northeastern DRC. Frontline workers have reported that an estimated 40% of women and 24% of men in the region have suffered sexual violence. Ungwa, a believer who lived in the Rwzisi Valley, fled into the jungle with her four children after Muslims attacked and killed her husband. While she was hiding, the attackers found her and sexually assaulted her. She continues to suffer from the trauma of the attack, but she remains firm in her faith. Even today, I am very much sick, Ongwa said. Sometimes when I think of how my husband was killed and having to flee, I feel a sickness closing in on me. Without God, I would not be here today. The only thing that has helped me is my faith in God. Christians in the DRC have continued to reach out to their neighbors amid the suffering. Many churches have outreach ministries in Muslim neighborhoods, and church leaders are teaching their congregations to withstand the advance of radical Islam. If the church is not strengthened, Islam will be everywhere, explained a pastor who works to train and send Congolese missionaries throughout the country. Their efforts are not without risk, however. Fanueli Kambale, a Christian schoolteacher, was passionate about sharing his faith. While growing crops on a shamba near the forest, Fanueli used his time to teach children about the Christian faith. In 2020, ADF militants twice warned Fanueli to stop teaching children about Christ. The third time they caught him discipling youth, they murdered him in front of his wife, Georgine, and their three-year-old son, Andre. They took Georgine hostage, but released her shortly afterward. When Georgine returned to work at her Shamba, ADF rebels confronted her, and according to eyewitnesses, they said, We told you not to come back. We already killed your husband. Now we are killing you also." And they did. Georgine's younger sister, Juliet, began caring for Georgine's three children. And six months later, Juliet's father was also murdered by ADF fighters. Juliet, a trained seamstress, then became the sole provider for her mother and Georgine's three young children. VOM has since helped her expand her sewing business into a training school. VOM is working through a network of local churches to provide emergency aid, such as food, shelter, clothing, Bibles, to thousands of internally displaced Christians, focusing specifically in the area where the ADF is most active. The aid provides opportunities for local churches to minister with God's love in an area devastated by violence. When the community learned that the church was going to help, they said, what can the church provide? A VOM worker recalled, they have only ever seen the NGOs, non-government organizations, doing any kind of humanitarian help for the suffering, and they never could have imagined the church itself helping, people were quite shocked to see churches working together to help those in need. The church's witness is having an effect. Through aid provided by local churches and the global body of Christ, Noela, who lives in a camp for internally displaced people, is able to provide for her family. If it was not for God, I would have been killed, she said. Thank God also for your support, because if you were not supporting us, we and our kids would already be killed back in the forest. VOM is equipping pastors to provide spiritual care to those who have suffered trauma and may struggle with their faith as a result of the attacks. These pastors help Christians like Bridget, who, despite ongoing pain and an inability to work, recently rejoined worship services at the reopened Kasindi Church. She said without the practical support she is receiving from the body of Christ, it would be hard for her to survive. And the spiritual support bolsters her faith. The Bible teaching brings me comfort, she said. Amen. Now that's what's going on. You're not going to hear this one on CNN, NBC, Fox probably. Most of them are not talking about these difficult situations in the world. We hear a lot about what's going on at the border, and it's all true. I'm not downplaying that. But your people, if you're a Christian today, your people are suffering all over this world. God is going to bless them and help them. But you can be a part of it by praying. You might want to get a hold of this newsletter that VOM puts out. Every month it can be sent to your home, free of charge, no commitments. They'll put you on the mailing list right away. Just contact them. VOM.org is their website. Well, this is the Hackberry House of Chosun. Lord willing, we will talk soon. Bye-bye.