70 CHRISTIANS BEHEADED IN THE DRC: the danger of spiritual leprosy
PSALM 116:15
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants. (NIV)
The LORD cares deeply when his loved ones die. (NLT)
Seventy decapitated bodies of Congolese Christians were discovered last week in a Protestant church in the town of Kasanga, in the Lubero Territory in the province of North Kivu in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
According to Open Doors, an organisation that supports persecuted Christians around the world, an Islamist group linked to Islamic State called the AFD is suspected of having beheaded the victims with machetes. The victims are believed to have been taken hostage a few days before they were killed.
Military administrator Alain Kiwewa for the Lubero Territory said he was investigating the incident, Pan-African news agency Agence de Presse Africaine reported.
“Local sources suspect the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist group of Ugandan origin affiliated with the Islamic State, as well as local armed groups of being responsible for the massacre. These groups have maintained a climate of terror in the region for several months,” the agency said.
It said the victims, who had been “tied up and decapitated with knives,” had been kidnapped on February 12.
Members of the militia reportedly detained many Christian villagers before tying them up in a local protestant church and decapitating them with machetes. Responding to ADF attacks in January that left 15 dead, pastors in North Kivu province told International Christian Concern (ICC) that the violence often targets Christians and has decimated churches.
“We are no longer talking about simple violence,” one pastor said. “We are losing fellow innocent Christians time and again. Our churches are now remaining empty…. the people of the Lord are suffering, and it’s just not bearable to watch.”
SPIRITUAL LEPROSY
But amid the excruciating pain experienced by the body of Christ in Africa, it often seems like Christians in the West remain oblivious to the suffering of those who share the cross of Christ. Few churches acknowledged the beheadings or dedicated time during services to pray for their brothers and sisters in the DRC. Worship time is too precious, and the moments for preaching are too invaluable, to stop and share in the pain of others. Yet, in this moment of beheadings, heaven stood still and Jesus stood up. (Acts 7:55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”)
We should never underestimate the life-sustaining need for communicating pain within the body of Christ. If ever you have had the misfortune to hit your thumb with a hammer or got your finger stuck when a door was slammed closed, you understand the principle that if one member is in pain, then the rest of the body shares the discomfort.
Sharing pain is not an option. It is not even a command. It is simply a natural state of being. In 1 Corinthians 12:26, we find the comparison of a physical body to a spiritual entity, and we are informed (not instructed) that our anguish is non-negotiable. If you don’t share pain, you are either not part of the body or you have the spiritual version of leprosy.
In our physical bodies, our nervous system responds to pain by sending impulses to and from the brain at a speed of 274 km/h. Within a fraction of a second, pain is communicated by one member and the whole body suffers with the member in pain. Without the nervous system, pain is not communicated, and there is no response from the healthy parts. This eventually results in leprosy.
Spiritual leprosy happens when the pain of suffering believers is not shared, when we accept that it is normal for people to be poor and for people to be unreached. It happens when the sight of sin and poverty doesn’t break our hearts anymore. It happens when the ‘nervous system’ of the Church dies, keeping ‘healthy’ members from intervening as needed. Spiritual leprosy will ultimately result in spiritual death. Without anguish, the Church will lose her mandate and will eventually die.
1 Corinthians 12:26-27 “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
SOURCE
https://www.opendoors.org.za/the-beauty-of-hope-in-africas-resilient-church/
https://www.newsweek.com/christians-beheaded-congo-drc-2033864