Holy Week Article Series Part 4 – A Cry from Congo: Betrayed in the Shadows

Author’s Note:

I did not write this lightly. The images and footage I’ve seen from Congo are horrific beyond words—far worse than anything I could put on a page. What I’ve shared here is restrained, but the reality is almost unbearable.

 

Reader discretion is advised. This piece contains references to sexual violence and the persecution of Christians.

 

The facts come from briefings with faith leaders and coalition members actively working in the DRC, including some now forced into hiding. I’ve done my best to honor their courage, and the voices of those no longer here to speak.

On Wednesday of Holy Week, the betrayal began.

Not with a sword. Not in a riot.

But in secret.

Behind closed doors, in whispered conversations, Judas conspired with religious and political leaders to sell out the Son of God.

Thirty pieces of silver. That’s all it took.

They didn’t want to arrest Jesus in the open. They were afraid of the people. So they plotted in silence—using one of His own.

And today, the betrayal continues.

Across the globe, Christians are being tortured, hunted, and slaughtered—and the world still looks away. But nowhere is this betrayal more chilling than in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the eastern provinces of the DRC, the Church is under siege. Beheadings. Burned churches. Forced conversions. Over 130 armed groups now control vast swaths of territory, and the government has lost control. The most powerful of these, M23 and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), are committing atrocities on a scale that should shock the conscience of the world—but hasn’t.

M23 has murdered children, looted entire towns, and unleashed mass rape campaigns to terrorize the population. The ADF is worse. An ISIS-affiliated Islamist extremist group, the ADF is explicitly targeting Christians. Pastors have been executed. Villages have been massacred. Believers are being forced to convert or die.

In the first quarter of this year alone, attacks on Christians have surged 480%.

According to UNICEF, over 10,000 cases of sexual violence were reported in conflict zones in January and February alone. Nearly half the victims were children.

A UN spokesman said it plainly: “During the most intense phase of this year’s conflict in eastern DRC, a child was raped every half an hour.”

And yet—still—the West remains largely silent.

Still—churches continue with business as usual.

Still—governments posture, issue statements, and shake hands with regimes who betray the very people they were elected to protect.

Pastor Camille and Esther Ntoto—Christian leaders who have built churches, founded schools, and ministered to millions—have now been declared “a threat” by the current M23 regime and are being targeted by them.

The betrayal isn’t just from the terrorists. It’s from the institutions that once claimed to defend liberty, human rights, and faith. The betrayal isn’t just physical. It’s moral. Strategic. Willful.

Chinese weapons have been found in rebel hands. Military drones have been supplied to the region. And as the DRC descends into chaos, Beijing quietly strips the land of its minerals—ensuring global supply chains stay green while Congolese children bleed.

Through state-backed corporations, China now controls the majority of the DRC’s cobalt mines, a resource critical to the world’s technology and electric vehicles. And they’re not just taking resources—they’re exporting their ideology.

African leaders are being trained in Chinese-style governance. Economic deals are brokered with authoritarian strings. And while pulpits in the West preach convenience, the Chinese Communist Party is preaching power.

What is happening in Congo is not just war. It’s geostrategic exploitation disguised as diplomacy. And neither the Church or the world leader’s can afford to misunderstand the moment.

Jesus was betrayed by someone close. Someone who knew Him. Someone who had seen the miracles—and still sold Him out.

What we are witnessing today is no different.

The global Church knows what is happening in Congo.

Our government knows.

Our faith leaders know.

But knowledge without action is complicity.

How many children must be raped before we speak?

How many churches must be burned before we act?

There is still time to respond.

The Ntotos and other Christian leaders are asking for help—not only for themselves, but for the millions of believers trapped between these terror networks. They’re calling on the U.S. to:

• Conduct limited strategic strikes against M23 and ADF militants,
• Prioritize asylum and refugee resettlement for persecuted Christians,
• Support Congressional resolutions on Congo,
• And declare a National Day of Prayer for persecuted Christians worldwide.

This isn’t just a regional crisis. It’s a moral crisis. A religious liberty crisis. A national security threat.

And it’s time for the Church to stop sanitizing its witness.

On Spy Wednesday, Jesus wept—not just for what Judas had done, but for the city that refused to see.

“How often I have longed to gather your children together… but you were not willing.”

Would He not weep again for Goma? For Bukavu?

For a six-year-old girl, violated in the dark while the Church protects its image more than the Lord’s children?

This Holy Week, we remember not just the cross—but the betrayal that led to it.

And today, the betrayal continues—in silence, in secrecy, and in shadows.

But there is still time.

There is still a voice.

And there is still a Church.

If we will not speak, the rocks will cry out.

If we will not weep, the Lord will raise up those who will.

And if we will not repent—judgment, once again, will begin in the house of God.

Scripture references: Matthew 23:24, 27–28, 37