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Finding Hope Through Service to Others · The World Knowledge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, good afternoon, listeners. Thank you for listening to Lament
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of Hope podcast. And I'm very grateful. This is going
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to be a little unconventional, because if you're watching this,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: you're going to see it's just the logo for the podcast.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: But Dr. Katina and I really tried, and unfortunately, we
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: weren't able to do video, but that's okay.
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  Speaker 2: Because, you know, that's kind of, you know, whatever myth
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  Speaker 2: or it's... You know, kind of weird stuff. Well, it's not.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: It's all, you know, what was Christ's first miracle? He
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  Speaker 2: cast out demons. You know, this is kind of what
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  Speaker 2: he did. So in the time of Jesus, the spiritual
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  Speaker 2: struggle was very, very much in his face. And he
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  Speaker 2: talked a lot about it. So it's no different now.
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  Speaker 2: I think we've got to go in, prepare to fight
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  Speaker 2: a spiritual battle and be prepared every day. Do things
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  Speaker 2: every day which will equip you to do that. So
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  Speaker 2: it's okay. We are weak as human beings. Let's face it.
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  Speaker 2: Don't be afraid to say that. I think one of
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  Speaker 2: the pitfalls is we say, ah, I'm a Christian, I'm saved,
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  Speaker 2: now I'm strong. I'm not going to give in to
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  Speaker 2: that temptation, that temptation to steal, that temptation to kind of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, fudge my taxes or whatever. All those temptations
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  Speaker 2: are there. And as humans, we're all tempted by that stuff.
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  Speaker 2: So going through and saying, yeah, this temptation is still there,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm a Christian, so let me take the tools
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  Speaker 2: that are available to me to fight that temptation. Prayer, fasting,
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  Speaker 2: going to church, going to fellowship, doing Bible study. All
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  Speaker 2: this stuff is there to help us fight this spiritual battle.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Do you have something in particular that you've seen in
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  Speaker 1: your time in Sudan that really hit you as a
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  Speaker 1: spiritual battle that you had to face?
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  Speaker 2: I've had times here when I had incredible opposition issues.
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  Speaker 2: from the local government, from our staff. I mean, it's
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  Speaker 2: a bit detailed, but just to give an example, this
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  Speaker 2: was some years ago, but the staff members that I
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  Speaker 2: worked with, I worked with for years, people I sent
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  Speaker 2: to school for nursing or to be a doctor or
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  Speaker 2: a clinical officer, people that I was in the foxhole
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  Speaker 2: with were being bombed. You know, a month, two months later,
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  Speaker 2: when the crisis came up in the hospital, they totally
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  Speaker 2: turned on me. I mean, they betrayed me. They announced
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  Speaker 2: me in front of the other staff, you know, big problems.
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  Speaker 2: So I would, you know, I saw that as humans
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  Speaker 2: doing this to me, but I saw that as a
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  Speaker 2: spiritual attack that the demons, the devil, whoever it is,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't want me here, right? I know what I'm doing here.
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  Speaker 2: I know I'm doing my best to serve God. the
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  Speaker 2: evil spirits don't want me here. So this is the,
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  Speaker 2: these are the people they're using to do that. So
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  Speaker 2: I thought, I said, no, let me not give into this.
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  Speaker 2: Cause I was, I was angry. I was really angry.
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  Speaker 2: I said, these people betrayed me, all this stuff I've
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  Speaker 2: done for them. They've turned their back on me. They're
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  Speaker 2: denouncing me. I said, no, let me not fall into that.
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  Speaker 2: Let me see it for what it is, which is
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  Speaker 2: a devil using these people that were very close to
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  Speaker 2: me to attack me. And this is what happens. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I think many, many people can have that experience. So
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  Speaker 2: see it for what it is. I say, let me
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  Speaker 2: fight this. Let me not give in. Because really, I
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  Speaker 2: wanted to quit. I thought, this is unbearable. I can't
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  Speaker 2: take these insults and all this stuff. That was my
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  Speaker 2: human way of looking at it. Because I'm a human, right?
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  Speaker 2: I'm fallen.
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  Speaker 1: I'm a sinner.
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  Speaker 2: No, let me call on God to give me the
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  Speaker 2: strength and courage to carry on with this work and
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  Speaker 2: fight this temptation to leave and just keep pushing ahead.
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  Speaker 2: And I think, again, through the grace of God, I
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  Speaker 2: was given the huge service to so many people. That
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  Speaker 2: would have all gone away. We would have closed. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: the truth is, if I left at that time, it
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  Speaker 2: was seven years, eight years ago now, the hospital would
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  Speaker 2: have closed. We're in financial problems through some friends and
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  Speaker 2: other people who have rescued the hospital financially and kind
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  Speaker 2: of turned things around. But, you know, it's a spiritual battle.
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  Speaker 2: We are here as a Christian witness to the people
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  Speaker 2: here in the mountains. We have a lot of Muslims
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  Speaker 2: coming to this hospital. We are a Christian witness to
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  Speaker 2: those people. They've never seen a Christian before. They have
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  Speaker 2: no idea what a Christian is. They tell us what
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  Speaker 2: happened in Ramadan and happened during this Muslim feast. They
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  Speaker 2: have no idea about us, but they have no idea
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  Speaker 2: what Christmas is. They grew up in villages that are
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  Speaker 2: all Muslim.
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  Speaker 1: This is Sudan.
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  Speaker 2: It's an Islamic country. So, you know, we're we would have,
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  Speaker 2: we would have closed up shop eight years ago. Um,
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  Speaker 2: so I think it's, I felt it was quite tangible
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  Speaker 2: at that time. Just, just the anger, uh, uh, from
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  Speaker 2: the staff and the way they were responding. You could not,
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  Speaker 2: I could not reason with them. I couldn't talk to them.
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  Speaker 2: It was like, what is, what has happened to you?
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  Speaker 2: You know, we were good friends last week and now
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  Speaker 2: I'm the devil to you. You know, it's, it's unbelievable,
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  Speaker 2: but I think I was able to see it for
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  Speaker 2: what it was, you know,