A Walk In Romania (Pt. 2): The Darker Side

Southern Romania is known as the graveyard of missionaries because very few come to stay. I did not understand the depth of the darkness in this city until I not only saw the hurt and poverty, but felt the weight of the spiritual darkness in Craiova. With false religion being the culture and there being only .05% of Evangelical Christians, the city is filled with much brokenness and witchcraft. We have heard from many long-term missionaries here that when you leave Southern Romania, you feel a heaviness lift off of you. Walking through this beautiful European city here makes me feel like I am in a Hallmark movie, but it also comes with dark spiritual air particles you can’t help but breathe in because it is all that is here. I have seen spiritual warfare as a real and tangible thing for the first time in my life. It can cause tiredness, unexplainable sadness or anxiety, and a lack of motivation to worship or pray.

“Satan, like a fisher, baits his hook according to the appetite of the fish” – Thomas Adams 

Not to say that the same Devil that has dominion over Romania does not dwell in America; he does. Culture cultivates a unique invitation for the enemy to reside. American culture is very different from Romanian Culture; the demons are found in the addiction to money, power, and the fullness of our refrigerators and medicine cabinets we want more of. Romania has a culture of false religion, religion that is traditional, followed out of obligation, not sanctification. Spiritual warfare is more tangible because where the gospel is manipulated, Christ is seen less. With .05% of born-again Christ-followers, it leaves much more room for satan to twist the definition of religion.

I have seen my squad battle this already, and it has only been three weeks. As C.S Lewis so plainly puts it, “The enemy will not see you vanish into God’s company without an effort to reclaim you.” To combat this, we have learned that joy is something you can choose and the power in it is real. We have worship and prayer time from 9:00-11:00 every day before ministry. A few times a week, we have worship after ministry, and it has been like surgery to our tattered hearts. Where there is darkness, the light shines even more. Where there is pain, the healing is even more of a testimony. The small church that we have our worship in is a sanctuary, a pocket of peace. This light that Christ shines in us and the rooms we occupy is seen by the people here, even when we can’t. 

“The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I came so that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10)

One day we were singing after the ministry, and three people who were not believers passed by our building. They looked in the window and saw us worshiping; they felt the light and the life and asked to watch. They started dancing and saying they had never seen or felt anything like this. I hope that we can continue to be light in dark places. What a blessing it is to be in Europe, and what a blessing it is to be the hands and feet of Jesus in an area that so desperately needs to wake up.