November 6, 2026

Just a few days ago, the Holy Spirit led me to pray for certain cities in Eastern Europe. He said, “Riga. Pray for Riga.” Riga is a coastal port city and the capital of Latvia, one of the Baltic states that used to be under Soviet domination and is now part of the European Union and NATO. It is bordered by Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, and Estonia.

Minutes later, the Holy Spirit said, “Budapest. Pray for Budapest.” Budapest is the capital city of Hungary, where the longtime conservative leader Viktor Orban lost the most recent election. Hungary is a member of the European Union and NATO and borders seven countries (Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia). It has long served as a bridge and balance point between East and West.

In a more recent dream vision, the Holy Spirit showed me fleeting scenes of Bosnian Muslim men, now in their 30s, who harbored longterm plans to avenge the rape of their mothers by Bosnian Serb soldiers in the Bosnian War (1992-1995). Some of these men carry the stigma of being fathered in rape by soldiers. Pray for the Western Balkans, particularly Kosovo, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Overview of Sexual Violence in the Bosnian War

During the Bosnian War, mass, systematic rape and sexual violence were used deliberately as an instrument of terror, psychological warfare, and ethnic cleansing. While committed by all sides, the vast majority of the documented atrocities and organized “rape camps” were carried out by Bosnian Serb forces (VRS) primarily against Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) women and girls, as well as some men and boys.

• Estimates: Most historical and UN estimates place the number of rape victims between 10,000 and 50,000, with some state commission registries citing around 25,000 documented cases.

• Rape Camps: Women and girls were systematically rounded up and detained in specific facilities, hotels, sports halls, and concentration camps—such as Omarska, Trnopolje, Keraterm, and various locations in Foča—where mass rapes and sexual enslavement occurred on a daily basis.

• Strategic Intent: Captors often subjected women to repeated rapes with the intent of forced pregnancy (“planting the seeds” of the-dominant ethnic group), aiming to systematically fracture communities and prevent families from returning to their homes.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and national courts broke new international legal ground by classifying systematic rape and sexual enslavement not just as war crimes, but as crimes against humanity and components of genocide:

• High-profile commanders and soldiers (such as Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač, and Zoran Vuković) received multi-decade prison sentences for using rape, torture, and sexual enslavement as weapons of war.

• Civil and international frameworks continue to grapple with long-term accountability, reparations, and the social stigma faced by survivors.

Survivors and Children Born of War

• The “Children of War”: Thousands of children were born as a result of wartime rapes. As they reached adulthood, organizations and individuals have increasingly broken the silence to seek legal recognition, social support, and identity rights.

• Ongoing Support: Survivors continue to navigate deep-seated community stigmas, patriarchal norms, and ongoing advocacy for comprehensive medical, psychological, and financial reparations through local and international civil society groups.

Biblical Narratives of Avenging Sexual Assault

• 2 Samuel 13 (Tamar and Amnon): When King David’s son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar, David failed to punish the crime. Tamar’s full brother, Absalom, took matters into his own hands and waited two years before having Amnon killed in an act of violent personal vengeance that fractured David’s family.

• Genesis 34 (Dinah): The forced violation of Dinah provoked massive outrage and a bloody retaliatory avenging action by her brothers Simeon and Levi against the city of Shechem, a response that Jacob condemned.

New Testament Teachings on Vengeance and Justice

• Romans 12:19: Instructs believers against taking personal revenge, declaring that vengeance belongs to God (“‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord”), shifting moral responsibility toward divine judgment, legal accountability, and communal protection rather than vigilante blood feuds.