A monthly column in which Julita Kok shares on living adventurously with God
Cyberspace is an amazing, very convenient world. A world of few mistakes, where knowledge is available at the press of a button, with everything close to your heart in a safe little circle, anybody accessible at any time. So convenient and absolutely wonderful. Makes life so easy. Until this space gets invaded by strangers. Then your whole world is upset.
I remember, as a child, when fax machines came into use. My parents bought our own fax machine and that first time my mother sent me a letter from her work directly to me in our study at home — it was an amazing feeling of being in awe of something so much bigger than myself and something that was changing the world. Nowadays, my grandchildren have no idea what a fax machine is as they can scan and send documents on their phones. Nothing at all to be in awe of. Just a normal thing everybody can do and use.
And then I got hacked. Now, in South Africa, WhatsApp is the way we communicate safely. All the messages are encrypted, so we feel protected. It was 22h00 and I was busy typing a message when suddenly I got locked out of my WhatsApp. Ten minutes before this, I had received a WhatsApp call from a “pastor” on one of my groups. I have many groups of which some have 200+ people. The group he was calling from began during Covid. Pastors from all over the world came together in prayer. I do not know everyone on that group, so when he called, I had no recollection of who he was, but did not find it strange. He informed me of an urgent Zoom meeting and said he would send me the login code right away. I received this code while still on the phone with him and as I looked at the code, it clicked…..HACKER!!! I immediately ended the call and blocked his number.
- Advertisement -
I also sent a voice note to the owner of the group, informing her to warn the people. I also immediately told my family group that I had nearly been caught out and warned them to be careful. All on WhatsApp. They even responded. I continued my previous message and more or less 10 minutes later only, got locked out of my account. How they did this? I do not know? I phoned my son and asked what to do. He helped me through the steps. But WhatsApp said: “You tried too many times. Try again in 12 hours”. So I presume that somehow the hacker put in a few codes which blocked me from taking back my account.
‘I never slept that night’
Now, you need to understand my world. I am in media, work with artists and music industry people and I travel all over the world making new acquaintances all the time. So I have just under 7 000 contacts on my phone. Last week somebody actually asked me this question and I checked. Nearly 7 000. So these hackers worked through all 7 000 contacts right through the night. I never slept that night. I kept on receiving messages and calls from everybody — it seemed from all over the globe. It never stopped. And when I tried after the 12-hour period to get my account back, no success. Only after 3pm the next day, did I get my WhatsApp back with the help of my son.
- Advertisement -
There were people contacted by the hacker impersonating me who thought I was truly in need. These were mostly older people who do not understand the hacker’s world or intentions. And there were one or two guys who just did not recognise that they were being contacted by hackers. What did amaze me, though, was the hundreds of messages and calls I received from people explaining how they knew that the person who had contacted them was not me. And this was interesting and an eye opener. The hackers started with “Hi, how are you? I have a favor to ask”. So, most people responded with “Hello Julita. So good to hear from you” And then, most of them would continue to tell me how they were. Some long stories and others shorter. And all responded with: “Sure…how can I help?”
But here is where it got interesting. After telling “ME” how they were, “I” never responded to the message, but just continued to ask for money. They immediately knew it was not me, because I am always interested in how they truly are and always friendly and offering some wisdom on the situation or a Scripture or something. But I am always very much interested in each and every person. They all said: ”This was not your character”. And that was the big thing to me. My character. Knowing my character kept people safe. Knowing my character alerted them that something was wrong. Knowing my character helped them to discern.
God’s character
This got me thinking about how often during my life I had been helped by thinking about God’s character. Many times when I was in a difficult situation or going through a really big challenge, God’s character was the thing that kept me going. You see, when you look at a situation with your physical eyes, all you see is the problem and that brings fear. But if you KNOW the character of God, because you have relationship with Him, you know that you know that you know — you are not alone. God is there. And then the fear makes way for God’s peace. You might not see His hand in at at that moment, but you know because of previous experience and because His Word says it, you are not alone. He is there.
You know that He loves you and that His plans for you are good. Because He showed you in the past and His word says it. You cannot see anything good in that situation at that very moment, but you nevertheless know, because you know His character. You also know that everything is really bad now, but this is not the end result, because you can count on God to come through for you, as He has a track record with you and His character has not changed.
So character seems to be a very important thing. We all know it, but I really saw it here. Was it not that I had a certain character, many more people would have fallen victim to the hackers. What it also showed me, is how many people love and support me. Those who lost money were people who immediately just jumped in because they wanted to help me. They care about me. How wonderful is that and to have witnessed all the calls and messages and these payments even! How wonderful to have this in my life! I got to experience it in the here and now and for this, I am so thankful. God works everything for our good. Romans 8 is very clear about that.
So, this then means that we can never ever be at any disadvantage. What the devil means for harm, as you all know, God steps in and turns any bad situation around. And believe me, we have all been in really bad situations. Bad, bad, but He just turns them around. At the end of it all and in retrospect, what seemed so bad turned out so good.
Even in something like the death of someone, which can never feel good, a few years down the line, people will tell you what good came from it. This is an amazing thing. So, whenever the enemy comes with something bad, I immediately ask the Lord how this is going to work for my good, reminding Him of His promise.
From the worst to the best
Where I am today, I can honestly say that the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life, was 15 years ago. But from the perspective of where I am now, it was the best thing that ever happened. I wanted to die then, but God turned it around in such a way, that today I realise it was the best thing ever and that is an amazing thing. It is a peace above all understanding. Because His character is steadfast, you can always trust Him to turn all bad things to work for your good.
Even the people who lost money now — my family and I prayed and asked the Lord to bless them beyond what we can ask for. Their hearts were good. It is not empty seed. They sowed into the hacker’s account and God allowed it. And if you understand that He gives seed to the sower and He allowed this, then what harvest is God expecting among the hackers of this world stealing from people? He does not want one to be lost, so what is God going to do to amidst the world of hackers?? And in time to come, hackers might play an extremely important part in this world and surely God would want His own team of hackers hehehehe. I cannot say. All I know is that God is not a man and He does not think like us. And I always expect ANYTHING amazing from Him heheheeh. If He allowed the hackers to scam my people who are all godfearing people, there is a plan somewhere. Nobody can touch me or any of God’s children without Him allowing it. So hackers — beware!!
I must also laugh. So many of my contacts used the opportunity to share the Gospel to the hackers hahaaha. Did they read it? Did they listen? Who knows. All I know is I am so thankful for this very bad experience. It taught me so much about God and about the people around me and just about life in general. And this is a wonderful thing.
So to the hackers: thank You. And to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus! Oh Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!! How I love you and your ways
Please help us to keep on publishing news that brings Hope in Jesus:
>> Donate >> Become a Super Subscriber
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/gatewaynews100
COMMENTING GUIDELINES
You are welcome to engage with our articles by making comments [in the Comments area below] that add value to a topic or to engage in thoughtful, constructive discussion with fellow readers. Comments that contain vulgar language will be removed. Hostile, demeaning, disrespectful, propagandistic and off-topic comments may also be moved. This is a Christian website and if you wish to vent against Christian beliefs you have probably come to the wrong place and your comments may be removed. Ongoing debates and repetitiveness will not be tolerated. You will also disqualify yourself from commenting if you engage in trolling.
