Poster | Thread |
| Re: Jeff | | Indeed brother. I have read both books. Both have opened my eyes to the realities of the persecuted Church. Indeed both books are a must-read. Though the content may be disturbing to some. The stories are incredible and true.
Brother Blaine |
| 2016/7/10 22:38 | |
| Re: | | Yeah, definitely Blaine, that too. Both issues on the heart of God for which not to speak is itself evil. Totally agreed brother |
| 2016/7/10 22:50 | |
| Re: Monday Morning, June 11, 2016 | | . ... For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day and not only for me, but also all who have loved His appearing.
Our brothers and sisters in persecuted nations would read the above verses in be encouraged. For they see in the Apostle Paul their own testimony. What persecuted believer in North Korea or Eritrea or Somalia would not say that they are being poured out as a drink offering? What persecuted believer in China or Iran would not say that they have run the race, they have kept the faith, they have finished the course? What persecuted believer in Somalia today would not say that there is waiting for them a crown of righteousness that they will receive when they are bathed in the blood of martyrdom?
My brother or sister in the west can we make such a statement as the Apostle Paul made in the above verses? Can we make such statements as our brothers and sisters would make in restricted nations? Can we say that we are being poured out as drink offerings as the time of our departure grows near? Can we say that there is waiting for us a crown of righteousness?
Sobering questions which call for sobering answers for us in the West.
Never did the church so much prosper and so truly thrive as when she was baptized in the blood. The ship of the church never sails so gloriously along as when the bloody spray of her martyrs falls on her deck. We must suffer and we must die, if we are ever to conquer this world for Christ." - Charles Spurgeon
From the shadow of His cross. |
| 2016/7/11 7:47 | |
| Re: Thursday Morning, July 14, 2016 | | . ... They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God...John 16:2
...Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. So let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach...Hebrews 13:12-13
The Anabaptists were a group of Jesus followers who came out of the Reformation. Traditional church history has not been fair to this precious group of saints. These believers suffered much for their faith in Jesus Christ. They suffered much for their belief in the truth.
The brothers and sisters of Anabaptist suasion saw that believers in Jesus Christ were to be baptized only and not infants. They saw that the church was a group of saints who voluntarily committed their lives to Jesus. They saw that this church was separate from the world and the state. This put them at odds with the Catholic and Protestant Church State institutions of their time. Thus they were persecuted horribly by both the Catholic and the Protestant church state structures.
Michael Sattler was one of the young leaders of the Anabaptists. He was converted out of the darkness of Catholicism being the assistant prior of an Abbey. Coming to evangelical convictions of the Anabaptists, he arose to become one of their leaders. Michael Sattller was captured by the Catholics and horribly tortured. Eventually he would be martyred.
There is an account where the Catholic cardinal who was Prosecuting Michael became so angry. He said "I would put you to death and sleep at night and think that I was doing God a service."
I do not know if these are the exact words as I am trying to remember them from the movie, The Radicals. But hopefully I have captured the gist of the scene of that movie.
We certainly see this where the religious leadership put Jesus to death. And many of them probably slept that night not knowing that they were crucifying the Son of God. Duribg the Reformation how many Protestant and Catholic church leaders put evangelical brothers and sisters to death and went to their beds that night with a clear conscience believing they had done God a service?
Even in recent times we see the Orthodox church collaborating with the Communists to put Christians in prison and to death. In Central Asia the Orthodox Church will collaborate with an oppressive Soviet-style government to put the Evangelical Christians in prison, and no doubt put to death.
Jesus warned that a man's enemies will be the enemies of his own household. I realized he was speaking of physical families. But is it possible that the enemies of the persecuted will be those in their own ranks. Paul did warn that savage wolves would come in to the church not sparing the body. Even Jesus was betrayed by one of His own.
We look at the spread of Islam. Knowing what the Muslims believe we know that they are clearly enemies of the Gospel. The same can be said of the Communist or the Hindus or the Buddhist. Even the secular humanist. But the hardest enemy to discern will be those within our own ranks.
I believe as the church in America grows more apostate. The true remnant will be forced out of the existing evangelical structure. Those who truly cling to Christ and His cross will be betrayed by those they thought who are their brothers and sisters.
Dear saints let us be prepared to join our persecuted brothers and sisters in other parts of the world to go outside the camp and suffer with Jesus. Let us not be surprised when we are betrayed by those we thought who were our brothers and sisters. Let us not be surprised when we are put outside of the existing structured Church. For our true fellowship may be with those dear saints who are in the death camps. For these will be the ones who will truly suffer with Jesus and lay down their lives for him.
From the shadow of His cross.
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| 2016/7/14 6:10 | |
| Re: Friday Morning, July 15, 2016 | | . ... Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach... Hebrews 13:12-13
Hebrews is a book written against the backdrop of persecution. There were precious saints who were coming under persecution by those of the Jews. So the temptation for these believers would be to go back to Judaism to avoid the persecution.
This temptations is before our brothers and sisters today in restricted nations. For the Muslim or Hindu who has had an experience with the Lord Jesus Christ and chooses to follow Him. There will be the temptation from family members to return to the faith from which they left to follow Christ. Particularly as persecution comes up on the new believer in Jesus. There will be the temptation to return to his religion and family. There will be the temptation to return to avoid the persecution.
Yes Jesus suffered outside the camp. He is inviting those who follow him to come and suffer. He is inviting those who follow Him to take up His cross which is a sign of reproach. In the words of Bonhoeffer when Jesus bids a man to come to Him he bids him come and die.
Yet this is one aspect of following Jesus. That is following Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. This is very strange for us in the West. We would rather take the first two parts of Philippians 3:10 where Paul says I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. But to know Jesus in the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death strikes at the heart of our flesh. It strikes at the heart of our flesh because we come face-to-face with a cross.
The persecuted understand this. They come face-to-face with the cross daily. A pastor may kiss his beloved wife in a restricted nation and say "My beloved wife I pray I see you by the end of this day. But if not, I will see you in heaven." This is not being morbid. But this pastor has accepted the fact that his life is forfeit for the Lord Jesus Christ. That this day could very well be his last day on this earth. A terrorist attack or a bomb blast could very well send him into the presence of Jesus. This is the reality of what our brothers and sisters live out in places like the Middle East.
Our persecuted brothers and sisters have accepted the invitation to go outside the camp the camp of their family the camp of their religion, and suffer the reproach of carrying the cross of Christ. They have chosen to camp in The fellowship of His sufferings at the foot of the cross. Brothers and sisters are we willing to do the same.
Truly from the shadow of His cross |
| 2016/7/15 6:31 | |
| Re: Further Food for Thiught | | . Your soul was bought for a price far greater than the world on the cross; everything Satan offers you in exchange for your soul is from the world and absolutely worthless.
John 3:16 Felix Wantang, God's Blueprint of the Holy Bible
...But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world...Galatians 6:14
Truly from the foot of His cross |
| 2016/7/15 8:42 | |
| Re: Friday Afternoon, July 15, 2016 | | . "Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us."― John R.W. Stott
The above quote by our departed brother in Christ is so true. All throughout the New Testament the emphasis is not so much on apprehending the benefits what has been done for us at the cross. But the emphasis is more to take up our cross and follow Jesus. All too often we want the benefits of the cross. But all to seldom we want to take up the demands of the cross. That is for us in America.
Again for a persecuted believer living in North Korea or Somalia, they willingly take up the cross to follow Jesus. For in their sufferings to follow Him they are in the school of suffering of Jesus Himself.
Again this is very strange for us in American Christendom. For we are so attached to the things of this world. A brother from a restricted nation remarked that it is far more challenging to be a Christian in America than in a persecuted nation. Mainly that Satan is far more clever to seduce the Christiane by worldly attractions.
In the last few posts I have been meditating on Hebrews 13:12-13,
... Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing his reproach...
Jesus is inviting those who follow Him to come outside the camp and come to a cross. To come to a cross of reproach. To come to a cross of death.
But notice He is saying to come outside the camp. In a sense He's calling for for us to separate, from the camp of this world. He's inviting us to come to his cross and die to the things of this world.
1 John 2:15-17 says,
... Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also it's lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever...
But then how do we not love the things of this world. Consider what our brother Paul wrote in Galatians 6:14,
... But may never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world...
If we truly want to see what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us at the cross. Then let us take up our cross to follow Him.
From the foot of His cross.
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| 2016/7/15 13:41 | |
| Re: Friday Evening. Juky 15, 2016 | | . What encourages us to preach the gospel in captive nations is that, there, those who become Christians are full of love and zeal. I have never met one single lukewarm Russian Christian. Former young Communists and Muslims become exceptional disciples of Christ...
Whoever has known the spiritual beauty of the underground church cannot be satisfied anymore with the emptiness of some Western churches...
One out of every five people in the world live in Communist China, where thousands of lay Christians evangelize without "permission."
Persecution has always produced a better Christian--a witnessing Christian, a soul-winning Christian.
Communist persecution has backfired and produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are rarely seen in free lands.
These people cannot understand how anyone can be a Christian and not want to win every soul they meet...
These millions of dedicated, true and fervent believers in the lay church have been purified by the very fires of persecution which the Communists hoped would destroy them...
In a letter smuggled out secretly, the underground church said, "We don't pray to be better Christians, but that we may be the only kind of Christians God means us to be: Christlike Christians, that is, Christians who bear willingly the cross for God's glory."
...Richard Wormbrandt...
From the foot of His cross. |
| 2016/7/15 21:19 | |
| Re: Saturday Morning, July 16, 2016 | | . ... Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach...Hebrews 13:12-13
... But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ... 2 Corithians 11:3
As I read about the persecuted church and those rare times I have met persecuted believers from the front lines, I'm struck by their simple and pure devotion to Jesus. These brothers and sisters do not have theological degrees from leading seminaries. They honestly could not tell you what a logical fallacy is. They could not expand to you Van Tillian presuppositionalism. These precious saints would be scoffed at by some in the forum here because of their theological ignorance.
But these precious brothers and sisters would be characterized by one thing. They would stand out as having been with Jesus. They would stand out because they carry within them the Living Word himself. They would stand out because they are in the shadow and at the foot of the cross. Indeed they would stand out because they carry the cross of Jesus for His glory.
There is a sweet preciousness in the saint that has gone through the fires of persecution and suffering. There is a brokeness in them that manifests the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Jesus in their lives. The scriptures tell us that as Mary broke the bottle or vial of perfume in preparation to anoint Jesus the fragrance filled the whole room. So as the persecuted are broken before the Lord as a sacrifice to Him, we too can smell their fragrance.
In Hebrews 13:12-13 the exhortation is to go out to Him. So simple, yet so profound. The exhortation to believers is to go to Jesus. Even in the midst of their persecutions and afflictions, the believers are to go out to Jesus. The exhortation is not to go to theology or sound doctrine or even go to the Bible. The exhortation is simply to go to Jesus.
Yet the enemy will seek the draw one away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. The enemy will seek to draw one into fruitless discussions on logical fallacies, Van Tillian presuppositions, or nen ruling over women. And these are considered godly discussions?
The persecuted are not drawn into such discussions. For them their concern is staying at the foot of the cross. For them their concern is the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus in carrying that cross.
I wonder if our discussions in the forum would not be better served if we encouraged one another to stay at the foot of the cross. Indeed to encourage one another to carry the cross along with our persecuted brothers and sisters.
My thoughts this morning from the foot of the cross.
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| 2016/7/16 6:26 | |
| Re: | | So, dwelling at the 'foot of the cross' includes judgementalism concerning those, like the apostle Paul, who are called to discern and call out error and misinterpretation of scripture, for not having the 'simple faith' that these so called paragons have? Blaine your halo is slipping. We do not have the same callings in our walk and have no right to criticise the work of others in their service.
I am not saying that l have this calling by the way. |
| 2016/7/16 11:36 | |
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