We've got it all wrong, people! We've got it all wrong!

Christians in the West! How is it that the trumpet is sound for homosexuality, liberal Christians crying for such abominations to be accepted in the church and yet not one word is being said about our suffering brethren in North Korea, in Muslim countries and probably soon in Western countries?! Or is it not politically correct to cry out against such this injustice and attrocities. Are we going to go down in history as the next generation that KEPT QUIET while others were murdering Christians, while others promote iniquity in the church?

Oh, and when something disturbs OUR peace, we are very schocked... and when there is a terror in Western country, the whole world has to know! BUT who cares about those places where hundreds of people die DAILY?! Why are we so selective with the information? Why we who are so blessed with peace, freedom and riches should be like strangers for our persecuted brethren. I think of the priest and the levite who passed by the man, who was attacked and so bad injured that he would die, if nobody took care! What did they taught about it? "I don't want to become unclean, don't want to ruin my image..." Or do we think "It is not politically correct?" to help our brothers and sisters?...

Well, I do not know what you think about it but we've got to get first serious about Christ, and I mean - even unto death. And then when you thus sing: "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back." - throw yourself in the work God has before you and don't fear you could LOSE or WASTE your life, because:
1) God never loses things! And apart that from even if you die in the process, you've lost your life long ago... when you gave it to Jesus!
2) God never wastes things! Nothing is waste that is in His hands!

We must be soldiers! And I think it is inevitable that some people would count us crazy if we thus profess to stick to Christ and follow Him. Brother Richard Wurmbrand said: "23 people were pronounced by the court as lunatics, just because they were believers. The Communists themselves publish that the sign of their lunacy is that they pray for a long period of time! Long prayer is a sign for lunacy! ... The Christians in West Germany can be sure, they will not go to psychiatric hospitals (asylum) because they don't pray long!" We all know that not the duration of the prayer makes it prayer, but do we LOVE to pray? To speak with our God and Father... or is it like "oh, ya and we have to say a prayer before starting the day... because I have to be good Christian."

How we've twisted the gospel?! How we've turned it into means for gain, good morals, good image?! How a very unbiblical image of God is being built up by the church today! Almost... a God that "understands" everything, accepts everything, "tolerates" everything and definitely is not going to punish anybody in hell because he is so "good"?!

No wonder that the world and liberal "Christians" will see all those who are carrying the cross in their hearts not just on their necks, as "other-worldly" or even crazy. And it comes the time, dear brethren, when we have to fight for the faith, come what may! We should have been doing this all the time but, alas we fell asleep! We've thought that these wonderful peaceful days will continue forever and almost got to the point where the purpose of our lives is to become successful, popular, loved ... whatever but not to fulfill the will of God, and not to fight for His kingdom. But it's all about HIM, isn't it?

And we have to fight! GOD HIMSELF will see to it that this battle will be won, for His holy name's sake! Amen!

___Are we going to go down in history as the next generation that KEPT QUIET while others were murdering Christians, while others promote iniquity in the church?___

No my sister.

___BUT who cares about those places where hundreds of people die DAILY?___

I do.

Esther I moderate, along with other call leaders, the only prayer call in the North American continent that stands in the gap for the persecuted church and the global harvest of souls. This prayer ministry is called Persecution Watch. I have a team that has faithfully met for eight years, going into our ninth year, calling out for our persecuted brothers and sisters. We do this 3 nights a week. I would invite you to come and pray with us but I see you live in Germany. But if you would send me an email I will be glad to send you information about our call. My email is in my profile.

My sister I understand, more than anybody in this forum, your frustration and your heart cry. I have encountered it as one of the few lone voices crying out for the persecuted church. The lack of response in this forum regarding our persecuted brethren is basically reflecting the reality of the western church. For to be concerned about the persecuted believers is to come face-to-face with the cross of Jesus Christ. And that is something that Western Christian simply don't want to do.

If you remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer encountered such silence in your own nation of Germany. He and a few other pastors were the only voices crying out against the slaughter of the Jews. They were doing this as the rest of the Germans church were staying silent. Bonhoeffer reminds us of the silence of the church in this quotation,

___Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. God will not hold us guiltless. To not speak is to speak. To not act is to act.___

Esther there are few of us who are crying out for the persecuted. There are few of us who are raising our voices on there behalf. There are a few of us who are praying. Despite the scorn of some. There are a few of us who will not let our persecuted brothers and sisters be forgotten. For truly the ones who are following Christ are those who are in the shadow of the cross.

Bro Blaine

You hit the nail on the head with this,

"How a very unbiblical image of God is being built up by the church today! Almost... a God that "understands" everything, accepts everything, "tolerates" everything and definitely is not going to punish anybody in hell because he is so "good"?!"


The problem is stated well in this excerpt;

“The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of fundamentalist Christians. They might hedge around the question if they were asked bluntly to declare their position, but their conduct gives them away. They are facing both ways, enjoying Christ and the world, gleefully telling everyone that accepting Jesus does not require them to give up their fun — Christianity is just the jolliest thing imaginable. The “worship” growing out of such a view of life is as far off center as the view itself — a sort of sanctified nightclub without the champagne and the dressed-up drunks.
This whole thing has grown to be so serious that it is now the bound duty of all Christians to reexamine their spiritual philosophy in the light of the Bible. Having discovered the Scriptural way, they must follow it, even if to do so, they must separate themselves from much that they had accepted as real, but which now in the light of truth is seen to be false.
A right view of God and the world to come requires that we have a right view of the world in which we live and of our relationship to it. So much depends upon this that we cannot afford to be careless about it.”

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), “This World: Playground or Battleground?”, p.4.

I strongly encourage all readers on this forum to get a hold of the "Behold Your God" study series. It is not like any other study I have ever been introduced to. Please check it out.

See the thread in the SI forum as I have bumped it up.

Brother,

I didn't mean to offend anybody who prays about it. I just felt that we really have wrong understanding of what it means to be a Christian! (-and please I mean the majority pf "Christians" in the West and not those of you who really love and follow Him, no matter what it costs!


I will try to get in contact with you, just I don't have much time for writing now.

Savannah,
Thanks for your reference! I am sure the studies couöd be a blessing (although not all people can afford it...) But perhaps thats just my perspective.

God bless you!

If you were to contact John Snyder personally and let him know that you could not afford it, he'd be happy to help get the study to you.

May God bless His people as He sees fit.

___I didn't mean to offend anybody who prays about it___

Sister I was not offended by your heart lament. I just wanted you to know that there are few of us who do see the plight of the persecuted. I just want you to know that there are few of us who are standing in the gap on their behalf.

But again I was not offended in the least by your heart cry. If anything I was encouraged that somebody else sees the plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters.

Much blessing be upon you, my sister.

Bro Blaine

Brother Blaine,

I could not find your email. Would you post it here? Or you can also directly email me (my email is on my profile page).

Savannah,

Thanks for that! ... although honestly, I sometimes feel even a debtor because we in the West have so much, so much materials. I just hope that it would not be for our condemnation (Matthew 11:20-24) and that we, by the grace of God, live up to the light He has given us.

Yet, the saying remains true: "do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?"

God bless you! Thanks again!

Jesus said that in this world you will face persecution/trouble and as a Christian you will be hated by this world for His name sake. What we expect as a Christians in 21st century to be treated better than those Apostles who died for the Gospel?

You are right emestiu. But I think we often forget in the West that we are in a battlefield. God became for many a luxury rather than necessity. The Cross is a sign, we are proud of and yet through mingling with the world in many churches, and in the lives of many Christians it is only a symbol. Something that hangs on the wall or the neck but not in the heart.

And therefore IMO when such liberal "Christians" face fundamental serious Christian - they think that these are "strange" and have gone too far. As I said, people have developed absolutely false image of God - and therefore have wrong understanding of His demands, His severity, His judgment, His holiness (and His command toward us - "Be ye holy").

"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him"

"No wonder that the world and liberal "Christians" will see all those who are carrying the cross in their hearts not just on their necks, as "other-worldly" or even crazy."

Well said, dear sister. The fact is, a true born-again spirit-filled follower of our Lord IS other-worldly. Those who demonstrate the evidence of the absolute sovereign Lordship of Christ in our profession AND conduct will be "not of this world". We are a part of a heavenly kingdom, that which is not by observation. The true litmus test would be the tension and the groaning in our spirits, longing to leave this world and go home to heaven, yet knowing that we have a work to do in proclaiming the gospel while we are here. There should not be too much comfort and familiarity with this present world.

_________________
Renee