Jesus makes it plain that forgiveness is an essential requirement of all prayers. He also makes it abundantly clear that He will respond to all prayers of believers that are operating in obedience to God’s will, which will be the Holy Spirit’s leading.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”Mark 11:24-25
First, go and be reconciled to them” (Matthew 5:23-24). They may not forgive you, of course; they may reject your attempt or react with renewed anger over what you did, but then it becomes their problem, not yours. You will have done everything you could to let them know you regret what happened, and that you want their forgiveness.
Paul makes it clear that God answers humble prayers given with thanksgiving. We can also then be confident that the peace of God will “guard our hearts and minds“.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
See what David has to say about prayer. He loves God because He knows God responds to his prayers. Note what David says about calling on God as long as he lives. Also, note David differentiates between his body and soul.
“I love the LORD because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.” Psalms 116:1-2
“The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, He saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.” Psalms 116:6-7
“For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.” Psalms 56:13
“For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” Psalms 116:8-9
I love the following Scripture on prayer, it tells us so much 1. Rejoice always, 2. Pray without ceasing in allcircumstances, 3. When we do, rejoice, be thankful, and pray we are in the will of God, 4. Do not quench the Holt Spirit within you, 5. Do not despise prophecies (there are about 2000 prophecies of Jesus’ second coming), 6. Test everything, be Bereans, 7. Hold fast to what is good and reject the rest.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.”1 Thessalonians 5:16-21
In modern Australia, you will be feted for mocking Christ but cast out into the social wilderness for saying men are not women. That’s what the stories of Reuben Kaye and Moira Deeming suggest.
Kaye is a self-styled queer comic who was fawned over on ABC’s (Government funded TV channel) Q+A this week for his swipe at the son of God. It was on the Ten Network’s The Project back in February that he told a cheeky crucifixion gag. He said he didn’t understand why Christians had such a problem with him. “I love Jesus,” he said. “I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more.”
The Project hosts giggled awkwardly. Christians were not so amused. Some threatened to protest at his gigs.
The audience on this week’s Q+A was a different affair entirely. They came not to douse this “blasphemer” in holy water but to gush over his supposedly daring Jesus-bashing.
An audience member asked if he thought a straight comic would have caught so much flak for a joke about the crucifixion. Q+A host Patricia Karvelas then read the joke out, for context, eliciting chuckles from the audience. Kaye said, yes, it was because he was a “queer person” that the religious reacted with such spluttering fury to his Jesus joke. They want us to “become invisible”, he said.
The applause was rapturous. He was treated as a valiant warrior for free speech. Chill out, you sad, tragic Christians, and let us say what we want to say – that was the undertone of Kaye’s own puffed-up self-defense and the cheering he received on the ABC.
This is how far we have fallen from a country that still opens parliament with prayer. That practice is not likely to survive much longer. Several of the Labour members and the Greens Party do not enter Parliament until the prayers are finished.
Jesus told us that in the last days, unbelievers will hate us and even worse kill us because we uphold Jesus as Lord of not only this world but the Cosmos.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12
Note what David said in these two Psalms, that he would do. We can at least do the same.
Thank Jesus for what He has accomplished for us – our salvation, recognising how costly it was for Jesus and our Heavenly Father.
Devote ourselves and all we have to His service.
Doing good is sacrifice, with which God is well pleased; and this must accompany giving thanks in His name.
We are not ashamed to be in God’s service and to invite others to join us. Such are true saints of God, in whose lives and deaths He will be glorified.
“What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.” Psalms 116:12-14
“I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!” Psalms 116:17-18
“I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.” Psalms 140:12-13
What about the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. Only one returned to give thanks to Jesus, and He was a Samaritan. Not one of the Jews, members of Jesus’ chosen nation, returned to give thanks.
“And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.Now he was a Samaritan.Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Do we thank God constantly for His Word as Paul and His fellow believers did? Sadly, His church is not even upholding the inerrancy of God’s Word let alone thanking Him for it.
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.“1 Thessalonians 2:13
Our thankfulness glorifies God and makes Him joyful:
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”Psalms 50:23
Puritan John Boys echoed the sentiment of the psalmist: “As the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, so likewise a cheerful thanksgiver.” But God isn’t the only one affected when we give thanks.
A. W. Tozer wrote, “Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it.”
In Choosing Gratitude, Nancy Leigh DeMoss writes, “True gratitude, Christian gratitude, doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it has an Object.”
Check out Psalm 138:1-8 for reasons why you should have a thankful heart
God gives us hundreds of reasons to be grateful every hour— ask Him to make you aware of His gracious provisions surrounding you. The Holy Spirit will oblige. He is your counsellor and teacher. Developing the habit and discipline of gratitude results in greater praise to God and greater joy for ourselves.
When life’s tough, we can be grateful that God is with us in our suffering, that He’s using it for our good, and that He promises to end it once and for all.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-21
Randy Alcorn reported on this study in his article on Thankfulness on the Patheos blog: Psychologists asked undergraduates to complete a survey that included a happiness scale and measures of thankfulness. Over six weeks, the participants wrote down, once a week, five things they were grateful for. This practice had a dramatic effect on their happiness score. The study concluded, “Students who regularly expressed gratitude showed increases in well-being throughout the study.”
Likewise secular books on happiness document gratitude’s role in making people happier. But cultivating gratitude proves difficult for people whose worldview leaves them with nobody to thank! Yes, they can thank someone for loaning them a car or being their teacher. But whom can they thank for sunshine, air to breathe, the capacity to work, and enjoy pleasure? People who don’t believe that a sovereign God is at work through the kindness of others must thank their “lucky stars,” random circumstances, or—at best—other people. Since people are small when compared to God, the object of their gratitude is small, shrinking their capacity for happiness.
God’s common grace offers unbelievers a degree of happiness that’s greatly enhanced through thankfulness. As Christ-followers, however, we find gratitude multiplied when we return it to God, the ultimate and primary source of all goodness.
I suggest you keep a Holy Spirit journal (HSJ) as He is your counsellor, teacher, and comforter. He produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life (Galatians 5:22, all nine) and also provides the spiritual gifts for ministry (1Corinthians 12:4-11, all nine). You might also want to keep a section of the HSJ to record daily, God’s evident goodness around you. You’ll find that in time, you’ll see more and more gifts from Him—not because there are more, but because you’re finally seeing what has been there all along.
God, we know from Biblical prophecies that Jesus second coming to earth, this time to restore righteousness is not too far distant but may we not wait until we see you, Lord Jesus, for our every breath to be filled with gratitude for your saving work on The Cross, the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives along with every other gift you made it possible for the Father to provide. May our hearts overflow with gratitude each day!
The miraculous story of George Foreman, once the Heavyweight Champion of the World is headed to the big screen.
Inside the ring and out, George Foreman was once a man driven by anger and resentment, raging emotions, and driven to become the world heavyweight champion in 1973. Over a decade later, he did it again, but the driving force behind that record-breaking comeback was profoundly different. Foreman walked away from his boxing career for the first time in 1977 after a significant spiritual awakening. Growing up, his mother, a single parent raising 6 children, spoke of God often, a habit of which Foreman was not fond. But those words, seeds planted over time, sprung to life for the boxing champion as he recuperated in his locker room after a fight. “First time around, I was ambitious: I wanted to be heavyweight champion of the world, rich and famous and all that,” Foreman recently told Faithwire. “Then, all of a sudden, I found out there was more to life. I found God on the dressing room table, screaming, ‘Jesus Christ is coming alive in me!’”
After that life-changing conversion, Foreman’s focus was singular: He wanted to preach the Gospel. All of his stories, from growing up in poverty to becoming the two-time heavyweight boxing champion to reinventing himself as an entrepreneur, to stepping into full-time ministry, are chronicled in the new movie, “Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World”.
Many of the lessons he learned in boxing, the now-74-year-old athlete recalled, he channeled into his newfound passion for the Lord. As a scrappy fighter, Foreman had to learn to translate his raw emotion into fine-tuned athleticism. He fought just as hard for his then-burgeoning faith. “I found religion and I realized I was gonna have to fight to be in church on time,” he joked. “It was a fight to keep this thing going, that I would tell the story for as long as I live and not let it get away from me.”
Foreman fought his way to the top of the boxing world, and he battled against faith — until he didn’t. Once he encountered God, Foreman said, “I was gonna fight … to make certain everybody I met knew about it and I didn’t find anything else worthy of my time, other than doing the work of evangelism.” The legendary boxer’s faith is the by-product of his mother’s own devoted relationship with God. Early in his career, he was certain that, so long as he found fame and fortune, she wouldn’t need God, and neither would he. In fact, he thought success would “stop all that praying” his mother did. “But she never stopped praying,” Foreman recalled. “Then I became a minister … and she told me once, ‘At first, I didn’t believe in it. But now, you’re my pastor. I believe in you.’ … She said, ‘You’re my preacher.’ That is the most touching thing that ever happened to me. She believed in me and she believed in what I was doing.”
After years of ministry, Foreman, a one-time boxing champion and Olympic gold medallist, stepped back into the ring with a profoundly different perspective. Bolstered not by anger and resentment but by faith in God, Foreman went on to become the world heavyweight champion a second time in 1994, after defeating 26-year-old Michael Moorer. He still holds the record for the oldest athlete to ever achieve such a feat. Since his salvation, Foreman told Faithwire, his “whole life has been dedicated to evangelism.” In fact, that’s why he returned to boxing, in hopes that regaining such a platform would give him the opportunity to share the Gospel with a greater number of people. “All I want people to understand is … I found God, I found out about Jesus Christ,” he said. “I don’t want that lost. And I think if they go to the movie, they’ll find out there’s more to me than what meets the eye. God is in there.”
Life has meaning and purpose because there are solid, logical reasons why Super-Intelligence (God) is essential for building cell parts and us, and why evolution cannot do it. It is time to teach the true science of life. Atomic Biology is an emerging science that looks at the molecular world today. Ministries with Ph.D. scientists that address this foundational issue are Creation Ministries International (CMI) and Answers in Genesis. Check out their websites.
The Atomic Biology Institute presents the following video as a descriptive introduction to the book, “How We Are Amazingly Made” – by Dr. Jerry Bergman, Thomas W. Rogers, and Dr. Graham McClennan. Also as an introduction to the observable science of Atomic Biology featured in the book.
Evolution, by definition, having no intelligence, should now be officially out of the running as the taught cause of life. In fact, those who are forced to continue teaching that evolution explains the origin and cause of life, are being forced to teach a lie. This will become a growing problem for honest teachers, professors, and education leaders who do not want “Fallacy” to be their “Legacy.“
Another major factor is that because atoms have perpetual, controlled energy supplied, but not ‘Life,’ this has to be added in order for cells to live and function. Without the “breath of life,” cells could not live. Our forefathers understood by common sense, logic, and intuition that supernatural work is performed in creating humans and the food we eat. This is why they gave credit to our Creator for His provision of food and His enormous careful works for each of us every day.
If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. If we are just products of chance and matter, then there is no purpose in history and nothing after death. This robs life of meaning and purpose beyond survival. British evolutionary biologist, and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins (b. 1941) writes: Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of life, has no purpose in mind … It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of a watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.
No wonder we are seeing lawlessness on the increase. Jesus told us that prior to His second coming to earth to restore righteousness that lawlessness will abound and Christians would be persecuted.
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:12-14
Paul also tells us that we need to watch for the coming Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist.
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
Academia, Media, and governments are now deeply opposed to Biblical Christianity. They hold a materialistic worldview (the world is all there is) totally opposed to a Biblical worldview (the world is created by God). Moreover, they have no understanding of God despite God giving us both a conscience to know the difference between right and wrong and the intelligence to perceive the complex design evident in His creation. Moreover, the billions of dead things buried all over the world including fossil fuels are evidence of God’s previous judgement with the flood of Noah’s day. They deny the evidence and ignore God’s Word that reveals that God will pour out His wrath again on an unbelieving world.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20
COMING BOWL JUDGEMENTS (follow the TRUMPET JUDGEMENTS)
“So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”Revelation 16:2-6
They also do not know that they are under the control of a spiritual entity, Satan and that the true battle being waged is a spiritual one. Paul tells us that our battle is a spiritual one and must be handled accordingly:
“For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood].Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ…” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Ephesians 6:13-18
Jerry Bergman is a famous creationist author who has extensively published over many decades and who has taught at several universities. He describes the research that went into this book:
“This project has been for me a lifelong study for which this book is a summary. It is the culmination of four decades of research on the issue of evolution, 41 years of teaching life science at the college level, and over 1,700 publications in 2,400 college libraries in 65 nations and 13 languages” (p. xvii).
In terms of specifics, this work focuses on taxonomy, so-called convergent evolution, irreducible complexity, pseudogenes, and antibiotic resistance. Bergman goes into considerable detail on all of these.
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics: not evolutionary novelties
Evolutionists often cite antibiotic resistance in bacteria as evidence for evolution. It is not. It is a product of the ‘tweaking’ of pre-existing features in the bacteria, which raises the question of how these features arose in the first place
Bergman has examined and deconstructed a variety of ‘pillars’ of evolution. Each one of them contains major flaws. Neither taxonomy nor genetics, for example, compel belief in evolution.
Irreducible Complexity
Evolutionists have caricatured, but not overcome, the fatal problem of irreducible complexity. The best explanation for living things, whether somebody likes it or not, remains an intelligent designer.
Evolutionists have argued that biological systems only appear to be irreducibly complex because these systems once possessed numerous redundancies that enabled the components to function independently from each other. These redundancies have since been removed by evolutionary processes, leaving the remaining components in a state of lockstep dependence upon each other—hence the apparent irreducible complexity.
To begin with, the explanation is ad hoc. There is no evidence for any such one-time grand redundancies, and, if they are going to pooh-pooh the Intelligent Design explanation, the burden of proof is on the evolutionists to show that they once existed. Note also that spot redundancies should not be confused with the hypothesized grand redundancies that presumably governed the whole. In the Krebs cycle, for example, a few of the compounds can be synthesized by alternative pathways. The fact that parts of the Krebs cycle are redundant is very different from saying that the Krebs cycle as a whole is, or once was, redundant. The fact that there are ‘shortcuts’ within the Krebs cycle is very different from suggesting that the entire Krebs cycle can be bypassed by a shortcut. Bergman quips: “Reducing the cycle by one step does not negate the fact that it still requires the remaining parts of the cycle. It would not be irreducibly complex only if a single quark were responsible for the biochemical results that the Krebs cycle achieves” (p. 123).
An analogy with the automobile may help. The car thief can do a ‘shortcut’ around the key-starting system by short-circuiting the wires that lead to the starter motor and driving away the car. This means that, from a mechanical point of view, the keystarting system is redundant. However, this individual redundancy certainly does not mean that the automobile as a whole is a redundant system, much less that the automobile could spontaneously arise, step-by-step, without intelligent design.
We are told that prior to Jesus’ return that there will be a great falling away. Apostasy will be rampant. Already, we are seeing Institutional churches compromising with the world on Biblical inerrancy, gay marriage, and homosexual leadership. The church needs to get back to the House church model expounded in the Book of Acts. Church as God intended. We have seen the effectiveness of the House Church model in China when all Mission groups were expelled at the time Chairman Mao came to power. We are also seeing it in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries where Christians are being persecuted.
Practical House Church Functioning, Disciplining, & Multiplying:
Can I challenge you to search for Biblical answers to the following questions? You will be challenged about the way you think about church.
Why the symbolic elements in the Lord’s Supper are important.
Why wine vs grape juice.
Why a full meal during the Lord’s Supper versus only taking a bit of bread and a cup.
Why have the Lord’s Supper with a full meal every week?
Why does trying to imitate an unbiblical traditional church model kill the Lord’s New Testament house church model?
Why and how we need to have everyone contribute in the Word, the meal, and prayer – how this impacts spiritual growth and discipleship far more than any modern-day, man-made discipleship program.
Why baptism* as described in Scripture is so important. Infant baptism and sprinkling with water do not achieve God’s purpose for baptism.
Why modern traditional churches resist God’s ordinance of head coverings related to men and women praying and prophesying in church versus God’s headship – in church, family, and society.
Why and what about music.
Why teaching children Biblical history including Noah’s worldwide flood versus Evolution and billions of years is so important.
Why about when, how long, and what order of activity during church, and scheduling vs Spirit leading.
Why and what to do about problem people.
Why traditional church leadership & leaders versus N.T. leadership & leaders.
Why, when, where, and with whom should we break off to start another house church.
Can I encourage you to get Jim McCotter’s book Church Revolution Today – How N.T. Christians Reached The World. You will find all the answers you need on church as Jesus intended in Jim’s book.
*The scriptural examples of baptism, such as Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:16) and the Ethiopian eunuch’s baptism in a body of water (Acts 8:36-39), indicate immersion demonstrates one dying to self and emerging a new creation in Christ. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Acts 2:38. This Scripture reveals baptism is a symbolic act representing the cleansing of one’s sins through faith in Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at how Christians are reacting in real-time to Great Tribulation-like persecution. The primary responses we see in Arab Spring countries, some of which Jesus endorsed, include:
1. Running from the persecutors.
2. Remaining on-site and taking up arms.
3. Remaining on-site and insisting on legal protection.
4. Yielding to persecutors while actively ministering to them
Option 1: This has occurred in several Middle Eastern countries over the past decade and threatens the extinction of Christianity in that region of the world. Even prominent government leaders are beginning to acknowledge this fact. Option 2: Sadly, this option has gained a little headway, due to calls like Greek Orthodox Bishop Lukas al-Khoury in Syria to have Christians take up arms “to protect Syria, churches, and convents.” Some believers undoubtedly have, but the loudest voices have decried this exhortation, saying that it violates the spirit of Christianity. Syrian Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo responded to the call to arms in this way: “As men of the Church, we cannot incite Christians to take up arms and to take part in the conflict. We cannot say these things; it is insane. It goes against the gospel and Christian doctrine.” I have not come across any reports that indicate Syrian Christians are standing and being resistant militarily to Islamist attacks.
Jesus certainly didn’t condone option 2 as He spoke in Matthew 24. He recommended option 1, in this specific circumstance: “Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.” Matthew 24:16-20
But in other passages involving persecution, He argued for option 4. Christ never encourages a running towards martyrdom. Paul, too, never seemed to advocate seeking to be killed for Christ’s sake. Rather, he fled several times when he knew that his life was threatened, twice within the space of a few verses in Acts 9 (Acts 9:25, 30; 14:6, 17:10)! We know of Paul purposefully leaving at least four towns because of threats to his life. If you count other places where he left soon after starting an uproar, that number could climb to nearly ten. Don’t let anyone tell you that Paul never ran. He did! Self-preservation, the most basic human instinct, seems to be compatible with sold-out Christian living. I think we can make a very strong biblical case for running in the midst of persecution. In a similar way, I do not see convincing biblical evidence for having a death wish and actively seeking martyrdom, something Muslims do to “guarantee” a place in paradise. God does not call us to be cowardly, but Christ Himself advocated flight, and Paul lived out that commandment many times in his ministry. Remember these truths when the heat turns up and someone near you is insisting that God wants everyone to stand and fight, be outgunned, and go down in a blaze of glory. Once you are gone from this earth, you are gone, and you won’t be able to win anyone else to Christ. You also might leave your family heartbroken and in great need. We need to be careful that we don’t adopt a martyr complex, as Muslims have heartily done around the world.
Reverend Khalil Fawzi, the pastor of the largest evangelical congregation in the Middle East, Kasr El Dobara Evangelical Church, said recently that Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Egypt want to begin a civil war and would be helped in their quest by Christians turning violent. “They hoped the Christians will retaliate by killing and a civil war would start. I praise Christians for their patriotic attitude.”
Turkey’s defense of its mass killing of Armenians in the early twentieth century is a prime example. So if we do stand and fight, Muslims will have an easy out for killing men, women, and children who would otherwise be innocent bystanders.
Options 3 & 4: We can learn much from our brothers and sisters in the Middle East who have selected options 3 and 4. Here are the primary lessons I see from where Christians are being persecuted by Muslims: 1. They understand once and for all that the church is not a building. Two days after the famed Archangel Michael Church was destroyed in Cairo, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II reminded his flock of what Jesus preached: “If the hands of evil kill, destroy and torch, then God’s hands are greater and they build. Christ’s commandments to us are to love your enemy, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who abuse you.” The reaction to this charge, and other similar exhortations, has been Christians calmly meeting for worship in the areas of their churches that have not been completely burned to the ground, as seen in the 60 Minutes segment on Coptic Christians. The moving sight of Christians sitting in a room with one wall missing and the smell of burned wood still lingering, worshipping Jesus in a simple service, speaks volumes about understanding that the church is not a building. I think many Americans have come to realize this truth, as small groups have gained popularity over the past twenty years or so. That is a good realization to hold onto because we could very well come to a time when we are not allowed to meet in buildings.
Ralph Stice, author of Arab Spring, Christian Winter recounts this story: “I was struck by this possibility as I toured a literal underground church in Turkey’s Cappadocia region, mentioned in Acts 2:9 and 1 Peter 1:1. Our Muslim tour guide took us down a hole through which the four members of my family could barely squeeze. We walked among intricate hallways carved from stone and were told where meals were prepared and where people slept. It was an incredible experience to imagine living under the earth with brothers“.
In these last days as persecution intensifies we need to heed the warnings of Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25. Be watchful. Be ready. Be found faithful. Be on His mission, to spread the Good News.
Remember, Biblical prophecy tells us that Jesus is coming back and we are already seeing many of the prophecies playing out in our time. You can use these prophecies in your evangelism efforts to show unbelievers that God’s Word is true. We know the end of the story and for believers it is wonderful but for unbelievers, they will undergo the terrible wrath of God; the Trumpet Judgements outlined in Revelation 8 and the Bowl Judgements outlined in Revelation 16.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 