Tagged: persecution

But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened. At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and afflictions, and at other times you came to share with others who were treated in that way. For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay. But my righteous one will live… Read More

His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:21 The number of secret followers of Jesus worldwide is likely in the millions. The total number is humanly impossible to track, but the Master knows every single one. The persecuted meet in secret because where they live, it is forbidden to follow Jesus. What governments, communities, and families fail to realize is that one cannot stop the redeemed from following their Redeemer. When persecution comes, some rise stronger. Others hide. It is easy to believe from a comfortable distance that those people “over there” are different somehow—holier. However, they would say to… Read More

I just finished Shûsaku Endô’s terribly beautiful book, Silence, about two missionaries who go into 17th century Japan to find their beloved mentor, who is reported to have apostatized under unbearable persecution. It was assumed, even by Endô’s publishers, that Silence was about the silence of God. Yet, for the rest of Endô’s life as he lectured about the book, he stated, “I did not write a book about the silence of God, I wrote a book about the voice of God speaking through suffering and silence.” I did not find God silent in Endô’s book. I found Him speaking generously, tenderly to Father Rodriguez, especially in his most excruciating moments. But perhaps the problem is in our definition of the silence of God. There… Read More

  Now the passage of scripture the man was reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In humiliation justice was taken from him. Who can describe his posterity? For his life was taken away from the earth.” Acts 8:32-33, NET   We need to understand justice through the rough-hewn frame of the Cross. God is the God of Instead, who in His mysterious magnificence practices the beautiful principle of exchange. He takes upon Himself the punishment so that we might receive the reward instead. The justice we long for is beyond our reach. It is too dear, too expensive. Unattainable in human power. Underneath the… Read More

I’ve posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out, reminding God to remember. They are to give him no peace until he does what he said, until he makes Jerusalem famous as the City of Praise. Isaiah 62:1,6-7, MSG She stared up at a straggling strip of plastic trapped in the barbed wire along the top of the gate. Faded birthday balloons once bright and colorful danced across it, mocking her. Today is his birthday, and he’s trapped behind this gate. I wonder if today the guard will keep his promise.  I will wait here until he does what he said. Since her husband was arrested for leading a small house church more than six months ago,… Read More

But during the night, the Lord sent an angel who appeared before them. He supernaturally opened their prison doors and brought the apostles outside. “Go,” the angel told them. “Stand in the temple courts and preach the words that bring life! So early that morning they entered the temple courts and taught the people.  Acts 5:19-20 Go. Stand. Preach the words that bring life. So many words in the world. Words that bring death, and words that bring life. (See Proverbs 18:21). What power we have, we followers of the Word (see John 1). We can preach words that bring life. Have you ever seen anything brought to life? Have you witnessed the birth of a child? The delight of a blossom appearing overnight from snow-bound… Read More

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:1-4 We are called to be a refuge for the persecuted. As I plumped the pillows and smoothed one more thick blanket over the bed, I thought of my persecuted brothers and sisters around the world fleeing from oppression. Racing through the night, seeking shelter, praying for passage. Holding little ones close, hoping they don’t feel the… Read More

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." Revelation 12:10 What’s happening in Afghanistan right now has everything to do with the church. [bctt tweet="As the second-fastest-growing church in the world, Afghan followers of Jesus are precisely in the cross-hairs not only of Taliban guns but, perhaps more gravely, the adversary of the church, the accuser, also called Satan. #persecution #afghanistan " username="audreycfrank"] Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those… Read More

Thou preparest a shulchan before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with shemen (olive oil); my kos (cup) runneth over. Surely tov (goodness) and chesed (lovingkindness) shall follow me kol y’mei chaiyyai (all the days of my life)... --Psalm 23:4-6, Orthodox Jewish Bible Shulchan: (Hebrew) a king’s table, private use, sacred use (Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon; keyed to the "Theological Word Book of the Old Testament"). My table-setter was very busy. The most colorful rug, the one woven by her great-grandmother and carefully cherished and preserved, was the one chosen as a “tablecloth” for eating. I watched as Nadia tenderly unrolled it and placed it on her immaculately clean floor in the center of the room. Next, silk embroidered cushions… Read More

I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. (Isaiah 41:9).Isaiah 41:9 …For I have chosen you and have not thrown you away.Isaiah 41:9b, NLT About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.Acts 16:25 The verse they inscribed in my book was Romans 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. They certainly lived this verse. In fact, they demonstrated its primacy in their hearts by risking their… Read More