The Eyes of a Woman

 

 

Their eyes...their eyes can speak volumes...of the hope that is in each female for someone to love her, protect her, tell her she is important. They plead for justice, equality and liberation. They show strength of character, determination and love for her family. They can also convey loss, fear, hopelessness and despair.

Jesus saw this in the eyes of the widow whose son had just died (Luke 11:1), the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), the woman caught in adultery (John 8) and so many others throughout His time on earth. Their eyes spoke volumes about their suffering. And His heart was moved with tenderness and compassion for them. He reached out to not only heal and free them but to touch them and call them "daughter" (Matthew 9:22). 

He broke all societal norms in His inclusion and outreach toward women. He elevated the status of women more than any other human ever has. It is a testament to the power of the Gospel that where true, heartfelt Christianity spreads, women and girls benefit.
One such example can be seen in the life of William Carey, missionary to India. 

"William Carey," argues an (Indian) female social science scholar, "was the first man to stand against both the ruthless murders and widespread oppression of women, virtually synonymous with Hinduism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The male in India was crushing the female through polygamy, female infanticide, child marriage, widow-burning, euthanasia and forced female illiteracy, all sanctioned by religion. The British Government timidly accepted these social evils as being an irreversible and an intrinsic part of India's religious mores. 

Carey began to conduct systematic sociological and scriptural research. He published his reports in order to raise public opinion and protest both in Bengal and England. He influenced a whole generation of civil servants, his students at Fort William College, to resist these evils. 

Carey opened schools for girls. When widows converted to Christianity, he arranged marriages for them rather than allowing them to be burned alive. It was Carey's persistent 25 year battle against sati that finally led to Lord Bentinck's famous Edict in 1829, banning one of the most abominable of all religious practices in the world: "widow-burning." (Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi).

Today, the eyes that haunt me most are those of Muslim women and girls. Their fate is similar, in many ways, to the Indian women of Carey's time. Polygamy, female infanticide, child marriage, honor killings and forced female illiteracy, all sanctioned by religion. Yet the American government, in many ways, seems to mirror the British government by timidly accepting these social evils as being an irreversible and an intrinsic part of Muslim religious mores. 

Why? Political correctness, fear of being named racist or intolerant of Islam? 

Whatever the reason, as in the time of William Carey, it is not going to be the government of America, or any other nation, that speaks up for the Muslim women. It MUST be the Church. 

We must allow God to break our hearts for these women and girls. We must pray for them...especially that they would find Isa (Jesus), the One who loves them and can provide them with hope they have never known. We must reach out to Muslim women in our area...ask God to show you one or two and then pray for them and become their friends.

Their eyes...they can speak of pain that an American woman can not even fathom, but they can also speak of peace and joy that only Jesus, the lover of their souls, can give them. 

The Future Church

How different will the world of 2050 be compared with today? We can’t know, but we can project some possibilities based on what is happening now. This can shape our prayers.

Some projections for 2050:

• One third of the world will still call itself ‘Christian.’

• Islam will grow fast (because of high birthrates) and will become almost the same size as the Christian community.

• Every other faith community – Hindus, Buddhists, followers of Chinese religions – will be a smaller slice of the population than today.

• The non-religious part of the world will also shrink because of low birthrates.

• There will the same number of under- 15s as there are today (around two billion), but over-60s will climb from under a billion today to more than two billion in 2050.

• Half the world lives in a city today; in 2050 that could be two-thirds.

• Four out of ten Christians will live in sub-Saharan Africa, and eight out of ten will be from the Global South. The growth or decline of a faith community is mostly due to birthrates and not

conversions.

How will the world be different in 2050? Apart from all the unknowable things (including plague or war or mass turnings to Christ) it looks like the Church should expect a world with many more Muslims, elderly people and city dwellers.

• Christ has been building his Church for 50 generations. Pray that in this coming generation the Church will grow wider and deeper than ever before.
  

  
  

Church in Africa Today

In Africa today, the burden of poverty has eased in the last 20 years. Mother and child health, take-up of primary education, and access to clean water and electricity have been transformed in most countries. Deaths from malaria have halved, and the AIDS epidemic is being tamed. But this follows decades of stagnation. Africa is still the poorest continent. Thirty-seven of the world’s 40 poorest countries are African – a lingering injustice.

Africa’s youth are a fifth of all the young people in the world and they may grow to be a third by 2050. These young people as disciples of Jesus could be a power for good; unemployed and angry they could be the fuel for civil wars. Africa’s Church is a light to the world. Already, one in four of the world’s Christians is an African. This could rise to four in 10 by 2050. In great prayer meetings, in faithfulness to the Bible, in starting new churches at home and overseas, Africans are changing the world.

• Pray for wise, honest leaders in every African sphere, in politics, church and business.
• Pray for Africa’s women. More than a third suffer domestic violence, and they are denied equality almost everywhere: in education, health-care, employment.
• Pray for a great turning to Christ in Africa’s many Muslim peoples.

Sources: Africa Development Bank; Pew Research Center; Status of Global Christianity 2018; Human Development Report 2018; Operation World.

Praying for the World is a free weekly prayer guide to inspire and inform the whole Church to pray for the whole world. Visit www.lausanne.org/pray to start any week. Created through

the partnership of Operation World and the Lausanne Movement.

Christian Persecution in Christian Colombia?

Would you be surprised to know that a country where more than 90% of the people claim to be Christian is also one of the top 50 countries where it is the most dangerous to follow Jesus? Open Doors, an organization that tracks persecution of the church puts out a yearly list of the 50 most dangerous countries to follow Jesus – in 2019’s “Watch List,” the country of Columbia, in South America, comes in at #47. How can a country that is almost entirely “Christian” still be a dangerous place to be a follower of Jesus?

One of the main reasons that Christians in Columbia are targeted is because they choose to genuinely follow Jesus. Even though a historic peace agreement between the government and anti-government rebels was signed after more than 50 years of fighting, there are troubling signs that the peace deal is not working as well as hoped, and in September of this year the president of Columbia launched a new crackdown against the opposition groups.

So, what does a government conflict have to do with Christians? These anti-government groups often rely on brutal guerilla warfare to survive, and plenty of illegal activity to fund themselves, such a drug production and trafficking. When someone from one of these groups, or someone who lives where they have control begins to truly follow Jesus, they won’t take part in any drug deals anymore, and will encourage others not to do it. Those who have participated in the violence will denounce it, and will try to defend the weak and the powerless. In areas where everyone has to pay protection money, some pastors will refuse to do so on behalf of their churches, and will encourage young men not to join these groups. As you may imagine, decisions like these “ruin” the business. The situation is serious: at least four pastors in Columbia have been assassinated this year already. A recent study by the mayor’s office in the capital city of Bogotá show that over a 3-year period almost 13% of all pastors in the capital city have received death threats.

Another challenging issue unrelated to the drug cartels is that even with the majority of the people at least claiming to be “Christian,” a significant minority of people are indigenous, following ancestral beliefs, including witchcraft. When people from these groups come to faith in Jesus, they face significant persecution from their communities, which can include harassment, threats and violence.

Pray for believers in Columbia, both for those making bold stands against the guerilla groups and drug cartels and also for those who are persecuted by their own indigenous communities. Pray for peace in the country, and an end to the injustices that exist there!

The State of Our World Today - 2020

If the world was a village of 100 people, 33 would claim to be Christians; 24 would be Muslims, 14 Hindus, 7 Buddhists, 6 would follow Chinese religions, 11 would be non-religious and there would be a handful of others.

The proportion of the world that claims to be Christian has been much the same for a century or more. But many things have changed through that time:

1. The Church has spread more widely. There are now groups of believers in every country.

2. The Christian faith has grown much stronger in the Global South. Millions of Christians have
been born across Africa and Asia. Many cultural Catholics in Latin America have met Christ in
Pentecostal, charismatic and other evangelical churches.

3. In its former heartlands, particularly in Europe, the Christian movement has declined.

4. Pentecostals and charismatics have changed the composition of the Church. Almost zero in 1900,
they now make up more than a third of all Christians.

5. The Church has grown despite opposition and persecution in countries like China, India, Sudan,
Vietnam, Iran, Algeria, Albania and Mongolia.

6. Some of the fiercest persecution has been followed by the largest church growth. The Cultural
Revolution in China was a deadly attack on all religions. Fifty years later, around
100 million Chinese have joined the Church, the greatest turning to the Christian faith in history (so
far).

7. Thousands of people have turned to Christ in Muslim countries in the last 30 years. This has
never happened before.

Let us pray that this year we will ‘always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, knowing
that our labour in the Lord is not in vain’ (see 1 Corinthians 15:56).

Information from Praying for the World

Ulfilas - Prophet to the Goths

Ulfilas shares the Gospel with Gothic
tribe members

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."  Matthew 24:14

We are continuing to look at the lives of missionaries through the ages. It is my hope that you will be encouraged and strengthened in your faith as you see God's hand working through the lives of ordinary people as they followed the will of an extraordinary God.

Ulfilas     (311-381 AD)

Born nearly 300 years after Jesus lived on the earth, his mother was from a Gothic tribe and his father, who may have been a Christian, was captured by Gothic raiders. Although little is known about his early life, except that he grew up in captivity, at some point Ulfilas accepted Christ as his savior and began to have a burden to bring the good news of Jesus to the war-hungry Gothic tribes who were constantly invading the Roman empire, carrying away slaves and wrecking havoc.

At the age of 30 he was appointed a bishop by the Church. In time, he left the Roman empire to bring the Gospel to the tribal people who had captured his father. He spent the next 40 years among them, teaching them about Jesus. This could not have been an easy task. At one point he, and his congregation, were forced to relocate due to persecution. 

Not only did he share Christ with them, he became one of the first people to translate the Bible into their native tongue. "Since the Goths had no written language, Ulfilas was compelled to invent an alphabet. He reduced Gothic sounds to writing. The first great piece of literature which the people of these vast nations, lying north of the empire's frontiers, looked upon was the Bible,"  Church History

He translated "all the books of Scripture with the exception of the Books of Kings, which he omitted because they are a mere narrative of military exploits, and the Gothic tribes were especially fond of war, and were in more need of restraints to check their military passions than of spurs to urge them on to deeds of war"  Catholic Encyclopedia "The greatest struggle this apostle had with the Goths, as he informs us, was not so much the destruction of their idolatry as it was the banishment of their warlike temper. They, however, made great progress in replacing their passion for martial campaigns with a settled, organized government and the upbuilding of their civilization," Church History

At this time, Constantine, the father of the current emperor of Rome, had become a Christian and so the Roman empire was now Christian. The Roman empire began to spread Christianity, often as a means to subdue a conquered people. Thus, while Rome may have seen the work of Ulfilas as a way to spread the Roman empire to the Gothic tribes, Ulfilas saw it as a way to spread the Kingdom of God to a pagan people who needed to know that Jesus loved them, died for them and wanted to give them His peace. And, "to the surprise of all, the Goths were won to the gospel in an astonishingly short time, not by the persuasion of Rome, but by Ulfilas. While the church at Rome was grasping after secular power, these churches were alive with missionary zeal," Church History.

Later, when the Ostrogoths and Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 AD, "it was a great thing for Europe that when the Goths poured over Italy and even captured Rome they came as a Christian people, reverencing and sparing the churches, and abstaining from those barbarities that accompanied the invasion of Britain by the heathen Saxons," Church History The Christian faith of the Gothic tribes owes much to the missionary work of Ulfilas. 

Polycarp - Steadfast Unto Death

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."  Matthew 24:14

In this blog I will continue to look at the lives of missionaries through the ages. It is my hope that you will be encouraged and strengthened in your faith as you see God's hand working through the lives of ordinary people as they followed the will of an extraordinary God.

The first period of time covers the time of the Apostolic Church, Christ to 500 AD. During this time, Christians often came into conflict with the Roman government because they refused to worship Caesar as God. Despite the persecution, "by the end of the third century, the majority of the residents of some areas controlled by Rome were Christians converts. (The Gospel had reached such places as Sri Lanka, Algeria, Portugal, Morocco, Britain, France, India, Switzerland and Belgium, with Armenia accepting Christianity as their state religion in 304 AD...see Timeline of Christian Missions). The high cost of following Christ was more to be treasured than the Roman sword," Foxes Voices of the Martyrs. And God brought great good out of this persecution because as persecution arose in one area, Christians would flee to other regions, thus spreading the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.

The missionaries that will be highlighted during this period are:

Ignatius of Antioch (30-107 AD)

Polycarp of Smyrna (70-155 AD)

Ulfilas (311-381 AD)

Patrick (389-461 AD)

Polycarp of Smyrna     (70-155 AD)

"Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

Polycarp is a celebrated figure in the history of Christianity. A direct pupil of the apostle John, Polycarp lived between 70 and 155 A.D., connecting him to both the biblical apostles and the age of the early church fathers. Several ancient sources document the contributions of Polycarp to Christianity, including his letters written to the church at Philippi, in which he encourages the members to remain strong in their faith and to flee from materialism. He may have been the one who compiled, edited, and published the New Testament. All of this makes his writings of great interest.

Polycarp served as the bishop of the church at Smyrna (modern day Izmir, Turkey), and was recognized as one of the early combatants of Christian heresies. He lived in an age after the deaths of the apostles, when a variety of interpretations of the sayings of Jesus were being preached. His role was to authenticate orthodox teachings through his reputed connection with the apostle John. He rejected the teachings of Marcion, an influential heretic who tried to create a "new brand" of Christianity by redefining God and rejecting Old Testament teachings. In his well-known thesis, Polycarp combats Gnostic heresies that were beginning to spread throughout the Christian church.

Polycarp's greatest contribution to Christianity may be his martyred death. His martyrdom stands as one of the most well documented events of antiquity. The emperors of Rome had unleashed bitter attacks against the Christians during this period, and members of the early church recorded many of the persecutions and deaths. Polycarp was arrested on the charge of being a Christian -- a member of a politically dangerous cult whose rapid growth needed to be stopped. Amidst an angry mob, the Roman proconsul took pity on such a gentle old man and urged Polycarp to proclaim, "Caesar is Lord". If only Polycarp would make this declaration and offer a small pinch of incense to Caesar's statue he would escape torture and death. To this Polycarp responded, "Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" Steadfast in his stand for Christ, Polycarp refused to compromise his beliefs, and thus, was burned alive at the stake.

Polycarp's martyrdom is historical reality. He died for one reason - his unyielding faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Yet Polycarp's well-recorded death is only one of many lives that were given to reveal and proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ. In light of the cruel and torturous deaths of the first and second generation Christians, all theories that Christianity is a fabricated myth, created for the personal gain of its followers, must be rejected. Even today, many will die for a belief, but none will die for a lie. God allows the deaths of His saints not because He is a helpless or indifferent Lord, but because their deaths are powerful declarations of the free gift of life that is offered to us through the Person of Jesus Christ

You can view a short video about Polycarp here Polycarp

Some information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycarp and http://www.polycarp.net/

Witnesses to the Ends of the Earth

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  John 14:12-13

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.  Acts 4:13

Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."  Acts 5:38-39

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.  Acts 20:24

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  Matthew 28:18-20

After Jesus rose from the dead, "He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God." Acts 1:3 The Bible records very little of what He said. Yet, what He did say echoed through the Gospels and Acts: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

This charge, this commandment, was for the early Church, all through the centuries, to the Church in 2019. We are to be His witnesses, for God's glory and for the salvation of others, to the ends of the earth. It's not given to a select few who God "calls," but to all of us.

The truth and urgency of this commandment was not really clear to me until a few years ago. I had been asking God to "break my heart for what breaks Yours." And He did. Beginning with a concern for orphans, then for the persecuted church throughout the world and then for missions, He has laid this commandment on me and it is one that I desire, with every ounce of my being, to obey.

As this passion for missions has grown, I have become more and more interested in learning about missionaries of the past and present. Ordinary people who God used to do extraordinary things. I find great encouragement as I read about how God met their needs, encouraged, provided and protected them and allowed the Gospel to be preached to the ends of the earth through them.

As I have gained encouragement, as my faith in God has grown and as I have had a deeper passion for missions through reading their stories, I am going to share their stories with you, in the hopeful prayer that you too will be encouraged toward a greater involvement in Christ's Great Commission.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.  2 Corinthians 3:3

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.  John 21:25

The next few months of this blog will only scratch the surface of the men and women God has used to further His Kingdom. May you gain greater faith through their testimonies and believe that you, too, can be used by the Lord to share the Good News of Jesus with the world...not just in your own backyard but to the ends of the earth.

I plan to highlight missionaries in chronological order. Thus, I will begin with the "Apostolic Church" from Christ to AD 500. Below is a list of what happened to Jesus' disciples and early followers. You will note that they all died a martyr's death, except John. But also notice the regions of the world where the Lord took them as He spread the Gospel through His followers:

Matthew -Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword while carrying out Jesus' commission to reach the world with the Gospel.

John - Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome ...However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos ...He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern-day Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.

Peter - He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross in Rome. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.

Philip - He was crucified in Hierapolis, in present day Turkey.

James the Less - Son of Alphaeus, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was also assigned the area of Syria as his mission field. He was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club.

James the Great - Son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem ...

The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.

Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel - Was a missionary to Asia ...He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey ...Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed and then crucified.

Andrew - His missionary travels may have taken him as far as Scythia (southern Russia) and included time around Ephesus with John. He was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece ...After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: 'I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.' He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.

Thomas - Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent.

Simon the Zealot - The traditional account of Simon's missionary travels has him taking the road less traveled. He went south and west from Jerusalem, crossing the full breadth of northern Africa, passing through Egypt, Libya and Mauritania, and then up through Spain and even into the islands we now call Britain. All of these destinations fell within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. He is later found with Jude (Jesus' brother) taking the Gospel to Persia. He was sawn in half.

Judas, also known as Thaddaeus - Brought the Gospel to Armenia, present day Turkey and possibly as far as India.  Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.

Matthias  - The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, traveled as far as Sevastopol, Ukraine before he returned to Jerusalem where he was stoned and then beheaded.

Mark - Died in Alexandria , Egypt , after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.

Luke -  Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.

Paul - Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he  had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters,  which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” Jim Elliot, modern-day missionary to Ecuador, martyred that many more might be saved.

The Promised Land

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide:

"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.

I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.

Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west.

No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:1-9

God impressed a thought on me a few nights ago when I was reading, in Unashamed by Francine Rivers, about the Israelites' refusal to enter and claim the Promised Land. Their refusal resulted in them having to wander in the desert for forty years until a new generation rose up who would walk in obedience to God. Is it like that today with the same area of the world -- the Middle East?

God wants His people to go in and take the land, spiritually, for Christ. He has promised His miraculous power and presence to break down the walls of Islam, Judaism and other barriers. But how often, in the past, has God's people shrank back in fear of the people living in the land?

This time, the army God is raising up does not come in with swords of death but with the sword of the Spirit - the Word of God! He is raising up a generation of Christians from all over the world who are burdened for the Muslims, the Jews and the Middle East, who are not afraid, who will go in because they know God is on their side.

This time, the work will not be the external work of the Old Covenant (destruction/subjugation of the enemy) but the internal work of the New Covenant (construction of new hearts).

This new generation is made up mainly of Asians and Africans - a "generation who has been hardened by desert living, a generation who has been in the presence of Power from their birth," (Rivers).

Good advice for Christians entering the "Promised Land" of the Middle East: "You're young and on fire...but you must be coolheaded and wise as a serpent. Do not stroll into the (area) like a conqueror. Keep your head down. Seek out an establishment that will know the mind of the people." That is just what many Christians are doing as they enter the Middle East with the Gospel. God has set apart many who know Him...although often secretly (like Rahab of old). These "Rahab's" are waiting for Christians to come and tell them more about Jesus (Isa).

May we remember God's Promised Land and its people and pray for their salvation and that God will send even more workers into this harvest field!

The Beatitudes Lived Out Today (Part Two)

The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  Matthew 5:3-12

The Beatitudes...familiar words spoken by Jesus to many during His "Sermon on the Mount." I was reading this a few days ago and was struck by how these Beatitudes are being lived out today, by Christians, all over the world. In the last post, I looked at the first four Beatitudes. You can read about them at Jesus' Beatitudes Lived Out Today Today, I would like to finish with the last few.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Mercy - compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence...to show mercy, to forgive someone when they do not deserve it. There are many examples of Christians showing mercy toward their enemies.

One that stands out in my mind is of a Christian man named Ron Carlson  He became known when he forgave the heinous murder of his sister, Deborah Carlson, by a woman named Karla Fay Tucker. Karla Fay Tucker became famous when she was executed in 1998 in Texas. Years before her execution, she had become a Christian in prison. Ron chose to forgive her. With that forgiveness, God showed him mercy by removing the bitterness and rage that accompanies unforgiveness. When I viewed the TV coverage of the days leading up to the execution, what stood out in my mind was the peace that showed on the face of Ron Carlson. This peace was in stark contrast to the anger, bitterness and rage that showed on the faces of the other victim's family members. When Christians show mercy and forgiveness, God will in turn forgive them.  

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

To be pure in heart - not to be tainted by this world but to be filled with faith and hope.

As a mother, I believe children exemplify this beatitude so well. They are freshly aware of God's presence in so many aspects of this life..from a tiny flower to a buzzing bee to a beautiful sunset. They are eager for His return and talk of going to Heaven to be with Him. Why is it that we hush them when they speak of going to Heaven? Isn't that what we are all to be longing for...to be in Heaven with our Lord? 

Children, pure in heart in many ways, see God daily. Maybe that is why Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.  Mark 10:15-16

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

We are all called to be peacemakers for we follow the "Prince of Peace." Two men who stand out in my mind as peacemakers are President Ronald Reagan and President Nelson Mandela. While I am fairly familiar with Reagan's past, I am not as familiar with Mandela's past. I do know that both men were sinners in need of God's grace and both men made mistakes. However, both men also strove for peace...Reagan for peace between America and Russia and Mandela for peace between black and white within South Africa. And God honored their desire and strivings for peace in mighty ways. 

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The persecuted church...my heart goes out to them. They exist in every part of the world and their faith is strong! They are the Christians meeting secretly in a Laotian home church, the widow mourning the loss of her husband to the Columbian FARC but still maintaining his ministry, the young Muslim girl standing for Christ in the face of family beatings...so many more. Voice of the Martyrs is just one organization who tells their story and helps them. 

The strength and growth of the church in these lands is primarily due to persecution: China, India, Sudan, Ethiopia, South Korea, Vietnam, Iran and Myanmar. There are many more. Praise God for His servants who literally carry His cross every day. 

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. May we remember these words of our Lord and Savior. The life of a Christian is not easy and it's not popular. We are called to love the unlovable, to do good to our enemies, to sell our possessions and give to the poor, to pray without ceasing, to put others before ourselves and to live so that others will want to follow our Lord Jesus. 

Holy Spirit, please help us to live out our Lord's Beatitudes each and every day!

The Beatitudes Lived Out Today

The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  Matthew 5:3-12

The Beatitudes...familiar words spoken by Jesus to many during His "Sermon on the Mount." I was reading this a few days ago and was struck by how these Beatitudes are being lived out today, by Christians, all over the world. I'd like to take each Beatitude and give an example of what I mean.

To begin with, "Beatitude" means "blessed, a state of supreme happiness." Jesus was saying that those who fit these character descriptions would be happy, envied by others, spiritually prosperous, with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions. Jesus is not talking about being blessed the way many people use that term today. It's not about physical or monetary blessings but about spiritual and mental blessings...peace, joy, happiness, satisfaction. These are things that money can not purchase and can be found in abundance even in the most austere locations, for those who live according to the Lord's will.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

To be "poor in spirit" means to be humble, to rate yourself as insignificant (Amplified Bible).

I believe a good example of this Beatitude lived out is Auntie Katie...the young female missionary to Uganda I have shared about; see Katie from Uganda. Here is a young, beautiful girl from a well-off American family, leaving behind everything that this world calls a blessing. Her days are spent caring for  the 13 Ugandan girls she has adopted plus the countless number of people who come to her with great needs. From removing parasites to nursing a dying child to holding a young woman suffering from AIDS, Katie has humbled herself to serve those in need. And she is blessed! Just read her blog and you will see the incredible spiritual blessings the Lord gives to the humble.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Colombian guerrillas killed her husband for spreading the gospel but Luz is not defeated. Instead she is joyful in the Lord. This is one of many such testimonies...testimonies to how God can bring joy to believers amongst horrific situations. Jesus can bring joy from mourning!

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Meekness is a word that has lost it's true meaning over time. Today, many people think of meek people as being weak, ineffective, afraid. But that is not the original meaning of the word. Originally the word "meek" comes from the Greek word Praus which mean gentle strength. Jesus was meek as He was the God of the Universe and was able to do anything, but He was humble about it. He was completely confident in all His power, but He wasn't arrogant about it.

This type of meekness is often seen in Godly, Christian fathers. Men who are strong in so many ways, yet gentle with their children and their wives...loving them as Christ loved the Church. Men who follow in the footsteps of Christ will practice this type of meekness. Their gentle strength and humility will draw their family and others to Christ.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Gospel for Asia missionary Hirla and his family are committed to Christ, hungering after Him for themselves and those who have never heard His name in North India, a place where very few Christians live. He has opened his home to a house church, is a speaker for GFA radio, he and his wife meet their neighbors' physical needs, and they have five Bible college students living with them...all while raising five children.

I will continue with the rest of Jesus' Beatitudes and how they are lived on today in the next post. 

Who are the Nations?

Praise the LORD, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

For great is his steadfast love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD!
Psalm 117

Who Are the "Peoples," the Nations?

"Nations" and "peoples" in the Bible don't refer to political states like America, Spain, Brazil, China, but to ethnic or language or cultural groupings in these political states. For example, if you do a bit of research about Chine you will find the country is made up of at least sixty Chinese "peoples" (Hui, Dulong, Li, Lisu, Shui, Salar, Yao, etc.). And in the Bible you read about, "the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites" (Genesis 10:16-18).

So when Psalm 17:1 says, "Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!" it means, "Praise the Lord, Hui of China! Praise the Lord Bahing of Nepal! Praise the Lord, Baluch of Pakistan! Praise the Lord, Maninka of Guinea! Praise the Lord, Bugis of Indonesia! Praise the Lord, Somali and Dakota of Minneapolis!" These are the kinds of groups Jesus was referring to when He said after his resurrection, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (panta ta ethne, same phrase in Psalm 117:1). These are the groups that Jesus meant when he said, "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 24:14).

So a huge question for followers of Jesus today is - or should be - how many peoples are there and how many of them are still unreached with the gospel of the kingdom? How many still have no church who obey Psalm 117 and praise the Lord?

Joshuaproject.net is an organization that has done extensive research on unreached people groups in the world. This is their summary:

An overview of the people groups of the world

People Groups:	17,070
Unreached Groups:	7,098
% Unreached Groups:	41.6%
Population:	7.60 Billion
Popl in Unreached:	3.15 Billion
% Popl in Unreached:	41.5%

A great place to go to pray daily for an unreached people group is Unreached of the Day

The greatest obstacle to reaching the unreached is the obedience of the church. May we be obedient in prayer, giving and going!!!

Prayer for the Nations

When man works, man works; When man prays, God works.

The ministry of the children of God is not doing, but praying, not strategizing, but prostrate before God seeking His will, not clever strategies for manipulating people and events but trusting in God who moves in the hearts of even His most implacable enemies. Through prayer Nebuchadnezzar, and today’s dictators, get converted, Manassah, and today’s persecutors, repent and kingdoms of Babylon and Iron Curtains are torn down. We do not engage in ministry and pray for God’s blessing on it, prayer IS the ministry from which all other ministries must flow.

Psalm 2 reveals the Father’s Great Commission to His Son and how the destiny of nations is tied in with their rejection of or submission to His Kingly Son. Look at the command and promises of
Ps 2:8.

'Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, And dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.'

Operation World, a wonderful Christian organization which gathers information on every country in the world, including percentage of Christians, economic and political background and ways to pray, is  

an excellent resource to use to help you and your children pray for the nations. You can also purchase the Operation World book which provides greater insight into each country and its prayer needs. 

The content of the Operation World  website give something of the needs and challenges of our needy, sin-sick, doomed world. The nations are there for the asking. God is calling you and me into the ministry of intercession for them. Through these prayers much will happen – above all we could ask or expect.

Daniel heard God’s voice in Daniel 7:27:

'The kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; Their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them. 

The cost is great, for these words were preceded in verse 21-22 by:

As I looked, this horn made war with the saints, and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgement was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints received the kingdom.'

The enemy will seek to frighten us and dangle allurements to distract us from the vision of a heavenly, eternal kingdom filled with people from every race, tribe, people and tongue. Yet Jesus offers us a share in His reign. We may look up to Him in agony at times, but we need to see our true position as looking down with Him exercising the authority bequeathed to us by Him in the Great Commission He has given to every Christian. 

May each of us become an intercessor with a world vision that prays Satan-defeating, kingdom-taking, people-reaching, captive-releasing, revival-giving, Christ-glorifying prayers.

Prayer not only changes people, situations and even the course of history, but also those who pray! 

It is dangerous for the enemy and also 'dangerous' for us. There is a price to pay to be a person who stands in the gap in prayer. That price may mean becoming an answer to our own prayers in giving time, finances and even going out as a witness in our Jerusalem (where we now live), our Judea (our own country), our Samaria (the other ethnic groups in our own country) or even to the ends of the earth. 

May each of us give our whole lives for this most noble of causes – to obey Jesus’ last command in making disciples of all nations and so ready the Church and the world for the grand climax of His glorious return!

Why Do We Share Christ?

I wanted to share parts of a blog, written by Justin Long who attended a Lausanne (worldwide missions) conference. It addresses the question..."Why should we be engaged in missions? 

"When Jesus looked on the fields “white unto harvest,” he neither set out to preach to them nor did he pray for God to divinely show them the truth. Instead, he instructed his disciples to pray for workers. (And then, shortly later, he sent the disciples out as workers).

With God all things are possible—as the many dreams of Jesus in the Middle East presently being seen attest—but at the same time we must also remember that God requires human interaction too. God could instantaneously present himself to all unreached peoples worldwide: but this would immediately relieve his Church, his lovely bride, of the responsibility that he gave us. If we are to obey the Great Commandment (to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, mind and to love our neighbor as our self) then we must obey the Great Commission (to proclaim the good news to all the earth). But there’s a catch: obedience to the Great Commission isn’t a one time event.

Not too long back I was telling one of our kids that he needed to go and clean his room. “But dad,” he said, “I cleaned it already.” When pressed for when he cleaned it, he said, “I cleaned it on Monday!” I then had to explain to him that a room needed to be cleaned more than once. Picking up needed to be done on a daily basis.

It could have gone differently. I could have told him to clean his room—and then, when he failed to get it done in an appropriate time, I could have gone and done it for him. It would have gotten the job done yet taught him nothing. The job, in effect, wasn’t about cleaning the room so much as it was about teaching the skills and habits of cleaning which he will use the rest of his life.

And how are we doing on our own task? The number of people who have no access to Christ, Christianity or the Gospel is presently increasing by an estimated 19 million per year. The reason is simple: not enough people are working among these groups to make a sustainable difference in the long run.

It is the long run that is important. It is not enough to engage a group with a few missionaries. We must engage them with sufficient missionaries—but even that is not enough, because that’s like cleaning our room once. We need to to pioneer a church planting movement which will plant churches capable of evangelizing the group to its cultural borders and sustaining that evangelism through future generations. That’s cleaning a room and keeping it clean. That’s learning the habits that are necessary—the habit of passing on to future generations what has been passed on to us, as Paul instructed Timothy to do.

In other words “completion” of the Great Commission is a task that is not done once and then forgotten. We must have sufficient resources to complete it every day. It’s possible for rooms to become messy, and possible for a group to become unevangelized. For a live fire demonstration of this, look at Europe. It’s very simple, really: if all a group has are missionaries, then when the missionaries go home – and they will – then future generations will not be evangelized. A non-christian home will not evangelize its children. If a growing church is not planted then in 20 or 25 years the seeds of the Gospel will be scorched, die and wither away.

To reach a group sustainably over time requires people willing to be long-term servants, humble older brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers in the faith. Otherwise it’s all for naught. Short-term workers can be useful, but they’re less like parents and more like doctors, dropping in when they’re desperately needed but not there for the day-in and day-out growth that keep them from being needed in the first place. Short term is useful but not the answer to the long-term inculturation of the gospel, translation of the Word, and discipling of first believers necessary for a church to be pioneered.

You can point to a place like China where the Gospel grew without outside missionaries, but don’t forget that missionaries like Hudson Taylor and many others pioneered it there first. They endured long enough to plant a church which could withstand persecution.

I don’t think we’ll ever have sufficient missionary workers to evangelize the whole world at one point, and at that point Christ will return (as many Christians interpret Matthew 24:14). So we need to build up a church capable of sustaining that effort over time so that at some future point the task is accomplished and will continue to be accomplished. It is “after” the task is accomplished (and sustainably so, I think) that Jesus will return.

I wish we could abandon “end times” thinking. I think it’s a bit of a oxymoron. For Christians there are no “end times” or “last days” in the long view. This age may end, but we will continue on. For people who will live eternally, “last days” is a bit of tunnel thinking.

What will happen after Jesus’ returns? We will worship him forever, enjoy him forever, and rule and reign with him. Thus, worship continues. Learning about him and his nature continues. Caring for his creation continues. Love never fails. Obedience to Christ never stops. A million years from now, I’ll still be alive, still loving my wife and children, still worshipping my king, and—I hope!—exploring this wonderful universe He has created. I’ll be laughing over this 70 years and the trials I endure. A billion years from now, I may not even remember this period.

What does not continue? Fame. Fortune. Power. Hunger. Sickness. Sin. Death. (and possibly many more things.)

So, let’s not consider the church to be the waiting room for eternity, but rather be about the business of the Kingdom now. Let’s do the things that will last for eternity." 

Korea and the Awesome Move of God

But now, this is what the Lord says-- he who created you... He who formed you..."Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine."  Isaiah 43:1

How to describe Korea? For those who have never been there, you may not give the country much thought. Yes, we know they make good appliances and you may have heard of their spicy cabbage called kimchi. And yes, a war was fought there, though the details are a bit fuzzy as it rarely garners much interest or instruction time in America's high schools.

But for those who have been to Korea, you will never leave the same. At least I didn't. Our family was stationed there for two years, from 2006 until 2008. After those two, all too short, years, I left that country fully convinced that God is alive and well in Korea, and doing incredible things through its people, both in their own country and throughout the world!

Korea has, unfortunately, had a 2,000-year history of frequent invasions and interference from surrounding nations. In the recent past, the Japanese occupation (1910-1945), the Russian-engineered division of Korea (1945-48) and the devastating Korean War (1950-53) have molded the attitudes and politics of Koreans. They have been mistreated horribly by others (Korean "comfort women" for the Japanese soldiers during WWII, current starvation and horrific slaughter of people in North Korea) and have seen their country almost destroyed following the Korean War. 

"The South Korea that Ed Faltin (U.S. military member who fought in the Korean War) left behind in 1952 was a bleak place. 'I left the front lines and went across the country to Pusan and Seoul and there was nothing there,' he said. 'That country was bombed out rubble. No trees. It was just so pulverized by artillery and mortars. There was nothing left.'

(Upon his return to South Korea in 2002), Faltin was surprised by what he saw. In place of rubble, he saw what looked like New York City, complete with high-rise buildings. 'It's unbelievable what they did,' he said. 'They're the largest ship-makers in the world, (the 11th largest economy) and the people are so gracious.'"

South Korea has indeed climbed out of the rubble a strong, committed Christian nation. In Asia, which is primarily Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim, Korea's Christianity stands out, like the red crosses you see on so many buildings throughout the Seoul city skyline. The first Protestant church was planted in 1884. By 1984 there were over 30,000 churches, and by 2000 over 60,000. The 2005 census of South Korea showed 29.2 percent of the population as Christian, up from 26.3 percent ten years previously.

The Korean Church grew strong through early morning prayer meetings, prayer mountains for seeking God (to read more on this go to this blog post Prayer-It begins and ends there), church-based Bible study, evangelism programs, fellowship in home meetings and at Sunday meals. 

Surveys have shown that South Korean Christians are very active. Seoul contains eleven of the world's twelve largest Christian congregations. I've been to the largest Protestant Church in the world, Yoido Full Gospel Church, and it is incredible! To be amongst thousands upon thousands of Christians, all singing praises to God...it gave me just a small idea of what Heaven will be like...worshipping the Lord with brothers and sisters from around the world. 

Praise God for the unique Korean Church! It was founded on sound indigenous principles, blessed with a succession of revivals, refined by persecution and is now one of the foremost in the world for missions vision. South Korea provides the world's second largest number of Christian missionaries, surpassed only by the United States. South Korean missionaries are particularly prevalent in 10/40 Window nations that are hostile to Westerners. In 1979, the official figure for Korean missionaries was 93, yet by 2009, that number had grown incredibly to more than 16,000 South Korean missionaries in 168 countries!

"Koreans have a fervent passion to proclaim the Gospel, a family-centered lifestyle and are highly educated. Korean missionaries are often well received by unreached people in the Chinese, Muslim and Buddhist blocks due to their relative cultural proximity. Increasing numbers of marketplace missionaries are able to enter restricted access countries where ordained missionaries cannot go," (Chul Ho Han, Director of Mission Korea.

One important contributing factor to South Korea being the second largest mission sending country in the world, has been the mission movement among college students led by Mission Korea, a coalition of 11 campus ministries and 24 overseas mission agencies working together for the common goal of mobilizing students into cross-cultural missions. Mission Korea's conference, which was first held in 1988, has grown to be the largest mission-focused conference in Asia, attracting over 5,000 students every two years.

This incredible missional movement among young people was very visible at the church we attended while living in Seoul. Jubilee Church was like no other church I have ever attended! The sense of the Holy Spirit's presence was so strong there that even my father commented on it after attending church with us one Sunday. After only short number of years of existence, their heart for missions is incredible. The church, mostly young professionals and students in their 20s, envisions itself as a mission-sending and mission-supporting church, with a heart especially for North Korea and China. It was amazing to be part of them. Our family still speaks of them fondly and prays that the Lord will lead us back to Seoul to once again worship and serve with them. 

There is so much more I could say about Korea, yet I know that my words can not do justice to what God is doing in this country through its incredible people. No matter hold strong of a hold Satan may have on Asia, God is breaking that hold and He is using the people of Korea on the front lines!