33 of our brothers and sisters will be executed within the next few hours in North Korea.
Because they are Christians. Like us.
“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” Revelation 6:9-11
OH LORD, save us from our complacency and luke-warmness. Save us from our idols of comfort and convenience. Save us from our obsession with self. Save us from our Western mindset. Save us from our dullness of heart. Wake us up from our comfortable bed of luxury. OH LORD save us!
Here we are – so wealthy in the West. We have food, money, cars, houses, freedom, church buildings, light and sounds systems and, of course, smoke machines, and yet – we are spiritually bankrupt.
They are the rich ones in North Korea. They are the ones for whom a crown of life awaits. They are the ones whose underground churches are flourishing and the Holy Spirit is moving upon. They are the ones who are awake. They are the ones who know Jesus and the “fellowship of His suffering”. They are the ones who are watching for His return.
We are not separate from them. We are all a part of Christ’s Body. Let us pray from them and their families. Let us pray for the persecuted Church.
I set up the PA system and started preaching before I lost my nerve. Within seconds a demon-possessed man manifested and screamed an obscenity at me so bad that I cannot repeat it. Even though I’m regularly verbally abused on the street, I have never been called anything like that before.
I was momentarily stunned.
Not so much stunned at the man actually, but more that God had let that happen to me just as I had begun to preach. He knew how weak I’d been this morning. He knew I’d needed extra help. I mean, I had asked Him for a special blessing today!
I recovered and kept preaching anyway.
After that incident, the time the two other ladies and I spent there was wonderful. I really loved it. God put two special young guys in my path who, underneath their bravado, were hungry for the truth. We had amazing conversations. I was asked by both of them (separately) :
“With so many religions out there, and so many gods, how do you know which one is the truth?”
How would you answer that?
It’s when I’m out there that I see that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is so very important. We absolutely need Him when we are out there. Without Him, we literally can do nothing. But with Him we can do all things. It is our real relationship with the LIVING God that counts when we are in the firing-line. Religious platitudes, clichés and one-liners do NOT work. Sinners see right through all that rubbish.
But…if you’ve been with Jesus…well, they can see that too.
Here’s what I learnt today:
I wanted God to make my way easy, I wanted Him to pave the way for me, after all, as I told Him, I was going out there for Him.
But He didn’t do that. He doesn’t always give us what we want, but He does give us what we need. He lets us see the truth of the sinfulness of man; He lets us have confrontations with demons. And in doing so He lets us see ourselves too.
In essence, He lets us see reality.
Why? Because that is where He is – in the midst of the dirty, the sinful, the demon-possessed, that is where He is working.
And that’s where He calls us to go with Him.
“ “I will make the place of my feet glorious”—among the poor, the devil-possessed, the mean, the decrepit, the selfish, the sinful, the misunderstood—that is where Jesus went, and that is exactly where he will take you if you are his disciple”. (Oswald Chambers)
He won’t drop rose petals on our path for us, He won’t pamper us and cater to our self-pity, our comfort, nor our convenience. He lets us be confronted, shocked and disgusted. And then He says:
In view of current events in Syria, two prophecies are worth considering. (There are other scriptures of interest concerning these cities, but will not be referred to in this short post.)
The two scriptures are:
Jeremiah 49: 23-27 (NIV)
23Concerning Damascus:
“Hamath and Arpad’ are dismayed, for they have heard bad news. They are disheartened, troubled like the restless sea. Damascus has become feeble, she has turned to flee and panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her, pain like that of a woman in labor. 25Why has the city of renown not been abandoned, the town in which I delight? 26Surely, her young men ° will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the lord Almighty
27“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad”
Isaiah 17:1 (NIV)
1 An oracle concerning Damascus:
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. . . “
Jeremiah’s prophecy is found in an end section of his book where God tells him of the judgments to come against the Nations, as well as some cities specifically mentioned. Right now Hamath and Damascus are the focus of our interest.
Isaiah’s prophecy is found early on in the book. It too occurs in the section dealing with judgment against the Nations and, in this case, where Damascus is specifically mentioned.
It is not our intention here to go into God’s reasons for His judgment against the Nations or cities, but to consider these scriptures in the light of current events. We certainly do not want to make light of these judgments or to “look forward” to their fulfilment. They are severe and final when they take place but, for us, they are important points on the prophetic path God’s has laid out.
(As a word of caution, when considering God reasons for judgment, be careful not to take a current world view which is that if these Nations, or cities, simply followed a democratic process all would be in order. God does not look at democracy. He looks at the actions of mankind in relation to His commandments. Keep in mind that democracy is a flawed man-made system. It has been said, by Churchill amongst others, that democracy is a bad system but it is the best we have.)
Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and, unlike other cities in the region, including even Jerusalem, it has never been destroyed. In other words, the prophecy in Isaiah has never been fulfilled. Damascus is only a short distance to the north of Israel and is the capital of present-day Syria.
Damascus was part of David’s and Solomon’s kingdom. It was also the city where Paul was headed specifically to persecute Christians. On his way there he was confronted by Jesus and lost his sight. It was in Damascus that Jesus told Ananias to go and lay hands on Paul because Paul was His “chosen instrument” to take the Word to the Gentiles, their kings and the people of Israel. In the house in Straight Street, where Paul was staying, Ananias laid hands on him whereupon his sight was restored and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 9: 1-19) NIV.
Straight Street is still there to this day!
So clearly Damascus is a city with an important past, yet God says He will destroy it and it will become “a heap of ruins”.
Hama, which lies some 50 kilometres directly north of Homs, is almost certainly the Biblical city of Hamath, within provincial Hamath. Homs is about 150 kilometres north of Damascus. While Damascus came under David’s and Solomon’s kingdoms, these other two cities did not, although they were both under Solomon’s control. Since at least 1925 Hama has been the source of a number of uprisings, mainly from Islamic fundamentalists.
Currently Syria is in the throes of a violent civil war; the roots of which run deep and which are extremely complicated. We have seen images of the devastation taking place within the country, especially in Homs, Hama and to some extent in Damascus itself. We have heard about the huge numbers killed, well over a hundred thousand now, the two million or more who have fled the country and are living in tents in the desert, often without enough food and other problems. It is a situation so bad that the average person not directly involved is unable to fully comprehend it.
We know that both the Syrian and opposition forces are well armed and have the means to turn Damascus into a “heap of ruins”. Could one or other of these adversaries in a final act of desperation resort to such tactics? And what if Israel is brought into the conflict and needs to defend itself? These are merely possibilities leading to the destruction of Damascus. Certainly there is a lot of pain and suffering going on right now throughout Syria as well as in Damascus, Homs and Hama.
The question we pose is this: “Is it possible that we are witnessing an aspect of God’s prophetic Word about to be fulfilled”?
A sobering question!
We do not say it is – although we do urge readers to be aware of Bible prophecy and current events in the Middle East and, above all, to keep their focus on Jesus.
Chris, from our fellowship, has an interest in Bible prophecy and from time to time will share his views with us on current events and how they relate to prophecy in this new series “Bible Prophecy”.
This man needs prayer. His name is John Short, an Aussie missionary caught with Christian literature in North Korea. He faces potentially 15 years of hard labour.
This link was blocked from American YouTube. This German woman is a true hero of the faith. At an interfaith concert where Chrislam was being promoted she alone stood, and proclaimed “Jesus is Lord!” as everyone else sat. Click on link below to see what she did.
“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God follow HIm, but if Baal, follow him. But the people answered him not a word.”
Here is a list of the “persecutions” that I have personally suffered whilst street-preaching:
Been called an “idiot” to my face
Been mocked and ridiculed
Been leered at
Been outright laughed at
Been screamed at to “shut-up”
Been heckled
Rude gestures made at me
Blasphemies and curses screamed at me
Having the cord of the PA system pulled out while I preach
People taking photos of their friends standing next to me
People trying to rip the microphone out of my hand
Another PA system turned up loud to drown me out
Man putting his arm around me
BIG DEAL
Maybe it will get worse, I don’t know. Maybe if you went out you would be beat up or put in jail or worse, I don’t know that either.
But what I do know is that there is a whole generation out there going to hell. HELL.
(Do you really believe it?)
And why are they going to hell? Largely because of:
Our fear of man
Our excuses
Our feebleness in following Christ
Our “ministries” and church mindsets
Our busy lives
Why are we just letting Satan do whatever he pleases?
And that IS what he is doing. If you don’t believe me, go out there and see for yourself the kids on drugs, the alcoholics, the homeless people, the business people spending their lives coveting, the girls wearing hardly clothes for attention. Go to your nearest city and just sit and observe.
Open your eyes and open your heart.
That man with tattoos on his face, Jesus died for him.
That kid wandering aimlessly, Jesus died for him too.
That young woman with skinny legs and a hole on the inside of her elbow, Jesus shed His blood for her too.
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14)
You know, I’ve seen it with so many Christians, myself included. We are so nice and polite. We don’t want to offend people. “Best not to cause waves by shoving the gospel down people’s throats….”
And meanwhile the devil rubs his hands in glee and dances all over our craving to be accepted.
Jesus never told us to be gentle with the devil. He never told us to accommodate him in any way or let him walk all over us. No sir.
He did in fact say: “Behold I give you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing in any wise shall harm you.” Luke 10:19
One of the most powerful and effective forms of spiritual warfare is to preach the gospel. Go to the sinners, don’t preach to the converted. Get to where the sinners are and preach your heart out.
“Preaching is not a profession, it’s a passion” said Leonard Ravenhill.
Let’s get so full of the Holy Ghost fire that we are constrained by the love of Christ to take the good news of the Kingdom to the lost.
Let’s stop being cowardly, let’s stop being polite and comfortable, let’s meet the devil head on and give him something to worry about!
You can read more about what happened as I street-preached tonight here
You may be surprised to learn that truly accredited ministry is through suffering.
T Austin Sparks explains:
“Accredited ministry represents a tremendous victory, set in a background of great conflict.
A determined effort is made through the age to discredit spiritual ministry, and to do so through the one engaged in that ministry.
In the case of the Lord, there was a persistent effort to discredit Him, and thereby discredit His ministry. It drew forth the words: “No prophet is acceptable in his own country” (Luke 4:24).
In the case of Paul, the Judaisers sought to discredit him, and thereby discredit his ministry. At Corinth a great battle raged over his position as an Apostle, and 2 Corinthians is much taken up with the establishment of his own position, and therefore his authority in ministry.
“For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life: yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead.” (2 Cor. 1:8-9).
One who counts for the Lord, is a joint of supply, who can be of value in any way to the Lord’s people, and stand in His testimony, will know the enemy’s effort to render those spiritual values nil by discrediting. The enemy will give a strong sense of unworthiness, unfitness, uselessness to the Lord, or he will cause something to be associated with the vessel for the discrediting of the ministry; he may even patronize in order to compromise, as when the demons cried: “These men are servants of the Most High God, which proclaim unto you the way of salvation”. Sometimes he will cause to associate with a pure thing people who are unsaved, to bring discredit.
The Lord’s answer to that is to keep the vessel of ministry in weakness, dependence upon Himself; so that all is kept spiritual, and all is of the Lord alone….
Metal is passed through the crucible and refined then the stamp is put upon it to show its calibre.
So God brings through the fires of Satanic antagonism, allows the thing to reach a point where He alone is its life, and then brings it up out of the conflict, and puts the stamp of resurrection life on it, so that it has in it the power of an indestructible life – that only comes through death.
All ministry that is to be accredited will be bound up with suffering; a decision we have to make is as to the object of our ministry. A good many things can be taken into consideration, but there comes a point where all other things have to be ranged on one side, and one thing on the other side – the real spiritual value, without alloy: that which is wholly of God and not at all of man. In the measure in which that is true there will be suffering. To stand utterly for what is spiritual is a costly thing.
There must be a willingness to be dealt with by the Lord, in such a way as to keep the ministry living and pure. All ministry which issues from such suffering is going to count. It may not be welcomed or desired by the mass, but where there is need and a call for that which we have gained through suffering there will be response.
Two tragedies today amongst the Lord’s people:
(1). So many have no knowledge of the truth in any adequate way, and are therefore spiritually immature.
(2). So many have a great deal of truth, and are dead. The Lord needs a vessel to meet these conditions – a vessel that has gone through the fire, and is living in the power of resurrection.
Such a vessel is going to be a suffering vessel, which has come to the place where God Himself meets the situation.
This may explain much; it may be a challenge; it may be a call.
“Seeing we have this ministry… we obtained mercy” – we have received grace to help – and so “we faint not”. But the treasure is in vessels of fragile clay, the vessel is being broken day by day. To stand in the power of God, the revelation of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, represents cost. Are we prepared for that? That is the way of the accredited ministry.
God has accredited the ministry of His Son, yet there was a universal combination to set Him at naught.
God has accredited the ministry of His servant Paul, but he was taken through depths of suffering.
So for us; ministry accredited of God is linked with suffering, but the suffering produces that which is wholly of God and cannot be destroyed.”
First published in “A Witness and A Testimony” magazine, Sep-Oct 1946, Vol 24-5
We are not separate from them. We are all a part of Christ’s Body. Let us pray from them and their families. Let us pray for the persecuted Church.
Grace and Truth 