Today I attended a conference put on by Voice of the Martyrs, where I got hear preachers from persecuted churches around the world. Some of the pictures were hard to look at, and the stories even harder to hear, but it was powerful reminder to remember those who are truly our brother’s and sisters and who are suffering and dying each day for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we never forget! It was particularly challenging when the speaker from North Korea told us that the churches of North Korea, who are being tortured and murdered with more brutality than perhaps any other Christians on earth, are actually in constant prayer for US! They pray earnestly each day that we would stop relying on our money and worldly freedom, and learn to rely fully on God and the only true freedom that is found in Christ. He said boldly that, for the Child of God, political freedom is irrelevant. In Christ we are free. If our Body is in chains, it is in chains to God’s glory. Even more challenging came the words of an Ethiopian pastor, who had himself been tortured horrifically with boiling oil. He pleaded with us NOT to pray for the persecution to stop! “That prayer is NOT Biblical” He declared with passion. He insisted that we ought to pray for boldness in the midst of the persecution, but that persecution is promised in scripture, and always leads to the growth of the church! He would gladly return and suffer, even die, that Christ may be known!
Truly, may we never forget our suffering brothers and sisters. Let us pray earnestly for their needs, and even more, for their boldness to continue proclaiming the gospel! Let us be inspired by their faith, and declare it here, where as of yet there is no law to hinder us! How can we pray for THEM to be Bold and suffer, when we ourselves are cowards in a place where suffering is not even likely! Let us join with them in one mission, as one body, the body of Christ, who Himself suffered unto death so that we can be free…even if we are in chains.
Luke
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