What God is Saying

Sing to the LORD; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. — Psalm 96:2-3

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

God's Number One Agenda Item?

There are so many good ministries and causes that Christians can be involved in today...pro-life, pro-marriage, adoption/orphan care, anti-sex trafficking, missions, persecuted church, Bible translation, VBS...the list goes on and on. But of all of these, I believe there is one that stands out as God's number one agenda item...saving the lost. Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel...the Great Commission. I believe that He desires, more than anything else on this earth, that people would know Him and spend eternity with Him.

So, I believe, that the question for each of us, as believers, becomes: What am I doing to fulfill the Great Commission; to spread the Gospel to those who have never heard His name?

Although I love my country, I am not really talking here about spreading the Gospel in America. Yes, it is very important to share our faith with our family and friends. But, as Oswald J. Smith said, “Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?” I believe that each of us has the responsibility to take the good news of the Gospel to those in other countries who have never heard of Him. How we do this may be different for each of us, but it is a responsibility that we shouldn’t ignore!

There are over 1.7 billion people, that’s 30% of the world population, who have NEVER heard the name of Jesus. How will they hear if we don’t go or pray for and support those who do? And we shouldn’t desire that they hear just so that billions of people won’t suffer in Hell for eternity, though that is an incredibly important reason. The main reason should be our desire that Jesus receives the glory He deserves when people from every nation bow before Him as Lord and Savior! These are His children that He created and who He loves. He has asked us to tell them about Him. It is the greatest responsibility we will ever have.

You know, we only have about 70-80 years out of eternity to tell others about Jesus and to gain people for His Kingdom. People are what He is referring to when He tells us to store up treasures in Heaven. People are the only things we can bring with us to Heaven.

Many of you may be members now or in the past of a church which was very world-mission oriented...that is wonderful! I was not. I vaguely remember my childhood church mentioning a missionary here and there but the lost world did not seem to be the focus of my church. After leaving home, I don't remember missions being a big focus in any church I attended until we lived in Seoul, South Korea from 2006-2008. Why was this the case?

More often than I can count, I sat through multiple services where the pastor asked us for money to improve our church and it's "campus." But what about money to build churches in other countries where they have never heard of Jesus? Never. I read recently that for the cost of one of the mega-churches in America, 7,000 churches could be built in a 3rd world nation. Are we truly being good stewards of the incredible resources God has given us?

If the Great Commission is to be on the heart of every Christian, as it was on the heart of Jesus and His disciples, why is the American Church, seminaries, major Christian personalities, and many Christian organizations not more outspoken about the persecuted church and worldwide missions? According to Tim Dearborn,  “Lack of interest in mission is not fundamentally caused by an absence of compassion or commitment, nor by a lack of information or exhortation. And lack of interest in mission is not remedied by more shocking statistics, more gruesome stories or more emotionally manipulative commands to obedience. It is best remedied by intensifying people’s passion for Christ, so that the passions of His heart become the passions that propel our hearts.”

That's what happened to me! Some of you may be familiar with the song Hosanna by Hillsong. There is a line in there that has become my personal prayer: “Break my heart for what breaks Yours.” I began seriously praying that prayer while living in South Korea, two hours away from the most repressive, closed to the Gospel, nation on earth...North Korea. As I began to really ask God to draw me closer to Him and to help me know Him more, I became more and more passionate about the lost and the persecuted Church. I write this blog because God has shown me what the number one item on His agenda is...winning the lost for Christ!

We are living in exciting times! The move of Christ throughout the world is amazing and He is asking us to join Him. I shared these stats before but they are worth repeating. This comes from the book 2020 Vision by Bill and Amy Stearns

- An average of 160,000 a day hear the message of redemption in Christ for the first time.

- Every hour, 3,000 more people decide to follow Jesus Christ which results in 72,000 new believers in Jesus every day, 91% of which are found in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

- 1,600 new churches open every week around the world

- 80 percent of the world's people have access to at least some portion of the Bible in a language they can understand

- Daily, in Africa, 20,000 new believers; Africa was 3% Christian in 1900 and is now more than 50% Christian

- In India, the home of the largest number of unreached people groups in the world, Gospel for Asia plants an amazing 7-10 churches a day!

- Uganda: One church in Kampala seats 10,500 and is filled to capacity for four services every Sunday. The church has planted more than 1,000 daughter churches across Uganda. Twenty-five years ago, Uganda’s population was 22% Muslim. Today that figure is around 6% Muslim. To find out how God is using one young lady in a remarkable way in Uganda go to Amazima

- Explosive growth in Latin America...almost all unreached people groups have been reached with 50,000 new churches per year

- In 1950 in China - 1 million believers; 2009 in China - 80 million Christians with average of 10,000 - 23,000 new Christians daily

- Mongolia - In 1989 there were only four known Christians; today there are more than 10,000 indigenous believers.

- Afghanistan - Before Sept. 11, 2001, there were only 17 known Muslim-background followers of Christ. Today there are more than 10,000.

- During the 1990s, the number of born-again believers in the world doubled!

- In 100 AD, the time of the earliest persecution of the Church, there were 360 non-Christians for every true believer...today that number has shrunk to just 7 non-Christians for every Christian as the Holy Spirit continues to move in our world

God is doing amazing things in the world and He will do them with or without our help. My fervent prayer is that we will be involved...pray, get educated, teach our children, tell those around us, support financially, go if God calls!  "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Luke 10:2





Sunday, May 27, 2018

Why Does God Allow Christian Persecution?


In my last blog entry I about Voice of the Martyrs and Christian persecution. Why does God allow this persecution we might ask? Because in no other act of a human being is God’s love shown more profoundly. Jesus was the ultimate martyr. He gave His life for us and He tells us time and again that we must be willing to do the same for others.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  Matthew 5:44

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  John 15:88

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  2 Timothy 3:12

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  1 Peter 4:12-14

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.  2 Corinthians 4:8-12

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  Romans 8:35-37

Giving their lives for Christ is just what Christians are doing all over the world. As people willingly sacrifice their lives, not just through death but also through other types of loss and persecution, those around them see a God who is worth giving everything for. As they see Christians give everything for God, they begin to believe that God loves them and will give everything for them.

Let me interject some thoughts about America at this point. Right now, there is much concern about the future of America, both financially and morally, but I don’t think we, as Christians, should be worried and concerned or look on this as entirely bad. According to Robert E. Coleman, "The Church should not fear affliction, though it causes anguish and even death. Suffering may be necessary to convince us that we do not live by bread alone. When received as an expression of God's trust, our suffering can be a means of helping us comprehend more of the love of Christ, 'who suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps' (1 Pet 2:21; Heb. 2:10, 5:8). Without hardship, probably few of us would learn much about the deeper life of grace."

We all know this is true in our own lives. When we go through difficult times, it draws us closer to the Lord. Well, maybe God has more difficult times ahead for the Church in America, in order to draw her closer to Him and purify her for greater works as we anticipate the return, someday, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

After you read a bit about the persecuted church, you may ask yourself, why am I not hearing about this on the news? One reason is that the visual media have eroded the faith of believers in God’s sovereignty in the world. Television cameramen swoop down on the wars, famines, disasters and tragedies of this world. (if it bleeds, it leads). The beautiful, wholesome and good is less photogenic, so what God does and what God’s servants are achieving are rarely noticed. Like Elisha’s servant (2 Kings 6), we need our eyes opened to see reality. The view from a heavenly vantage point is very different. There is a titanic struggle going on in the heavenlies between the forces of the Lord Jesus and the hosts of darkness and the effects in our world are dramatic. Yet the victory has already been won on the cross!”

Sharing the good news of that victory and encouraging the persecuted church is what Voice of the Martyrs is all about. There are many different things that they do, but I will just highlight a few:

They launch balloons, covered with Bible verses, into North Korea...the most closed nation on earth; they also send weekly Christian faxes to North Korean businesses...using any means to get the Bible into North Korea. They help with Chinese safe houses where North Koreans can find shelter and safety when they are escaping from North Korea. At these homes they often find faith in Jesus Christ as well.

In Pakistan they encourage and give legal aid to Christian prisoners and their families; you can send Action Packs into Pakistan...bags filled with clothing, blankets, the Bible and Christian literature and they produce and distribute many evangelistic tools to help win Muslims to Christ.

In China they support Christian prisoners and their families and provide aid to Christians whose churches have been destroyed.

There are many more ways that VoM can help you to help the persecuted church: signing up to receive the weekly prayers requests, writing letters to prisoners and sending blankets to Sudan. We have been given SO MUCH in America. Jesus asks us to help the least of these. VoM makes it very easy to do this. It has changed my life!

Yes, the persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters can be shocking, sad and depressing. If...we stop here. But, there’s more to this story! I’d like to conclude by sharing with you what God is doing in these three countries specifically. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 16:18, that “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Satan is doing his best to destroy Christians and keep the lost from ever hearing about the good news of Jesus Christ. But our God is greater and more powerful and He is winning the battle one person at a time!

In North Korea: the number of Christians is growing despite persecution with the percentage of Christian as high as 10%!  Hearts are longing for truth and for a loving relationship with their Creator so much so that many who flee to China and receive Christ go back into North Korea, with the reality of certain death if they are caught, to share the Good News with their family and friends. Many believe that the North Korean government will fall and South Korea, a very Christian nation, is waiting to flood the country with the good news of Jesus. Just as a side note...100 years ago, Korea had no Protestant Church and was thought of as “impossible to penetrate.” Today the country is over 30% Christian and in Seoul, alone, there are over 7,000 churches...we lived there for 2 years and I can attest to the truth of this!

In Pakistan: Christians have become the second largest religious minority. Incredibly, God is appearing to Muslims in visions and dreams (more than 1/3 of the converts in Turkey said they came to Christ because He appeared to them in a dream).

In China: Every day approximately 23,000 Chinese come to know Christ! In fact, right now there are many more Christians in China than members of the Communist party. There is so much more I could share but I will end this. God is doing incredible things throughout the world and it is our joy and privilege to be involved!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Voice of the Martyrs

One thing I would like to do with this blog is to introduce you to some of the wonderful ministries that are out there, helping spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and helping those who are sharing the news. One  such organization is Voice of the Martyrs. I first learned about VoM when we were in the process of adopting our oldest daughter from China. I didn't really know much about the daily persecution that Christians undergo throughout the world for their faith and their incredible testimonies. VoM helped me learn so much!

When Jesus was asked by His disciples about His return, Jesus spoke these words (Luke 21),
"But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.”

Persecution, betrayal, martyrdom - these are not things that many of us may think of very often in America, where it is relatively easy to be a Christian. But in many countries our Christian family is treated horribly! Imagine yourself at church on Sunday morning or at a ladies' Bible study. Now, if you lived in North Korea, Vietnam, China, Pakistan, Iran or a host of other nations, the police could come into the room, take everyone to prison and torture or even kill you without any legal proceedings. Right now Pastor Andrew Brunson is on trial in Turkey for sharing his faith, Pastor John Cao was sentenced to 7 years in prison in China for sharing his faith and two men were arrested in Pakistan for handing a Christian book to a man in a marketplace.

When many Christians in America do think about persecution and martyrdom, they automatically think of Rome, the gladiators, lions, Stephen and Paul. But do you know that more Christians became martyrs for their faith in the last century, approximately 41 million, than in all the centuries before that combined?

I encourage you to go to the VoM website, read through it and sign up to receive their free monthly newsletter. You can also order the free book Tortured for Christ. Learn about what our brothers and sisters are enduring as Christians so that your heart will be broken for them and so that you will pray for them. Prayer for the persecuted church is the number one thing each of us can do and it is the main request that they have. We need to do what Hebrews 13:3 asks of us, “Remember those in prison as if you yourselves were prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”


Monday, May 21, 2018

What's the "One Thing?"

Two individuals came to Jesus, each with a deep spiritual problem. One found life, but the other lost it. What went wrong in this counseling session?

The first person was a rich young ruler who approached the Lord with the most burning question of his heart: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).

He was not seeking a religious debate as so many others did. He honestly wanted to know. When Jesus listed five of the commandments, the young man replied that he had a perfect record in keeping them all. Christ simply responded to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor . . . and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). Scripture tells us that the rich ruler went away sorrowful (see Matthew 19:22).

The second man was also rich, but he had gained his wealth by shamelessly defrauding others. Zacchaeus was a well-known crook. When Jesus came to his house, He said nothing to the man about selling his house or giving his money away. Amazingly, Zacchaeus freely made the decision to give half of his possessions to the poor and restore four times the amount he stole to everyone he’d cheated.

What was it that compelled Zacchaeus to respond so differently than the rich young ruler?

When Zacchaeus saw Christ, he saw the pearl of great price. He saw in Him everything, all things, completion. He realized, If I have Him, I can easily give away everything. What else do I need?

But when the young ruler saw Jesus, he didn’t see the pearl of great price. If we could know what his thoughts were that day, I imagine most of them were focused on what he would be giving up, more than what he would gain in Christ.

We very often make the same mistake as the rich young ruler. We truly want to follow Christ and experience His abundant life, but we focus on what we may have to give up and are afraid to let go of those things we have relied on for so long. I believe the Lord looks for that “one thing” we grasp so tightly and depend on. It could be anything: our strength, our abilities, our education, a meaningful relationship, our years of Christian experience, our connections, the good reputation we have established, our position, our extraordinary discernment and other spiritual gifts, our plans for marriage or the things of this world like the rich young ruler.

In the New Testament book of Revelation, we encounter a group of people in the church of Laodicea who were convinced that they were rich and lacked nothing. Yet the Lord told them that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Why did the Lord think they lacked everything? It is because they had become self-reliant, which prevented them from experiencing the genuine life of Christ.

As long as we hold on to that one thing in which we trust, we will never be able to surrender fully to Christ. Consequently, there will always be a distance between the Lord and us. Such lack of closeness results in frustration and discouragement on our part. In addition, that one thing will be a constant hindrance for the rivers of living water to flow freely out from us and give life to others.

How do we recognize the “one thing” still lacking in us? We will know it by the discouragement, tension, bitterness, frustration and irritation that fill our hearts, when that “one thing” is tampered with. God will open our eyes, and we will recognize it if we truly desire to. We will then have the grace to surrender it to the Lord, not by looking at what we are letting go, but by looking at all that we have in Christ— the pearl of great price.

You see, if “our riches,” that which we value most, are the Lord and what we have in Him, then no raging storm can cause any disturbance. Amy Carmichael once wrote, “A cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.”

If “our riches,” that which we value most, are the Lord and what we have in Him, then no raging storm can cause any disturbance.

I believe the Lord wants us to live in a continual state of seeing Him as everything and being content in Him alone. Those whose life is full of joy and the unhindered presence of the Lord are the ones who experience a continuous feast on Him. Nothing else will matter to them, and abandonment to Christ alone is their obvious choice. Will you believe that He is truly the pearl of great price?
Step out. You’ll find Him to be so much more than you imagine.


This was taken from the book Destined to Soar by K. P. Yohannan, leader of Gospel for Asia. You can download the book for free at https://www.gfa.org/resource/books/

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Praying for the Caucasus People

Chechen children in Caucasus mountain region
This email is from a good friend of mine who is a missionary to the Caucasus people (formerly Russia) who are mainly Muslim. A good lesson for today can be derived from this Bible story!

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. 
So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” 
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” 
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 
“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” 
And her daughter was healed at that moment.   Matthew 15:21-28

"We pray more women will be like the Matthew 15:21-28 Canaanite woman.  Though from a nationality outside the house of Israel, though an enemy of Israel, she wanted healing for her demon-possessed daughter. She knew just enough of Jesus to go find him.

She pestered the disciples to get through to see him. She rebutted with clever wit Jesus's test where he used a usual, expected ethnic slight against the Canaanites [We just learned they make these ethnic jokes/slights all the time in Dagestan]. Like one from any powerless ethnic group or nationality, she endured the deep humiliation hearing such publicly accepted denigration of her people; but her canny wit blasted through Jesus' word play and she demonstrated her faith.

Imagine the features on her face, looking towards Jesus, perhaps directly in his eyes (which would break culture code too). "You can say what you want to me to test my resolve, but I know I need YOU and I'm not moving until YOU do what I KNOW you can do."

Doubtful that the disciples caught the whole message here, but wasn't Jesus showing just how much shame; humiliation some must endure to come to Him (and soon Jesus would be the one enduring deep shame and humiliation for ALL). Her faith was great indeed! The disciples were privileged that Jesus chose them. Here, the Canaanite woman, against strong social barriers, is Choosing Jesus.
       
So we ask God to move these Caucasus women, men and families in great faith to GO FIND Jesus; to step past the mental, social, historical walls developed from 1000 years of reasons not to seek Jesus and to pester Christ's church for mere "crumbs which fall from their masters' table."

We pray Christ's Russian speaking churches and Global Church will awaken and begin sincerely INVITING Caucasus Peoples to authentically meet Jesus. He's the only one who will complete their customs and cultures towards a Biblical tapestry of faith and worship. We pray the "bread of Jesus" will be offered, not as crumbs and leftovers, but from the meal table itself [through fellowship groups they can call home]!"

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Why Embrace Suffering?

K.P. Yohannan (founder of Gospel for Asia) wrote a book called Destined to Soar (it's a free download at Destined to Soar). It spoke about our willingness to "arm ourselves with a mind to suffer" in following Jesus Christ. I think he gives a good explanation of what that looks like in our lives and in the life of Jesus. 

“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind” (1 Peter 4:1).
Have we armed ourselves with the willingness to suffer—to the same extent that Christ suffered for us when He was on earth?
I am well aware that the idea of embracing suffering does not fit our 21st-century concept of following and serving Christ. Yet the Bible teaches that suffering for Him is our privilege: “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29).

Does that mean we all should seek out beatings and martyrdom? No, that’s not what it means. The Lord wants us to arm ourselves with a mind to suffer just as He did, so the Enemy has nothing to work with to get us out of the battle.

Jesus’ life is our model in this area: “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Christ did not suffer just during His three years of public ministry or the last few days of His life when He was crucified. He suffered throughout His life on earth. He who was without sin lived daily with the corruption and sinfulness of lost humanity.

His own family members said He had gone mentally insane. The religious community misunderstood Him and called Him a demon-possessed man. His disciples didn’t understand Him. From birth to the cross, His life was full of pain, loneliness and constant misunderstanding. He is called a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

In the midst of it all, He chose to suffer in the flesh by saying no to Himself. He never fought for Himself or attacked anyone to defend His rights. And in the end, Jesus was able to say, “Not My will, but Thine,” embracing the cross to fulfill His Father’s will.

But what was the reason for Christ’s suffering and death? It was to redeem mankind. And so it is with us. We can only become agents of redemption if we are willing to embrace suffering in the flesh—choosing to deny self and accepting death to our own desires.

My dear friend, if you want to finish strong in your service to the Lord, then you must make a deliberate decision to arm yourself with a mind to suffer as Jesus did. It is never easy for our flesh when we choose to spend time alone in prayer, fast for several days, give up certain material possessions or perhaps follow the Lord’s leading to a difficult mission field. But it’s a choice we make for others.

Throughout his days as a disciple, Peter battled for his rights and the number-one position on the team. But in his letter, he tells us, in essence: “Brothers and sisters, take Jesus as your example. The moment you remove yourselves from this reality, the devil will take advantage of you. And all of a sudden, relationships break down, and revenge, bitterness and unforgiveness will take hold of you. Don’t fight, don’t argue, don’t look for the first place for yourself. Don’t look for anything. Always follow Him who suffered for you. This is the secret of staying in the battle” (see 1 Peter).

And when we do this, nothing—no circumstances, disappointments, financial problems, misunderstandings or shortcomings of leaders and co-workers—will be able to take us out of the battle! For the sake of Jesus and His kingdom, are you prepared to suffer?

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Praying for Muslims during Ramadan

Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims, begins today and lasts through June 14. During this time my family and I will be praying for the Muslim world. We will use 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World  So, why do we pray for Muslims?

Prayer is a practice common to both Christians and Muslims. Followers of both faiths pray for similar reasons: to engage their minds on the ways of God; to gain understanding of His will and find the strength to pursue it; to seek comfort and help; as a means of sharing the deepest thoughts of their hearts with the One in whom they put their trust. So, why do we pray for Muslims?

1. We Pray to Change Our Hearts

We develop our understanding about those who are different from us in different ways. We gain our understanding of Muslims through what we experience and what we hear. Yet our experiences and knowledge will be limited. For some, experiences and knowledge will lead to a view Muslims with fear or animosity, while others will view them with warmth and concern, and yet others with indifference.

When we pray for others as Jesus taught us to, we begin to see who we pray for through His eyes.  30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World  began with a group of Christians praying in the Middle East and repenting as we realized that they had not been seeing the people of that region in the way God does.  Many of our readers over the years have identified with this, testifying that the prayer guide has caused them to recognize the need for a change in the way they understand Muslims.

The first command of Jesus was to love others as He loves us. To love Muslims we must be willing to allow God to direct our understanding of who they are and to see them as He does. So we pray to gain an understanding of God’s heart for Muslims the world over.

2. We Pray to Change the World

Christians also believe that through prayer we can affect change in the world.  We believe God works with us to accomplish His will and that in prayer we can encourage miraculous things to happen.

Many of the articles in the 30 Days prayer guide focus on the needs of Muslim people. Muslim people come from enormously diverse cultures and societies and their needs are varied and unique. From immigrant families struggling to adapt to a foreign culture to rural tribesman who have never been outside of their remote village; wealthy businessmen to illiterate fishermen; refugee women desperate to protect their families and restless young men wanting their voices to be heard. Prayer helps us to understand these needs and how to respond to them. We pray for the needs of Muslims because that is one way we can love.

We pray also for Muslims to gain a greater understanding of Jesus. We realize that as His followers, we often fail to represent Jesus well. Therefore, we do not pray for Muslims to become like us – we pray for them to become like Jesus. We pray that they will join us on the journey towards experiencing that abundant life of which Jesus spoke and towards establishing His Kingdom of peace on earth.

Monday, May 14, 2018

70th Anniversary of Israel

"Seventy has always been significant in the life of the nation of Israel. Even before Israel was known as a nation, 70 was significant.
- After the universal flood, 70 nations were named in Genesis 10.
- Jacob (who was renamed Israel by God) and his family were 70 in number when they went down to Egypt.
- Moses appointed 70 elders of Israel.
- Israel was held captive in Babylon for 70 years. - Daniel speaks of 70 weeks of years, all of which have been fulfilled except for the 70th week.
- The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD by Roman General Titus.
- 70 scholars translated the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek Septuagint.  

Today, May 14, 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of Israel becoming a nation. May 14, 1948, was the day God decided he would once again bring his people to the land he promised to them as their permanent home. On that day, 11 minutes after declaring statehood, President Harry Truman was the first to recognize the new Jewish Nation. Iran was the second nation to recognize the Jewish state.

Preceding the May 14th Declaration, the Arabs incited vicious and deadly riots against Jewish villages.  Almost immediately upon becoming a nation, Israel was attacked with a vengeance by well-armed and well-trained neighbors.

Israel fought with sparse arms. They had no tanks and only a handful of obsolete airplanes. David Ben-Gurion, who became Israel’s first prime minister, was told the nation had a 50/50 chance to survive.

Israel did survive but the cost was high. She lost approximately 1 percent of her population of 650,000 people in the war for independence. Israel not only survived — she prevailed and she has prevailed ever since.

The Arab armies lost in humiliation and have never recovered from their loss. While Israel celebrates her birthday, the Arabs continue to riot on her borders and remember the day of celebration as “Nakba” day — the day of the catastrophe.

Although the olive branch of peace has been extended by Israel numerous times over the past 70 years, only Jordan and Egypt have signed peace agreements. Israel will continue to seek peace with her neighbors. Scripture tells us peace will elude Israel until Jesus, the Messiah returns.

In spite of the tumultuous events surrounding Israel, the nation perseveres and prevails and continues to bless the world with her many accomplishments. Israel leads the world per capita with the highest number of doctorate degrees and university degrees, the most engineers, physicians, scientists, and technicians. Israel has more museums and orchestras, reads more books, and produces more scientific papers. Israel has more Nobel prizes per capita than the US, France, and Germany.

Israel is the only nation in the Middle East where Christians, Muslims, and Jews are all free to vote and where women enjoy full political rights. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians flourish and are not persecuted.

Israel is making a huge difference in the world of the special needs population as they have dedicated time, resources, and research in the study of Autism.

It is difficult to find any area in the world where Israeli innovation and advancements have not improved lives. Some of those areas include technology, agriculture, science, and medicine as well as in the arts, music, and literature.

There are so many successful start-up companies coming out of Israel that she has become known as the start-up nation. When you visit Israel you can feel the “can do” attitude in the air, the people work and fearlessly move forward even when facing seemingly overwhelming odds.

Israel is an ancient nation guaranteed by God to stand forever. No other nation has such a promise and no other nation is in such a covenant relationship with God. It would be wise to heed the ancient words from the book of origins when God promised Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” History has shown God has not forgotten His promise to His people.

So, on this 70th anniversary of the rebirth of an ancient nation in their homeland, I applaud and admire Israel with all of my heart. May God continue to bless and keep you, may you soon know the peace of God within your hearts and within your walls. Happy 70th Birthday Israel!"

Ginger Williamson, a Ridgeland resident who has studied Israel for 20 years, teaches the subject in churches, Bible studies, small groups, and seminars. She can be reached at gingerw003@yahoo.com.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

The Church in Africa


What does mission-sending activity look like today? No longer should we think of the typical Christian missionary being a Westerner. More and more, God is raising up workers in the mission field from the "Majority World." Today's blog will focus on Africa and is taken from an article by Timothy Olonade, Executive Secretary of Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association, and by Jason Mandryk's article The State of the Gospel.

"When Europeans came to Africa in the mid-1800s, some wanted the economic value their newly acquired territory could generate, while others wanted the souls of Africans for God's kingdom. Passionate mission fervor characterized the missionaries that brought the gospel to Africa. But sadly, that mission passion was not passed on to the churches that emerged in Africa out of their efforts.

Beginning in the 1950s, major national initiatives crystallized which were aimed at birthing new churches that were authentically African. In the 1960s, most African countries gained independence from colonial powers. Political change inspired a corresponding change in the Church with a major surge of indigenous leadership (Africans were now leading African churches). The new sense of ownership sparked revivals in Burundi, Zululand, Zaire and Nigeria.

The 1970s were characterized by full-blown national initiatives to mobilize Africans for missions, particularly in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. Nigeria illustrates the transfer of mission vision in a dramatic way. There were nearly 10,000 expatriate/foreign missionaries serving in Nigeria in 1986. That same year, there were just slightly over 500 indigenous/native missionaries from Nigerian churches. In just 20 years, the figures virtually reversed. The number of expatriate missionaries shrunk to some 860 by 2006 (which should happen since the Nigerians were taking control of their own mission sending), and missionaries sent by Nigerian churches increased to over 5,200. Cross-cultural missionaries from Nigeria alone now serve in 65 countries around the globe.

The gospel has found fertile soil in Africa (Daily, in Africa, there are 20,000 new believers - 2020 Vision by Bill and Amy Stearns). And Africans are now doing their part to take its life-giving message around the world with characteristic zest and passion. African missionaries are found as far east as Japan and China and as far south and west as Brazil and Bolivia. The presence of African flavor in global evangelism can also be seen in Europe, where the five largest churches are led by Africans."

"In sub-Saharan Africa, in 1900, there were 8 million Christians (3% of the population); by 2000 there were 351 million (50%)...it is now the majority religion. Despite living with economic stagnation, hardships or even decline, African evangelicals sent out an estimated 13,000 cross-cultural missionaries. Still, there is critical need for theological institutions, or curriculum appropriate to the African context and for African theologians who can immerse their own people in Scripture in a fitting manner.

Lack of infrastructure, widespread disease, devastating wars and unstable or corrupt governments all contribute to keeping millions of Africans, in over a thousand people groups, largely unevangelized. The relationship between Islam and Christianity is a major challenge for the continent, and the potential for widened conflagration and confrontation between these two groups is high."

Praise God for what He is doing in Africa and through our African brothers and sisters! May we remember to lift them up in prayer. Some day we will all rejoice around God's holy throne!!!

Thursday, May 10, 2018

God's Hand in History (Part 11) - This Gospel Must Be Preached

A few years back I took an online course called Perspectives in World Missions...http://www.perspectives.org. It is an awesome course and I learned so much through it!

One very memorable article I read was entitled, The Kingdom Strikes Back by Ralph D. Winter. This is the eleventh and last part of the article:

The period from 1600 to 2000 began with European footholds in the rest of the world. Apart from taking over what was relatively an empty continent by toppling the Aztec and Inca empires in the Western hemisphere, Europeans had only tiny enclaves of power in the heavily populated portions of the rest of the non-Western world. By 1945, Europeans had achieved virtual control over 99.5% of the non-Western world. This would not last. The peoples inhabiting the colonial empires had grown significantly in knowledge and initiative, just as the Goths had grown strong outside the bounds of the Roman empire. The Second World War mightily distracted the Western nations from their colonial hold on the rest of the world. That did it. Nationalism exploded.

Twenty-five years later, the Western nations had lost control over all but 5% of the non-Western population of the world. This 1945-1969 period of the sudden collapse of Western control, coupled with the unexpected upsurge of significance of the Christian movement in the non-Western world, I have elsewhere called “the twenty-five unbelievable years.” If we compare this period to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire’s domination over its conquered provinces of Spain, Gaul and Britain, and to the breakdown of control over non-Frankish Europe under Charlemagne’s successors, we might anticipate—at least by the logic of sheer parallelism—that the Western world itself will soon be significantly dominated by non-Westerners.

With some reason, ever since the collapse of Western power became obvious (during “the twenty-five unbelievable years”), there have been many who have decried the thought of any further missionary effort moving from the West to the non-Western world. Perhaps they have confused the inappropriateness of political control with a need to cut ties of faith in any further foreign missions.

The true situation is actually very different. In fact, the absence of political control for the first time in many areas has now begun to allow non-Western populations to yield to the Kingdom of Christ without simultaneously yielding to the political kingdoms of the Western world. Here we see a parallel to the Frankish tribal people accepting the faith of Rome only after Rome had lost its military power. This new openness to Catholic Christianity continued among the Anglo-Saxons, Germans and Scandinavians up until the time when the emergence of strong papal authority, mixed with power politics, became a threat to legitimate national ambitions, and led to a Reformation which allowed nationalized forms of Christianity to break away.

The present spectacle of a Western world flaunting the standards of Christian morality in more obvious ways than ever may dissuade non-Christian nations from embracing the Christian faith; but it may also tend to disassociate the treasure of Christian ideals from a Western world which has, until this age, been their most prominent sponsor. When Asians accuse Western nations of immorality in warfare, they are appealing to Christian values, certainly not the values of any nation’s pagan past. In this sense, Christianity has already conquered the world. No longer, for example, is the long-standing Chinese tradition of ingenious torture likely to be boasted about in China nor highly respected anywhere else, at least in public circles.

But this worldwide transformation has not come about suddenly. Even the present, minimal attainment of worldwide Christian morality on a tenuous public level has been accomplished only at the cost of a great amount of sacrificial missionary endeavor (during the four centuries of Period Five), missionary labors which have been mightier and more deliberate than at any time in 2,000 years. The first half (1600-1800) of this fifth period was almost exclusively a Roman show. By the year 1800 it was painfully embarrassing to Protestants to hear Roman missionaries writing off the Protestant movement as apostate simply because it was not sending missionaries. But by that same year, Roman missionary effort had been forced into sudden decline due to the curtailment of the Jesuits, and the combined effect of the French Revolution and ensuing chaos which then cut the European economic roots of Catholic missions.

However, the year 1800 marks the awakening of the Protestants from two-and-a-half centuries of inactivity, if not theological slumber, in regard to missionary outreach across the world. During this final period, for the first time, Protestants equipped themselves with organizational structures of mission comparable to the Catholic orders and began to make up for lost time. Unheralded, unnoticed, and all but forgotten in our day except for ill-informed criticism, Protestant missionary efforts in this period, more than Catholic missions, led the way in establishing throughout the world the democratic apparatus of government, the schools, the hospitals, the universities and
the political foundations of the new nations. Rightly understood, Protestant missionaries, along with their Roman Catholic counterparts, are surely not less than the prime movers of the tremendous energy that is mushrooming in the Third World today. Take China, for example. Two of its greatest modern leaders, Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, were both Christians. Teng Hsiao- P’ing’s “Four Modernizations” were principal emphases of the Western mission movement in China. Missions had planted a university in every province of China, etc.

But, if the Western home base is now to falter and to fail as the tide is reversed through the rising power of its partially evangelized periphery (as is the pattern in the earlier periods), we can only refer to Dawson’s comment on the devastation wrought by the Vikings—that this will not be a “victory for paganism.” The fall of the West will, in that case, be due in part to a decay of spirit. It will also be due to the pagan power in the non-Western world emboldened and strengthened by its first contact with Christian faith. It may come as a most drastic punishment to a Western world that has always spent more on cosmetics than it has on foreign missions—and lately ten times as much.

From a secular or even nationalistic point of view, the next years may be a very dark period for the Western world. The normal hopes and aspirations of Christian people for their own country may find only a very slight basis for optimism. But if the past is any guide at all, even this will have to be darkness before the dawn. The entire Western world in its present political form may be radically altered. We may not even be sure about the survival of our own country. But we have every reason to suppose from past experience that the Christian, biblical faith will clearly survive in one form or another.

We can readily calculate that during the 20th century, Westerners dropped from 18% to 8% of the world population. But we cannot ultimately be pessimistic. Beyond the agony of Rome was the winning of the Barbarians. Beyond the agony of the Barbarians was the winning of the Vikings. Beyond the agony of the Western world we can only pray that there will be the defeat of Satan’s power holding millions of people hostage in thousands of peoples—peoples which have too long “sat in darkness” and who “shall see a great light” (Matt 4:16). And we can know that there is no basis in the past or in the present for assuming that things are out of the control of the Living God.

If we in the West insist on keeping our blessing instead of sharing it, then we will, like other nations before us, have to lose our blessing for the remaining nations to receive it. God has not changed His plan in the last 4,000 years. But how much better not to focus on how to retain but to strive intentionally to extend that marvelous “blessing”! That way “in you and in your descendants all of the peoples of the world will be blessed.” This is the only way we can continue in God’s blessing. The expanding Kingdom is not going to stop with us (although it may leave us behind). “This Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all peoples, and then shall the end come” (Matt 24:14). God can raise up others if we falter.

(My thoughts) America has been greatly blessed by God, in freedom and prosperity, for a number of years. We, as a nation, have done much that is good, in bringing the Gospel and freedom to many other nations. But we have also failed God in many ways, especially lately. The moral decline in our culture and the  large scale embracing of a rich and decadent lifestyle, does not speak well of America or the Western World. God may choose to remove His blessings upon our nation.  “It may come as a most drastic punishment to a Western world that has always spent more on cosmetics than it has on foreign missions - lately ten times as much,” (pg. 227).
But this is not a time for worry or despair on the part of the Church in America. While the “entire Western world in its present political form may be radically altered (and) we may not even be sure about the survival of our own country...we have every reason to suppose from past experience that the Christian, biblical faith will clearly survive” (pg. 227).
While America has reached out to the non-Western world with the Gospel, we could have and should be doing so much more! “If we in the West insist on keeping our blessing instead of sharing it, then we will, like other nations before us (Israel, Rome, etc.) perhaps have to ‘lose’ our blessing in order for the remaining nations to receive it,” (pg. 227).
We don’t “deserve” any of the blessings we’ve been given. Each American Christian could, just as likely, have been born a girl in China or a Dalit in India. But God chose to place each of us in a prosperous country in order that we might share His blessings of prosperity and freedom with those who have never heard His name. If we are not doing this, He has every right to take those blessings away and give them to a people (like the Chinese and Indians) who are boldly reaching out to the unreached, even at the risk of their own lives.
But this should not be a source of injured pride or sadness on the part of the American church. We need to look at the big picture. We are first and foremost, part of the body of Christ in the world. In Heaven, for eternity, our nationality will no longer make a difference. Thus, on earth, we should be overjoyed at the growth of the Church in non-Western lands. We should join in prayer, financial support and even in person, with those who are spreading the Gospel in the non-Western world and celebrate with them as God, once again, seems to be shifting His blessings to yet another part of His vast world.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

God's Hand in History (Part 10) - Tragedy and Reformation

A few years back I took an online course called Perspectives in World Missions...http://www.perspectives.org. It is an awesome course and I learned so much through it!

One very memorable article I read was entitled, The Kingdom Strikes Back by Ralph D. Winter. This is the tenth part of the article:

The fourth period began with a spectacular, new evangelistic instrument—the Friars— and after the disaster of the prolonged plague would end with the greatest, the most vital, and most disruptive reformation of all. However, the Christian movement had already been involved for a hundred years in the most massive and tragic misconstrual of Christian mission in all of history. Ironically, part of the “flourishing” of the faith toward the end of the previous period led to disaster: never before had any nation or group of nations in the name of Christ launched as energetic and sustained a campaign into foreign territory as did Europe in the tragic debacle of the Crusades. This was in part the carry- over of the Viking spirit into the Christian Church. All of the major Crusades were led by Viking descendants.

While the Crusades had many political overtones (they were often a unifying device for faltering rulers), they would not have happened without the vigorous but misguided sponsorship of Christian leaders. They were not only an unprecedented blood-letting to the Europeans themselves and a savage wound in the side of the Muslim peoples (a wound which is not healed to this day), but they were a fatal blow even to the cause of Greek/Latin Christian unity and to the cultural unity of eastern Europe. In the long run, though Western Christians held Jerusalem for a hundred years, the Crusaders by default eventually gave the Eastern Christians over to the Ottoman sultans. Far worse, they established a permanent image of brutal, militant Christianity that alienates a large proportion of mankind, tearing down the value of the very word Christian in missions to this day.

Ironically, the mission of the Crusaders would not have been so appallingly negative had it not involved so high a component of abject Christian commitment. The great lesson of the Crusades is that goodwill, even sacrificial obedience to God, is no substitute for a clear understanding of His will. Significant in this sorry movement was an authentically devout man, Bernard of Clairvaux, to whom are attributed the words of the hymn Jesus the Very Thought of Thee. He preached the first crusade. Two Franciscans, Francis of Assisi and Raymond Lull, stand out as the only ones in this period whose insight into God’s will led them to substitute for warfare and violence the gentle words of the evangel as the proper means of extending the blessing God conferred on Abraham and had always intended for all of Abraham’s children-of-faith.

At this point we must pause to reflect on this curious period. We may not succeed, but let us try to see things from God’s point of view, treading with caution and tentativeness. We know, for example, that at the end of the First Period after three centuries of hardship and persecution, just when things were apparently going great, invaders appeared and chaos and catastrophe ensued. Why? That followed the period we have called the “Classical Renaissance.” It was both good and not so good. Just when Christians were translating the Bible into Latin and waxing eloquent in theological debate, when Eusebius, as the government’s official historian, was editing a massive collection of previous Christian writings, when heretics were thrown out of the empire (and became, however reluctantly, the only missionaries to the Goths), when Rome finally became officially Christian… then suddenly the curtain came down. Now, out of chaos God would bring a new cluster of people groups to be included in the “blessing,” that is, to be confronted with the claims, privileges, and obligations of the expanding Kingdom of God.

Similarly, at the end of the Second Period, after three centuries of chaos during which the rampaging Gothic hordes were eventually Christianized, tamed and civilized, Bibles and Biblical knowledge proliferated as never before. Major Biblical-missionary centers were established by the Celtic Christians and their Anglo-Saxon pupils. In this Charlemagnic (actually “Carolingian”) renaissance, thousands of public schools led by Christians attempted mass Biblical and general literacy. Charlemagne dared even to attack the endemic use of alcohol. Great theologians tussled with theological/political issues, The Venerable Bede became the Eusebius of this period (indeed, when both Charlemagne and Bede were much more Christian than Constantine and Eusebius). And, once again, invaders appeared and chaos and catastrophe ensued. Why?

Strangely similar, then, is the third period. In its early part it only took two and a half centuries for the Vikings to capitulate to the “counterattack of the Gospel.” The “renaissance” ensuing toward the end of this period was longer than a century and far more extensive than ever before. The Crusades, the cathedrals, the so-called Scholastic theologians, the universities, most importantly the blessed Friars, and even the early part of the Humanistic Renaissance make up this outsized 1050-1350 outburst of a Medieval Renaissance, or the “Twelfth Century Renaissance.” But then suddenly a new invader appeared—the Black plague—more virulent than ever, and chaos and catastrophe greater than ever occurred. Why?

Was God dissatisfied with incomplete obedience? Or was Satan striking back each time in greater desperation? Were those with the blessing retaining it and not sufficiently and determinedly sharing it with the other nations of the world? More puzzling, the plague that killed one-third of the inhabitants of Europe killed a much higher proportion of the Franciscans: 120,000 were laid still in Germany alone. Surely God was not trying to judge their missionary fire. Was He trying to judge the Crusaders whose atrocities greatly outweighed the Christian devotional elements in their movement? If so, why did He wait several hundred years to do that? Surely Satan, not God, inflicted Christian leadership in Europe so greatly. Would not Satan rather have that happen than for the Crusaders to die of the plague?

Perhaps it was that Europe did not sufficiently listen to the saintly Friars; that it was not the Friars that went wrong, but the hearers who did not respond. God’s judgment upon Europe then might have been to take the Gospel away from them, to take away the Friars and their message. Even though to us it seems like it was a judgment upon the messengers rather than upon the resistant hearers, is this not one impression that could be received from the New Testament as well? Jesus Himself came unto His own, and His own received Him not, yet Jesus rather than the resisting people went to the cross. Perhaps Satan’s evil intent—of removing the messenger—God employed as a judgment against those who chose not to hear.

In any case, the invasion of the Bubonic plague, first in 1346 and every so often during the next decade, brought a greater set-back than the Gothic, the Anglo-Saxon or the Viking invasions. It first devastated parts of Italy and Spain, then spread west and north to France, England, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia. By the time it had run its course 40 years later, one third to one half of the population of Europe was dead. Especially stricken were the Friars and the truly spiritual leaders. They were the ones who stayed behind to tend the sick and to bury the dead. Europe was absolutely in ruins. The result? There were three rival Popes at one point, the humanist elements turned menacingly humanistic, peasant turmoil (often based in justice and even justified by the Bible itself) turned into orgies and excesses of violence. “The god of this world” must have been glad, but out of all that death, poverty, confusion and lengthy travail, God birthed a new reform greater than anything before it.

Once more, at the end of one of our periods, a great flourishing took place. Printing came to the fore, Europeans finally escaped from their geographical cul de sac and sent ships for commerce, subjugation and spiritual blessing to the very ends of the earth. And as a part of the reform, the Protestant Reformation now loomed on the horizon: that great, seemingly permanent, cultural de-centralization of Europe.

Protestants often think of the Reformation as a legitimate reaction against the evils of a monstrous Christian bureaucracy sunken in decadence and corruption. But it must be admitted that this reformation was much more than that. This great decentralization of Christendom was in many respects the result of an increasing vitality which—although this is unknown to most Protestants—was just as evident in Italy, Spain and France as in Moravia, Germany and England. Everywhere we see a return to a study of the Bible and the appearance of new life and evangelical preaching. The Gospel encouraged believers to be German, not merely permitted Germans to be Roman Christians. Nevertheless, that marvelous insight was one of the products of a renewal already in progress. (Luther produced not the first but the fourteenth translation of the Bible into German.) Unfortunately, the marvelous emphasis on justification by faith—which was preached as much in Italy and Spain as in Germany at the time Luther loomed into view—became identified and ensnarled with German nationalistic (separatist) hopes and was thus, understandably, suppressed as a dangerous doctrine by political powers in Southern Europe.

It is merely a typical Protestant misunderstanding that there was not as much a revival of deeper life, Bible study and prayer in Southern Europe as in Northern Europe at the time of the Reformation. The issue may have appeared to the Protestants as faith vs. law, or to the Romans as unity vs. division, but such popular scales are askew because it was much more a case of over reaching Latin uniformity vs. national and indigenous diversity. The vernacular had to eventually conquer.

While Paul had not demanded that the Greeks become Jews, nevertheless the Germans had been obliged to become Roman. The Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians had at least been allowed their vernacular to an extent unknown in Christian Germany. Germany was where the revolt then reason- ably took place. Italy, France, and Spain, which were formerly part of the Roman Empire and extensively assimilated culturally in that direction, had no equivalent nationalistic steam behind their reforming movements and thus became almost irrelevant in the political polarity of the scuffle that ensued.

However here we go again—despite the fact that the Protestants won on the political front, and to a great extent gained the power to formulate anew their own Christian tradition and certainly thought they took the Bible seriously, they did not even talk of mission outreach. Rather, the period ended with Roman Europe expanding both politically and religiously on the seven seas. Thus, entirely unshared by Protestants for at least two centuries, the Catholic variety of Christianity actively promoted and accompanied a worldwide movement of scope unprecedented in the annals of mankind, one in which there was greater Christian missionary awareness than ever before. But, having lost non-Roman Europe by insisting on its Mediterranean culture, the Catholic tradition would now try to win the rest of the world without fully understanding what had just happened.

But why did the Protestants not even try to reach out? Catholic missionaries for two hundred years preceded Protestant missionaries. Some scholars point to the fact that the Protestants did not have a global network of colonial outreach. Well, the Dutch Protestants did. And, their ships, unlike those from Catholic countries, carried no missionaries. This is why the Japanese—once they began to fear the Christian movement Catholic missionaries planted—would allow only Dutch ships into their ports. Indeed, the Dutch even cheered and assisted the Japanese in the slaughter of the budding Christian (Catholic) community.

(My thoughts) The Crusades stand out as the worst misconstrual of mission understanding. During the Crusades, Christians erroneously thought they were doing God’s will in going to the “heathen” and conquering them in the name of Jesus Christ (even putting the cross on their shields). But they were very mistaken.
In all things, and especially in missions, we need to follow Jesus’ example. When Peter took up his sword to fight those who were opposed to Jesus, just as the Crusaders viewed themselves as fighting those (Muslims and Jews) who were opposed to Christians, Jesus told him (Peter), “Put your sword back in its place...for all who draw the sword will die by the sword,” Matt. 26:52.
Jesus never used violence to spread His message. The people clamored for it, but He refused. If only the Church at the time of the Crusades would have remembered and practiced following Jesus’ example of non-violence. But they did not and “the Crusades established a permanent image of brutal, militant Christianity that alienates a large proportion of mankind, tearing down the value of the very word Christian in missions to this day,”

Saturday, May 5, 2018

God's Hand in History (Part 9) - Viking Invasion and Conversion

A few years back I took an online course called Perspectives in World Missions...http://www.perspectives.org. It is an awesome course and I learned so much through it!

One very memorable article I read was entitled, The Kingdom Strikes Back by Ralph D. Winter. This is the ninth part of the article:

No sooner had the consolidation in Western Europe been accomplished under Charlemagne than a new menace appeared to peace and prosperity. This new menace— the Vikings would create a second period of at least semi-darkness to last 250 years. These savages further north had not yet been effectively evangelized. While the tribal invaders of Rome, who created the First Dark Ages, were rough forest people, they were, for the most part, nominally Arian Christians. The Vikings, by contrast, were neither civilized nor even lightly Christian. There was another difference: the Vikings were men of the sea. This meant that key island sanctuaries for missionary training, like Iona, or like the offshore promontory of Lindisfarne (connected to the land only at low tide), were as vulnerable to attacking seafarers as they had been invulnerable to attackers from the land. In this new period both of these mission centers were sacked more than a dozen times, their occupants slaughtered or sold off as slaves. It seems unquestionable that the Christians of Charlemagne’s empire would have fared far better had the Vikings had at least the appreciation of the Christian faith that the earlier barbarians had when they overran Rome. The very opposite of the Visigoths and Vandals who spared the churches, the Vikings seemed attracted like magnets to the monastic centers of scholarship and Christian devotion. They took a special delight in burning churches, in putting human life to the sword right in the churches, and in selling monks into slavery. These depraved people even sold into North African slavery the raided daughters of nearby antagonistic Vikings. A contemporary’s words give us a graphic impression of their carnage in “Christian” Europe:

"The Northmen cease not to slay and carry into captivity the Christian people, to destroy the churches and to burn the towns. Everywhere, there is nothing but dead bodies— clergy and laymen, nobles and common people, women and children. There is no road or place where the ground is not covered with corpses. We live in distress and anguish before this spectacle of the destruction of the Christian people."

No wonder the Anglican prayer book contains the prayer, “From the fury of the Northmen, O Lord, deliver us.” Once more, when Christians did not reach out to them, pagan peoples came after what the Christians possessed. And once more, the phenomenal power of Christianity manifested itself: the conquerors became conquered by the faith of their captives. Usually it was the monks sold as slaves or Christian girls forced to be their wives and mistresses who eventually won these savages of the north. In God’s providence their redemption became more important than the harrowing tragedy of this new invasion of barbarian violence and evil which fell upon God’s own people whom He loved. After all, He spared not His own Son in order to redeem us! Thus, again, what Satan intended for evil, God used for good.

In the previous hundred years, Charlemagne’s scholars had carefully collected the manuscripts of the ancient world. Now the majority were to be burned by the Vikings. Only because so many copies had been made and scattered so widely did the fruits of the Charlemagnic literary revival survive at all. Once scholars and missionaries had streamed in peace from Ireland across England and onto the continent, and even out beyond the frontiers of Charlemagne’s empire. Under the brunt of these new violent invasions from the north, the Irish volcano which had poured forth a passionate fire of evangelism for three centuries cooled almost to extinction. Viking warriors, newly based in Ireland, followed the paths of the earlier Irish peregrini across England and onto the continent, but this time ploughing waste and destruction rather than new life and hope. (for some reason...a large section of the article is not on Winter's website..it has to do with this third period and the growth of the Church in Europe)

To recapitulate our first period (AD 0-400) ended with a barely Christian Roman Empire and a somewhat Christian emperor, Constantine. Our second period (AD 400-800) ended with a reconstitution of that empire under Charlemagne, a vigorously Christianized barbarian. (Can you imagine an emperor who wore a monk's habit?). Our third period (AD 800-1200) ends with Pope Innocent III as the strongest man in Europe, made so by the Gregorian Reform

(My thoughts) In seemingly the darkest times in history. when it seems that Satan is all-powerful and God is being defeated (Viking invasion and Black plague), God brought great good for His people (conversion of Vikings, Protestant Reformation). “In God’s providence He worked redemption in the midst of harrowing tragedy...and evil that fell upon God’s beloved people. After all, He spared not His own Son in order to redeem us! Thus again, what Satan intended for evil, God used for good.”

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

God's Hand in History (Part 8) - Charlemagne’s Carolingian Renaissance

A few years back I took an online course called Perspectives in World Missions...http://www.perspectives.org. It is an awesome course and I learned so much through it!

One very memorable article I read was entitled, The Kingdom Strikes Back by Ralph D. Winter. This is the eighth part of the article:

Toward the end of the second period, as with the end of each of these periods, there was a great flourishing of Christianity within the new cultural basin. The rise of a strong man like Charlemagne facilitated communication throughout Western Europe to a degree unknown for 300 years. Under his sponsorship a whole range of issues—social, theological, political—were soberly restudied in the light of the Bible and the writings of earlier Christian leaders in the Roman period. Charlemagne was a second Constantine in certain respects, and his influence was unmatched in Western Europe during a half a millennium.

But Charlemagne was much more of a Christian than Constantine and as such industriously sponsored far more Christian activity. Like Constantine, his official espousal of Christianity produced many Christians who were Christians in name only. There is little doubt that the great missionary Boniface was slain by the Saxons because his patron, Charlemagne (with whose military policies he did not at all agree) had brutally suppressed the Saxons on many occasions. Then, as in our own recent past, the political force of a colonial power did not so much pave the way for Christianity, as turn people against the faith. Of interest to missionaries is the fact that the great centers of learning established by Charlemagne were copies and expansions of newly established mission compounds deep in German territory, themselves outposts that were the work of British and Celtic missionaries from sending centers as far away to the west as Britain’s Iona and Lindisfarne.

Indeed, the first serious attempt at anything like public education was initiated by this great tribal chieftain, Charlemagne, on the advice and impulse of Anglo-Celtic missionaries and scholars from Britain, such as Alcuin, whose projects eventually required the help of thousands of literate Christians from Britain and Ireland to man schools founded on the Continent. It is hard to believe, but formerly “barbarian” Irish teachers of Latin (never a native tongue in Ireland) were eventually needed to teach Latin in Rome. This indicates extensively how the tribal invasions of other barbarians had broken down the civilization of the Roman Empire. This reality underlies Thomas Cahill’s book, How the Irish Saved Civilization.

The Celtic Christians and their Anglo-Saxon and Continental converts especially treasured the Bible. Mute testimony to the Bible as their chief source of inspiration is that the highest works of art during these “dark” centuries were marvelously “illuminated” biblical manuscripts and devoutly ornamented church buildings. Manuscripts of non-Christian classical authors, though preserved and copied, were not illuminated. Through the long night of the progressive breakdown of the Western part of the Roman Empire, when the tribal migrations reduced almost all of life in the West to the level of the tribesmen themselves, the two great regenerating ideals were the hope of building anew the glory that was once Rome, and the hope of making everything subject to the Lord of Glory. The one really high point, when these twin objectives were most nearly achieved, was during Charlemagne’s long, vigorous career centered around the year 800. As one recent scholar put it:

"In the long sweep of European history, from the decline of the Roman Empire to the flowering of the Renaissance nearly a thousand years later, his [Charlemagne’s] is the sole commanding presence."

No wonder recent scholars call Charlemagne’s period the Carolingian Renaissance, and thus replace the concept of a single lengthy “dark ages” for a more precise perspective of a First Dark Ages early in this period, and a Second Dark Ages early in the next period, with a “Carolingian Renaissance” in between.

Unfortunately, the rebuilt empire (later to be called the Holy Roman Empire) was unable to find the ingredients of a Charlemagne in his successor; even more ominously, a new threat now posed itself externally. Charlemagne had been eager for his own peoples to be made Christian—the Germanic tribes. He offered wise, even spiritual leadership in many affairs, but did not throw his weight behind any kind of bold mission outreach to the Scandinavian peoples to the north. What missionary work was begun under his son was too little and too late. This fact contributed greatly to the undoing of the his empire.