9/3/2021 The fall of a nation and the rising of a Church. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."Read Now Hello, my friends, I can't imagine the pain that the people in the "A country" are feeling. I've been consoling many friends. This is like a death in the family x 1000. One of those people is "M", a man from that country, who faithfully attended our home group for 1.5 yrs. He often said that WE were his true community, not his own people. We reconnected recently. He's been listening to Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov on audiobook & was impressed w/the concept that a seed must fall into the ground & die to produce many seeds....I told him that Dostoyevsky got this from the Bible. (John 12:24).......M's brother, F, was a prison guard where fighters from the insurgent party were held. He's now being hunted. He & his family of 13 are trying to escape. Pls pray for them. I called M Friday night. His wife answered & said that he was doing his prayers. She spoke of her childhood under the first regime of the insurgent party. She said, "I'm considering leaving my religion"!!!! Out of deepest anguish, I anticipate a Church rising up among their people soon. Are we ready to walk w/them out of what amounts to be the world's largest street gang? This will take the entire Church. These emails are for encouraging the Body. Let me encourage you w/this...Neither you nor I would pick me to do this. Exodus 6:30-7:1, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. I'm a quirky dude. Ever noticed? Like Peter, I sometimes say cringeworthy things. If you've ever spent more than a day w/me, you've probably rolled your eyes at something I've said or done. I'm artsy. Artsy people are flakes. Right now, I'm thinking of an idiotic thing I said to one of my A friends. I meant well but it was awkward. But God always works despite me. It's the testimony of Grace in my life. So, God can surely use you, too! And we need more workers! (John 4:35) Although I often fumble & stumble, I tumble into Providence w/frequency. ........A Providential story about another man whom I'm consoling (although I didn't say anything stupid yet): In 2018, I went to a conference that teaches how to engage folks from "that other Abrahamic religion ". Coming back from the airport, my Uber driver "happened to be" one of my A acquaintances. He's from the tribe out of which rose the insurgency. When I got in, I said, "Oh....R....you're listening to Christian music.".....He said, "The last customer requested it". Whether a lie or not, a spiritual conversation started. I asked, "Ever read the Bible?" He said he'd like to but didn't have one. I said, "I have a very discreet Bible phone chip in your language.....in my suitcase. Would you like it?" He said, "Yes". When he dropped me off, I threw my suitcase onto my yard & unzipped it, dumping clothes in the melting snow, looking for that chip. He said, "Oh....another call. Gotta go. You can bring it to my produce stand at the farmer's market on Saturday." I went....bought some carrots, putting the chip under the money. (Sneaky Sneaky.....His employee was also from A.) We lost contact after June of '18, but reconnected by phone last Thur night. He credited me w/changing his life. I was puzzled. But I eventually recalled giving him a contact for a construction job that somehow connected into a lucrative truck driving career. I barely remembered giving it to him, but recalled his struggles. So wild how God energized that connection!!! It's awesome when their blessings come from the Christian community! Jesus said "Go into all the world" (Mark 16:15). But, sadly, the Judeo-Christian heresy which I call "that other Abrahamic religion" grew from the vacuum of the Church not engaging the peninsula....and the religion was able to take root. Disobedience is costly. We can't continue the same mistake. I'm a latecomer to this work so it's easy for me to tell all the young 'uns to GO into all the world. I'm 55 & will likely never minister in really challenging places....but I CAN minister locally. What I/we do here gets back to their home countries. Trust me. When feeling hopeless, never forget the Apostle Paul. He was the terror commander of his day (Acts 9) but finished his career as the unlikely author of 13 or 14 of the 27 NT books. Now's the time to engage A people (esp those from that very conservative tribe)....But WHOMEVER God brings to you. They are the bridge back. I vow never to get partisan in these emails, but will criticize politicians on both sides. Any normal person is outraged by what America has done...& is further outraged by D.C.'s flippancy toward the A soldiers who sacrificed....many of whom will be left behind to face consequences for their service. Many Americans are stranded. But there is a deeper context about which most Americans are entirely clueless. Their's is an honor/shame culture. We're a guilt/innocence culture, traditionally. We've brought great shame on them because defeat & losing face is the worst thing that can happen in their view. Worse than that, Joe Biden called this a "civil war". Yes, technically it was, but sorry, Joe.....this is genocide against anyone who's not on board w/the new "government". You might as well say that Nazi Germany had a "civil war" w/the Jews. You've just slapped an entire nation in the face hard several times. Shame on you and us. Way too many of us are more worked up about transgenderism, Matthew McConaghey's deodorant & Britney Spears' conservatorship than things that really matter. Heaven help us. A friend who is a very astute observer of "that other Abrahamic religion" told me something stunning the other day. He thinks America will convert that way someday. His explanation is that cancel culture is honor/shame & that is laying the groundwork for it. At a Common Ground conference, I first heard online culture described as honor/shame. I agree w/him but my reason for the same thought was different: Liberal 'christian' theology isn't much different from the competitor because the key doctrines are often arbitrary to many liberals. The Church needs to wake up & assert key distinctives like the Deity of Christ, the Trinity, the Cross, etc.....or they will slip into it when persecution comes. Many liberal churches are already playing w/fire & have created something called "Chrislam". Someone said, "Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything." We need to be outspoken. The Gospel must be reasserted & taken back from the liberal non-Church "church". Steve Green is one of my favorite singers......This is a very inspiring song. For F and all of the other men and women who served A and America, a return to orthodoxy, and the nations........
Just another witness to His Glory. Comments are closed.
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