Sunday, May 9, 2021

100TH BIRTHDAY OF SOPHIE SCHOLL

May 9, 2021 would have been the 100^th birthday of Sophie Scholl, a courageous German Christian Girl, AKA the woman who defied Hitler. She had many good Christian quotes that were biblical that it inspired me a lot.

Three things I learn from Sophie Scholl are courage with perseverance, being prayerful and facing death when persecuted.

I will post 3 quotes from Sophie Scholl, 3 bible verses, with a short sermon from Dr Joel Beeke and will close with a prayer for Persecuted Christians.

“I'm still so remote from God that I don't even sense his presence when I pray. Sometimes when I utter God's name, in fact, I feel like sinking into a void. It isn't a frightening or dizzying sensation, it's nothing at all — and that's far more terrible. But prayer is the only remedy for it, and however many devils scurry around inside me, I shall cling to the rope God has thrown me in Jesus Christ, even if my numb hands can no longer feel it.”

[As quoted in At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl (1987) edited by Inge Jens, translated by J. Maxwell Brownjohn; also in Voices of the Holocaust : Resistors, Liberation, Understanding (1997) by Lorie Jenkins McElroy]

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. – Romans 12 verse 12 (ESV)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://twitter.com/CornerStoneRad1/status/1240668972963344384]

I've been thinking of a story from the Old Testament: Moses stood all day and all night with outstretched arms, praying to God for victory. And whenever he let down his arms, the enemy prevailed over the children of Israel. Are there still people today who never weary of directing all their thinking and all their energy, single-heartedly, to one cause? – Sophie Scholl

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1120614]

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2015/05/sophie-scholl-on-moses-quote-of.html

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12: 1 – 2 (ESV)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://slideplayer.com/slide/13855622/]

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’ – Isaiah 41:13 (NKJV)

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://wisdomandinstruction1.blogspot.com/2015/11/isaiah-4113-nkjv.html]

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2020/09/isaiah-12-hymn-of-praise.html

Many people think of our times as being the last before the end of the world. The evidence of horror all around us makes this seem possible. But isn't that an idea of only minor importance? Doesn't every human being, no matter which era he lives in, always have to reckon with being accountable to God at any moment? Can I know whether I'll be alive tomorrow morning? A bomb could destroy all of us tonight. And then my guilt would not be one bit less than if I perished together with the arth and the stars.

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/401410 & http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/sophie-scholl-on-end-times-may-9-1921.html]

A Prayer for Persecuted Christians

(Based on Luke 21:12, written in honor of the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians.)

God, you know
The plight of people far away
Oppressed by governments and vigilantes
In places
Where Christianity is an unpopular choice.

God, you knew
That the day would come here
When truth-telling would be despised
And siding with the oppressed
Part of the road less travelled.

Have mercy, O God,
Upon persecuted Christians there and here
Who are willing to suffer consequences
For speaking your Name
In word or in deed
In defiance or in advocacy.
Grant courage and strength
To all who would dare
To live their convictions out loud. Amen.