Showing posts with label Persecution of Christians. Show all posts

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.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/a-prayer-for-persecuted-christians

Pressing on During Discouraging Times - Dr. Joel Beeke Sermon

VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjHe5ldwdOU

https://seekingafterhisheart.com/2017/12/16/sophie-scholl-the-power-of-the-written-word/

http://news.coinupdate.com/germany-new-silver-commemorative-coins-honour-centenary-birthday-of-wwii-era-heroine-sophie-scholl/

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2014/02/sophie-scholl-white-rose-9-may-1921-to.html

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2016/02/in-loving-memory-of-sophie-scholl-9-may.html

OTHER LINKS:

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-makes-a-woman-strong

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2020/01/missionary-jim-elliot-on-living-with.html

It Will Cost You Everything To Be A Disciple Of Jesus Christ! - Dr. Steve Lawson

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2019/01/it-will-cost-you-everything-to-be.html

GOING TO HEAVEN CHORAL MUSIC BY THE JAMAICANS

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2019/08/going-to-heaven-choral-music-by.html

Jesus Must Increase: A Prayer for the New Year

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-prayer-for-new-year.html

Prayers about the End Times

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2018/02/two-prayers-about-end-times.html

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2018/12/prayer-for-end-times.html

REVELATION 19: THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2020/01/revelation-19-return-of-jesus-christ.html

Saturday, December 26, 2020

CHINESE CHRISTIANS ARE MEMORIZING SCRIPTURES

Live every day as if the Son of Man were at the door, and gear your thinking to the fleeting moment. Just how can it be redeemed? Walk as if the next step would carry you across the threshold of Heaven. Pray. That saint who advances on his knees never retreats. - Jim Elliot

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/824994]

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2020/01/missionary-jim-elliot-on-living-with.html

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.

– Psalm 119:105 (NKJV)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://wiirocku.tumblr.com/post/101921346770/jesus-christ-faith-god]

Chinese Christians jailed for faith memorize Bible because guards ‘can’t take what’s hidden in your heart’

By Caleb Parke | Fox News

An American pastor who went to China to train faith leaders experiencing Christian persecution quickly realized he had more to learn from them.

Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii, shared about a recent trip to China with 22 Christian leaders in the communist country, 18 of whom had been imprisoned. He said they told him they smuggled Bible passages on small pieces of paper for others to memorize. Their meeting was underground.

PASTOR IMPRISONED IN TURKEY FOR HIS CHRISTIAN FAITH SAYS YOUTH AREN’T ‘PREPARED FOR WHAT IS COMING’

"If we get caught what will happen to me?" the pastor asked the Chinese Christians who took a 13-hour train ride to attend the leadership meeting, held in a 700-square-foot hotel room with no air conditioning.

"Well, you will get deported in 24 hours, and we will go to prison for three years," they responded.

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The 22 Chinese Christian leaders from the Hunan Province, the mountainous area in southern China, oversaw 22 million people in total in the country with 1.3 billion people.

In the beginning, short on Bibles, the Hawaii megachurch pastor asked them to turn to 2 Peter and he realized one of the women handed her Bible to another leader but she managed to recite the entire book.

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During a break he asked her about it. She said they have a lot of time in prison.

"Don't they confiscate the Bible?" Cordeiro asked.

They smuggle in pieces of paper with portions of Scripture on them.

CHINESE OFFICIALS WARN CHRISTIANITY IS 'ENORMOUS HARM' TO SOCIETY

“That’s why we memorize it as fast as we can because even though they can take the paper away, they can’t take what’s hidden in your heart,” she shared with him.

At the conclusion of the three-day study, Cordeiro asked them how he could pray for them.

One man responded that he wanted to be free to worship: “Could you pray that one day we could just be like you?”

CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION CLOSE TO 'GENOCIDE LEVELS,' LARGELY IGNORED DUE TO 'POLITICAL CORRECTNESS': REPORT

But the Hawaii pastor said he would not do that.

“I will not pray that you become like us, but I will pray that we become just like you,” he responded.

Christine Caine, a Christian activist and evangelist, shared a similar story at "Heaven Come" conference in Los Angeles in May.

TRANSLATING THE BIBLE IS SAVING LANGUAGES FROM EXTINCTION

Caine was invited to a gathering with 500 leaders of the Chinese underground church who asked her to teach them how to lead young people, worried they were losing them to Western values.

"'We don't understand anything about leadership, we don't understand about Western leadership methods. Could you help us? All we know how to do to is pray, all we know how to do is believe God. That's how we had revival in China when we're not allowed to carry the Word of God. The only leadership training we give our people is, we teach them how to witness to their executioner on their way to their execution.'"

She froze and then asked them to lay hands on her and pray for her.

"I thought, 'what am I doing here?" she said. "I literally said, 'I'm not sure if I'm a Christian.' You're asking me? No, you can all lay hands on me. You can all lay hands on me and give me the kind of faith that says, 'I'm going to witness to my executioner on the way to my execution...I want the kind of faith that causes Jesus to marvel."

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/chinese-christians-imprisoned-for-faith-memorize-bible-guards-cant-take-whats-hidden-in-your-heart

Sunday, October 13, 2019

PASTOR ANDREW BRUNSON’S PRAYER FOR DONALD TRUMP

"Lord God, I ask that you pour out your Holy Spirit on President Trump. That you give him supernatural wisdom to accomplish all the plans you have for this country and for him. I ask that you give him wisdom on how to lead this country into righteousness. I ask that you give him perseverance and endurance and courage to stand for truth. I ask that you protect him from slander from enemies, from those who would undermine. I ask that you make him a great leader for this country. Fill him with your wisdom and strength and perseverance, and we bless him. May he be a great blessing to our country. In Jesus' name, we bless you. Amen."

Pastor Andrew Brunson, Wife Pray for Trump to Have 'Supernatural Wisdom,' 'Fear of the Lord'

[SOURCE: https://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-andrew-brunson-wife-pray-for-trump-supernatural-wisdom-protection-and-fear-of-the-lord-227954/]

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/happyhayride/photos/a.664809713675718/1170025953154089/?type=3&theater]

"Lord God, I ask that you pour out your Holy Spirit on President Trump. That you give him supernatural wisdom to accomplish all the plans you have for this country and for him. I ask that you give him wisdom on how to lead this country into righteousness. I ask that you give him perseverance and endurance and courage to stand for truth. I ask that you protect him from slander from enemies, from those who would undermine. I ask that you make him a great leader for this country. Fill him with your wisdom and strength and perseverance, and we bless him. May he be a great blessing to our country. In Jesus' name, we bless you. Amen." - Pastor Andrew Brunson, Wife Pray for Trump to Have 'Supernatural Wisdom,' 'Fear of the Lord'

Andrew Craig Brunson (born January 3, 1968) is an American pastor and a teaching elder of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Brunson was arrested in Turkey, where he had lived since the mid-1990s, in October 2016 during the purges occurring after the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (along with the arrests of tens of thousands of Turkish military personnel, civil servants, educators, academics, dissidents, and journalists). In 2019, Brunson published a memoir about his ordeal. Brunson is an evangelical pastor of the Izmir Resurrection Church, a small Protestant church with about 25 congregants. T-Online describes the church as having been held in a room in a tenement.

On September 28, 2017, Erdoğan unsuccessfully proposed exchanging Brunson for Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic preacher accused of supporting the coup attempt from his exile in the United States. On July 26, 2018, US Vice President Pence called on Erdoğan to release Brunson or face significant sanctions. On August 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on two top Turkish government officials who were involved in the detention of Brunson, Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

In October 2018, the Trump administration successfully secured the release of Brunson, after U.S. economic sanctions and tariffs were placed on Turkey. On October 12, 2018, Brunson was convicted, by Turkish authorities, on the charge of aiding terrorism, but sentenced to time served. He was released from Turkish custody and immediately returned to the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Brunson