OK. So a couple days ago, I posted on a story of a friend of a friend of mine. To recap, 16 year old girl decides to go to youth instead of follow the ways of the world. Supposed to be home 10:30 PM, never shows. Found a little later lying on the sidewalk with her head kicked in, with a letter reading: "Let this be a warning; we hate Bible thumpers." Dies later in hospital. Sad story.
And also, just one among the many stories of the unsung war in which we find ourselves. So to get down to it.
The Good:
God is good. We all know this. We all believe it. Therefore, even in an event as brutal as this, some good can come from it: the girl is now in heaven with her creator and saviour, and the family has at least that comfort.
The Bad:
Well, for starters someone died. Never a good thing in it's own right. Death is a byproduct of sin. This, however, was murder, which is even more bad. And, the forces of darkness essentially won this one.
The Ugly Truth:
WE ARE AT WAR. We're on a battlefield, shooting at something we can't see. We can hear it. We can feel it. But we can't see our enemy, which makes it that much harder to hit. Our biggest problem? We don't have a big enough army. Not enough people are willing to volunteer, and most of those who say they are simply sit around and do what? Not much of anything. We need a bigger, better trained army.
Our Weapons:
Well, the Bible and Prayer for one thing. The name of Jesus has more power than any president. Or any exploding star, for that matter. Then there are the various weapons and shields and such from the Bible:
The Armor of the Lord:
The Belt of Truth
The Breastplate of Righteousness
The Sandals of Peace
The Shield of Faith
The Helmet of Salvation
The Sword of the Spirit the word of God.
We have been called, among many other things, to take part in this spiritual battle that is penetrating every aspect of our lives. Everywhere we look, it is there. We must evangelize to A) obviously bring people to Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, and B) we must also recruit more people, ESPECIALLY people who are already 'Christians', into this war. We must train them. Teach them. And we must continue to learn ourselves.
So I am going to make this a call for people to join forces and fight against that which tries to attack us at every move. A call to rise up, and shout the truth from every hilltop. A call to arms!
A call
For Revival.
Thursday 10 September 2009
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Modern Day Martyrs
A lot of us have facebook, right? It's a very good way to communicate with friends and family. Well, some people I know have used it to communicate things like miracles and other Christian related subjects.
Not five minutes before beginning to write this, I read one such story. It was the first story of a modern day martyr I had ever read. And it happened to a family close to a friend of mine.
Basically what had happened was one night, a young girl had opted NOT to hang out with her old, druggy friends, and instead attend a youth group. She and her sister spoke several times over the phone to make sure everything was OK. She said she'd be home around 10:30.
10:30 came and went. Her sister called her and the pastor several times after that. The pastor answered, saying she had just left. (Her house was only a couple minute walk away).
The pastor then walked outside, and saw someone lying on the sidewalk. It was the girl. Her head had been smashed against the concrete and kicked, and a note lay beside her: "Let this be a lesson; we hate bible thumpers". That's what the note read.
She died later in hospital, on September 7, 2009, at sixteen years old.
A sixteen year old martyr. That's not sad. That's outrageous. A pathetic display of cowardice and contempt on behalf of those who did it.
What I find many Christians fail to realize is that we are fighting a war. Martyrdom is a product of war, regardless of how subtle that war may be. And rest assured, this is no subtle war.
What I have seen and heard in the last year is nothing less than outright scary. I'm not scared of much. This scares me.
We as Christians need to realize that we are fighting a war, a war against the forces of darkness. A war against Satan, and his minions. I have seen battles won; this is a battle lost.
It's real. It's big. Awareness needs to be spread. We are called to shout the truth from the hilltops. And yet we sit at home, comfortable in our beds and safe. We are afraid to take chances.
This girl was NOT afraid to take a chance, take a stand. And she died in the name of Jesus Christ, her Lord and Saviour. So even in the shadow of death, God can bring good. What Christian is afraid of dying for their Saviour? I'm not. But still, awareness must be spread. Just because good can come out of a murder, it doesn't make it right.
I'm going to do a series on this, because the briefly put-together spiel above is confusing and to some may seem contradictory. I think that's where a lot of people either don't believe, stop believing, or don't know WHAT to believe. So over the next few days, I'm going to do the best I can to clear up some questions.
In the meantime, I hope this at least made SOME sense, you know where to post questions/comments, it's nearly one in the morning so I need to go.
But think about this. About the reality of what we're dealing with.
And have a good night/morning/day.
----Mike----
Not five minutes before beginning to write this, I read one such story. It was the first story of a modern day martyr I had ever read. And it happened to a family close to a friend of mine.
Basically what had happened was one night, a young girl had opted NOT to hang out with her old, druggy friends, and instead attend a youth group. She and her sister spoke several times over the phone to make sure everything was OK. She said she'd be home around 10:30.
10:30 came and went. Her sister called her and the pastor several times after that. The pastor answered, saying she had just left. (Her house was only a couple minute walk away).
The pastor then walked outside, and saw someone lying on the sidewalk. It was the girl. Her head had been smashed against the concrete and kicked, and a note lay beside her: "Let this be a lesson; we hate bible thumpers". That's what the note read.
She died later in hospital, on September 7, 2009, at sixteen years old.
A sixteen year old martyr. That's not sad. That's outrageous. A pathetic display of cowardice and contempt on behalf of those who did it.
What I find many Christians fail to realize is that we are fighting a war. Martyrdom is a product of war, regardless of how subtle that war may be. And rest assured, this is no subtle war.
What I have seen and heard in the last year is nothing less than outright scary. I'm not scared of much. This scares me.
We as Christians need to realize that we are fighting a war, a war against the forces of darkness. A war against Satan, and his minions. I have seen battles won; this is a battle lost.
It's real. It's big. Awareness needs to be spread. We are called to shout the truth from the hilltops. And yet we sit at home, comfortable in our beds and safe. We are afraid to take chances.
This girl was NOT afraid to take a chance, take a stand. And she died in the name of Jesus Christ, her Lord and Saviour. So even in the shadow of death, God can bring good. What Christian is afraid of dying for their Saviour? I'm not. But still, awareness must be spread. Just because good can come out of a murder, it doesn't make it right.
I'm going to do a series on this, because the briefly put-together spiel above is confusing and to some may seem contradictory. I think that's where a lot of people either don't believe, stop believing, or don't know WHAT to believe. So over the next few days, I'm going to do the best I can to clear up some questions.
In the meantime, I hope this at least made SOME sense, you know where to post questions/comments, it's nearly one in the morning so I need to go.
But think about this. About the reality of what we're dealing with.
And have a good night/morning/day.
----Mike----
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