Tag Archives: persecution

Heaven Pt. 153: The Persecution Of the Saints

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;

they have defiled your holy temple;

they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

2  They have given the bodies of your servants

to the birds of the heavens for food,

the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.

3  They have poured out their blood like water

all around Jerusalem,

and there was no one to bury them.

4  We have become ha taunt to our neighbors,

mocked and derided by those around us.

5  How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?

Will your jealousy burn like fire?

6  Pour out your anger on the nations

that do not know you,

and on the kingdoms

that do not call upon your name!

7  For they have devoured Jacob

and laid waste his habitation.

8  Do not remember against us our former iniquities;

let your compassion come speedily to meet us,

for we are brought very low.

9  Help us, O God of our salvation,

for the glory of your name;

deliver us, and atone for our sins,

for your name’s sake!

10  Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants

be known among the nations before our eyes!

11  Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;

according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!

12  Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors

the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!

13  But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,

will give thanks to you forever;

from generation to generation we will recount your praise. Psm 79 ESV

The persecution we see of our Christian brothers around the world is nothing new in practice. Christians and believing Jews throughout the ages have been martyred since the dawn of faith in practice. What is new is the scope. More believers have been martyred in the last century than in the first 19 combined; But that is nothing more than is to be expected. Jesus said,

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Ma. 10:16-23 NIV

So what are we to do in the light of  the growing persecution of our faith? We are to respond with the same prayer that the 1st century saints responded, “

 “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“ ‘Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

26The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together

against the Lord

and against his anointed one.b ’c

27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Acts 4: 25-30 NIV

It is the prayer of faith that asks for deliverance in the trouble not from the trouble that will bring the shaking of our places of worship into order!

So Pray to be able to speak boldly

Pray for the power to heal

Pray for signs and wonders in the name of Jesus!

Stella

Posted on by under The Stories

100_1269I took to calling her Stella after the girl who taught me English and the way. One reminded me of another: pale, luminescent, and a faint intoxicating romance that was central to both beings. Stella was both friend and foe that night. Friend because she glistened more brightly than usual. She made for less chance to stub our bare toes as we wound through the dusty streets barefoot. She was foe for the same reason. Pale lunar brightness sucked up the shadows we normally used to skitter our way unseen to the city walls.

Not that anyone really cared what we were doing. Urchins were generally beneath the notice of the Basji. We were  dogs to be kicked when in the way or starved out of existence. But not all of our friends were urchins. The police had their eyes on bigger snakes in the desert and if we could lead them to those bigger snakes then we would be temporarily worthy of a watchful eye.

I thought more than once about staying away that night because Stella was so full. I couldn’t stay away. My soul cried for its food and I knew my brother and sister still needed to hear and know the truth that the English Stella had taught me. She was gone now deported along with her parents back to that far away country of bogs and lakes. I was left alone in my hot dusty world to lead my family to the truth. So we clung to what shadows  were left and made our way to the city wall. My sister gripped  my shirt tails with one hand as we sidled along the rough stone until we found the dark brick. Fearful eyes peering out of the tiny  burka made her old beyond her years. My brother, the youngest, held her hand bravely pretending to comfort her while his own palpable fears consumed his features.

We found the dark rock that marked the way and in the distance I could see the shadow of the big dome lit by Stella’s soft glow.

“Ready?” I asked.

They nodded in Stella’s half-light.

We ran.

The  half mile to the big rock left us winded and sweating in the heat of the desert night. Still I began to sing the familiar hymn I heard in the distance through my panting. We were at Big Dome, our secret church in the desert outcropping. The little congregation looked up with fear as we approached. Then Afareen broke ranks from the little group and greeted us.

“Come children. You are welcome! Abdullah was just about to begin the reading.”

Abdullah stepped into the center of the little circle and opened the Bible and began to read by Stella’s light.

This story was born out of Lilith’s prompt, “Fly Me To the Moon”. Check out her work and the work of her crew at http://becausewerepoets.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/thursday-short-story-prompt-9-fly-me-to-the-moon/