God Can Do Things In Prayer That Are Just So Cool!

God can do things in prayer that are just so cool...

Just this morning, I was praying for a friend of mine and his wife, Kenneth and Glynis Kintsel...a missionary couple who have a ministry to Latin America.  I knew that they were flying out of Miami sometime today to enter a country south of Miami to minister to the church there.  (I'm not going to name the country, but you probably can figure out an island nation that is not very hospitable to Christians.) As I was praying for them, I felt that I should text them to let them know that I was praying for them as they enter a potentially dangerous situation.  After I texted him, I felt compelled to add to my prayer that there not be any problems in customs as they bring important religious material into this country.  I hadn't thought of that (which may seem rather obvious, but it just hadn't occurred to me until that moment.) until I sent the text.

Less than a minute later, my friend called me.  He thanked me for praying for him, and told me that they would be boarding the plane in about ten minutes. He then asked for an additional prayer request...that I pray that they not have any problems in customs with the religious material they were taking to the people of this country!  Exactly what God had just put on my heart to pray for! Wow!  I told him, "Brother, I just prayed this for you seconds ago!"  God is working!

I asked if I could pray with him briefly, and we had a short but sweet time in prayer together.  The Lord brought to my mind an incident in Corrie Ten Boom's account  "The Hiding Place", in which she and her family were taken to concentration camps in Germany during World War II for harboring Jews from the Nazis.  She wanted to bring a Bible into the camp desperately, but had no way of getting it in except that God would simply close the eyes of the guards as she passed by.  So that's what she did.  She prayed and trusted God.  Well...as she was going through the inspection line with her Bible under her thin shirt, there was a big ruckus in front of her as they interrogated another prisoner.  Their attention was drawn to the prisoner, and she just walked through without being touched!  She would use this Bible to bring many to Christ and bring hope to those suffering in wretched conditions at Ravensbrook.

So...I haven't heard yet, but I feel confident that Jesus made the way for them to get the materials in that they needed.

These are not isolated incidents.  I know for a fact that God can do incredible things through prayer that can't be done any other way.  I know this from my own personal experience, and I know it from the experience of many others.

P.S. Please pray for this couple as they minister in this Latin country for the next couple of weeks. Bro. Ken and Sis. Glynis have an awesome ministry that I know that they would love for you to be a part of.  You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter by clicking on the links below:

Kenneth Kintsel's Facebook Page
Glynis Kintsel's Facebook Page
Kintsel's Twitter Account

For an inspirational lift, check out my new book, "Grace In Shoe Leather." It's an amazing story of grace and forgiveness that has made a difference in the lives of so many. You can download it here: http://amzn.to/1wLL5Mw  P.S. IT'S ON SALE TODAY - JUST 99 CENTS!!!!

Oklahoma Beheading: Let's Call It What It Is!

 I was at work yesterday waiting on customers in what was an unusually slow day.  During one break, I checked my Twitter feed and began to see all these tweets about a woman being beheaded in Oklahoma.  Wow!  This must be a huge story!

So I pop over to the home page of CNN...Nothing

Fox...nothing yet.

ABC, CBS, NBC...Nothing

Must have just happened...

We got busy and I checked back a few hours later...

Well, there it is front page on Fox...fairly detailed article.

CNN...Crickets (you've got to be kidding me!)

ABC, CBS, NBC...Well, there it is...but you have to look for it.

After reading and watching multiple news reports the facts are that a man named Alton Nolen, a 30-year old who recently converted to Islam and who had just been fired from his job, walked into his workplace, attacked a woman with a knife, decapitated her, then began stabbing a second woman.  The second woman no doubt would have been killed except for the heroic effort of company COO Mark Vaughan, who is a reserve county deputy.  Mr. Vaughan was armed (gun control advocates, take notice!) and shot Mr. Nolen several times.

I've noticed three things about the coverage of this story:

• the slowness of the national media to cover this story
• the scantness of the coverage that is being provided by everyone but Fox (who, to their credit, was all over it last night),
• the way it is being covered by the mainstream media (as well as the way that the FBI is handling it.)

One report said that authorities stated that terrorism was not suspected.  Really?

Erin Burnett on CNN asked an Oklahoma authority: "Do you believe it is possible that this is an ISIS copycat attack?" Emphasis was on the word "possible", as if this would be a real stretch to think such a thing.  Really?

Here's something hardly anyone is saying...

Last Sunday, ISIS issued a statement calling on Muslims worldwide to kill civilians of nations who are joining the fight against the Islamic State.  Below is part of that statement, courtesy of The Blaze:

“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European, especially the spiteful and filthy French, or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that joined a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” he said.

So, let's try to connect the dots here...

1. Radical Islamic theology teaches that Muslims are to try to convert "infidels" to Islam.  If they will not be converted, they are to be killed.
2. Just last Sunday, ISIS commands all Muslims to kill Americans (and other coalition members) in any way they can.  They don't have to have a direct order from ISIS. Just go and kill.
3. The entire world now knows that ISIS' preferred method of execution is beheading.
4. A recent convert to Islam in Oklahoma recently changes his name to Jah' Keem Israel on his Facebook page and states that "Amerika...is going to flames" on that page.
5. News reports say that Nolen has been trying to convert his coworkers to Islam (see #1 above)
6. When he cannot convert any of his coworkers, Nolen then goes into his former place of business and randomly attacks a woman, beheads her, and then attacks another woman. Certainly the second woman would have been beheaded if not for Mr. Vaughan's actions.

Do you see any connection here?  

And consider this...

The authorities are saying that they are investigating the possibility that he might have been radicalized. The possibility?

I realize that we can't jump to conclusions on things, and the authorities have to be careful and methodical in the way that they do their jobs.  But sometimes the evidence is right there in front of you.  As in a severed head.  

Is there any possibility at all that he hadn't been radicalized?  Where might he have gotten the idea of beheading a woman?  It couldn't possibly be from the news reports of a certain group overseas that delights in beheading people, could it?

Authorities are not treating this as terrorism (at least not yet), because they have an extremely narrow view of what terrorism is.  To them, if he hadn't received a phone call from ISIS telling him to go behead someone, it's not really terrorism.

Well, it is terrorism.  Let's just call it what it really is.

It's significant to me that the killing was random.  He didn't have a grudge against this woman.  Apparently, he didn't even know her at all.  That's what terrorism is.

I'm not writing this to be an alarmist.  My security is in God, not in man.  And as I've written before, we don't need to go around frightened all the time about what might happen to us in these chaotic times.

However, we do need to be prudent.  We do need to realize that a very powerful Islamic group has issued a statement to all Muslim followers, of which there are many here in the U.S., to kill any way they can.

Our government is not taking this terrorist threat as seriously as it should be taken.

Our national media is not taking this as seriously as it should be taken.

I hope that we don't have to have multiple incidents like this before people will wake up.

One very good report that I heard on this was on Greta Van Susteran's interview last night with Walid Phares.  He makes some of these same points and describes the ISIS guidelines for killing Americans I mentioned above. You can watch it here.

Below are links to other articles I've written recently about ISIS and the growing international threats:

The High Cost of Inaction
Is War In Europe Coming?

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Is War In Europe Coming?

So much has happened since I wrote my last post only six days ago. It seems as though the gruesome video posted by ISIS this week of the beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, has captured the attention of the American public and the American press, as nothing else has.  Even many normally "dovish" politicians are beginning to realize the "high cost of inaction including, I hope, our president.  Public sentiment seems to be moving towards a realization (belatedly), that we cannot continue to let these things happen without it eventually coming to the homeland.  However, I am concerned that the only thing that will galvanize public support for a concerted effort to destroy ISIS and other equally dangerous terror groups will be a successful attack on American soil.  I truly hope that's not the case.

 
Meanwhile, though not receiving nearly as much attention here in the U.S., other events in Europe have made war on that continent not unthinkable. Russian President Putin has begun to make moves into Ukraine and has been making provocative statements, such as that he could take Kiev in two weeks if he wanted to.  Someone has stated that not even Adolf Hitler made such blatant provocations before attacking.  War in Europe could be closer than we could imagine.  I have since read a couple of mainstream articles that make this frightfully clear.  They are important and you should read them if you want to understand what's really going on.  One of them is entitled "War In Europe Is Not A Hysterical Idea" written by Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post.  The thing that really got my attention in this article was this quote:

 

In the past few days, Russian troops bearing the flag of a previously unknown country, Novorossiya, have marched across the border of southeastern Ukraine. The Russian Academy of Sciences recently announced it will publish a history of Novorossiya this autumn, presumably tracing its origins back to Catherine the Great. Various maps of Novorossiya are said to be circulating in Moscow.

 
Wow!  She goes on to say that these maps of Novorossiya (or New Russia) include areas of Europe currently not in Russia at all, including all of Ukraine.  This is huge, and it is hardly getting any attention from the mainstream media (except The Washington Post, to their credit). 



 
The other article that caught my attention came out this week in The Wall Street Journal. It is entitled "Deterring A European War."
After writing about the important European NATO summit taking place this year, it recalls the above quote by Vladimir Putin that "if I want, I can take Kiev in two weeks." It then goes on to say this:

 

Such talk may be bluster, but the stealthy seizure of Crimea was supposed to be unthinkable only a few months ago. So was Russia's invasion of eastern Ukraine last month. The problem with calling something unthinkable is that it tends to dull the thinking needed to keep it that way. Europeans also thought the world wars of the last century were unthinkable right up until they broke out.

The authors go on to describe the woeful unpreparedness of most of western European armies to meet the challenge of an aggressive Russia. Great Britain, which has one of the largest armies in Europe, only has 157 tanks! Of NATO's 28 states, only four spend as much as 2% on national defense. As degraded as the American military has become under President Obama, we are in far better position than Europe. And to save Europe again, (as we were called to do 75 years ago) and to secure our own freedom, we would almost certainly have to become involved.
The Wall Street Journal Article goes on to conclude with this paragraph:

The temptation of democracies is to believe that autocrats treasure peace and stability as much as we do. Europeans in particular want to believe that their postwar institutions and economic integration have ended their violent history. But autocrats often prosper from disorder, and they need foreign enemies to feed domestic nationalism. This describes Russia under Mr. Putin, who is Europe's new Bonaparte. His goal is to break NATO, and he'll succeed unless the alliance's leaders respond forcefully to his threat.

 

Finally, I want to express my thanks to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Dr. Albert Mohler for bringing both of these articles to my attention in his daily podcast "The Briefing." If you want to know what's going on, not only in foreign affairs but in American cultural life as seen from a Christian worldview, this is extremely useful. I just found out about these podcasts, and I've already found them to be indispensable.

If you enjoyed this blog post, please consider sharing with your friends on Twitter and Facebook by clicking on the icon below!

Want to read more?  Here are links to similar posts:



A Colossal Failure
A Colossal Failure X 2
While America Sleeps

For an inspirational lift, check out my new book, "Grace In Shoe Leather." It's an amazing story of grace and forgiveness that has made a difference in the lives of so many. You can download it here: http://amzn.to/1wLL5Mw 
P.S. IT'S ON SALE TODAY - JUST 99 CENTS!!!!

 

 

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The High Cost Of Inaction

 

Consider the following scenario:

•  Rising powers in Europe and Asia with militaristic ambitions begin to gobble up land, while the western world stands idly by.
• A war-weary public in western Europe and the United States ignore the pretensions of would-be dictators.
• Isolationism in America reaches a decades-long high.
• Western leaders, without a clear strategy to deal with multiple crises that begin to envelop the globe, lurch from one policy to another, as one country after another falls victim to fanatical dictators.
• Thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands of innocent people die in military conquests as the west frantically tries to ignore the burgeoning crises.

Am I talking about the world today? It sure sounds like it! However, I'm actually talking about the world in the years just prior to the start of World War II. As a student of history, I've been just as fascinated by how the world got to such a global conflagration as I have been about the war that ensued after the years of 1937-1939.

World War II could and should have been avoided. With resolve and willingness to use military actions, Hitler and the military leaders of Japan could have been defeated in 1937 and 1938 with a small fraction of the blood that would eventually have to be shed. When Hitler gobbled up Austria in 1937 and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, he was greatly overextended. Germany's economy was far from robust, and his military was not nearly the potent force that it would be just a couple of years later. However, as he conquered countries with no real pushback from western leaders, his appetite for conquest, far from being appeased, was greatly whetted, and his ability to make those conquests was greatly enhanced as he stripped the conquered countries of their resources and their manpower. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands died in 1937 in "The Rape of Nanking" as Japan's militaristic leaders conquer much of China and subject its inhabitants to the "Three All Policy". What were "The Three Alls?" Kill all, burn all, loot all!

However, the peoples of the west were understandably weary of war. The Great War (as World War I was known at the time) wiped out a generation of young men in Europe, leaving thousands of widows and children to fend for themselves. America as well as Europe was recovering from the Great Depression, and isolationism in this country was popular as the American people saw European and Asian events as something vaguely interesting but not really relevant to their day-to-day struggle to get by. The U.S. military was a skeleton of what it had been a few short years earlier.

As I write this seventy-five years to the day from the beginning of World War II on September 1, 1939, I am amazed and troubled by the similarity between the world of that day and the world of the summer of 2014. Consider these troubling facts:

 

• Vladamir Putin of Russia earlier this year gobbled up the Crimea while the west stood idly by. After months of agitation by Russian separatists in Ukraine, including the shooting down of a commercial jet, Putin has invaded eastern Ukraine just this week. This is eerily similar to the
  
  
  manufactured "Sudeten Crisis" of 1938, in which Hitler's henchmen in the Sudetenland (the German-speaking portion of Czechoslovakia) agitated for months before Hitler moved in to "liberate" that area of Czechoslovakia in October of that year. We have imposed sanctions on Russia and made grand speeches, but this seems to mean as much to Putin as British Prime Minister Chamberlain's appeasement strategy did in the late 30's to Hitler.
• The U.S. government under President Obama has tried it's best to ignore the Syrian crisis for three years. However, it has become increasingly apparent that the cost of this inaction is and will be astonishingly high. After completely withdrawing our presence in nearby Iraq in 2011 and drawing "red lines" against the Syrian genocidal leader Assad, then demurring to follow up when Assad boldly steps over them, an even greater menace has appeared on the scene. Had the U.S. stepped in three or even two years ago, ISIS could have been stopped before it ever really got started. However this new threat, which actually has been building under the radar for several years, has burst upon the world stage with savagery which has shocked the world, as it rapes, murders, pillages, and beheads in its quest to build an Islamic Caliphate in Iraq and Syria and eventually the greater Middle East. Meanwhile, the President of the United States plays multiple rounds of golf and attends fund-raiser after fund-raiser, taking time out briefly in between to consult with his advisors on the burgeoning crises. His candid admission last week that we don't have a strategy to deal with ISIS has even left members of his own party aghast at his "too cautious" approach, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein expressed. (See this astonishing NBC report, which really nails it.)
• Flying under the radar at the moment, but possibly the biggest threat of all, is the Muslim Shiite government of Iran's rapid move towards acquiring nuclear weapons. Its leaders, who are just as fanatical in their own way as the ISIS militants, have vowed to destroy "The Little Satan" of Israel and "The Big Satan" of America. We refuse to take them at their word at our peril.
• Israel, America's staunchest ally in the war-torn Middle East, and the only stable democracy, has seen its once-close ally the United States virtually abandon it as it deals with the Iranian government-backed Hamas terrorists who control the Gaza Strip.
• Under the Obama administration, the U.S. military is rapidly reducing its footprint in the world and will soon be at pre-World War II levels. Much of the war-weary American public supports this drawdown, as isolationism attains the levels not seen since the days before Pearl Harbor.

Am I saying that I think that we are on the brink of a World War 3? No, but I am saying that it seems to me that we are seeing a similar set of circumstances now that resulted in a world conflict then. Then as now, appeasing tyrants never works. Then as now, the cost of inaction is exponentially greater than the cost of bold and thoughtful action. Then as now, irresolution in our leaders brings on contempt and scorn from our enemies, and emboldens them to take even greater steps towards conquest.

What happens next? Well, of course, no one knows. However, through our "lead from behind" policy of inaction, we have largely lost our best and least costly options. It is not too late for world leaders take a resolute stand against these growing menaces (as British Prime Minister David Cameron has done in stark contrast to President Obama).

As I have written before, although I look upon these things with concern, I do not despair. As a Christian, I know what the last page of the book will be! Christ will be the final victor in the end, when He closes the pages of history after a time of tribulation that will make the world wars of the 20^th century like a picnic in the park. I don't write these things to needlessly alarm of frighten anyone. However, I believe that we need to prepare ourselves for tough times ahead.

P.S.  After I wrote this post, I went back and looked at what I wrote last year about these things.  I wish that I could have written today that things have turned around since then, but instead I've had to write that we are only further down the road towards a possible world-wide conflagration than we were then.  You can read what I wrote here:

A Colossal Failure
A Colossal Failure X 2
While America Sleeps

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For an inspirational lift, check out my new book, "Grace In Shoe Leather." It's an amazing story of grace and forgiveness that has made a difference in the lives of so many. You can download it here: http://amzn.to/1wLL5Mw 
P.S. IT'S ON SALE TODAY - JUST 99 CENTS!!!!

The American Trinity

On this 238th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, I'd like to share with you a wonderful concept that I came across that might make this day more memorable to you.  I found this concept in Dennis Prager's excellent book Still The Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values To Triumph.  I'll let Dennis describe this in his own words: 

...one day, in the most routine of actions— emptying my pockets— I discovered what generations of Americans used to know, but did not successfully pass on to my or even to my parents’ generation. On every American coin were inscribed the three primary values of America—“ Liberty,” “In God We Trust,” and “E Pluribus Unum.” Those three values make up the value system I have come to call the American Trinity. No other society or nation has identified those three values as its core values...Prager, Dennis (2012-04-24). Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (Kindle Locations 4686-4692). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

Let's look at these three American concepts one-by-one:

1. Liberty - Here are some interesting facts that Dennis shares in his book:

• The United States was the world’s first free country.
•  It was the country that most inspired other countries to be free. 
• It is the country that has been free the longest 
• It is the country that has most protected other free countries.
• It is the country that has most spread freedom to other countries. This is all because the United States was founded on the value of liberty. 
• More people from more countries have immigrated to America in order to be free than to the rest of the world’s countries put together. 
• More black Africans have immigrated to the United States voluntarily— looking for freedom and opportunity— than came to the United States involuntarily as slaves.  
• And no country has ever the felt the obligation to spread liberty elsewhere as has America. People differ as to whether this is always— or ever— a good idea. But it is indisputable that this has been an animating American idea. It animated Americans to die in the liberation of Europe in two world wars. It animated Americans to die to keep half of the Korean peninsula from falling under the rule of Communist totalitarians. It animated Americans to die trying to keep half of Vietnam from falling under Communist totalitarians. It animated America to fly food into West Berlin in order to break the Soviet blockade of a free city located in the midst of totalitarian East Germany. It animated America to intervene on behalf of Muslims in Kosovo and to aid Muslims in Afghanistan. 

Prager, Dennis (2012-04-24). Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (pp. 312-313). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

2. In God We Trust - It is indisputable that America was founded on biblical principles and was created to be a nation animated by religious thought.  You can read a number of quotes from America's Founding Fathers here that should make this undeniable.  As a small sampling, here are quotes from two of our founders who also happened to be the first two presidents of the United States:

John Adams, one of the most influential of the Founding Fathers and second president of the United States, wrote in a letter to officers of a Massachusetts militia, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people . It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” And on another occasion, he said, “Religion was the only thing that could tame our savage natures.” http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_adams.html

• George Washington, in his Farewell Address in 1796 made this point abundantly clear: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…. Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.”  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, the authors of the Federalist Papers, all helped Washington write this address. (Prager, Dennis (2012-04-24). Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (p. 324). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.) He would later state: "It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being.(http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgewash564172.html)

Our Judeo-Christian roots were indispensable in giving our free country a moral framework that made democracy work. Dennis Prager shares this thought concerning the founding of our country on religious principles:

What the Founders did regarding God and liberty was as unique as it was brilliant: they substituted God (and moral religion) for a powerful secular or religious state and they tied liberty to God. Thomas Kidd summarized Alexis de Tocqueville, the great nineteenth-century French observer of America, on this matter: “The partnership of religion and liberty lay at the heart of America’s political success …. Freedom by itself would inexorably degenerate into rabid selfishness, but religion nurtured the purposefulness of freedom.” Prager, Dennis (2012-04-24). Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (p. 323). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

3. E Pluribus Unum - Unfortunately, I suspect that most school-age children (and even adults!) have no idea what this important American phrase actually means.  E Pluribus Unum is a Latin saying translated "From many, one."  Although it original referred to the thirteen colonies being united as one, it has come to mean something much more.  To be American is not to be of one particular ethnicity.  You can be of European, African, Asian, Latin American or other descent and be an American.  Whether your descendants came over on the Mayflower four hundred years ago, or whether your parents came from India last year, it makes no difference.  If you embrace American values, you are American!

Dennis Prager includes the following quote in his book:

The other day, I was in a small company— and there were Asians, Koreans, Middle Easterners, some other people. And they had been in America for, like, two, three, four years. And they talk American. They look American. Body language is American. I’m sure they already think American. Go to Korea and become Korean in one or two years’ time. Good luck with that. That’s so special about this country. —Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia, February 2, 2012, FoxNews

I am so thankful to God that I am an American!  With all the problems that we are facing (and they are many) and with the great decline in American values in the last few years, it is easy to forget that we still live in the freest, most prosperous, and most God-centered country in the world.  On this July 4th, let's celebrate these great values!
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Here's a couple of links you might enjoy:


This is a video by Dennis Prager (you might get the idea I like this guy!) about a new 4th of July ritual based on "The American Trinity" concepts he outlined in his book.  It's worth doing this year with your family (or if it is too late for this year, then you might want to plan on it for next year.)

Here's a link to a video of one of my favorite new patriotic songs...

"In God We Still Trust" by Diamond Rio

For an inspirational lift, check out my new book, "Grace In Shoe Leather." It's an amazing story of grace and forgiveness that has made a difference in the lives of so many. You can download it here: http://amzn.to/1wLL5Mw 
P.S. IT'S ON SALE TODAY - JUST 99 CENTS!!!!

Stand With The Persecuted Church!

We Christians in North America, and particularly in the U.S., live in a spiritual bubble.  The Church of Jesus Christ around the world is facing intense persecution, perhaps greater than any time in history.  Yet, because it's not happening here yet, we are almost entire oblivious to it.  I say "yet," because I believe it is coming here, perhaps sooner than most of us can imagine.  

At this very moment, Christians in North Korea, China, the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, the entire Muslim world, and many other places (even including much of Europe), are having their faith tried as never before.  Many pastors are being imprisoned for their faith. I know personally of a pastor of East India a few years ago who saw his daughter incinerated in front of him because he wouldn't denounce his faith.  Many such atrocities are being committed today against those who carry on the legacy of Christ.  

I'd like to share the story I received in my inbox a few weeks ago that really tugged at my heartstrings.  It is a letter from a imprisoned pastor in Eritrea to his wife, and it really speaks for itself:

God, by His holy will, has prolonged my prison sentence to five years and four month. I very much long for the day that I will be reunited with you my dear wife, our children and God's people in the church.

My dear, listen to me—not only as a wife, but also as a Christian woman who has come to understand who God is and how deep and mysterious His ways are. Yes! I love you, I love the children, and I would love to be free in order to serve God. But, in here, God has made me not only a sufferer for His Name’s sake in a prison of this world over which Christ has won victory, but also a prisoner of His indescribable love and grace. I am testing and experiencing the love and care of our Lord every day.

When they first brought me to this prison, I had thoughts which were contrary to what the Bible says. I thought the devil had prevailed over the church and over me. I thought the work of the gospel in Eritrea was over. But it did not take one day for the Lord to show me that He is a sovereign God and that He is in control of all things—even here in prison.

The moment I entered my cell, one of the prisoners called me and said, “Pastor, come over here. Everyone in this cell is [unsaved]. You are very much needed here.” So, on the same day I was put in prison, I carried on my spiritual work.

My dear, the longer I stay in here, the more I love my Saviour and tell the people here about His goodness. His grace is enabling me to overcome the coldness and the longing that I feel for you and for our children. Sometimes I ask myself, Am I out of my mind? Am I a fool? Well, isn’t that what the Apostle Paul said, “Whether I am of sound mind or out of my mind, I am Christ’s!”

My most respected wife, I love you more than I can say. Please help the children understand that I am here as a prisoner of Christ for the greater cause of the gospel.

If you are a Christian in North America (or elsewhere for that matter), I would encourage you to BibleGateway.com.  I receive a new email every day (including the one which featured the pastor's letter above), telling about the work of God among those who are being persecuted for their faith.  You can sign up for it here.  I often read these emails during my morning quiet time with Jesus.  It helps me to remember to pray for the persecuted church, something that we are commanded to do in Hebrews 13:3.  Also, you can get updates from Christian organizations who stand along side persecuted Christians, including Open Doors and The Voice of the Martyrs.  Additionally, you can write to prisoners and even those who are imprisoning them at PrisonerAlert.com.  If you are not aware of the plight of heroic American pastor Saeed Abedini, please follow this link to learn about his story and sign a petition for his release.  More than anything, please consider praying for the persecuted church daily.  I have found that doing this puts all the difficulties I might be facing in a far different life.  When I daily remind myself of the struggles of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in persecuted areas, my struggles seem puny by comparison!
educate yourself  about the persecuted church.  One great resource that I have found is the "Standing Strong Through The Storm" email from

P.S.  Recently, my blogging has had to decrease temporarily as I have been involved in another project through my church, Fair Haven Christ Fellowship.  We are starting a Back to Eden Community Garden here in Cynthiana, Indiana, based on the gardening methods Paul Gautschi explains in the fascinating film, "Back to Eden", which you can watch here.  I am producing a series of YouTube videos of our adventures in providing free produce to the people of Cynthiana and the surrounding areas.  You can watch the first one here.  If you like it, please "Like" the video on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube feed, so you can get update notifications.  You can also follow us at Fair Haven Christ Fellowship on Facebook and Twitter to receive these updates.

Here are links to a few more of my posts:
What Is Marriage?
Reflections On Thirty Years Of Marriage
Thoughts At 50-Living Between The Dash

September 15, 1963

For an inspirational lift, check out my new book, "Grace In Shoe Leather." It's an amazing story of grace and forgiveness that has made a difference in the lives of so many. You can download it here: http://amzn.to/1wLL5Mw 
P.S. IT'S ON SALE TODAY - JUST 99 CENTS!!!!

Thoughts At Fifty - Living Between The Dash

 I turned fifty recently.  I was thinking this morning about why people dread getting old. Obviously, the older you get, the more difficult life becomes, and I don't especially look forward to that part.  I'm trying to do a few things health-wise now that I hope will cushion that blow.  Eating better and more exercise. For most folks, though, I think the reason they dread getting old is the way they look at life. Most see life as kind of like an hourglass. You know, it starts out with all the sand in the top. At the end of the hour, it has all trickled down to the bottom. According to this analogy, it's likely that there is a lot more sand in the bottom of my hourglass than in the top!

However, I like to use a different analogy for life. I look at life like a race--not a sprint race, but more like a marathon. You see, life shouldn't be spent waiting around for all the sand to run out of the hourglass. God has given each of us a race to run, a marathon to complete. Like an actual race, the runners start out strong. Maybe they cruise through the first few miles, but as they get to the middle of the race and push towards the end, more and more runners just drop out. It just gets too rough. Yet, the few that remain are so focused on the goal line that they don't worry about the pain they're experiencing in the present. They just know that there is a goal out there to push for that will make it worth it all. The good runners (I'm not one, so I'm only writing from what I've heard from others) learn to ignore the pain...even to embrace the pain. As the old adage is-no pain, no gain!

You might be surprised to know that this analogy of life is a very old one. In fact, its origins go back to the Bible. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthian church, compares life to a race. He makes this statement:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.  Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (I Cor. 9:24-27)

The analogy of life as a race works since the runner has to discipline his or her body to get to the goal line. A runner who doesn't exercise self-control might as well not even try to run! Paul also tells us here that there is a prize at the end of the race. Life is not some meaningless exercise. There is a goal in mind that makes it worth everything.  On another occasion, Paul made this statement:

 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of (the prize) yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13, 14)

To Paul, the past was the past. He was more concerned with getting to the goal, a prize he calls the “upward call” of God. The prize is getting to “go up” to be with God. Yes, we get to heaven because of the grace of God. But the Bible also clearly teaches that only those who press through and are faithful to the end are those who get “the crown of life.” Now, to be honest, I don't really understand all there is to know about this prize. You can read in Revelations 2 and 3 about the various prizes that are available to those who overcome and make it through this life as faithful witnesses to Christ, yet I don't profess to really understand what they are. I just know that they are there, and that they don't come automatically. I do know that I can agree with Paul that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard...the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (I Cor. 2:9 NKJV)  In another place, he says the prize will be "far beyond all comparison."  Whatever it is, it'll be awesome!

There's another “life analogy” that I've heard that I really like, though at first glance it seems rather depressing. That is of “the dash.” The kind of dash I'm thinking about is the dash that is on a tombstone. You know, the little “-” between the day of your death and the day of your death. Mine so far is “March 12, 1964 - ?” You see, we all are living in that dash. I don't know when the last date gets filled in, but until that day, I want to “live in the dash.” Scripture also describes life as “but a vapor.” Wow! That's encouraging! However, when you think about it, it's really true. I don't feel like it's been very long at all since I was a teenager. And even if I live another thirty or even forty years, that time will pass so quickly. But what am I doing to “live in the dash?” Am I making the most of every opportunity? God put us here to live for Him and to love others. Am I doing that? Are you doing that? I don't know how much longer I'll have here. It may be many years. It may be a few. Whatever my lot, I want what I have left in this life to be productive. I want it to count for something.  I hope you do too.

One more scripture related to “the race” is relevant here:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Jesus ran the race first, and He ran the race best.  He is our example.  What He endured is far worse than anything you or I will ever endure, yet He didn't falter or faint, but fixed His eyes on the prize.  Since He completed His race and is up ahead at the finish line, I can look to Him as he waits for me and receive great encouragement. 

As the runner nears the finish line, it doesn't become a time for despair. Rather, it is a time of excitement as the race is nearly done and the prize is near. For me, seeing Jesus is that prize. Hearing the words “Well done, good and faithful servant” will make all pain, all the hurt, all the sorrows of this life, seem as nothing.

Here are links to a few more of my posts:
What Is Marriage?
Reflections On Thirty Years Of Marriage
September 15, 1963

For an inspirational lift, check out my new book, "Grace In Shoe Leather." It's an amazing story of grace and forgiveness that has made a difference in the lives of so many. You can download it here: http://amzn.to/1wLL5Mw  P.S. IT'S ON SALE TODAY - JUST 99 CENTS!!!!