|
|
|
|
|
Category: martyrs
God’s Grace Can Reach Any Heart
God’s Grace Can Reach Any Heart |
|
| Share good news – Share this and any page freely. Over 100,000 views of blogs in 2020. Share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails: God’s Grace can reach any heart Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.comThe story of Pastor Bessarab, a former criminal who became an evangelist, pastor, and martyr.
Dear Brother or Sister in Christ, In eternity, I believe we may see how God wrote chapters into the lives of people we knew on earth and also into the lives of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. In 2004, I traveled to Tajikistan [northern neighbour to Afghanistan] a few months after a pastor named Sergei Bessarab was shot to death in a small city called Isfara, where Bessarab had planted a church. In my book When Faith Is Forbidden, I share Bessarab’s story and introduce readers to his widow, Tamara. In addition to meeting Tamara, I also met the man — also named Sergei — who had prayed for Bessarab’s salvation. The two men had met in prison while Bessarab was serving time for his criminal activities. In prison, Sergei prayed every day that Bessarab would come to Christ. But Bessarab was less than grateful for his friend’s concern. “Don’t waste time praying for me,” Bessarab told him. Sergei remained steadfast in prayer, however, and Bessarab did eventually bend his knee to Christ. The former criminal became a bold witness for his Savior both inside the prison walls and, after his release, as a pastor on the outside. In addition, he made frequent return visits to the prison to share the gospel with inmates. Soon after Bessarab and Tamara moved to Isfara and planted a church, which began to grow as Muslims turned to Christ, a headline in the local paper asked the pointed question, “What’s Going to Be Done About Sergei Bessarab?” On Jan. 20, 2004, the son of a local mosque leader answered the question, shooting and killing Bessarab as he strummed his guitar during his nightly time of worship, Scripture reading, and prayer. In my book, I close Bessarab’s story with words spoken to me by his friend Sergei just months after the shooting: “One day we will meet this person who killed [Pastor Bessarab] because we have a prison ministry all over Tajikistan. And we will be ready to tell him about Jesus.” A front-line worker in Central Asia recently met with Bessarab’s widow, Tamara, who told him how God has extended her husband’s legacy. When the young man who killed Bessarab was convicted and sent to prison, Christians were waiting there to meet him, just as Sergei had promised. In God’s amazing providence, the killer was eventually assigned to a cell with a Christian prisoner who had been led to Christ and discipled by Bessarab! And over time, the mosque leader’s son became Bessarab’s spiritual grandson, placing his trust in Christ. Bessarab was once a convicted criminal. Many would have written him off spiritually. His killer was also far from God, and some may have written him off as well. But God’s grace can reach any heart. If you need a reminder of that today, picture the final chapter of this story: Pastor Sergei Bessarab stands worshiping before God’s throne for all eternity — side by side with the man who ended his earthly life! In Christ,
This is an update from a story in When Faith Is Forbidden: 40 Days on the Frontlines with Persecuted Christians. Receive a complimentary copy for a donation of any amount at vom.org/forbidden. |
|
|
Watch Torchlight Series Free Online – Movies
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cherishing the book he once feared
Cherishing the book he once fearedShare good news – Share this page freely Also: Evangelization in North Korea |
|
||
Cherishing the Book He Once Feared |
||
| Before he escaped across the Yalu River into China, Park Chin-Mae was a border guard, tasked with keeping North Korea’s citizens locked inside their own country and keeping contraband — especially Bibles — out of the country.
“They know the Bible is the enemy,” Chin-Mae said of his fellow border guards. But once he fled to South Korea, Chin-Mae began attending Christian services at a resettlement center. He was tasked with laying out Bibles before the service began. As he did so, he realized he was safely holding in his hands the same book that could have gotten him killed on the other side of the border. He started to read the Bible and soon found himself drawn to follow the Christ he had encountered in its pages. “I didn’t just read it like any other book; I read it and I took every word of the Bible into my heart,” he said.
|
||
|
||
| Chin-Mae is safely out of North Korea, but many followers of Christ are still trapped and suffering inside the secretive nation. And it’s not only North Korea where our Christian brothers and sisters suffer. Believers face persecution in more than 70 other nations.
For more than 50 years, The Voice of the Martyrs has helped Christians persecuted for their witness around the world. VOM founder Richard Wurmbrand said of this work, “Our duty is to give a piece of bread to the wives and families of persecuted and jailed believers.” That need still exists today. When Christians’ homes and churches are burned, or pastors and evangelists are beaten, imprisoned or killed, families are often left without financial support. VOM responds by helping persecuted Christians with living expenses, children’s educational needs, relocation within their nation, vocational training and other forms of assistance.
|
||
GENERAL BLOGS INDEXBLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)BACK TO MAIN PAGEFree PDF books on the Main Page |
Jesus Appeared to Group of 72
JESUS APPEARED TO ENTIRE GROUP OF 72 CHRISTIANS ABOUT TO BE KILLED: THE INCREDIBLE MIRACLE THAT FOLLOWED IS RIGHT OUT OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
“Can’t you see the men in white fighting for us?”
Michael Ireland : Jun 24, 2019. ASSISTNews.net
These Believers met Christ face-to-face and heard Him speak; they experienced His miraculous deliverance.
Northern Nigeria is a dangerous place for Christians—especially for those who have left Islam to follow Christ. (Image: Displaced Nigerian Christians /via Aid to the Church in Need-Canada)
But BarnabasAid says God intervened in power to save 72 converts and their children from Boko Haram militants.
According to BarnabasAid, these Believers excel in courageous faith, they have met Christ face-to-face and heard Him speak, they have experienced His miraculous deliverance.
They cannot build themselves up by daily study of His Word — because they cannot read. Or they do not have a New Testament.
Christ appears
Their story begins with a group of 500 Nigerian Christian converts from Islam and their children.
It is not normal for this tribe to gather in such large numbers, but all of them had already been attacked by Boko Haram Islamist militants and they hoped that a larger group would give them a measure of security.
Boko Haram were not deterred. They attacked the group and captured 76, taking them back to their camp.
At the Boko Haram camp, the Christians were tortured, and their four male leaders were told they must deny Christ and return to Islam or they would be shot.
The four refused and were duly shot dead, in full view of the rest of the group.
A week later the four widows of the dead men were told they must renounce their Christian faith or their children would be shot. They were given time to think over this dreadful choice.
As they agonized together that evening, their excited children came running in, telling their mothers that Jesus had appeared to them and told them all would be well.
Jesus then appeared to the whole group of 72, and told them not to fear for He would protect them. He said they should not renounce Him but should stay strong, and that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Deliverance from evil
The next day, the four mothers gave their decision to the militants — they would not deny Christ.
The militants prepared to shoot the children, who were already lined up against a wall. The youngest was a little girl of four. Suddenly the militants began screaming and clawing at their own heads. Shouting “Snakes!” They fled the scene, and some of them dropped dead.
One of the Christian men reached for the gun of a dead militant but the four-year-old put her hand on his arm to stop him. “You don’t need to do that,” she said, “Can’t you see the men in white fighting for us?”
Nigerian Christians
Included in BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
BACK TO MAIN PAGE
FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers
Free PDF Books on the Main Page
Share any Blog to inform and bless others
The true story behind the song ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’
|
|
|
|
