;)
Are We Ready to Pay the Price for World Evangelization?
Posted by Strider in Church & Missions, IMPACT Features
There is a cost for reaching the lost and it is time that we decided we would pay it. I am attaching a video of an Arrested Pastor. Certainly we need to pray for those men and women who live under such corrupt regimes. The video was uploaded to Youtube by the church staff- I find that remarkable- so I am not betraying anyone’s security.
With the death of Osama bin Laden many are calling for the pull out of our troops from Afghanistan. We certainly should. There is nothing more that American Armed Forces can do for Afghanistan. They are protecting a corrupt regime from falling to a corrupt regime. No, if we want to help Afghanistan then we need to pray for them because only Jesus can help the Afghan situation now. We need to pray and we need to go. Risky? Yes. Many of our US military personnel have given their lives in Afghanistan and the jury is out on whether they will have accomplished anything meaningful for their sacrifice. But I am sorry they had to make that sacrifice. It should have been us. It is not the military who should be sacrificing for Afghanistan it is the Church. Only the Church can help them and so only the Church should be going and laying down our lives for the peoples of Afghanistan.
We carry the message of the cross but we do so with lives full of luxury and entitlement. It is time for the message of the cross to be proclaimed by those whose lives demonstrate the way of the cross. Sacrifices have been made. Lives have been laid down for the sake of the Gospel and it is time for many more to go, to share, and to suffer for it.
We can no longer give of our spare time, spare talents, and spare resources. We must sacrifice if we will reach the lost. The dark places in the world will not be easy to get to and will not be accessed without costs. We need to decide that we are God’s people and that we are willing to give up what He gave up for the sake of the nations.
We will face persecution. We will face difficulty and even death. But God felt that the rewards were worth the costs. If we die with Him we will also reign with Him.
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;){kind=logo}
David, I was just trying to figure out how to fix the picture when I noticed you just fixed it. Thanks. Someday you are going to tell me how you fix it- or not.
Strider,
Interesting and impacting video. I am curious if the setting and situation are fairly typical in your part of the world. It gave me a little window into what things are like, at least in that particular place and church—which helps me to visualize the situation, as I pray, and think about the work in that part of the world.
I take it you are using this as an opportunity to urge the church, in general, to greater going, giving, and praying—which is always a good thing. Any more specific suggestions for those who may feel God leading them to do more?
Strider,
I was reading the story of Jesus asleep in the hull of the ship while the storm was raging. When the disciples came and prayed to Him about their delima and that He was not concerned about them, He calmed the sea and pointed out their faithlessness. For a moment, I thought it was odd that Jesus didn’t praise them for praying to Him first in such a delima, then, it occured to me that he previously said, “Let us cross over to the other side.” What happens in-between now and then is not up for prayer request, we need to act in faith if Jesus says, “Lo I am with you until the end of the world.”
Great post
Thanks David, the video shows a pastor in Kazakhstan- not my Gondor. The situation there is very typical of all the post communists countries. They allowed the video taping because it was irrelevant to them. The security services are accountable to no one and there is no political costs for these governments (Kazakhstan chaired the OSCE last year!)
As for the purpose of the post I admit that it was half as long as I intended, yesterday ended up being very busy and I did not have the time to ‘get it right’ as it were. But the point, for me at least, is still clear.
Our Government took us to war in Iraq and Afghanistan- now Libya- and told us there would be no costs. When we went to war in WWII our whole nation mobilized for the war effort, when we went into Iraq our Government lowered taxes and minimized any effect on the average lives of Americans. No draft, no industry mobilization, a completely sanitized war. With our deficit now threatening to shut down our Government again we can see the results. But that is not my main concern. My main concern is that the Church is in a much larger struggle and yet we behave as if the Coming Kingdom were something to be accomplished in our spare time. If we will be found faithful when the King returns then we need to change our attitude. The entire church should be mobilized to give of their time, talents, and resources to reach the lost. The costs will be high and we have to decide now to pay it. From my perspective here, too many of our own IMB personnel are not willing to pay the price. Entitlement issues abound as we demand to work where we are safe, where our standard of living is ‘acceptable’, and where we are assured ‘success’. The first century church was promised none of these things and yet they were compelled to go. We must return to that attitude if we will be a part of what our King is doing in these days.
Thanks for that story Bruce. The question is: if the God tells us plainly to go and the ship sinks is that ok? We need to decide now that it is. That the costs will be worth the reward even if the costs are our lives and the lives of those whom we love.
Strider,
Thank you for the video….. It is important to know that persecution is part of the Christian experience. As I was watching the video, I was trying to think of biblical situations that were similar. The Apostle Paul was always in the crosshairs of either the religious or the government. He seemed to get it from both sides. Sometimes he escaped situations, and other times he was hauled into jail for periods of time.
I would be curious to know what the outcome was of this encounter with the officials. Was it that they were just trying to intimidate the pastor and was using property rights to do it…or were they being hauled away for the message they were bringing. It appears the right to assemble may have been the motive of the officials.
Americans have faced this type of intimidation as well…..and typically get released or in most cases get to use the property later after a judge knows he has no leg to stand on with regards to the first amendment. It is against the law to assemble in the country where this was shot,..or was this just a way to try and intimidate the pastor and family?
meant to ask….is it against the law to assemble and preach the gospel in the country where this family was taken out of the building?
Chris, thanks for asking. The pastor has been released but is required to keep coming back to the police station for more questioning.
I am not sure how clear what was going on was to all who have not experienced life under a totalitarian regime. When one registers an organization their address is part of their identity. If they move or meet elsewhere they are meeting illegally. If they buy new property and move they must register a new organization- one does not simply change addresses. So, the point was that these guys were legally registered but the security services did not care, they just wanted to harass a group they considered to be trouble makers- and at this point in Kazakhstan at least, evangelicals are trouble makers. It is important to note that they have done nothing to deserve the label.
What I try and point out to my national friends- and I work within several countries like this- is that registration does not protect them from persecution but rather is the government’s chief method of persecution. This is critical for you in the West to understand as well, when you start a church who are you allowing to define what that is? The Bible? The government regulations? The cultural perceptions? I should probably write a whole nuther post on this topic.
Oh, and Kazakhstan technically has freedom of religion and public proclamation of the Gospel- when done fulfilling the laws of legal assembly- is legal. But in practice…..
Thank you Strider! Those are extremely important elements of how we define “the church”, and would be a great next post. I look forward to learning from what you would have to say on that subject.
Governments will always want to register their citizens for the sake of control….and as such the Christian faith cannot be controlled in such a manner and this is one reason that the individuals that have been born again and live in these types of governments must be labeled and tracked. Most governments are continuously paranoid of losing control and power.
I find it interesting that as the Book of Numbers enumerates the generations,…it was not for control or power, but it was in place for us, to announce to us the Christ,…the ultimate “freedom” for all who believe.
Garland TX 1991. A garage in a suburb was cleaned up and became house church for 3 dozen Spanish speakers on Sunday mornings at 10am. Most came in a van. The Garland police said it was a zoning violation, concerns about parking, and ordered us not to gather there for worship or we would be fined. I asked if it was ok for the other neighbors (not Spanish speakers) to have keg parties that took up all parking possibilites. But that wasn’t the real issue. ‘others’ is often the real issue, and it is a universal problem, not just an ‘over there’ problem.
With that, Strider’s exhortation seems to me to be about identification with ‘others’ and all the hassle that comes with that (vs. ensuring the rights of those we seek to reach so that we can reach them in ways that don’t force us to suffer the hassles of being ‘others’). Are we willing to go beyond ‘rights and privileges’ for our mission? Not often, not naturally; its a pain (but cross bearing usually is).