Martyrs for the Lord

This is a wonderful song found in a book called China's Christian Martyrs by Paul Hattaway.

Martyrs for the Lord

Chorus:

To be a martyr for the Lord, to be a martyr for the Lord
I am willing to die gloriously for the Lord

Those apostles who loved the Lord to the end
Willingly followed the Lord down the path of suffering
John was exiled to the lonely isle of Patmos
Stephen was stoned to death by an angry crowd

Matthew was stabbed to death in Persia by a mob
Mark died as horses pulled his two legs apart
Doctor Luke was cruelly hanged
Peter, Philip and Simon were crucified on a cross

bartholoew was skinned alive by the heathen
Thomas died in India as five horses pulled his body apart
The apostle James was beheaded by King Herod
Little James was cut in half by a sharp saw

James the brother of the Lord was stoned to death
Judas was tied to a pillar and shot by arrows
Matthias had his head cut off in Jerusalem
Paul was a martyr under Emperor Nero

I am willing to take up the cross and go forward
To follow the apostles down the road to sacrifice
That tens of thousands of precious souls can be saved
I am willing to leave all and be a martyr for the Lord.

Have faith in God

Your faith has saved you. Luke 7:50

What does it mean to have faith.
Faith is the absolute confidence in God's perfect love for you,
absolute confidence in his infallible wisdom and absolute confidence in his almighty power.

God demonstrated his great love toward us, that he gave us his only begotten son. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Is it difficult to have faith in such a wonderful God who loves us so perfectly.

True faith always leads us to obedience. Let's then obey the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ found in the pages of the New & Old testaments.

Three Certainties

They will fight against you. They will not overcome you I
am with you to deliver you (Jer 1:19). There are three things
that are absolutely certain for the disciples of the Lord, as we
see in the above verse. (1) Satan and his agents will fight
against us. (2) They will not overcome us. (3) The Lord will
always be with us to deliver us.

The certainty of Opposition

As long as we are in the world, we will have to face tribulation,
persecution and trials. It will never be otherwise. So we need
not expect an easy time either in our work-place or in our
personal life in the coming days. Days of financial
difficulties will come. So even now, we must learn to live
simply. Those who live in luxury will find things difficult in the
future. We must be wise in saving some money for the future
so that we don’t have to depend on others. But we must never
depend on our savings. Our trust must be in the Lord alone.
God is a jealous God and He will never allow us to trust in
created things. God is going to shake the world’s financial
systems very soon, so that all those who trust in created
things will be thoroughly shaken. In the coming days, we will
also see brothers betraying their brothers, because all will
seek their own safety. We have already seen something of
that. But we will see more of it in the future. Our own family
members will become our enemies and hate us. Some of us
have already seen a little of that. We will see more of it in the
future. There will also be active persecution of believers in
offices and elsewhere. This will purify us and make us better
Christians. Many believers are hoping that one of these days
all their trails will all be over. But that day will come only when
Jesus returns, not before.

The certainty of Satan’s defeat

It is impossible for Satan or any of his demons or human
agents to defeat us spiritually. 1 Peter 3:13 says that no-one
can harm us if we always seek to do good. So let us
determine, by God’s grace, to do good to one and all. Let us
love those who hate us, bless those who curse us and pray for
the forgiveness of those who persecute us. Then no-one will
be able to harm us. Satan and his agents may cheat us.,
trouble us, harass us, rob us, injure us, imprison us and even
kill our bodies. But they will not be able to harm us spiritually.
God is , and always will be on the throne. Jesus has all
authority in heaven and on earth. And Satan has been
defeated once-for-all on Calvary’s cross. Satan does not have
to be defeated once again by us. We only have to believe in
our hearts and confess with our mouths that Satan has been
defeated on the cross and that he has no power over us any
more. Satan cannot discourage us or depress us or frighten
us with anything, as long as we hold fast to this confession.
We can overcome Satan by the word of our testimony against
him (Rev 12:11)

The certainty of the Lord being with us.

The Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. He won’t leave us
even when we slip up and fall. He only wants us to be honest
with Him about our failures. The Lord is near to the broken-
hearted. The promise in Psalm 37:23(LB) is that even when
we fall, our fall won’t be fatal, because the Lord will hold us
with His Hand. He will not only make the evil that others do
to us to work for our good., He will also make our own failures
to work together for our good. He will make all things work
together for our very best. The Lord will deliver us from every
evil and bring us through triumphantly. He will keep us from
falling and present us perfect to the Father one day. Our
confidence is in His ability to keep us until the end and not in
our own ability to endure until the end. So we look to the
future with great boldness and confidence. Let us run the race
looking away from everything else, unto Jesus(Heb 12:2). May
we never keep looking at either our present weaknesses or
our past failures. True humility is to acknowledge that nothing
good dwells in us (Romans 7:18). If nothing good dwells
inside us, then why do we look inside ourselves at all? Let us
also stop looking at our past failures. That will only
discourage us. We must make a firm decision now, to forget
the past and press on to the future. Let us look at Jesus
alone. He will make us an overcomer, no matter how weak we
are today and no matter how much we have failed in the past.
Hallelujah!. Amen

ZP

The new wine

At the marriage in Cana, where Jesus was present, the
old wine ran out. The old wine was made with human
effort, over a period of many years - but it could not meet
the need. This is a parable of life under the law - the old
covenant. The old wine runs out; and the Lord has to wait
until it runs out before He can give us the new wine. "For
the Lord God says: Only in waiting for Me will you be
saved. ... but you say, We will get our help from Egypt
(human strength)! So you will be chased by your enemies.
.. And the Lord is waiting for you (to come to an end of
yourself) and to come to Him, so that He can show you
His love; He will conquer you to bless you. ... Blessed are
all those who wait for Him to help them'' (Isa. 30:15-18
Living Bible). When we have tried and tried and tried to live
in victory and failed repeatedly, this is the lesson that God
is trying to teach us: "You cannot have victory in your own
strength." As long as you are under the law, you will be
ruled by sin. The chief work that God seeks to do in each
of His children is to break down the strength of self totally.
Jesus waited for the old wine to run out, at Cana, before
He did His miracle. He is waiting now for our strength to
come to an end. All our failures and defeats are meant by
God to bring us to the end, for He can manifest His power
perfectly only in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). We can see
the strength of self in the moments of temptation and
provocation, when we react with bitter words, angry
expressions, self-justification, criticism and judgment of
others, unforgiving attitudes, a grabbing-love for material
things, fighting for our rights and our reputation, seeking
vengeance etc. These and other similar attitudes show
how strong self still is in us - the old wine has not yet run
out; and Jesus waits on the sidelines doing nothing for us.

If only we allow God to break us, if only we would humble
ourselves and gladly accept death to our rights and
reputation, how quickly He could lead us into life under
the new covenant! All the trying circumstances,
frustrations and disappointments, heartaches etc, that we
go through are meant by God to bring the strength of our
self down to zero. This was how God dealt with Job.
Finally Job reached that zero-point where lying on his face
in the dust, he said, "Lord, I am nothing. (I am zero.) ... I
lay my hand upon my mouth in silence. ... I had only
heard about you (second-hand) before, but now I have
seen you and I loathe myself and repent in dust and
ashes'' (Job 40:4;42:5,6). This is what happens when God
has finally broken us and given us a revelation of Himself.
The same Moses, who once thought himself to be so
capable (at the age of 40), when broken by the vision of
God (40 years later) says, "Lord, I can't speak. Send
someone else" (Ex. 4:10,13). The same thing happened
to the great prophet Isaiah when he saw God's glory. He
said, "My doom is sealed, for I am a foul-mouthed sinner"
(Isa. 6:5). Daniel says that when he saw the vision the
Lord gave Him, that his strength left him. He came to a
zero-point (Dan. 10:8). When the Spirit-filled apostle John,
after having walked with God for 65 years, saw Jesus on
the isle of Patmos, he fell at His feet as a dead man (Rev.
1:17). Such has always been the experience of all who
have seen the glory of the Lord! Their face is in the dust
and their mouth is shut. When God can bring us to that
place, it is but a quick task for Him to give us the new
wine, the life of Jesus, the divine nature, the pre-eminent
blessing of the new covenant sealed through the blood of
Jesus. Oh that we might all come there quickly and live in
that place - with our face in the dust before God - all our
days! For there is a development in this life from light to
light (Prov. 4:18), from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). John
speaks of "Walking in the light" (1 Jn. 1:7). There is no
standing in the light, but rather a walking - a progression
closer and closer to Him in whom there is no darkness at
all. Thus the light shines brighter and brighter upon us and
we become more and more conscious of the hidden sins
that lurk in our flesh, which we were not aware of in earlier
days; and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all those
sins.

Thus it is, that the closer we come to the Lord, the more
aware we become of sin in our own flesh, and less and
less of the sin in others around us. We no longer desire to
throw stones at the woman caught in adultery, for we are
aware in Jesus' presence, of the sin in our own flesh, and
we cry out, "O wretched man that I am", rather than "O
wretched woman that she is" (Rom. 7:24). Adam pointed
a finger at his wife, even while standing before God (Gen.
3:12). But the Lord made him aware of his own sin (3:17).
This is what the Lord will do for us too. And this is really
the test of whether we have just a religion and some
doctrines or whether we are living before the face of God
Himself. Has the wine run out in our personal life, our
married life or our assembly life? Then it is about time that
we sought the Lord's face and acknowledged our need
honestly. He alone can give us the new wine! The new
wine in Cana was not produced by human effort. It was
the supernatural work of God. So too can it be in our life.
He will write His laws in our heart and mind, making us to
will and to do His perfect will (Heb. 8:10; Phil. 2:13). He
will circumcise our hearts to love Him and cause us to
walk in His commandments (Deut. 30:6; Ezek. 36:27).
This will be as much His work as the new wine produced
in Cana was His work. This is the meaning of grace. We
cannot produce the life of Jesus - even if we try for a
lifetime. But if we bear in our body "the dying of Jesus"
(the taking up of the cross each day, the dying to our ego,
our self-will and our rights and reputation), God promises
to produce the new wine of the life of Jesus in us (2 Cor.
4:10). We are to run this race looking unto Jesus,
comparing ourselves with Him alone, all the time. Thus
alone will there be a constant cry from our hearts, "O
wretched man that I am" - for we shall be constantly
aware of how unlike Jesus we are, even when we have
come to a life of victory over conscious sin. "Those who
compare themselves with other believers are spiritual
idiots" (2 Cor. 10:12) for that is the surest way to spiritual
pride and a hundred-and-one other evils. We can never be
in danger of spiritual pride as long as our eyes are fixed
on Jesus and we compare ourselves with Him constantly.
The Holy Spirit shows us the glory of Jesus in the mirror
of God's word and then only can He conform us to that
likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). Paul said that he had only one goal
that he pressed on towards - not the conversion of the
lost, but "the upward call of God (to become like) Christ
Jesus" (Phil. 3:13,14). And then he said, "Let us who are
perfect (in our conscience, living in victory over conscious
sin) have this same attitude (of pressing on towards total
perfection, total likeness to Jesus)" (Phil. 3:15). This is
the mark of the spiritually mature Christian. Service for
God, evangelism etc, - all take a secondary place to this
goal, in the life of the mature man of God.

John also tells us that it is through such a walking in the
light of God that we can have fellowship with one another
(1 Jn. 1:7) - not only fellowship with God, but also
fellowship with other believers in perfect unity. The reason
for this is very simple. The one who is walking in the light
of God, living before God's face, will always be aware of
his own shortcomings and will be living in a constant self-
judgment, and will not have anything to accuse other
brothers of. Thus there can never be any strife between
any two brothers who are walking in this pathway. This is
the narrow way to life that, Jesus said, few find (Matt.
7:14). Judgment begins at the house of God even for the
righteous, because in God's house, God dwells in
unapproachable light (1 Pet. 4:17,18; 1 Tim. 6:6). "Who
can live with the consuming fire? ... He who walks
righteously (facing up to the truth concerning himself)"
(Isa. 33:14,15). This was the sin of the leader in the
church at Laodicea that he did not live in this constant
self- judgment (and it is easy to slip into that error when
you become a leader) and thus did not know that he was
'wretched' (Rev. 3:17). May we so live before God's face all
our days, so that we live in constant brokenness and
constant self-judgment crying out "O wretched man that I
am". Thus even when we reach the heights of holiness
that a saved sinner can reach on earth, we shall still say
(sincerely and honestly, without any false humility) "I am
the very least of all the believers. ... I am the chief of
sinners" (Eph. 3:8; 1Tim. 1:15). Thus we shall have a
fellowship with other believers who walk the same way
and gradually our mutual fellowship will become more and
more like the fellowship that the Father and the Son have
with each other (Jn. 17:21). This is the new wine Jesus
desires to give us.

ZP

Quotes by Sadhu Sundar Singh

"He was searching for me before I sought Him. Christ whom I had never expected came to me. I was praying, 'If there be a God, reveal Thyself'...I was praying to Hindu gods and incarnations. But when He came there was no anger in His face, even though I had burnt the Bible three days before. None of you have ever destroyed Scripture like me. He is such a wonderful, loving, living Saviour..."

"There is a great difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Him... If we only know of Jesus as a good man, a great example, it is no help to us. Those who know Him know Who He is. When we know Him everything is different and we are living in a new world -- a new atmosphere. Heaven begins on earth for us. Those who know Him know that Jesus is everything to them. They can bear witness because they have been living with Him...If we live in Him He will reveal Himself to us and we shall bear witness -- not for a day or a night only..."

"For the first two or three years after my conversion, I used to ask for specific things. Now I ask for God. Supposing there is a tree full of fruits -- you will have to go and buy or beg the fruits from the owner of the tree. Every day you would have to go for one or two fruits. But if you can make the tree your own property, then all the fruits will be your own. In the same way, if God is your own, then all things in Heaven and on earth will be your own, because He is your Father and is everything to you; otherwise you will have to go and ask like a beggar for certain things. When they are used up, you will have to ask again. So ask not for gifts but for the Giver of Gifts: not for life but for the Giver of Life -- then life and the things needed for life will be added unto you."

"Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which he imparts to us."

"From my many years experience I can unhesitatingly say that the cross bears those who bear the cross."

"While sitting on the bank of a river one day, I picked up a solid round stone from the water and broke it open. It was perfectly dry in spite of the fact that it had been immersed in water for centuries. The same is true of many people in the Western world. For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity; they live immersed in the waters of its benefits. And yet it has not penetrated their hearts; they do not love it. The fault is not in Christianity, but in men's hearts, which have been hardened by materialism and intellectualism."

"When Jesus entered Jerusalem the people spread their clothes in the way and strewed branches before Him in order to do Him honour. Jesus rode upon an ass, according to the word of the prophet. His feet did not touch the road which was decorated in His honour. It was the ass which trod upon the garments and the branches. But the ass would have been very foolish to have been uplifted on that account; for the road really was not decked in its honour! It would be just as foolish if those who bear Christ to men were to think anything of themselves because of what men do to them for the sake of Jesus."

"A newborn child has to cry, for only in this way will his lungs expand. A doctor once told me of a child who could not breathe when it was born. In order to make it breathe the doctor gave it a slight blow. The mother must have thought the doctor cruel. But he was really doing the kindest thing possible. As with newborn children the lungs are contracted, so are our spiritual lungs. But through suffering God strikes us in love. Then our lungs expand and we can breathe and pray."

"Just as the salt water of the sea is drawn upwards by the hot rays of the sun, and gradually takes on the form of clouds, and, turned thus into sweet and refreshing water, falls in showers on the earth (for the sea water as it rises upwards leaves behind it its salt and bitterness), so when the thoughts and desires of the man of prayer rise aloft like misty emanations of the soul, the rays of the Sun of Righteousness purify them of all sinful taint, and his prayers become a great cloud which descends from heaven in a shower of blessing, bringing refreshment to many on the earth."

"Many people despise those who spend their health, strength and money for the salvation of others, and call them mad. And yet it is they who will save many and be saved themselves."

"From time immemorial men have quenched their thirst with water without knowing anything about its chemical constituents. In like manner we do not need to be instructed in all the mysteries of doctrine, but we do need to receive the Living Water which Jesus Christ will give us and which alone can satisfy our souls."


"God's patience is infinite. Men, like small kettles, boil quickly with wrath at the least wrong. Not so God. If God were as wrathful, the world would have been a heap of ruins long ago."

"Should I worship Him from fear of hell, may I be cast into it. Should I serve Him from desire of gaining heaven, may He keep me out. But should I worship Him from love alone, He reveal Himself to me, that my whole heart may be filled with His love and presence."

"From time immemorial men have quenched their thirst with water without knowing anything about its chemical constituents. In like manner we do not need to be instructed in all the mysteries of doctrine, but we do need to receive the Living Water which Jesus Christ will give us and which alone can satisfy our souls."

"God's patience is infinite. Men, like small kettles, boil quickly with wrath at the least wrong. Not so God. If God were as wrathful, the world would have been a heap of ruins long ago."

God loves you!

God so greatly loved you that he gave his one and Only son, Jesus Christ, that if you will believe, cling to him, rely on him, trust in him, you will not perish but have eternal life.

God created you in your mothers womb. He planned the days of your life before you had lived even one day.

We love him because he first loved us.

What does it mean to love God?
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments"

Friends, Ask God to show you his commandments in his word and seek his help to keep them.

May the Lord bless you abundantly.

Scripture references: John 3: 16, Psalm 139:13-16,
1 John 4:19, John 14:15

Lessons From The Failures Of Others

1. Gehazi: We read in 2 Kings, Chapter 5, that out of gratitude for his healing, Naaman, the Syrian General offered Elisha silver and gold worth nearly Eighty thousand dollars and ten fancy Syrian suits of clothing. What a temptation for a lesser man than Elisha. But Elisha turned down the offer without a moment's hesitation. Naaman was an unbeliever and a compromiser and Elisha would receive nothing from him. Gehazi had observed Elisha's attitude towards Naaman's money. But he felt that Elisha had been foolish to refuse what Naaman had offered so freely. He ran after Naaman, told a few lies and collected four thousand dollars worth of silver and two of those Syrian suits. Elisha who could see through a crooked man easily, immediately exposed Gehazi's covetousness. He told Gehazi that since he had grabbed Naaman's money, he would get Naaman's leprosy as well. He told him "therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your descendants forever. So Gehazi went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. ( 2 Kings 5:27) Instead of getting a double portion of Elisha's anointing, Gehazi got leprosy. Little did Gehazi realize that he was being tested by God that day. If only he had known what tremendous issues were at stake, he might have been more careful.

2. Achan: God allowed Achan to be alone in a house with no one watching him in order to test him to see whether he would take what God had forbidden or not. Achan failed. Achan describes his fall thus: I saw. I coveted I took I Hid (Joshua 7:21) Achan and his family thereby missed their inheritance in Canaan.

3. Balaam: Balaam was a prophet on whom the Spirit of God had rested at one time. We read that at one stage "Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe and the Spirit of God came upon him. (Number 24:2) He went astray, not because he was unrighteous in money matters, but because he loved money. The love of money and the love of honor from an earthly king so blinded Balaam that he could not even see that he was going against the will of God. God tested Balaam to see what was in his heart. When Balaam sought God's will at first, as to whether he should go with king Balak's messengers to meet the king, God had given him a clear answer: 'Do not go with them' (Num 22:12). That answer could not have been clearer. But when Balak offered more money and greater honor, Balaam was tempted to ask for permission again. When God saw that Balaam really wanted to go, He told him to go. But Balaam suffered the consequences. God may at times grant our request, even though it is not His will, just because He sees that we desire that thing so greatly. But the spiritual result will be just as it is written concerning the Israelites in Psalm 106:15 "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" Little did Balaam realize that he had been tested and that his love for money had led him astray. He continued to prophesy, but he had taken the first step downward on the slippery slope of seeing earthly gain and it was just a matter of time before he reached the bottom. He who had once known such intimate communion with God ended up as a sorcerer and was slain by Israelites. The record says "The sons of Israel killed Balaam the diviner" (Josh 13:22)

What shall we say of multitudes of Christians today who have the examples of Gehazi, Achan & Balaam to warn them and who have still gone astray. The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. God has allowed material things to attract us in order to test our faithfulness and our devotion to Him.

We cannot serve both God and Mammon(material things). We have to love one and to hate the other and hold on to one and despise the other (Luke 16:13).

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

ZP

Flee from youthful lusts

Now flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with THOSE who call on the Lord from a PURE heart. 2 Timothy 2:22

God desires to fill our lives with righteousness, faith, love and peace.
If we walk by the spirit, we will not carry out the desires of the sinful nature and we will have peace.
God is the author of peace.
If we live by our reason and senses, we will go astray but if we rely on the spirit of God, he will lead us on the paths of peace.

The bible tells us that the righteous man will live by faith.
How do we get faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. Read the Bible and ask God to speak to you.
Obey his commandments and you will find God filling your heart with love.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, Repent, turn from your sins and turn to God. Confess your sin and be willing to forsake them and believe in the Lord Jesus, make him your Lord and savior. Read the Bible and follow Jesus as his disciple, every day of your life.

Run from anything that would stimulate youthful lusts in your flesh. Nowadays, television, movies, magazines etc. are full of images that promote the flesh. Run from them, seek companionship of people who are seeking God with a Pure heart; believers who have forsaken all to follow Christ.

A pure heart is a heart which loves God one hundred percent, there is no room for any idols there, idols of self, money, pleasure, comfort, wanting one's own way, one's own reputation etc. Seek the friendship of such believers.
This is the way to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bible references: Romans 8: 6, John 15, Genesis 6:9, Galatians 3:11, Mark 1:15, luke 9:23, 1 Thessalonians 1:9

Did They Have to Die?

By Steve Saint


Forty years after five missionaries lost their lives in the Ecuadorian jungle, the killers explain what really happened.


The year of Christianity Today's birth also brought the death of five American missionaries in Ecuador:
Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Peter Fleming. The story of what happened on
that January day in 1956-first told in newsweeklies and Life magazine and then in numerous books and
documentaries-became a primary narrative for the young evangelical movement, reinforcing and
illustrating to the world our core ideals. Their noble sacrifice and the heroic follow-up work of family members like Rachel Saint, the sister of Nate, and Jim Elliot's widow, Elisabeth, inspired a generation of Christians-some to go to the mission field and many more to live a more mature and sacrificial Christian life.
While the story is familiar, many of the details have been unknown. Why were the missionaries attacked, especially after such promising initial contacts with their eventual killers, the Huaorani? Why didn't the missionaries use their guns to defend themselves?
Steve Saint grew up with these questions about the final moments of his father's life. Despite spending school vacations among and working with the now-Christian Huaorani, Steve only recently has gotten his answers-which have served to make the story even more amazing and inspiring still.

As I made my final approach to the short jungle airstrip, I could tell I was coming in a little high. I pushed the flap lever all the way down, but it still wasn't going to be enough to get me down on the tiny mud-and-grass strip. I decided to pick up speed, staying on the approach glide path to get the feel for my next try. I had just spent three weeks building a new airstrip with the Huaorani people in Ecuador, but this was my first landing in Huaorani/Auca territory, and this little strip wasn't exactly what the engineers had in mind when they designed this Cessna 172.
Racing down the field just ten feet in the air, I could clearly see the faces of the Huaorani people lining the strip. As I pulled up and banked to the left to start another approach, I could see the river and what is left of the sandbar where my father, Nate Saint, had made his first approach, the very first approach ever in Huaorani territory, just 40 years ago. He and fellow missionaries Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian had set up camp on that little sandbar in hopes of making contact with the primitive Aucas, known for their fierce infighting and hatred of outsiders. The five missionaries had a deep burden to share the gospel message with a people known only for hunting and killing. Their initial friendly contact ended in death by spearing.
On my second try, I was right on the numbers. Crossing the final bushes, I cut the power and the wheels touched down solid, just ten feet from the mark I had chosen. I hopped out to say hello, but I was in a hurry to take off again before the afternoon thunderheads started to drop their torrential rains and trap my little plane in mud, making a takeoff impossible. Dad, I remembered, had flown the Piper Family Cruiser off the beach each afternoon for much the same reason while awaiting the first contact with the "savages," as the Quechua word Auca means.
So much was the same, and yet circumstances were so different! The past three weeks I had been carving a new airstrip out of the virgin jungle with "the people" (which is what their own Huaorani word means), some of whom had murdered my father and his friends just before my fifth birthday.
Mincaye was one of them. Mincaye, with whom I had just gone hunting, who laughed and joked about everything, who had tried the hula hoop on his first friendly contact with the outside. He had been on the beach that fateful day in 1956. There was no laughing on that visit.
Dyuwi, shy, sweet Dyuwi, who hung around our camp each night waiting for a break in the conversation so he could thank Wangongi (creator God) for keeping us safe from falling trees, Konga ants, and poisonous snakes: he too had been there. Just a teenager then, and certainly just as shy, he was nevertheless an up-and-coming killer who knew what they had come to do and went about it-no doubt with the same vigor I had seen him demonstrate on a huge stump he'd been working for the last three days to clear from our landing strip.
Kimo, who brought his canoe full of provisions so we would have plenty to eat while we worked on the strip, had also been there in 1956. He told me that the last of the five young cowodi (foreigners/strangers) had fled across the river, away from the attack, and instead of fleeing into the jungle and safety, had climbed onto a log and called in poor Huao, "We just came to meet you. We aren't going to hurt you.
Why are you killing us?" It was this same gentle Kimo who listened to this plea and then ran a nine-foot hardwood spear through the foreigner's chest.
Why did these gentle, kindhearted men I had been eating, sleeping, and working alongside kill my father and his friends? Why did the missionaries not defend themselves with guns against primitive spears?
Why leave five young women widowed, nine children fatherless? What had caused the Huaorani to kill the very men who had called to them from the plane that they were friends, who had exchanged gifts with them on a line dropped from the circling plane?
Historically, every encounter with the Huaorani had ended in death, from the sixteenth-century
conquistadors to seventeenth-century Jesuits to nineteenth-century gold and rubber hunters. Toward the end of 1955, the oil companies were closing in on Huaorani territory, an area of about 2,500 square miles. This tribe of unknown size and location was seen to be an irritant to development. Not only had they killed oil company employees who ventured into their territory, but they had even lain in ambush outside the big oil camps and killed unsuspecting employees right outside their own quarters. Little was said about the raids made by gun-wielding oil company men against the people, but every Huaorani killing was told and retold in the oil camps until "Auca" savagery and killing prowess gained almost mystical power to strike fear into the hearts of even seasoned jungle workers. Soldiers had been
dispatched to protect oil camps, and there was talk of a military attempt at wiping out this "nuisance."
Confrontation was inevitable, and the question was not would the Huaoranis be contacted, but who would contact them and with what intentions. Would the contact group take medicines and go in peace to live among the people, or would they go with poisoned meat and booby traps and guns to see the nuisance was eliminated or driven deep into the jungle where it would no longer impede the progress of civilization?
Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, and Ed McCully, three college friends working as missionaries in Ecuador, had a burning desire to follow Jesus' command to take the gospel message into all the world. They had prayed for years for this primitive group that had never heard the redemption story of peace with God through the death of Christ. Now the men began to feel they should act soon or perhaps lose the opportunity for peaceful contact.
The first challenge was somehow to establish that they were friendly and intended no harm-no easy task when you can't speak a common language or safely get close enough to try communicating in any other way. They didn't even know for sure where in the jungles the semi-nomadic Huaorani could be found.
My father had generally avoided flying over their territory as he delivered goods to various missionaries in the dense jungle, but as the dry season approached (the time most likely to expose a sandbar big enough to land Dad's small plane), he and Ed flew over the area and spotted one small Huaorani clearing.
The three men rounded out their team with two more: Pete Fleming, a friend of Jim and Ed's, working in Ecuador with the same mission group, and Roger Youderian, who had been working with the Jivaros, known as the "head shrinkers" of the Ecuadorian jungles. A veteran of the World War II paratroopers, Roger possessed a jungle savvy and an ability to live and travel like the Indians.
These five men were not cast from the same mold. Jim was impetuous but focused. Both a college wrestler and a writer, his good looks and physical strength were matched by a deep introspection. Ed McCully, president of his college class, had played football end and won his senior oratory contest.
Everyone expected him to go to law school, but something stronger called him to the jungles of the Amazon. Dad was born into an artist's family but picked up a stray gene. He loved the technical and mechanical aspects of life and wanted to use his interest and skills for a purpose with dimensions that would honor God and outlast the temporal. Flying support for missionaries was a way to fulfill both of his desires. Pete was the youngest of the group, but in some ways the group's sage. Roger was the guy you sent to do the job when it took dogged determination and a completely willing heart to get it done.
Here were five common young men whose unifying distinction was less their inherited abilities or acquired skills than their commitment to seek God's will and to carry out his purposes for their lives.
They were aware of the risk they were taking but felt it was justified, though they could have had no idea of the impact their martyrdom would someday have.
The men studied oil company reports and talked to everyone they could who might give them additional insight into the Huao culture. They began to develop a plan, knowing there was no way to eliminate all danger, but also realizing they each had a family and other responsibilities that dictated caution as well as speed. My father and Ed flew back and forth over the jungle and discovered a tiny clearing. They gleaned a short repertoire of Huao phrases from Dayuma, a Huao girl who had fled almost certain death from intratribal spearings and was living on a hacienda outside Huao territory. My father's sister, Rachel,
was living with Dayuma and studying the Huao language, sure that God had called her to live with this tribe someday and teach them how to walk on God's trail.
The missionaries began making regular overflights to drop friendship gifts from the plane, calling over a loudspeaker, "We like you. We are your friends." Soon they decided to try the bucket drop, a technique Dad had developed to deliver and retrieve items from missionaries who had no airstrip. He circled his plane overhead in tight circles while a long cord with the goods attached was reeled out behind the plane.
Air friction on the basket at the end of the line would make the cord cut to the inside of the circle flown by the airplane, while the weight of the basket caused the cord to fall. When enough line was extended behind the plane, the end of the line would actually hang motionless in the air. Letting out more line at that point would make the line drop straight down where it could be made to hover just above the ground.
The Huaorani tell me that when this technique was used, they understood that the gifts were being deliberately offered and signaled their understanding and desire to continue the exchange by tying on gifts of their own. They remember receiving machetes, a metal axe (a prized possession among people who traditionally used stone axes), brightly colored ribbons, and aluminum cooking pots. In exchange, they returned a Huao comb, a feather headdress, smoked monkey, and even a live parrot, which became my childhood pet.

After making 13 weekly gift drops, Dad located a small sandbar on the Curaray River. By flying over the sandbar and dropping small paper bags of flour at timed intervals, then repeating the process on his own airstrip at Shell Mera, he measured the sandbar to be 650 feet long. It was only about six miles from the Huaorani settlement, although by trail, it would be many, many miles of arduous trekking up and down ridges and across water. (A Huaorani moving at a fast pace could get there in three to five hours.) On
January 2, 1956, Dad flew the four other men in one by one, and they set up camp on what they called "Palm Beach." They made repeated flights back and forth to the Huaorani settlement so that the people would figure out that the plane was no longer flying off into the distance but landing in their territory.
After three days of waiting on the beach, the men suddenly saw two naked women step out of the jungle onto the opposite bank. Two missionaries waded out into the river to greet them. When it was apparent the women were being well received, a man joined them on the beach. Dad's journal records that the three Huaorani seemed relaxed and acted in a friendly manner. They shared the missionaries' hamburgers and Koolaid and carried on an animated conversation as if their every word were understood. The man, whom the missionaries nicknamed "George," made it obvious that he understood the men had arrived in
the ibo (Huao for woodbee or airplane) and he wanted a ride. Dad took him for a quick spin, which wasn't enough, and then for a second ride over his settlement, where his people saw him in the plane.
Dad recorded that George got so excited that he tried to crawl out the open doorway onto the strut, apparently having no concept of how high they were or how fast they were traveling.
Late in the afternoon, Dad and Pete flew out to a friendly jungle station as usual, to avoid getting trapped by a downpour on the frequently flooding river. Shortly afterward, the younger of the two women went into the jungle as abruptly as she had appeared. Soon "George" inconspicuously followed. The older woman stayed on the beach well into the night. (When the missionaries came down from their tree house in the morning, the coals by her fire were still hot).
The next day there were no visitors, but in an overflight on January 8, Dad spotted a party of ten Huaorani on their way to the beach. (The jungle growth is too thick to be able to see the trail, so this chance spotting probably occurred as the group crossed the Tiwaeno River.) At noon, Dad radioed to my mother. "Looks like they'll be here for the Sunday afternoon service. This is it! Pray for us. Will contact you again at 4:30, over and out." As soon as 4:30 came without word from the always punctual Nate, Mom knew something was wrong and contacted the other missionary pilot. He flew over the beach the next morning, spotting the plane stripped of its canvas covering and one body in the river. Four days later a weary but tense ground party made up of missionaries, Quechua Indians, and military personnel found
the other bodies, identifiable only by their watches, rings, and other personal effects.
Photos developed from film found in Dad's camera at the bottom of the river, a diary fished out of his pocket, and his watch, stopped at 3:10, seemed to be all there was to tell about the end of his life.
Many times over the years I have wondered what the end was like. When did they realize they were being attacked? Why didn't they attempt to defend themselves? What went through their minds in those last minutes before losing consciousness? They knew that they were dying on a temporary sandbar in an obscure river in unknown territory. Each surely thought about the wife he was leaving behind, who loved him and would miss him like life itself. They must have pictured the nine children among them, one still unborn, who would wonder what happened to Daddy. I imagine they felt they had failed in their objective of taking the gospel to a needy and murderous tribe, as they lay dying, bodies pierced by the wooden spears of Gikita and Nampa and Kimo and Nimonga and Mincaye and Dyuwi.
After the murders, my Aunt Rachel continued learning the Huao language, taking the apostle Paul's words as a personal promise. "Those who were not told will see, and those who have not heard will understand." Dayuma also believed the words Rachel taught her from the Bible and decided to return to her people, to teach them what she had learned about God and the outside world of the cowodi. Less than three years after the massacre, Aunt Rachel and Jim Elliot's widow, Elisabeth, had made contact and were living among the tribe. There they practiced basic medicine and began to notate an oral language in hopes of someday translating the Scriptures into Huao-tidido (the Huao language).

I grew up in Quito, Ecuador, and enjoyed spending school vacations whenever I could with my Aunt Rachel among the Huaorani. Being fatherless did not make me unique there: most others had lost family in intratribal killings. Though I knew which men had killed Dad, it was not something I asked about.
According to Huaorani tradition, as my father's oldest son I would be primarily responsible for avenging his death in kind, so I never wanted to appear too interested in the particulars. Even Aunt Rachel, who died last year after 37 years with the Huaorani, knew very little of the details.
But finally, last year, during my most recent journey to build a new airstrip and clinic with the Huaorani, I asked the evangelist Dyuwi how many times he had killed before he began to walk on God's trail as a young man. We were sitting outside Dayuma's house in the village of Tonampade, named after one of my childhood friends, Tona. He became the first Huao martyr, speared while trying to reach his downriver relatives with the gospel. I sat in the shade with Dyuwi and others, some of us swinging in hammocks and some squatting by an open groundfire. Children played nearby with clipped-winged birds. In a rush of stories, Dyuwi, Kimo, Dawa, Gikita, and Mincaye, all participants that day on the
beach, paid me a high compliment by speaking openly of the killing. They knew that all of us have experienced God's forgiveness and that they had nothing to fear from me.
As they described their recollections, it occurred to me how incredibly unlikely it was that the Palm Beach killing took place at all; it is an anomaly that I cannot explain outside of divine intervention.
Though I was familiar with the story as we knew it from the photographs and diaries, I began to hear of a very different drama being played out within the Huao clearing. Nankiwi (the man called "George" by the missionaries) wanted to take another wife. For several reasons, the young girl's mother and brother disapproved. This made Nankiwi furious, and he began to threaten to kill the brother. Their disapproval also frustrated the young girl and she, in typical Huao fashion, made a dramatic case out of her thwarted plans, threatening, "If you won't let me marry, then why should I go on living? I'll just go to the foreigners in the ibo and let them kill me." Certainly it was no coincidence that of all the small groups of Huaorani scattered throughout their large territory, this group was the one from which Dayuma had fled,
and this very girl was her sister. Being of the same stubborn stock as Dayuma, who had escaped to the fearsome "outside," she set off for Palm Beach. Nankiwi apparently saw this as an opportunity to be alone with her and took off after her. One older woman, seeing what was going on and knowing that discovery of their tryst would probably lead to killings within the group, decided to go along as chaperone.

When my father took Nankiwi for a ride, and the rest of the tribe saw him in the plane, they decided to go visit the cowodi, too. The next morning, they took the trail for Palm Beach. But before reaching the beach, they ran into Nankiwi and the girl, who were unchaperoned. Her brother, Nampa, flew into a rage and was ready to kill Nankiwi. Apparently to divert attention from his own indiscretion, Nankiwi told the group that the cowodi had attacked them and they were fleeing. Scoffing as she told me this, Dawa implied that most of the Huaorani found this hard to believe, since Nankiwi had a reputation as a troublemaker. Someone asked about the older woman; "she had to flee another way," Nankiwi lied.
As tempers flared, the oldest man, Gikita, took over. He had lived longer than any of the rest and knew better than any how savage and deceptive the outsiders were. While the group made their way back to the village, Gikita began to recount all the killings that had been committed by outsiders.
While they were sharpening spears and working up their fury, the older woman returned from the beach. When she saw the men making spears and readying themselves for an attack, she knew Nankiwi had lied to them, and she tried to convince them that no one had been attacked. She told them the cowodi were completely friendly and meant no harm. Listening to her description of events on the beach, Gikita did not understand all that was going on, but he knew enough about the cowodi to know that they had never been friendly before, and he was determined that they should be killed.
What I find hard to explain is that killing the cowodi only made sense if they had indeed attacked the three Huaorani, since they were otherwise a wonderful resource for the greatly prized and much-needed knives, machetes, axes, and cooking pots. Yet, if they had attacked, according to Gikita's logic, they would certainly attack again, and they obviously had the superior technology of guns and an airplane.
The Huaorani killed for various reasons: revenge, anger, frustration, fear. Sometimes it took very little provocation. But they always wanted two things: superiority of force and surprise. In contemplating an attack on Palm Beach, they knew they would not have a superior force. Six men with spears was hardly a match for five likely armed cowodi. If they killed the cowodi they knew they would have to burn their houses, leave their gardens, and flee as they always did after attacks, because they knew that other cowodi would come in their ibos and find them. Add to this the fact that five of the six attackers were just teenagers, not seasoned killers, and that one witness to the Friday contact insisted the cowodi were
friendly. Under these circumstances, it seems hard to believe there ever was an attack; yet there was.

On Sunday afternoon, when the killers finally arrived at Palm Beach, they could see that there were five cowodi, and that they had guns. We know that the guns, which were primarily intended for protection from animals, were usually kept out of sight. The missionaries had vowed to one another before God that they would not defend themselves against human attack, even in the face of death.
Dyuwi tells me that some of the young attackers, seeing they did not easily outnumber the foreigners, gotscared and asked Gikita how they could attack. Gikita said that he would first spear each of the five and then the younger men could finish the job. He sent three women over to the far side of the river to distract and separate the missionaries. This seems to have worked as planned. When two of the women showed themselves, two of the men (Jim and Pete, I imagine, since they knew the language best) waded into the river to greet them. Gikita started to rush the three left on the beach but slipped on a wet log
under the leaves of the jungle floor and fell. All his spears hit the ground, making a loud noise. The men on the beach turned to see what the noise was, and the element of surprise, the second critical factor, was now also lost.
This was too much for the young attackers, and they started to flee. Gikita called them back, saying, "We came to kill them. Now let's finish it or die here ourselves." This seems at least half-heartedly to have rallied the troops. Nampa ran across the beach toward the two men in the river, spearing the larger man
in the river through the torso. Kimo showed me how the cowodi began to claw at his side "like a gata monkey that has been shot with a dart." (This was probably the man trying to get his pistol out of his holster, which had a snap-down cover.) As the foreigner began shooting into the air, one of the two women in the shallow river, Nampa's mother, grabbed the foreigner's arms from behind so Nampa could spear him again. Kimo said that when the women pulled on the cowodi's arms, Nampa was grazed by a
gunshot and fell down hard. According to Dawa, Nampa recovered from this wound before dying a year or so later while hunting.
Gikita says he recognized my father from the many overflights and speared him first. A second foreigner ran to help him, and Gikita speared him, too (this was most likely Ed). Mincaye said the third man on the
beach ran to the airplane, partially climbed inside, and picked up something like he was going to eat it.
Mincaye asked why he would do this, and as he mimicked his action, I could see he must have beenpicking up the microphone to report the attack. Nimonga speared him from the back, and he fell out of the plane onto the ground. When they showed me how he speared him, I knew the man must have been Roger, because that is the angle of the spear that is protruding from Roger's body as it is being towed behind the canoe in the rescue party pictures.
During the attack, the "smaller" of the two cowodi who had been crossing to greet the women rushed to a log on the far side of the river and began calling to the attackers in phrases that Kimo and Gikita say they understood to be "We just came to meet you. We aren't going to hurt you. Why are you killing us?" (This was probably Pete, who, though he was tall, was the thinner of the two men in the river when the spearing started. He also knew the language the best.)
"Why didn't he flee into the jungle?" Mincaye emphatically asked me. "If he would have fled, surely he would have lived." Instead, he just waited for Kimo to wade out and spear him.
Dawa, one of the three women, told me she had hidden in the bush through the attack, hearing but not seeing the killing of the five men. She told me she had been hit by gun pellets in the wrist and just above the knee. (These obviously came from random warning shots fired to scare the attackers, because Dawa was hiding on the far side of the narrow river and the men couldn't have known of her presence.)
She also told me that after the killing she saw cowodi above the trees, singing. She didn't know what this kind of music was until she later heard records of Aunt Rachel's and became familiar with the sound of a choir.
Mincaye and Kimo confirmed that they heard the singing and saw what Dawa seems to describe as angels along the ridge above Palm Beach. Dyuwi verified hearing the strange music, though he describes what he saw more like lights, moving around and shining, a sky full of jungle beetles similar to fireflies with a light that is brighter and doesn't blink.
Apparently all the participants saw this bright multitude in the sky and felt they should be scared, because they knew it was something supernatural. Their only familiarity with the spiritual world was one of fear. (Dawa has said that this supernatural experience was what drew her to God when she later heard of him from Dayuma.)
After the killing, the Huaorani showed their customary disdain for their victims by throwing the men's bodies and their belongings in the river and stripping the plane of much of its fabric covering. When they reached their settlement, they burned their houses and fled into the jungle, fearing the retribution from the outside they were sure would come.

As they repeatedly discussed the raid, one inexplicable question haunted the Huaorani: why hadn't the cowodi used their guns to defend themselves? If Nampa and Dawa had not been wounded, the answer would have been quite simple: either the men didn't really have guns, or the guns didn't work. After the adrenalin rush of any frightening event, it is easy to question what we think we saw or heard. But the Huaorani were certain that the superficial wounds were unintended, since Nampa was hit only after his mother grabbed the cowodi's arms and Dawa knew no one saw where she was hiding.
These wounds, actual evidence that the mission-aries were capable of defending themselves and chose not to, were a major factor in the Huaorani men agreeing to allow Aunt Rachel and
Elisabeth Elliot to come live with them. They had to know the answer: why would the cowodi let themselves be killed rather than kill, as any normal Huaorani would have done? This question dogged Gikita until he heard the full story of why the men wanted to make contact and about another man, Jesus, who freely allowed his own death to benefit all people.
Forty years ago, Gikita was an unusually old man in a tribe that killed friends and relatives with the same zeal and greater frequency than they did their enemies. Now he is nearing 80 years of age and has seen his grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up without the constant fear of spearings. He has repeatedly asserted that all he wants to do is go to heaven and live peacefully with the five men who came to tell him about Wangongi, creator God.

My father and his four friends were not given the privilege of watching their children and grandchildren grow up. I've often wished I could have known my dad as an adult, for Mom and Aunt Rachel have often said our thought process and mannerisms are much alike. I have trouble distinguishing what I actually "remember" of him and what I have been told. But I do know that he left me a legacy, and the challenge now is for me to pass it on to my children. Dad strove to find out what life really is. He found identity, purpose, and fulfillment in being obedient to God's call. He tried it, tested it, and committed himself to it.
I know that the risk he took, which resulted in his death and consequently his separation from his family, he took not to satisfy his own need for adventure or fame, but in obedience to what he believed was God's directive to him. I suppose he is best known because he died for his faith, but the legacy he left his children was his willingness first to live for his faith.

God took five common young men of uncommon commitment and used them for his own glory. They never had the privilege they so enthusiastically pursued to tell the Huaorani of the God they loved and served. But for every Huaorani who today follows God's trail through the efforts of others, there are a thousand cowodi who follow God's trail more resolutely because of their example. This success withheld from them in life God multiplied and continues to multiply as a memorial to their obedience and his faithfulness.

Steve Saint moved in 1995 to Ecuador with his wife and children to work with the Huaorani people to build an airport and a hospital. This article appears as a chapter in Martyrs: Contemporary Writers on Modern Lives of Faith, edited by Susan
Bergman (Harper San Francisco).
Copyright 1996, Christianity Today International/Christianity Today Magazine
Vol. 40, No. 10, Page 20
www.ChristianityToday.com
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Copyright © 1994 2002 Christianity Today International

Isaiah 53

Jesus, our wonderful Lord laid down his life for us.
We all like sheep wandered away. Our father in heaven
laid all our sins on Jesus so that we might be saved.
How great is the love of our heavenly father.

Let' s praise him. He is worthy of all our praise.

Jesus died for us. Let's live for him.

The Holy Spirit indwells us, let's please him. Amen!

Isaiah 53
1 Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

2-6The servant grew up before God a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.

7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.

10Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he'd see life come from it life, life, and more life.
And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many "righteous ones,"
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly
the best of everything, the highest honors
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Jesus said nothing

The Chief priests and the other leaders made accusations against Jesus.
Jesus said nothing.

The Roman soldiers made a crown of thorns, placed it on his head and began to beat his head with a stick.
Jesus said nothing.

They spat on him, slapped him.
Jesus said nothing.

They stripped him of his clothes and threw dice to divide it among themselves.
Jesus said nothing

The people hurled abuse while he was on the cross.
Jesus said nothing.

The Chief priests and other Jewish leaders mocked him.
Jesus said nothing.

The two thieves threw insults as well.
Jesus said nothing

Are you a disciple of Jesus? Then, follow in his footsteps.

Mathew 27

Where is God, when it hurts

I
have been
crucified
with Christ;
and It is no longer
I who live but Christ lives in me.
Galatians 2:20

Our brother, Richard Wurmbrand, a great example to the Body of Christ.

~~~***~~~*****~Preaching the good news of Jesus~~~*****~~~***

It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners, as it is in captive nations today. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted the terms. It was a deal: we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us,so everyone was happy.

The following scene happened more times than I can remember. A brother was preaching to the other prisoners when the guards suddenly burst in, surprising him halfway through a phrase. They hauled him down the corridor to their "beating room". After what seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and threw him- bloody and bruised - on the prison floor. Slowly, he picked up his battered body, painfully straightened his clothing and said, "Now, brethren, where did I leave off when I was interrupted?" He continued his gospel message.

From the book "Tortured for Christ By Richard Wurmbrand"

For more info, please visit here.

Fear not, Jesus will help you

If you have made Jesus your Lord & Savior and if you are walking in his footsteps as a disciple, you need not fear any evil or any man.

God is your shield. He is with you to help you. Genesis 15:1 You can rest in his love for you. 1 John 4:18

Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator.. and he who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. Isaiah 43:1,2

for he himself has said " I will never desert you,nor will I ever forsake you," Hebrews 13:5,6

Are you a disciple?

Most Christians in the 21^st century are pretty much useless to God.
They have not learnt to follow Jesus and be his disciple.

It's just not enough to believe in Christ. Even demons believe and tremble.
It's not enough to have a lot of bible knowledge; Even Satan is full of it. He is also full of sin.

The greatest need of the hour is for men and women to repent, to turn away from their sins and trust in Jesus as their Lord and savior.

God needs men and women; men and women of caliber who will not compromise with the evil system of the world. Men and women who have repented of their evil ways, one’s who have seen the corruption of the worldly system and want no part of it in their lives. Men and women who have taken care of their past lives, done restitution where necessary, asked for forgiveness and forgiven one and all.

Jesus said "Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. If a man loves his father, mother, children, brothers and sisters and his own life more than me, he cannot be my disciple... No one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions" Luke 14:26-35

If you are not a disciple of Christ, you are like the salt that has become tasteless and is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile, it is thrown out.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

The Resurrection

Our blessed Lord paid the penalty for our sins on the cross at Calvary. Jesus died and rose again.

What a glorious event in history!

The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian’s faith. Luke 24.The apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said "If Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is in vain".

Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to his disciples on different occasions, and appeared to five hundred brethren at one time, and not the least to Saint Paul on his way to Damascus.

Isn't our Lord wonderful? He is interested in every detail of our lives. His love is awesome.

He rose from the dead so that we too may walk in the newness of life, in the power of his resurrection.

Are you living a defeated Christian life? Look to Jesus, turn from your sins and ask his help in every area of your life. Make him your Lord & Savior. Let him rule in all the areas of your life.

Ask him to fill you with the power of his spirit. Let the spirit of resurrection bring life to your mortal body.

Amen.

Obedience: Its place In Holy Scripture.

In undertaking the study of a Bible word, or of a truth of the Christian life, it is a great
help to take a survey of the place it takes in Scripture. As we see where, and how often,
and in what connections it is found, its relative importance may be apprehended as well
as its bearing on the whole of revelation. Let me try in this first chapter to prepare the
way for the study of what obedience is, by showing you where to go in God's Word to
find the mind of God concerning it.

1. TAKE SCRIPTURE AS A WHOLE.
We begin with Paradise. In Gen. 2:16, we read: 'And the Lord God commanded the man,
saying.' And later (3:11), 'Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that
thou shouldest not eat?'
Note how obedience to the command is the one virtue of Paradise, the one condition of
man's abiding there, the one thing his Creator asks of him. Nothing is said of faith, or
humility, or love: obedience includes all. As supreme as is the claim and authority of God
is the demand for obedience as the one thing that is to

DECIDE HIS DESTINY.
In the life of man, to obey is the one thing needful.
Turn now from the beginning to the close of the Bible. In its last chapter you read (Rev.
22:14), 'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have a right to the
tree of life.' Or, if we accept the Revised Version, which gives another reading, we have
the same thought in chapters 12 and 14, where we read of the seed of the woman (12:17),
'which keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus'; and of the
patience of the saints (14:12), 'Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and
the faith of Jesus.'
From beginning to end, from Paradise lost to Paradise regained, the law is unchangeableit
is only obedience that gives access to the tree of life and the favor of God.
And if you ask how the change was effected out of the disobedience at the beginning that
closed the way to the tree of life, to the obedience at the end that again gained entrance to
it, turn to
THAT WHICH STANDS MIDWAY
between the beginning and the end-the cross of Christ. Read a passage like Rom. 5:19,
'Through the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous'; or Phil. 2:8, 'He
became obedient unto death, therefore God hath highly exalted Him'; or Heb. 5:8, 9, 'He
learned obedience and became the Author of salvation to them that obey Him,' and you
see how the whole redemption of Christ consists in restoring obedience to its place. The
beauty of His salvation consists in this, that He brings us back to the life of obedience,
through which alone the creature can give the Creator the glory due to Him, or receive
the glory of which his Creator desires to make him partaker.
Paradise, Calvary, Heaven, all proclaim with one voice:
'Child of God! the first and the last thing thy God asks of thee is simple, universal,
unchanging obedience.'

II. LET US TURN TO THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Here let us specially notice how, with any new beginning in the history of God's
kingdom, obedience always comes into special prominence.
1. Take Noah, the new father of the human race, and you will find four times written
(Gen. 6:22; 7:5, 9, 16),
'According to all that God commanded Noah, so did he.'
It is the man who does what God commands, to whom God can entrust His work, whom
God can use to be a savior of men.
2. Think of Abraham, the father of the chosen race. 'By faith Abraham obeyed' (Heb.
11:7).
When he had been forty years in this school of faith-obedience, God came to perfect his
faith, and to crown it with His fullest blessing. Nothing could fit him for this but a
crowning act of obedience. When he had bound his son on the altar, God came and said
(Gen. 22:12, 18),
'By Myself have I sworn, in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply
thee; and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice.'
And to Isaac He spake (26:3, 5), 'I will perform the oath whic h I sware to Abraham,
because that Abraham obeyed my voice.'
Oh, when shall we learn how unspeakably pleasing obedience is in God's sight, and how
unspeakable is the reward He bestows upon it! The way to be a blessing to the world is to
be men of obedience; known by God and the world by this
ONE MARK
- a will utterly given up to God's will. Let all who profess to walk in Abraham's footsteps
walk thus.
3. Go on to Moses. At Sinai, God gave him the message to the people (Ex. 19:4), 'If you
will obey My voice indeed, ye shall be a peculiar treasure to Me above all people.'
In the very nature of things it cannot be otherwise. God's holy will is His glory and
perfection; it is only by an entrance into His will, by obedience, that it is possible to be
His people.
4. Take the building of the sanctuary in which God was to dwell. In the last three chapters
of Exodus you have the expression nineteen times, 'According to all the Lord
commanded Moses, so did he,' And then, 'The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.'
Just so again in Lev. 8 and 9, you have, with reference to the consecration of the priests
and the tabernacle, the same expression twelve times. And then, 'The glory of the Lord
appeared before all the people, and fire came out from before the Lord, and consumed the
burnt-offering.'
Words cannot make it plainer, that it is amid what the obedience of His people has
wrought that God delights to dwell, that it is the obedient He crowns with His favor and
presence.
5. After the forty years wandering in the wilderness, and its terrible revelation of the fruit
of disobedience, there was again a new beginning when the people were about to enter
Canaan. Read Deuteronomy, with all Moses spoke in sight of the land, and you will find
there is no book of the Bible which uses the word 'obey' so frequently, or speaks so much
of the blessing obedience will assuredly bring. The whole is summed up in the words
(11:27),
'I set before you a blessing if ye obey, a curse in ye will not obey.'
Yes, 'A BLESSING IF YE OBEY'! that is the key-note of the blessed life. Canaan, just
like Paradise and Heaven, can be the place of blessing as it is the place of obedience.
Would God we might take it in! Do beware only of praying only for a blessing. Let us
care for the obedience, God will care for the blessing. Let my one thought as a Christian
be, how I can obey and please my God perfectly.
6. The next new beginning we have is in the appointment of kings in Israel. In the story
of Saul we have the most solemn warning as to the need of exact and entire obedience in
a man whom God is to trust as ruler of His people. Samuel had commanded Saul (1 Sam.
10:8) to wait seven days for him to come and sacrifice, and to show him what to do.
When Samuel delayed (13:8-14) Saul took it upon himself to sacrifice.
When Samuel came he said: 'Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God,
which He commanded thee; thy kingdom shall not continue, because thou hast not kept
that which the Lord commanded thee.'
God will not honor the man who is not obedient.
Saul has a second opportunity given him of showing what is in his heart. He is sent to
execute God's judgment against Amelek. He obeys. He gathers an army of two hundred
thousand men, undertakes the journey into the wilderness, and destroys Amelek. But
while God had commanded him 'utterly to destroy all; and not to spare,' he spared the
best of the cattle and Agag.
God speaks to Samuel, 'It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he hath not
performed My commandment.'
When Samuel comes, Saul twice over says, 'I have performed the commandment of the
Lord;' 'I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.'
And so he had, as many would think, But his obedience had not been entire. God claims
exact, full obedience. God had said, 'Utterly destroy all! spare not!' This he had not done.
He had spared the best sheep for a sacrifice unto the Lord. And Samuel said.
'To obey is better than any sacrifice. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the
Lord hath rejected thee.'
Sad type of so much obedience, which in part performs God's commandment, and yet is
not the obedience God asks! God says of all sin and all disobedience: 'Utterly destroy all!
spare not!' May God reveal to us whether we are indeed going all lengths with Him,
seeking utterly to destroy all and spare nothing that is not in perfect harmony with His
will. It is only a whole-hearted obedience, down to the minutest details, that can satisfy
God. Let nothing less satisfy you; lest while we say, 'I have obeyed,' God says, 'Thou hast
rejected the word of the Lord.'
7. Just one word more from the Old Testament. Next to Deuteronomy Jeremiah is the
book most full of the word 'obey,' though alas! mostly in connection with the complaint
that the people had not obeyed. God sums up all His dealings with he fathers in the one
word,
'I spake not with them concerning sacrifices, but this thing I commanded them, OBEY
MY VOICE AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD.'
Would God that we could learn that all that God speaks of sacrifices, even of the sacrifice
of His beloved Son, is subordinate to the one thing-to have His creature restored to full
obedience. Into all the inconceivable meaning of the word, 'I WILL BE YOUR GOD,'
there is no gateway but this, 'OBEY MY VOICE.'
III. WE COME TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. Here we think at once of our blessed Lord, and the prominence He gives to obedience
as the one thing for which He was come into the world. He who entered it with His 'Lo, I
come to do Thy will, O God,' ever confessed to men, 'I seek not My own will, but the will
of Him that sent Me.'
Of all He did and of all He suffered, even to the death, He said, 'This commandment have
I received of My Father.'
If we turn to His teaching, we find everywhere, that the obedience He rendered is what
He claims from everyo ne who would be His disciple.
During His whole ministry, from beginning to end, obedience is
THE VERY ESSENCE OF SALVATION.
In the Sermon on the Mount He began with it: No one could enter the kingdom, 'but he
that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.' And in the farewell discourse, how
wonderfully He reveals the spiritual character of true obedience as it is born of love and
inspired by it, and as it also opens the way into the love of God. Do take into your heart
the wonderful words, (John 14:15, 16, 21, 23), 'If ye love Me, ye will keep my
commandments. And the Father will send forth the Spirit. He hath My commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he shall be loved of My Father, and I will
love him, and will manifest Myself unto him. If a man love Me, he will keep My words:
and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with
him.'
No words could express more simply or more powerfully the inconceivably glorious
place Christ gives to obedience, with its twofold possibility, (1) as only possible to a
loving heart, (2) as making possible all that God has to give of His Holy Spirit, of His
wonderful love, of His indwelling in Christ Jesus. I know of no passage in Scripture that
gives a higher revelation of the spiritual life, or the power of loving obedience as its one
condition. Let us pray God very earnestly that by His Holy Spirit its light may transfigure
our daily obedience with its heavenly glory.
See how all this is confirmed in the next chapter. How well we know the parable of the
vine! How often and how earnestly we have asked how to be able to abide continually in
Christ We have thought of more study of the Word, more faith, more prayer, more
communion with God, and we have overlooked the simple truth that Jesus teaches so
clearly, 'If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love,' with its divine
sanction, 'Even as I kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.'
For Him as for us, the only way under heaven to abide in divine love is to keep the
commandments. Do let me ask, have you known it, have you heard it preached, have you
believed it and proved it true in your experience: obedience on earth is the key to a place
in God's love in heaven? Unless there be some correspondence between God's wholehearted
love in heaven, and our whole-hearted, loving obedience on earth, Christ cannot
manifest Himself to us, God cannot abide in us, we cannot abide in His love.

2. If we go on from our Lord Jesus to His apostles, we find in the Acts two words of
Peter's which show how our Lord's teaching had entered into him. In the one, 'God hath
given His Holy Spirit to them that obey Him,' -he proves how he knew what had been the
preparation for Pentecost, the surrender to Christ. In the other, 'We must obey God rather
than man' -we have the man-ward side: obedience is to be unto death; nothing on earth
dare or can hinder it in the man who has given himself to God.

3. In Paul's Epistle to the Romans, we have, in the opening and closing verses the
expression, 'the obedience of faith among all nations' (1:5; 16:26), as that for which he
was made an apostle. He speaks of what God had wrought 'to make the Gentiles
obedient.' He teaches that, as the obedience of Christ makes us righteous, we become the
servants of obedience unto righteousness. As disobedience in Adam and in us was the
one thing that wrought death, so obedience, in Christ and in us, is the one thing that the
gospel makes known as the way of restoration to God and His favor.
4. We all know how James warns us not to be hearers of the Word only but doers, and
expounds how Abraham was justified, and his faith perfected, by his works.
5. In Peter's First Epistle we have only to look at the first chapter, to see the place
obedience has in his system. In ver. 2 be speaks to the 'Elect, in sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and blood-sprinkling of Jesus Christ,' and so points us to obedience
as the eternal purpose of the Father, as the great object of the work of the Spirit, and a
chief part of the salvation of Christ. In ver. 13 he writes, 'As children of obedience,' born
of it, marked by it, subject to it, 'be ye holy in all manner of conversation.' Obedience is
THE VERY STARTING POINT OF TRUE HOLINESS.
In ver. 22 we read, 'Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth,' -
the whole acceptance of the truth of God was not merely a matter of intellectual assent or
strong emotion: it was a subjection of the life to the dominion of the truth of God: the
Christian life was in the first place obedience.
6. Of John we know how strong his statements are. 'He that saith, I know Him, and
keepeth not His Commandments, is a liar.' Obedience is
THE ONE CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
'Let us love in deed and truth; hereby we shall assure our hearts before Him. And
whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do the
things that are pleasing in His sight.' Obedience is the secret of good conscience, and of
the confidence that God heareth us. 'This is the love of God, that we keep His
Commandments.' The obedience that keeps His commandments: this is the garment in
which the hidden, invisible love reveals itself, and whereby it is known.
Such is the place obedience has in Holy Scripture, in the mind of God, in the hearts of
His servants. We may well ask, Does it take that place in my heart and life? Have we
indeed given obedience that supreme place of authority over us that God means it to
have, as the inspiration of every action, and of every approach to Him? If we yield
ourselves to the searching of God's Spirit, we may find that we never gave it its true
proportion in our scheme of life, and that this lack is the cause of all our failure in prayer
and in work. We may see that the deeper blessings of God's grace, and the full enjoyment
of God's love and nearness, have been beyond our reach, simply because obedience was
never made what God would have it be-the starting-point and the goal of our Christian
life.
Let this, our first study, waken in us an earnest desire to know God's will fully
concerning this truth. Let us unite in praying that the Holy Spirit may show us how
defective the Christian's life is, where obedience does not rule all; how that life can be
exchanged for one of full surrender to absolute obedience; and how sure it is that God in
Christ will enable us to live it out.

Andrew Murray
(from the book " the school of obedience")