Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.’
Imagine a scene that took
place in Asia not too long ago:
A room in an ordinary house,
dimly lit, all the blinds on the windows closed. Twenty leaders from churches
in the region sit quietly in a circle on the floor, their Bibles open. They
speak in hushed tones or not at all. Some still glisten with sweat; others'
clothes and shoes are noticeably dusty. They have been walking or riding
bicycles since early morning when they left distant
villages to get here.
Whenever a knock is heard or
a suspicious sound drifts in, everyone freezes while a burly tough-looking man
gets up to check things out.
These men and woman have
gathered in secret, arriving intentionally at various times throughout the day
so as not to draw attention. In this country it is illegal for Christians to
come together like this. If caught, the people here could lose their land,
their jobs, their families, even their lives......The cult that had been
preying on his church is known for kidnapping Christians, taking them to
isolated locations, and torturing them, my interpreter explained. Many brothers and sisters in the area would never tell the
good news again. At least not with words. Their tongues had been cut out.
David Platt’s "The Radical Question" (Multnomah
Press).
The devil knows that his
time is short, so those of us on earth must be alert to his presence and aware
that we are in a precarious position. If we let our guard down for a minute, we
become easy prey to his temptations.
We cannot allow ourselves to
be swayed from our faith in our heavenly Father and His blessed Son, Jesus who
carried our sins to the cross. If we forget that great sacrifice, we leave ourselves
without His protection and without that we are vulnerable to the traps the
devil sets around us every day. My personal opinion
is that we are headed to the end times and if we do not affirm our belief in
Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we will surely be lost. So many have turned away
from the word of God as the bible teaches, even some churches have changed some
of God’s rules and laws to appease certain sections of society. ‘Bible based
church’ seems now to be a misnomer.
So many people still have not
heard the Good News, which Jesus charged us with sharing. Are we like that Asian gathering, have our tongues been ‘cut
out?’ The best way to strengthen our own faith is to share it with others, we
have no right to keep it to ourselves! Jesus died for everyone to have the
chance of eternal life; it is up to us to let everyone else know this. No-one
can choose to follow Jesus if they have never heard The Good News of all He did
for us.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, our tongues have
not been cut out, help us to use them to spread the word of Your life-giving
sacrifice. We live in a country where we do not need to worry about spreading
the Good News so help us to make use of that freedom to grasp every opportunity
to share The News. Please bless and protect those who live in places where they
must worship in secret, always in the fear of being discovered and physically
abused or killed. Give them Your strength and courage to stay true to Your
teachings. We ask these things in Your own precious name, amen.
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