Filed under: Persecution, Sermon Audio | Tags: Persecution, radio, Thirteen Three
I recently had a few radio interviews about the launch of Voice of the Martyrs’ new youth initiative Thirteen Three.
This is a link to the audio of the second interview. Click here to download it.
Filed under: Persecution | Tags: Persecution, radio, Thirteen Three, Voice of the Martyrs, youth
Last week, Voice of the Martyrs Australia launched its new youth initiative, Thirteen Three. It’s inspired by Hebrews 13.3 which says “Remember the Lord’s people who are in jail…don’t forget those who are suffering”. Our vision is to equip Australian youth to support persecuted Christians.
Check out our new website at www.thirteenthree.org.au
Since our launch, I’ve been busy promoting this new ministry in preparation for our BOUND WITH THEM Youth Event. On Monday, I had a Radio interview with 106.5 Rhema FM on the Sunshine Coast.
I had another interview today with the Vision Radio Network. I’ll put the audio for that online as soon as I get it.
In the meantime, connect with Thirteen Three through facebook and twitter and get connected with our BOUND WITH THEM CAMPAIGN.
I put up a video yesterday of Francis Chan’s reflections on the persecution of Christians in India’s Orissa state. It has been questioned whether those being beaten in the footage are actually Christians, so the video has been pulled until this is confirmed. Persecution of Christians today is a horrible reality. This is not being questioned, just the accuracy of the footage used by Cornerstone Community Church.
Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds comments:
I’ve been in touch with the folks from Cornerstone Community Church, and the videos are being pulled until their accuracy can be verified.
The question is not, as one commenter thought, about whether or not we doubt that severe persecution is occurring in India or in other parts of the world. The question is whether or not the footage in these videos is depicting Christians being persecuted for their faith. If it’s not, we don’t want to show it, as doing so knowingly would be both misleading and manipulative.
I apologize for my contribution to any confusion. I hope this doesn’t distract from the fact that such persecution is real and terrible, requiring prayers for our brothers and sisters. Again, I commend to you Voice of the Martyrs for ways to get involved and informed.
Please continue to remember our persecuted brothers and sisters as if you were bound with them.
Hebrews 13.3
This video is too powerful not to watch.
How do you respond to this?
“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God” – 2 Timothy 1:8
Click here to watch the unedited footage of this terrible persecution in Orrisa.
Filed under: Persecution, Sermon Audio | Tags: 2 Corinthians, Elevate, Persecution, suffering, youth talk
Last Friday, I spoke at a combined youth event at Casula in south-west Sydney. The event was called Elevate and it was awesome. There were a number of youth groups there, over 100 youth and I had the privilege of speaking to them from God’s Word. I spoke from 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 – ‘following Jesus is not safe’. I used the testimonies of persecuted Christians from Vietnam and Colombia to illustrate the points below. There was a lot of enthusiasm from the event and I received good feedback. I’d love you to have a listen for yourself:
SUFFERING SHOULD NOT TAKE US BY SURPRISE
DEATH IS NOT THE END, SO DO NOT LOSE HEART
DEATH IS NOT THE END, SO RISK EVERYTHING
Thank you to everyone who was praying for this event and for me. I trust that God is answering your prayers in the lives of the youth who were there on the night.
Filed under: Books, Persecution | Tags: Adoniram Judson, Burma, Persecution, Tim Chester
In 1812 Adoniram Judson, aged twenty-three, sailed for Burma with the wife he had married twelve days before. He was the first American overseas missionary. He spent the rest of his life there. This is the letter he had written to Ann Hasseltine’s father, asking for her hand in marriage:
I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daugther early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?
Her father let her decide. She said ‘Yes’.
- Tim Chester. The Ordinary Hero. pp. 202-203
Filed under: Persecution | Tags: Kim Jong Il, North Korea, Persecution, political prisoners
My friend Todd Nettleton recently wrote an interesting blog about a man who walked across the Tumen River from China into North Korea to give a letter to Kim Jong Il asking for the release of all political prisoners in North Korea. Here’s an excerpt:
Honestly, my first thought was to wonder if the guy was “all there,” mentally, and did he REALLY think that he could make a difference in North Korea by walking across a frozen river, to certain arrest and interrogation, with a letter?
…then this week I got a call from a media friend about the story, and in the course of our conversation she asked an insightful question: “but what if GOD CALLED HIM to do what he did?” Her question struck me right between the eyes.
Does God call people to do “crazy” things? Like building an ark in the middle of a dry spell (Noah)? Or taking on a giant with nothing but a slingshot and five stones (David)? Or marrying a prostitute (Hosea)? Or stepping out of a perfectly good boat (Peter)? As we read Scripture, many times God calls people to do things that others might call crazy…
Read the whole thing here.
As some of you probably know, I am in the middle of writing a book. Earlier in 2009 I was asked by Voice of the Martyrs to write a short book on the history of the gospel in Colombia. I began this in April 2009, and before I knew it the project was on hold indefinitely. But after a busy year we’ve just recommitted to the project and I’ve just started to get back into the book-writing rhythm.
The book will be one in a series of short books that Voice of the Martyrs is publishing called Restricted Nations. Each of these books detail the history of the gospel in a nation, and consequently the history of persecution in that country as believers in each country have suffered persecution at some stage in it’s history.
For me, it’s a really exciting project having travelled to Colombia with Katherine shortly after we were married to film Underground Reality: Colombia, a youth DVD in which we met Colombian Christians who had suffered for their faith or were risking their lives for the sake of the gospel. We made many friends in Colombia and were particularly touched by the situation in the country.
We cannot comprehend the level of suffering that Colombians face every day due to the violence that has been a part of Colombian life throughout its history. The savagery and scale of its internal war is gut-wrenching. Who could not be touched by witnessing such suffering? On top of this, however, we were so challenged by incredible stories of courage as brave evangelists risk their lives to tell people about Jesus, walking literally into the middle of conflict areas to preach the gospel. But the thing that really got me was seeing how God was at work to transform such a hopeless situation for his glory. Seeing lives transformed from violence to love and seeing hope and peace come where there had once been only strife is such a clear example of God’s transforming grace at work powerfully in this broken world. That I now have the chance to write about this and tell the stories of my friends who are risking their lives for Jesus is truly a privilege.
The tone of the book is supposed to be ‘history with heart’. Having completed four years of academic study I don’t really struggle to write the history. I have found it the struggle to find the right balance of heart. And so I thought that the best place for me to get the mix right would be just to write regularly about Colombia here on the blog. So that is what I am going to do.
For those of you aren’t particularly interested in this, feel free to skip these short prosaic posts. But apart from that I would love your input into what I’m writing. I’m not going to approach this systematically at all, I’ll just write on whatever is relevant to where I’m at in the project.
As always, I value your prayers, support and encouragement in my ministry but particularly in this book writing project.
My latest article for fervr is now online. It is the first in a series of articles that I am writing communicating the basics about the reality of persecution today. Check it out here.
I’ve finally made it to a computer, half way through my time in Vietnam. It’s been an incredible few days, both in ministry and travel and I’ll try to piece together some thoughts/themes in what follows.
Food
I have been loving Vietnamese food. When I was here last time I was with Americans; half the time we ate KFC, the other half isn’t worth remembering. I have been fortunate to be travelling with Vietnamese people this time, along with my travel companions from Australia and Europe and so we have enjoyed some Vietnamese feasts! Every meal our senses are bombarded with new sights, smells and tastes. And while we have come to appreciate some regular appearances from some lovely dishes, there are always surprises at every table. The only downside, is that there is always too much food and we’re forced to eat beyond the capacity of our stomachs! So get ready for fat Brad when I get back in a few days.
Tribal Groups
It has become increasingly clear that persecution in Vietnam is prevalent mostly in the Tribal Groups. The large cities and surrounding Vietnamese communities are predominantly free-thinking, educated, progressive places. Young students are increasingly rejecting Communism, and so the Communist government has less control in the cities. Because of this decline, the government has increased its activity in the rural areas, where the people live simpler lives. It is in these rural settings that many Tribal churches and pastors come up against stiff opposition from the Communist authorities. So while the situation for believers in the cities is generally improving, the situation for Tribal Christians is getting worse.
We have had the privilege of interviewing many Tribal believers. One of the campaign slogans that we have in Australia is “We work with criminals. Will you join us?” and these Christians are genuine criminals. There are over 150 tribal pastors currently in prison. Church leaders are regularly summoned to local police stations for interrogation/beatings and an overnight visit. Identification cards are taken away, citizenship revoked, so that believers are left with no rights and no protection from the law.
Reality
I think that it is easy to glorify the persecuted church because there are many stories of hope and joy in suffering, and victorious faith when everything has been lost. While we have met many people who have this incredible faith and smile while they recount stories of beatings and imprisonment, I have been really challenged to meet those believers who are really struggling in the midst of persecution. These are Christians who feel alone and afraid because they don’t want to be taken again by the police to be beaten; Christians whose husbands are in jail and who live in grief and fear.
It has been incredibly humbling for me to meet people like this and to realise that our ministry is not just about supporting exciting ministries in restricted nations: evangelists who have everything together and are walking right into the face of danger with the word of God, pastors who stand boldly in the face of opposition even to the point of beatings, imprisonment and death. But our ministry is also one of encouragement to the downtrodden, of hope to the broken-hearted, of justice to the oppressed. And so we don’t just interview our brothers and sisters, we sit with them and pray with them, we offer them words of encouragement, and we feel their pain with them waiting in hope together.
I have many stories to tell, but I can’t tell them here. It has been an exciting time away, with lots of adventure and fun. We’ve met some incredible people and I would ask you to pray for the church in Vietnam right now.
I miss my wife and I can’t wait to be home – to see her, to listen to her, to walk with her, to rejoice with her, to do life and enjoy grace together.
