Print Page | Close Window

NEWS and URGENT PRAYER REQUEST from on the Ground in Northern IRAQ - Four Biblical Responses to Persecution

Printed From: OpenHeaven.com
Forum Name: TOP NEWS - Worldwide Kingdom/Revival NEWS
Forum Discription: Daily News of What God is Doing Worldwide - Read and Comment
URL: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=48248
Printed Date: 01/17/2017 at 8:23pm


Topic: NEWS and URGENT PRAYER REQUEST from on the Ground in Northern IRAQ - Four Biblical Responses to Persecution
Posted By: News Room
Subject: NEWS and URGENT PRAYER REQUEST from on the Ground in Northern IRAQ - Four Biblical Responses to Persecution
Date Posted: 09/17/2014 at 3:04pm

NEWS and URGENT PRAYER REQUEST from on the Ground in Northern IRAQ

1:17PM, Sep 16 - DS: URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Received this email from missionary friends yesterday. I pass it on so that people can pray specifically for our brothers and sisters.

This is so sad. A friend just got a text message from her brother asking her to shower him and his parish in prayer. He is part of a mission team and ISIS has taken over the town they are in today. He said ISIS is systematically going house to house to all the Christians and asking the children to denounce Jesus. He said so far not one child has. And so far all have consequently been killed. But not the parents. The UN has withdrawn and the missionaries are on their own. They are determined to stick it out for the sake of the families. He has no idea how to even begin ministering to these families who have had seen their children martyred. Yet he says he knows God has called him for some reason to be his voice and hands at this place at this time. Even so, he is begging prayers for courage to live out his vocation in such dire circumstances and like the children, accept martyrdom if he is called to do so. She asked me to ask everyone we know to please pray for them. These brave parents instilled such a fervent faith in their children that they chose martyrdom. Please surround them in their loss with your prayers for hope and perseverance. She was able to talk to her brother briefly by phone. She didn't say it but I believe she believes it will be their last conversation. Pray for her too. She said he just kept asking her to help him know what to do and do it. She told him to tell the families we ARE praying for them and they are not alone or forgotten -- no matter what. Her email broke my heart. Please keep all in your prayers. Thanks, DS

 

Letter about Persecution

By DH

As I have prayed fervently night and day over N facing persecution, the Lord powerfully ministered in my spirit, that we (you, I and all believers throughout the world) need to hear clearly from the Lord about what His Word has to say about persecution in these prophetic days of crisis that we all are (or will be) facing here and abroad.  Not only is N facing a severe test of his faith with his life being in imminent danger, but we all will face similar decisions about persecution as we approach the prophetic end of the age. 

Thus it is imperative that we all know clearly what the Bible teaches by command, example and principle.  There is not one answer that “fits all” situations but rather we must all fervently seek the mind of our Lord about what He is saying to each of us as we face persecution and then be obedient to His command regardless of the cost!

There are four clear and godly responses to persecution described in Scripture:

1)  There is a time to escape!

a)   Jesus escaped imminent stoning by walking through the mob to safety.

b)   Paul was let down a wall from the window to escape to safety.

c)   Paul appealed to Caesar to escape the unjust trial of the Jewish mob.

2)  There is a time to stand!

a)   Jesus took His stand before the Sanhedrin & Pilate.

b)   Peter and John and other disciples took their stand against the Jews who forbade them to speak in the Name of Jesus.

c)   Paul took his stand by responding to the mob of Jews to preach the gospel of salvation to them.

3)  There is a time to be imprisoned!

a)   Peter was imprisoned and placed in stocks and the doors of the prison were opened by angelic deliverance.

b)   John was exiled and imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos.

c)   Paul and Barnabas were imprisoned and sang hymns and the prison doors were opened by an earthquake.

4)  There is a time to be martyred!

a)   Jesus gave His life on the cross for our sins by shedding His blood for our redemption.

b)   James was martyred by the sword (In the same time-frame that Peter was delivered.)

c)   Stephen was stoned to death by the Jewish mob “and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father!”

DH



Print Page | Close Window