'25 SUMMER READING LIST, #23 - "WHEN FAITH IS FORBIDDEN" BY TODD NETTLETON

First, a little housekeeping. I have been recommending these books in alphabetic order by title. However, I realized that what would have been today's book was fitting for the Independence Day, so I'm moving up the ones scheduled for July 2nd and 3rd one day.

"When Faith is Forbidden: 40 Days on the Frontlines with Persecuted Christians" by Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs is an inspiring devotional book, telling stories of our brothers and sisters who are enduring persecution. Some of these have two or more parts (one story has five parts), and these are an encouragement I have gone through this twice, and yes, this is one that is on my list to use again.

 

'25 SUMMER READING LIST, #9 - "IN THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS" BY GLENN PENNER

 

I have previously mentioned Biblical theology when I mentioned the New Studies on Biblical Theology series. A refresher: Systematic Theology looks at all Biblical verses on a topic; Biblical theology focuses on the development on a topic in the Biblical book. 

No, "In the Shadow of the Cross: A Biblical Theology of Persecution & Discipleship" by the late Glenn Penner (former director of Voice of the Martyrs Canada) is not part of the above mentioned series, but it takes the same technique. It goes book by book into looking to see what it says about persecution.

Naturally, we avoid persecution. Yet it says "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12, emphasis added). And this book on persecution is not depressing but encouraging.

BOOK REVIEW - "IN THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS: A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF PERSECUTION AND DISCIPLESHIP" BY GLENN PENNER

I wrote the review on Sept. 23, 2024, and posted in on Amazon and Goodreads at that time, but I decided to wait on this review until today - October 31, aka Reformation Day. I thought this would be a good blog for the combination of Reformation Day, All Saints Day (Nov. 1), and International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (First Sunday in November, which is the 3rd this year). It's also gives us thought as we head to the voting booth as well.

My wife and I have spent over a year reading a few pages of this book each week. It definitely gave us food for thought.

Former director of Voice of the Martyrs Canada and professor at Oklahoma Wesleyan University Glenn Penner has written a powerful book. "In the Shadow of the Cross: A Biblical Theology of Persecution and Discipleship does an awesome job of going through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and dealing with how much persecution is a part of Scripture.

We tend to think American Christianity is normal. Au contraire. Both historically and currently in much of the world, it is persecution that is normal. 

I highly recommend this book. 

 

AN INVITATION AND CHALLENGE FOR BOTH MUSICIANS AND NON-MUSICIANS

 

 

I would like to invite all my readers (particularly those in the Indianapolis area) to join Becky and I for the annual Fall Dessert Night for Central Indiana Child Evangelism Fellowship on Oct. 12th this year at Castleton Community Church. I'll give you a link for the information below.

Not to exclude anyone - I''d love for all of you to attend - but allow me to focus on one group - local Christian musicians, be they Southern Gospel Quartets, soloists, or rock bands. Let me explain.

A while back, I posted about an idea of a music chaplaincy. One thing I would want to do is encourage Christian musicians to get interested and involved with various ministries. For example, my friends Amy Shreve and Gary Wixtrom are actively connected with Voice of The Martyrs - I've had the honor of hearing them 8 times, 6 of which were VOM conferences.

While there are a lot of great ministries, I believe it's a natural for Christian musicians to get involved with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). This ministry is involved in starting Good News Clubs in Public Schools. But what about Separation of Church and State? Well, in 2000 the Supreme Court ruled that Christian groups have equal access. (Some schools, to keep CEF out, stopped allowing any group to meet at the school.) 

Yes, this is a fundraiser, but that's just a part of it. No less important are their goals to raise prayer support and workers. They especially encourage local churches to be effective in running Good News Clubs, where they can be active in following up on those involved.

I would love to see at least one table filled with some of my favorite local Christian rock bands, and an equal number of Southern Gospel singers.  

For those interested (and I hope that's several of you reading), here is the link:  https://www.cefcentralindiana.com/2023dessert.html

WHAT I'M THANKFUL FOR ON THANKSGIVING '22

From Vision Beyond Borders 2022 calendar, Nov. 24 

 You can celebrate Christmas all year round if you like, but I'd prefer celebrating Thanksgiving all year round. (I'd also celebrate Resurrection Day, Pentecost, Reformation Day, All Saints Day and maybe Groundhog Day all year round, too, but that's for a different blog!) So allow me to start by wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

So allow me to mention some things I've been thankful for this year:

• Of course, top of the list is the Triune God: Our gracious Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Because without God, there wouldn't be anything else to put on the list, or a meaning for what's on the list.
• My wife, Rebecca (aka Becky). We celebrated our 39th anniversary this year.
• My church, Northside Baptist Church: for senior pastor Jeremy Couture; for Joel Johnston and Eric Billin, who have filled in while we were looking for a new worship leader, and for Alex Darnall who will be joining us in that role; for my Sunday School class (taught by Jim Myers, Glen Christie, and Tim Schlotterbeck), my men's Bible study, my D-group, and the men's prayer breakfast, and missionary friends Bob Henninger and Rowland Mondal.
• For other friends that have been part of my life, either in-person or on-line (and sometimes off-the-wall?): Richard and Trish Walton and Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, Bill Scott, Mel Brown, Joshua Jacobs, Gary and Amy Wixtrom, James Lawson, Mark Mirza, Kerry Jackson, Kerry Nietz, Donna Fletcher Crow, Steve Sering, Mike Cassady, Dan Schafer, Andrew Horning, Russell Brooksbank, Grady Loy, Lonnie Atkeson, David Patton, David Huddleston, Dave Hope, Tod Moses, Robert Roberg, Dwight Liles, and Monte Baker. (Of course, I'll probably miss someone.)
  
• For other fellowships: a three-time-a-week phone-line men's prayer time; involvement with mission groups Voice of the Martyrs, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Spirit of Martyrdom, Vision Beyond Borders, Medical Ambassadors International/Community Health Evangelism, Ethnos 360 (I'm wearing their T-shirt as I'm typing), World Venture, International Mission Board, and North American Mission Board; Facebook groups Discussion Board for Jesus Music 1969-1989, Female Christian Rock & Metal, Calvinistic Dispensationalists Unite!, and The Daniel Band, and Libertarian Christian Institute and Mere Liberty.
• For my employer, where I've been for 22+ years now.
• For getting familiar with some Christian musicians (always a joy), especially members of Divine Martyr, Reclaim The Day, Undefeated, Hush Harbor, Brave WRSHP, and True Revival.
• For the interviewees on this blog I've dealt with this past year. I have had 51 interviews since starting this blog July '20, and 35 have been since last Thanksgiving. I enjoyed all of them, but some stand out by how much the interviewee blessed me during the process and some by how much the interviewee was blessed by being interviewed. One story about the latter: Usually, I ask for an interview, tell them I'll send questions in a week, send them questions in a week or two or so, in some cases getting the answers without a reminder (though not all). When I contacted Divine Martyr and told Woody Hughes about interviewing them, it was 3-4 days before Woody was checking up on getting the questions! That made my day.
• Last but not least, thank you to anyone who reads this blog. 

Again, happy Thanksgiving.

 

A BLOG FOR THE DAY BETWEEN THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS AND ELECTION DAY

From Christians United Church, Indianapolis

Anybody besides me aware that the first Sunday of November is International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians (IDOP)? I  hope so! But here's the next question that just hit me this week: How many people realize that 6 out of 7 years IDOP takes place two days before Election Day? That's right. Unless Election Day falls on November 2nd (due to it being the Tuesday following the first Monday of the month), it's a pair of days following IDOP.

Coincidence? Is there a message to the timing? Maybe it is coincidental and unplanned, but still something to think about?

I have a friend who tried to convince me that if I voted for Trump, our freedoms and way of life are at risk. He was right. I voted for Trump, and our freedoms and way of life are at risk. 

Okay, am I overstating it? True, I'm not sure our country can survive a Biden Presidency. I also had my doubts of our freedom lasting eight years of Obama, and sixteen years before that, it was Clinton that terrified me. And even if those fears were/are justified, isn't that worry a lack of faith?

But, returning to the theme of IDOP, we have no guarantees we won't face persecution in this country. After all, Russia was a major center of Christianity before the Communist takeover. We also need to realize that Persecution doesn't usually surprise everybody and appear at full strength unannounced. Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) says there are three steps: Disinformation, Discrimination, and then Persecution. Kyle Idleman of Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY) had a similar list, with five steps.

Let's look at the VOM list. Is there disinformation going on concerning Christianity? You notice how often there are negative portrayals of Christians in television and movies? I saw a lousy movie where one of the characters was a clergyman. At the end where they revealed who the villain was - a motorcycle riding serial killer with the visor down -  it was ... you guessed it. 

I hear some claiming there's already discrimination. Some may be people with a persecution process. But John MacArthur pointed out that during COVID, many businesses including bars and gentlemen's clubs were essential but churches were not and were told they could not meet or sing. Is this a form of discrimination?

A week ago I reviewed Caesar and the Church by Anthony Forsyth, which dealt with the problem of Statism. Libertarians have focused on that for years. Do I trust our two-party system to fight Statism? You kidding? My impression is that the Democrat Party has an agenda it wants to force on the country, while the Republican Party's goal is to keep the Dems from achieving their agenda without having one of their own.  

The Church, as usual, is facing a three prong human attack (not counting the Spiritual War that's behind the scenes on all three fronts). They are from:

1. From aliens/outsiders. No, we don't need to fear Martians or Darth Vader or little green men in flying saucers. I'm talking about outside the country. Should we feel we are safe from Russia or Iran or NoKo or China from attacking us, either directly or via a new killer virus (some consider COVID19 to be a test) or frying our grid by exploding a nuclear weapon in the atmosphere. 
2. From unbelievers in our own country/family. This includes government. This includes special interest groups. This includes the Media (both news and entertainment). This includes the re-education system. 
3. From wolves in the fold. Yes, a lot of the opposition of true faith is in the church itself. There are those who reject the inspiration of Scripture and have a belief that doesn't challenge the philosophy of the world. There are cults and -isms that oppose solid Biblical teaching such as salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and the Deity of Christ. There are those who are comfortable in the world and feel threatened by Christians who make following Christ their focus.

 

I'M EXCITED ABOUT MISSIONS! AREN'T YOU?

Map in CEF director's Reese Kaufman's office, indicating where the sun is shining on the world.

 

One of life's great mysteries I started think about while in Junior High: Why did some missionaries have full 8 1/2 x 11 length prayer letters, folded in half so they can fit in the bulletin, while others' letters were half that size?

I don't know how long it took me to figure that out, but it still wasn't long. The full size letters were from CBFMS missionaries, while the half page letters came from CBHMS missionaries. The ones serving on foreign fields got the full size paper, while those on the home field (North and Central America) only got the half page.

Which left me wondering why they thought the home missionaries didn't deserve the same amount of paper the foreign missionaries did.

One other thing I noticed. At Verde Baptist Church, the Conservative Baptist church I attended, they had pictures of their missionaries and where they served. There, at least, the foreign and home missionaries got an equal due.
Then, when I attended Cactus Baptist Church when I moved to Phoenix to start college, I would see a different set of pictures. Mel Bitner, who was in France, was on both missionary boards, but the others were different. Why? Because CBFMS and CBHMS would appoint the missionaries, and then the missionaries would "discover" their support at the various local churches. Each congregation would choose who they supported.

Over the years, I moved East. In that move, I noticed fewer Conservative Baptist Churches, and more Southern Baptist. the main difference? How they support missions. The Southern Baptist Convention has the Cooperative Program (CP), so basically all Southern Baptist Churches are supporting all the Southern Baptist Missionaries.

One thing that excites me are the Lottie Moon Christmas and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offerings. As you'd expect, any Mission organization has overhead costs, and for the Southern Baptist Convention, the CP takes care of those. With the Lottie Moon Offering, 100% goes to the international missionaries; the one named after Annie Armstrong goes entirely to those serving in North America. (I'm posting this the final day of Annie Armstrong this year.)

Why do those offerings excite me? Because at the beginning of those offerings they send out a pamphlet on how to pray for specific missionaries each day for a week. Usually, I select one or two to keep praying for after the offering ends. 

Becky and I are also interested in other mission organizations. Becky's active with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), which has official workers in every country except one (can you say North Korea, boys and girls?). We used to volunteer with Voice of the Martyrs and actively correspond with two sister ministries Spirit of Martyrdom (which is in Clarkdale Arizona, where the CEO attends Verde Baptist Church) and Vision Beyond Borders. We've attended dinners for Wycliffe Associates (where they send workers to take care of things like teaching and construction so the Wycliffe translators can concentrate on translating). One of my former roommates is active with Community Health Evangelism and Medical Ambassadors International. 

International Learning Center, Rockville, VA

 How many would think Thru The Bible would fit in the conversation? Oh, but they do. That program is heard in 120 languages and dialects around the world. No, you're not going to hear Dr. J. Vernon McGee's Texan accent speaking in Tagalog or other languages, or even the quartet singing "How Firm A Foundation." The programs are more aimed at the locality it's aimed for.

Are you excited about missions? If so, what excites you? If not, what would it take to change your mind? 

BOOK REVIEW - WHEN FAITH IS FORBIDDEN BY TODD NETTLETON

 

This is a MUST read book for Christians. Todd Nettleton leads you on a forty day journey interviewing Christians who live in countries where their government and/or community are not happy with them being Christians.

In the West, we view religious persecution as something that happens over there in other parts of the world, but will not happen here, and if it does, we have no one to blame but ourselves for those negative, unwanted circumstances. The believers we meet in this book, on the other hand, see persecution as a natural consequence for faith and view suffering for Jesus Christ as an honor. One lady in the book referred to her time in prison, for example, as "A wonderful time." What causes people to have this mindset?

Todd's stories are nice and short, and this book is great for a devotional. After the story, he challenges the reader to examine where their faith is on certain topics.

I've read over 20 non-fiction books and more than two dozen novels this year (2021), and if you asked me to recommend one book, this would be the one.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH, 2021

I have collected memes of Scripture verses, but I noticed today one of the precious promises in Scripture is not included. That wonderful promise is 2 Timothy 3:12: "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Why don't I see that posted all over the internet, or on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and refrigerator magnets?

It's interesting that my favorite holidays fall in October and November. Reformation Day. All Saints Day. My favorite, Thanksgiving. The World Series. My smart aleck side wants to add the politically incorrect holiday of Columbus Day just to irk the liberals. My birthday also falls in that time frame, but I don't know if I'd count it. But I will count the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, which falls on the first Sunday in November.Above I have a quote and photo of Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, Lutheran minister, prisoner in Romania for 14 years, author of several books including Tortured For Christ, and founder of the ministry originally called Jesus To The Communist World and is now known as Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM). He spoke at Southwestern College (now Arizona Christian University) in 1978, and I had the privilege of shaking his hand afterwards. How many handshakes would you consider unforgettable? For me, it's two. Wurmbrand was the first. (The second was Jack Greene, country singer who became a Christian). 

A while back, VOM had given a list of 10 ways to pray for our persecuted brethren. 

1. Pray that persecuted believers will sense God's presence (Hebrews 13:5).
2. Pray that they will feel connected to the greater Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:20, 26).
3. Pray that they will experience God's comfort when their family members are killed, injured or imprisoned for their witness (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).
4. Pray that they will have more opportunities to share the gospel (Colossians 4:3).
5. Pray for their boldness to make Christ known (Philippians 1:14).
6. Pray that they will forgive and love their persecutors (Matthew 5:44).
7. Pray that their ministry activities will remain undetected by authorities or others who wish to silence them (Acts 9:25).
8. Pray that they will rejoice in suffering (Acts 5:41).
9. Pray that they will be refreshed through God's Word and grow in their faith (Ephesians 6:17).
10. Pray that they will be strengthened through the prayers of fellow believers.

We need to remember that our society where we have religious liberty, where it is acceptable to be Christian is not normal. I'm in a men's Bible study where we're going through the book Getting To Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction by Bryan Litfin. Most of the individuals suffered persecution, and some of that persecution was post-Constantine by "fellow believers." 

In Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, author Rod Dreher interviewed people who saw their countries turn Communist and each one said the same thing is happening here. Are we prepared for persecution? Is there any reason Christians in the past and present have died for their faith, but we don't have to worry about this?

Let's remember to pray for our persecuted family.