In the Line of Fire

 In the Line of Fire by Michael Brown

It's one thing to hear reports about our brothers and sisters around the world being persecuted for their faith. It's another to receive a firsthand report from friends, replete with graphic pictures.

But that's what happened to me last week when some of my closest friends in the world, Christian colleagues in India, sent me this note:

"Hi Mike. We just wanted to share a very sad and painful incident of persecution with you that happened earlier this month in the state of [name removed]. A young 16-year-old pastor who was conducting daily prayer meetings in his house was warned to stop by [name removed] radicals. He didn't stop, so while he was selling vegetables in his village, they threw acid on him.

"85% of his body is burnt. We have been paying his hospital bills and through connections we are seeking for his perpetrators to come to justice. We appreciate your prayers for this young man N— as he is suffering so much, for quick healing and for sufficient blood for needed transfusions.

"We recently started financially supporting many pastors in [name removed], and he is one of them. We are deeply hurt by this situation and just wanted to share it with you for prayer."

The note was accompanied by seven gut-wrenching pictures. (The image used in this article, with N—'s face blurred, is real.)

This is the price of preaching the gospel in his region. This is what happens when you refuse to bow the knee to religious radicals. You get beaten. You get burned. You might even get killed.

Yet, remarkably, this young man, knowing that his life could be endangered, continued to hold prayer meetings in his house.

That's because he knew that his life was not his own. That he was bought with a price (the blood of Jesus). And that to save his life was to lose it, but to lose his life for the gospel was to save it.

Over the course of 27 trips I have taken to India since 1993, I have the had the privilege of serving thousands of pastors and church planters and local evangelists.

I do not engage in proselytizing while there. Instead, I serve the local ministries and participate in graduation ceremonies for a key ministry school while visiting my friends there.

To date, as many as five (or more?) of the young men who graduated from that school have been killed for their faith. Yet, knowing the dangers that await them, they count it a privilege to be sent out and preach and serve their communities. After all, their people are lost without Jesus and only He has the words of eternal life. How can they not go and preach?

As for being beaten and persecuted for the gospel, they consider it a sacred privilege.

During one meeting with a few hundred Christian leaders, I asked them, "How many of you have been physically attacked for preaching the gospel, not just verbally attacked, but physically attacked?"

About three-quarters of them raised their hands. That was striking enough. But what was more striking was how they raised their hands. It was nonchalantly, as if I had asked them, "How many of you had breakfast today?"

No big deal. Just physically attacked for Jesus. It comes with the turf. It hurts, but we rejoice and keep reaching out.

As for this 16-year-old pastor who is suffering from terrible acid burns, remember that, as a Christian in his state, he is in the tiny minority. That likely explains why he is serving as a pastor at such a young age. There are few Christian workers, and as quickly as a leader can be trained, he begins his mission.

As for bowing down to the demands of local religious radicals, that was not something he was inclined to do. He loved Jesus and his own community more than he loved his own life. And now he is suffering terribly for it.

Can we join together with him and lend a helping hand? Can we stand with him in prayer, asking for healing and restoration?

Quote from Dr. Michael Youssef

 Dr. Michael Youssef quoting muslim scholar:

"One Muslim scholar told me, 'Islam spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa by the sword. But Western culture will be handed to us on a platter. The people of the West are led about by their feelings and sentimentality. Their passions rule them. Soft and undisciplined, they are no match for the determined soldiers of Islam. The West will fall into our hands like overripe fruit.'"

Ida Batters Gulf Coast

Powerful Hurricane Ida Strikes Louisiana and Mississippi; Leaves Gulf Coast Battered as It Weakens to a Tropical Storm

by Wendy Griffith (Aug 31, 2021)

Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon around 12:00 pm Sunday after pummeling the barrier island of Grand Isle with its ferocious storm surge. Roofs were blown off buildings and some residents who stayed reported water in their homes was up to their chests.

[CBN News] The powerful category 4 storm [Ida] made landfall in Louisiana with 150 mile-per-hour winds blowing off roofs and even reversing the flow of the Mississippi River. (Screengrab image)

It hit on the exact date that Hurricane Katrina barreled through New Orleans 16 years ago.

Hurricane Ida may have been smaller than Katrina but she was stronger. Ida's winds brought devastating storm surges and high winds to coastal Louisiana and Mississippi and left 1.8 million people without power.

Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon around 12:00 pm Sunday after pummeling the barrier island of Grand Isle with its ferocious storm surge. Roofs were blown off buildings and some residents who stayed reported water in their homes was up to their chests.

"People have had and sustained damage to their homes," one woman said. "We have had a senior center about a third of their roof was damaged. They were taking in water."

In Homa, Louisiana, located southwest of New Orleans, high winds ripped the roof off a building. The storm surge and wind was so powerful, it temporarily reversed the flow of the Mississippi River.

In Lafitte, there were reports that a levee was failing and a barge broke loose, slamming into a bridge. affecting any rescue operations. (Screengrab image)

Overnight, the entire city of New Orleans lost power. Memories of Katrina 16 years ago and the devastating flooding after the levee system failed had many anxious to leave.

"This one is coming from the south, so it's going to be pushing water up the whole entire time," one man said. "The water is my biggest concern."

Ida has weakened to a tropical storm as she continues to move northward through Louisiana but still poses a powerful threat,

CBN's Operation Blessing is loading up their trucks as they prepare to respond to Hurricane Ida. They'll be bringing life-sustaining supplies to help families take their first steps toward recovery.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) warned his state to brace for potentially weeks of recovery. He said many will be tested in ways that we can only imagine

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Thoughts on Revelation 11:3

 Thoughts on Revelation 11:3 by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

(3) And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

The angel is obviously speaking for God—they are not the angel's witnesses but God's! We should note the use of the English possessive "My," which suggests both personal ownership and affiliation.

However, the Greek reads more literally, ". . . the two witnesses of me." While this rendering also imparts the idea of possession, it adds a vital element: that the Two Witnesses testify about God Himself. They are God's direct representatives in the crucial last years of man's civilization. And they represent Him, not just in words, but in everything they do during their prophetic ministry.

In other words, these two men are not run-of-the-mill Christians by any means! Not a single word of censure is aimed at them in either Revelation 11 or Zechariah 4. They will be model Christians, followers of Christ and His righteousness to such a degree that when the people of this world observe them, they will see human reproductions of the life of Christ. In much the same way as Jesus represented the Father during His physical life, so will the witnesses represent Jesus during the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord (see John 14:9). While they will not be perfect as Jesus is, they will be men of godly character and virtue.

It is no wonder, then, that they attract the wrath of Satan and the Beast, as well as the hatred of the whole world! Just as Jesus was opposed, mocked, persecuted, and killed, so will these men draw the fire of the anti-Christ, end-time population of earth. Thus, Christ endues His two prophets with power to preach, to plague, and to defend themselves against harm (Revelation 11:5). In order to survive their mission during a time of Noachian-type violence, God will give them the tools and protection to reveal Him for a final time as a witness before Christ intervenes in world affairs.

Therefore, we should not be looking necessarily for great signs and wonders being done by two prophets, as that activity will likely be confined to the final three and a half years. By that point, it will be obvious to the enlightened who they are. As Revelation 11:9-10 suggests, by the time they are finished with their work, the whole world will know who they are.

Instead, at this time we need to be looking for Christ-like servants who are fulfilling the type of the two olive trees—feeding the churches through their Holy Spirit-inspired works—and who are focused on "measur[ing] the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there" (Revelation 11:1). They will be intensely laboring to achieve the equipping of the saints (Ephesians 4:12) for the terrifying days to come and the return of Christ.

Who the Two Witnesses are has not yet been revealed, and how long we have to go before the time of their appearance no one knows. However, in looking for them, we need to concentrate on what Scripture reveals so that we might properly identify them. Ecclesiastes 3:11 in the Moffatt version declares how God works in these matters: "He assigned each [thing] to its proper time, but for the mind of man he has appointed mystery, that man may never fathom God's own purpose from beginning to end." God will make them known when their time has come. So, wait and watch!

Labor Day Considerations

Labor Day Considerations by Dr. D. James Kennedy

"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." Colossians 3:23

Your work matters before God. We should do it for His glory.

Look at the difference the Savior has made in reference to labor. Jesus Christ picked up the saw and the hammer and the plane; and in so doing He wrought a miracle in civilization. Most people are totally unaware of what that did. But it changed the whole concept of work. Do you realize that in ancient Greece or Rome honest work was despised as servile and was consigned to slaves?

But Christ came and He gave a new dignity to labor. Before the word of God had come and taken over countries there were only slaves. Half the Roman Empire at the time of Christ was slaves and serfs. But those slaves and serfs in the lands where the Gospel of Christ has come have been translated into the working classes. And in America where the Word of God has come more fully, they were translated into the middle class—out of poverty and into economic well-being.

All honest labor is holy unto the Lord.

Afghan Students Terrified

American University of Afghanistan students 'terrified' after being told they can't evacuate and their names have been given to the Taliban - The Blaze

Hundreds of students at the American University of Afghanistan have been left "terrified" for their lives after being denied evacuation from Kabul and told that the U.S. government gave their names to the Taliban.

In a stunning report published Sunday, the New York Times relayed that roughly 600 students, staff, and their relatives had been left stranded in a safe house in Kabul amid the Taliban's violent takeover of the country — their hopes of evacuation dashed.

The group reportedly boarded buses set for Hamid Karzai International Airport on Sunday in a final attempt to flee the country. But after seven hours of waiting for clearance, the group was told to turn around. The airport remained a security threat and civilian evacuations were to be halted permanently on Monday.

"I regret to inform you that the high command at HKIA in the airport has announced there will be no more rescue flights," read an email sent to students from American University president Ian Bickford Sunday afternoon, obtained by the New York Times.

- Thank you, Father God, that what the enemy meant for evil, You will turn to good. We see many references to Your deliverance in Your word to give us hope and prayers: You make a way of escape where there seems to be none. Hear our cries for help and mercy; especially, Lord, glorify Your name in this situation, bringing the innocent to safety and turning many to salvation. Bless and protect the hidden rescuers in place now, and may Your people continue in intercession and repentance. In Yeshua’s mighty name! Amen

- When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. (2 Kings 6:15-18)