Christian Persecution: Issa Motamedi Mojdehi (2006)

In the last post, I looked at an example of Christian persecution in the past. Now, I want to show you persecution that is happening today.

Imagine getting in trouble with the authorities for the name you give your son! Here is an excerpt from VOM's Prisoner Alert website:

"Issa Motamedi Mojdehi and his wife, Parvah, attempted to register the birth of their son, Micah, who was born in January, with the civil population bureau. Selecting such a Biblical name may have caused the authorities to begin investigating this Christian family. Issa was arrested July 24th on false charges of drug trafficking. At the time of his July 24th arrest the convert was told he must renounce Christianity or face years in jail and possible execution for his apostasy. Under Iran’s judicial system based on Islamic law, anyone who leaves Islam for another religion has committed a capital offense. Lakan Prison officials reportedly tried for days to force him to confess to being involved in illegal drug trafficking."

Please go and read the whole story at www.prisoneralert.com, and see how you can take action on this brother's behalf!

Christian Persecution: Thomas Cranmer (1556)

Jesus told us that the world would hate us because of Him. This has been true all throughout the two thousand years since Christ's first coming. Some cases of persecution have been minor, the loss of a friend, slander and malice. However, at other times God has allowed his servants to endure immense pain and suffering.

In 1556 Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake. One of the great leaders of Protestantism in England, Cranmer was responsible enlarge for the Book of Common Prayer and other Protestant advances. When "Bloody Mary" came to the throne, Cranmer was persuaded to recant his unCatholic beliefs. Mary; however, wanted him executed anway. John Foxe, in his book of Marytrs told the amazing story of Cranmer's death.

Dr. Cole, the speaker before the execution had just concluded by assuring the people and Cranmer that because he had returned to the fold of Catholicism his soul was safe. Then Cole invited Cranmer to speak.

The old man, who had been weeping profusely, rose to his feet and confessed before man and God that he had sinned. He said that both Hell and Heaven were open to receive him, and that he must state his true beliefs. He then confessed the Apostle's creed, universal Christianity, belief in the Scriptures, denounced the pope and declared his beliefs concerning the Lord's Supper.

It was a complete surprise to those in the church. Their sympathy quickly turned to fury, and Cranmer was hastened to the stake where he put out his "unworthy right hand" first into the flames to be burnt because of the recantition he had signed and other false papers he'd written. Then the flames consumed his whole body.

Twelve Stones

Humans are prone to forgetfulness; we remember the things we consider priorities, and the rest just gets lost in the onward plunge of time. Try to recall a conversation you had with someone a week ago – how much can you remember? Now think back three months, a year!

In our Christian walk this proves a great disadvantage to us. We are quick to forget what the Lord has done for us. So how are we to remember? Let’s look at what the Bible prescribes for forgetful humans.

Joshua 4:1-7 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight." So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." (NIV)

What causes us as humans to forget what the Lord has done? I think we could safely say that a lot of time it is the physical things of this earth. We forget answered prayer because once the problem is solved, our busy schedules drown out the memory. Our jobs, holidays and school occupy our whole attention. So in order to combat these physical distractions, we need to create a physical icon to make us remember.

Some people find it easier to remember a command from their parents if they tie a string around their finger. This is a physical reminder of something they would easily forget. In the same way, we need to create physical reminders of God’s spiritual blessings. For me this is best done through writing. If I record what God has done, I remember it far better. Others may find better ways to recall what the Lord has done, but one way or the either, create something to help you remember.

So why should we remember? Well I think there are four reasons:

1. We need to remind others of what God has done (especially our children)

2. Remembrance of these things enforces our faith.

3. We are able to glorify God more wholeheartedly

4. Our faith becomes very personal

And what are the consequences of forgetfulness? Psalm 78 talks about the dangers. In essence, if we are not remembering, we slip into sin and sin leads to judgement.

What has the Lord done for you? Go build a memorial.

Reality Strike!

What five qualities do you most want to see in a husband/wife?

(Please remember, as I occasionally use these polls in other publications, to say only what you would want to be in print.)

Partakers of the Divine Nature part 2

The next two verses in our study of 1 Peter 1:1-11, verses 3 and 4, are just bristling with all of the wonderful things that God has done for those of us who are Christians. I know that personally I am tempted to skip over these verses; they are so saturated with marvelous words that unless you take the time to really think about them, they just seem like a bunch of religious jargon.

Think of the owners’ manual for a new software that you purchase. I don’t know about you, but my brothers and I have a horrible track record of popping the disk into the drive and "figuring it out" because we don’t have the patience to read the manual. Sometimes this works out alright, but at others you wind up using a product for years without ever knowing about special features.
The same can be true of our salvation. We skip over all of the "special features" sections in the Bible, and are much the poorer for it.

So let’s look at our text:

1 Peter 1:3-4 "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." (NASB)

The first thing that I’m tempted to say when I read this is, "What in the world is Peter saying?" My thought is that many feel the same way. Let’s break this text down bit by bit until we understand the full meaning of these two verses.

Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness: So here is the first promise – God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. What a wonderful thought! God has given us what He considers necessary for our earthly and spiritual lives.

[T]hrough the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence: This godliness is rooted in the true knowledge of God.

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises: By God’s glory and excellence he has given us wonderful promises.

[S]o that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature: These promises unlock the door to experiencing God in His fullness.

[H]aving escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust: As we partake of the divine nature, we escape the pitfalls of the world.

So let’s sum this up. I’ve written a paraphrase of this text that I think will help us understand it a bit better:

God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. This godliness is in the true knowledge of God who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by his glory and excellence, He has given us precious and magnificient promises so that you could enjoy the divine nature as you escape from the corruption in the world because of lust.

Obviously this is just a paraphrase, but I think that forcing ourselves to regurgitate Scripture in our own words is a good practice, as it forces us to understand the text.

So let’s look at the application that comes from these two verses:
Keep growing in the true knowledge of God.
Revel in God’s promises so that you will escape sin and enjoy God’s nature as it grows in you.

How do we continue to grow in the true knowledge of God? Obviously we need to be dilligent students of the Word of God, but I think there is more to it than this. James tells us to make sure we’re not just hearing the Word, but that we’re doing it also. Growing in the knowledge of God comes as we read and as we act.

Think of the time when you were a small child. Subconsciously you were learning as much about your parents as you could. You learned what they were like by what they said and how they responded to your actions. In the same way, we learn about God as we interact with Him. We learn how He views Himself from Scripture, and we learn that He is faithful when we step out to do His will.

Secondly, we need to relish God’s promises so that we’ll escape sin and enjoy God’s nature as it grows in us. Here’s a practical example of this in what I call the battle of the natures.

Old Nature: Wow, take a look at that picture over there in that magazine rack!

New Nature: No, I can’t look at that. God told me that I should not lust. (1 Thess 4:3-5)

Old Nature: Come on, why not?

New Nature: No, the way of adultery leads to death. (Proverbs 7:27)

Old Nature: God just doesn’t want you to be happy.

New Nature: False! "Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 (NASB)

We can delight in God’s promises and they will keep us from sin and close to the joy of the LORD.

I'm in WORLD!

WORLD magazine recently did an article on teen bloggers and this blog was honored to be one of those included. You can read part of the article at worldmag.com

Partakers of the Divine Nature

This post is the first in a series that I plan, Lordwilling, to write on 2 Peter 1:1-11. I’ve been wanting to write a more devotional/exegetical article for this blog, but haven’t taken the time necessary to do it. Anyway, I’ll start this first article by quoting the first few verses:

1 Peter 1:1-2
"Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and Peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;" (NASB)

Before we proceed with this passage, we need to carefully examine the terms that we may be tempted to skip over:
Bondservant
Apostle
Faith
Righteousness
Grace
Peace
Knowledge

Bondservant: Teachers throughout the ages have been quick to share their credentials. In earlier days, scholars were evaluated by who their teachers were. Today, we recognize the educated by the amount of M.A.’s M.Div.’s and P.H.D.’s they hold. Notice; however, Peter’s credential. First, he was a bondservant! The ideal teacher is not self-conceited, but totally committed to the Lord in humility and self-abasement. Then, Peter went on to say that he was indeed an Apostle, meaning that he had been sent-forth by the Lord and bore the qualifications necessary for the office.

The next thing Peter mentions is that he is writing to those that have the same faith. This is important. Today, many people (even "Christians") will say that faith is all that is important, the object of that faith being secondary. This is of course Biblically false as well as logically unsound. It’d be like saying, believing that your answer to the problem 2+2 is right is more important than the actual answer. With such reasoning, 5, 7, and 4 would all be okay answers since it was your belief that counted.

This faith we have obtained through the righteousness (goodness) of Jesus. Our own goodness wasn’t enough to free us from the just punishment of suffering in Hell that we all deserve, but Jesus’ righteousness as a blameless lamb sacrificed in our place has opened the doors of forgiveness and faith for us.

Grace has been defined as "un-merited favor" or favor you don’t deserve. I don’t think that I can better define it.

Peace refers more to peace in knowing your sins are forgiven than peace in your relationships and life (the more common interpretation).

Knowledge here means knowing personally God the Father and Son.

Now, re-read the text and sink in the fullness of the thought. The application from these two verses is two-fold:

1.We need to be humble as Peter was.

2.Our Grace and Peace will come as we grow in the knowledge of God.