At this time of lockdown I have noted with interest the numerous services which are broadcast online. Of course all sorts of denominations and even …
People the World Over Are Hearing the Gospel Message
The ongoing hoopla about closed churches during a national pandemic is, ironically, nearly ungodly. Protesting government officials, threatening …
Good Things From Closed Churches
It was a Sunday in November 1990, in New York City. My husband and I were handing out Bible tracts in Port Authority Bus Terminal. In those days we attended church services at 10am and 7pm and evangelized in between.
It was late in the day when my husband had an extremely uneasy feeling that came upon him suddenly. He became aware of a group of men lingering by the men’s room looking our way. He picked up his bag of tracts and said it was time for us to be heading back to church. He sensed evil and that we may even be in danger.
At the exact moment that we were about to leave my husband heard a man call out the word… “promise”. The man was standing at a distance. A casually dressed man, a man with a peaceful countenance, who seemed to come out of nowhere. He didn’t approach us, but staying where he was he stretched out his arm, keeping it perfectly straight, and pointed back and forth to each of us saying… “promise, you two, promise, Revelation 3: 8 and 10.” He said those words twice.
My husband, nodding his head, smiled at the man and said “thank you my friend” and began to walk away. The man stood there, not moving at all, simply staring straight ahead with his hands down in front of him now, and quietly said… “read it”. My husband said “ok, I’ll read that” and put his bag down and opened his Bible and began to read the verses out loud. But he could only read the first verse, because he began to weep, sensing a strong presence of the Lord.
We made it safely back to church that night, grateful for the Lord’s protection. Though it happened long ago, that incident is something we will never forget.
Before we left Port Authority that night, and the man who spoke to us, my husband asked him “by the way, what’s your name?” The man answered… “Angel”.
Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Matthew 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Matthew Henry:
Our Lord warned his disciples to prepare for persecution. They were to avoid all things which gave advantage to their enemies, all meddling with worldly or political concerns…
Christ foretold troubles, not only that the troubles might not be a surprise, but that they might confirm their faith.
The strongest bonds of love and duty, have often been broken through from enmity against Christ. Sufferings from friends and relations are very grievous; nothing cuts more. It appears plainly, that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution; and we must expect to enter into the kingdom of God through many tribulations.
It is our duty, not only to believe in Christ, but to profess that faith, in suffering for him, when we are called to it, as well as in serving him. Christ will lead us through sufferings, to glory with him. Those are best prepared for the life to come, that sit most loose to this present life.
Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
Cambridge:
But the world also hates those who run counter to its pleasures and prejudices, and in that case hatred may be the tribute which vice pays to holiness; 1 Peter 2:19; 1 Peter 3:14. “The world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world;” John 17:14. …
And ‘the world’ by no means excludes the so-called ‘religious world,’ which has hated with a still fiercer hatred, and exposed to a yet deadlier martyrdom, some of its greatest prophets and teachers. Not a few of the great and holy men enumerated in the next note fell a victim to the fury of priests. Our Lord was handed over to crucifixion by the unanimous hatred of the highest religious authorities of His day.
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Matthew Henry:
A form of godliness, a profession of Christian faith without a godly life, often is allowed to pass, while open profession of the truth as it is in Jesus, and resolute attention to the duties of godliness, stir up the scorn and enmity of the world.
Remember the Martyrs…
PEACEMAKERS 