There has been good in this day and there has been evil in this day. Father guide my thoughts and my hands as we come together. Fill the void in me, with You.
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Twenty-some years ago I served as a children’s pastor. Part of my responsibilities, and truly it was a privilege, was to serve on my district’s Children’s Ministry Council. Our leader was a wonderful woman by the name of Elaine Gray. She has since gone home to her eternal reward. But in our time of service together, she gifted me a devotional entitled, On This Day. (<click the link if you’d like to order one for yourself!)
I love history and have read it through and over the years have used it as a source for short devotionals before board meetings. I’d like to share an excerpt from one of them with you.
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Have you ever heard of a tongue screw? I had not until reading the devotional for January 4th. This past Sunday I spoke of persecution in and of the Church – people like Stephen and James, some of the first martyrs of the faith. It bothers me that so many in our American culture feel that we, as believers, are being persecuted. Truly we have absolutely no idea!
One of the most heinous parts of Christian history was when Protestantism first came into being. Up until this time, the Catholic Church was the only church. But as more and more individuals began “protesting” against what they thought was out of line with mindsets and practices in the church, persecution – real persecution – overtook the church. (And no side can claim superiority over the other, in that all sides have been the persecutors and have done the persecuting through the generations!)
January 4th’s devotional speaks of a young man named…Hans Bret. He and his widowed mother…belonged to a Protestant group in the Netherlands. In his spare time, Hans studied the Bible and taught new converts in the church, preparing them for baptism. One evening a knock sounded on the…door. Hans opened it to find a delegation of officers. The house was surrounded and Hans was arrested. For the next several months, authorities alternately questioned and tortured him
In short order, Hans’s treatment worsened, and when intense torture failed to break his spirit, he was sentenced to the stake. Early on Saturday, January 4, 1577, the executioner came to Hans’s cell and ordered him to stick out his tongue. Over it he clamped an iron tongue screw, twisting it tightly with a vise grip. Then he seared the end of Hans’s tongue with a red-hot iron so that the tongue would swell and couldn’t slip out of the clamp. The officials didn’t want Hans preaching at his execution. The young man was taken by wagon to the marketplace, secured to a post with winding chains, and burned alive.
It takes my breath away! We whine of inconveniences. We complain about our “rights” being abused or taken away. And we laud them as persecution. We know nothing of persecution.
For a moment, read through these words of Jesus and let them sink in.
Blessed [comforted by inner peace and God’s love] are those who are persecuted for doing that which is morally right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [both now and forever].
“Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because of [your association with] Me. Be glad and exceedingly joyful, for your reward in heaven is great [absolutely inexhaustible]; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:10-12 AMP
I truly believe that persecution does not snuff out the church but ignites it! What will it take for us to change the world?
Jan 6th, 2021, Wed, 7:47 pm
