As I woke up this morning and went through my daily routine of listening to various pod casts on various topics, I came across a severely disturbing video.
For the sake of those with weak stomachs I will not put the link on this blog.
It depicted a middle eastern man who had converted to Christianity from Islam (So the commentary has it). He was being executed for apostasy from Islam. The video shows him having his head cut off with a dull knife as he lay on the ground on his side.
Anyone who listens to Todd Friel from Wretched Radio can hear where to find the article and video. The episode date is 6/5/2012
The man, as his head is being sawed off with a dull knife, seems not to even be able to scream due to his wind pipe being severed. The expression on the mans face is of sheer terror, shock and pain!!! His life was brutally taken from him by the hands of men who think to be honoring God, yet are not. For “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away... Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me (John 16.2-3).
How many of us American Christians would be able to say with any level of confidence that if faced with the same circumstances as this man, we would hold fast to the Lord till the very end? How many of us would, as the apostle Paul, be willing to suffer being beheaded for the sake of the Gospel? Are you able to with stand the brutality of persecution for Christ's name sake?
I pray that the Lord would keep me and you from falling away from the faith for it is the Lord who is able to keep us from stumbling (Jude 24), and seal us for the day of redemption (Eph 4.30)
Let us take our walks with the Lord as life or death situations, for they truly are, whether or not we like to think of it that way or not!
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents andinnocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household."
(Matt 10.16-24)
For the sake of those with weak stomachs I will not put the link on this blog.
It depicted a middle eastern man who had converted to Christianity from Islam (So the commentary has it). He was being executed for apostasy from Islam. The video shows him having his head cut off with a dull knife as he lay on the ground on his side.
Anyone who listens to Todd Friel from Wretched Radio can hear where to find the article and video. The episode date is 6/5/2012
The man, as his head is being sawed off with a dull knife, seems not to even be able to scream due to his wind pipe being severed. The expression on the mans face is of sheer terror, shock and pain!!! His life was brutally taken from him by the hands of men who think to be honoring God, yet are not. For “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away... Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me (John 16.2-3).
How many of us American Christians would be able to say with any level of confidence that if faced with the same circumstances as this man, we would hold fast to the Lord till the very end? How many of us would, as the apostle Paul, be willing to suffer being beheaded for the sake of the Gospel? Are you able to with stand the brutality of persecution for Christ's name sake?
I pray that the Lord would keep me and you from falling away from the faith for it is the Lord who is able to keep us from stumbling (Jude 24), and seal us for the day of redemption (Eph 4.30)
Let us take our walks with the Lord as life or death situations, for they truly are, whether or not we like to think of it that way or not!
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents andinnocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household."
(Matt 10.16-24)