Robert MacColl Adams

Brother Lawrence

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

Acts 5:29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!

Matthew 16:23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Matthew 14:30 Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

John 21:18-19 Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Accusing those present of proselytism and forced conversions, the ultranationalists have begun to beat Kishore Kavalekar, a faithful, and Rev. Kalappa Chandrakanth Chavan, 27, under the eyes of his wife Vandana, 24, and 3 year old daughter.

After tearing the clothes of the pastor, the activists dragged him in front of the whole village. Finally, attackers tied him to a tree near a Hindu temple and called the Haliyal police. The police arrested Rev. Chandrakanth and Kishore, imprisoning them for 24 hours, leaving the RSS activists to roam free.

“Christians – adds Sajan George – are treated as second class citizens not only by the ultra-nationalist forces, but also the authorities. With the approach of Republic Day, it is time that the State ensures the Christian minority of its constitutional rights. “ Full Story

Thomas a Kempis

When the mother reapplied in July 2011 with her three daughters and a fourth daughter, who is widowed with a child, only the widowed daughter and child were accepted. The others are no longer permitted to correspond with the UNHCR office and are currently living in India as illegal immigrants.

Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “In 2011, at least two Christians in Afghanistan were imprisoned by the Karzai administration, another was brutally beheaded by the Taliban, and nearly all Afghan Christians lived in fear of persecution. There is no evidence to suggest that the situation for Christians is improving, but every indication that it is only getting worse. Deporting the Christian widow and her three daughters back to Afghanistan will lead to inevitable hardship, if not imprisonment or even death. We urge the UNHCR to immediately reopen and approve this family’s applications for asylum.”   Full Story

My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. Ps. 63:8

Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.

We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. `No man can come to me,’ said our Lord, `except the Father which hath sent me draw him,’ and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for he act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: `Thy right hand upholdeth me.’ In this divine `upholding’ and human `following’ there is no contradiction. All is of God, for as von Hugel teaches, God is always previous.

A.W Tozer

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Proverbs 19:3 A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

Deuteronomy 12:23 But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Titus 2:1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

“Three weeks ago seven underground churches got exposed,” says Thomas Kim, executive director of Cornerstone Ministries, which is actively involved in serving the church in North Korea. “It’s been very difficult for the last month and I think it’s going to continue,” he says.

The North Korean leadership apparently fears the kind of insurrection that swept other communist regimes and is now sweeping the Middle East. “They are scared there will be an uprising,” Kim notes. “They are scared by the expansion of the Christian faith because Christians will die for their faith.”

“Now the regime is putting out many people to search for the underground church,” Kim notes. “There is a need to pray for protection.” Full Story

John Henry Newman