“If you here stop and ask yourselves why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance nor through inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.”
William Law
Proverbs 28:5 Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.
Deuteronomy 16:20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Revelation 19:11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.
Malachi 3:5 “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.
Isaiah 59:14-15 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
Proverbs 19:28 A corrupt witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.
Proverbs 21:15 When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.
Count on the strength of your own godly attributes, and you will grow lax in your duties for Christ. Knowing you are weak keeps you from wandering too far from Him.
When you see that your own cupboard is bare and everything you need is in His, you will go often to Him for supplies. But a soul who thinks he can take care of himself will say, “I have plenty and to spare for a long time. Let the doubting soul pray; my faith is strong. Let the weak go to God for help; I can manage fine on my own.” What a sad state of affairs, to suppose that we no longer need the moment-by-moment sustaining grace of God.
Not only does overestimating the strength of our own goodness make us shun God’s help, but it also makes us foolhardy and venturesome. Those who boast about their spirituality are likely to put themselves in all kinds of dangerous situations, then brag that they can handle them.
—William Gurnall
Abdol-Rahman Mohammad Pouri is one of a thousand Iranian youth who was born and brought up in a strict Islamic family but chose not to follow his parent’s religion and converted to Christianity by following his heart and personal investigation.
Abdol-Rahman spoke about people who choose to become Christians in Iran’s traditional society with all the security conditions. “We couldn’t express our faith among other people or attend church freely. And because of the difficulties we faced about going to a church, I decided to devote my rental house to the Lord to be used as a house church.”
Participation in the house church attracted the attention of the security authorities who threatened and raided the house church and prevented them from worshiping. In addition, some of the house church leaders were also identified by the security authorities.
Abdol-Rahman, 29 is currently seeking asylum in the neighboring country of Turkey.
1 Chronicles 16:33 Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
Isaiah 55:12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
1 Corinthians 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.
Mark 7:6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ” ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.
30-year-old Emmanuel and her husband, Emmanuel Rasheed, said that they were arrested and accused of theft after the Muslim woman who employed Emmanuel as a maid had allowed the Christian woman to temporarily store some of her jewelry at her employer’s house.
Emmanuel said that upon reaching the police station, an inspector identified only as Nazia and two other policewomen started punching and kicking her and striking her with batons, demanding that she “confess her crime.”
“I begged them for mercy, pleading that I am five months pregnant, but they continued their merciless onslaught for over three hours,” she said. ‘They continued to try to force me to admit to the crime, even threatening that they would kill my baby, but I refused to confess a false allegation.”
Rasheed said police tried to convert him to Islam while he was in custody. “A policeman offered to remove the theft charges against me if I was willing to renounce Christianity and convert to Islam,” he said. “I told him that no matter what happens, I will not renounce my faith, nor would I confess the false charges made against us.
”Emmanuel was treated at Benazir Shaheed Hospital, where doctors began efforts to save her and the fetus.
What is our life in this world from beginning to end but a dark night of temptation? Christian, it is so important to make sure your sentry lamp does not go out in this darkness, and your enemy catch you unawares. If you drift off into spiritual slumber, you are an easy mark for his wrath. And you may be sure if you do let sleep overtake you, the devil will hear of it. He knew the apostles’ sleeping time and desired to sift them like wheat (Luke 22:31).
A thief is just getting up when honest men are going to bed. The devil, I am sure, begins to tempt when saints cease to watch. So be consistent in your watchfulness; otherwise you stand to lose everything.
Some Christians, having been injured by a serious fall into sin, will be careful for a while as to where they walk and the company they keep. But as the soreness of the consciences wears off, they forget to keep watch and become as careless as ever. A shopkeeper who has just been robbed is very careful to lock up his store thoroughly. He may even stay up late to watch it for several nights, but as time passes he relaxes his guard and at last gives it no further attention. God did not rest until the last day’s work in creation; nor should we cease to wake or work until our salvation is complete.
—William Gurnall
Beatings and solitary confinement are two of the tools being used by Iranian officials to pressure a Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani condemned for blasphemy to recant his faith, according to reports.
Nadarkhani was sentenced to death after a Rasht, Iran, court declared him guilty of “leaving Islam,” in spite of the fact that Nadarkhani says he was never a Muslim.
Journalist Jack Minor points out that Islam teaches that everyone on earth is born a Muslim. “On page 28, in the introduction of a copy of the Quran, the translator, M.H. Shakir in the section ‘Islam and Muslims’ states, ‘In fact, every child that is born is a Muslim. It is the parents who make him a Jew, Christian or Hindu,’” Minor said.
Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani’s verdict was expected last month after he appeared in court and refused to renounce his Christian faith. However, no verdict was given. The court recently said that it will announce a verdict by mid-December. Full Story
1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Psalm 34:14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Proverbs 17:1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Police in India’s Kashmir Valley detained and beat converts from Islam and were expected to arrest Christian workers after Muslim leaders alleged that Muslim youth were being “lured” to Christianity.
Police in the Muslim majority Kashmir Valley picked up seven converts who were recently baptized in All Saints Church in Srinagar. Some pastors there where also in hiding for fear to being arrested as well. Police got the names of the converts and pastors from a video recording of the baptism.
Ahmad alleged that Pastor Khanna, whose church is affiliated with the Church of North India, was converting young Muslim men and women by offering money, and that therefore he must be arrested.
The mufti told media that the video was definitive evidence that Muslims were being “lured” to Christianity, although it only shows the baptism ceremony. Pastor Khanna said the young men converted of their own will and without his persuasion. Full Story