If I Perish

"Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16)

 

This is the courageous testimony of Queen Esther as she prepared to risk her own life in order to save the lives of her people. It was a capital crime for anyone to intrude into the king's throne room unbidden, but she was willing to do so in order to do the will of God, knowing that "we ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).

 

In the same spirit, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to enter the fiery furnace rather than to worship the humanistic gods of Babylon, testifying to Nebuchadnezzar that "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”(Daniel 3:17-18).

 

God did deliver Esther and the three Jewish youths, but there have been many through the ages who have died for their faith rather than deny their faith. All the apostles (save John) died as martyrs, for example, and so have countless others throughout the centuries. "They loved not their lives unto the death" (Revelation 12:11), if it meant denying their Savior.

 

Believers in many nations are suffering such persecutions even today, and the time is coming when the last great God-rejecting king of the earth (called the "beast" in Scripture) will "cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed" (Revelation 13:15). If a similar choice should ever confront us, may God give us the grace to say with Paul that "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death" (Philippians 1:20), and with Esther: "If I perish, I perish."

Test yourselves!

I've been thinking lately about Martyrdom. I’m sure that many of us have heard the story of Pastor Saeed in prison for his faith right now in Iran. For those of you who don't know, here's the website: http://savesaeed.org/

     I started thinking about torture, and faith. Not to scare anyone, but if I was put in front of a stake to be burned, or tortured by some way/shape/form, how would I handle it? Would I recant my faith if they asked me to? I’d like to hope and pray that by God’s grace, if that day ever came, that I would be able to withstand the trial no matter the pain. It gets you thinking, that’s for sure! Is your faith strong enough? If you were put to the test, what would you do?
There was a true story I heard a couple years ago…

     A Pastor stood before his congregation one Sunday morning. Because of the persecution, they had to meet secretly. The congregation was just about to open the hymnals and sing, when 4 different people came in with guns, hoods on their heads, and wearing all black. Everyone screamed. The leader of the gunman said, “Recant your faith now, and we’ll let you go free. If you don’t recant your faith, we’ll shoot you. Choose now!” The majority of the congregation fled without a heartbeat; only the pastor, his family, the deacons, and a couple members of the church were left. With a deep breath they prayed silently. The leader of the gunmen walked to the front of the church, closed the doors, and took off his hood. He turned around and with a deep breath he said, “Let’s worship God!” This man wanted to see who the true believers of the church were.

     It made me think of what it would really be like to be held at gunpoint for my faith. The Bible
 tells us to test ourselves.
2^nd Corinthians 13:5-9, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you ^[e]fail the test? ⁶ But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. ⁷ Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved. ⁸ For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹ For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong; this we also pray for, that you be made complete…"
I hope this encourages you to keep up the faith! :)
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousnes' sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven..."

                                              ~Matthew 5:10~

Martyred

Martyred:

This last Sunday,
our pastor, “Kevin Swanson” announced to the congregation that there was a
martyr who died for his faith this last week.
To be honest, I didn’t think that
“Martyrdom” happened very often. I thought that…sure people would be put in
prison, or beaten, but…killed...for their faith? Wow! I pray that God will have
mercy on those that have wronged.
It’s sad, isn’t it? We have so much
in this world, and yet so little. We have hot water for showers, food to eat, a
roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, blankets to keep us warm, a car to get
us from here to there, (most of the time) and so many other things. We have
money to go places, and see things. There are so many people in this world who
don’t have that kind of stuff. They are lucky if they just get to sleep in a
bed, and they are blessed if they get 2 meals a day. Can you imagine?
Some people that are poor, know that
they are blessed to be alive. Do we know?
I know that there’s no such thing
as, “What if?” but let’s play the game for just a minute. Imagine yourself as a
Missionary, or even someone who just wants people to know the Gospel. Would you be willing to teach the Bible, even
if you knew that it could kill you? If someone asked you to recant your faith
or be killed, which would you choose? If someone tortured you brutally until
you recanted your faith, would you give in?
What does it mean to be a “Martyr?”
Do you remember Steven in the Bible?
...he was stoned to death for his faith.

Let’s pray for:
those who are serving in other countries and states to bring the gospel to
those that need it. Let’s pray that God will have mercy on those people who
have done wrong. Let’s lift our cries up to the God who is in control of
everything, and has a purpose and a plan for everything.