A SPECIAL POST: Jeffrey Epstein and 2 Peter 2:9 - Last Sunday (8/11), when word of the "suicide" of the disgraced billionaire was revealed, I had an unepected prompting from God's Spirit in which I sensed Him saying, "Did you take time to PRAY for the man beore he died?" When I shared that with a Christian at my workplace, I received a surprised look that seemed to say, "Why would you want to have prayed for that horrible man?" While the temptation is to think that, the question is what does Scripture - and thus God - say. I was led in my reflection to 2 Peter 2:9 - "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting ANYONE to perish [ie, be destined for Hell], but EVERYONE to come to repentance." In other words, just because OUR sins are not as bad as THAT GUY or any other person doesn't mean we deserve Heaven and not Hell ourselves. Is ANYONE not redeemable, ANYONE not loved by God and for whom He does NOT want to "perish?" I've continued for a long time to pray regularly for the abortioinists (who are our country's greatest mass murderers as many have killed not just hundreds but tens of thousands of pre-born children!) I know of. I also pray daily for some of the worst world dictators and leaders. And so praying for ANY "horrible person" we hear about should not be so strange for any believer.WE deserve Hell for our sins just as he/she does but praise God for His salvation in Christ we are saved from such a fate. NO ONE is loved any less by God because of their sinsw;
EVERYONE deserves our prayers! - Stan
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"CHRISTIAN MISSIONS CHANGE DIRECTION - THE TASK OF RECONVERTING THE WEST" - by John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, August 9, 2019; http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/08/breakpoint-christian-missions-changes-direction/ [AS I SEE IT: I can testify to the truth of this article. When I served as a missionary in Japan around 35 years ago, I heard of Christians in South Korea who were intent on sending missionaries -- to my shock - to the U.S.! I've never forgotten that and now it seems that emphasis of third world countrie has only grown. Wow! Talk about being humbled- Stan]
The missionary efforts of the last hundred years began to change that, and now Pew Research predicts that Africa will be the most Christian continent within about 40 years. The story behind this geographical relocation is overwhelmingly a story of missions. For centuries, the West sent evangelists to Africa, Asia, and South America to preach the Gospel, plant churches, and create Christian communities where none existed. Whereas the heroes of the faith in the ancient church were theologians and bishops, and those during the Reformation were, well, reformers, most of the names we recognize since the Reformation are the missionaries: William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Gladys Aylward, Eric Liddell, Jim Elliot, Amy Carmichael.
This move of the Gospel from the West to the South and the East could be one of the largest scale fulfillments of the Great Commission since Jesus first gave it. Yet, as a fascinating piece in The Economist explains, the direction of the flow of Christian missions has now largely reversed. As it did, the geographic center of the faith also shifted. A century ago, as Pew reports, over ninety percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and the Americas, and less than six percent in Africa and Asia. Today, over a third of all Christians hail from those continents.
As this Christian population shift has taken place, something else interesting has also happened. Poor, developing countries that once benefited from Western missionaries coming into their cultures have started sending missionaries of their own back to the rich and increasingly irreligious West.
While the U.S. still leads the world in sending missionaries—something that has been true for a long time—our market share is dropping. The largest growth seen in global missions output is in non-Western countries. And it’s happening fast.
Between 2010 and 2015, the number of African missionaries jumped 32 percent to over 27,000. Korean missionaries jumped 50 percent to 30,000 in the same period. And the countries receiving the lion’s share of these missionaries are Brazil, Russia, and—wait for it—the United States.
As one whose church has been largely shaped by the missionary efforts of African Christians, I thank God for this new trend. At the same time, anyone trying to convert Westerners has their work cut out for them. As The Economist piece observed, “Saving the rich is difficult,” though Jesus said it wasn’t impossible. Among the compelling stories of Christian history we may read about one day will be whether missionaries from the Global South coaxed Western camels through the needle’s eye.
Those bringing the good news back to our shores—and even more so to Europe’s shores—often remark how jaded and difficult it can be to convert Westerners. Having once had the faith but having (at least partially) lost it, we’re like the bird-infested path or the thorny ground in Jesus’ parable.
Even so, to whatever scale the effort to reconvert the West succeeds or not, it ought to leave us in awe of God’s wisdom. Within just the span of a few centuries the Church went global, and it was precisely at the time the West began to lose its faith.
Both the work of the missionaries who planted those seeds abroad and the return of that fruit to our own shores are testaments to providence. We ought be reminded through them that God is no respecter of persons, nations, or even continents. I only wish those early global missionaries could see all of this unfold. Of course, as those who’ve now joined the great cloud of witnesses, they have a perspective on the whole story that’s better than our own. They obeyed Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations. I wonder if they had any idea that those nations would one day return the favor.
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
RESOURCES
"Missionaries from the global south try to save the godless West" - The Economist January 12, 2019; https://www.economist.com/international/2019/01/12/missionaries-from-the-global-south-try-to-save-the-godless-west
"Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population" - Pew Research Center December 19, 2011; https://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/
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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan
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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/
Monthly Focus | INDIA - For the first time, India entered the top 10 on the 2019 World
Monthly Focus | INDIA - For the first time, India entered the top 10 on the 2019 World
Watch List. Research indicates that in 2018, more than 12,000 attacks on Christians were reported (many go unreported). This month, we invite you to pray with us for our Indian
brothers and sisters.
August 18 | INDONESIA - Diva,* 19, secretly participates in a discipleship class Open Doors supports. A former Muslim, she is one of the future leaders of the church. Pray with her and others committed to expanding the Kingdom.
*Names changed to protect identities
brothers and sisters.
August 18 | INDONESIA - Diva,* 19, secretly participates in a discipleship class Open Doors supports. A former Muslim, she is one of the future leaders of the church. Pray with her and others committed to expanding the Kingdom.
*Names changed to protect identities
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