Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 64

A Flood Swept Away His Wife and Children: The Story of Robert Rogers

In writing my book If God Is Good, I interviewed dozens of believers who have experienced deep suffering firsthand. One of those people was Robert Rogers, whose entire family drowned in a 2003 Kansas flash flood. In a moment he lost his beloved wife and all four of his children. (If God Is Good is dedicated to Robert and many other faithful sufferers, whose extraordinary stories touched my heart.)

The Christ-centered Rogers family went to church, tithed, read the Bible, and prayed together. After the disaster, Robert entered a dark world of Job-like suffering. On the worst day of his life, his ten children taken from him, Job worshiped God. On the worst day of his life, when a flood swept away his wife and four children, Robert turned to God in worship. He told me he did so, not because he didn’t feel the loss; on the contrary, he felt it so deeply that he could not lose the one object he had left to grab on to: God. He couldn’t function, couldn’t go on living, without worshiping God.

We dare not wait for a time of crisis to learn how to worship God. Job and Robert both worshiped God in crisis because they worshiped God before the crisis. If we learn now the meaning of God’s sovereignty and goodness, a biblical theology of suffering will sustain us when suffering comes.

You can watch Robert share more about his story in this 8-minute video:

Robert writes: “God is a God of restoration. In 2003, my precious wife, 2 mighty sons, and 2 lovely daughters drowned in the Kansas flash-flood. Now, by the grace of God, He has blessed me with a precious wife, 2 mighty sons, and 2 lovely daughters! This can only be the hand of God! I cherish my family on earth and in Heaven more than words can contain. ‘Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!’ (Psalm 34:8 NLT).”

If you’d like to know more about Robert’s story and ministry, see his website.

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

10 Ways to Find Rest in Christ, from Samuel Annesley

These are some great thoughts from Puritan Samuel Annesley (c. 1620-1696) on how we can find spiritual rest. (By the way, one of Samuel’s daughters, Susanna, was the mother of John and Charles Wesley, making Samuel Annesley the grandfather of John Wesley.)

How can we live with a conscience that is pacified by the blood of Christ? Christians, be persuaded to practice these:

1. Take heed of every sin, count no sin small.

2. Set upon the healing duty of repentance.

3. Compose thyself to live as under God. You cannot deceive him, for he is Infinite Wisdom; you cannot fly from him, for he is everywhere; you cannot bribe him, for he is Righteousness itself.

4. Be serious and frequent in the examination of your heart and life. This is so necessary to the getting and keeping of a right and peaceable conscience, that it is impossible to have either without it.

5. Be much in prayer, in all manner of prayer, but especially in private prayer.

6. Let your whole life be a preparation for heaven. Strip yourself of all encumbrances, that thou mayest attend unto piety. Pleasures may tickle you for a while; but they have a heart-aching farewell. You may call your riches good; but within a few days, what good will they do you? Men may flatter you for your greatness; but with God your account will be the greater.

7. Live more upon Christ than upon inherent grace. Do not venture upon sin because Christ hath purchased a pardon; that is a most horrible and impious abuse of Christ.

8. Be, every way, nothing in your own eyes. It is the humble soul that thrives exceedingly. And, alas! what have we to be proud of?

9. Entertain good thoughts of God. We never arrive to any considerable holiness or peace till we lose ourselves in Deity;

10. Do all you do out of love to God. Spiritual love-sickness is the soul’s most healthy constitution. When love to God is the cause, means, motive, and end of all our activity then the soul takes flight towards rest.

O my soul, you are so little, why won’t you open all your little doors; why won’t you extend your utmost capacity, that you mayest be wholly possessed, wholly satiated, wholly ravished with the sweetness of so great love?

O, therefore, my most loving God, I beseech thee, tell me what may most effectually draw out my love to thee, considering what prevention of love, what privative, positive good things I receive from thee, infinite in greatness, infinite in multitude!

This post originally appeared on The Park Forum .

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash

How to Deal with Church When You’ve Been Really Hurt

Over the last year and a half, many Christians got angry at their churches for gathering or not gathering, going online or not going online, wearing masks or not wearing masks, or obeying or disobeying government mandates, or speaking up on political issues and candidates or not speaking up on them or speaking up on them in the wrong ways. It’s simply endless. There are many people who stopped going to church during COVID who will not resume in the future. 

I know there are other and deeper reasons for feeling hurt by your church. Trust me, Nanci and I realize what it is like to be hurt by church people and church leaders. And I’m sure, though we’ve never set out to do so, we have hurt our own church people and our church leaders. Which leads me to believe that most of them never set out to hurt us, right?

I can tell you this—we have never felt hurt less and less often by our church and church leaders than we have in the last number of years. Why? Because while we have lowered the bar of the expectations we have for the church and its leaders always living up to what it might, we have raised the bar for our own attitudes toward the church and its leaders being what they should. We seek to practice what Jesus said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).

So the question is, are you treating your fellow church members as you wish they would treat you? If you wish they would be kind to you and interested and engaged in your own life and concerned about your challenges and reaching out to you in love and offering help to them, are you doing that to them? And if you were a church leader, how would you want people to view you and treat you? Would you want them to believe the best of you, that you are genuinely trying to honor the Lord and love the church, and do the right thing to help the most people, and to pray for them and go to them humbly when you believe there’s a problem they should deal with? If so, then is that what you are doing toward them?

Sadly, hurt from church is eating up many people and distracting them from moving on in their spiritual lives and keeping them from church altogether. In this spot-on video, Allen Parr answers the question, “How do you respond when you’ve given your life, your time, and a whole bunch of your money to a church only to be disappointed and hurt?”

I love his answer, and I suggest you listen to it, and then return and finish this blog:

Jesus calls the church His bride. He died for her and says that ultimately the gates of hell won’t prevail against her. So if you give up on the church, you give up on God’s plan. If you walk away from church, you walk away from Christ’s redemptive work. If you say you love Jesus, but you’ll no longer be around the church, you’re saying to Jesus, “I love you, but I can’t stand your bride. I’ll hang out with you, but I refuse to be with her.” If you said that to me, I’d say, “If you don’t want to be with my wife, you and I won’t be hanging out together—she’s too important to me for you to shun her like that.” That’s how much I love Nanci, but I’ve never come down from Heaven in order to die for her, like Jesus did for His bride.

As I said, we are not naïve about church problems!  But we are also not strangers to the beauty and goodness and local and global fruit of church life—though we would be had we chosen to walk away from church the various times we were tempted to. (Of course, God can call people to leave a church and go to or even start another one, and that happened to us many years ago! My concern is with giving up on all churches, which is increasingly common. See Why You Should Think Twice Before Switching Churches Right Now.)

Despite what many think, not giving up on church is a huge part of our moving forward in our walk with Christ. My encouragement is this: show to church people the same tolerance you advocate that church people show to the world. In fact, Scripture goes a step further. We are to do good to all men (and to show them tolerance is to do them good), but especially to the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). You are family. Treat Christ’s people as family.

We are to “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). All Bible passages about forgiveness involve lowering our expectations of our brothers and sisters in Christ and not insisting they live up to our standards, or demanding perfection we don’t measure up to ourselves. God’s grace should calm us and cheer us. (See The Art of Forgiveness.)

I’ll finish by recapping Allen’s six excellent points on how to deal with church hurt:

1. Don’t allow a bad experience to cause you to drift.

2. Extend grace to your leaders.

3. Don’t judge all churches by one church.

4. Bring it to the church’s attention.

5. Resist the urge to speak negatively about the church.

6. Forgive those who have hurt you.

Allen says, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been frustrated, bitter and angry with church or church leaders but I still go, give, support, and serve because I know that the church is what Jesus is using to reach the world, and I desperately want to be a part of anything that Jesus is building.”

Amen!

Giving Has a Boomerang Effect

Scripture is full of God’s words to generous givers: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty” (Proverbs 3:9-10). But God doesn’t intend for us to keep everything He brings into our barns! We are to distribute it generously. We give to Him, He gives to us, and we keep giving it back to Him, recognizing that it belongs to Him anyway. Jesus says, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” (Luke 6:38, NLT).

Recalling the words of one of his customers, R. G. LeTourneau put it this way: “I try to shovel out more for God than He can for me, but He always wins. He’s got a bigger shovel.” As many others have, he lived out the proverb: “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:24-25, NLT).

In some cases God’s extra provision is obvious—we get an unexpected check in the mail or are given something we thought we’d have to buy. One time Nanci and I discovered an error we’d made in our bank balance, finding we had significantly more money than we realized.

In other cases, God’s provision is less obvious but equally generous. A washing machine that should have broken down a decade ago keeps working. A car with more than two hundred thousand miles runs for three years needing no repairs. A checking account that should have dried up long before the end of the month somehow makes it through. As God miraculously stretched the widow’s oil supply in Elisha’s day (2 Kings 4:1-7), and as He made the Israelites’ clothes and sandals last forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:4), I’m convinced He sometimes graciously extends the life of things that would normally need replacement.

Consider Bob, who decided he wanted to give sacrificially when his church started a building campaign to expand their crowded sanctuary. Every morning he’d made a Suisse Mocha coffee. He calculated that if he gave up this habit for three years, he’d be able to give an additional $780.

As part of his church’s financial campaign, Bob gave a short speech at church, mentioning his plan to forgo his coffee.

Two days later, he received a call from a woman asking if he was the Mr. Hodgdon who spoke at church. That evening she delivered a box to him, introducing herself as a General Foods employee. Inside were several months’ worth of Suisse Mocha, the same product Bob had given up. Bob added, “The strange thing is, I’ve never seen or heard from her since. I’ve looked for her at every church service, but maybe it was one of God’s angels. You just cannot out-give God.”

This small thing wasn’t small to Bob. It showed his Father’s gracious kindness to him and prompted him, in a childlike way, to trust and give even more.

This is not health-and-wealth gospel or prosperity theology. I’m certainly not saying that God must always give back to us exactly what we give up, or ten or a hundred times more, in some kind of karma-like transaction or misapplication of Mark 10:30. Sometimes He gives us joy or patience or endurance as we make real sacrifices for Him—and such intangible gifts are considerably more precious than a stash of morning coffee. But aren’t you glad God sometimes rewards us with little things to remind us of His love and approval?

See more resources on money and giving, as well as Randy's related books, including  Giving Is the Good Life .

Photo; Pexels

“Please Continue to Pray”: An Update on Christian Persecution in Nigeria

Two weeks ago I shared a firsthand account of the persecution of Nigerian Christians from my friend Samuel Kunhiyop. The situation in Nigeria keeps getting worse. Please pray. 

One international study showed that 3,462 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in the first 200 days of 2021—a number equal to 17 Christians being murdered every day in Africa’s most populous country. And the killings just keep happeing.

International Christian Concern reports, “Thirty-seven Christians were brutally murdered late Tuesday night [August 25] in Yelwan Zangam community, Jos North LGA, Plateau State. …The attack is suspected to be perpetrated by jihadist Fulani herdsmen, the fourth deadliest terror group in the world which has surpassed Boko Haram as the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians.”

In a follow-up report, they say, “In a pattern that has repeated itself for years, the governor of Plateau State barely reacted to the killing of Christians early in the month but responded strongly when a group of Muslims was killed, even visiting victims in the hospital and promising to pay for their medical expenses.”

Christian Headlines explains, “In this year’s World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria broke into the top 10 for the first time, jumping to No. 9 from No. 12 the previous year. Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a recent report.”

“Unceasing tears have continued to roll in our eyes as a nation and people even as this note is penned down,” one spokesman for an ethnic group said. “The terror being unleashed by Fulani herdsmen on Irigwe Christians has continued unabated and without any sign of remorse or regret.”

Samuel sent another update this week, asking for continued prayer:

I wish to acknowledge with gratitude to the triune God your prayers and financial support you have rendered to the brethren in Nigeria, particularly the believers in Southern Kaduna. So far, the total amount is about $18,000. At the moment, $10,000 is being used to buy foodstuff and medicines. After taking these foodstuff and medicines, we will assess the situation as more people have been displaced and see how best to use the funds to help meet some of these needs. Please pray for wisdom and safety in travels.

We actually wanted to take these items to the displaced believers in the two camps, but we could not move out of Jos because of a curfew that the government has imposed because of killings at the beginning of the week. Jos is the capital city of Plateau State which is actually a neighboring state to Kaduna where Yelwa and I come from. On Tuesday, over thirty people (men, women, and children) were murdered, and the Christian youths protested threatening a reprisal. The angry youths carried 17 of the corpses and dumped them in front of the governor’s office. There was tension everywhere.  A 24-hour curfew was immediately imposed, and we have been indoors ever since. There have been protests against the government and the security outfits who are biased and always looked the other way when Christians are being killed. … As soon as the curfew is lifted, we will buy the medicines which a Christian doctor helped in prescribing. We will then take these items to the two camps by the weekend.

Now to Southern Kaduna. The attacks, killings, abductions, and destruction of property have continued unabated in the Southern part of Kaduna State. In the last one week alone there have been three separate attacks in three different villages (all Christians). In one village that is predominantly Roman Catholic, 17 people were killed (13 women and 4 men) and their houses and farmlands destroyed. In the other two villages, 6 persons were murdered with their property also destroyed. People are living in constant fear.

Most shocking of all, attacks happed on Monday when gunmen (Islamists) attacked the Nigeria Military Academy in Kaduna and killed two senior officers and abducted one major! …If a military institution can be successfully attacked, its military personnel killed and abducted, who is safe?  

I know you are praying but please do not get tired—continue to pray. Christians know that the government which is led by a Muslim has the explicit agenda of making Nigeria an Islamic State. That is why they are killing and destroying all the villages and towns that are predominantly Christians so that they can take over. …We pray that God will have mercy on His remnant and spare us and above all that His name will be glorified.

Thanks, friends and brethren, for standing by us during these difficult and challenging times.

If you would like to give to this cause you can donate to EPM’s persecuted church special fund. 100% of donations will be given to worthy organizations helping persecuted believers, including those in Nigeria. You can also give directly to a ministry our brother Samuel recommends, helping believers in Southern Kaduna, by mailing a check to BILD International, 2400 Oakwood Road Ames, IA 50014-8417. Please indicate that the money is meant for Southern Kaduna Support c/o of Dr. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop. Another option is to call BILD’s office at (515)292-7012 to make your designated gift.

Thank you, King Jesus, for your loyalty to us and to every one of our suffering brothers and sisters in Nigeria, Afghanistan, North Korea, and all around the world. Thank you for promising a kingdom where righteousness will reign, and joy will be the air we breathe. May that kingdom come quickly—and until it does, may you find us faithful.

“My Cancer Is God’s Servant”: Reflections by Nanci Alcorn

Note from Randy: Nanci read the following to me from her journal a few days ago, and I asked her if we could use it as a blog. As many of you know, she has been battling cancer for over three years now. (You can read the latest update on her CaringBridge page.)

We are grateful for everyone’s love and prayers, and are fully trusting God in this. Nanci has never doubted or questioned Him just because so far the prayers for total healing have gone unanswered. She has a big view of God, and a truly eternal perspective. I am very proud of her, and God has ministered to me through her in great ways.

My Cancer Is God’s Servant

Lately I have been immersed in the Psalms.  In them the steadfast love of God for His people is expressed during great trouble as well as great blessing. When our hearts begin to grasp the character of God as revealed in His Word, our faith and trust in His ways digs deeper into our souls. The benefits and delights of knowing and obeying God’s Word is the theme of Psalm 119. Here are a few “treasures” found in verses 68-93:

“You are good and do good… it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes… Your hands have made and fashioned me… Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word… I know, O LORD [Yahweh, God’s personal name], that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me… let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight… In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth… you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.”

As is God’s promise, my meditation upon these words brought instruction and great delight to my soul. I jotted down some observations in my journal:

God is good and His deeds are good. His hands have fashioned everything in my life. It is good that He has afflicted me with cancer to:

Learn His statutes (teach me His ways)
Place my hope firmly in Him, causing believers to rejoice
Recognize His righteousness in me
Confirm His faithfulness to me
Reveal His mercy to me
Invoke in me a vibrant delight in His word
Use my life to keep His testimonies

Everything in creation has been established by God and is being sustained by God. All things are subject to God’s purpose and will. “All things are God’s servants.”

The benefit and delight I received from these verses is profound:

My cancer is God’s servant in my life. He is using it in ways He has revealed to me in these verses and in many more I have yet to understand. I can rest knowing that my cancer is under the control of God who is good and does good.

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book  If God Is Good , as well as the devotional  90 Days of God’s Goodness  and book  The Goodness of God . Also, the booklet If God Is Good, Why Do We Hurt? deals with the question and shares the gospel so that both unbelievers and believers can benefit.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Christ Has Infinitely More Than the World Could Ever Offer

Note from Randy: I hope you enjoy these beautiful reflections on Christ from Abigail Dodds, the author of (A)Typical Woman: Free, Whole, and Called in Christ and a regular contributor to Desiring God.

There is more happiness in a life of exile with Christ and His saints than in all the belonging and cliques and tribes the world wants you to join.

There is more hope in one thimble full of the promises of God still to be fulfilled than in the oceans of assurance from this world that it can achieve progress and utopia apart from Him.

There is more light shining as through a glass dimly, radiating from the face of the Son than all the flashes from human luminaries that, in the end, leave us blind.

There is more truth in one sentence from the mouth of the Lord than all the claims and systems and ideologies and philosophies this world could record in one million best sellers.

There is more love in one drop of blood shed by Christ for His people than in all the affections of natural people for their own or their idols in the whole universe.

There is more power in the fingertips of God and the Gospel He has given us than all the power any government or man-made institution could ever conjure by their might or cleverness or lust.

There is more real healing in the fringe of Jesus’s garment than there is in all the hospitals and clinics and medicines that He has bestowed on us through common grace.

And there is more peace and terror and calm and thunder at the sound of His voice in His Holy Word than any voice on earth could muster. When He speaks the earth quakes. When He speaks the waves and storm are still. When He speaks, we have one job: listen to Him.

Looking back and forging ahead, do not turn to the right or the left, but fix your eyes on Him. There will always be infinitely more there with Him than this world could ever offer.

For more reflections on Jesus, see Randy Alcorn's books Face to Face with Jesus  and It's All About Jesus .

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

“Jesus Is Literally All They Have Left”: The Situation in Afghanistan, and Ways to Pray and Help

The following informative Q&A comes from a source inside Afghanistan who cannot be identified for security reasons:

What is the situation of believers in Afghanistan?

Precarious. We know from the media but also from local sources that the Taliban are going door to door to weed out unwanted elements. Who are unwanted? Everybody who collaborated with the West (especially teachers), but also homosexuals and non-Muslims. Christians are in grave danger. Anybody who is exposed will be severely punished.

What would be their fate?

Could be anything. Kidnapping, torture, killing. In 2017, a German woman and an Afghan guard were killed when a guesthouse was attacked. Taliban also killed a South African family in Kabul in 2014. If even foreign aid workers can be killed for their faith, what would happen to indigenous Christians?

How are Christians responding?

Everybody is afraid. Each responds differently. Some try to escape the country; others decide to stay and remain secret believers. Some want to escape but can’t. Some don’t know what to do.

Did Christians experience any freedom in the last twenty years?

Unfortunately not. The government installed by the Americans failed to make provisions for religious freedoms and the protection of (religious) minorities such as Sikhs and Christians. Sikhs, however, are persecuted but still somewhat tolerated. Sikhs are mostly ethnically Indian and are not known for sharing their faith so are less threatening. They have always been allowed to live as Sikhs although with plenty of hostility and constant ‘Da’awa’ which is an invitation to join Islam. This means that at least they can still identify as Sikhs. Christians cannot, because they are apostates. They had to hide their faith. People who were exposed as Christians disappeared. They were probably tortured and killed. There are other religious communities and cults, but there’s little known about them.

Will their situation change now?

Afghanistan has been high in the top 10 of the World Watch List and for the last couple of years, it has been number 2. Only North Korea scored slightly higher. Persecution spiked in the last couple of years. It’s evident that the Taliban take-over means that there’s now another layer of persecution. The risks and threats have increased.

Does that mean that Afghanistan will be number one on the next World Watch List?

That’s too early to tell. As we speak, we’re doing our research diligently in over 70 countries. We’re monitoring Afghanistan closely. The new WWL will be released in January. That’s when we can tell the WWL position of Afghanistan.

How do the believers feel about the Taliban take-over?

They are disappointed and feel abandoned by those who they had hoped would protect them when the going got tough. The foreign troops left, and the government fled. At the same time, they knew this day was going to come someday. In that sense, they were prepared. But it doesn’t make it any less painful.

What can we do to help the believers?

Literally the only thing they currently ask for is prayer. That’s not strange or overtly spiritual. If they had a thin layer of protection and justice, it’s now gone. Jesus is literally all they have left. The Christians are seeking ways to stay safe and to survive. We stand with them in their time of greatest need.

Are they not asking for escape routes, passage to safety, and asylum?

Of course, right now almost all locals are asking about escape routes and possibilities for relocation; that is not something only to do with believers.  However, with a history of persecution since the day the only official church ever built in Afghanistan was destroyed half a century ago, it is correct to understand that their predicament is heightened, and they must surely be looking for ways to safeguard and secure members of their communities and movement, particularly women and children.

Can you expand on their basic needs?

Their needs are the same as for all Afghan people: safety, food, clean water, medical care. There is a lot of violence in the country, supply chains have broken down, and clinics have stopped functioning. Clean water still runs from the taps, but we have to hope that stays that way. If this water supply gets contaminated, this could lead to lots of illnesses and diseases. If large scale fighting breaks out and schools and hospitals are damaged, it will impact the health care needs of millions of people and access to medicine and professionals.

If you struggle with how to pray, I recommend that you focus on the Psalms. Each day I pray through 1 to 3 of the Psalms and apply them to the situation in Afghanistan. You may find that helpful as well.

 5 Ways to Pray for Afghanistan, from Open Doors USA

With the collapse of the government, the declaration of Shariah law, the expansion of extremism, food shortages and the raging pandemic, Afghanistan needs urgent prayer from the global Church right now, more than ever.

Please pray for the small group of believers in the country. They are walking on eggshells and are uncertain who to trust. Pray specifically for those whose faith is known in their communities. Pray that they find strength, wisdom, and supernatural peace in God’s promises.
Pray for the displaced. A new wave of refugees is expected to come from Afghanistan to many parts of the Middle East and the rest of the world. Pray for God’s protection and provision over them in their journeys.
Pray for the women. Many women fear that Taliban rule means they will be stripped of opportunities for education. Women involved in education during the past years could also be at risk—pray for their protection.
Pray for the sick. Though under-reported in international media, COVID-19 cases are spiking in the country and hospitals are limited in what they can offer. There is no certainty as to how the healthcare system will be able to sustain itself with the new Taliban government. Pray that the healthcare system will not collapse.
Pray that the country will not be a haven for extremists. The Taliban government of 20 years ago are known enablers of extremist Islamic organizations. With their newfound control over Afghanistan, the country could be host to a new generation of terror groups.

How to Help through Giving

The US teams of World Relief are all working very quickly to build capacity for the sudden expansions of refugee arrivals.
World Help is providing food for refugees in Afghanistan.
Help the Persecuted has a Field Ministry Team moving quickly to find ways to help Afghans in crisis, particularly Christian converts, and developing plans with local Christians to help with: lightning Funds to evacuate to safe locations, temporary housing and living expenses as many are fleeing, and medical expenses for the injured and those who now have no access to critical medications.
Author Alisa Childers shared about a giving opportunity through Conduit Church to help meet physical needs (select Afghanistan Relief Fund in the drop down menu). 
Global Catalytic Ministries is working in Afghanistan (and all over the Middle East) through disciple making, church planting, and leadership development.

If you would like to give to this cause through EPM, you can donate to our persecuted church special fund. 100% of donations will be given to worthy organizations helping persecuted believers, including those in Afghanistan. 

“…the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Timothy 4:17-18)

An Abortion Doctor’s Journey to Become Pro-Life

Dr. Patti Giebink is a former abortion doctor at Planned Parenthood and the author of Unexpected Choice: An Abortion Doctor’s Journey to Pro-Life. She now spends her time helping people find compassion and sensitivity to those affected by abortion.

Dr. Giebink was recently interviewed on Focus on the Family. This was a really wonderful interview:

As an abortion doctor at Planned Parenthood, Dr. Patti Giebink believed she was helping women. Later, she began reading scripture and God gradually changed her heart on the abortion issue. Patti tells the story of her long journey from abortion doctor to pro-life and encourages listeners to share the message of life with compassion.

Here’s an excerpt, where she shares about her spiritual transformation:

I was kind of going down the New Age path, searching. …[a friend] just kind of off-hand said [this church has] a new pastor. You might like this church. I didn’t know anybody in the church. Very small, but they had a new, young pastor, and I was just captivated. And for the first time in my life, I just felt so drawn to this church and to the Bible. It’s like they talk about in the Bible about the scales falling off your eyes. So I started reading the Bible and started to understand it. For about a year and a half, I just intensively studied the Bible. I didn’t have a real job at the time, and I just intensively was studying the Bible with direction and understanding it. At some point—I don’t exactly know when—it became so clear to me that God is the God of life. That’s His character. That’s His heart. There should be no question.

…in 2004, I started working with a very solid pro-life Catholic doctor in our small town. She was unapologetically pro-life. I wasn’t admitting that I had changed because basically all my friends and most of my family were pro-choice. But just listening to her and her courage…she gave me strength to start thinking more of that. And so by 2006, which was the first Vote Yes for Life campaign, was the first time I really stepped out and said, you know, I’ve changed. So that’s from 2001 to 2006. That’s five years of gradual, painful realization.

What a reminder that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. As we continue to advocate for unborn children, may we also pray for those working in the abortion industry, who desperately need to experience the love, truth, and forgiveness of Jesus.

And let me again encourage you to download for free my book Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims—What Do Facts & Common Sense Tell Us?  It will equip you in your conversations and also is a great book to share with those who are prochoice or are on the fence. Someone could ask a friend or family member, “Would you be willing to read this and let me know what you think?” It would also be great for small groups—a leader could assign one or more chapter per week, and within a few months a group could receive a decent pro-life education.

The print version of the book is available from our ministry for an extremely low cost ($1.00 per single copy; 90 cents per copy on orders of 72 or more; 80 cents per copy on orders of 1,000 or more, plus shipping). A single pro-life donor could purchase enough copies for their entire church at a very low price. Our ministry’s goal is just to get this life-saving message out there to readers!

How to Welcome Criticism and Respond to It with Grace

Note from Randy: When I receive critical comments online or in response to my books, and when someone talks to me personally about their disagreements, I ask God to point out to me any truth they may contain. People are certainly correct that I’m very flawed. No one is more aware of this than I am. (When we dialogue, if I see an indication that critics realize they’re also flawed, it gives them credibility.)

I seek to be open-minded, teachable, and open to correction both in my life and writings. That doesn’t mean I’m never defensive, but it does mean I try to recognize and resist defensiveness. I have agreed with many critics and have made a number of changes in my books and articles (and yes, even my life) as a result.

Nevertheless, in some cases, sadly, I’ve found that attempts to explain or dialogue are fruitless. Some people are habitually certain that they are 100% correct in their criticisms and any opinions to the contrary are unthinkable to them. When I attempt to clarify, especially in a public forum but often even in private email exchanges, it just gives them something else to criticize.

So while I truly listen to and value feedback and criticism, I learned long ago there are many critics you can’t please, and shouldn’t try to. Jesus said, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44).

I figure for every inaccurate accusation made against me there’s another accurate one critics don’t even know about. For every person judging me unfairly, there’s another one giving me credit I don’t deserve. God is the Audience of One. We all stand or fall before Him, not each other.

All that I’ve said explains why I love this advice from Scott Sauls about how to receive criticism and respond with grace. There’s a lot of wisdom here.

How to Receive Criticism with Grace

By Scott Sauls

Because everyone is flawed, everyone can also expect criticism from time to time. But these days, a carefully timed, well placed call-out can have the outsized effect of “canceling” someone socially, culturally, professionally, denominationally, or otherwise.

Even when a person’s history, accomplishments, and character are laudable, a critical word can swiftly reduce the person to a single, defining worst moment. A damning narrative doesn’t even have to be true to ruin a person’s good name. It simply needs to be told by someone with an audience. In a flash, that person’s voice is silenced, influence lost, and reputation destroyed.

In today’s court of public opinion, where it’s expected that people may be canceled for holding a unique view on certain issues, we can no longer assume we’ll be judged innocent until proven guilty. Rather, we expect to be judged guilty until proven innocent—and by then, it may be too late.

People who serve in the ministry can sometimes live in this fear of being slandered or canceled. As one colleague who has pastored for nearly 40 years said, “If I get behind a microphone and say just five poorly stated or misunderstood words, it could potentially ruin my entire ministry.”

Making the Most of Criticism

I am not a fan of cancel culture at all. But I’ve come to appreciate how criticism, even the unfair and ill-intended kind, can contribute to my growth and intimacy with Christ. As Tim Keller once reminded me after someone twisted my words in what appeared to be an attempt to discredit and malign me personally—even wrongful criticism can lead us toward intimacy with Christ. This process isn’t fun, but it can also prove fruitful. Consider Tim’s words:

If the criticism comes from someone who doesn’t know you at all (and often this is the case on the internet) it is possible that the criticism is completely unwarranted and profoundly mistaken. I am often pilloried not only for views I do have, but also even more often for views (and motives) that I do not hold at all. When that happens, it is even easier to fall into a smugness and perhaps be tempted to laugh at how mistaken your critics are. “Pathetic . . .” you may be tempted to say. Don’t do it. Even if there is not the slightest kernel of truth in what the critic says, you should not mock them in your thoughts. First, remind yourself of examples of your own mistakes, foolishness, and cluelessness in the past, times in which you really got something wrong. Second, pray for the critic, that he or she grows in grace.

Wrestling with Pigs

A few years back, a man who visited our church called me out on Twitter, pointing out several things that, in his “humble opinion,” were wrong with my sermon. Feeling defensive and irritated, I foolishly retaliated with a criticism of my own, along with a Bible verse to justify. The man then posted five more messages, piling on criticism, taking my words out of context, putting words in my mouth that I did not say, and ascribing motives to me that I did not have. I responded a second time, again in a way that was not helpful.

At this point my longtime friend, encourager, and “big brother” mentor, pastor Scotty Smith, saw the exchange and swiftly sent me a text message: “Scott, my brother, you forgot that you’re not supposed to wrestle with pigs.”

Scotty’s text was not intended as an insult to the man on Twitter. Rather, “Don’t wrestle with pigs” is another way of saying that when people try to pick a fight or seem bent on antagonizing you, it’s usually best not to engage them. Why? Because when we wrestle with pigs, we risk becoming pigheaded ourselves, and everyone ends up getting mud on their faces. Only the pig enjoys this experience.

Looking to Christ

There is another cost to wrestling with pigs. When we strike back in retaliation instead of defusing a situation with a gentle answer, we risk conditioning ourselves to reject all criticism, even the kind that is in fact fair. When this occurs, we are playing the role of victim-martyr, listening to the twisted voice of self-righteousness instead of resting in and responding to the righteousness that is freely ours in Christ.

Secure in Christ’s righteousness, our aim is not ultimately to please other people, nor is it to gain an upper hand on our critics. Rather, our aim is to please Christ with lives of humility, faithfulness, and love. Our aim is to pursue a kind of character and humility that makes it difficult for others to accuse us, not for our own glory but for the glory of Christ. While there are times it’s important for a leader’s reputation to be defended from false, maligning statements (ideally, such a defense would come from fellow leaders in the church), retaliation by slinging more mud is never a good option.

Our starting point in this endeavor, which is also our ending point, is to remember that Christ himself was “canceled” for our sake. This was voluntary on his part. Dying in our place, he shielded us from the penalty of things that gave him the right to cancel us. How marvelous, and how wonderful, that he does not so much as consider doing that. Thanks be to God for his unfathomable grace.

This article is adapted from the newest book by Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our ‘Secret Weapon’ in an Age of Us-Against-Them (Thomas Nelson, 2020), and is used here by permission.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash