More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Nik Ripken
Read between
January 22 - March 7, 2023
For us, persecution is like the sun coming up in the east.
what if persecution is the normal, expected situation for a believer? And what if the persecution is, in fact, soil in which faith can grow? What if persecution can be, in fact, good soil?
It became clear to me in an instant why and how the Christian faith had survived and often thrived under decades of communist oppression in the Soviet Union. I also understood what had enabled so many Russian believers to remain strong and faithful.
“You just have to go.” You don’t have to come back. You just have to go.
“his very last message to the family was that we should all read and forever remember Revelation 2:10—here’s what I require of you, that you should ‘be faithful unto death.’”
I must obey God.
‘If I am in prison and I hear that my wife and my children have been hung to death rather than deny
Jesus, I will be the most proud man in that prison!’”
a father should value his faith over his family.
If our family has to starve for Jesus, then let us do so with joy.’”
I imagined Tavian arriving in heaven one day, being met by a choir of angels singing one of the HeartSongs that he had composed while in prison for Jesus’ sake.
The Bible instructs us to pray for our spiritually-oppressed brothers and sisters. Sometimes, it is not helpful or wise to go beyond that instruction and share their stories.
‘Sir, you are right. You can kill my husband. You can kill me. I know that you can even kill our son. But nothing you can do will separate us from the love that is in Jesus Christ!’”
“God will have to provide, little ones.”
By 1966, he had acquired two illegal Bibles in his national language. This gave him the idea to start a underground center for smuggled materials in his home. Over the next two decades, he translated over twenty Christian books. The authors of those books are well-known: Corrie ten Boom, David Wilkerson, Billy Graham. Stoyan organized an underground publishing network. The details of his work and the methods used by his organization to print and distribute thousands of books throughout Eastern Europe still remained a secret when I met him in the summer of 1998.
He was convinced that people flocked to Christ in greater numbers during difficult days of persecution because that’s when they could recognize how God sustains and strengthens His followers through times of trouble.
the believer’s greatest reservoir of faith and resistance in the face of persecution. And he explained that, surprisingly, freedom had brought a new set of challenges that had blurred spiritual battle lines.
“I thank God and I take great joy in knowing that I was suffering in prison in my country, so that you, Nik, could be free to share Jesus in Kentucky.”
joy
“Don’t ever give up in freedom what we would never have given up in persecution! That is our witness to the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!”
Driven by that question, my journey continued. 24
I don’t think that He wants to reward us when our unnecessary actions make that more difficult for Him to do.”
The network of house churches did not have, or want, church buildings to gather in, or sanctuaries with rows of pews where people could sit and worship on Sunday mornings. But they certainly knew what it meant to love and look after the concerns and needs of their members.
there was a huge church-planting movement within China’s prisons!
Even the re-arrest and re-imprisonment of the most influential leaders, like Pastor Chang, failed to quench the quickening flames of faith.
He would encourage believers in their faith, while trusting the Lord and local bodies of Christ for His provision.
He had nothing tangible to show for all of his labor. Even so, he seemed more content, more filled with a spirit of peace, and more aware of the joy of living than anyone I had ever met.
But humor is a powerful indicator of psychological health.
