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PRAYERGEAR.COM / SPIRITUAL RESOURCE SERVICES
NEWSLETTER
June 15, 2000; Issue 49: Bill of Citizenship in the Kingdom, Part
3
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<>< CONTENTS <><
1. Mini-Reflection
2. Cruising Christian Cyberspace!
3. Prayergear.com product and services updates
4. Let us know!
5. Weekly Reflection: "Bill of Citizenship in the
Kingdom," Part 3 of 4
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Greetings to all of you in the Name of our Lord, the Christ! We
are grateful for the correspondence we received from some of you,
especially the pledges of prayer. We hold you all in our daily
prayers.
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1. ~~ ** Mini-Reflection ** ~~
"God, accept all my suffering, my tiredness, my
humiliations, my tears, my nostalgia, my being hungry, my
suffering of cold, all the bitterness accumulated in my soul...
Dear Lord, have pity on those who persecute and torture us day
and night. Grant them, too, the divine grace of knowing the
sweetness and happiness of Your love." -- Written by a woman
prisoner in Siberia, Vorkuta, U.S.S.R., in the 1960s.
"A Christian prisoner in Cuba was asked to sign a statement
containing charges against fellow Christians that would lead to
their arrest. He said: 'The chain keeps me from signing this.'
The Communist officer protested, 'But you are not in chain!' 'I
am,' said the Christian. 'I am bound by the chain of witnesses
who throughout the centuries gave their lives for Jesus Christ. I
am a link in this chain. I will not break it.'"
"My dear Jesus, my Savior, is so deeply written in my heart,
that I feel confident, that if my heart were to be cut open and
chopped to pieces, the Name of Jesus would be found written on
every piece" -- Ignatius, a student of apostle John
(Devoured by wild animals in Rome, 111 AD.)
"Since Jesus went through everything you're going through
and more, learn to think like Him. Think of your sufferings as a
weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get
your own way. Then you'll be able to live out your days free to
pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you
want." -- Apostle Peter, crucified upside-down in Rome in 65
AD (1 Peter 4:1, 2 from The Message)
"We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in
with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop
passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges
the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God
will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left
feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary, we can't round up
enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into
our lives through the Holy Spirit!" -- Apostle Paul,
martyred in Rome in 65 AD (Romans 5:3-5 from The Message.)
[The above quotes are credited to "Jesus Freaks; Stories of
Those Who Stood for Jesus", by Albury Publishing, 1999]
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2. ~~ ** Cruising Christian Cyberspace! ** ~~
Our web site feature of the week is
www.persecution.com
When I was in high school I subscribed to a newsletter published
by "Jesus to the Communist World," founded in 1967 by
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand. For his work in Christ he was
imprisoned in Communist Romania for 14 years and he and his wife
and son were ransomed for $10,000 in 1965 and eventually brought
to the US. He testified in Washington (Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee) and included the visual evidence of his eighteen
deep wounds garnered through torture. Wurmbrand continued his
reporting of persecuted and imprisoned Christians in Communist
countries with great specifics, including names and places,
through his underground network of contacts. I personally heard
him speak at a church assembly once and wondered what had
happened to him and his work since those high school years. I
found the answer in the book from which I quoted above and in
this wonderfully explicit web site. The Voice of the Martyrs, as
Wurmbrand's mission is now named, still projects a strong voice
on behalf of the Body of Christ all over the world. It continues
in its tradition of being very specific on the nature of general
and specific persecutions, including family, prison, church and
government contacts. Please give it your attention and the
mission your prayers.
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3. ~~ ** Prayergear.com Product and Service Updates ** ~~
The Bibles section of our online Christian products store is
quite comprehensive. Through our distributors we can provide
virtually any kind of Bible in any language along with biblical
guides. You may be familiar with the Tyndale publishers and the
Tyndale Bible translations. William Tyndale boldly violated the
English law (1500s) against owning, translating or even
memorizing Scripture in English. (The only legal Bible was in
Latin, so the "common people" had no access to
Scripture.) While hiding in Belgium, he printed thousands of his
translations of the New Testament and smuggled them into England
in cotton and wheat shipments. Tyndale's whereabouts were
betrayed by a supposed friend and he was imprisoned near Brussels
for a year and a half and, there, still managed to translate part
of the Old Testament! In 1536, his last prayer was for God to
open the English King's eyes, as he was strangled to death and
burned. God fulfilled his prayers within three years when the
King ordered the Tyndale translation to be used in every church.
In 1611 the King James Version was printed, based upon Tyndale's
work. If you compare the two translations, ninety percent of the
words are the same. Hundreds of thousands of Christians
sacrificed their lives throughout the years to make translations
of Scripture available to the people of their nationalities. What
a love of God's Word they had! What love for their countrymen!
They are true servants of Christ and obedient unto death in
promoting the Gospel as Jesus instructed. We are so indebted to
them.
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4. ~~ ** Let us know! ** ~~
The response we received from the first two parts to this month's
Weekly Reflections (Bill of Citizenship) gave us the idea to
combine the first three parts (part 3 published below) into one
document, a scriptural guide to the Kingdom. It is now available
for printing and your use from our web site under the What's
New/Article Index or by clicking Bill of
Citizenship in the Kingdom . Please stay in touch!
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5. ~~ This week's Weekly Reflection follows below ~~
Please forward this newsletter (in its entirety) to whomever you
believe would be interested and help this ministry and us to
grow. "I know I will live to see the Lord's goodness in this
present life." (Psalm 27:13) Yes indeed, eternal life in
Christ doesn't start when we die. It starts the moment we embrace
Him as Lord and Savior and Friend. God bless!
John
John S. Hilkevich, Ph.D.
Spiritual Resource Services: Prayergear.com
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Reflections, point your browser to
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WEEKLY REFLECTIONS
BILL OF CITIZENSHIP IN THE KINGDOM
PART 3 OF 4
[CONTINUED FROM ARTICLE 5]
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