My brother, physically & in the LORD, had sent me a link today to read.I wrote back to him a letter, in response. I then thought that I could send it also to FiveDoves:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I was thinking about this today, while making breakfast.
I was splattered with smoking-hot oil onto my hand.
As I went to rinse off my hand under cold water, I instantly was thinking about this.
What if they were torturing me?
What if they were pouring hot oil on me or dipping me into hot oil?
What if they were mercilessly torturing me simply because I am a Christian?
In tears, I began to pray & confess to the LORD that I could never do it.
He can, but I never could.
So unless he completely empowers me and takes me through that, I would utterly fail.
Only by the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost, could I ever go through that.
Those people in other lands, that are suffering great torments for the name of Jesus, they are real.
I'm a fake, a hypocrite, a narcissistic, shallow, sunny day Christian.
There are people in Nigeria, that are daily being burned alive, for the name of Jesus, and many are children.
There are people in Sudan, that are being buried alive for the name of Jesus.
There was a man in the Middle East, the other day, that had his head slowly sawed off with a kitchen knife.
They did it to him simply because of the name of Jesus.
I was thinking that the devil tried so hard to get the early church to give up because of fear of torment.
He must have known that the early Christians had heard of the deliverances in the book of Daniel.
They had heard of the three Hebrew boys delivered from the flames of the furnace.
They had heard how that Daniel had been delivered from the mouth of the lions.
No doubt they were encouraged & strengthened by knowing and believing that the LORD delivers.
So, it appears that the devil used Nero to do two things:
1st he took some Christians, covered them in pitch, and hung them up high, lighting them for torches
2nd he let wild, famished lions loose on families of Christians
Those Christians, and the others watching, saw that the LORD was not delivering them from the flames & lions.
I'm sure the devil had tried to mess them up, trying to get them to give up trusting in the LORD.
What a moment to doubt, what a moment to fear, knowing they were next!
For many, all this came upon them suddenly.
Had the LORD not intervened, and miraculously empowered them by his Spirit, they never could have gone through that.
What about when the church of Rome took Christian families to torture chambers, during the Inquisition?
Those people had no idea if they would be delivered.
They suffered inhumanely cruel inventions of torment.
On & on it went, torment, fear of more & worse torment, then more torment came.
They were occasionally given rest, not out of mercy, but so that they would live longer, to endure much more torment.
Not only the torment, but seeing & knowing that parts of their bodies were being destroyed beyond use or recognition.
Some had to first watch & hear their loved ones tormented in front of them.
Then only after their loved ones finally succumbed to the effects of torment & died, did the tormentors turn on them.
These were real Christians. They must have been so close to Jesus, or rather he so close to them.
They must have been in fellowship with his sufferings.
What grace for them to have suffered like that.
What joy as they began pass on!
The pain began to diminish, as the sounds of angels & other Christians, who had passed on, began to take its place.
The sorrow, darkness & hideousness of the torture chamber began to fade, as the glories of heaven began to appear.
The faces of their tormentors began to fade, as the faces of a great cloud of witnesses began to appear.
The horrors of being tortured began to fade, as they began to experience joy unspeakable & full of glory.
The wrath of the devil faded, as they suddenly entered into the waiting arms of their blessed Savior.
When I think of these dear saints of God, I'm so ashamed of myself.
They are real, but I know how unreal that I've been.
Hebrews 11:35b and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
12:1 ¶ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.