Christian Martyrs Song

I’m reading Bro. Yun’s Book: “Living Water” which I highly recommend.
Bro. Yun is a Chinese preacher and evangelist whose life had been marked with both persecution and miracles through his intense desire to reach China with the Gospel.

I put below one of the powerful songs they sing in their services.
It’s called China's Christian Martyrs by Paul Hattaway.

Read/meditate on this song and compare it to the songs we sing in our churches today, you may weep and repent as I did while I was reading it…. ~Igy

"Christian Martyrs"

Chorus:
To be a martyr for the Lord, to be a martyr for the Lord

I am willing to die gloriously for the Lord

Those apostles who loved the Lord to the end

Willingly followed the Lord down the path of suffering

John was exiled to the lonely isle of Patmos

Stephen was stoned to death by an angry crowd

Matthew was stabbed to death in Persia by a mob

Mark died as horses pulled his two legs apart

Doctor Luke was cruelly hanged

Peter, Philip and Simon were crucified on a cross

bartholoew was skinned alive by the heathen

Thomas died in India as five horses pulled his body apart

The apostle James was beheaded by King Herod

Little James was cut in half by a sharp saw

James the brother of the Lord was stoned to death

Judas was tied to a pillar and shot by arrows

Matthias had his head cut off in Jerusalem

Paul was a martyr under Emperor Nero

I am willing to take up the cross and go forward

To follow the apostles down the road to sacrifice

That tens of thousands of precious souls can be saved

I am willing to leave all and be a martyr for the Lord.

Unconverted Ministers

I'm reading the book "America's Great Revivals" The first chapter is going over the Great Awakening of 1734.God raised up and used some awesome men of God –Jonathan Edward, George Whitefield.

It was reported that Whitefield said that many ministers were getting converted. While at a dinner with fellow ministers in Stamford, Connecticut, Whitefield spoke vigorously against the practice of sending the unconverted persons to ministry. Two ministers, with tears in their eyes publicly confessed they laid hands young men without so much as asking whether they were born again or not.

After dinner one minister called Whitefield aside speaking with difficulty through his tears, he said, "I have been a scholar and have preached for a long time. But I believe I have never felt the power of them in my own soul.

This got me thinking, if that was going on then in the 1700's think of how many uncovered we have behind pulpits today. I mean, think about all the unbiblical teaching that is being spewed from pulpits.

We need more men and women like Whitefield to stand up and preach the piercing word of God.
Whitefield is quoted as saying "I love those who thunder out the Word, The Christian world is in a dead sleep. Nothing but loud voice can awaken them out of it." – To that I say Amen!

~Igy

What Is Genuine Revival??

Recently I read an article where Lee Grady, Editor of Charisma magazine, interviewed Ruth Ruibal. She is the wife of a martyred Christian man named Julio Ruibal. God used Ruibal to spark revival in Colombia, South America. He was martyred in 1995. It’s so sad so many of us Christians are not even aware of the persecution that is happening in the world around us today. 1995 is not that long ago. And I will shamefully admit I never heard of this man before this article.

Julio Ruibal, was a humble Bolivian preacher known in South America as “the apostle of the Andes.” Julio and his wife, Ruth, planted a church and were mobilizing unity among churches in order to stop the violent drug cartels that controlled that city.

The article went on to say how God used Julio in the city of La Paz, Bolivia. And a spiritual outbreak spread in the predominantly Catholic country, Ruibal found himself in a meeting with Bolivia’s president, Hugo Bánzer Suárez. The president and his wife prayed with Julio and then gave him an open door to evangelize the entire country—giving him the use of stadiums and asking mayors to declare a holiday when the young evangelist arrived in their cities to preach.

During the next several years, hundreds of thousands of people were converted to Christ. Those who study the history of missions there draw a clear line between the days “before Ruibal” and “after Ruibal.” Today the evangelical population of Bolivia has grown to more than 11 percent.

Ruth Ruibal is still doing ministry there in Columbia, and she speaks all over the world about the need for genuine revival and its transforming power.

I want to point out one question and answer from this interview. I think we all would agree that we need revival in America. We need a renewal and awakening, we need a move of God. We as a nation are backslid and it’s not getting any better.

So just what is Revival?—Is it gold dust? Is it feathers appearing on the platform? Is it laughing uncontrollably? Is it seeing angels and speaking to dead saints? Come on now! We need to ask ourselves these questions. We have a lot of hype but just what is Revival?

Lee Grady asked Julio Ruibal this question. Remember, she is a women who witnessed a great move of God in Colombia, South America. Look how she answered it. I totally agree with her answer.

**-Share your thoughts….Leave a comment.
Peace.
~Igy


Lee Grady asked Julia: “What is genuine revival? And what would you say to the American church today as we seek to pursue revival?”—

Here was Julia Ruibal’s reply:

Ruibal: "We desperately need a revival today in the United States. I think most of us are in agreement with that. However, historical revivals start with repentance. We need to move beyond the generic needs of the church and become more personally involved in seeking His face. Once we see His holiness, we can truly repent."

"We live in a day where much of the world has filtered into the church. Paul tells us that the last days are dangerous days, but it is not the same kind of danger as terrorism. The danger of the last days is man’s own heart, which is selfish, self-loving, self-gratifying, independent and disobedient. Man’s heart loves the Lord yet loves pleasure more. The last day people are a religious people (you can find them in church and Christian meetings!), but they deny the power to live the true Christian life."

"The Word tells us that holiness is not an option. I am not referring to a list of dos and don’ts, but of the heart. When we come into His presence and see more of His holiness, we realize how unworthy and sinful we are and yet how great His love is. When we experience deep repentance, we can know His healing power—first to the inner man, then to the outer man."

"We need to learn to seek Him for Himself and not what He can give us. Once we have our priorities right, once we really come to our knees in repentance, I do believe a revival will come and with signs and wonders that will follow. And the revival will affect all of society and heal our land as well. "

"True revival would change the direction of our nation. If we don’t have such a revival, I am afraid we are on our way to destruction. May God bless America and have mercy on her."

Undeniable Truth by Paul Washer

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Math 6:21)

Ever so often in Scripture, we are confronted by certain statements
that open our hearts and reveal the truth about our
character and desires. The verse above is one of those statements.
Regardless of how often or forcefully we declare that
God and His Kingdom are our greatest desire, the true desire
of our life can be revealed by smallest and simplest of questions:
Where is our heart? What occupies our thoughts above
all other things? What do we long for? Can we say in truth
that God and His Kingdom are our passion?
What if a stranger who did not know of our Christian confession
watched our lives and read our thoughts? Would he be
convinced that God and His Kingdom are our two greatest
priorities? Would he hear almost constant conversation about
the mercies of God and the advancement of His Kingdom?

Would he hear us pray with passion for the unevangelized
nations? Would he see us passing a sleepless night because
God’s Name is not highly esteemed among all peoples,
because His Kingdom has not covered the entire earth, or
because His will is not obeyed or even known by the great
majority of men?

If most were honest, we would be forced to admit that he
would hear us speaking about houses and lands, cars and
toys, recreations and hobbies. He would see us obsessed with
worldly worries, wants, and pleasures. He would hear very
little about God in our daily conversation, would see little
activity directed toward the advancement of the Kingdom,
and would think it preposterous for us to claimed that our
treasure is in heaven!




-Paul Washer
http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/

Do We Go To Church Or Are We The Church?

Many times I stop and I think about "church life" and the state of the "church." Many times I ask myself these questions: "what are we doing?" – "What’s this all about?" "Just what is this thing called the church?" Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Well I do. You see, we have thousands of church buildings throughout our country, most of which are empty during the week. Then they fill up once or sometime twice on Sunday’s and possibly once more in the middle of the week, while people in the surrounding neighborhoods live and die without God and when they die they are cast unto an eternal Hell! And I ask the question, "What in the world are we doing?"

What makes us think that going to a building, singing a few songs, listening to somebody preach and giving some money is going to change the world or fulfill the Great Commission or impact the community or threaten the kingdom of darkness?—Even if we sing at the top of our lungs, even if we raise our hands and stomp our feet and run aisles, even if the pastor preaches gets load and preaches until his throat is hoarse—We still must ask ourselves, "How is this affecting the world?" "What impact is this having to those lost souls out in the world?" No wonder the devil pays so little attention to our in house antics. He don’t mind it at all when we swing from the chandlers or roll around on the carpet or laugh like a hyena. As long as we keep it within the four walls the devil is smiling.

Our present state is a very poor representation of the glorious Church for which Jesus died. We hardly demonstrate the power and majesty associated with being His body, the "fullness of Him who fills everything in every way" (Eph 1:23) Our corporate potential in Jesus is mighty—We are called to be His fullness on the earth—yet our realization of this potential is meager.

The simple act of moving from a big meeting in a church "building" into a small meeting in a "home" will not change us in the least. The physical location or structure in which we meet is not the primary issue. The shift in our mentality is the primary issue. Do we go to church or are we the Church? Do we go to a building to watch a religious performance—or, If we are more spiritual, to participate in a religious service—or are we salt and light in our communities, fishers of lost men and women, witnesses for Jesus on a divine mission to rescue the doom and the damned? Which is it?

If we go to a building, let it be to meet with the Lord in intimacy and power; to be stirred to action and encouraged in our faith, and to strengthen our common bond in Jesus. If we go to a building, let it be to magnify and praise the Lord, then to go into our neighborhoods and workplaces and schools and the streets to continue to magnify and praise Him and make Him known there!

This will require a major change in most of our spiritual thinking. This will change our spiritual orientation, this will force us out of just merely attending meetings in "church" buildings once or twice a week and into building relationships as "the Church" in homes and in neighborhoods, in jail houses and anywhere lost souls are at. This change of spiritual orientation will force us to be the "Church" wherever we live! Amen! Let’s do it!

-Igy

Shift Blame - Scape Goats- & The devil made me do it!!

We live in a society of blame shifters. It is acceptable to find scapegoats such as parents, teachers, principles, or judges and blame them for "making us go bad" in different areas of our lives. It is the politically correct thing to do on these pop psychology talk shows, on political commentary programs, in church Sunday classes and from our pulpits.

But God has never been baffled by our rambling blame sessions or blanket excuses, "The devil made me do it!" The devil didn't make you do anything; he made a suggestion and you made the thought a deed.

God knows all and sees all and He remembers with perfection. Only the blood of the Lamb (JESUS) can cause God to forget. There is only ONE Advocate, the risen Christ; but He defends only humble, blood-washed members of His body. He leaves the proud to their own devices.

The bad news is we must admit and accept our guilt and take personal responsibility as sinners before we can benefit from the good news. The good news is that the sacrificed Lamb of God has already paid the penalty for us and He has taken away our sin and guilt once and for all. God's cure for sin comes only through the door of the blood of the Lamb, the cross of Christ and total death to self associated with true repentance from sin. -Blame shift and political correctness and psycho-babble will not cut it, neither will any type of shift blame!

Our nation has deteriorated to its present condition because we have had powerless pulpits for way too long. Pulpiteers that just want to speak "feel-good" messages and entertain the masses. We need to get back to true Word preaching where there is conviction preached with anointing and lifestyles to match, every evil influence must yield to the Divine force of righteousness.

~Igy

Holiness- Why the Bad Rap?

Why is it that "holiness" gets a bad rap?—Why is it when you mention "holiness" so many people in the Church look strange at you? I feel that the "Church" has slipped into a "let’s fit in with the world" mind set. We have stained garments and no one seems to notice. We go along with what ever comes our way, as long as it isn’t "way out there", so we can fit in, not realizing that we are becoming what we are trying to reach, rather than reaching them with Jesus!!

I remember years ago, in the Church I was attending at that time, I was ushering and my partner usher was an "elder" in this particular church. *-Remember I said an elder, not a new Christian, this man was a leader. Before service we would share and talk with one another, well he had mentioned a movie he and his wife had seen over the week-end. It was a very popular movie at that time. You know, the one where we just have to go and see it. (not) But anyway, he was so excited about this movie, and sharing with everyone about it. Well, I knew there was some nudity in the movie. Prior to that week-end I had done some research on this particular movie. I Just wanted to see what all the excitement was about. (On-line, there are Christian sites that break down the movies; they list all the pro’s and con’s from a Biblical perspective…imagine that. A good one is http://www.pluggedinonline.com/ ) So I mentioned to the this "elder" usher guy, "Wasn’t there nudity in this movie?"—His reply was "Yeah- but it wasn’t that bad". "It wasn’t that bad?". His reply got me wondering how much nudity would be too bad? Soft porn ok..but hard-core porn is a no-no? – I mean really, since when is a little sin OK? – How much leaven dose it take to leaven the whole batch? Jesus answered it "just a little" How much arsenic dose it take to kill you?..just a little –Don’t you ever forget it.


You see, I’m talking about living with convictions. Living to please Jesus! Living in obedience. Living like the Bible says. Just in case some may have forgotten the bible still says: "Friendship with the world is hatred toward God!" (James 4:4) We are people who are to be different! Were to be separate. I’m not giving God’s money (its all His) to some secular God mocking Hollywood movie…No way! I’m not interested in cozening up to the sin-pleasure-seeking world. Were to be different! To be honest, most movies are a stench to God. Filled with worldliness and compromise, violence, sex & sexual innuendoes. I’m not interested in that mess!! You don’t reach the world by being like them, you reach them by them by living the Gospel in front of them. They need to see Jesus living in you!

So many times I hear: "I just need to get away from all the stress and go unwind and the movies help me." – I wonder sometimes in our "un-winding" how we must be like sitting ducks for the devil to fill us up with his trash.

Also, let me say this: "Living by the Bible and serving Jesus and abstaining from the impurities of this world is not legalism!" So many times I hear people get all huffy and make comments about living holy and set apart to Jesus, they say that it is a "religious spirit" or that it is being a "legalist." Please listen, Living HOLY and living set-apart for JESUS is NOT legalism. I’d rather please the Lord with my lifestyle than fall into a loosy-goosy –greasy grace lifestyle any day. So, all you reading this who feel like it this is legalism – or a religious spirit, I plead with you to read your Bible. Quit listening to the contemporaries- Quit listening to the luke-warm people pleasing speakers. Ask God to reveal truth. It’s the truth that will set us free!! I’m not interested in being the "happening dude" or the guy who’s "free" to live anyway he wants. – Yes, I want freedom but I want freedom from the bondage of the flesh (that old man- the sin nature). But I am a "Bond-slave" to Christ! I choose to beat my body and make it subject to the Spirit of God. I choose to "count the cost"! I am not my own I am bought with a price. My life my body is not my own. I choose to say No to ungodliness! I say NO to compromise!- I say NO to luke-warm living and thinking its OK because everyone else is doing it. Everyone my be on their way to Hell! I choose to follow JESUS. And if following Jesus makes me a legalist- so be it. I’ll take that over a compromising walk wit the devil any day of the week… Amen!!

Now let’s look at some definitions of "Holiness". Holiness means to be "spiritually pure" and "set apart for God’s purposes." Holiness carries the thought of being separate from the ungodly ways of the world and set apart for love, service, and worship toward God.
Were to be Christ-like. Jesus is holy.

There are many-many scriptures that speak to us on being holy and set apart to God.
Below are listed just a few:

Ephesians 1:3-4 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

Paul also said:" Imitate me just as I imitate Christ." (1 cor 11:1)

In 1 Peter 1:15-16 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Titus 2:11-12 11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

1 Cor. 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

1 John 2: 15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

I choose to follow the word of God and live "Holy". If that means I will be labeled "self- righteous" a "legalist" –"holier than thou"- a "fanatic" or what ever then that’s just the way it will have to be.

I want to end this article with a short quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church". I totally agree.

Let’s purpose to not let the world influence us. Let's purpose to seek God and have His heart and attitude. Lets turn from compromising and lets make a determined effort to please the Lord to remind ourselves that this world is not our home and that are plan on earth is to do His will! Amen?…

-Igy

http://math10-28.blogspot.com/

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