Dear sister-in-Christ Jane,
I know we tend to focus on the negative trends in the world, and given what's been happening in the US of A in recent years, it's easy to be pessimistic. However, I just read a book this weekend (it was fairly short, about a 4-hour read) about the courage of Christians in the USSR. It was called "Risen Indeed" and was written in 1983. Christians in that part of the world were routinely sent to Siberian labor camps just for preaching the gospel, often for 10 years or more. Conditions, needless to say, were very harsh and it would have taken only a small confession, in many cases, to get back to one's family and home. Yet, many endured rather than renounce their faith.
I think of this, dear Jane, and then I think of what has happened in that part of the world. 15 mostly free countries where the old Evil Empire used to sit. The Bible being preached freely. Our country may be falling away, but in other places they're moving closer to God.
Maybe this isn't the beginning of the end.
In hopeful prayer and thankful worship, your brother, Ken. |
