As the Taliban regains power and radical Islam grips the nation of Afghanistan again for the first time in 20 years, a flood of emotion has filled my heart. I don't know anyone over there personally, though I am loosely connected with workers in several missions organizations in the Middle East and Central Asia. Despite… Read More »

I've been thinking a lot about the 21 Egyptian Christians killed by ISIS in Libya for their faith earlier this week. The media has not only given us glimpse into this horrific situation, but has also put before the world a very potent witness of the worth of Jesus. From the moment I heard about… Read More »

The blogosphere and social media world have recently been filled with news of atrocities taking place all over the Middle East (some of which are just rumors spread by social media). One of the affected cities is Mosul, Iraq where a Muslim group, ISIS, has taken control. Christians have been driven from their homes and… Read More »

Acts 17:1-4 records a portion of Paul the Apostle's second missionary journey where he traveled to Thessalonica, a large Roman city in ancient Macedonia. While there, Paul preached in the synagogue and laid the foundations of the Thessalonian church. Though he was forced to leave after only three weeks because of violence from envious Jews,… Read More »

Because of the sinful nature of humans and the curse of death in this present evil age, we often find ourselves in trying situations. We all know that pressure due to family, work, church life, health, or our faith in Jesus is not an uncommon experience. What we do not so quickly remember, however, is… Read More »

The church and the state have become increasingly entangled since Constantine's rise to power in Europe in the early 4th century. Theologians call this time the Constantinian shift where Christianity was adopted as the state religion of the Roman Empire. As Christianity was legalized, persecution virtually stopped. The church began to acquire power, wealth, and… Read More »

From about age 9 until my early teen years I remember looking forward to camping in the woods of New England with my church's youth group. We would pack our provisions and drive several hours to set up our camp with the basics - shelter, food, and fire. We learned essential wilderness survival skills, knots,… Read More »

Earlier I was reading this article on Voice of the Martyr’s persecution.com, a website dedicated to assisting the worldwide persecuted church. The article briefly described how a 30-year old Indian Christian was deported from the Maldives simply for possessing a Bible in his home. Upon reading more articles from the site, I was struck afresh… Read More »