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That old oak in the forest is one of the noblest works of God. Look at it bursting into full leaf, bearing well its verdant honors, and making a picture worthy of the artist’s rarest skill. What are these dry pieces of wood that strew the ground beneath it? What are these large branches that rot under…

By Todd Starnes Published September 06, 2011 | FoxNews.com A weekend of religious-themed observances at Washington National Cathedral marking the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks will include a Buddhist nun and an Imam, but not an evangelical Christian, leading the head of the…

There are countless examples in our own day of choosing to suffer for the purpose of Colossians 1:24—to fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions by presenting them to others through suffering.16 In late 1995, as I was working on the second edition of this book, a missionary letter describing such…

Suppose he got pneumonia from all this work and exposure. Would that have been “persecution”? Paul did not make a distinction between being beaten by rods or having a boating accident or being cold while traveling between towns. For him any suffering that befell him while serving Christ was part of the…

By Lauren Green Published February 24, 2011 | FoxNews.com As a child in Egypt coming home from Sunday school, Khairy Gurgis remembers being taunted with verbal slurs, slapped or pelted with stones by Muslim kids. His crime: being a Christian. He also recalls vandals painting a big, red cross on the sides…

One of the most moving and incredible accounts of suffering filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions is found in Sergei Kourdakov’s autobiography, The Persecutor. Kourdakov was commissioned by the Russian secret police to raid prayer gatherings and persecute believers with extraordinary brutality.…

During one season of persecution, a frenzied crowd in Smyrna cried out for a search to be made for Polycarp. He had moved to a town just outside the city, and three days before his death he had a dream from which he concluded, “I must needs be burned alive.” So when the search was finally made, instead…

George Otis Jr. shocked many at the second Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization in Manila in 1989 when he asked, “Is our failure to thrive in Muslim countries owing to the absence of martyrs? Can a covert church grow in strength? Does a young church need martyr models?” Fittingly, he concludes his…

I have never been the same since sitting at the feet of Richard Wurmbrand. It was literally at his feet. He took off his shoes and sat in a chair on the slightly raised platform at Grace Baptist Church in south Minneapolis. (I learned later it had to do with damage to his feet during the torture he had…

One day the prison warden came to me and said, "A representative from the German embassy is here to see you. Get dressed and go down to the gate." As I walked towards the gate where visitors waited to see prisoners, the lady from the embassy saw me and shouted, "Today I have good news for you! You are…

Brother Andrew, who heads a ministry called Open Doors and who is most famous for his 1967 book, God’s Smuggler, describes Christ’s call in the mid-1990s like this: There’s not one door in the world closed where you want to witness for Jesus.… Show me a closed door and I will tell you how you can get…

A few weeks ago I was in Cape Town, South Africa, for a gathering of world Christian leaders from 200 countries. One of the speakers was the Anglican archbishop of Jos, Nigeria. His name is Benjamin Kwashi, and he shared a story that was horrific and inspiring at the same time. Jos, this city in Nigeria,…

It was A.D. 111. The governor of Bithynia was a lawful man named, Pliny, the younger. He wanted a peaceful reign, but it was not to be. Christianity was the problem. It was so prevalent in his province that the idol temples were all but abandoned. Christianity was catching on like wildfire. Something…

A Chinese court sentenced the pastor and leaders of a 50,000-member megachurch in northeastern China to prison, rights groups reported Thursday. Pastor Wang Xiaoguang of Linfen Fushan Church in Linfen, northern Shanxi province received three years for “illegal land occupation” and his wife Yang Rongli…

But last of all, we are willing to challenge in the face of scriptural violation. Basically, this happens in a couple of situations. First, we are to challenge our leaders when they ask us to violate some scriptural principle. Last week I told you of Jennifer Keeton who was forced to attend remediation…

SEOUL, South Korea — Robert Park is "unusually serious" about his Christian faith, with an intense devotion to prayer and ending suffering in North Korea, those who know him say. Now, the 28-year-old Korean-American missionary is himself the focus of prayers — and a search by U.S. diplomats — after activists…

Whether he was just stating the obvious or subverting the faithful, the statement by our president caught believers off guard. He said, “Whatever we once were, we’re no longer a Christian nation, at least not just . . .” Now many would agree. We have strayed far from where this country began. A country…

We don't pray to be better Christians, but that we may be the only kind of Christians God means usto be; Christ-like Christians; that is Christians who will bear willingly the cross for God's glory." a note smuggled from teh underground church in Communist Romania Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs: 33 A.D.…

John Wesley was riding his horse down the road when he realized that he hadn’t been insulted in over a week. He immediately stopped and got down on his knees and repented. He thought he was backsliding and had lost his edge. He asked God to sanctify him and bring him back into his presence. As he got…

Fear Not Little Flock “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” - Luke 12:32 (ESV) Opposition, if it is intense and sustained enough, can sap people’s resolve and make their goals seem less important than perhaps they thought in the heady beginning. To say…

Philadelphia—Little Power, Great Endurance7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write . . . 8 ‘I know your works . . . I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they…

Conrad and Felix liked Ulrich. When Ulrich Zwingli led the reformation in Switzerland, his absolute commitment to the authority of scripture attracted Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz to support him. They went a little further than Zwingli went, however. When they read about the early church they noted the…

November 25, 2002 Bonnie entered our lives like a whirlwind. Gary, a friend of Ryan, my oldest son, moved in with us in the winter of 1997. A Brit by birth he spoke with an English accent and a sparkle in his eyes. But that sparkle glistened when he spoke of Bonnie. Finally, we met her. What a smile!…

Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to d eserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how */everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away. Meanwhile, her Mother…

SEOUL, South Korea — A Korean-American missionary believed detained in North Korea walked into the country carrying a Bible, intent on preaching Christianity in a country that bans illegal worship — a bold move that may put him at greater risk of harsh punishment. Determined to bring international attention…