One of the first Bible translators for the Aghem people in Cameroon has been murdered during an attack on his village. He is the second member of the team killed in recent months.

Benjamin Tem was one of the original cohort of trained translation workers on the Aghem Bible translation project. He helped his people to read and discover the life-changing message about Jesus; through his efforts many started studying the Bible in small groups, hearing God speak to them in their own language for the first time.

He died on the night of 20 October, during an attack in the village of Wum.

Wycliffe.org.uk

“May the persecution and imprisonment that I endure glorify the name of Jesus Christ,” were the words spoken by Roksari Kanbari, an Iranian convert to Christianity, moments before she reported to the authorities to begin a one-year prison sentence on 14 October.

The 61-year-old wife and mother spoke in a short video in which she said she had been arrested by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence for “the crime of believing in Jesus Christ”.  

Barnabus Fund

Du was one of China’s millions of migrant workers,leaving his rural town for the city-chasing work and a decent income. But urban life was grim ; Du ended up working in a factory, despondent and lost.

One day he found a pocket sized Bible on a bed in his dormitory. Someone had left it behind. Du picked it up and started to read. “I realised I had been blinded by atheism to see only the physical world and material things ” he said.

My heart was changed and I committed myself to the Lord.

He added ” I may not have great wealth in this life , but I know I have no lack in the one true God.

wordinaction Bible Society winter 2019

In some Central Asian countries the bible is banned. One group of brave Christians was trying to deliver Bibles across the border into another country. The border was highly guarded, so they had to find a place with no watchtowers. They eventually found a gap with a path to cross.

For two months they were able to take Bibles into that country. Then one day they were caught by the border patrol.

“How did you enter the country?” the soldiers asked. “Where are you from? How did you get here?” They pointed to the path.

“No , you cannot have come that way,” they said “That’s a minefield”

For two months they had been walking through a minefield! The guards let them go. “If Allah has protected you we cannot imprison you” they said.

Open Doors March 2019

Polycarp, bishop of the church of in Smyrna.

His martyrdom stands as one of the most well documented events of antiquity.

Polycarp’s martyrdom is [a] historical reality. He died for one reason—his unyielding faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Yet Polycarp’s well-recorded death is only one of many lives that were given to reveal and proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ.

In light of the cruel and torturous deaths of the first and second generation Christians, all theories that Christianity is a fabricated myth, created for the personal gain of its followers, must be rejected.

Even today, many will die for a belief, but none will die for a lie. God allows the deaths of His saints not because He is a helpless or indifferent Lord, but because their deaths are powerful declarations of the free gift of life that is offered to us through the Person of Jesus Christ.

If you have any doubts about the truth of Christ as revealed in the Bible, reexamine the biblical text in light of the wilful deaths of nearly all of its writers, men who were eyewitnesses to Christ’s life and ministry.

Polycarp, like many other Christians to this day, was only able to die for Christ because he lived for Christ. His life was radically transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit—the desires, worries, pains and fears of this world no longer bound him. Polycarp’s life and death provides an inspirational example for all Christians.

He gave his earthly life for Christ, and in the midst of his sacrifice, he gained eternal life.

(Theopedia.com)

When Dr. Graham turned ninety-nine last November, his son Franklin released a video that turned out to be his father’s final public message to the world. Here is my transcription of Dr. Graham’s message:

“I’ve been praying that we might have a spiritual awakening. But I think that becomes possible only as individuals surrender their lives afresh and anew to Christ and live the Christian life wherever you are.

“First, we do everything we can to follow in the steps of Jesus. We’re to live a life in which we love one another, we help one another, we live according to what Jesus lived.

“The Holy Spirit is the one that helps us live that new lifestyle, which is one of love, gentleness, and patience, and all of these things that are the fruit of the Spirit.

“Secondly, you read his word every day-the Bible. I know it’s very difficult, but you need to start somewhere and I suggest you start with the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament, and in the Old Testament start with the very first verse-‘In the beginning, God.’ And study those passages.

“And the third thing: go to your knees and pray, until you and God have become intimate friends. I cannot describe to you the joy and the peace that he gives to you as a result of that daily routine that you have in prayer.”

3 November 2009 will always be a special day. Its the day i gave my life to Jesus Christ. Once an atheist a liar a cheat and an addict i can look back and be thankful that life is no longer like it was 4 years ago and truthfully say life with Christ is an amazing adventure. It is not always easy i go through the same struggles as any man but God never lets me down when i am weak he is my strength he has blessed me with so much and i know there is so much more to come.  MH

“You are so different; I can see that you are a new person,” she told him. When he explained that his life had been transformed by his relationship with Jesus and that she could  experience the same change, she replied, ” I’m  so happy for you, but I do not want to be a Christian.

She was invited to an event on the Logos Hope ship.

She attended the “come as you are” evening and after listening to the message she decided to surrender her life to Christ.

Ship to Shore OM Ships International  2017