STE:You're under ARREST

   Two men screamed at you from the foot of your bed...

   "YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!!".

   * Charge: Cult leader or supporter. * Date: December 25, 1990 *
Sentence: Your trial before your arrest determined that forced labor *
with reeducation treatments for a term of 15 years was just.

   It was the holiday season and you had just returned from a seminar
on family life. You were sleeping peacefully until 12:00 a.m., when
four heavily armed men tore into your bedroom and made the arrest.

   As one of the soldiers handcuffed you, the others destroyed your
sermon tapes, tracts, gospel records, religious books, lapel pins and
bibles. How empty your prosperity doctrine and "smile God loves you"
bumper stickers seem now. Clad only in your pajamas, you were rushed
out of the house and thrown into the back of a waiting van. No time for
good-byes, prayers or last words of encouragement. No time to confess
sin if you had let the sun go down on your anger, (Ephesians 4:26).

   How the last moments before being pulled away from your family made
your spirit shudder. You remember all too well the desperate cries of
your 3 year old, "Daddy!", "Daddy!". How the scenes haunt you as you
remember your wife's agony from beatings and violations. Will her faith
stand? Has she been faithful to the Lord? Had she learned to "hate"
you, (Luke 14)?

   Before placing you in your "confinement room", they stripped you of
your clothes, hosed you down with cold water and placed you on an
electric grid. They beat your face with clubs. You lost several teeth
and your eyes were swollen shut. No hope of beholding God's glory with
fleshly eyes now, but only with what is in your heart! They didn't ask
you to renounce Jesus -not yet- the fun of sinful pleasure was all they
were after. Like savage wolves, the taste of blood drove them to a
frenzy and they continued until they were worn out.

   Stripped naked and bleeding, you were locked in a solitary cell that
contained a dampness that rotted your bones. The stench from past
occupants was almost unbearable! Sitting on the wet floor you realize
that behind you now are all the...

   ...church meals ...family devotionals ..."good job" comments from
brothers and sisters

   Yes, gone are all your vacations, days off, material pleasures,
church activities, new clothes, TV...you know all those "needs"!

   Gone, long gone, are those days of opportunity to serve God in
freedom, but satan is sending his demons of despair to keep you
company. The day of testing in the Lord has come!

   In deepest gloom and darkness; despair makes its home in your heart.

   BUT.......AN.......ANGEL APPEARS!!!!

   LIGHT......AND.....HOPE EVERYWHERE!

   The angel says to you... "I bring you a promise from God."

   As you strain to look at him through those swollen eyes you think,
"He has come to set me free, just like Peter!"

   "Praise God I am being rewarded!" Then the angel says, "God is going
to stir others on your behalf. The promise from God is this...

   ..to the same degree you wept, prayed and groaned for those
persecuted when you were free...

   To the same degree you responded to the Holy Spirit in prayer and
sacrificing of your material things for them...

   ..to the same degree you suffered with them in heart and spirit...
..yes, to the same degree God will stir others on your behalf."

   Depending on your prayers in the Spirit, (Hebrews 5:7), how much
your church retreats, quiet times, good works and fellowship were
really of the Holy Spirit, this news from the angel is either a
blessing or a curse! Either a time for rejoicing that you will soon be
set free, or weeping over all your wasted self- effort religious time.

   How little the "people of God" are really the people of God. It just
cannot be, that the so many who claim to be full of the Holy Spirit
really are. There is too much feasting, socializing and self-absorbed
Christianity for these churches and people to be a people of God.

   For a people of God will be giving, praying and doing for those in
prison as if they themselves were in prison. Is that what we see!!! The
answer is an overwhelming "NO!". How different the church people would
be if they were really full of the Holy Spirit.

   Plead and repent today for a weeping heart that comes from God and a
truly Holy Spirit filled selfless Christianity. Most of our leaders and
our own lives don't even come close to responding to the call of the
Spirit and the Word of God. We are "double minded"! (James 1:7-8). We
are always praying "bless me Lord". Repent and be warned, God is indeed
saying to us who are free...

   "I promise to stir..." "Remember those in prison as if you were
their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you
yourselves were suffering." -Hebrews 13:3

   Lay your pride aside and write asking what your church can do; or
order the tape called "Pray"

   "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure
on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the
people of Israel come!" -Amos 6:1

   "At that time I will search Jerusalem. with lamps and punish those
who are complacent..." -Zephaniah 1:12

   For him who has ears that can listen to the Holy Spirit we invite
you to be blessed by repenting.

   "Missionary David Mashih was seriously beaten while preaching at a
religious fair near Udaipure recently. He suffered head and leg wounds
when attacked by about dozen young men. David's attackers threatened to
kill him if he did not stop preaching. When he continued, they beat him
with sticks and stones and left him in a ditch." -GFA

   "Nine GFA-supported native missionaries in Nepal have been sentenced
to one year in prison for preaching the Gospel in their militantly
Buddhist nation." -GFA

   If you intend to let the Holy Spirit move you to repentance in this
area, then in keeping with Galatians 6:6 let us know.

   from Sound Doctrine BBS
