I recently served as a leader at a Christian retreat for teenagers. Over the weekend, we were asked to take off our watches and shut off our phones so that we could focus our attention on what God had for us over that three-day period. Though it wasn’t as easy to do as I thought it would be, I was glad for the brief reprieve.

The news this morning reported the death toll from the most recent attack in Baghdad has risen to 292 people. On July 2, ISIS targeted a Shia Muslim area during the Islamic month of Ramadan. An explosive-laden truck blew up outside a crowded shopping center.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9 (ESV)

“But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:9 (ESV)

“When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” Psalm 91:15

“For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:10 (ESV)

Those who work with persecuted Christians realize we have a lot to learn from them. One of the lessons recently impressed on my mind by the underground church in China is their tenacity to carry out the task of global evangelism. At a recent gathering of mission leaders, mission teachers, and missionaries I heard a presentation by a Korean missionary who works with the underground church in China to prepare missionaries who will be sent out by the Chinese underground church. His main role is to help train Chinese missionaries who will be sent cross-culturally within China and also into neighboring countries in Asia and beyond. He said that there is no shortage of candidates from the underground churches desiring to go out as missionaries.

NIGERIA: ROSE

Having experienced the presence and forgiveness of God prepares a person to forgive others and be a gracious influence in their lives. Gracia Burnham, along with her husband Martin, were abducted and held by Marxist guerillas in the Philippines. They were in captivity for a year. Martin lost his life in a rescue attempt by government forces. Gracia described Martin’s attitude and spirit during those days in the following terms:

A part of Christian eschatology is the conviction and belief that evil will intensify in the last days (Cullmann, “Eschatology and Mission in the New Testament,” Theology and the Christian Mission, 46). This began at the Day of Pentecost when the church was born and continues until today. There have been times of relative peace and times of the intense manifestation of evil, but there is little doubt in the minds of many that the situation in the world is not getting better. It seems especially intense at the moment.