Exodus

 

At a local park in Manila, I saw a piece of the Berlin wall; a gift from the German government. One side is covered with colorful graffiti, the other still the original bland grey: metaphors to the two ideologies that it separated.

It put me in mind of a story from the cold war days of a daring escape from East Germany to the West. A family worked for months gathering materials and making a hot air balloon out of cloth, filled with hot air using cooking gas cylinders mounted on a cage which would carry them from a field (a few miles east of Berlin) in the dead of night to freedom. On the 2nd attempt they were successful; evading capture by the Stasi or secret Police by only a few minutes.

What also struck me though, was whilst most people behind the iron curtain were unhappy with their captivity and longed for freedom, only a small proportion tried to escape, they accepted captivity rather than risking all for freedom.

Childhood sacramental programs end with Confirmation and then there is often little direction towards Spiritual growth in our church. No wonder so many men are taken captive by sin, addictions or boredom.

Most ancient cultures brought their men to maturity through training of the body, mind and Spirit through a process of initiation and fellowship. Like the Spartan ‘agoge’ prepared young men to become warriors, we need to fill this gap or the souls of our men will become flabby, weak, desensitized and deadened.

Earlier this year I embarked on a journey, a 90 day spiritual exercise, developed by the church in America, called Exodus 90. It includes prayer, scripture, moderate ascetic practices, and ideally fellowship with a group of like-minded men within the parish.

These components are not Pharasitical rules and obligations for their own sake but rather tools God uses to deliver, strengthen and equip us for a new life with Him. A new life in the Freedom of the Spirit is both available and wonderful; but you will have to fight for it.

See :- https://exodus90.com/ for details.

The Little-known Origins of a Famous Gospel Song from India

 For more than 20 years Asia Harvest has supported Garo evangelists from northeast India through our Asian Workers’ Fund, as they have taken the Gospel to unreached people groups in their part of the world.

Often, Christians are unaware of the origins of many of the songs we love to sing. In this brief email we would like to share the background of one famous: “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.”

In the hills of northeast India live the Garo tribe, who number more than one million people. For centuries they were feared as a primitive head-hunting tribe, but in the most recent Indian census, over 95 percent of the Garo declared themselves to be Christians. Here is one reason why...

In the late 1800s, many missionaries came to the state of Assam in northeast India to spread the Gospel. They succeeded in converting a man named Nokseng, his wife, and his two children. Nokseng’s faith proved contagious, and many villagers began to accept Jesus.

The village chief, angry at the prospect of losing control, summoned all the villagers. He demanded Nokseng’s family to publicly renounce their faith or face execution.

Moved by the Holy Spirit, Nokseng said: “I have decided to follow Jesus.”

Enraged at his refusal to deny Christ, the chief ordered his archers to shoot the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the ground, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife also.”

But Nokseng replied: “Though no one joins me, still I will follow.”

The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered Nokseng’s wife to be shot with arrows. In a moment she joined her children in death. Now the chief said for the last time: “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.” In the face of death, Nokseng did not waver, and made his final memorable statement:

“The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.”

He was killed like the rest of his family, but a miracle took place. The chief was moved by Nokseng’s faith and he wondered, “Why would Nokseng and his family die for a Man who lived in a far-away land some 2,000 years ago? This God must have remarkable power, and I too want to taste that faith.”

In a spontaneous confession, the chief declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!” When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Later, Nokseng’s words became a beloved song of the Garo Christians, and was later translated into English and sung around the world.