When Christ calls a man, he bids him: “Come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Old man at the gate
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Saint Pishoy was born in 320 AD in Egypt. At the age of twenty, Pishoy went to the wilderness of Scetes and became a monk. Eventually he became the spiritual father of many monks who gathered around him. The Copts believe that Saint Pishoy saw Jesus a number of times in his cell (a small cubicle where he spend 6 days a week.) One day the monks asked him to ask...
D.L. Moody – his encounter the Holy Spirit
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D.L. Moody: “I was crying all the time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York – oh, what a day! – I cannot describe it. I seldom refer to it. It is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say that God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I...
Adoniram Judson – No matter how distant a day…
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Adoniram Judson was the first American missionary to go overseas. He worked in Burma (Myanmar) his entire life. It was his custom to have 7 definite prayer times a day. Once he said: “I never was deeply interested in any object, I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything, but it came. At some time, no matter how distant a day, somehow, in some shape, probably...
In McGee’s words, “I lost everything.”
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Christianity and forgiveness The story began in 2005 in the city of Benton Harbor, Michigan. On that day, Jameel McGee was, in his words, “minding his own business,” when he was stopped by a policeman, Andrew Collins. The encounter did not go well for McGee. Collins accused him of selling drugs and arrested him. At the time, McGee insisted that the charges were “all made up.” As CBS noted, “Of...
40 Men died on ice for Christ
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Governor Agricola of Armenia was confronted with “mutiny.” Forty soldiers refused to offer the sacrifice ordered by emperor Licinius. The forty who stood before him that wintry fourth-century day in Sevaste were fine specimens of manhood who radiated an aura of courage. He was determined to make them see reason. But the soldiers were adamant. They refused to sacrifice. To do so was to...
A church in Damascus, Syria
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Brother Edward a pastor of a church, in Damascus, Syria. His congregants walk down sniper alleys just to worship together. Recently, a few weeks before a conference in Britain, a bomb exploded not far from his church – killing 157 people. The moderator of the conference asked Brother Edward why he doesn’t leave Syria. He answered: “When one country pulls its ambassadors out of another...
What a missed opportunity
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In the 1930s a producer at 20th Century Fox wrote a letter to presidents of several prominent Christian colleges asking them to send him screenwriters. His dream was to produce films with a redemptive subplot. One president wrote back and said he’d sooner send his young people to hell itself than send them to Hollywood. What a missed opportunity. (Mark Batterson – Chase the Lion)