Torch, Fall 2006

Can we look upon the face of the unlovely, maybe even stare into the face of evil, America’s Enemy #1, and pray for the very soul of Osama bin Laden to find the True and Living God? God changed a heart once on the road to Damascus; He can do it again and again in the caves of Afghanistan and the mountains of Pakistan. Would you pray every day for the salvation of Osama bin Laden? Once Upon A Time A Man Searched for Truth Once upon a time, there was a man who searched for truth. He went to many faiths looking for truth, but he found only religion, no relationship with the Living God. He even went to Christians, and the tragedy of history is that he went away disillusioned. He became the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, the second largest religion in the world. Today there are 1 billion Muslims because the Nestorian Christians he approached were terrible examples of who Christ was. History could have been rewritten if he had found even one believer who so shone with the love of Christ that his life was transformed. It wouldn’t have taken a church full or a seminary full of learned theologians — just one believer that was Christ with skin on, one person that so lived his life and faith before men that they saw his good works and glorified the one True God. What Does This Have to Do With Me? When the lost around you look at your life, do they see just another religion or do they see a vital relationship with the Living God? What kind of ambassador are you? Are you Christ with skin on? As the teeming masses of the lost fly past your vision on the TV or plane or subway, do you despair? Are you tempted to say, “I’m only one person; the job is impossible”? Remember, Christ would have died for even just one of those people. He died for you, redeeming you from the slave market of sin and making you His own son or daughter, royalty in his Kingdom. May we never stand before God’s throne responsible for even one person turning away from Christ. May He never find us guilty of causing one person to walk into a Christless eternity because of our poor examples. Use the suffering of life, the September 11s, to re-examine your friendships, your walk, and your witness. On November 12, 2006, Christians everywhere will unite to pray on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Join with us in partnering and praying as if we were in chains ourselves, as Scripture commands us. Fall 2006 / TORCH 21 This article was submitted by Closed Door Ministries (CDM), an international ministry committed to courageous believers who are obeying Scripture in lands of the persecuted church. CDM starts or partners with ministries behind closed doors, believing that nationals reach their own most effectively. The organization then resources ministries and starts businesses alongside to fund their costs, making them sustainable and independent. The president of CDM is a Cedarville alumnus who has lived and worked in the Islamic world for 25 years. For more information, visit www.closeddoorministries.org or call 616-365-1146. Objbj_bo qelpb fk mofplk ^p fc vlr tbob qebfo cbiilt mofplkbop) ^ka qelpb tel ^ob fii*qob^qba ^p fc vlr vlropbisbp tbob prccbofkd + Eb_obtp .070 >CI:GC6I>DC6A 9 6ND; E G6N:G clo qeb Mbopb`rqba @ero`e Klsbj_bo ./) /--3 T