Opening Session.  October 2005.

This week has been the annual missions conference at Moody Bible Insitute, when normal classes are suspended and students instead attend seminars hosted by various field missionaries and representatives of missions agencies.  This year's theme has been "The Church in Chains".

We took the kids to the opening evening session again this year, and then we walked among the various missions agencies' representatives and tables of materials set up in the student center.  We hope to attend some of the seminars with the children next year.

So with this reminder of the suffering of Christians across the world fresh in my heart, I happened across an account of the sufferings of Christians in early Soviet Russia.

Writing in 1934, Oswald J. Smith recounts in a booklet the story of one woman whose pastor husband had been sent into exile for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I wanted to record it here as a historical reminder of the atrocities of persecution and as a beautifully written testimony to God's grace in such a situation.

The story picks up after Mr. Smith had cited numerous witnessness to the famine and starvation of Soviet Russia's citizens.

The suffering of believers is infinitely greater, for it is both physical and spiritual.  Each one is pronounced an "enemy of the people" and is dealt with accordingly!  How many perished in exile?  In prisons?  In martyrdom?  Who can tell?  The figures are staggering.  And the intensity of hatred toward them!  It is one thing to be killed and another to be tortured for years in Siberia or on some island in the Arctic Ocean.

 

How our hearts go out to the wives, the so-called "half-widows", and children of exiled preachers and outspoken Christians!  They are often left utterly penniless with God as their only hope, and, we must add, He surely was with them in their darkest moments.  It is an inspiring thing to read about it.

 

The wife of one exile writes: "My husband was cast in jail for no other crime than his zeal in proclaiming the Gospel. I learned to my great joy of the hour and the train in which he would be taken away.  There they were, surrounded by guards.  My eyes pierced through the crowd and found him.  As I was not permitted to approach him I could only ask God to turn his eyes toward me, and He did.  Weak, exhausted from mistreatment in prison, he recognized me.  Our eyes met--how much they said one to the other!

 

"Cars were filled, doors locked, and the train started on its long journey.  Then unexpectedly, all the horrors that waited for him in exile, as we knew it from others, came upon me. I felt as if my heart were bound to the train by a cord, and, being pulled out, was bleeding.  Oh, the agony of it!  The farther the train went, the more the pain grew, till finally my strength gave out, and I was about to fall.  The limit was reached...

 

"Then Someone approached me, united Himself with me, blessed me, filled my mind, my heart, my soul, my whole being with Himself... Oh, Jesus, Thou has suffered more.  Thy will be done!  This was said voluntarily, because of that new light and strength in my soul.  I knew that this same Jesus went with my beloved husband.

 

"My children were waiting.  'Will Mama bring Daddy home?'  'He is so good always.'  'Why did they take him so cruelly?'  What would have happened in that room that night had Jesus not come to me in that new and glorious way?  Now we are able to pray for our father and ... rest."

May God continue to pour such grace upon those who suffer at the hands of God's enemies, and may His Church flourish with saints who will take up the cross of the Christ and suffer willingly for His sake.

from 1 Peter 3:

13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

 

Façade.  July, 2006.

The picture above depicts a building that we have cause to visit as we go about our business.  Just for fun, try to guess what might await us inside such an upscale edifice in downtown Chicago.

To make it easier, I'll make it a multiple choice.

In this building, we visit:

a.  a library.

b.  an architect.

c.  a fabric retailer.

d.  a dentist.

e.  a music school.

 

If you chose "b.  an architect", you would be wrong, though I'm sure there is at least one of those in this building.  No, the correct answer is "d.  a dentist".

Stay tuned for more Metro Mysteries.  It's where life meets (Dut, Dut, Duhhhhh)... The Surreal.

[editor's note.:  using your mouse, click and highlight the barely visible text, and the answers will mysteriously appear.]

from Mark 13:

1 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!”