The morning news was sad today:
Africa
"Eritea: Two Christians Tortured To Death" ("Compass," October 18, 2006) Asmara, Eritrea - Eritrean security police tortured two Christians to death yesterday, two days after arresting them for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara. The deaths came just after officials detained a U.S. citizen and re-imprisoned a popular Christian singer who was hospitalized as a result of spending 29 months in a metal shipping container. Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala, eyewitnesses told Compass. The military buried the two unmarried men yesterday in the southern Eritrean town near the Ethiopian border, where they had been performing their military service. Andegergesh and Firemichel were arrested on Sunday (October 15), along with 10 other Christians, while attending a worship service in the home of Teklezgi Asgerdom. The three women and seven men, all members of the evangelical Rema Church, were kept in military confinement, along with Andegergesh and Firemichel, and subjected to “furious mistreatment,” one source said. The fate of the 10 other Christians remains unknown."
Kind of puts the Local Church issue in perspective, doesn't it?
Some of you have asked me for more information on this issue, so here it is (thanks to Anton and Janet at Apologetics Index):
Is the Local Church a cult of Christianity?
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/378-lc-cult
Why the Local Church was included in the Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/379-encyclopedia
Friend of the court or friend of the cult?
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/380-cultfriend
CRI’s statement explaining its Friend of the Court brief
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/377-cri-statement
3 Comments:
There is a good possibility I will be serving these Christians who were tortured to death for all of eternity. They have suffered much more for the Lord than I. It really makes me stop and think about what it truly means to be a leader and a hero in God's kingdom.
I am sure many of the Christian "leaders" here on earth will be serving people for all of eternity in heaven, who were unknown here on earth.
Eternity is sure a long time and worth the suffering in this present world for our lives to be given back to us as a prize in Christ forever.
When we get to heaven, we may be telling each other, "I never knew you," with more than one meaning when we are known and seen the way Jesus sees us forever and ever. He does not judge like man, but He judges the motives of the heart and exalts the humble and broken hearted. I pray that God will break my heart (desires, ambitions, need for praise and approval) more for His glory, so there will be less of me and a whole lot more of Him when people view my life.
Love your comments, Dwayna. Thanks so much.
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