Heroic Faith - Hope Amid Global Persecution

Computer Rosenberger many years ago when my wife Grace became doubly PT. She sold the importance of quality prosthetics. He saw the importance of the support team and people that could help her regain her life after losing both legs. She had this vision of creating an organization that would help others do the very same thing while pointing them to Christ and for more than 17 years we been doing just that we purchase supplies. We send equipment and we trained recent teams over to West Africa. We've been working with the country of Ghana. Several clinics over there now and each week more people walk because of Gracie's vision 2011.

We watched the new program outreach to family caregivers.

Drawing on my mail 36+ years as Gracie's caregiver through medical nightmare. I offer insights of learned all of it the hard way to fellow caregivers to help them stay strong and healthy will take care of someone is not you will be part of this go out to standing without.com/giving stage without column/giving. Help us do more steady without reaching the wounded and those careful steady without.com/giving.

We can't hope for the caregiver here. American Rosenberger. This is the program for is a family caregiver. Glad you with this. Hopefully caregiver.com want to shift gears just a little bit. We've been talking on this program today about the three eyes that every caregiver struggles with the loss of independence. The isolation and the loss of identity, and I appreciate your indulgence as I reviewed that their people are joining this audience every day who've never heard any type of program that is targeting a family caregiver and they don't know these things and so thank you for allowing me to review one of the things I also wish to do on this is to draw strength from other people stories from other people's journeys from what's going on around us, I think is very important that we see this we tend to be a little bit supportable to foreclosed off here. Sometimes we focus on her own ideas in her own thoughts and I don't know that there's free healthy force.

There's a big world out there with a lot of things going on in the in the kingdom of God is is globally moving forward in their people dealing with very difficult realities, particularly when it comes to freedom of religion which we have enjoyed for centuries here in the United States, but across the world.

It's not quite the same picture in our last block of the show today I wanted to take a few moments to introduce to you someone who is going after the stories of what's happening around the world. People who are being persecuted for their faith, their Christian faith. Can we draw strength from others who are facing painful things in their lives and yet standing firm and yes we can, and somewhat introduce you to Lelah Gilbert. She is an award-winning, prolific writer. She's written more than 60 books in this book, heroic faith, hope amid global persecution, she collaborated with Harold of Touro with Lieut. Gen. William Boykin and they unpacked so much of what is happening geopolitically and spiritually in Asia and Africa and Middle East and other areas of the world, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to talk about this book why they wrote it.

What they're wanting to communicate because I think as Christians we have got to lift up our eyes and look around to our brothers and sisters around the world and also draw strength from the fact that they are withstanding very difficult things that same faithfulness of God.

That is to stating them could also sustain us.

It is available to us. Are we connected in this are we seeing the global church in that capacity. We work with amputees over in West Africa we been doing this since 2005, and some of our patients. We worked most of the country of Ghana, but some of our patients come as far away as Nigeria and there's so much persecution going on in Africa and Asia and the Middle East all around.

What can we learn from this we learn from our brothers and sisters were facing these things what is what is God asking of us is a Lelah I welcome you to the show.

Thank you so much for take the time and talk a little bit about why you took this book on about what what it meant to you to be able to write this thank you for inviting quite a bit of writing here on persecution of Christians globally and opportunity came up with family research Council because we have been doing that as well is think about United issues. There have been looking out there across the border across the world to think what else is happening in the and what we've really learned just how very gastric. The situation is all around the world.

I I'm talking #318 million Christians are under some level of persecution in the world and were talking about intense persecution. We have problems here. We understand that which I met life and death situation and I share dealing with people that are wounded sometime for the rest of their lives. We have this same thing happening by intentioned by radicals or attacking Christians and in Africa specifically were talking about right now Nigeria probably the worst case scenario, there will even see that with some of the patients that we treat that come from the jury which had these conversations with you because it asked us to come with a prosthetic limb work to Nigeria and there's just really no way that I can safely take our teams in their at this point what has surprised you as you delved into all this and and you you you put your hands on this for a long time as you put all this together in this book. What surprised you through this journey. Following Christ make 80 people continuing to gather for worship. Continuing to pray God is to rejoice in him. It entered kind of energy in the Lord that a lot don't have. We we get, you know, burdened down with our daily lives. Whatever was going on in the case of your listeners with terrible challenging responsibilities, but these people really take their life in their hands to go to church to go to worship and they go and they and sometimes they don't live through it. But they go anyway.

I think that that that joy in the Lord is something that I my frankly wish I had more some time that we can learn from them because they do it in the midst of persecution.

I watch this tune you see these villages being invaded and these pastors being singled out and killed and their families and so forth. And yet the resilience of this it is really extraordinary. What are some of the other things that you see if we step back from Africa little bit. I know that this book features Asia it feast features the Middle East features Africa and all the things going in. You also had Lieut. Gen. Jerry Boykin is a part of this book writing this thing and he's P focuses on most of Asia and that I believe in this book. What are some things that you want the readers to glean from this after they read this book was something he wanted to just hang onto in their own lives as they read this. I think it's really encouraging to think about the fact that I persecution in all those places you've mentioned there are millions of people becoming Christian believers there choosing to follow Christ.

In spite of the persecution and in the faith that because there's hope there promised us so much, not only in life but in the life, the company get during the day and for many of the religions that are the people are in by births over by heredity or that they offer brutal off the control and back, but we have is really something greater and I think what I've learned from it is that the word of the Lord is powerful and it can energize that that are in everything we do and we can use that to get through difficult days.

They can trust him. We can lean on him, but we can also remember that people that are and how sometimes when they were stopped and we are are smiling and saying crisis in the midst of your troubles. This is across the globe and I think it's inspiring and humbling and I'm just grateful to be aware that because a lot of people in America don't even know this is going on.

I listen to sermons from pasture hearing reader in Brownwood Christian church on Birmingham. My son and his family go there and he said something I will put you on the spot close with this will put a little bit on the spot Lelah, but he said something he said. Make no mistake, America is an anomaly to what's going on around the world. It is absolutely everywhere outside of this country where you have persecution and you have these things and we've been insulated and we've gotten a little bit distorted in our thinking. He went on to talk about but he said it is coming to us. Do you see that as well. Do you concur, do you see that persecution starting to filter its way into the United States think it's true. I mean I think were already large organizations and even our government frowning on our value and on the things that we take from the Bible and consider our chosen lifestyle. I think that's true, but I also think that we can be inspired, that there may be a revival in this country to just as the rest of the rest of the world that were going to be tested, and I I think of my grandchildren and I wonder what it's going to be like for them in 20 years so I think there's a good case to be made for what the*that the book is called heroic faith, hope amid global persecution. Lelah Gilbert is with us today. I would encourage you to get a copy of this book today. I'm just feeling the the intensity of us is Christians being aware of what's going on around us we we kind of yawn. When we hear of 300 people being butchered in Nigeria.

Was this just a shame, and then we go back and watch you know all the news we can get on Prince Harry and Megan Markel and we've been so insulated from this we don't realize the horrors that are going around and I think this book will challenge us to not only pray, but to be be aware of what's going on so that we can stand up in model the same faith that that same faith is available to each of us is a Lelah I want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to be with us today. This is an extraordinary book. It's a very sobering book and yet Christ himself said, look, this is what's going to have to they hate me that you will hate you, so be prepared for this and it's time for us to be prepared and legally thank you for helping prepare us okay thank you for inviting me and I God bless you for what you're doing and I appreciate that very much. Lelah Gilbert, heroic faith, hope amid global persecution.

You get it wherever books are sold from Fidelis publishing and please get a copy this and maybe even give it to your pastor, because I think that it's time for pulpits to be speaking about this on a regular basis and I think this will arm a lot of pastors be able to start educating people preparing people. We've got to be strong.

We've got to be tough and for those of us who are dealing with harsh circumstances in our life as caregivers understand that same grid determination in Lelah talk about the joint that they're able to sing and pray and come to Christ in the midst of these circumstances, that same spirit that is facilitating all of that regenerating people's lives through all of that is available to us as well. Our circumstances white male today and thank you so much for this heroic faith, hope amid global persecution. Gilbert the book today in Roseburg. This is caregivers.com.

We thank you for being a part of this program today will see you next