April 8, 2022In his devotional yesterday, George Worthy wrote:
“In the 4th century lived a Christian named Telemachus, in a remote village, tending his garden, and spending much time in prayer. One day, he believed he heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome, so he obeyed, setting out on foot. Some weeks later, weary from his journey, he arrived in Rome about the time of a great festival. The little man followed the crowd surging through the streets into the Colosseum. He saw the gladiators standing before the Emperor and proclaiming, “We who are about to die salute you.” Then Telemachus realized that these men were going to fight to the death for the entertainment of the cheering crowd. So he cried out in a loud voice, “In the name of Christ, Stop!” Yet the games began, so he pushed his way through the crowd, climbed over the wall and dropped onto the floor of the arena. The entire Colosseum watched this tiny figure rushing toward the gladiators, crying, “In the name of Christ, STOP !!!” The gladiators thought it was part of the show and began laughing. But in a few moments, they realized it was not part of the show, and then the crowd became angry. Telemachus stood his ground, insistently pleading with the gladiators to stop their bloody show, when one of them plunged a sword into the saint’s body. He fell to the sand. As he was dying, his last words were, “In the name of Christ, STOP!!!”
Then a strange thing happened. The gladiators stood there looking at the tiny Christian lying there dead. A hush fell over the Colosseum. Way up in the upper rows, a man stood and made his way to the exit. Others followed. In dead silence, one by one, everyone left the Colosseum. The year was 404; and that day saw the last battle to the death between gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Telemachus’ martyrdom initiated an historic ban on gladiator fights by the Roman Emperor Honorius. Never again in the great stadium did men kill each other for the entertainment of the crowd. One tiny man’s bold voice — one voice — reshaped Roman history, and saved thousands of lives, by fearlessly proclaiming the truth in God’s name!”
In recent weeks, millions of people in Ukraine have faced immense challenges, forcing many to flee their homeland. Missionary friends in the U.S. wrote us in February asking for prayer for the parents of Eva (pseudonym), a friend who is from a Russian-speaking family in the Crimea. Here is an update from Eva and her husband:
“My parents are safe! They have been in Grenoble since March 4th. And we are beginning to “get used to” the fact that there is a war going on, even though that sounds… It helps me to feel better and to pick up the threads of my life … My parents stayed with us for 3 months, with a short pause when they tried to go home to Crimea [and had to turn back].
After a turbulent journey marked by impressive solidarity of a magnitude of people inside Ukraine, at its borders and up to here in Grenoble they safely arrived at our place … my parents were among the first Ukrainian refugees arriving in Grenoble, but now a much larger number of people is coming here including people from Evangelical churches and we are trying to welcome them as much as possible. Clearly we won’t manage this without our Lord’s help and we appreciate your prayers very much!”
It is hard to imagine what many people are experiencing in Europe. We know that the Lord loves all the people there and we can pray that His Word will be proclaimed boldly by the believers.
Scripture for the weekend: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion.” Isaiah 52:7-8 (NKJV)
Thought for the weekend: “Every faithful servant of Christ buys up the moments, and even when he is not outwardly engaged he is inwardly active, waiting on the Lord in real heart-exercise.” – Watchman Nee