Fourth Man in the Furnace
– From ‘The Voice of the Martyrs'” http://www.persecution.com/
Twenty-seven-year-old evangelist “Sajid Masih” climbed aboard the bus that would take him to his next mission. He was heading into hostile territory, a region of Pakistan dominated by Islamic extremists.
As the bus carried him toward a dangerous and uncertain future, Sajid reflected on a dream he had experienced before completing Bible school. In the dream, he saw one of Pakistans prominent cities in the future, with a large, open door at the city entrance. Sajid said he believed the dream was God’s way of telling him He would take him in a new direction and open doors for sharing the gospel in Pakistani cities.
In the decade following that dream, Sajid led many Pakistani’s to Christ. Most that he met were open to the gospel, and some experienced miraculous healings.
Now, as he headed toward a new adventure, Sajid struck up a conversation with several passengers seated nearby and began to tell them about Jesus. They were interested to hear more, but a bearded man sitting behind Sajid was incensed by what he heard and began to argue with him.
“You Christians do not consider anything about our prophet, so why should we listen to you talk about your Bible?” the man demanded.
Calmly and respectfully, Sajid replied, “Our Bible has no reference about your prophet.”
“The prophet was written in your Bible,” the man continued, “but you people would not accept it so you changed the words to your own.” Sajid did not respond. He knew he could not reason with someone so angry.
The long bus ride came to and end shortly after sunset. After Sajid got off the bus, a dozen men gathered around him. They quickly overpowered Sajid, placed a blindfold over his eyes and shoved him into the back seat of a car. Twenty-five minutes later, they arrived at a compound and took him into a room for questioning.
“Who are you?” they demanded. “Are you a preacher? Are you converting Muslims? Which organization do you belong to?”
Sajid fell silent with fear, but his persecutors threatened to kill him if he didn’t respond to their questions. “I am telling you the truth,” Sajid explained, “I am God’s preacher.”
“If you want to spare your life, you must deny your faith and become a Muslim,” his captors warned. “If you don’t do as we say, we will torture you and within 30 minutes your passion for Christianity will disappear.”
“I am ready for whatever you choose to do to me,” Sajid replied. “I am prepared to die for Jesus, and I will not lose my passion for him no matter what you do to me.“
Sajid’s kidnappers took him outside, tied his hands behind his back and forced him to stand on a block of ice with his back against a tree. They tied a rope around his chest and legs securing him to the tree. After four hours on the block of ice, Sajid’s feet began to suffer from frostbite. He could endure the ice no longer and cried out to Jesus for help. “Suddenly, I saw a vision of a radiant angel appearing in front of me,” Sajid said.
Sajid’s pain eased and he regained his strength. He was inspired to sing several worship songs, despite the possible consequences of annoying his persecutors. Then he fell unconscious. When he awoke at 3 am, he realized he had been dumped in a drainage ditch at the side of the road. His wallet and a Hebrew language book he had been carrying were lying beside him.
A passerby took Sajid to a local hotel where he recovered for three days. He contacted his brother who brought him home for more rest and medical treatment.
He says although his trial was difficult, he felt Jesus was very close to him. “When we suffer and face trouble, Jesus comes very close to us”, he said. Just as a “fourth man” appeared with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Jesus was present with Sajid in the midst of his suffering.
When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were delivered from the fiery furnace, King Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God” (Daniel 3:28)
Like the men in Daniel, Sajid yielded his body to torture in order to worship no god except their own God. His witness and courageous faith inspire us. We thank God for his deliverance from Pakistan’s fiery furnace and pray that the Lord will continue to use him mightily.
Olympians and Christians
I was watching the Olympics and it wasn’t long before I heard one of the personal stories that the games have become known for over the years. A story of sacrifice and suffering characterizes the very different life of an Olympian.
I then saw a commercial in which various different athletes declared small sacrifices they have made: “I haven’t watched TV since last summer,” ” I haven’t had dessert in a year,” “I missed my school prom,” etc.
As I thought about these sacrifices, I reflected on the Christian life and how, in many ways, the life of an aspiring Olympian is similar. Christian men sacrifice daily for their wives, family and for God. They don’t do what they want to do. They stand out. They are different from everyone else and that is difficult. It takes strength, courage, and most of all, faith!
I was told recently about a young relative who wears a purity ring. The ring reminds him that he is saving himself for marriage. So, when he is tempted, when he has desires, he can stop and realize that there is something better in store for him. I’m sure this faith in God’s promises strengthens him. In many ways this ring is a reminder of the medal (or the crown as the Bible calls it) that we ought to strive for in the race of our lives.
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:14 (NIV)
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. ” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“If we do anything to further the kingdom of God, we may expect to find what Christ found on that road – abuse, indifference, injustice, misunderstanding, trouble of some kind. Take it. Why not? To that you were called. In Latin America someone who feels sorry for himself is said to look like a donkey in a downpour. If we think of the glorious fact that we are on the same path with Jesus, we might see a rainbow. ” – Elisabeth Elliot
“To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.” – John Henry Newman
“You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” – 1 Corinthians 6:20
“If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love. ” – Amy Carmichael
You see our sacrifices are nothing, as Paul said so well in Philippians 3:8: “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
May we gain the prize, Christ!!
Amen!
I Am Second
A friend introduced me to ‘I am second’ yesterday. It’s a great site where famous and not so famous people share their testimonies. That is how they came to follow Jesus. So ‘I am second’ really means, ‘God is first!’
I couldn’t figure out how to embed the video here. I’m sorry. I will fix it, if I can this weekend. The Josh Hamilton video is well worth watching!
Enjoy and have a nice weekend!
Westchester Men's Ministry 