Erin Church Devotions: Real faith

Audio version here

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to you about Pastor Daniel, an evangelist from Indonesia. He, along with 40 other Christian leaders, has been sentenced to five years of imprisonment, just because he prayed for the Muslim community to be open to Christ’s Gospel. I informed you that I was handwriting a letter to him in phonetic Indonesian, so that his family and friends could hold on to their hope in Christ.

Two weeks have passed and Daniel has received over 1400 letters from pastors and people around the world. The authorities are beginning to sit up and take notice. Daniel’s family are heartily encouraged by the amount of international support that he is being given. It truly is a wonderful way of sharing and expressing the Gospel to people in other lands. I hope and pray that Daniel and the others are released soon.

Daniel is a God-fearing Christian, who takes Christ’s message to heart and is unwilling to compromise its integrity. A week on Tuesday, I am going to our local Presbytery meeting and already I am feeling torn by it. Two new pastors will be presented at the meeting for approval. I’ve read their statements of faith online and once again, I am bewildered. I’ll have to ask one of them what is meant by salvation and is Christ the Only Savior of the World. The other one does not mention God as Father, nor of Christ as being His true Son.

It may just be a slip of the pen or keyboard, and to other people this will not seem important, but when I think of Pastor Daniel languishing and suffering in an Indonesian prison for not compromising his faith, I feel really ill at ease with those pastors amongst who all too readily set aside traditional beliefs and replace them with what they’ve learned from seminary professors, instead of holding fast to the words and teachings of Christ and His apostles.

I’ll probably endure some criticism again for asking these questions and voicing my concerns, but it will be nothing compared to what Daniel is experiencing. I hope and pray that my passion will not overload my reason; and that my heart will not overwhelm my head.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Son of God and He is Your Almighty Father. We are adopted as daughters and sons of God through our allegiance to You and by Your sacrificial death. Help us to value our salvation and keep us revering Who You really are. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Verse for the Day:
Titus 1:4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.