prisoner

Posted on October 23, 2004 by Dana

Many have asked about the results of my last tests at Emory. I am to meet with doctors Tuesday and they will tell me how things are. We all appreciate your prayer. Thursday, Susan and I fly to China to visit a co-worker who is teaching at a language school in QingDao. We are excited about this trip and hope we can encourage Gerry and Becky Hill and their little girls. Thanks for praying about this too!

Several Chinese Christians have impacted my life greatly through writing and example. Many have persevered through fires we cannot imagine resulting in beautiful fruit of the Holy Spirit. THE HEAVENLY MAN is the autobiography of Brother Yun, a brother still alive today, who has been imprisoned and tortured for his faith. Listen to a prisoner of the Lord.

God is my witness that through all the tortures and beatings I’ve received I have never hated my persecutors. Never. I saw them as God’s instruments of blessing and his chosen vessels to purify me and make me more like Jesus…

In this prison seminary we have learned many valuable lessons about the Lord that we could never have learned from a book. We’ve come to know God in a deeper way. We know his goodness and his loving faithfulness to us…

When a child of God suffers you need to understand the Lord has allowed it. He has not forgotten you! The devil cannot snatch you away! Jesus made this beautiful promise to his children, ‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.’ John 10:27-29

The first time I went to prison I struggled, wondering why God had allowed it. Slowly I began to understand he had a deeper purpose for me than just working for him. He wanted to know me, and I to know him, deeply and intimately. He knew the best way to get my attention for a while was to give me rest behind bars…

I’m often asked about the rights of pastors in China. A pastor has no rights, except the rights of a slave! Everyone in this world is a slave. They’re either slaves to sin or slaves of Christ. Our ‘rights’ are in the hands of Jesus. We must fall on our knees in complete dependence on him…

The world can do nothing to a Christian who has no fear of man.

THE HEAVENLY MAN by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway. published by Monarch Books in the UK and USA in 2002 portions from pages 311-313

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act of God

Posted on October 16, 2004 by Dana

God should receive all glory for our health, our successes, and any other good thing, but the Holy Spirit also encourages us to give proper honor to people. Three doctors in Gwinnett County have spent quite a bit of time with me over the past four years. All three of these men are strong believers in our Lord Jesus and I have been blessed by their expertise, their encouragement, and their prayers. Doctor Rene Latoni and his wife, Barbara, came to our home to share the diagnosis of cancer. But they did not simply deliver bad news and leave. They shared hope of a Great Physician and we all sat down on the floor and prayed to this One that knows all. Hoyt Gazaway, a surgeon, was the next doctor we visited. As often as doctors deal with bad news, I imagine they have learned to contain emotions. On more than one occasion, I saw tears in Doctor Gazaway’s eyes as he discussed my situation. Every time I was on his operating table, he prayed with me before surgery. Alexander Saker is my oncologist in Gwinnett County. Dr. Saker is a kind man who loves God and encourages me in faith. He is also a splendid doctor who accepts a humble role in helping patients fight horrible diseases.

I’ve also had many fine doctors at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. My favorite doctor there recently moved to Chicago. Dr. Redei is from Hungary and looks a bit like Bono of U2 fame. Under a rough exterior is a kind man who genuinely loved me. An unselfish reason I desired God to heal me miraculously was that I wanted to be a sign to Dr. Redei that there was a Father in Heaven who had power to do all things. His wife, also a doctor, is a Christian, but I often detected a bit a skepticism in Dr. Redei. But there is no doubt God used this man to help me. He not only was knowledgeable about my disease, but he knew how to motivate me to keep fighting. I’ll never forget his words as I was lying in a hospital bed, shortly after my stem cell transplant, thinking things would never get better. With his thick accent he chided, “What’s wrong with you? I’ve got an eighty year old patient down the hall who’s tougher than you are!” As weak as I was, I think I still had enough competitiveness to at least try to keep up with a patient forty years my elder…

Just recently, my wife had a conversation with the doctor that helped deliver our three children. Somehow, the subject of “amniotic fluid embolism” came up – a condition where the amniotic fluid enters the bloodstream of a mother who has just given birth. The doctor said this was fatal 100% of the time, but Susan corrected her. “When I was born, my mom had an ‘amniotic fluid embolism’ and she is still alive today!” Doctors used every bit of her type blood in all of Chattanooga and had blood flown in from New Orleans to keep her alive. Susan’s mom was in the hospital four months, but today you’ll not find a healthier eighty-one year old than Lou Taylor. We have a newspaper clipping from August of 1959 with a picture of the mother and daughter who survived quite an ordeal. After Susan told this story, her doctor replied, “Well, that was an act of God!”

Don’t you love ‘acts of God’?

“Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness… Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” Psalm 150

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glorify

Posted on October 9, 2004 by Dana

One of the statements I memorized in my high school days was this: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

We know God’s mind is far greater than ours and His ways are much higher than ours, so how do we bring Him glory? I thought the best way for God to receive glory in sickness was for Him to heal me instantly. But signs and wonders are His call, and though I consider today’s health a miracle from above, God chose a far different route than I would have chosen. In the hour of trial, I believe God receives glory if we simply believe what He says. And that is the challenge!

A little over four years ago, early one afternoon, God told me something: “My grace is sufficient for you.” I was a little puzzled by this familiar Word, not knowing the news I was about to receive. But a few hours later, when my friend the doctor came to our house with the message of cancer, the meaning was clear. God wanted me to know that no matter what was to come, it was enough that He was with me. Could I believe this simple message? In the day of suffering, the devil does not come against you with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life – he comes against you with unbelief! “Where is your God now? He is not with you! Look at you – at the time you need Him most, your God is no where to be found!”

But if, in that moment of darkness and despair, a soul says, “I do not see Him; I do not feel Him; I do not understand – but I know my God is with me”, the Father is glorified. Even if we cry out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”, yet we have surrendered ourselves to Him, the Father receives glory. Did not Jesus prove that, even in death, the Father can be glorified?

So how does God receive glory if I am strong and healthy and full of energy? Is the answer any different? Oh to believe what He says! If I know He is with me until “the very end of the age”, does that change the way I live? If I am confident I am “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works”, will I be about His business? If “God has poured out His love into our hearts”, does that determine the way I treat my fellow man? If I am a “temple of the Holy Spirit”, does that keep me on the narrow path? It should – if I believe. “Stop doubting and believe.”

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

“Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” John 17:1

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suffering

Posted on October 2, 2004 by Dana

Every time I go to the hospital for a day of tests I can’t help but reflect on the age old problem of suffering. (I won’t get Thursday’s test results for a few weeks.) Many have stumbled at the thought of a loving God who permits incredible suffering on this earth. Yet there is a loving God… and there is much suffering. Disease, famine, flood, and war bring extraordinary hardship to multitudes while hidden suffering in broken hearts and tormented minds bring no less pain.

A simplistic prosperity doctrine can leave one feeling guilty if things aren’t rosy, but the Holy Spirit is wise to give much instruction to believers about embracing suffering. As in the time the New Testament was written, many today suffer for simply wearing the name of Christ. The words of Peter are plain, “Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you… If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”

Can all who walk in Christ embrace such a mentality about all kinds of suffering? Most of us do not live in a land where persecution is common, yet all Christians have the same enemy. Throughout history, God has allowed difficulty (even the attacks of the evil one) to bring His children closer to Him. No one in his right mind wants to drink a bitter cup, yet we all want to grow in our trust in the One who sees and understands all things. “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”

Matt Redman wrote a song of praise containing the mindset that pleases the Father: “Blessed be Your Name, when the sun’s shining down on me… when the world’s ‘all as it should be’, blessed be Your Name. Blessed be Your Name, on the road marked with suffering… though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be Your Name.”

Jesus told us we each would have a cross to bear. Jesus told us we would have trouble in this world. Jesus dreaded His cup and prayed it could pass, yet He trusted His Father and with “the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame.” Paul understood that when he suffered, he participated in what was “lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” Perhaps that’s why he longed to know “the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.”

I don’t grasp this mystery, but we all know hardship can produce good as we trust the Lord. So let us encourage one another in faith. In humility, let us pray for one another and bear one another’s burdens. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus,”the Author and Perfecter of our faith.” And let us follow His example.

“To this end you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” I Peter 2:21-23

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lavish

Posted on September 24, 2004 by Dana

We appreciate so many that have prayed for baby John and his mom, Terri. On Monday Terri is coming to live with us a while. We are all excited that a mother and son are going to be together. We want Terri to see how her little baby has blessed so many people. Our church family, our neighbors, our school, and so many friends have lavished God’s love on this little boy. Oh if everyone could see that this extravagant love is what God is all about!

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!” I John 3:1

This time of year, I always remember the love that was lavished on our family in a time of need. On Thursday I go back to Emory to have the yearly barrage of tests. I have been in remission for three years, and though quite often I am reminded of the terminal nature of my type of cancer, I feel like the most blessed man on earth to have had this season of health. I feel I can encourage people without reservation to enjoy every day the Father gives us. He lavishes His love on us… so let us pass it on.

Thanks for your prayers.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”  Ephesians 3:14-21

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