The Twenty-One Gun Salute, Day Four

THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS

Twenty-one of my Brothers were beheaded in Libya for being men of  “The Nation of the Cross.”  Their heads fell like twenty-one shots heard ‘round the world as they bled and died in service to The King, but…Is it possible for satan’s plan to be turned on its own dead head?
Is it possible satan has lost?

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CROSS?

satan thought he had Jesus by the heel by having him crucified and buried in a tomb, but when Jesus rose from the grave, He took satan by the head.  He publicly humiliated him, crushing his evil ambitions and giving those who would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ an eternal safety and a promise of eternal life in heaven.   Sometimes, when satan thinks he’s won, he’s lost...

 TO THE POWER OF THE CROSS.

I read the names of The Twenty-One out loud, and can't make it through the list without crying.  Evil led this band of brothers down by the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and had them kneel in the sand.  Black stood in back, each to a man, each to one of my brother's heads, and they cut them clean off.   What is it in us, as Christians, that rises up despite the loss, the wickedness, the sickening tragedy? Christ.  These men lay the burden of life down.  They now rest from the struggle, from the fight, from the hard road of righteousness.   They ran a good race; they persevered to the end; they didn't deny Jesus Christ, and they knelt on the shore by the sea ready to go home.  This is how satan lost...

TO THE MEN OF THE NATION OF THE CROSS.

Their shed blood mingles with our own.  It makes us alive to the calling of a Christian to suffer and be persecuted and hated and despised.  To be like Jesus.  The Gospel flips everything, and our brothers died in good company because satan also lost...

 TO THE DISCIPLES OF THE CROSS.

-Simon Peter was crucified upside down. 

- Philip was also crucified upside down. 

- Batholomew was flayed alive and then crucified upside down. 

- Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross. 

- James (son of Zebedee) was executed by sword. 

- James (son of Alphaeus) was crucified and the body sawed to pieces. 

- Matthew was possibly murdered. 

- Simon the Canaanite was executed by saw. 

- Judas Thomas was executed by spear.
-The details of the death of Jude (Thaddaeus) are unknown.
-The apostle John died of old age after failing to die from being boiled in oil.

The result of their deaths?  

               The         spread         of         the         Gospel.

You see?

satan lost...

TO  THE  MAN  ON  THE  CROSS.

Do you know this Jesus?

Bernadette

The Twenty-One Gun Salute, Day Three

The Twenty-One

We lost 21 brothers in February  for being Christians.  Isis took them down by the shores of the sea and cut off their heads.  The world is calling the martyrs "Egyptians," but Isis was clear that they were sending a message signed in blood to THE NATION OF THE CROSS.  The Twenty-One were killed for being Christians.

I can’t get them out of my mind.  I wonder at this punishment of beheading, and I can’t get some images out of my brain.   A human body without its head is a queer thing, an odd thing, an un-natural thing.  A human being, made in the image of God with out its head is simply unthinkable.  What could be more violating?

I wonder how this thing came to be?  Beheading.  I wonder if anyone out there is using their fifty shades of grey matter to think this thing through?  What in all the world is going on in the mind of someone who would separate the two things that make a body whole?  

It’s insidious.  The eyes, the window to the soul, are separated from the heart.  The ears, given to us in order to hear God and obey His commands, are separated from the hands that do the work of obedience.  The mouth that was given to speak the Gospel is separated from the beautiful feet that 
carry the Gospel.

It would seem that satan has a plan.

Awake, Oh Sleeper!  

Bernadette

Twenty-One Gun Salute, Day Two

The Red Sea on a Sunday Afternoon

Twenty- One Dead.

On Sunday, I read.

To Christ they were wed

 Isis cut off each head.

Jesus said, “Come.  Follow Me.”.

Twenty- One Dead.

Terror and dread.

Danger ahead.

From hands violence bred.

Jesus said, “Come.  Follow ME.”

Twenty- One dead.

A blood blanket spread.

A new sea of red.

Rising, when Jesus said,

“Come.  Follow Me.”

Twenty- One Dead.

I lay down my head.

Tears drench my bed.

Christ crucified and bled

Saying, “Come.  Follow Me.”

Bernadette

Twenty-One Gun Salute, Day One

The Twenty-One

"A message written in blood to The Nation of the Cross,"

said Isis as it sliced the heads of TWENTY- ONE Christians off their shoulders.

A message written in blood from the cross to Isis,

said Jesus, "Whoever believes in me shall never perish but have eternal life.".

Milad Makeen Zaky

Abanub Ayad Atiya

Maged Solaiman Shehata

Yusuf Shukry Yunan

Kirollos Shokry Fawzy

Bishoy Astafanus Kamel

Somaily Astafanus Kamel

Malak Ibrahim Sinweet

Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros

Girgis Milad Sinweet

Mina Fayez Aziz

Hany Abdelmesih Salib

Bishoy Adel Khalaf

Samuel Alhem Wilson

Worker from Awr Village

Ezat Bishri Naseeph

Loga Nagaty

Gaber Munir Adly

Esam Badir Nasir

Malak Farag Abram

Sameh Salah Faruqu

Revelation 6:10-11

"and they cried out with a loud voice, saying,  'How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?  And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also."

Rest a little longer, Brothers.

Pray for us,

Bernadette

In Which Jesus Helps Me

Uninspired.
Tired.
Flat.
Zombie.
Lifeless.
Joyless.
Empty.
A Christian.
A woman of God.
Raised from the dead.
Sad.
Sorrow-FULL.
Angry.
Hurting.
Forgotten.
Alone.
Unseen.
Wondering where Father is.
Wanting His arms around me.
Craving shelter and feeling like a loser.
Knowing Jesus loves me but...
Feeling lost at sea and...
Smothered by storms.
Waves crush my lungs and leave me wondering...
Will the God who calms the sea?
Calm ME?
Shhhh....

"Be still."

"Be still, little flower."
"You are enough in Me."


bernadette

Of a Monday Morning

The sun rising golden glory.
Four geese in the field.
A doe eating her breakfast while I drink my coffee, admiring her ears.
The little apple tree forming a heart in her leaves and branches.
Snow in the mountains.
Robins carrying bits of nest and worm.
Love letters.
Little Sister's professional payoff at the recital.
Working through the finances.
Calling boys to become men.
Prayer.  The privilege of prayer.
That Re is tucked into in her own bed even as I write this.
That no amount of distance can separate hearts that love each other and love Him.
Summer on Sarah's skin.  The Light and the Life in her eyes.
The family prayer circle.
Kissing her soft cheek and holding her head in my hands.
The quiet these days.
Letting go.
Soaking in The Word.
Young Believers.
A phone call from an old friend made new in Christ.  A gift.
The hard things.
Leaning harder into Him.
The grace to practice conflict.  To learn.
The Shoulder's shoulders.
Having him home.
Going to sleep with the sound of his breath.
Waking up holding hands somehow.
Together.
That we are together.

Thank You, Lord.

Bernadette

All Quiet on the Western Front

Pretty quiet these days.
Pregnant with peace.
Feel like I should unbutton my pants.
But I'm not full like that.

You know me.
You know me, Jesus and…
It is enough.
Enough to be full of You.

Your eye is on the sparrow.
Me.
And though I can't see what You are doing,
I know, Jesus, that you see me.

Potter, Your hands make and mold all that I am now.
You are sculpting a surrendered soul.
The warmth of truth in Your hands,
Leaves me stock still in wonder.

And You bend over this one life here.
Thoughtful.  Careful.  Purposeful.
Gentle and warm and sure and shhhhh….
The Master is working.

In all this fat peace,

Bernadette