Category Archives: The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Kil Sŏn-chu  — November 26

Asia, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while.

Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its brand on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years. – Revelation 20:1-6 (NRSVUE)

All about Kil Sŏn-chu (1869-1935)

Kil Sŏn-chu [in Korean: 길선주; in Hanja (Korean in Chinese characters): 吉善宙;  RR: Gil Seon-ju; MR: Kil Sŏn-ju*] is considered by many to be the father of Korean Christianity. He was a Presbyterian minister who was among the first generation of indigenous Protestant Christian leaders in Korea.

Prior to his conversion in 1897, Kil had been a follower of Zen Buddhism — some would say that is Mahayana Buddhism with a Taoist bent. He trained rigorously for 8 years. In a site devoted to Korean Nationalists it says during his training, “Gil Seon-ju obtained superhuman strength, such as skipping most streams, breaking a wooden stick with his fists, and floating in the air while sitting upright, and was able to communicate with the spirits of the sky.”  When he came back from seclusion, he found, to his dismay, his best friend had become a Jesuit. He rejected his friend’s claims. But gradually Christianity moved him. Finally, as he told a European missionary,

I began to let go of the ropes I was holding so firmly on, and one by one the ropes loosened, and my soul hung in the air above the abyss. Then I fell into the swamp of loss, and the anguish was indescribable. On the seventh day, exhausted and desperate, I was in a semi-comatose state. I don’t know how much time has passed. However, in the darkness, I was suddenly awakened by a loud voice calling my name, “Guild Seonju!” and it rang repeatedly. I was sitting up, bewildered, when I saw something mysterious in front of me. What would you call it? The room itself was transformed and a glorious light shone around me. Rest, forgiveness, and affection settled in my soul, and the unending flow of tears proved this. Looking back now, I can say this. “Oh, what a joy! All my prayers are answered, and I have finally found the God I have been searching for for years.” I felt at ease in my father’s house where my sins were forgiven and I became a forgiven person.

Kil’s personal change paralleled the movement for Korean independence. The dire state of his people was personally expressed in his own dire state. The same year Kil became a Christian, King Gojong declared Korea to be an empire independent of China. This lasted until the Japanese annexation in 1910.

Jangdaehyun Church

After becoming a Jesus-follower, Kil Sŏn-chu  served as a lay leader while he took a course of study led by missionaries intended for native local preachers. In 1907 Kil was one of the first graduates of the Presbyterian Seminary in Pyongyang. He was ordained as a pastor and installed in the Jangdaehyun Church, the oldest in Pyongyang.

No sooner did he enter this pastorate than revival broke out, the effects of which lasted for decades. Many see Kil as the most effective evangelist to emerge during this period. There was something stirring worldwide in the early 1900’s. In 1903, due to famine in the center of Korea, two local revivals were experienced in a Presbyterian church near Seoul and in a Methodist church in Wonsan. The Azusa Street revival started in 1905. In the fall of 1906, Korean Christians began hearing reports about the Welsh revival (1904–1905) and the Kassia Hills revival in India (1905–1906). They desired a similar experience.

In January 1907, across two weeks, the Presbyterian seminary in Pyongyang held a Bible conference of about 1500 Korean men. On Sunday, January 6, 1907, foreign and Korean Christians gathered at Jangdaehyun for an evening meeting during which the Holy Spirit moved through the congregation and a chain reaction of public repentance followed, beginning with Kil Sŏn-chu. At the conference, through his dynamic preaching and his personal confession, hundreds of others followed his example. This movement continued in meetings in Pyongyang and other nearby cities for months.

The Pyongyang revival resulted in an increase in the number of new Protestant converts and the growing establishment of Korean Christianity led by Korean Protestants. It also introduced key aspects of Korean Protestant Christian spirituality, such as early morning prayer and all-night prayer, which were also a feature of Kil’s Zen disciplines .

One of Kil’s significant contributions to the ongoing outbreak of faith in Korea was his role in establishing the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Korea. The YMCA played a significant role in the Korean independence movement by providing a space for Koreans to gather, organize, and exchange ideas. The organization promoted education, social reform, and Christian values, which resonated with many Koreans who were looking for ways to challenge Japanese colonial rule and assert their national identity. Through his work with the YMCA, Kil helped to create a network of Christian leaders who would play a key role in shaping the future of Korea.

1919 protest march in Seoul

Kil’s strong faith and zeal often took him beyond the immediate confines of the church. He was one of the first to sign Korea’s Declaration of Independence in 1919. March 1st is a national holiday in Korea known as Samiljeol (March First Movement) which commemorates the protests which began in Seoul on March 1, 1919, when millions of Koreans peacefully demonstrated for independence from Japanese colonial rule. Some of their fervor was inspired by the “right to self-determination” enshrined in President Woodrow Wilson’s post-WW1 “Fourteen Points.” The protests were one of the first and most significant nonviolent demonstrations against Japanese rule and encouraged similar movements elsewhere in the world. The Japanese jailed Kil for his participation.

During his 2 ½ years in prison Kil developed his own concept of eschatology and propagated the gospel of Jesus’ coming being followed by the millennial and eternal world. His views reflected the popularity of dispensational theology, especially in the United States, but with a distinctly Korean and Chinese twist. His teaching also resembled that of Joachim de Fiore. Upon his return to Jungdaehyun church, he began to preach fervently about the second coming of Christ.

Nearly blind by that time, Kil Sŏn-chu led Bible studies across the country. His preaching contributed to the trouble brewing in his home church. In 1926 young people imbued with socialist ideas (paralleling the rise of Mao Tse-tung)  distributed leaflets criticizing Kil for not accurately announcing the ballot count during an elders election. Afterwards, a dispute arose between the old faction supporting Kil Son-chu and the new faction. In the end, the Pyongyang presbytery forced Kil to resign in October 1931, and he built a new church in downtown Pyongyang.

More

The essential writings of Kil Sŏn-chu on Internet Archive 

Video: When Korea Turned Christian

The following video, The 1907 Pyongyang Revival, begins with a picture in which Kil Sŏn-chu is at the center:

Here is a link to a video about Declaration of Independence in 1919 by Arirang News, an international TV network based in Seoul. It provides English-language information on Korean current events, culture, and history to regions in South Korea and around the world [link].

* There are multiple romanization systems for Korean in common use. The two most prominent systems are McCune–Reischauer(MR) and Revised Romanization (RR). MR is almost universally used in academic Korean studies, and a variant of it has been the official system of North Korea since 1992. RR is the official system of South Korea, and has been in use since 2000.

What do we do with this?

Kil Sŏn-chu  has a fascinating personal history which reflects the tumultuous time in which he lived. He is Chinese, Japanese, American, fully Korean and fully Christian. When the Spirit moves, he moves. When he leads, he does so with fervor.  Although blind, oppressed by foreign powers and imprisoned, he does not give up. How would someone tell your story of living in troubled times?

Kil has been criticized for being less than revolutionary politically. His emphasis on the end times has been seen as somewhat reactionary and narrow theologically. But his influence on the church in Korea is indisputable.  The foundations he laid resulted in several generations of church expansion in what became South Korea. Each of us may not get it all right, but, as Kil learned, the Spirit of God blows in unexpected ways and uses people in spite of their weaknesses.

 

Sojourner Truth — November 26

North America, The Modern Era (1227-1936), ,

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Bible connection

Read Joel 2:28-31

“In those days, I will also pour out my Spirit on the male and female slaves.”

All about Sojourner Truth (ca. 1797-1883)

Today we celebrate the prophetess Sojourner Truth, who died on November 26th, 1883 at the age of 86. She is remembered for her relentless, Spirit-filled work as an abolitionist, women’s suffragist, and evangelist.

She was sold as a child into slavery in New York. She worked on a farm and often retreated into the woods nearby where she prayed to God by a “temple of brush” that she had made. In her twenties, she obeyed a vision from the Lord to take her baby, Sophia, and walk away from the family that enslaved her. It was a frightening experience for her to live out on her own, and she considered going back to work on the farm, but Jesus appeared to her in a vision and prayed for her, giving her the strength to continue.

After these and other experiences with God, she saw her life and ministry as uniquely situated to be a leader involved in two movements in the United States: the abolition of slavery, and the right of women to vote. As a woman leader and a former slave, she saw her gifts of leadership and freedom from slavery as something that God wanted for all women and all people who were enslaved. She used her life story and experiences with God as the basis for her political and theological views.

She is also remembered fondly for her straight-gazed challenges to live by faith. When some other notable abolitionists were advocating for violent uprisings to end slavery, Truth asked them the question: “Is God gone?”

Quotes

  • If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it.
  • That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne five children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
  • Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
  • You have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. I know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the better when it closes up again.
  • And what is that religion that sanctions, even by its silence, all that is embraced in the “Peculiar Institution?” If there can be any thing more diametrically opposed to the religion of Jesus, than the working of this soul-killing system – which is as truly sanctioned by the religion of America as are her minsters and churches – we wish to be shown where it can be found.

More

Nice resources from her home town memorial association in Battle Creek: [link]

The story of Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza in Akron, Ohio.

Sojourner Truth’s famous speech of 1851, “Ain’t I a Woman” Re-enactment

What do we do with this?

Look racism and sexism straight in the face and expect the same Spirit of Jesus, who inspired Sojourner Truth, to say something through you, too.

Encouragement from Dru Hart to take a stand: [blog post]

Eberhard Arnold — November 22

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” — Matthew 5:43-45

All about Eberhard Arnold (1883-1935)

Eberhard Arnold was born in 1883 to a middle class family in Königsberg, Germany (now Kalinigrad of the Russian Federation). After a rambunctious childhood, he experienced an inner change at the age of 16. He felt accepted and forgiven by God, and felt a calling him to “go and witness to my truth.” He became active in evangelism and acted with  compassion for the poor.

When he was 26 Arnold married Emmy von Hollander. They had five children. Both grew increasingly discontent with the new movements of urbanization and industrialization in Germany. They criticized the state church of Germany for various reasons. He became a sought-after speaker in his region. In 1915 he became editor of Die Furche (The Furrow), the periodical of the Student Christian Movement, and editor of the Das Neue Werk (New Venture) Publishing House in Schlüchtern, Germany in 1919.

Arnold supported Germany during the first World War at first, even enlisting for a few weeks before being discharged for medical reasons. He sent copies of The Furrow to young people at the front lines. The returning soldiers had a profound influence on Eberhard, and he had an increasingly difficult time reconciling the gospel with war.

During the war, the Germans sustained incredible losses. Afterwards, hunger protests and strikes were common responses to the political upheaval and national shame. Among groups working for change, the Youth Movement inspired Arnold with their love of nature, rejection of materialism, and aspirations towards joy and love.  Eberhard and Emmy began meeting with Youth Movement people once or twice a week in homes.

At age 37, Arnold and Emmy abandoned middle-class life. In 1920, the couple, along with Emmy’s sister Else, moved to the village of Sannerz to found the Bruderhof (place of brothers) community with seven adults and five children. Their community was founded on the Sermon on the Mount and the witness of the early church. The community grew and needed a bigger farm. Eberhard’s writing continued and he became well-known. He began corresponding with the Hutterite Brethren, an Anabaptist group that had fled to and flourished in the United States and found common cause. The Bruderhof’s values now also included a common purse as well as pacifism.

The rise of the Nazi party was a catalyst for the Bruderhof to send their children (school age and draft age) out of the country. The rest of the community eventually also fled. During the travel Arnold sustained a leg injury that led to his death on this day in 1935. The Bruderhof groups re-assembled in England before being forced out of the country. The Mennonite Central Committee helped them relocate to Paraguay, the only country that would accept a pacifist community with mixed nationalities. The Bruderhof Communities are now in four states in the US as well as Germany, Paraguay, and Australia.

Quotes:

Love sees the good Spirit at work within each person and delights in it. Even if we have just been annoyed with someone, we will feel new joy in them as soon as love rules in us again. We will overcome our personal disagreements and joyfully acknowledge the working of the good Spirit in each other. — Writings 

Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder.

Truth without love kills, but love without truth lies.

Even the sun directs our gaze away from itself and to the life illumined by it. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount

We must have the love that exists among children, for with them love rules without any special purpose. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount

The whole world is shaking at its joints. We have the frightening impression that we stand before a great and catastrophic judgment. If this catastrophe does not take place, it is only because it has been averted by God’s direct intervention. And the church is called to move God—yes, God himself—to act. This does not mean that God will not or cannot act unless we ask him, but rather that he waits for people to believe in him and expect his intervention. For God acts among us only to the extent that we ask for his action and accept it with our hearts and lives. This is the secret of God’s intervention in history. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount

We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots and executions. We kill every time we close our eyes to poverty, suffering and shame. — Salt and Light: Talks and Writings on the Sermon on the Mount

We must live in community because we are stimulated by the same creative Spirit of unity who calls nature to unity and through whom work and culture shall become community in God. — Why We Live in Community: With Two Interpretive Talks by Thomas Merton

More

Biography and more: [EberhardArnold.com]

The Bruderhof website [link]. Bio from the Bruderhof [link]. History of the Bruderhof [link].

One of five interesting videos on Bruderhof history. Here’s one on Arnold:

What do we do with this?

Arnold was a deep thinker who was open to the movement of God’s Spirit. He did not just think, he acted. His life was an incarnation of his convictions. He formed communities that had an influence much greater than their size might justify. Let his example inspire you to express your own faith and devotion in your troubled day.

You can visit the Bruderhof https://www.bruderhof.com/connect

Escaping the Nazis proved fatal for Arnold. They were cast out of England and had to go to Paraguay. The trouble seems to have galvanized the Bruderhof’s convictions. What does the coming decade portend for us who love Jesus in troubled times?

Leo Tolstoy — November 20

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

Read Luke 17:20-37

“The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

All about Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was the fourth of five children born to a family of old Russian nobility in 1828. His mother died while he was young, so he and his siblings were in the care of his aunt. His father then died, followed by his aunt and caretaker. He and his siblings moved under the care of another relative.

Tolstoy struggled in school. He eventually became a farmer until his brother convinced him to join the military, where his writing began to develop. He grew into one of the most celebrated novelists of all time. His two greatest works War and Peace and Anna Karenina are considered masterpieces.

After he enjoyed some success, Tolstoy fell into a deep depression that ultimately led to his conversion to following Jesus. He tried joining the Russian Orthodox Church, which he found corrupt. His treatise on this corruption, The Mediator, got him kicked out of the Church in 1883 and put him under surveillance by the secret police.

Tolstoy’s spiritual struggle with his role as a wealthy landlord and his desire to live as an ascetic. He decided to give away all of his money and renounce his aristocratic titles. He rejected organized religion and adopted a revolutionary Christianity that emphasized austerity. He ultimately decided to divide his property among his family, as if he were dead.  His wife did not agree with his newfound beliefs, causing problems in their marriage. He took care of her by signing over to her the copyrights and proceeds from his writings pre-1881.

Tolstoy spent the rest of his life in a small cottage, helping the Russian working class and living simply. He inspired the creation of “Tolstoyan” communities, where property is held in common. It was during these last thirty years of his life when his richest spiritual work and international movement-building flowered.

In 1894 his magnum opus The Kingdom of God Is Within You inspired practitioners of non-violent resistance, as it continues to do. Gandhi cited the book as one of the three texts that most influenced him. The two developed a relationship in which Tolstoy strongly urged nonviolence as a means of social change.

Tolstoy’s beliefs and regular visits from disciples plagued his wife. He finally fled with his daughter and began an incognito pilgrimage that he was never able to complete. He died on this day in 1910.

Quotes:

On revolution: There can be only one permanent revolution—a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.

On progress : People usually think that progress consists in the increase of knowledge, in the improvement of life, but that isn’t so. Progress consists only in the greater clarification of answers to the basic questions of life. The truth is always accessible to a man. It can’t be otherwise, because a man’s soul is a divine spark, the truth itself. It’s only a matter of removing from this divine spark (the truth) everything that obscures it. Progress consists, not in the increase of truth, but in freeing it from its wrappings. The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn’t gold.

On passions: The whole world knows that virtue consists in the subjugation of one’s passions, or in self-renunciation. It is not just the Christian world, against whom Nietzsche howls, that knows this, but it is an eternal supreme law towards which all humanity has developed, including Brahmanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and the ancient Persian religion. And suddenly a man appears who declares that he is convinced that self-renunciation, meekness, submissiveness and love are all vices that destroy humanity (he has in mind Christianity, ignoring all the others religions).

On Nietzsche: One can understand why such a declaration baffled people at first. But after giving it a little thought and failing to find any proof of the strange propositions, any rational person ought to throw the books aside and wonder if there is any kind of rubbish that would not find a publisher today. But this has not happened with Nietzsche’s books. The majority of pseudo-enlightened people seriously look into the theory of the Übermensch, and acknowledge its author to be a great philosopher, a descendant of Descartes, Leibniz and Kant. And all this has come about because the majority of pseudo-enlightened men of today object to any reminder of virtue, or to its chief premise: self-renunciation and love — virtues that restrain and condemn the animal side of their life. They gladly welcome a doctrine, however incoherently and disjointedly expressed, of egotism and cruelty, sanctioning the idea of personal happiness and superiority over the lives of others, by which they live.

More

The School of Life on Tolstoy:

A postmodern takedown if you feel like cancelling Tolstoy [2022 book review]

More bio from GradeSaver: [link]

Movies adapting his fiction masterpieces: Anna Karenina (2012), War and Peace (2016)

The Tolstoyan Movement uses his philosophy as a lifestyle guide [Wiki]

Tolstoy and Gandhi [link]

What do we do with this?

Depression led Tolstoy to faith. Often depression is not an enemy, it is our heart speaking to us about change, about redemption, about unknown possibilities. Consider your own depression. Some of us have chronic conditions that need the help of doctors. Others are self-medicating what needs to be heard.

After Tolstoy wrote his masterpieces, he found his deepest calling. While his literature remains influential, it could be argued that his influence for nonviolent resistance did more to change the world. What are you growing into? Do you dare consider what your legacy will be and who you might influence for good?

Lucretia Mott — November 11

North America, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
Lucretia Mott
Mott in the foreground of the Portrait Monument in the Capitol Rotunda. 

Bible connection

Read Jude 1:20-23

Have mercy on those who doubt. Save some by snatching them from the fire.

All about Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)

Lucretia Mott (U.S. National Park Service)Lucretia Mott became a Quaker minister at 25. Her whole adult life was devoted to church reform, women’s rights, and the abolition of slavery.

In her bid to end the evil of slavery, she and others refused to use cotton cloth, cane sugar, and other slave-produced goods as part of their protest. In 1833 Mott, along with Mary Ann M’Clintock and nearly 30 other female abolitionists, organized the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. She later served as a delegate from that organization to the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. After passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, her Pennsylvania home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. In 1866, Mott became the first president of the American Equal Rights Association.

In 1848 Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton held the Seneca Falls Convention advocating rights for women. Stanton remembered after she died, “When I first heard from the lips of Lucretia Mott that I had the same right to think for myself that Luther, Calvin and John Knox had, it was like suddenly coming into the rays of the noon-day sun, after wandering with a rushlight in the caves of the earth.” Mott was admired by followers and opponents for her clear thinking, passion, uncompromising convictions and courageous action.

At the convention, Mott presented the “Declaration of Sentiments,” [Fan favorite in light of recent events: “He has created a false public sentiment, by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated but deemed of little account in man.” The resolutions attached included equal including property rights, the right to divorce, increased access to education, and the right to vote.

The last sentiment, voting rights, divided the convention; however, it was ultimately included in the Declaration and became the foundation of the women’s suffrage movement. It was forty years after Mott died before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote in 1920.

Mott’s fight for women’s rights included education. Her most famous work: Discourse on Woman, was published in 1849. She led the founding of Moore College of Art and the Medical College of Pennsylvania, both in Philadelphia. She was one of the founders of Swarthmore College.

Quotes:

  • We too often bind ourselves by authorities rather than by the truth.
  • It is not Christianity, but priestcraft that has subjected woman as we find her.
  • The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.
  • Any great change must expect opposition, because it shakes the very foundation of privilege.
  • I have no idea of submitting tamely to injustice inflicted either on me or on the slave. I will oppose it with all the moral powers with which I am endowed. I am no advocate of passivity.
  • It is time that Christians were judged more by their likeness to Christ than their notions of Christ. Were this sentiment generally admitted we should not see such tenacious adherence to what men deem the opinions and doctrines of Christ while at the same time in every day practice is exhibited anything but a likeness to Christ.

More

Exterior, Lucretia Mott is in the chair in the foreground.
Lucretia Mott at Roadside

Explore PA History supplies a good bio giving background for the historical marker at the site of “Roadside” (Old York Rd. and Latham Park in Elkins Park). The Mott family moved from 1316 Chestnut to this country house in 1857 and Mott died there. It was torn down by a developer in 1912.

“Lucretia Mott, the Brazen Infidel, ” a bio from the Unitarians [link]

Video from series on Philadelphia Women:

What do we do with this?

Lucretia Mott is such an inspiring example. What movement is God starting with us? Will we have the faith and courage to follow through?

Mott was among those who were disappointed the 15th Amendment gave the right to vote to black men, but not women. Radical and conservative reactions to that event divided the suffragist movement until it reunited in 1890. Have you ever been in a social action movement that divided and failed? James notes how common this is: “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it, so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have because you do not ask. “ (James 4:1-2)

Name the evil against which you should be organizing. Take the lead, or join in.

Sundhar Singh — November 4

Asia, The Modern Era (1227-1936), , , , ,

Sadhu Sundar Singh Books E-books - PDF

Bible connection

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. — 1 John 2:27

All about Sundar Singh (1889 – ca. 1929)

Sadhu Sundar Singh was born on September 3, 1889 into a rich Sikh family in Punjab. His mother was a pious woman who had a strong influence in his life. Her prayer was that her youngest son, Sundar, would renounce the world and become a Sadhu (or saintly wise man). She nurtured Sundar Singh in the Sikh and Hindu holy books. Her death when Sundar was only fourteen dealt her son a severe blow. He desperately searched for peace and began reading all sorts of religious books and practicing Yoga. His father put him in a Christian mission school in his village where Sundar developed a profound hatred for Christians. He went to the extent of tearing up a Bible and burning it into pieces.

Lost In despair, Sundar resolved to commit suicide if he failed to get a revelation of the living God. Early in the morning on Dec 18, 1904, he begged God to show him the way of salvation and determined to end his life on the railway track if his prayers were unanswered. At half past four a bright light shone in his room and he had a vision of Jesus. Sundar heard Christ speaking to him, “How long will you persecute me? I died for you, I gave my life for you.” Sundar Singh fell down in worship and surrendered his life to Christ.

This vision forever convinced him that he had seen the true God and it sustained him during the coming persecution. When he cut his long hair to renounce his religion, it was considered as a shame on the whole Sikh community and an unforgivable disobedience. His family poisoned the food he ate and sent him out of the house. He was miraculously saved by the grace of God and timely treatment given by nearby Christian villagers.

Thirty-three days after his baptism at sixteen years old, Sundar Singh began his life as a Christian sadhu. He was distressed to see the Indian church inculcating Western culture, imitating its customs, and failing to present the gospel in Indian terms. Sundar Singh knew that a life of a sadhu was the best way to present the gospel message of Christ to Indians. His yellow robe won him admission into many villages and people listened to him. He wandered barefoot, without any possessions except his thin linen garment, a blanket and a New Testament in Urdu. He preached the Gospel in villages near his home, then he traveled through Punjab to Afghanistan and Kashmir, lands where Christian mission work had hardly begun.

On his travels, Sundar Singh met Samuel Stokes, a wealthy American who came to India to work with lepers and briefly formed and travelled with a Franciscan Friary. Sundar joined with him for some time in ministry. He learned from him the ideals of Francis of Assisi; his life as a preaching friar inspired him.

Sundar Singh was always convinced that the water of life should be offered in the Indian cup. His short stint to equip himself with theological training at St. John’s Divinity College in Lahore in 1909 was largely unfruitful. Sundar considered that religious knowledge of the highest kind is acquired not by intellectual study but by direct contact with Christ. He even surrendered his preaching license from the Anglican church because he did not want to be constrained by a diocese. His call was to be a free agent without holding any office and to take the message of Jesus Christ to all churches and people of all faiths.

Tibet had always been a closed land for Christian missionaries as it was a strong Buddhist nation. Sundar Singh had a special burden for ministry in Tibet. It became his mission field and between 1908-1920 he reportedly made up to twenty risky trips to the country. In spite of stubborn opposition from the Lamas, his message was received in the important town of Tashigang. After returning from a trip to Tibet in 1912 he claimed to have met a guru connected to a Sanyasi (mendicant) Mission who were a secret Christian brotherhood numbering around 24,000. Some detractors loudly criticized what they said was a fantasy.

By 1918 Singh’s fame had spread far and wide and he was flooded with offers to preach all over South India. Thousands of people flocked to his meetings to hear him. He went to Ceylon to conduct powerful meetings six weeks. He was greatly disturbed by the caste system prevailing in these regions and condemned it severely. His ministry extended to Burma, Malaya, Penang, Singapore, China and Japan.

Sundar Singh had the joy of leading his father to Christ in the year 1919. His father sponsored him for his first journey to Europe. Sundar Singh was eager to find out the truth of the accusation that Christianity in the West had lost its splendor. He set off on a tour to England in January, 1920. He stayed in England for three months and went to America and Australia. He addressed huge gatherings everywhere to crowds of all denominations. Sundar Singh found the West to be indifferent to spiritual values and materialistic in their world view. While some people criticized him for his frank judgments, many were challenged and converted by his preaching.

Sundar Singh made a second trip to Europe and visited Palestine to satisfy his long cherished dream of seeing the Holy Land. He preached in most of the European countries to big audiences. It is indeed noteworthy to see an Indian presenting the message of the gospel to the Western world. However, Sundar Singh was disillusioned by the nominal Christianity and immorality of large sections of people in Europe. The Sadhu preferred the hardships of Tibet to the adulation of the Christian countries of the Western world.

Sadhu Sundar Singh experienced numerous miracles in his life which saved him from grave dangers. Once when he was in Tibet in a place called Risar, he was arrested for preaching a foreign religion and cast into a dry well outside the village. The well-pit was foul with rotten bodies and the top cover was locked. For two nights he trapped with little hope of survival. But the third night he saw the cover open and rope being let down and he was pulled up. The Sadhu was convinced that it was an angel of the Lord who helped him. Similarly, he experienced divine help many times when he was beaten up and persecuted.

Sundar Singh also experienced spiritual visions. He was in constant communion with Christ. He received ecstatic gifts from God when he saw visions as frequently as eight to ten times a month which lasted an hour or two. They were not in a dream state and the Sadhu was conscious of what was happening. His spiritual eyes were opened to see the glory of the heavenly sphere and walk there with Christ and converse with angels and spirits. This resulted in severe criticism and he was even called as an impostor and his imaginations as product of a diseased mind. But those who knew the Sadhu personally and witnessed his spiritual life never doubted his sincerity.

In 1923, Sundar Singh bought his own house in Subathu where he rested for almost three years because of heart attacks, trouble with eyesight, ulcers and several other complications which confined him to his home. The busy tours abroad and constant travel and preaching engagements took their toll on him. The Sadhu started contributing to articles in magazine and also writing his own books which amounted to seven thin volumes written in Urdu and translated into English with the assistance of his friends. The bulk of his writings contained messages he received through visions. His writings were influential and touched the lives of many people.

The Sadhu had a burning desire in his heart to visit Tibet again. He was strongly advised not to do so because of his ill health. When he attempted to go to Tibet in 1927, he suffered a severe hemorrhage of the stomach and had to be brought back. In April 1929, at the age of 39, Sundar determined to make another attempt to reach Tibet. He left instructions about his will and bid farewell to his friends. It was his last journey to Tibet and he was never to be seen again. Anxious friends made the efforts to trace him but to no avail. His death added one more mystery to a life which few people completely understood. We remember him on this day, although no one knows when he died.

Quotes

  • The Indian Seer lost God in Nature; the Christian mystic, on the other hand, finds God in Nature. The Hindu mystic believes that God and Nature are one and the same; the Christian mystic knows that there must be a Creator to account for the universe.
  • One day after a long journey, I rested in front of a house. Suddenly a sparrow came towards me blown helplessly by a strong wind. From another direction, an eagle dived to catch the panicky sparrow. Threatened from different directions, the sparrow flew into my lap. By choice, it would not normally do that. However, the little bird was seeking for a refuge from a great danger. Likewise, the violent winds of suffering and trouble blow us into the Lord’s protective hands.
  • Should I worship Him from fear of hell, may I be cast into it. Should I serve Him from desire of gaining heaven, may He keep me out. But should I worship Him from love alone, He reveals Himself to me, that my whole heart may be filled with His love and presence
  • From my many years experience I can unhesitatingly say that the cross bears those who bear the cross.
  • “In a Tibetan village I noticed a crowd of people standing under a burning tree and looking up into the branches. I came near and discovered in the branches a bird which was anxiously flying round a nest full of young ones. The mother bird wanted to save her little ones, but she could not. When the fire reached the nest the people waited breathlessly to see what she would do. No one could climb the tree, no one could help her. Now she could easily have saved her own life by flight, but instead of fleeing she sat down on the nest, covering the little ones carefully with her wings. The fire seized her and burnt her to ashes. She showed her love to her little ones by giving her life for them. If then, this little insignificant creature had such love, how much more must our Heavenly Father love His children, the Creator love His creatures!”

More

  • Biography by Phyllis Thompson
  • Nine minutes of reading with nice music.
  • A Ken Anderson (1917-2006) film from 1969. (Liam Neeson’s first role was as “Evangelist” in Anderson’s Pilgrim’s Progress. )

What do we do with this?

Sundar Singh is still misunderstood. Westerners have combed his writings for flaws and syncretism. He may have veered toward Swedenborgian ideas and back. He may have turned the gospel in Hindu and Buddhist directions. He has been called a Universalist. He was an evangelist in Sadhu clothing. You’ll have to decide what orthodoxy means to you. Singh was less interested in orthodoxy than in getting the gospel to Indians, who knew more about Western culture than they did about Jesus.

What is your evangelism like? Do you have a strategy (or just a criticism about the strategies of others)?

Ask God for a vision of his presence and a call that is worth giving your life to completely.

Martin de Porres — November 3

South America, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
Icon by Robert Lentz

Bible Connection

For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.  — 2 Corinthians 8:9

All about Martin de Porres (1579-1639)

Martin de Porres could have grown into a bitter man. In his day people of “mixed blood” were called “half-breed” or “war souvenir” by those of “pure” blood. He did not grow bitter. It was said that even as a child he gave his heart and his goods to the poor and despised.

He was the son of a freed woman from Panama (probably black but also possibly indigenous) and a Spanish aristocrat from Lima, Peru. His parents never married each other. Martin inherited the features and dark complexion of his mother. That disturbed his father, who finally acknowledged his son after eight years. After the birth of a sister, the father abandoned the family. Martin was reared in poverty, locked into a low level of Lima’s society.

When he was 12, his mother apprenticed him to a barber-surgeon. Martin learned how to cut hair and also how to draw blood, a standard medical treatment then; to care for wounds; and to prepare and administer medicines.

After a few years in this medical role, Martin applied to the Dominicans to be a “lay helper.” He did not feel worthy to be a religious brother. After nine years, the example of his prayer and penance, charity and humility, led the community to ask him to make full religious profession. Many of his nights were spent in prayer and penitential practices. His days were filled with nursing the sick and caring for the poor.

People noted how he cared for all people equally, regardless of their color, race, or status. He was instrumental in founding an orphanage, took care of slaves brought from Africa, and managed the daily alms of the priory with practicality, as well as generosity. He became the financial manager for both his priory and the city of Lima, whether it was a matter of “blankets, shirts, candles, candy, miracles or prayers!” When his priory was in debt, he said, “I am only a poor mulatto. Sell me. I am the property of the order. Sell me.”

His main work was in the kitchen, laundry, and infirmary. But in every situation, Martin’s life was filled with the Spirit. Stories tell how ecstasies lifted him into the air, how light filled the room where he prayed, how he could be in two places at once, how he had miraculous knowledge, how he effected instantaneous cures, and how he had a remarkable rapport with animals. Many people in his religious order took Martin as their spiritual director, but he continued to call himself a “poor slave.”

More

What do we do with this?

Racism is a sin that too few confess. Like pollution, it is a “sin of the world” that is everybody’s responsibility but apparently nobody’s fault. One could hardly imagine a more fitting patron of Christian forgiveness -– on the part of those discriminated against — and Christian justice — on the part of reformed racists — than Martin de Porres.

The symbols that reflect his character and work are represented in the icon above. As you gaze at the image, relate to the man. What might be painted in an icon of you? Who is an influential person in relation to your spiritual development? What would be pictured in their icon?

Keep your attention on Martin de Porres until God gives you the message he would like to deliver through Martin or deliver through your experience of his icon.

Teresa of Avila — October 15

The Modern Era (1227-1936)
The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian, 1598–1680), Date: 1647–52, Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy

Bible connection

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.  — Romans 13:8-10

All about Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Teresa of Avila (Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada, also called Teresa of Jesus) was a Spanish contemplative, mystic, and theologian.

This story from her childhood is often told to show what kind of person she was. Teresa learned as a small child that one had to die in order to see God. She wanted to see God. So being practical and courageous by temperament, she devised a scheme. She planned to go to the land of the Moors with her brother, Rodrigo. There they would surely be martyred and go to heaven. Very early one morning the two children slipped away from their home and crossed the bridge leading out of Avila. But the plan soon ran into trouble. An uncle who happened to be entering Avila at the time, met the children, heard their fantastic plan and shooed them back to their parents.

Later on in life, Teresa realized that one does not have to die to see God.

“We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon Him present within us.”

These words contain three essential steps for what she named ”mental prayer.” First, we must be searching for God. Second, we must be willing to be alone with Him. And third, we only need to look upon our Lord who is present within us.

“The important thing in mental prayer is not to think much but to love much.”

Mental prayer becomes fruitful when we realize the gift of God dwelling within us. Referring to her earlier years in the convent, Teresa wrote these regretful words,

“I think that if I had understood then as I do now that this great King really dwells within a little palace of my soul, I should not have left Him alone so often and never allowed his dwelling place to get so dirty.”

Mental prayer, one learns, is nothing but our side of friendship with God—our “yes” to God’s call and invitation.

“Beginners do well to form an appealing image of Christ in His Sacred Humanity. They should picture Him within themselves in some mystery of His life, for example, the Christ of the agony or the Risen Savior in His glorified Body. Once they are conscious of Our Lord’s presence within their souls they need only look upon Him and conversation will follow. This friendly conversation will not be much thinking but much loving, not a torrent of words, much less a strained prepared speech, but rather a relaxed conversation with moments of silence as there must be between friends.”

One of the profound things she is known to have said matches the Bible reading for today, “It is love alone that gives worth to all things.”

Teresa was active during the Counter Reformation (1545 to about 1648). She became the central figure of a movement of spiritual and monastic renewal, reforming the Carmelite Orders of both women and men. She was later joined in the movement by the younger Carmelite friar and mystic John of the Cross. He became her companion and together they  established the Discalced (Barefoot) Carmelites.

Teresa was the first of only four women who have been named “doctor of the church” among Roman Catholics. Her ascetic doctrine and Carmelite reforms shaped Roman Catholic contemplative life, and her writings on the Christian soul’s journey to God are considered masterpieces.

More

The Wikipedia page is also quite complete.

Teresa’s famous prayer. Coro in Crescendo sings the Taize version of it, here with English subtitles.

You can read the Interior Castle for free.

Recommended biography.

Our friend, Zach Agoff, wrote about Teresa’s connection to Descartes.

A Roman Catholic bio:

Rod’s pilgrimage story.

What do we do with this?

Paul reminds us that love is the only thing we owe each other.  It is a continuing debt.  It is a debt that gives worth to our lives.  We are compelled to love each other regardless of the circumstances.  For some of us, that seems like a lot.  But the fact remains that each one of us is loved and as loved ones in the world we have the capacity to love others.  When we go ahead and make payments toward that debt, we fulfill God’s vision for the world.

Meditate on Teresa’s wisdom:

  • Christ has no body now but mine. He prays in me, works in me, looks through my eyes, speaks through my words, works through my hands, walks with my feet and loves with my heart.
  • We may speak of love and humility as the true flowers of spiritual growth; and they give off a wonderful scent, which benefits all those who come near.
  • After you die, you wear what you are.

Elizabeth Fry — October 12

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. — Hebrews 13:3

All about Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845)

Elizabeth Fry was a pioneering campaigner for better conditions in prisons during the the long reign of Queen Victoria in England (the “Victorian Era”).

She was born Elizabeth Gurney in 1780, in Norwich, England to a prominent Quaker family. Her father was a partner in Gurney’s Bank, and her mother was a relative of the Barclay family, who founded Barclays Bank. After her mother died when she was 12, she took an active role in bringing up her other siblings. When Elizabeth was 18, she was influenced by the humanitarian message of William Savery, an American Quaker who spoke of the importance of tackling poverty and injustice. She was inspired to help local charities and a local Sunday School, which taught children to read. When she was 20, she married Joseph Fry, who was a tea merchant and a Quaker. They moved to London where they had eleven children.

Elizabeth was a strict observant; as a Quaker Minister she didn’t engage in activities like dancing and singing. However, she was well connected in London society and often met influential members of the upper-middle classes of London.

newgate
The infamous Newgate prison before demolition

Around 1812, she made her first visit to Newgate Prison, which housed both men and women prisoners, some of who were awaiting trial. Fry was shocked at the squalid and unsanitary conditions in which she found the prisoners. She saw how the environment fermented both bad health and violence. In 1813, she wrote:

“All I tell thee is a faint picture of reality; the filth, the closeness of the rooms, the furious manner and expressions of the women towards each other, and the abandoned wickedness, which everything bespoke are really indescribable.”

She spent the night in prison to get a better idea of what conditions were like. She sought to improve conditions by bringing in clean clothes and food. She also encouraged prisoners to look after themselves better; for example, she suggested rules that they could vote on themselves. She felt her mission was:

” … to form in them, as much as possible, those habits of sobriety, order, and industry, which may render them docile and peaceable while in prison, and respectable when they leave it.”

She would put a better-educated prisoner in charge and encourage them to cooperate in keeping their cells cleaner and more hygienic. Fry felt one of the most important things was to give prisoners a sense of self-respect which would help them to reform, rather than fall into bad habits and become re-offenders.

She wrote a book Prisons in Scotland and the North of England (1819) and encouraged her fellow society friends to go and visit the prison to see conditions for themselves. She told her readers:

“It must indeed be acknowledged, that many of our own penal provisions, as they produce no other effect, appear to have no other end, than the punishment of the guilty.”

Elizabeth Fry reading to the prisoners in Newgate jail in 1816, accompanied by JJ Gurney, Dorcas Covetry, Thomas Fowell Buxton, and Samuel Gurney.

In 1817, she founded the Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate; this later became the British Ladies’ Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners. It was one of the first nationwide women’s organizations in Britain. The aims of the organization were:

“to provide for the clothing, the instruction, and the employment of these females, to introduce them to knowledge of the holy scriptures, and to form in them as much as lies in our power, those habits of order, sobriety, and industry which may render them docile and perceptible whilst in prison, and respectable when they leave it.”

In 1818, Fry became the first women to give evidence at a House of Commons committee, during an inquiry into British prisons. In 1825, she published an influential book:  Observations of the Siting, Superintendence and Government of Female Prisoners. It gave details for improving penal reforms. Fry’s unique contribution was her willingness to bring up an unpopular topic others left untouched. She she also insisted on practical steps to improve prison conditions.

As well as campaigning for better prisons, Fry also established a night shelter for the homeless, after she encountered a young boy dead on the street. In 1824, she instituted the Brighton District Visiting Society, which arranged for volunteers to visit the homes of the poor to offer education and material aid. She also established a nursing school, which later inspired Florence Nightingale to take a team of nurses, trained in Fry’s school, to Crimea. She was supported in her work by her husband, but after he went bankrupt in 1828, her brother, a banker, stepped in to provide funds and support.

Fry became well known in society; she was granted a few audiences with Queen Victoria who was a strong supporter of her work. Another royal admirer was Frederick William IV of Prussia. In an unusual move for a visiting monarch, the king went to see Fry in Newgate prison and was deeply impressed by her work. The Home Office Minister Robert Peel was also an admirer. In 1823, he led in passing the Gaol Act which sought to legislate for minimum standards in prisons. This went some way to improve conditions in prison in London but was not enforced in debtors prisons or local gaols (jails) around the country.

At the time, it was unusual for a woman to have an active public profile and move out of the confines of the home. Particularly in the early years, Fry was criticized for neglecting her role as mother and housewife. Lord Sidmouth, the home secretary preceding Peel, rejected her criticisms of the prisons. In this regard, she can be seen as an important figure in giving women a higher profile in public affairs. She could be seen as an early feminist and forerunner of the later suffragists, who campaigned for women to be given the vote.

More

From Biography online

From Christian History magazine

Nice extra facts: “Why Mrs. Fry Willingly Went to Prison.”

One minute video:

Book: Betsy: The Dramatic Biography of Prison Reformer Elizabeth Fry

On the 5 Pound note.

What do we do with this?

Conviction causes us to take risks. Maybe you don’t have the intelligence, imagination and courage of Elizabeth Fry, but what do you have? What is a need you can enter today? Who can you comfort? Who is in “jail” in some way and you can remember them and suffer with them?

William Seymour — September 28

North America, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

Read Acts 2:14-21

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

All about William J. Seymour (1870-1922)

William Seymour died of a heart attack on September 28, 1922. He is widely considered the Father of Pentecostalism. He followed the Holy Spirit and developed a belief in the ecstatic spiritual gifts (entire sanctification which manifests in prophesy, speaking in tongues, and other expressions), even before he was gifted. When he was gifted, he needed to preach what he experienced.

He was first locked out of the California building to which he had been invited to speak. He eventually found another place to minister and soon developed a following that outgrew that building after a remarkable evening of God’s presence. He proceeded to find a larger place to preach and worship in Los Angeles. It was on the dirt floor in what became the famous building on Azusa St. that the Pentecostal revival began.

In a short time God began to manifest His power and soon the building could not contain the people. Now the meetings continue all day and into the night and the fire is kindling all over the city and surrounding towns. Proud, well-dressed preachers come in to “investigate.” Soon their high looks are replaced with wonder, then conviction comes, and very often you will find them in a short time wallowing on the dirty floor, asking God to forgive them and make them as little children. ― William Seymour, The Azusa Papers

To Seymour, tongues was not the only message of Azusa Street: “Don’t go out of here talking about tongues: talk about Jesus,” he admonished.

The greater expression of barrier breaking, Acts 2 tongues might be how blacks and whites were in one church. Seymour rejected racial barriers that plagued the Church at that time. Blacks and whites worked together in apparent harmony under the direction of a black pastor, a marvel in the days of Jim Crow segregation. One commentator said: “At Azusa Street, the color line was washed away in the Blood.”

What’s more, Seymour installed women as leaders (notably Lucy Farrow, a formerly enslaved woman and the niece of Frederick Douglass), which was almost universally opposed at the time. Seymour dreamed that Azusa Street was creating a new kind of church, one where a common experience in the Holy Spirit tore down old walls of racial, ethnic, and denominational differences.

Seymour quotes

  • I can say, through the power of the Spirit that wherever God can get a people that will come together in one accord and one mind in the Word of God, the baptism of the Holy Ghost will fall upon them, like as at Cornelius’ house.
  • So many today are worshiping in the mountains, big churches, stone and frame buildings. But Jesus teaches that salvation is not in these stone structures–not in the mountains—not in the hills, but in God.
  • The Pentecostal power, when you sum it all up, is just more of God’s love. If it does not bring more love, it is simply a counterfeit.
  • Many people today are sanctified, cleansed from all sin and perfectly consecrated to God, but they have never obeyed the Lord according to Acts 1, 4, 5, 8 and Luke 24: 39, for their real personal Pentecost, the enduement of power for service and work and for sealing unto the day of redemption. The baptism with the Holy Ghost is a free gift without repentance upon the sanctified, cleansed vessel. “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor. 1: 21-22). I praise our God for the sealing of the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption

More

Azusa Street Revival [link]

The Azusa Street Project movie (2006) [link]

A great theater note on the Gospel at Colonus enlightens us about ecstatic spiritual gifts. [link]

What do we do with this?

Seymour would probably simply ask us to consider his observation: “Many people today are sanctified, cleansed from all sin and perfectly consecrated to God, but they have never obeyed the Lord according to Acts 1, 4, 5, 8 and Luke 24: 39, for their real personal Pentecost, the enduement of power for service and work and for sealing unto the day of redemption.” What would you say about yourself?