DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… Catherine McAuley.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

Even before the famine which began in 1845, Ireland had its share of poverty. Orphans and waifs did not find the kind of governmental support which is now common everywhere in the western world. Although antipathy between Protestants and Catholics existed then as now, it did not prevent one Catholic orphan girl of Dublin from finding Protestant foster parents.

Catherine McAuley was taken into the home of Surgeon Conway. Although he was a rigid Protestant, Catherine refused to attend his Protestant church. When Catherine was 18, another couple, the Callahan’s, adopted her. She converted both of them to Roman Catholicism. When Mr. Callahan died in 1822, he left her a great fortune. She was then about 35.

Perhaps because she had lost her own parents, Catherine wanted to do work among the poor. She had already engaged in relief efforts for the needy and by 1824 contemplated plans for a centre for the charitable works she planned.

On September 24, 1827 she opened her House of Mercy. It consisted of a school and a home for working mothers. Because the need for jobs was great, she soon tacked on an employment agency and before long an orphanage.

Catherine had no interest in becoming a nun. Many of her helpers were inclined to religious vocations, but, except for a daily routine which included spiritual exercises and a uniform adopted for convenience sake, her House of Mercy made no effort to become a religious order. All the same, her inclusion of religious elements led to carping by jealous Roman Catholic orders. Her work was heretical, they griped. Catherine was trying to compete with the Sisters of Charity. An ugly prejudice developed against her.

The archbishop of Dublin, under whose care Catherine had placed her funds, spoke with her. Either she must drop the religious elements from her work or else bring it officially into the Catholic Church.

Rather than give up the work which had come to mean a good deal to her, Catherine agreed to receive religious instruction and develop her work into a charitable order. She adopted the Augustinian rule commonly used by the Sisters of Presentation, adding chapters on the care of distressed women and visitation of the sick. On December 12, 1831, she took her own vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Thus came into being the Sisters of Mercy.

Even in her lifetime the order grew and spread. She established a second house in London "to educate poor little girls, to lodge and maintain poor young ladies who are in danger and to visit the sick poor." After she died in November 1841, the Sisters of Mercy grew to be the largest order ever founded in an English speaking country.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give all you have, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Catherine McAuley, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Catherine McAuley, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by her testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Catherine. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.

GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES…. George Washington Bethune.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

When France suppressed its Protestant Huguenots, they scattered around the world. Many wound up in the young United States. Several presidents, the first chief justice of the United States (John Jay) and many other famous men boasted Huguenot blood. George Washington Bethune, born on March 18, 1805 in New York City, was also of Huguenot descent. He became a notable Dutch Reformed pastor.

Apart from a brief stint in South Carolina as a missionary to seamen while he was still associated with the Presbyterian church, George spent all of his pastoral life in Dutch Reform churches in New York and Pennsylvania until illness forced his retirement in 1859. He authored several books, including a study of British female writers, a collection of his own poems, and five editions of Izaac Walton's Complete Angler.

Because of his extraordinary literary background, he was offered high leadership positions at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania. However, he declined both because he preferred to be a preacher of the Gospel. In fact, he once urged his sons and sons-in-law: "My sons, preach the Gospel. Tell dying sinners of a Savior. All the rest is folly."

It was as a preacher and orator that he shone. In one of his sermons, he gave this advice: "While, therefore, we grow in the Christian life by divine grace, it is our duty to grow in grace. Besides, the quality of grace is such that, though it is strength from God, we must use it. Grace gives no new faculty, but strengthens the faculties which we have . . .”

Bethune penned the words to the hymn, "There Is No Name So Sweet on Earth."

There is no name so sweet on earth,

No name so sweet in Heaven,

The Name, before His wondrous birth

To Christ the Savior given.

And when He hung upon the tree,

They wrote this Name above Him;

That all might see the reason we

Forevermore must love Him.

He died suddenly of a stroke in April 1862. The morning of his death, he preached in the Scottish church in Florence. He had gone to sunny Italy that year for his health and his wife's. George Bethune was just 56. At his funeral, the congregation sang one of his hymns:

It is not death to die,

To leave this weary road,

And, midst the brotherhood on high,

To be at home with God.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give all you have, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, George Washington Bethune, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of George Washington Bethune, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used George. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.

GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… James Hannington.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

James Hannington did not consider himself a hero. Yet it is impossible for us to view him in any other light. After an adventurous childhood (which included blowing off his thumb with black powder) he became an Anglican minister. Although highly successful with his church work, he left England to carry the gospel to Uganda in 1882.

His first attempt to reach the African nation failed. Consumed by fevers, he often had to be carried. When he walked, he tied his hands around his neck to relieve the agony in his arms. Yet he made humorous sketches of his plight.

In 1885, after recuperating in England, he tried again, approaching Uganda from the North East. This proved to be a mistake. Uganda's suspicious king lumped him with the Germans who were grabbing territory in that direction. He sent a thousand Ugandan soldiers to intercept Hannington. On October 21, 1885, they took him prisoner. They allowed him a little freedom early in his captivity and he walked out to look at the Nile.

His journal tells what happened next: "...suddenly about twenty ruffians set upon us. They violently threw me to the ground, and proceeded to strip me of all valuables. Thinking they were robbers I shouted for help, when they forced me up and hurried me away, as I thought, to throw me down a precipice close at hand. I shouted again in spite of one threatening to kill me with a club.

Twice I nearly broke away from them, and then grew faint with struggling and was dragged by the legs over the ground. I said, 'Lord, I put myself in Thy hands, I look to Thee alone.' Then another struggle and I got to my feet and was then dashed along. More than once I was violently brought into contact with banana trees, some trying in their haste to force me one way, others the other, and the exertion and struggling strained me in the most agonizing manner. In spite of all, and feeling I was being dragged away to be murdered at a distance, I sang 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus' and laughed at the very agony of my situation.

My clothes were torn to pieces so that I was exposed; wet through with being dragged on the ground; strained in every limb, and for a whole hour expecting instant death, hurried along, dragged, pushed at five miles an hour, until we came to a hut..."

After exhibiting him as a trophy for a week, his tormentors speared him to death on the 29th. We know most of this detail because one of the Ugandans kept Hannington's journal and sold it to a later expedition.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give all you have, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, James Hannington, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of James Hannington, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used James. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.

GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… Charlotte Tucker.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

Charlotte Tucker was 54 years old when she went to India as a missionary. She did so at her own expense. Born May 8, 1821, she was daughter of Henry St. George Tucker, former director of the East India Company. Wealthy and gracious, she published many children's books under the name "A Lady of England." She had not been able to go to India earlier in her life because, for eighteen years, she had the care of her aging parents and of nephews and nieces whose father had been killed during a mutiny in India.

Her nephews and nieces said, "No one could play games like Aunt Char; she seemed younger than the youngest of us." She also liked to dance with them or read Shakespeare aloud while knitting. No one wanted to see her go.

Before leaving England, Charlotte studied Hindustani, afraid she would not be able to learn a new language at her age. As soon as she arrived in India, she put her limited knowledge of the language to work, stammering out words and phrases such as, "The Lord Jesus is here; He gives blessing."

Consequently, she mastered Hindustani within a year. Her plan was to work in the Zanenas, the women's enclosures. And she did. By her death eighteen years later, she had access to 170 homes. She also assisted for many years at a boys' school.

In order to fit in with the Indians, she determined to "Orientalize" her mind. Thus at her first church service, she sat on the floor with the native Christians. That was always her way. She would even have adopted the sari as her dress if the other missionaries had not forbidden it.

So glowing was her testimony, especially when she played music and sang, that Indian Christians would walk for miles just to behold her shining face. Everyone called her "Auntie."

Every year she took a one month vacation. During it she would write a story or two--meditations on Christ's teachings--parables and allegories which proved particularly apt for Indian readers. Titles like Eight Pearls of Blessing or The Bag of Treasure enjoyed brisk sales which increased after her death in 1893.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give your all, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Charlotte Tucker, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Charlotte Tucker, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by her testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Charlotte. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… Thomas Guthrie.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

" He was the only father I ever had." The boy was talking of Thomas Guthrie, a man who cared deeply for children.

Thomas Guthrie was born in Brechin, Scotland, July 12, 1803. He was just twelve when he entered the University of Edinburgh. For ten years he studied a wide range of subjects, including medicine and science. After leaving school, he became a pastor.

At his first church, in Arbirlot, he not only taught the gospel, but doctored the sick and helped his people establish a savings institution.

When Guthrie transferred to Edinburgh, he was shocked at the bad behaviour of the children. The population of the towns had shot far ahead of the "means of education and religious instruction." Too often, the state-paid ministers were more interested in gambling, drinking and plays than in caring for souls. "There needs no other evidence of the fact that a lack of real faith exists among some who claim to be religious, than the cold, callous, and heartless indifference with which many bear the sins and look upon the sorrows of their fellow-creatures. They could not do so if they were baptized into the nature as well as the name of Jesus Christ," wrote Thomas indignantly. [Some of the quotes in this story have been modernized.]

He made a tour of his district and reported appalling conditions. "I wandered...whole days without ever seeing a Bible, or indeed any book at all. I often stood in rooms bare of any furniture; where father, mother, and half a dozen children had neither bed nor bedding, unless a heap of straw and dirty rags huddled in a corner could be called so. I have heard the wail of children crying for bread, and their mother had none to give them..."

"I have known a father turn his step-daughter to the street at night--bidding the sobbing girl who bloomed into womanhood, earn her bread there as others were doing. I have bent over the foul pallet of a dying lad to hear him whisper how his father and mother --who were sitting half drunk by the fireside--had pulled the blankets off his body to sell them for drink. I have seen children whitened like plants growing in a cellar...when they cry they are not kissed but beaten...I don't recollect of ever seeing a mother in these wretched dwellings bouncing her infant, or of hearing the little creature crow or laugh as he leapt with joy. There, infants have no toys; and mothers smiles are rare as sunshine."

Thomas Guthrie opened "ragged schools" and fed the children who attended. He had a hand in every good work, fighting alcoholism, improving housing, calling for better work laws. He was one of the preachers who joined in creating the Free Church. Its pastors became directly dependent upon their people rather than living off the state as civil servants. When many were thrown out of their parsonages and suffered severely, Thomas raised over £100,000 (over $1,000,000 in today's money) in less than a year to build parsonages for them.

In addition to his social work, he preached faithfully. Hundreds of lives were salvaged through the efforts of this Godly man. His work became widely known and he appeared before a Committee of the House of Commons on 'criminal and destitute juveniles'. His book The Gospel in Ezekiel sold more than 50,000 copies, an indication of his popularity. He felt that alcohol brought about many of the problems in society and he became a total abstainer in 1845 as well as being heavily involved in the Forbes-Mackenzie Act which reduced public house opening hours. His 1857 work, The City: its sins and sorrows described why he set out on the path he did. In 1862 he became Moderator of the Free Church General Assembly and retired in 1865.

Thomas died in 1873, and is buried in the Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh. There is a Memorial statue in front of Edinburgh Castle.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give your all, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Thomas Guthrie, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Thomas Guthrie, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Thomas. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.

GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… Elizabeth Fry.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

"You are born to be a light to the blind, speech to the dumb and feet to the lame."

Eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Gurney heard this prediction with wonder. Had not her friend Deborah Darby gone too far? Members of the Society of Friends, commonly called "Quakers," accepted that the Holy Spirit spoke to them through one another. But Deborah's words seemed overly bold for an age which did not allow women much scope of action. Earlier that same year Elizabeth had fallen under conviction in a meeting led by a Quaker from the United States. So deep had been the impression that she had wept in the carriage most of the way home where she confided to her diary, "Today I have felt that there is a God." Yet no compelling sense of purpose had come to her.

Nor did it now. Nonetheless, she made herself useful where she could, starting a Sunday School with one boy. It quickly grew to eighty. She provided the poor with food and clothes and read to them from the Scriptures. When banker Joseph Fry proposed marriage the following year, she hesitated, hoping for illumination from the Lord. As nothing specific was forthcoming, she accepted the offer. She bore him ten children. Not until after the tenth was born did Elizabeth glimpse her mission.

In 1817 her brother-in-law Thomas Fowell Buxton, a Member of Parliament, suggested she visit the women's section of Newgate prison. Crime was on the rise. English prisons were overcrowded. Perhaps some remedy was possible.

Friends cautioned Elizabeth not to go. The female prisoners were so violent that they would snatch clothes off visitors' backs, heckle them and steal their valuables. The governor of Newgate himself dared not approach them. But the mother of ten determined to take action. This was just the challenge she craved. Having visited a prison before, she wasn't to be frightened off. Had not the Lord commanded us to remember those in prison? She entered Newgate, refusing even to take off her watch, which, incidentally, was not stolen.

Nothing had prepared her for what she found. Hundreds of drunken, rag-clad women crowded into four rooms built for half their number. Innocents awaited trial side by side with hardened prostitutes and thieves. Children, whose only fault was to have nowhere else to go, might have envied barnyard animals their stables. Babies born in prison squalled in nakedness.
The turnkeys (who made their income "shaking down" prisoners) sold a few amenities- and even sold booze. Bathing utensils were scarce. Lice swarmed in clothes and hair. The daily ration of food was one small loaf of bread per person. There were no medicines. Sick women were dumped on dirty straw without so much as a bed. Death by "prison fever" (Typhus) was common.

Discipline was nonexistent. Bullies ran the wards. Fights and curses erupted freely. Many of the women strutted around in men's clothes. Even the tough male prisoners, who mingled with the women during the day, were appalled at their behavior.

Elizabeth made her appeal through the babies. Surely the women desired better than this squalor for their little ones! Indeed they did! But they had no income, no education, no discipline, no hope. Elizabeth promised help and they listened respectfully, recognizing her plain dress as a religious uniform.

Drawing on her own resources and the funds of others, Elizabeth gathered supplies and formed committees. She organized classes in knitting and sewing. Soon the women were able to sell their piecework, earning a little money for soap and food. After fierce haggling she obtained a room for a school. The best educated among them was designated to teach. Each day Fry read aloud to them from the Bible, hoping that the salvation story would sink into their minds and convert them. A few sought Christ's pardon and lived with new peace.

The Quakeress convinced the prison authorities to appoint matrons in place of male turnkeys for the women. With steely determination, she enforced rules upon all, rules which the prisoners themselves voted on. She had them elect leaders to keep order among themselves. Soon Newgate's female wards evidenced unprecedented decorum. The transformation was so extraordinary that world leaders heard of it and consulted her.

At that time many convicts were transported from England to Australia. The system was especially brutal to women for the ships were not fitted to accommodate them. Destitute when at last they reached Australia, many women resorted to prostitution to survive. Elizabeth agitated for reforms. Meantime, for twenty years, she and her committee visited every transportation ship before it sailed, ensuring that the women had cloth and thread so they might make articles on the long voyage which they could sell in the colony when they arrived. Thanks in large part to her efforts, the transportation was exposed as an inhumane institution and, shortly after her death, outlawed.

Elizabeth's reforms prompted other advances. Theodore Fliedner, a young German pastor, imported her ideas to Germany. To succor needy ill women, he trained nurses. Elizabeth, impressed by the idea, founded the Institute of Nursing Sisters to work among the poor. The nurses were given rudimentary training at Guy's Hospital. One of these sisters nursed Elizabeth in her last illness. She died at age 65. Her actions, spurred by faith, fulfilled Deborah Darby's vision: she had become a voice for prisoners who could not speak for themselves.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give your all, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Elizabeth Fry, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Elizabeth Fry, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by her testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Elizabeth. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.

GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… STEPHEN MERRITT.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

"You may move the hands of a clock to suit you, but you do not change the time; so you hurry the unfolding of God's will, but you harm and do not help the work. You can open a rosebud but you spoil the flower. Leave all to Him. Hands down. Thy will, not mine."

Stephen Merritt, who wrote those words, died January 29, 1917. A wealthy New Yorker, he gave much time to overseas missions and to New York's poor. He had studied the work of the Holy Spirit. This led to the encounter for which he is most famous.

As a secretary to the Methodist missionary-bishop, William Taylor, Stephen met many missionaries. One was a young lady named Elizabeth MacNeil. Stephen could see that she was feeling overwhelmed as she left for Africa. Gently he advised her to humble herself before the Lord and commit herself to Him. The Holy Spirit, he assured her, would empower her to do the work for which she was sent abroad.

Lizzie taught a young African named Sammy Morris everything she knew about the Holy Spirit. Sammy hungered to learn more. When she said there was nothing else she could teach him, he asked, "Who taught you about the Holy Spirit?"

"Stephen Merritt," she replied. Sammy questioned her. Who was this Stephen? Where did he live? Satisfied, he said goodbye. Without money or a map, he headed for America. Protected by God, who miraculously met his needs, Sammy arrived in New York. Stephen lived several miles from the dock. God arranged that the first person Sammy met was an alcoholic who had once been in one of Stephen's shelters.

The man led Sammy to the St. James Street Methodist Episcopal Church where Stephen served as pastor. Stephen was heading off to a prayer meeting and sent Sammy next door to a rescue mission he bankrolled. Stephen had gotten into trouble with the law because his prayer meetings had a way of running too late at night. However, on this night, he returned home about 10:30. Remembering Sammy, he drove back to the mission. There he found seventeen men kneeling around the African, who had led them to Christ. That night, to the surprise of his wife, Dolly, Stephen took Sammy into his home and put him up in the bishop's room. Sammy was the first black man who ever ate at Stephen's table. Much of what we know about Sammy and his fervor for Christ was recorded by Stephen.

He told this story on himself. "I took him (Sammy) in a coach with a prancing team of horses, as I was going to Harlem to officiate at a funeral. I said: 'Samuel, I would like to show you something of our city and Central Park.'" Stephen showed Sammy the sights. Suddenly Sammy asked, 'Stephen Merritt, do you ever pray in a coach?' Stephen assured him he did.

Sammy placed his great, black hand on the white man's ...and, turning me around on my knees, said: 'We will pray,' and for the first time I knelt in a coach to pray. He told the Holy Spirit he had come from Africa to talk to me about Him, and I talked about everything else, and wanted to show him the church, and the city, and the people, when he was so desirous of hearing and knowing about Him; and he asked Him if He would not take out of my heart things, and so fill me with Himself, that I would never speak or write or preach or talk, only of Him.

There were three of us in that coach that day. Never have I known such a day. We were filled with the Holy Spirit, and He made him the channel by which I became instructed and then endued as never before."

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give your all, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Stephen Merritt, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Stephen Merritt, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Stephen. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… Richard Wurmbrand.

One beautiful Sunday morning, on the February 29, 1948, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand of Romania set out on foot for church. He never arrived. For eight and one half years his wife and son did not know where he was or even whether he was alive or dead. "Ex-prisoners" assured Sabrina Wurmbrand they had witnessed her husband's funeral in a Communist prison. Sabrina was heartbroken and yet she had her doubts. The men might be government stooges.

Wurmbrand's disappearance was expected. Anyone who acted contrary to the regime could expect imprisonment or death. At a "Congress of Cults" held by the Communist government, he had asked for it. Religious leaders stepped forward to swear loyalty to the new regime. Sabrina asked Richard to "wipe the shame from the face of Jesus." Richard replied that if he stepped forward, she would no longer have a husband. "I don't need a coward for a husband," she answered. And so Richard stepped forward and told the 4,000 delegates that their duty as Christians was to glorify God and Christ alone.
He returned home to pastor an underground church and promote the gospel among Rumania's Russian invaders. He smuggled Bibles into Russia, disguised as Communist propaganda. And then he disappeared.

What had actually happened? As Richard walked to Church, a van full of secret police stopped in front of him. Four men jumped out and hustled him inside. He was taken to their headquarters and later locked in a solitary cell where he was designated Prisoner Number 1.

His years of imprisonment consisted of a ceaseless round of torture and brainwashing. For seventeen hours a day, repetitious phrases were dinned into his ears: Communism is good. Christianity is stupid! Give up. Give up! Over the years, his body was carved in a dozen places and burned. "I prefer not to speak about those [tortures] through which I have passed. When I do, I cannot sleep at night. It is too painful." His jailers also broke many of his bones, including four vertebrae. Miraculously, he survived. Other martyrs did not.

Eight and one half years later, in 1956, Wurmbrand was released. Sabrina herself was brutalized for three years in prison. The Wurmbrand's nine- year-old son Mihai was orphaned during this time. Released, the Wurmbrands immediately recommenced secret church work. Wurmbrand was returned to prison, not released again until 1964.

In 1965, Western churches ransomed Wurmbrand from Rumania for $10,000. Richard and Sabrina immediately spoke out for those still suffering in Communist hands. Wurmbrand was asked to testify before the US Senate. He displayed eighteen holes cut in his body. Afterward, he was invited to speak before hundreds of groups. By 1967, "Prisoner Number 1" had incorporated the mission organization that is now known as Voice of the Martyrs, dedicated to assisting those who suffer for Christ throughout the world.

Richard and Sabina were able to survive their ordeal through the power of love. "If the heart is cleansed by the love of Jesus Christ," wrote Wurmbrand, "and if the heart loves him, you can resist all tortures. What would a loving bride not do for a loving bridegroom? What would a loving mother not do for her child? If you love Christ as Mary did, who had Christ as a baby in her arms, if you love Jesus as a bride loves her bridegroom, then you can resist such tortures. God will judge us not according to how much we endured, but how much we could love. I am a witness for the Christians in communist prisons that they could love. They could love God and men."

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give all you have, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Richard Wurmbrand, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Richard Wurmbrand, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Richard. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… Too Late Warning for Irene Ferrel!

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

We fear the beating of the drum for classes is inciting the Jeunesse." Nkedi, the Congolese director of the Baptist primary school in Mangungu, spoke with concern. The Jeunesse ("youth") were rebels, notorious for massacres and tortures. They had forced all the village schools to close. Beating a drum (the Congo school bell) was a daily reminder to the terrorists that the mission school was still operating. This spelled danger, for the Marxist guerrillas considered Christianity their most formidable competitor.

Standing in shade in front of their house, missionaries Irene Ferrel and Ruth Hege listened with sympathy as teachers agreed with Nkedi that the school should be closed for a couple weeks until the threat passed. As they talked, the whir of an airplane was heard.

"Avion! Avion! Avion!" shouted the Africans. Excitement was high because airplanes are the lifeline of many remote mission stations. All ran together as the pilot flung out something that trailed a white bandage. It fell into nearby bushes. Attached was a note.

Opening the letter with trembling fingers, Irene read, "Are you in trouble? All missionaries have been evacuated from Mukedi. Kandala Station burned and missionaries evacuated." The note asked them to signal their intentions. "If you want to be evacuated, sit on the ground. We will send a helicopter for you." The red and white plane circled back to get their response. There was no time to weigh options. "Lord, lead us," they gasped. They did not want to abandon the African Christians, and yet, as the only two white women in the region, they stuck out as targets, inviting attack.

Hand in hand, Irene and Ruth walked to the clearing and sat. The Cessena plane dipped a wing to show that their reply was understood and zipped away. It was three o'clock, on this day, January 24, 1964 in the Congo (Zaire).

There was no time to lose. No doubt the helicopter would be winging toward them within the hour. "We will be back," they promised their loyal Congolese friends, and hurried to wrap up final details, packing, paying workmen, hiding the car.

Evening brought no helicopter. Christians gathered for a farewell service. When the meeting broke up at midnight, pastor Luka said, "We will be right here. We are not going to our houses to sleep tonight...We want to be here to see the Avion come down."

Despite the war, the station had been so peaceful that even now Irene and Ruth found it hard to believe that they were in danger. Ruth went to bed. Suddenly the night air carried urgent cries, Luka and others shouting a warning. There was a sound of running feet.

Shrieks and the crash of broken glass plainly told that the Jeunesse had come. Ruth leaped up and jerked on her clothes. She rushed to Irene's room. What were they to do? The Jeunesse poured into the house, looting everything, even grabbing Ruth's shoes out of her hand. Shoving, pulling, shouting, the drug-crazed bandits dragged the two women fifty feet across the lawn. Ruth's skirt was ripped from her with such violence she was almost flung to the ground. She thanked God that she and Irene were still together.

An arrow hurtled toward them, plunging into Irene's throat. "I am finished," gasped Irene. She took one step and fell--Baptist Mid-Missions' only martyr of the twentieth century. Crying Irene's name, Ruth collapsed beside her and passed out, wounded by a blow.

Because Ruth was bloody and motionless, the Jeunesse thought she was dead. When they had left, she crawled to a hiding place and survived four days of threats and terror before her rescue by helicopter. She managed to tell the Jeunesse of Christ's love. Later, the rebels tortured Pastors Luka and Zechariah, who shielded her, but they escaped and hid in the forest.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give all you have, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Irene Ferrel and Ruth Hege, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the lives of Irene Ferrel and Ruth Hege, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by their testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Irene and Ruth. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… James Gilmour, Apostle to Mongolia… The conclusion.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

13. Mrs. Gilmour's Death. Affliction finally took hold of Mrs. Gilmour, the disease sure of its prey, no matter how long it would be in securing it. Six weeks before the end came they talked over spiritual things, lest later she might not be able to speak of them. In simple, childlike faith, on September 19, 1885, she passed away and the eleven years of happy married life were brought to an end.

14. Phases of His Work. Tobacco, opium, and whiskey were the three great evils of the Mongolians and against them Gilmour presented Christ with great power. He made abstinence from all three conditions of church membership. Opposition was strong, but he stood his ground, declaring that "to leave Christians drinking whiskey and smoking tobacco would be preaching forgiveness of sin thru Christ to men who were still going on in the practice of what their consciences told them was sin."

Imagine his embarrassment when he had to acknowledge to a deputation of Mongolians, favorably-disposed to Christianity, who came to him to know if it were true that a certain missionary in Peking smoked after he preached, that this was true. These men left and never returned to hear him. Still he was undaunted. Christ he would preach and leave the results with his Lord. He went afoot to save expense and was barred from decent inns because he was a tramp. He hired a donkey to carry his baggage, to give him respectability. An agent of the Bible Society and a native quarreled.

This spread and met Gilmour everywhere he went, and people told him they did not want a religion that was not better than their own. Alone he pressed forward, sowing in tears as few missionaries ever are called upon to do; lonely and alone, is it any wonder that he had seasons of depression and urged the church at home to pray for him, and help him with her sympathy? He was willing to be all things lawful in order to win some trophies of the cross.

He became a vegetarian to win some of higher moral standards; he dressed like a shopkeeper; ate porridge, native fashion, in the street in order to win souls for Christ. His living expenses averaged about six cents per day. Some think he shortened his usefulness by such methods, but none were as capable of judging what was best as he who was on the field and understood conditions.

15. His Work. Upon reaching a new city he pitched his tent on a main thoroughfare, and from early morn till late at night healed the sick, preached and talked to inquirers. During one eight months' campaign he saw about 6,000 patients, preached to nearly 24,000 people, sold 3,000 books, distributed 4,500 tracts, traveled 1,860 miles and spent about $200, and added, sadly, that but two openly confessed Christ.

He longed for a helper on his field, but the Society was unable to supply him. At last, when one did come, the first thing he did was to send Gilmour home on furlough. When the faithful missionary reached England in 1889 he was so thin of body and the marks of struggle so prominent in his face, that his friends did not know him. How delighted he was to be with his motherless boys, who had been sent home after their mother's death to be educated. His book, "Gilmour and His Boys," has touched many a heart.

16. The End. In due time he returned to Mongolia again. He continued his work along the same lines. In April, 1891, he returned to Tientsin to attend the North China District Committee of the London Missionary Society. They honored him by making him chairman and he served them well. During the time he was the guest of Dr. Roberts. Suddenly he was stricken with typhus fever of a very malignant type. On May 21, 1891, he fell asleep, to be forever at rest with the Lord. When news of his death circulated in far-away Mongolia, strong, grown-up men wept like children when they were told that "their Gilmour was dead."

Chronology of Events in Gilmour's Life
1843 Born at Cathkin. Scotland. June 12.
1862 Entered Glasgow University.
1867 Offered himself to London Missionary Society.
1869 Entered Highgate Missionary Society.
1870 Ordained in Augustine Chapel. Edinburgh, February 10;
Sailed from Liverpool on Diomed for Mongolia, February 22.
1870 Arrived at Peking, May 18;
Massacre of 13 French Catholics, June 22;
Journey from Peking to Kiachta, August 5 to September 28.
1874 Married to Miss Prankard, December 8.
1876 156 days' journey with wife In Mongolia, begun April 7.
1882 Furlough to England, Spring to September 1883;
Published "Among the Mongols," April.
1884 His first convert, March 1.
1885 Mrs. Gilmour died, September 19.
1886 Two oldest children went to England, March 23.
1889 Second furlough to England, April 4, to May 14,1890.
1891 Died in Tientsin. May 21.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give all you have, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, the James Gilmour, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of James Gilmour, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used James. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… James Gilmour, Apostle to Mongolia. Part 1.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

1. Early Life. James Gilmour was the third of six sons born to James and Elizabeth Pettigrew Gilmour on the Cathkin estate of a half dozen farms in the parish of Carmunnock, about five miles from Glasgow, Scotland. His ancestors were godly people. The grandfather Gilmour and his wife walked regularly every Sunday to Glasgow to worship in the Congregational church. Their faithfulness, seen in the return on dark wintry evenings wending their way homeward by the light of a hand-made lantern, made a deep impression upon the community. James' parents maintained the same strict integrity and godliness. His mother delighted in gathering her sons about her in the evening and reading to them missionary and religious stories and making comments upon them. It is supposed that here was planted the desire that led the missionary later to write his interesting accounts of the mission field.

Family worship was so strictly adhered to that neighbors would have to wait until the blessed hour was passed before they could be served. Inasmuch as James' father was in comfortable circumstances, the lad did not pass thru the ordeal of poverty that some missionaries have. He had good school privileges, first at Cambuslang and then at Glasgow, applied himself not so much because of love for learning but because he willed to do so, and earned for himself many prizes. Still he was a boy full of fun and games and noted for his teasing. He loved the wild and would wander alone among the hills, woods, and glens, delighted with nature and what it gave back to him.

2. University Life. At first when James attended Glasgow University he lived at home. Because some of his classes came too early for train service he walked to school in the morning. Later he furnished a small house which belonged to his father in the city, and prepared his breakfast and other meals as he thought best. He was especially bright in Latin and Greek, the secret of his success being in his "unspeakable value" placed on time. He never willfully lost an hour. Though having money he was very economical. He had a horror for intoxicants. Once he called on a classmate who had beer in his room. Young Gilmour quietly raised the window and as he poured it out on the street said, "Better on God's earth than in His image."

His early religious training bore fruit in conversion in his University life. He selected missionary service because the workers abroad were fewer than at home, and "to me the soul of an Indian seemed as precious as the soul of an Englishman, and the Gospel as much for the Chinese as the European." The moral effect of the brightest student deciding for missions was very great indeed. When he offered himself as a missionary to the London Missionary Society he was sent to Cheshunt College for further training. While he retained his love for fun, he studied his Bible with such great earnestness that his soul became all aflame with love for the perishing heathen. His light shone brightly at home, too. He would go out evenings alone and conduct open-air services or talk to laborers by the roadside or in the field.

3. Missionary Appointment. After Cheshunt College Gilmour entered upon studies of missions and the Chinese language at Highgate. While here, thru a misunderstanding the students rebelled against the directors of the Mission Society. Gilmour spoke for the student body, was looked upon as a ringleader and with disfavor, though afterwards the directors acknowledged that the students were right in their position. At last he was assigned to open the long-considered field of Mongolia and set sail from Liverpool February 22, 1870. He was made chaplain of the ship on which he sailed. At nighttime he talked to every member of the crew while on watch, and laid the matter of salvation so clearly before them that he afterwards wrote, "All on board had repeated opportunities of hearing the Gospel as plainly as I could put it."

4. On Slope of Volcano. As soon as Gilmour reached Peking, on May 18, 1870, he began study of the Chinese language. Within a month, however, he was disturbed by the massacre of thirteen French Catholic missionaries at Tientsin, the port city for Peking. He wrote, "We are all living on the slope of a volcano that may put forth its slumbering rage at any moment." Though lion-hearted and not thinking of leaving the field, the situation was so grave that he wrote again, "Our death might further the cause of Christ more than our life could do." A massacre of all foreigners was planned, but a great downpour of rain the first day it was to begin shut the Chinese in their homes and when they could go out again the excitement was gone and there was no disturbance.

5. Mongolia. At the time Gilmour went to the field, Mongolia embraced that vast territory between China proper and Siberia, stretching from the Sea of Japan on the east to Turkestan on the west, a distance of about 3,000 miles; and from Asiatic Russia on the north to the Great Wall of China on the south, a distance of about 900 miles. In the center is the great desert of Gobi. If one turns to a map he will see Kalgan over 100 miles northwest of Peking, on the border between China and Mongolia. Still farther northwest about 900 miles is the town of Kiachta. This route was marked by a large trade, -- exchange of China tea for salt, soda, hides and timber, -- all borne hither and thither between China and Russia by caravans of camels or oxcarts.

West of this ancient caravan route are wandering tribes almost knowing no government or fearing no power. In the winter they live in rude huts or tents; during the heated summers they seek the best pastures they can command for their flocks. Terrible dust storms sweep over the land. Religion, where it has gained a foothold in the southeastern part, is Buddhism; it is estimated that over half the male population are priests of Buddha. Many temples of impressive splendor in gold and colors, seen from afar, and great reverence for sacred places by the people, impress the missionary on every hand. To carry the Gospel to the nomadic bands of this great land, the missionary of necessity adopts a roving life and puts up with its hardships.

6. Long Loneliness. Having decided that the proper way to learn the language and start the work was to go into the heart of the proposed field, Gilmour, in company with a Russian postmaster, left Kalgan, to which point he had come, on August 27, 1870, for the first trip across the great plain to Kiachta. The journey took a month. Here he was detained because his passport would not be accepted by either Russian or Chinese, until he could obtain another from Peking. He found a home with a Scotch trader. He went among the people asking the names of articles and thus gathered a vocabulary. He hired a teacher; but the teacher was so slow that the restless nature of the missionary felt life had reached its greatest stagnation. His feelings were like Elijah's under the juniper tree: he understood better than ever the loneliness of Christ with no one about who understood Him!

But he did not lose sight of the purpose in coming to the land. Before the close of 1870 he left Kiachta to share the tent of some Mongol engaged in prayer. He arranged with this devout man, who had welcomed him, to share the hospitality of his home. The man lived alone, attended by two lamas that lived in adjoining huts. Here Gilmour spent three months, acquired the language rapidly and gained real insight into the hearts and minds of the natives. He found them exceedingly simple in thought. To illustrate, he taught that God was everywhere and without form. The Mongol was puzzled to understand how, if God had not form, Jesus could sit at his right hand; further, if God is everywhere, how could one keep from walking on him? Within one year he could read the Bible in Mongolian slowly and at sight, and write the language imperfectly.

7. The Gospel and Medicine. During the summer of 1872 Gilmour, in company with Mr. Edkins, visited the sacred city of Woo Tai Shan, a famous place of Mongol pilgrimage. These people tried the fiery-hearted missionary greatly. Drunkenness, hopeless indebtedness, and a desire to borrow were characteristics that greatly disturbed him. Debts never distressed them, but rather their inability to borrow more. Amidst these discouragements he comforted himself as he once wrote, "All our good work will be found, there is no doubt of that. All I am afraid of is that our good work will amount to little when it is found!" He was concerned that in the judgment no heathen can be justified in "pitching into us for not pitching into them more savagely, for not, in fact, taking them by the cuff of the neck and dragging them into the kingdom."

No hardship was too great for him. He would walk to save the expense of a camel. His tent was dwelling, chapel, and dispensary. For he followed the example of the Master in healing the sick as far as he was able; and the few simple remedies he found a very great help to him in his work. Yet at the end of 1874, after four years of labor, he could not report one convert, not even one who could be classed as interested in Christianity. The people did not have even a sense of need of what the Gospel supplies. Had one asked Gilmour about not having conversions he would likely have said that it was his business to sow the seed and God's to give the increase in His own good time... Part 2 next week.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes, and give your all, to win the lost to Christ? Then like, the James Gilmour, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of James Gilmour, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used James. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY