Most of us here in America are Christians to some degree.

Some of us are more devout than others or more knowledgeable about various things related to theology and that’s okay. Not everyone is meant to be a biblical scholar or preacher or anything like that. Some of us are just here to listen and learn as it passes by our way.

As a Christian of 17 years, I’ve learned a lot and my views on various matters have changed a lot over that time period. One thing I’ve learned is that it doesn’t matter how much you know about God or how much you know about the various Christian doctrines. None of that ultimately procures your salvation. Trusting in Jesus as your hope is what ultimately matters. If you know that the only hope you have is in the one who came from heaven to earth and you’re trusting in that promise, that’s what matters the most. Jesus didn’t die “while you were still perfecting your theology” or “while you were trying to clean up your life”. He was never waiting for the stars to align in your life to grant your salvation, instead the scriptures say, “while we were still sinners Christ died for us”. While we were sinners. He knew full well what He was doing.

Now, that doesn’t mean we should just go about living our lives as though that doesn’t mean something, because it does mean something and one thing about being called to repentance and belief is that it by necessity will come to fruition. It’s like getting hit by a Mack truck going 70 mph, you’ll never be the same afterward.

Right now, there is still Christianity in Afghanistan and now under Taliban rule, they are under heavy persecution. They will be captures and murdered if they are found. Yet, that does nothing to slow the growth of Christianity.

Catalytic Ministries tweeted,

“We just confirmed a report from Christian leaders in Afghanistan: One underground church network that was roughly 320 people has ballooned to approx. 2500 in just the past two weeks.

“The gates of hell will not prevail.”

In my opinion, based on the grammar of that passage on the gates of hell, the better rendering should be something like, “the gates of hell will not withstand it”. This shifts the focus on the conquest of the Church being such a movement that not even the gates of hell will be able to withstand the “attack” from the Church to bring more of Christ’s sheep into the herd.

There is a saying that says, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” What that means is that while evil may temporarily triumph and kill Christians, that only causes it to spread more and more. Radical governments like this only help grow the church.

Make no mistake, radical Islamic governments produce Christian revival.

It happened in Iran (thanks Ayatollah Khomeini).

It is happening now in northern Syria (Thanks ISIS).

It will happen in Afghanistan (Thanks Taliban.) #Taliban #Afghanistan #Afghan #Jesus #JesusSaves

— CatalyticMinistries (@CatalyticMin) September 1, 2021

Multiple churches across America such as Gateway Church in Texas, Church of the Highlands in Alabama, and Victory Worship Center in Arizona have officially partnered with Global Catalytic Ministries (GCM) to assist in our strategy for Afghanistan. GCM’s objectives are four-fold:

Establish an underground network assisting those who are desperately trying to escape.

Help those most vulnerable to human trafficking and forced marriage to escape.

Provide for the basic needs (food, water, shelter) of our leaders on the ground who have chosen to stay.

Carry on with our work of making new disciples.

“The past days have been very stressful, but I can see that I am privileged that God has called me to stay and help our brothers and sisters. They are all so happy to see me. They are so relieved that I have not left. I don’t know what will come next, but I have so much peace in God that I never had before. I don’t want to create an expectation for these people that they can get help from us forever. They will get help through Jesus and need to trust in Him. Most of my people have left so I will start again with new people for them to learn to make disciples. They need to know about Jesus because they can get killed very fast. The place I make disciples now is very receptive as we share love and truth about Jesus. I will start to work with them and their families. I have to start from zero and see what God will do.”
—Underground Leader in Afghanistan

PRAYER POINTS

Pray for God to hide those who are leaving and those who are staying.

Pray for our leaders to find those who are hungry to learn about Jesus.

Pray for renewed hope in the midst of this very dark hour.

Sources:
Yahoo