BOLDNESS

Recently I was made aware of a situation in Sudan where a pregnant woman is imprisoned and facing execution for claiming to be (of all things) a Christian, something many of us also claim to be. Furthermore her 20 month old baby is being kept with her in prison and has already suffered serious medical problems due to the terrible sanitation issues at the facility.  When you hear a story like that it makes you both angry and brokenhearted at the same time, or at least it does me. How can that be in this day and age? One thing people living in countries that allow religious freedom have a tendency to forget is that we are in the minority. There are many more people living in countries where religious freedom is not an option.  There are billions upon billions of people living in countries where they’re not even allowed to choose NOT to believe in the state sponsored religion.  Having the freedom to choose what we believe or don’t believe is a huge deal, yet I think we may take it for granted far too often.   

Here are some excerpts from an article I found and pieced together for brevity sake and I assure you, nothing has been taken out of context.

A Christian mother in Sudan, who is pregnant with a second child has been sentenced to 100 lashes and death on charges of apostasy (the denouncement of her original religion - Muslim) and adultery (because the court doesn't recognize her marriage to a Christian man), has a long legal battle ahead even as her wheelchair-bound husband says his hope lies only in his prayers to God.

Mohamed Jar Elnabi, the lawyer of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, a 27-year-old Christian woman who has a 20-month-old son and is eight months pregnant, says he plans to file an appeal application on Sunday.

The young mother was convicted on April 30, and given three days to recant her Christian faith on May 11. "The court has sentenced you to be hanged till you are dead," Judge Abaas Al Khalifa finally told her Thursday after she refused to forsake Christianity.   Ibrahim has been kept at the Omdurman Federal Women's Prison with her son since Feb. 17.

Ibrahim's father was a Sudanese Muslim who left her when she was just 6 years old. She was raised by her mother, an Ethiopian Orthodox. However, Sudan's Islamic law recognized her as a Muslim because her father was one. It also considers her relationship with her Christian husband as "illicit."      -

Meanwhile, Ibrahim remains strong. "She is very strong and very firm. She is very clear that she is a Christian and that she will get out one day," the lawyer said.   But the wait is not easy for Ibrahim's husband, Daniel Wani, as he "totally depends on her for all details of his life," Elnabi said. "I'm so frustrated. I don't know what to do," Wani was quoted as saying. "I'm just praying."

The religious atmosphere is tense in Sudan. Elnabi received a death threat Wednesday, the day before Ibrahim was sentenced. "I feel very scared," he was quoted as saying. "I live in fear if I just hear a door open or a strange sound in the street. I could never leave the case. This is a matter of belief and principles. I must help someone who is in need, even if it will cost me my life."

BY ANUGRAH KUMAR, CHRISTIAN POST CONTRIBUTOR    May 17, 2014|9:22 am

So here we have it; a pregnant woman/mother of a small child claiming Christianity, refusing to recant her testimony, facing death, and the attorney who (for the mere reason he is representing her) may lose his life as well.  Her story reminds me of these words from an old hymnal;

Though none go with me, I will follow. 
No turning back – no turning back.

Now that’s BOLDNESS folks!  Our prayers are obviously needed in this situation.

This is a portion of an item I wrote in 2008 titled; Less is Better .  It includes some excerpts from a Wikipedia article, but the great majority of what you’ll read here are my words.

In 1904 a very simple living, twenty-five year old coal miner / tinsmith began to believe God was calling him to preach despite the fact he had absolutely no oratory skills whatsoever.  His personal hygiene issues were atrocious, known throughout the city, and the only book he ever gave any attention to was the Bible.  He was the last person anyone in his hometown would've thought God would call to the ministry.  Yet, Evan Roberts desired above all else to preach the Gospel.  

He enrolled in a formal training program, but quickly became bored with the tedious effort to learn the minuscule details of ministry work.  He simply wanted to preach, and wasn't really interested in waiting until he completed all of his training to begin.   He spent every spare moment standing behind a makeshift podium, facing a mirror, delivering sermon after to sermon to his make believe congregation.  Eventually he was evicted from the boarding house in which he lived for preaching and praying too loudly.  In his defense he staunchly claimed; The Holy Spirit awakens me each night at exactly 1 am and these encounters go on until 5am or so - then it allows me to rest once again.  It is not by my choosing the hour it takes place, yet God’s.  

He believed with all his might he was being prepared solely for the day he would take to the pulpit. He continued to beg his pastor to allow him to preach, but it seemed as if there was no way this crude existence of a human being was ever going to be allowed to stand behind the sacred podium of a religious facility.  Roberts began to pray for God to change him, to lead him, and to begin using him.  He knew everything to do, but somehow cleaning up a bit never crossed his mind.  In response to his prayers he claimed to have heard God tell him that there was a great revival on the horizon, and that he was to call out to the people to repent and prepare their hearts for God’s presence.

Finally this enthusiastic, yet seemingly substandard young man convinced his pastor to agree to allow him to preach on a single occasion, but only after their Wednesday evening service was complete.  “If anyone desires to stay and listen, so be it” said the minister.  Only seventeen curious onlookers stuck around to witness this ‘ungodly’ looking spectacle take the pulpit.  Evan’s message was a simple four part sermon that went as follows:

1. Confession of all known sin

2. Repentance and restitution

3. Obedience and surrender to the Holy Spirit

4. Public confession of Christ

A message I’ve heard the likes of Billy Graham mimic many times and it still rings true today. 

Evan Roberts explained what it meant to truly confess their sins, and how important it was that they remove all doubt from their hearts.  He spoke of heeding the call of the Holy Spirit, and how a changed heart would lead them to publicly confess Jesus as their Lord.  He kept it simple, using fewer words than he had in any of his early morning practice sessions.

Even though his preaching was rough and unpolished the small audience (which included his pastor) was moved to a point of repentance. The next night he was back at it, but this time with his pastor’s full encouragement, and the crowd was quite a bit larger.  Days passed and his preaching continued, yet his message remained simple and to the point.  The meetings were moved to wherever the now “evangelist” Evan Roberts felt led to go. 

Those traveling with him would often begin meetings with intense intercessory prayer, urging the attendees to surrender everything over to God.  Many in the crowds gave testimonies of what God had done in their lives since their great conversion.  Evan would often be seen on his knees pleading for God’s mercy, with tears streaming down his cheeks into puddles, literal puddles on the floor or ground.   The crowds would become so moved by wave after wave of the Spirit’s presence, spontaneous prayer, confession, testimony and by the singing which erupted in all the meetings that they would throw themselves upon whatever altar was put forth, pleading for forgiveness from God.

Evan, or his helpers, would approach those crying out in anguish and urge them to surrender to Christ.  All the while not a single musical instrument was played and often there wouldn’t be a sermon preached, yet the crowds continued to come and thousands professed conversion.  These meetings often went on until the early hours of the morning. Evan and his team would go home, sleep for 2–3 hours and be back at the pit-head by 5 am, urging the miners coming off night duty to come to chapel meetings. 

This awaking of sorts spread like wildfire over Wales. Other churches also began to experience the presence of God. Hundreds of overseas visitors flocked to witness the revival and many took that same revival fire back to their own land including America. More than 30,000 people came forward in the first month of his preaching alone.   The local newspaper began printing the names of those converted in their publication, as this was quickly becoming a phenomenal and historical event. Within eight short months over 100,000 people were brought into God’s kingdom.  What the learned, and polished couldn’t do, God did through this lowly, yet humble servant.  Once again He used the lesser for a greater cause!  Again we see BOLDNESS my friend, true boldness!

Let me ask you; have you ever accepted a job offer, a promotion, been elected to a public position or even started a new ministry opportunity that you weren't so sure you were totally capable of doing?  We now know that ministers like Evan Roberts sure have.

Who knows it may have been in a drug or alcohol rehab situation, or when you started a new business or as a newly enlisted soldier in the military. As a new parent, a new school, whatever or wherever it was, it’s a situation where the possibility of failing was very real in our minds.

In the meantime we just do the best we can, because we know at some point "they" are going to figure out we really don't know what we're doing, and that we don’t belong.  They’ll find out soon enough we're in way over our head, and it will all come crashing down around us.

What was amazing to learn was, that nearly everyone who has ever been in one of those types of situations has thought the very same thing you and I were thinking. The other shoe will drop at some point syndrome as I'll call it, because everything has to be some sort of "syndrome" these days.

In reality total failure almost never happens, so we go on with our lives, we learn, we get better, we find ways to survive until we get the experience we need under our belts. Most importantly we grow in many aspects of our life which we never expected to during this process.

Let me stop now and say this:  If you're at one of those times in your life, and in one of those situations, know this - God wants only good things for you. Honor Him in what you're doing and He will bless you with the ability to grow.  You can overcome the fear of failure by relying on His strength and not your own. Pray both for confidence and humility and continue to give your very best effort.  He is certainly working behind the scenes in our situations.  

BOLDNESS IN CHRIST OVERCOMES FEAR ALWAYS!

After reading that article about the condemned Christian woman from Sudan I felt God was telling me I needed to do more than simply pray for the situation. Yet what could some old, fat, insignificant guy living all the way down here in “churched up Alabama” do that would make any real difference?  Maybe nothing, I initially thought.  Then it came to me as to what I should do.  Here is an email I sent to the Minister of Justice of Sudan the other day.  

To moj@moj.gov.sd

May 19 at 2:46 PM

Dear Sir,

I would like to offer myself to serve as a replacement for Meriam Yehya Ibrahim punishment.  She has two small children, both of mine are grown.  It would be such a crime to take those small children's mother away when they need her the most.  I can take the beating and execution for her as a Christian in order that she can live and raise her children.  I assure you I am 100% serious.  I have a valid visa and can pay for my own flight to Sudan.   Please consider this request immediately! 

Sincerely, Doug Sharp

I included that email in this journal item for two reasons, and neither was to shine a spotlight on myself, (for who am I) yet rather on the situation at hand.   

First of all, I want you to pray with me that I be allowed to take this lady’s punishment and death sentence. What a shame it would be for those precious babies if they lost their mom this way and were left with a dad to tend to them that is severely disabled.  Pray that somehow I can contact the right person in the right agency, or the right attorney that could persuade the powers to be to allow it to happen, as I AM VERY SERIOUS WITH MY INTENTIONS IN THIS MATTER!

Then secondly, I would like to encourage others to pray and ask if possibly the Holy Spirit is leading you to do likewise.   One woman dying for her stance and Christian beliefs is a phenomenal story in and of itself, but what if all Christians – especially those in Sudan and throughout the world come out of our closets with BOLDNESS and say in one accord, “Then you must kill me also, for I am a Christian!”

One person dying for Christ’s sake will certainly bring attention to Him, but in the eyes of the world it will also bring attention to the one being martyred.  I believe if thousands upon thousands of us stand arm in arm, saying with one voice, we are willing to die for Christ also, that it will bring about great attention to the name of Jesus alone, as there will be far too many of us for the world to individualize the situation! 

Here’s the obvious risk though; we might end up actually dying in this situation as well, so understand that before you decide to begin this process with me.

So whatta ya say – do you feel a little BOLDNESS coming on?  doug