I have heard people say "I have witnessed to so-and-so many many many times, and they just aren't excepting! Is there something I can say that will make it click?" It is not like you can say "He rose again the third day and is now in heaven at the right hand of God!" And they will believe. Think of it from a human stand point. The whole of the Gospel is ludicris! Not to mock it, remember. I said HUMAN stand point. "The Word of the Lord will not return void". It is nothing that you can say tht will convince a person. Even the Truth. We must give up the human means. When we are society sensitive we are taking the beauty away from the Gospel. It must be pure. It will always be offensive as itself. When offense takes place, someone will change. We are prophets if you will. Take a parellel from Noah. After fifteen years his message never changed. "It's going to rain." God commanded He preach that. He commanded we preach the gospel. Envision yourself as Ezekiel, even in your everyday walk. You are in the valley of dry bones. God asks "can these bones live?" You say "You know, God". You don't say no, so to not doubt His Power. If yes then presuming upon It. Rather, " You know Lord!". The ONLY way something is going to happen is by a supernatural miracle on par with the creation of the universe. Only God can make it happen. We MUST teach the truth of the gospel. Not because it's historically true, not because we have seen it transforming lives, not for any reason, however powerful, but that God tells us to and we are His servants.
"I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation..."
Only the true unchanged gospel can bring about the Power unto Salvation. This is when true conversion takes place.
Jdd
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
"Jesus Freaks"
I have been recently reading "Jesus Freaks", by DC Talk and VOM. It is a heart wrenching compilation of accouts about matyrs from the first to recent ones in the late 90s. God has opened my eyes! I never new there were so many! Well I knew, just never grasped it. My brothers and sisters being skinned, frozen, whipped, molested, beaten, all but killed and the before death, singing "More Love to Thee". How is it possible? It amazes and humbles me to read it. It brings tears to my eyes. But they are mixed tears. I cry for their pain, but more so out of the love God gives them, the joy He gives. So I will try to focus around persecution. I know this is short, but I have little more to say than this: if persecution comes, I pray that I will face it with God and do what He wants me to do. Also, i pray that you will never have to face such things, but if you do, DO NOT give up our Lord.
As I read these stories, I see real miracles. I see angels. I see Jesus clearly and working. But I also see the coldness, the lukewarmness, and the shallowness of my faith and American churches face. Half of the church here is oblivious and the 20% that does know, needs to tell about this. So I leave you with this final thought. Should we be praying for this to come to us? If it does what will we do? What will you do? I have also concluded that if it doesn't come, I pray that maybe God will lead me to it. We shall see. Pray for them. Pray for the torturers. They do not know what they do. As I think about this I ask you, pray for me.
More to come.
Jdd
Redeeming the time.
As I read these stories, I see real miracles. I see angels. I see Jesus clearly and working. But I also see the coldness, the lukewarmness, and the shallowness of my faith and American churches face. Half of the church here is oblivious and the 20% that does know, needs to tell about this. So I leave you with this final thought. Should we be praying for this to come to us? If it does what will we do? What will you do? I have also concluded that if it doesn't come, I pray that maybe God will lead me to it. We shall see. Pray for them. Pray for the torturers. They do not know what they do. As I think about this I ask you, pray for me.
More to come.
Jdd
Redeeming the time.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Stams. (I didnt write this, but read it anyway.)
It was a dreary December day in the city of Tsingteh when John and Betty heard a rumor that Communist soldiers were drawing near to the city. The Communists were battling for control of the country and, of course, hated Christians or anyone else who would bring Western influence to their country. At the time the missionaries were not concerned; since they had moved to the city, just two weeks ago, rumors had been circulating but nothing had happened. They had been assured that government forces had come into their province to fight against the Communists. An hour later a man came running down the street shouting that the Communists were only a couple of miles away and would be upon the city in no time. Now the danger was clear. John and Betty grabbed a few supplies but they couldn’t find a way out of the city. Before they were able to flee, the soldiers surrounded the city, climbed the walls and opened the gates. There was no way to escape.
Very close to the city gate was the missionary home and it did not take long before the soldiers came upon it. The soldiers barged in and demanded to know the names of the people there; they demanded to know where they were from. Obviously two Americans would stand out in a small Chinese city. They took all the medicine they could find, all the money, all the valuables. John and Betty responded by brewing up some tea and serving each of the soldiers cake. But soon they were hauled off and put in the small local prison. They were told that they would be released only for a ransom of twenty thousand dollars. Read this letter that John wrote from prison—he wrote it to China Inland Mission, the missions organization that had posted them to China.
Dear Brethren,
My wife, baby, and myself are today in the hands of the Communists, in the city of Tsingteh. Their demand is twenty thousand dollars for our release.
All our possessions and stores are in their hands, but we praise God for peace in our hearts and a meal tonight. God grant you wisdom in what you do, and us fortitude, courage, and peace of heart. He is able and a wonderful Friend in such a time.
Things happened so quickly this a.m. They were in the city just a few hours after the ever-present rumors really became alarming, so that we could not prepare to leave in time. We were just too late.
The Lord bless and guide you, and as for us, may God be glorified whether by life or by death.
Here is a man captured by ruthless bandits, in prison with his wife and baby daughter. And his concern is not for life or for death, but only for the glory of God.
We’ll return to this most important day. But first let’s go back to the beginning.
John Stam was born in January of 1907. His father grew up in Holland but had moved to the United States as a young man. When he arrived there a clever Christian woman gave him a Bible and said, “Read this! It will help you learn English.” It taught him English, but it also taught him about the love of God. He got to John 3:16, read of God’s love for the world and said, “If God loves the world, that must mean he loves me!” And as he read that passage he prayed and asked God to forgive him. It transformed his life. Though he always held down other jobs, he also evangelized, even creating a mission hall where several days a week he would preach the gospel. Hundreds of people came to Christ through this work.
This was the kind of man John Stam had for a father. And yet John did not become a Christian as a young boy. It was only when he was 15 that he came to understand sin and he came to feel the burden of his own sin. He suddenly knew that he was a sinful person and that God would have to judge him for that sin. One day, sitting at his desk in school, he quietly prayed for the Lord to save him. And he did! Soon he came to do mission work with his father and he found that he loved to share the gospel. When he was 22 he began to do mission work full time and then decided to get some formal training. He went off to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to train to be a missionary.
Just one year before that Elisabeth Scott, who called herself Betty, had begun studying at Moody. She was almost a year older than John—she was born in February of 1906. She also came from a Christian home. Her father Charles was a brilliant scholar who studied under B.B. Warfield and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Princeton. Though he could have taught at many different seminaries, God had called him to preach the gospel. After spending a few years serving small churches in Michigan, he and his family sailed to China, to Shantung, where Charles evangelized and taught Bible classes. So Betty grew up in China and she became a Christian when she was very young. Here is a poem she wrote when she was just ten:
I cannot live like Jesus
Example though He be
For He was strong and selfless
And I am tied to me.
I cannot live like Jesus
My soul is never free
My will is strong and stubborn
My love is weak and wee.
But I have asked my Jesus
To live His life in me.
I cannot look like Jesus
More beautiful is He
In soul and eye and stature
Than sunrise on the sea.
Behold His warm, His tangible
His dear humanity.
Behold His white perfection
Of purest deity.
Yet Jesus Christ has promised
That we like Him shall be.
In that poem she proclaims that she is a sinner, that she loves herself far too much, that she needs a Savior. But she also proclaims that she loves Jesus, that she wants him to live in her. That’s big stuff for a ten-year old!
Though Betty was a Christian, it wasn’t until she was 18 that she attended a conference in New Jersey and something there changed her life. It was there that she completely consecrated her life to the Lord’s service. She wrote to her parents and said, “I don’t know what God has in store for me. I really am willing to be an old-maid missionary, or an old-maid anything else, all my life, if God wants me to. It’s as clear as daylight to me that the only worthwhile life is one of unconditional surrender to God’s will, and of living in His way, trusting His love and guidance.”
Here is a poem she wrote write about that time. This is a poem Elizabeth Elliot loved and copied into her own Bible when she was just a little girl. It is a poem that takes on real significance as we continue to learn about Betty’s life.
Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes
All my own desires and hopes
And accept Thy will for my life.
I give myself, my life, my all
Utterly to Thee to be Thine forever.
Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit
Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt
And work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost now and forever.
So now we’ve got these two godly young people at Moody Bible Institute together, both training to be missionaries. Both were great students and both were leaders to their peers. Both of them were well-loved. At that time the China Inland Mission, that organization started by Hudson Taylor, had representatives nearby and they would have meetings for the students, to share what the organization was doing. And it was at these meetings that John and Betty first met. Over the next couple of years their relationship grew; they loved one another but were hesitant to make plans or to rush into anything. At the very least they knew that they would have a year apart—Betty would graduate one year before John and would head to China immediately. John would have to catch up a year later.
And that is exactly what happened. In the fall of 1931 Betty headed to China. John stayed back at Moody and finished up his schooling. He was chosen as valedictorian and his address to the other graduates is really amazing for how mature it is. He was a young man, but one who knew the Bible and who knew the Lord.
He talked about all of the challenges facing the gospel at the time and here is how his address ended: “People of God, does it not thrill our hearts today to realize that we do not answer such a challenge in our own strength? Think of it! God Himself is with us as our Captain; the Lord of Hosts is present in person in every field of conflict to encourage us and to fight for us. With such a Captain, who never lost a battle, or deserted a soldier in distress, or failed to get through the needed supplies… Who would not accept the challenge to ‘Go forward, bearing precious seed.’”
Finally in 1932, John set sail for China as well. A few weeks earlier he had written to Betty to ask if she would marry him, but she never received the letter. They were in an awkward spot—both wanted to serve the Lord, both wanted to be committed to a life of service, so they did not want another person to hinder their ministry. Yet John had asked Betty to marry him and she hadn’t gotten the letter yet. They were in a strange kind of limbo.
But God worked things out. John landed in Shanghai and found, to his surprise, that Betty happened to be in the city, even though she had been posted to another city hundreds of miles away. In God’s timing, she had had an infection of her tonsils and had to come to the city to be treated. John found out and rushed to her. As soon as they got together they both knew that they loved one another and agreed to be married. The problem was that China Inland Missions required a one-year waiting period before a new missionary could marry. And so they would have to get through one more year apart. Betty soon headed back to her post and John went to his.
His first challenge was to learn the language. And it’s a tough one to learn. He spent almost a year studying the language before he was able to preach in Chinese. As soon as he could do that, he was sent on iterations, which is where he would travel for a few days or weeks, walking hundreds of miles, giving out tracts, selling Bibles and preaching the gospel.
Betty served in Fowyang, an area where the church had been heavily persecuted. A few years prior all the missionaries had been chased out of the province and, several years later, when they could finally return, they expected to find that the church had been wiped out. But they returned to find a thriving church, one of which had 250 people worshiping together. There was a spirit of revival in the area and Betty spent her time preaching especially to women and children, traveling from one village to the next.
But finally that year was up and John and Betty could get married. They did that in October of 1933. He sent his family a letter during his honeymoon and you can just sense his joy in all God had done for him.
This letter finds us at Tsingtao—a young married couple. Oh, the Lord has been so good in all the arrangements that we have just be praising Him all along the way. We’re just having a most blessed time together. I’ve such a lot of things to tell you that I’m going to see if I can lay my hands on some typewriter around here before the Lord’s blessings pile up so high that I shall forget a good many of them. Truly our God seems to go out of His way to make His children happy.
As soon as that honeymoon was over, they got to work together. They continued to travel through the province ministering from town to town. Sometimes John went alone but usually he and Betty went together. They visited Christians, encouraging them. And they met with unbelievers, preaching the gospel to them. They met people who would walk 20 miles to get to the closest church—20 miles there and 20 miles back just to hear the Word of God and to spend time with other Christians. They met people who had simply been handed a New Testament and, by reading it, had come to faith; now they just waited for the missionaries to come and to teach them more about this Lord they loved but only barely knew. Along the way they realized that Betty was pregnant and in September of 1934 she gave birth to a very healthy little girl that they named Helen.
Shortly after the birth of baby Helen, John and Betty Stam received their posting to the city of Tsingteh. And this brings us back to where we began in the beginning of the first part. After only a couple of weeks in their new home the Communists took over the city, took John and Betty captive, plundered their home and threw them in prison. And yet, as you remember, they rejoiced, trusting in God.
And now they were in prison, being held for ransom. The soldiers saw baby Helen and thought that this baby would prove to be a problem—she might slow down her parents as they followed the army. In front of John and Betty they talk about killing her. And then a strange thing happened. One of the men who had been tossed into prison by the Communist soldiers protested. He said, “The baby has done nothing worthy of death!” The soldiers told him, “It’s your life or hers.” The man said, “I am willing.” And just like that the soldiers struck him down and killed him, leaving the baby alone and unharmed. No one knows who the man was or why he would do such a brave thing.
Early the next morning the soldiers woke John and Betty and they all left the city, John walking and Betty riding on a horse. They started riding toward the town of Miaosheo. John had planned on going to the city that day anyway and waiting for him there was a friend, a man known as Evangelist Lo. As the soldiers marched into Miaosheo they took Lo captive. They asked him what he did for a living and he told them that he distributed tracts. They apparently didn’t know what that meant so they let him go. He hurried away, though he would return soon enough.
The soldiers pillaged the town just like they had pillaged the last one, taking anything that was valuable. John and Betty were hauled into a home that would serve as a jail and a guard watched them through the night. Betty was allowed to be free within that room, but John was tied in a standing position so he could not rest or sleep.
It was the next day, a Saturday morning, that the soldiers came into John and Betty’s room and told them to take off their clothes, to walk out of the house in just their long underwear. They tightly tied their hands behind their backs and led them out. John walked barefoot, having given his socks to his wife to protect her feet. They left the baby behind; Betty had tucked her into her little sleeping bag and then nestled her into a big pile of bedding. The soldiers forgot all about little Helen.
The soldiers marched John and Betty through the town and told all the people to come out and to watch them die. They would witness what China thought of foreigners, people who would come to their nation to teach people about God. There was only one man in the entire town who was brave enough to object. A man named Chang spoke up for the couple. He fell on his knees before the soldiers and begged them to let the missionaries go. The soldiers grabbed him and tied him up, too, accusing him of being in league with the foreigners. They searched his home and there they found a Bible and a hymn book—now they knew that he was a Christian too.
They dragged John and Betty to the end of the main street, a little place called Eagle Hill. They ordered John to kneel, but before he did so, he said just a few words to the soldiers nearby. No witnesses were close enough to hear the words, but I think we know what he told them, don’t we? What would he have said to them except to speak the gospel to them? He knelt on the ground, a big knife flashed, and John fell to the ground. Then they pushed Betty down beside him and she, too, was killed. Neither one showed any great fear; neither one cried out; both were praying to the Lord at the moment they went to meet the Lord. They went from being on their knees on the cold, hard ground, to being on their knees before their Savior. Chang was killed very shortly after. He had always been considered a timid and lukewarm Christian, but here he died a brave death for his faith.
John and Betty are martyrs, Christians who gave their lives in service to the Lord and who died for his cause. I want to talk about the impact of that. But first, let’s talk about baby Helen.
About 24 hours after John and Betty were killed, Evangelist Lo returned to the town since the soldiers had left. He had been told of the deaths of his friend and wanted to find their bodies. As he came into the town someone told him that there was a foreign baby left in one of the homes. He ran to the home and found baby Helen there, crying. She had been alone for 27 hours. Inside her clothes was pinned two five-dollar bills Betty had hidden away in the hope that someone would help her. Lo took Helen with him and walked to Eagle Hill. And there he found the bodies. He bought a couple of coffins (using credit, not the ten dollars left for the baby). The people who lifted the bodies into the coffins noted that John’s face was frozen in an expression of joy and that Betty’s was completely serene. Neither had faltered at the point of death.
Evangelist Lo and his wife carried baby Helen with them, finding in every village people who would nurse the little baby. They carried her all the way to the nearest missionary outpost where they handed the baby over and shared a full account of the deaths of John and Betty Stam. Helen was dubbed “the miracle baby.” She was raised by her grandparents and lives in theUnited States
It is hard to know why God allowed John and Betty to come to such an early death. They were a nice, godly young couple who had only just begun what could have been a long and fruitful career serving God as missionaries. They were just about the same age as Nick and Alicia, just barely starting life together. And with two quick slashes of a sword, they were dead. Their little girl was an orphan. Why?
We don’t know, do we? At least we don’t know the exact reasons. But we do know that in some way God wanted to use their lives and their deaths to glorify himself. Remember a few weeks back I spoke about Acts 12 and how God allowed Stephen and James to be killed, while letting Peter escape. And that passage told us that in all things God will have his glory. And God was glorified through the lives of John and Betty Stam. Here are just a few ways in which we see it.
When Evangelist Lo found the bodies and placed them in the coffins, he preached to the crowd that had gathered there. Here is what he said to them:
You have seen these wounded bodies, and you pity these foreigners for their suffering and death. But you should know that they are children of God. Their spirits are unharmed and at this minutes are in the presence of God.
They came to China and to Miaosheo not for themselves but for you, to tell you about God and His love, that you might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved eternally. You have heard this message. Remember it is true. Their death proves that. Do not forget what they told you. Repent and believe the Gospel.
Many of the people who listened to the evangelist wept, something that was notable because other missionaries would say that never in all their labors had they heard of Chinese people weeping as they heard the gospel. But these people had witnessed a demonstration of the power of God and the truth of the gospel. They had seen the difference the gospel makes.
There is one way God was glorified. Another way was when newspapers all over the world, secular newspapers, carried the story of what had happened. People read the story and heard of two brave Christians who considered their lives less valuable than their service to God. People were drawn to the gospel just by hearing this!
And all around the world people heard the story of John and Betty and determined then and there that they, too, would be willing to dedicate their lives to that same cause. Only eternity will tell how many people became missionaries, and how many souls were saved, after hearing the story of the Stams.
That is part of the answer, I’m sure. For the rest we will need to wait. And now it’s a good time to ask, Would you be willing to face death as they did? Would you be willing to give up every comfort? Would you be willing to trust God not just with your own life but with the life of your spouse? Your children? Would you make your last words gospel words, words that carry life even as you face death? Their on their knees on the cold ground in China, John and Betty were stronger than they had ever been. And God was glorified.
The night before they died John and Betty were being pulled along and someone asked, “Where are you going?” John’s response was “We do not know where they are going, but we are going to heaven.”
Let me close with a letter written by John’s father. He sent this to friends and acquaintances shortly after learning that his son and daughter-in-law had been killed.
Our dear children, John Stam and Elisabeth Scott Stam, have gone to be with the Lord. They loved him, they served him, and now they are with him. What could be more glorious? It is true, the manner in which they were sent out of this world was a shock to us all, but whatever of suffering they may have endured is now past, and they are both infinitely blessed with the joys of heaven.
As for those of us who have been left behind, we were once more reminded of our sacred vows by a telegram received from one of John’s schoolmates in the Midwest—“Remember, you gave John to God, not to China.” Our hearts, though bowed for a little while with sadness, answered “Amen!” It was our desire that he, as well as we, should serve the Lord, and if that could be better done by death than by life, we would have it so. The sacrifice may seem great now, but no sacrifice is too great to make for him who gave himself for us.
We are earnestly praying that it will all be for God’s glory and the salvation of souls. How glad we shall be if through this dreadful experience many souls shall be won for the Lord Jesus! How glad we shall be if many dear Christian young people shall be inspired to give themselves to the Lord as never before, for a life of sacrifice and service!
We were honored by having sons and daughters minister for our Lord among the heathen, but we are more signally honored that two of them have won the martyr’s crown. We are sure that our dear brother and sister, Dr. and Mrs. Charles Scott, both join us in saying, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Very close to the city gate was the missionary home and it did not take long before the soldiers came upon it. The soldiers barged in and demanded to know the names of the people there; they demanded to know where they were from. Obviously two Americans would stand out in a small Chinese city. They took all the medicine they could find, all the money, all the valuables. John and Betty responded by brewing up some tea and serving each of the soldiers cake. But soon they were hauled off and put in the small local prison. They were told that they would be released only for a ransom of twenty thousand dollars. Read this letter that John wrote from prison—he wrote it to China Inland Mission, the missions organization that had posted them to China.
Dear Brethren,
My wife, baby, and myself are today in the hands of the Communists, in the city of Tsingteh. Their demand is twenty thousand dollars for our release.
All our possessions and stores are in their hands, but we praise God for peace in our hearts and a meal tonight. God grant you wisdom in what you do, and us fortitude, courage, and peace of heart. He is able and a wonderful Friend in such a time.
Things happened so quickly this a.m. They were in the city just a few hours after the ever-present rumors really became alarming, so that we could not prepare to leave in time. We were just too late.
The Lord bless and guide you, and as for us, may God be glorified whether by life or by death.
Here is a man captured by ruthless bandits, in prison with his wife and baby daughter. And his concern is not for life or for death, but only for the glory of God.
We’ll return to this most important day. But first let’s go back to the beginning.
John Stam was born in January of 1907. His father grew up in Holland but had moved to the United States as a young man. When he arrived there a clever Christian woman gave him a Bible and said, “Read this! It will help you learn English.” It taught him English, but it also taught him about the love of God. He got to John 3:16, read of God’s love for the world and said, “If God loves the world, that must mean he loves me!” And as he read that passage he prayed and asked God to forgive him. It transformed his life. Though he always held down other jobs, he also evangelized, even creating a mission hall where several days a week he would preach the gospel. Hundreds of people came to Christ through this work.
This was the kind of man John Stam had for a father. And yet John did not become a Christian as a young boy. It was only when he was 15 that he came to understand sin and he came to feel the burden of his own sin. He suddenly knew that he was a sinful person and that God would have to judge him for that sin. One day, sitting at his desk in school, he quietly prayed for the Lord to save him. And he did! Soon he came to do mission work with his father and he found that he loved to share the gospel. When he was 22 he began to do mission work full time and then decided to get some formal training. He went off to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to train to be a missionary.
Just one year before that Elisabeth Scott, who called herself Betty, had begun studying at Moody. She was almost a year older than John—she was born in February of 1906. She also came from a Christian home. Her father Charles was a brilliant scholar who studied under B.B. Warfield and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Princeton. Though he could have taught at many different seminaries, God had called him to preach the gospel. After spending a few years serving small churches in Michigan, he and his family sailed to China, to Shantung, where Charles evangelized and taught Bible classes. So Betty grew up in China and she became a Christian when she was very young. Here is a poem she wrote when she was just ten:
I cannot live like Jesus
Example though He be
For He was strong and selfless
And I am tied to me.
I cannot live like Jesus
My soul is never free
My will is strong and stubborn
My love is weak and wee.
But I have asked my Jesus
To live His life in me.
I cannot look like Jesus
More beautiful is He
In soul and eye and stature
Than sunrise on the sea.
Behold His warm, His tangible
His dear humanity.
Behold His white perfection
Of purest deity.
Yet Jesus Christ has promised
That we like Him shall be.
In that poem she proclaims that she is a sinner, that she loves herself far too much, that she needs a Savior. But she also proclaims that she loves Jesus, that she wants him to live in her. That’s big stuff for a ten-year old!
Though Betty was a Christian, it wasn’t until she was 18 that she attended a conference in New Jersey and something there changed her life. It was there that she completely consecrated her life to the Lord’s service. She wrote to her parents and said, “I don’t know what God has in store for me. I really am willing to be an old-maid missionary, or an old-maid anything else, all my life, if God wants me to. It’s as clear as daylight to me that the only worthwhile life is one of unconditional surrender to God’s will, and of living in His way, trusting His love and guidance.”
Here is a poem she wrote write about that time. This is a poem Elizabeth Elliot loved and copied into her own Bible when she was just a little girl. It is a poem that takes on real significance as we continue to learn about Betty’s life.
Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes
All my own desires and hopes
And accept Thy will for my life.
I give myself, my life, my all
Utterly to Thee to be Thine forever.
Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit
Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt
And work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost now and forever.
So now we’ve got these two godly young people at Moody Bible Institute together, both training to be missionaries. Both were great students and both were leaders to their peers. Both of them were well-loved. At that time the China Inland Mission, that organization started by Hudson Taylor, had representatives nearby and they would have meetings for the students, to share what the organization was doing. And it was at these meetings that John and Betty first met. Over the next couple of years their relationship grew; they loved one another but were hesitant to make plans or to rush into anything. At the very least they knew that they would have a year apart—Betty would graduate one year before John and would head to China immediately. John would have to catch up a year later.
And that is exactly what happened. In the fall of 1931 Betty headed to China. John stayed back at Moody and finished up his schooling. He was chosen as valedictorian and his address to the other graduates is really amazing for how mature it is. He was a young man, but one who knew the Bible and who knew the Lord.
He talked about all of the challenges facing the gospel at the time and here is how his address ended: “People of God, does it not thrill our hearts today to realize that we do not answer such a challenge in our own strength? Think of it! God Himself is with us as our Captain; the Lord of Hosts is present in person in every field of conflict to encourage us and to fight for us. With such a Captain, who never lost a battle, or deserted a soldier in distress, or failed to get through the needed supplies… Who would not accept the challenge to ‘Go forward, bearing precious seed.’”
Finally in 1932, John set sail for China as well. A few weeks earlier he had written to Betty to ask if she would marry him, but she never received the letter. They were in an awkward spot—both wanted to serve the Lord, both wanted to be committed to a life of service, so they did not want another person to hinder their ministry. Yet John had asked Betty to marry him and she hadn’t gotten the letter yet. They were in a strange kind of limbo.
But God worked things out. John landed in Shanghai and found, to his surprise, that Betty happened to be in the city, even though she had been posted to another city hundreds of miles away. In God’s timing, she had had an infection of her tonsils and had to come to the city to be treated. John found out and rushed to her. As soon as they got together they both knew that they loved one another and agreed to be married. The problem was that China Inland Missions required a one-year waiting period before a new missionary could marry. And so they would have to get through one more year apart. Betty soon headed back to her post and John went to his.
His first challenge was to learn the language. And it’s a tough one to learn. He spent almost a year studying the language before he was able to preach in Chinese. As soon as he could do that, he was sent on iterations, which is where he would travel for a few days or weeks, walking hundreds of miles, giving out tracts, selling Bibles and preaching the gospel.
Betty served in Fowyang, an area where the church had been heavily persecuted. A few years prior all the missionaries had been chased out of the province and, several years later, when they could finally return, they expected to find that the church had been wiped out. But they returned to find a thriving church, one of which had 250 people worshiping together. There was a spirit of revival in the area and Betty spent her time preaching especially to women and children, traveling from one village to the next.
But finally that year was up and John and Betty could get married. They did that in October of 1933. He sent his family a letter during his honeymoon and you can just sense his joy in all God had done for him.
This letter finds us at Tsingtao—a young married couple. Oh, the Lord has been so good in all the arrangements that we have just be praising Him all along the way. We’re just having a most blessed time together. I’ve such a lot of things to tell you that I’m going to see if I can lay my hands on some typewriter around here before the Lord’s blessings pile up so high that I shall forget a good many of them. Truly our God seems to go out of His way to make His children happy.
As soon as that honeymoon was over, they got to work together. They continued to travel through the province ministering from town to town. Sometimes John went alone but usually he and Betty went together. They visited Christians, encouraging them. And they met with unbelievers, preaching the gospel to them. They met people who would walk 20 miles to get to the closest church—20 miles there and 20 miles back just to hear the Word of God and to spend time with other Christians. They met people who had simply been handed a New Testament and, by reading it, had come to faith; now they just waited for the missionaries to come and to teach them more about this Lord they loved but only barely knew. Along the way they realized that Betty was pregnant and in September of 1934 she gave birth to a very healthy little girl that they named Helen.
Shortly after the birth of baby Helen, John and Betty Stam received their posting to the city of Tsingteh. And this brings us back to where we began in the beginning of the first part. After only a couple of weeks in their new home the Communists took over the city, took John and Betty captive, plundered their home and threw them in prison. And yet, as you remember, they rejoiced, trusting in God.
And now they were in prison, being held for ransom. The soldiers saw baby Helen and thought that this baby would prove to be a problem—she might slow down her parents as they followed the army. In front of John and Betty they talk about killing her. And then a strange thing happened. One of the men who had been tossed into prison by the Communist soldiers protested. He said, “The baby has done nothing worthy of death!” The soldiers told him, “It’s your life or hers.” The man said, “I am willing.” And just like that the soldiers struck him down and killed him, leaving the baby alone and unharmed. No one knows who the man was or why he would do such a brave thing.
Early the next morning the soldiers woke John and Betty and they all left the city, John walking and Betty riding on a horse. They started riding toward the town of Miaosheo. John had planned on going to the city that day anyway and waiting for him there was a friend, a man known as Evangelist Lo. As the soldiers marched into Miaosheo they took Lo captive. They asked him what he did for a living and he told them that he distributed tracts. They apparently didn’t know what that meant so they let him go. He hurried away, though he would return soon enough.
The soldiers pillaged the town just like they had pillaged the last one, taking anything that was valuable. John and Betty were hauled into a home that would serve as a jail and a guard watched them through the night. Betty was allowed to be free within that room, but John was tied in a standing position so he could not rest or sleep.
It was the next day, a Saturday morning, that the soldiers came into John and Betty’s room and told them to take off their clothes, to walk out of the house in just their long underwear. They tightly tied their hands behind their backs and led them out. John walked barefoot, having given his socks to his wife to protect her feet. They left the baby behind; Betty had tucked her into her little sleeping bag and then nestled her into a big pile of bedding. The soldiers forgot all about little Helen.
The soldiers marched John and Betty through the town and told all the people to come out and to watch them die. They would witness what China thought of foreigners, people who would come to their nation to teach people about God. There was only one man in the entire town who was brave enough to object. A man named Chang spoke up for the couple. He fell on his knees before the soldiers and begged them to let the missionaries go. The soldiers grabbed him and tied him up, too, accusing him of being in league with the foreigners. They searched his home and there they found a Bible and a hymn book—now they knew that he was a Christian too.
They dragged John and Betty to the end of the main street, a little place called Eagle Hill. They ordered John to kneel, but before he did so, he said just a few words to the soldiers nearby. No witnesses were close enough to hear the words, but I think we know what he told them, don’t we? What would he have said to them except to speak the gospel to them? He knelt on the ground, a big knife flashed, and John fell to the ground. Then they pushed Betty down beside him and she, too, was killed. Neither one showed any great fear; neither one cried out; both were praying to the Lord at the moment they went to meet the Lord. They went from being on their knees on the cold, hard ground, to being on their knees before their Savior. Chang was killed very shortly after. He had always been considered a timid and lukewarm Christian, but here he died a brave death for his faith.
John and Betty are martyrs, Christians who gave their lives in service to the Lord and who died for his cause. I want to talk about the impact of that. But first, let’s talk about baby Helen.
About 24 hours after John and Betty were killed, Evangelist Lo returned to the town since the soldiers had left. He had been told of the deaths of his friend and wanted to find their bodies. As he came into the town someone told him that there was a foreign baby left in one of the homes. He ran to the home and found baby Helen there, crying. She had been alone for 27 hours. Inside her clothes was pinned two five-dollar bills Betty had hidden away in the hope that someone would help her. Lo took Helen with him and walked to Eagle Hill. And there he found the bodies. He bought a couple of coffins (using credit, not the ten dollars left for the baby). The people who lifted the bodies into the coffins noted that John’s face was frozen in an expression of joy and that Betty’s was completely serene. Neither had faltered at the point of death.
Evangelist Lo and his wife carried baby Helen with them, finding in every village people who would nurse the little baby. They carried her all the way to the nearest missionary outpost where they handed the baby over and shared a full account of the deaths of John and Betty Stam. Helen was dubbed “the miracle baby.” She was raised by her grandparents and lives in the
It is hard to know why God allowed John and Betty to come to such an early death. They were a nice, godly young couple who had only just begun what could have been a long and fruitful career serving God as missionaries. They were just about the same age as Nick and Alicia, just barely starting life together. And with two quick slashes of a sword, they were dead. Their little girl was an orphan. Why?
We don’t know, do we? At least we don’t know the exact reasons. But we do know that in some way God wanted to use their lives and their deaths to glorify himself. Remember a few weeks back I spoke about Acts 12 and how God allowed Stephen and James to be killed, while letting Peter escape. And that passage told us that in all things God will have his glory. And God was glorified through the lives of John and Betty Stam. Here are just a few ways in which we see it.
When Evangelist Lo found the bodies and placed them in the coffins, he preached to the crowd that had gathered there. Here is what he said to them:
You have seen these wounded bodies, and you pity these foreigners for their suffering and death. But you should know that they are children of God. Their spirits are unharmed and at this minutes are in the presence of God.
They came to China and to Miaosheo not for themselves but for you, to tell you about God and His love, that you might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved eternally. You have heard this message. Remember it is true. Their death proves that. Do not forget what they told you. Repent and believe the Gospel.
Many of the people who listened to the evangelist wept, something that was notable because other missionaries would say that never in all their labors had they heard of Chinese people weeping as they heard the gospel. But these people had witnessed a demonstration of the power of God and the truth of the gospel. They had seen the difference the gospel makes.
There is one way God was glorified. Another way was when newspapers all over the world, secular newspapers, carried the story of what had happened. People read the story and heard of two brave Christians who considered their lives less valuable than their service to God. People were drawn to the gospel just by hearing this!
And all around the world people heard the story of John and Betty and determined then and there that they, too, would be willing to dedicate their lives to that same cause. Only eternity will tell how many people became missionaries, and how many souls were saved, after hearing the story of the Stams.
That is part of the answer, I’m sure. For the rest we will need to wait. And now it’s a good time to ask, Would you be willing to face death as they did? Would you be willing to give up every comfort? Would you be willing to trust God not just with your own life but with the life of your spouse? Your children? Would you make your last words gospel words, words that carry life even as you face death? Their on their knees on the cold ground in China, John and Betty were stronger than they had ever been. And God was glorified.
The night before they died John and Betty were being pulled along and someone asked, “Where are you going?” John’s response was “We do not know where they are going, but we are going to heaven.”
Let me close with a letter written by John’s father. He sent this to friends and acquaintances shortly after learning that his son and daughter-in-law had been killed.
Our dear children, John Stam and Elisabeth Scott Stam, have gone to be with the Lord. They loved him, they served him, and now they are with him. What could be more glorious? It is true, the manner in which they were sent out of this world was a shock to us all, but whatever of suffering they may have endured is now past, and they are both infinitely blessed with the joys of heaven.
As for those of us who have been left behind, we were once more reminded of our sacred vows by a telegram received from one of John’s schoolmates in the Midwest—“Remember, you gave John to God, not to China.” Our hearts, though bowed for a little while with sadness, answered “Amen!” It was our desire that he, as well as we, should serve the Lord, and if that could be better done by death than by life, we would have it so. The sacrifice may seem great now, but no sacrifice is too great to make for him who gave himself for us.
We are earnestly praying that it will all be for God’s glory and the salvation of souls. How glad we shall be if through this dreadful experience many souls shall be won for the Lord Jesus! How glad we shall be if many dear Christian young people shall be inspired to give themselves to the Lord as never before, for a life of sacrifice and service!
We were honored by having sons and daughters minister for our Lord among the heathen, but we are more signally honored that two of them have won the martyr’s crown. We are sure that our dear brother and sister, Dr. and Mrs. Charles Scott, both join us in saying, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Some thoughts from I got from David Platt and Eric Ludy
To those that are not believers:
Picture a mountain. On top of this mountain is God. At the bottom are
we. We each have to try to get to Him, however you can. It doesn’t
matter which road you choose, as long as you just get to Him. This
you’ve no doubt heard as a metaphor of how to get to God. This is a
lie, heresy, not true. Rather He came down and gave Himself for us so
we can live at the top with Him. This is closer. But allow me to paint
another picture.
2000 years ago the Son of God, a fulfillment of all God’s Messianic
prophecies, came to the earth to die for the sin of humans. To take
the magnitude of eternal punishment for every sin that was committed
against God, and that will be committed. This was a tremendous burden. Think
of yourself in a field next to a dam 10,000 miles wide, with water
behind it. Suddenly the dam is breached and every ounce of the water
is hurling toward you. As the water rushes to you the ground opens up
and swallows it all. This is what Jesus Christ did for you and for me. He
took all of sins punishment on Himself. Christ swallowed up the
punishment for our sin, and when He had consumed the last drop, He
turned the Cup of God’s wrath over and cried, “It is finished”. Why did He do this?
He died to save us from our sin, to free us to live with God, to show
His power over sin for all those who trust Him, and to glorify His
Father in Heaven.
So how do you react to such a gospel? I am not going to say, “Bow your head,
close your eyes, and repeat after me.” I am not going to even say,
“Accept Him”. Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don’t we
need Him? Surely more then praying a prayer is involved. More then
religious attendance is warranted. This gospel demands unconditional
surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that He is.
You can start this surrender by yielding your life and heart to Him.
The Bible says, “ If you confess with your mouth that Jesus dies, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be
saved.” It also says that whoever follows Him must give up their life
for Him. So at last I say to you just that: Believe in Him and give
your life to Him.
To believers:
Questions for each of us that claim to be Christians: Are you living
under the example of Jesus’ life? Are you living with the light of His existence?
Or, are we merely living under the banner of these truths? This is a
reason that the world wants to flush out Christianity out. Because of
Christians who speak grand thoughts yet live horrible lives. We are so
used to hearing and knowing the futility and the failure in our
lives, that we have no faith in victory any more. We have more faith
in satan’s power in our life, then in Jesus Christ who delivered us.
May I suggest that we have lost faith in the power of God in our life.
But let me tell you today that nothing is to big for God. Stop saying,
“ Woe is me! God can not deliver me from this problem! It’s a special
case! Sure, God helped me in the past, but this problem is different.”
There is nothing that Jesus did not deal with on the cross. We have
sin. We have selfishness. We have rebellion. And God is an expert at
dealing with this. We simply must believe this. God wants to purge us
of every vice that stands against Gods agenda for our lives. We must
give Him control of every area of our being to allow Him to give us
real life. That is a life of faith. A life of complete abandonment to
God. A life of absolute confidence. If He says it, if He promises it,
then we esteem it and we say, "He will perform it". And we take a step
forward. Have faith in the victory!
Picture a mountain. On top of this mountain is God. At the bottom are
we. We each have to try to get to Him, however you can. It doesn’t
matter which road you choose, as long as you just get to Him. This
you’ve no doubt heard as a metaphor of how to get to God. This is a
lie, heresy, not true. Rather He came down and gave Himself for us so
we can live at the top with Him. This is closer. But allow me to paint
another picture.
2000 years ago the Son of God, a fulfillment of all God’s Messianic
prophecies, came to the earth to die for the sin of humans. To take
the magnitude of eternal punishment for every sin that was committed
against God, and that will be committed. This was a tremendous burden. Think
of yourself in a field next to a dam 10,000 miles wide, with water
behind it. Suddenly the dam is breached and every ounce of the water
is hurling toward you. As the water rushes to you the ground opens up
and swallows it all. This is what Jesus Christ did for you and for me. He
took all of sins punishment on Himself. Christ swallowed up the
punishment for our sin, and when He had consumed the last drop, He
turned the Cup of God’s wrath over and cried, “It is finished”. Why did He do this?
He died to save us from our sin, to free us to live with God, to show
His power over sin for all those who trust Him, and to glorify His
Father in Heaven.
So how do you react to such a gospel? I am not going to say, “Bow your head,
close your eyes, and repeat after me.” I am not going to even say,
“Accept Him”. Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don’t we
need Him? Surely more then praying a prayer is involved. More then
religious attendance is warranted. This gospel demands unconditional
surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that He is.
You can start this surrender by yielding your life and heart to Him.
The Bible says, “ If you confess with your mouth that Jesus dies, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be
saved.” It also says that whoever follows Him must give up their life
for Him. So at last I say to you just that: Believe in Him and give
your life to Him.
To believers:
Questions for each of us that claim to be Christians: Are you living
under the example of Jesus’ life? Are you living with the light of His existence?
Or, are we merely living under the banner of these truths? This is a
reason that the world wants to flush out Christianity out. Because of
Christians who speak grand thoughts yet live horrible lives. We are so
used to hearing and knowing the futility and the failure in our
lives, that we have no faith in victory any more. We have more faith
in satan’s power in our life, then in Jesus Christ who delivered us.
May I suggest that we have lost faith in the power of God in our life.
But let me tell you today that nothing is to big for God. Stop saying,
“ Woe is me! God can not deliver me from this problem! It’s a special
case! Sure, God helped me in the past, but this problem is different.”
There is nothing that Jesus did not deal with on the cross. We have
sin. We have selfishness. We have rebellion. And God is an expert at
dealing with this. We simply must believe this. God wants to purge us
of every vice that stands against Gods agenda for our lives. We must
give Him control of every area of our being to allow Him to give us
real life. That is a life of faith. A life of complete abandonment to
God. A life of absolute confidence. If He says it, if He promises it,
then we esteem it and we say, "He will perform it". And we take a step
forward. Have faith in the victory!
Redeeming The Time
To those that did not see this, here is a link to something Sarah Stephens posted. http://alife4christ-sarah.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-much-time-do-we-give-to-god.html?spref=gb please read this.
I would like to add to her post a bit.
I love the idea of spending an equal amount of time in the word (memorizing, reading etc.) that you do on the piece of technology which you spend most time on, and I am trying to invest a proportionate amount of time in the Word as I do my iPhone. But here are some other things I thought of.
As I think about the verse at the end of Sarah's post, a few other things come to mind. "Redeeming the time". What does that mean and how would one do that? Yes. The idea Sarah presented is a great thing to do, but what does redeem mean? While it does imply that we should use our time wisely, it also means to change something bad or non profitable for something desireable. So, if we are to redeem the time, is matching time, the proactive way to complete the charge? No. It is a way, but not a proactive way. Why not go the extra step. In Timothy Paul says "Let no man despise thy youth". We should not give any reason to even one man to despise us. "Let" is indicative that we must not allow it to happen. We have control over it. Whatever we say on our "public profile(s)" everyone will see and link that to you, and if they know you claim to be a Christian, to Christ, also. We must mantain a Godly testimony everywhere. Now back to redeeming. If something is to be redeemed, something must be ousted with the welcoming of a new reality. Exempli gratia: Our old sinful being with the new identity of Christ, or our mortal earthly protoplasm, with the eternal perfect cadavers we will get in heaven. So how does this apply to us? What are you doing on technology? How can it get better? Here is my challenge to each of us: seek to redeem all your time. When on your computer, phone or whatever, what are you doing? Is it in light of eternity? If it's not bad, is it good? If something is nuetral, or cold, it has not been redeemed, according to the correct meaning. I challenge you to make your time redeemed and do something good with it. Make people see person that's different, changing to be like Christ, our redeemer, in you. In your ALL your posts. In ALL your texts. In ALL your Twits our whatever. In ALL your movies. In ALL your music. In ALL your life. I am trying to do this and have had a lot of thought on the subject since around Christmas. I have taken action in several areas. I have prayed about it a lot, and I will keeping praying for all of us as we continue to grow to be like Christ. Also, compare what I say to the Bible, as we should with everything.
God bless you!
Ephesians 5:16
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
I would like to add to her post a bit.
I love the idea of spending an equal amount of time in the word (memorizing, reading etc.) that you do on the piece of technology which you spend most time on, and I am trying to invest a proportionate amount of time in the Word as I do my iPhone. But here are some other things I thought of.
As I think about the verse at the end of Sarah's post, a few other things come to mind. "Redeeming the time". What does that mean and how would one do that? Yes. The idea Sarah presented is a great thing to do, but what does redeem mean? While it does imply that we should use our time wisely, it also means to change something bad or non profitable for something desireable. So, if we are to redeem the time, is matching time, the proactive way to complete the charge? No. It is a way, but not a proactive way. Why not go the extra step. In Timothy Paul says "Let no man despise thy youth". We should not give any reason to even one man to despise us. "Let" is indicative that we must not allow it to happen. We have control over it. Whatever we say on our "public profile(s)" everyone will see and link that to you, and if they know you claim to be a Christian, to Christ, also. We must mantain a Godly testimony everywhere. Now back to redeeming. If something is to be redeemed, something must be ousted with the welcoming of a new reality. Exempli gratia: Our old sinful being with the new identity of Christ, or our mortal earthly protoplasm, with the eternal perfect cadavers we will get in heaven. So how does this apply to us? What are you doing on technology? How can it get better? Here is my challenge to each of us: seek to redeem all your time. When on your computer, phone or whatever, what are you doing? Is it in light of eternity? If it's not bad, is it good? If something is nuetral, or cold, it has not been redeemed, according to the correct meaning. I challenge you to make your time redeemed and do something good with it. Make people see person that's different, changing to be like Christ, our redeemer, in you. In your ALL your posts. In ALL your texts. In ALL your Twits our whatever. In ALL your movies. In ALL your music. In ALL your life. I am trying to do this and have had a lot of thought on the subject since around Christmas. I have taken action in several areas. I have prayed about it a lot, and I will keeping praying for all of us as we continue to grow to be like Christ. Also, compare what I say to the Bible, as we should with everything.
God bless you!
Ephesians 5:16
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
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