Farewell, Dear Friend, Bob Berry

 One of my dearest mentors passed into eternity yesterday. 

Bob Berry has joined those who stand in the presence of their Lord. This Sunday morning he is singing the "Hallelujah Chorus" better than he ever sang it before.

Bob led Canadian Baptist Ministries, our mission organization for many years. He graciously interacted with 1,200 churches across our country and many more around the world. He leaves a godly heritage for his five children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He will be missed by an enormous number of individuals beyond his family and church. 

One memory, of many, comes back. Bob's words left a powerful influence on me as he shared the Kingdom of God. The day was a late June Sunday in 1988 in Western Brazil. Bob was spending two weeks in Brazil on a trip that later led him to Bolivia and then back to Toronto, Canada.

The morning began in Corumba, a city on Brazil's border with Bolivia. The wide Paraguay River flows past Corumba as it drains the surrounding Pantanal, the world's largest swampland. We headed out to Porto Esperanca, a small community on the edge of the river, traveling on a 24 foot-long boat I was involved in constructing three years earlier. This tiny community, like scores of others along the river, can only be reached by boat.

On Sunday morning, we spent 90 minutes going from the port in Corumba to Porto Esperanca. Bob preached to a new congregation and his message was translated into Portuguese. The morning service was followed by 24 baptisms as our pioneer missionary, Jose Valamatos, dipped people into the river's edge. After lunch, which was open to the community, our team of eight talked with the neighbors and laid plans for a permanent home to be built for a Brazilian to live in the community. (I bought the riverbank property for $500 on behalf of the Brazilian Baptists. We built a large house on stilts to preserve it from the annual floods. This church continues as an outpost of the Congregacao Crista do Brasil, a Pentecostal group.)

Coming back upriver on Logos, the boat in the late afternoon, the motor stopped in midstream. Darkness came on. Above us, we watched the sun disappear. Stars filled the sky. Two hours passed before Valamatos, in the darkness, fixed the troubled, second-hand motor. It was old and unusable, ready for the trash-heap when Valamatos and I bought it for $200 three years earlier. But Valamatos kept the thing running, somehow.

Bob Berry, In the middle of the Pantanal, not showing any fear of being swept down the river towards

Paraguay made a comment I'll never forget. "I wish tons of people in Canada could see what I saw today. The gospel is being preached and people are being discipled in a tiny village in the middle of a swamp. Children have been inoculated against childhood diseases and women are receiving good instruction. Their church was a former bar, then a gambling hall, and until recently, the home of a local hired-gun who was paid to kill government officials. If people could witness this, we'd never have trouble in supporting Gospel work around the world." 

At a moment when I was fearful that our boat would end up in the swamp somewhere, (cell phones didn't exist then) Bob Berry was thinking about taking the message of Jesus Christ to more people. He was planning to send people to countries in Europe, from Yugoslavia to Latvia, and to many places where Gospel preaching was banned through government oppression. Bob cared about Grace, his wonderful wife, and his growing family. Behind his humor and pride in his family, Bob had a passion like few others for taking the Gospel to all the world. 

I will miss your friendship, Bob. Thanks for a life lived selflessly and with great courage. 

Learning from a Humble Man

 

At our pastors' retreats, one of the most humble men left the deepest impression. I'll refer to him as Pastor R. He was a member of the Terrenos Indian tribe and lived on the FUNAI reservation in Mato Grosso do Sul, in Western Brazil. Pastor R. spoke with a resolute faith and a quiet demeanor that indicated his cup was full and running over. He knew he was led by the Lord, even in the most difficult situations. Before he finished praying, my eyes were always brimming over with tears.

Pastor R. is now with God, rejoicing with the saints in glory, awaiting the day of the Great White Throne judgment when the Lord will judge the living and the dead. Perfect justice will be done, unlike the years during which injustice was all too often committed against the Terrenos Indians. 

Decades before, a humble Christian worker, sent out from North America, shared the word of God in one of the Terrenos villages. As a revival swept the tribe, and as household, after household came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, some men resolutely set out to kill Pastor R. One day they arrived at his home at sundown and stated, "Tomorrow, at this time, we are coming to kill you. We don't want your message!"

Pastor R. and his wife fell on their knees. They knew the men were paid to murder, something that was all too common in that part of Brazil, three hours from where we lived. They spent the night in prayer, interceding for the men who were  paid to "put that pastor out of commission."

The next afternoon, these two saints waited for the gunmen and when these men arrived, Pastor R. met them at the front door of his small, rural, two-bedroom house. "I know you are going to kill me and my wife," he said, "but would you grant me a final request. Please let me die on my knees. I'll kneel down, then I'll pray, and then you can kill me."

With the request granted, he fell on his knees. With hands spread out to the heavens and with tears pouring down his face, he prayed, and prayed, and prayed. He asked the Lord to show his mercy to these three men. He wept for their wives and children. He asked the Lord to be gracious to them. Then he prayed some more. He asked that Jesus Christ, who had taken his sins and forgiven him, would now forgive the men who were about to kill him. 

Finally, he was out of words, and he opened his eyes. Sometime during his prayer, the men had a change of mind. 

Pastor R. told this, and many other stories. Always his conversation with the Lord was that of a child, maybe five or six years of age, just talking naturally with his Heavenly Father. No fancy words. No planned sentences. Just a free-flowing conversation. Many retreats came and went at Piraputanga, the lovely camp on the edge of the verdant Pantanal, (Brazil's beautiful, gigantic swamp), but what stands out for me were the prayers of a humble Terrenos Indian pastor who walked, really walked, with God.

What happens when you make disciples?

 Jesus made disciples. He spent three years living with them, experiencing many and varied situations. Then he said, "As you go, make more disciples."

Where did those disciples GO TO? Well, history tells us that:

Thomas went to South India;

James the Just went to the Arabian Peninsula;

Matthew went to the Gulf region, today Iran and UAE;

Simon the Zealot went to Persia;

Bartholomew went to Persia and Afghanistan region;

Andrew went to Turkey and the Black Sea, then to Greece;

Philip went to Western Turkey, to Hierapolis;

John went to Western Turkey, to Ephesus;

Peter went to Rome;

James the Greater went to Spain;

Mark went to Cyprus and then to Egypt.

WOW! Lord, continue to equip your disciple-makers!

Character is ...

"Character is what you are in the dark." - Dwight L. Moody. 

"If Christ lives in us, controlling our personalities, we will leave glorious marks on the lives we touch. Not because of our lovely characters, but because of His." Eugenia Price

"Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry; because I never undertake any more work than I can go through with perfect calmness of spirit." John Wesley

"To allow the hungry man to remain hungry would be blasphemy against God and against one's neighbor, for what is nearest to God is precisely the need of one's neighbor. It is for the love of Christ, which belongs as much to the hungry man as to myself, that I share my bread with him and that I share my dwelling with the homeless If the hungry man does not attain to faith, then the fault falls on those who refused him bread. To provide the hungry man with bread is to prepare the way for the coming of grace." Dietrich Bonhoeffer. (For the intensity of such faith, Bonhoeffer stood against Nazi Germany and paid for his faith with his life.) 

Joao Keidann - A True Man of God

 After almost two months, I'm still in mourning. My good friend, Joao Keidann was called to the presence of God on June 28. We were expecting him to pass away because he had been going downhill for several years. He had been at home under special care for some years and then he became less and less responsive. When he stopped eating and drinking, the end was near. Nevertheless, when Beth let us know he had passed, it came as a shock. 

Joao came to Canada from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a student at the Baptist Seminary in Rio, he was the student who inevitably had the widest scope of questions. Underneath his arm, he carried a ton of books. He was outgoing and spoke with anyone and everyone. His interest in human nature was only matched by his desire to lead all the people around him to the Lord through salvation in Jesus Christ. 

When he heard about the opportunity to reach Portuguese speaking people in Canada, he applied to be a missionary with the International Missions Board of the Brazilian Baptists. His new home was in Toronto, Ontario. Immediately, the breadth of this young pastor's vision became apparent. The English-speaking local congregation supported him. Over the years, while working in Toronto, Joao heard about other Portuguese speaking persons in surrounding cities. 

Soon, new congregations sprang up in these cities: Cambridge, Kitchener, Guelph, London, and several other cities. Today, there are nine congregations that make up the Portuguese speaking portion of the Canadian Baptist of Ontario and Quebec. Joao is intimately connected to the birth of these churches.

I loved the way Joao endeared himself to people. He spent hours on the telephone encouraging people. He invited me to his home and each time he had new books to place in my hands about evangelism. He recorded a phone message each day, making sure that the listener would be encouraged and would always be challenged to live his or her life for God. He pastored several churches in the Toronto area as well as founding new congregations. 

His two daughters in the USA, and his son and daughter in Canada are examples for Christ. Young Jonny's words at the Zoom-YouTube Memorial Service showed how his father's life is going to live on in the work in British Columbia. 

Dear Beth, we too miss Joao. I don't know how he managed to get everything done in a 24 hour day. He always seemed relaxed, even when problems were causing him to lose a heartbeat or a night's sleep. He was a dear husband and his was a life well-lived.

Persecution of Christians continues in Nigeria

 In the last three weeks of July, 171 Christians were killed by Fulani tribesmen in Northern Nigeria. Some of the people who pulled the trigger were mere children who are being taught to kill. 

The media around the world refuses to cover these details. This insightful article, full of details, brings you up to date with happenings in the last two months. In the past four months, 620 Christians have been killed, two-thirds by Fulani tribesmen, and one third by Boko Haram.

Significant numbers are displaced. Violence affects every member of a family. Livelihoods were already damaged before the Covid-19 lockdown. The news offices of Gatestone Institute have been overwhelmed for months and yet the world's media does not even mention the ongoing deliberate slaughter of men and women, boys and girls. Christian lives are being wiped out, in some cases, whole villages. 

Since 2009, approximately 32,000 Christians have been killed in Northern Nigeria. Fuller details here:  https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16349/genocide-christians-nigeria

Separation between Church and State?

 Should churches receive money from the State? Should there be a strict division between the State and the money and control over churches?

This question has rarely been asked with as much intensity. Covid-19 has brought many new questions to the fore. 

In the USA, federal funds were made available to churches as part of the CARES Act, providing that 75% of the money was used for payroll. This article from Christianity Today examines the situation of several churches in California that received the funds. 

What is your opinion of Ram Cnaan's description of the "Halo effect"? 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/august/coronavirus-cares-act-ppp-loan-sba-trump-megachurches.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=15765617&utm_content=727456868&utm_campaign=email

Moses and the Exodus

The story of Moses is one of the most thrilling in all of history. We know the story very well, most of us. Who hasn't watched, "The Ten Commandments" movie? From the River Nile to the place where he was named - "Moses" means "Pulled from the Water" - he became one of the most important princes in Egypt. Then, within twenty-four hours, he lost it all: privilege, position, honor, entitlement, prestige, his people, and even his future. (But he did gain a wife, a great father-in-law, two children, and lots of experience helping sheep find food among the rocks.)

Starting at the age of forty, his character was forged in the blinding heat of the desert. One day, approximately at age eighty, he heard the Lord speaking to him from a burning bush. "Tell the Pharaoh, 'Let my people go.'" 

The story of the Exodus became the foundational story for the Jewish people. We as Christians find in the Passover and the Exodus patterns that come to fruition in our Lord Jesus Christ. We bless the Jewish people for having preserved the documents of the first five books of the Bible that largely laid the basis for Western Civilization.

Moses is a hero for many reasons. Two stand out above the rest. First, he listened to the Lord JHWH and obeyed, resulting in the deliverance of millions of people who became the nation of Israel. Because of that, the LORD is proclaimed as being more powerful than all earthly gods. The gods of Egpyt, multiplied dozens of them, are judged and overthrown.

Secondly, Moses delivers the Law, the Torah, to the people of Israel. The Ten Commandments and all the other commands and precepts declare to the nations that the Lord is above all powers and principalities. No king on earth can improve upon the laws given by God. A standard of justice, righteousness, love, and equity stands at the center of God's will. The nation that follows these laws will prosper. 

For an amazing, up-to-date view of the Exodus, you will be incredibly blessed as you view this two-our free movie. You will see compelling new reasons from archaeology to understand the dating of the Exodus. https://www.revelationmedia.com/watchexodus/RM16360/

Pray for Muslims in Canada

 Canada is now hosting more than a million Muslims. Most live in the larger cities.

Take a moment to pray with a Muslim background believer who pours out her heart for people who have come from many countries. Prayercast.com has done a fabulous job of blending the prayers of people with images that take you into homes, mosques, places of work, and neighborhoods. When you see these images, you will be reminded that Jesus Christ died for all, for men and women, boys and girls, and people from all nations. 

https://prayercast.com/muslims-in-canada.html

The Saddest Day for Jews - Two Temples Burned on the Same Day

What is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar? The Ninth of the Jewish month of Av is known as Tish B'Av. 

Nebuchadnezzar's army destroyed the city of Jerusalem on this day in 585 BC.  

(Painting - Roberts: The Seige and Destruction of Jerusalem, from Wikipedia)

Roman troops under Titus burnt Jerusalem on this

day in 70 AD. 

Furthermore, Jews were expelled from England on this day in 1290. 

Two centuries later, in 1492, on the same day, Jews were banished from Spain. 

(Painting - 1683 Dutch Painting - "The Burning of the Temple" from Wikipedia)

 

No wonder Jews all around the world are keeping a 24 fast with sackcloth clothing. 

No water and no food for 24 hours as they read the book of Lamentations. This is an unbelievable day of mourning. Deep questions about the purposes of God are asked. Many passages from the Scriptures are read.

(Sculpture - General Titus Arch, in Rome)

Systematic Persecution of Christians Documented

Systematic persecution continues of Christians. The June 2020 report is in. 

You will read in the link brings you news from several countries in West Africa: Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Mozambique, Uganda, and Mali. In the Middle East and Asia, reports of brutal persecution come from Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, and Indonesia.   Raymond Ibrahim is an authority on the persecution of Christian populations across these nations.

Within the link, at the bottom of this lengthy report, you will find the monthly reports FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS. This meticulous reporting lists the names, dates, places, nature of beatings, and killings of tens of thousands of persons over the last decade. 

"Lord, we have no idea why so many are being permitted to die, being beaten, burned, and raped. We lift up those who are still alive, those who have lost homes and businesses in mass attacks, those who are blinded and unable to secure medical attention. We bless you for strengthening these men and women around Northern, Western, and Eastern Africa, and across the Middle East and Asia. Their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Touch our hearts that we might be sensitive to the needs of others, less burdened with our own problems. Help us to find ways to bring comfort to Christians in the lands where hundreds have recently lost their lives for the sake of Your Name. And we bless you, Lord, for bringing this suffering and pain to our attention. Amen." 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16274/persecution-christians-june-2020

Finishing Well. "Well done, good and faithful servant, John Forrester."

This blog focuses on the faithful service of God's people. That includes women and men, boys and girls, and people in different countries. I want to see the Church as it has been served by godly people across the years, across the centuries. 

Two weeks ago, on July 9, John Forrester, one of my dear friends, suddenly passed into the Lord's presence. John and Betty were with their family for a holiday in central British Columbia. An aneurysm and stroke caused him to be taken to Kelowna General Hospital, and a few days later, he breathed his last.

I came to love John and Betty in 2004. They were part of a group that visited the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. John's quiet humor was captivating. Totally unique, he was able to see the humorous side of anything. I never heard a barb or unkind word in the comments that brought quiet chuckles. John uniquely loved the Lord. He was born in Stockport, England, and later lived in Wales. After immigrating to Canada, he made his living as a farmer in Prince Edward Island. 

From his involvement as a lay leader in a local congregation, he moved to Vancouver, BC. After completing theological education, he became the lead pastor at Trinity Baptist Church. It was during that time that he and Betty came to Turkey for a two-week visit. 

John came to live in Turkey. He and Betty had a unique way of creating friendships with their Turkish neighbors. With Betty's delicious cooking and John's chuckle and a friendly smile, they became close friends with families on every floor of their building. Their door was always open to visitors, and opened continuously! They lived in two different cities, and after three years, they returned to Canada. The friendships they created were not abandoned. John kept in touch with his Turkish friends and returned to their homes, crossing many time zones. He wanted people to know the value of a Turkish cup of tea, an enduring symbol of hospitality and friendship in the culture. 

In Canada, a new ministry opened up to him in the Toronto area, and once again, he created deep and meaningful relationships.

In the years before his proposed retirement, John taught classes in Merritt. His gifting led him to many professions: as a painter,  a farmer, a pastor, a servant of the Lord across cultural lines, an author, and a teacher.  

I loved to hear John preach. He had a fantastic understanding of the complexity of the inner life and thoughts of human nature. His book on shame and grace captured the Gospel in ways I had never heard from another preacher in North America. He understood the power of a shame-based culture and how the good news of Jesus Christ could reach into the darkest corners of our hearts. 

Behind his gentle humor and pleasant conduct, his mind was always buzzing, thinking of another project, remembering to comfort one of his students, or composing another illustration for his gripping sermons. He was gentle and compassionate. His love for Jesus Christ permeated all he did, wherever he lived. 

I share the loss of the Forrester family. John loved to talk about his children and grandchildren.

What about a visualized Bible for iPhones?

A Bible portion in Hebrew

 Bibles used to be copied out by hand. Imagine doing that today!

 Then, along came Mr. Guttenberg, and invented movable print. The first book published was the Bible - in German!

 Later, we had the mass production of Bibles across all the western languages. Missionaries traveled to distant lands, and one of the first things they did was translate Greek and Hebrew texts into the dominant language of the region.

 Now the Bible is available in more than 700 languages. Portions of the New Testament reach another - perhaps - 1,500 languages. 

 What about the other smaller language group. There may be 3,000 or 4,000 unreached languages, it depends on how the various linguists define the terms. (It's a complicated decision to say that this language or that one can understand that group. Hey, sometimes English speaking people have trouble understanding one another.)

Now comes a new idea. Providing an iBible to the 5,000,000,000 (billion) iPhones in the world. Enjoy this video! 

https://www.i.bible/about/