Resource Review: Foxes Book of Martyrs

To order this product:

Click Here (Koorong) (Amazon) 

I am constantly struck by Paul’s words in the letter to the Philippians in that Christians are to magnify Christ whether in life or in death (Philippians 1:20-21). John Foxe put together an interesting account of those Christians that stood firm in their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, even to the point of death. I have found this book rather convicting personally and encouraging at the same time.

Outside of the Bible itself, the works of John Foxe were the most readily available writings of the 16th century. These amazing stories of faith and courage in the face of terrible persecution inspire perseverance in all circumstances.

John Foxe
John Foxe (1516-1587) was a professor at Oxford, then a minister in London before being forced to flee to Europe when Queen Mary came to power. While in Europe he wrote this classic and published it after returning to England when Queen Elizabeth took the throne.

Paperback, 416 pages

Price: Approx. $4.95 (Koorong)

Price: Approx. $9 (Amazon)

For other Christian testimonies, check out Owned Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Life (1): This is my Show!

Bon Jovi once said “It’s my life, and it’s now or never, I ante gonna live forever... I just want live my life”. The Black Eyed Peas added to the conversation with their song “Do what you want”. Pink even had a crack by stating “I don’t give a damn I don’t play your rules I make my own.... I’ll do what I want cause I can”. I want to pause for a moment and ask you, what do you consider to be the purpose and drive of your life? Generally most people of this era would answer – You are an individual; own your life; take what you want; live as much as you can because you’ll only live for 100 yrs max; if you burn some bridges, well, who cares, they had it coming to them anyway; just make the most it! Have something to show for it at the end!

We are encouraged and enticed daily by the media to spend it up, live it up and play it up. To be honest, don't we all just want to have some fun? Why not, we earned it didn’t we? We work hard during the week and deserve our just desserts. There is nothing better than an awesome holiday at the end of a hard slog at work; kicking back in the sun on a beautiful beach in the tropics. I remember just last year in the October holidays travelling with my stunning wife to Fiji. What a trip it was! We enjoyed the sun, surf, delicious food and drinks and the company of some extremely friendly hosts. I was able to watch the GF between the Eels and the Storm with over 100 crazy Fijian Jarrod Hayne fans. What a great time. Life is good that is for sure and we really need to make the most of it don’t we?

Let me point out that I am not against enjoying life, taking holidays or having fun. However, in this article, I want to share with you a passage of scripture about the Apostle Paul who views his life in a different light. Keep in mind that Paul was a former murderer of Christians and staunch hater of Jesus. He was a very intelligent man and well trained in the Jewish scriptures. One day, however, Jesus came and turned his life upside down. The following passage is taken from Acts 20:18-24 (link for the whole chapter of Acts 20), a speech by Paul:

When they arrived, he said to them, "You know how I spent the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. With all humility and many tears I did my work as the Lord's servant during the hard times that came to me because of the plots of some Jews. You know that I did not hold back anything that would be of help to you as I preached and taught in public and in your homes. To Jews and Gentiles alike I gave solemn warning that they should turn from their sins to God and believe in our Lord Jesus. And now, in obedience to the Holy Spirit I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit has warned me that prison and troubles wait for me. But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

Paul was radically transformed by Jesus. Previously to this, he was a sinner above all sinners who was surely condemned to hell. But by the awesome power of Jesus death on the cross, he had been forgiven of all his stuff ups and mistakes and was offered a new and fulfilling life. Paul had come to the knowledge that he owed his entire life to the man who had rescued him from sin and death. Paul now states “I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I want to (paraphrasing here) do what my rescuer and master has called on me to do”.

Jesus death on the cross changes everything! Let me tell you a story that may try and relate this with you. Put yourself in this man’s shoes:

I was mowing the front lawn on a beautiful summer’s day. I was keen to get my jobs around the house done so I could take my three year old son out to the beach. He played with his ball nearby me as I mowed. Suddenly, he kicked his ball and before I could notice, he was out on the road collecting it. A car swerved to miss him and slammed into a telegraph pole. The driver sustained serious head injuries – he would never function the same again.

How would you feel if you were this father? The driver of the car had sacrificed his wellbeing for the little boy. Paul, likewise feels this burden. He had been rescued from certain peril by one loving act by Jesus death on the cross. This offer is also available to you. Have you ever considered a relationship with Jesus? He wants to rescue you for your sin. Check out this video below:

I guess we need to close with either one of two responses:

Firstly, what direction is your life taking? Is it directed towards the constant pursuit of stuff or is it aimed at living for your creator, Jesus? The bible states that our purpose in life is to live in relationship with him (for more see Christians Believe (1), but because of sin, this relationship has become fractured (for more see Christians Believe (2)  This very relationship between you and God can be mended by you turning to God, acknowledging that you have fallen away and want to be forgiven through his Son Jesus. As I said- the cross changes everything.

Or secondly, as a Christian, it is hard for you to keep in mind the words of Paul- Count you life not as your own but as Christs? But how does this play out in everyday life? I guess we need to examine our hearts. Are there idols in your life that you need to repent of- greed, work, pride? Are there things taking you away from Jesus and loving and caring for his people? Is your life everything or is Christ, yor rescuer?

I will finish with this question – What will you have to show for at the end of your life- lots of your stuff and experiences or a fulfilling and complete life with your creator? Let Jesus own your life now.

Maybe you are asking the question, ‘Does Jesus really make a difference?’ Well, below are three links to proof that Jesus transforms lives- enjoy:
Owned (1): A Rocker’s Faith
Owned (2): A Thirsty Faith
Owned (3): An Addictive Faith

Owned (3): An Addictive Faith

"Owned" is a series looking at how faith in Jesus has changed peoples lives. These are real testimonies to the power of God!

Brian Welch, better known as Head, is an American musician and former lead guitarist and co-founder of the metal band Korn. Welch helped patent Korn's distinctive sound. He left the band in 2005 after accepting Jesus as his Lord and Saviour and focusing on life as a father, and to pursue his own solo career.

“On February 22, 2005, Korn's management announced that after almost 12 years, Welch had parted ways with the band, citing that he had "...chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his saviour, and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end." "He reached the heights of fame with the metal band, Korn. Brian Welch tells why he left, how he came to Christ, and how God broke his crippling drug addiction."

In an '09 radio interview with The Full Armor of God Broadcast, Brian explained "I was walking one day, just doing my Rock & Roll thing making millions of bucks, you know success and everything, addicted to drugs and than the next day I had Revelation of Christ and I was like, everything changes right now!" On March 10, 2005, Welch was baptized in the Jordan River with a group of believers hailing from Bakersfield, California. He has declared that he has rid himself of all drugs in his "own personal rehab" with God, in which he had checked into a hotel room and sat in his bed for hours.

For more information, please see Wikipedia’s page on Brian Welch (which this article derives its information from) and the song that was influenced by Brian’s repentance in Jesus called Flush. Brian Welch’s video was taken from the I am Second website.

I guess, what you need to do is consider what are the things that are holding you back from turning to Jesus? The bible is emphatic in pointing out that God wants us to see him not as a hard task master but rather a loving Father who is at work in the world rescuing his children from death and sin. I want to leave you wit this message from Isaiah 12:

You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.
"Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Owned (2): A Thirsty Faith

"Owned" is a series looking at how faith in Jesus has changed peoples lives. These are real testimonies to the power of God!

I didn’t grow up in a Christian home but my parents sent me to a Christian school (I think because they thought I would get more ‘discipline’ there). At high school I heard about Jesus, believed I needed forgiveness and he was the only one who could provide it …. But I didn’t want to trust or follow Jesus. I thought: if I follow Jesus, I won’t be able to have fun anymore, I can’t drink with my mates and party and God would just crowd my style. As a result I went through high school and my early university days doing what I wanted. Partying hard, pursuing sport and trying to find fulfilment in doing what everyone else was doing. But as a result, I woke up every morning after a big night feeling empty, dirty and wondering why I am on earth, what is my purpose, what happens when I die and all the ‘big questions in life’.

Around this time I met a guy at university who was a follower of Jesus and he told me the Bible had the answers to the questions I was asking. We studied the Bible together and I learnt that God created me, loves me and wants a relationship with me. One day I was at a conference and the speaker described what Jesus went through so I could be forgiven, that God sent his only Son Jesus to die for me, in my place. That he rose from the dead and is coming back to as the judge of the world. I felt like God was speaking to me that night in my Spirit, telling me he loved me, wanted to forgive me and start a relationship with me, but I had to ask for forgiveness, turn back to him and put my trust in him. That night in a cow paddock at Richmond I told God I was sorry for ignoring him and treating him like dirt. I asked him to forgive me and to come into my life. I felt such joy and peace come over me like I have never felt before. I felt Gods presence so strongly, like he was right there with me.

That night changed my life forever. I have now being following Jesus for 8 years. Those years have been full of joy, sorry, confusion, loving God, walking away from God, falling back into sin, repenting and everything in between. Throughout this God has stood by me, showed me mercy and grace and loved me. It is the most wonderful thing in the world to live life with the God of universe on your side.

Owned (1): A Rocker’s Faith

I’d like to share with you the story of how I came to be a Christian. I hope you find it interesting, I hope it helps you to get to know me more and I also hope it helps you to continue thinking things through so that you too might come to know God. Every Christian has their own unique story of how they came to know God. This is mine.

Regular Young Aussie Guy

Before becoming a Christian I was, in most ways, a regular aussie guy. I had almost no interest in God or Jesus or Church, prayer, religion and so on. And not surprisingly, I had almost no understanding of what being a Christian meant. For me, the thought of God rarely entered my mind; he wasn’t on the radar of my life. I didn’t know Him, I didn’t seek Him and no-one came and told me about Him. I assumed that if he was there, he wasn’t worth paying any attention to, because no-one else seemed to, and so I just continued living life my own way, giving God the cold shoulder & ignoring him.

As a result I drifted through life; through school & sport, uni & relationships, work & music without much direction or purpose. As far as I could see, that was all there was to life. So I just went with the flow – what else was I going to do?

My Problem

But I had a problem. Life was lacking something; I was not satisfied, I was not content. Most things didn’t seem very worthwhile to me. My attitude towards things was often, “What’s the point? That’s not important! Why bother? That doesn’t matter!”. I had a desire to live a meaningful life; I had a thirst for purpose in life. But I didn’t know where to find it. As a result, I could be negative and unmotivated.

However, most people who knew me, wouldn’t have known I felt like this. I still got on with life, got my assignments in on time, earned money, went to parties, had friends… but underneath the surface, I remained unsatisfied with life. Even with music.

Music

For a long time music was a massive part of my life. In fact, playing guitar was the main reason I got out of bed in morning. My weeks consisted of practising, jamming, teaching, writing, recording, rehearsing, improvising and performing. I was doing what I wanted to do. I was flat out with all the musical activities I had filled my life with. I had made music the very centre of my life. And for a time there, I thought, ‘this is great’. But it didn’t last. I became less and less satisfied with music. I had become too ‘serious’ about music because I made it into something it was not meant to be. If music was ever unenjoyable, consequently, almost everything in my life became unenjoyable. So my passion for music began fading. Little did I know at the time, that I was not made to have all my desires met just by music. But I didn’t know where else to turn. So I just kept picking up the guitar, only to be disappointed again and again. This problem turned out to be a good thing.

Brothers invite

One day my brother invited me to church. It wasn’t the first time he’d invited me. I’d said ‘no’ to him plenty of times previously, but this time, I agreed. And to be honest, I only really agreed because I knew he wanted me to go. That and I had the time to go. If I had of been flat out with music, I might of said no again. But that wasn’t the case. So I decided to do my brother a favour and let him take me. And you know what? It wasn’t all that bad. It was all new to me; I didn’t understand everything in the sermon, and it seemed a bit odd that they sang about unusual thing like, ‘the blood of Jesus’, and I was a bit worried someone might corner me and interrogate me – but otherwise, it was alright. I met some of the people and they were alright. So I went back the next week, and the next, and the next… I wasn’t exactly sure why I wanted to go, but I did.

After about six weeks, I decided to go to something the Church was running called ‘Christianity Explored’. Again, I wasn’t even sure why I wanted to go, but I did. I always looked forward to it. Each Wednesday night for 7 weeks people would meet to sit around tables, share a meal together, listen to a talk and discuss what Jesus said in the book of Mark. This is how I came to learn about Jesus. It was as I read about him in the Bible with other people helping me and talking with me. Later on, I realized that the other 6 people sitting around the dinner table were already Christian. It occurred to me that for 7 weeks these Christians were turning up every week, for little other reason than to help me get to know Jesus. They consistently gave up their time on cold nights to share the good news of God’s forgiveness with me. I am still good friends with some of these people today.

Now, at the end of Christianity Explored I gladly agreed to join something called a ‘bible study’. I was too shy to let on that I was actually really glad about this, so, I kind of just said, ‘ok’, but inside, I was secretly disappointed that it wasn’t starting until next fortnight. Again, I didn’t know exactly why I wanted to go, I just did.

Prayer

It was during this time I began praying to God. It was a bit awkward, not having really prayed much before, but I’m glad I did. I asked God to help me believe in him and to take control of my life. I didn’t have any amazing dreams or vision, but you know what? He answered my prayer.

Bible reading

Reading was something I didn’t like and rarely did. Even if I was interested in whatever the subject was, I would rather watch a video or just have someone tell me. But for the first time in my life I was choosing to read on a regular basis. I had a new found desire to read the bible. And thankfully, at that time I was single, and my only job was guitar teaching – so I wasn’t too busy to make this change.

Looking back

As I look back now it amazes me how much happened over those 2-3 months since I went to Church with my brother. I realize now that I wasn’t the active player in the story. God was. Normal 24yr old aussie males don’t just wake up one morning and say to themselves, “hey I think I’ll just start going to church, and reading the bible, and looking into Christianity, and praying and believing in Jesus, and following him and…”.

But that’s not actually what a Christian is. See, if I left it here you might think a person is a Christian just because they go to church, read the bible and pray. It’s possible to do all these things and still not be a Christian.

What it means to be a Christian

This is what it means to be a Christian. I am a Christian because I believe that Jesus Christ died for me. He died in my place, to take the punishment for my sin. And by believing in Jesus Christ I am completely forgiven by God and accepted by Him as one of His very own sons. And I am confident that I will be welcomed into eternal life, where I will live forever with God and his people. My life is now filled with the meaning and purpose of and loving God and living for him.

And being a Christian means that I know God loves me because he sent his dearly loved son Jesus to die for me, so I could be reconciled with God. God loves me even though I don’t deserve it. Even though I ignored him, disobeyed him and lived life my own way without him for such a long time, he still forgives me for everything and never stops loving me.

Being a Christian does not make everything easy. I still have to battle sin and temptation everyday, but God helps me to overcome sin. Now that I know the truth that is in Jesus I would not trade being Christian in for anything. With Gods faithfulness to me I know I will be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ until the day I die.

Resource Review: Bright Lights Dark Nights

There are many Christians who are in the public eye. Simon Smart has put together a great book that details the impact Jesus has had on the lives of the famous.

Stories have a way of getting under our skin; they are especially powerful in illuminating life's deepest questions and struggles. This is particularly true in the area of faith. Where a carefully constructed theological explanation of God's existence may leave us cold, one person's account of extraordinary endurance challenges our convictions and stirs our imagination.

In the exciting new book, Bright Lights, Dark Nights, we talk with 13 remarkable Australians and share in their personal stories of faith. Two renowned doctors, a judge, two professional sportsmen, a television newsreader, a policeman, a former prisoner and his wife, a court chaplain, a soldier, the head of an aid organisation, and a mum to many. Some are well known and highly respected; others just 'ordinary' people whose stories you'll never forget.

This book will encourage you to persevere and inspire others to believe.

Contributors:
Tim Costello
Assoc. Professor John Yeo
Carolyn Stedman
Justin Langer
Justice John Gilmour
Major Joyce Harmer
Cameron and Rachel Watt
Andrew Scipione
Leigh Hatcher
Aaron Baddeley
Brigadier (ret.) Jim Wallace
Professor Bruce Robinson

165 pages, Paperback
Price: Approx. $19.96