Searching for God? He is everywhere.  He is all around us.  God is manifest in the kindess of people and the laughter of children.  I see the hope in God when the sun rises each morning.  I feel the warmth of God in the sunlight.  I see the fury of God when clouds gather on the horizon.  I see the power of God when lightning streaks across the sky.  I hear the footsteps of God when thunder echos down the valley.  I see the cleansing of God in the rainfall.  I see the promise of God in the rainbow.  I see the peace of God when the sun sets.  I rest with God when darkness falls.  When good things find their way into our lives, we should be thankful that God remembers us.

James 1:17 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James:  Killed by the sword, Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius both tell how the executioner witnessed the courage and un-recanting spirit of James and was then convinced of Christ resurrection and was executed along with James. Date of Martyrdom: 44-45 A.D.

Peter: Although, just before the crucifixion, Peter denied three times that he even knew Christ, after the resurrection he did not do so again. Peter, just as Jesus told him in John 21:18-19, was crucified by Roman executioners because he could not deny his master again. According to Eusebius, he thought himself unworthy to be crucified as his Master, and, therefore, he asked to be crucified “head downward.” Date of Martyrdom: 64 A.D.

Andrew went to join Peter with Christ in eternity six years after Peter’s death. After preaching Christ’s resurrection to the Scythians and Thracians, he too was crucified for his faith. As Hippolytus tells us, Andrew was hanged on an olive tree at Patrae, a town in Achaia. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.

Thomas is known as “doubting Thomas” because of his reluctance to believe the other Apostles’ witness of the resurrection. After they told him that Christ was alive, he stated “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). After this, Christ did appear to him and Thomas believed unto death. Thomas sealed his testimony as he was thrust through with pine spears, tormented with red-hot plates, and burned alive. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.

Philip evangelized in Phrygia where hostile Jews had him tortured and then crucified. Date of Martyrdom: 54 A.D.

Matthew, the tax collector, so desperately wanted the Jews to accept Christ. He wrote The Gospel According to Matthew about ten years before his death. Because of this, one can see, contained within his Gospel, the faith for which he spilled his blood. Matthew surely remembered his resurrected Savior’s words, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20), when he professed the resurrected Christ unto his death by beheading at Nad-Davar. Date of Martyrdom: 60-70 A.D.

Bartholomew suffered a hideous death. Unwilling to recant of his proclamation of a risen Christ, he was flayed and then crucified. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.

James The Lesser:  In order to make James deny Christ’s resurrection, men positioned him at the top of the Temple for all to see and hear. James, unwilling to deny what he knew to be true, was cast down from the Temple and finally beaten to death with a fuller’s club to the head.  Date of Martyrdom: 63 A.D.

Simon:  Historians tell of the many different places that Simon proclaimed the good news of Christ’s resurrection: Egypt, Cyrene, Africa, Mauritania, Britain, Lybia, and Persia. He was crucified by a governor in Syria. Date of Martyrdom: 74 A.D.

Paul met his death at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero when he was beheaded in Rome.  Date of Martyrdom:  67 A.D.

John is the only one of the twelve Apostles believed to have died a natural death.  Some historians tell us that he was thrown into boiling oil before the Latin Gate, where he was not killed but undoubtedly scarred for the rest of his life.  Date of Death: 95 A.D.

We all know what happened to the 12th (Judas).  What is important to remember is that Jesus washed the feet of Judas, his soon to be betrayer.

Ron Nelson with his daughter and grandson

Today, Bibledonate.org lost one of our board members (and my brother-in-law).  Ron Nelson of Carrier, Oklahoma lost his battle with pancreatic cancer early this morning.  We rejoice at his victory in Christ but we are saddened by our own loss.

I couldn’t begin to tell you how they determined the value of a life to be 6.9 million dollars and not sure I really care; however, I am certain I wouldn’t accept that amount of cash for any single member of my family, nor would anyone else — but it did make me reflect about the value of a soul in God’s eyes and it reminded me of something I once heard…

If someone handed you a crisp, new $100 bill would you take it?   Of course you would!  But what if you were walking down an alley and glanced down to see an old, wrinkled $100 bill laying in the drainage gutter.  What if the $100 bill had a corner or two torn from it.  What if it was muddy and wet?  What if it was written on?  What if it had been wasted on drugs or prostitution?  Would you pick it up?  Of course you would — it’s still has the same value of the crisp, new $100 bill.

You have tremendous value in God’s eyes.  It doesn’t matter if you’re old and wrinkled.  It doesn’t matter if you are muddy and wet.  It doesn’t matter what you look like.  It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done.   You’re worth more than $100.  You’re worth more than $6.9 million.   You’re worth so much that God watched His own Son struggle and die on the cross so that you might live with Him forever.  God is looking down on you and he is reaching for you — because you are so valuable to him.

www.bibledonate.org and www.fivesimplesteps.org

Created in the image of God (Gen 1:27) by the God who created the universe (Amos 5:8).  Formed from dust, we were given the breath of life (Gen 2:7).    Having given us dominion over every living creature (Gen 1:27); He even let us name the animals, the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field (Gen 2:19). 

He clothes us with garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10).  He feeds us (Proverbs 10:3).  He directs our steps (Proverbs 20:24) yet we have no idea what He has prepared for us (1 Corinthians 2:9).

We take refuge under His wings (Psalm 91:4) but the wage of sin is death (Romans 6:23).   So God sent His son Jesus (Matthew 3:17) to teach (Luke 11:1), to heal (Matthew 8:7), and to cast out demons (Mark 1:34). 

Jesus was betrayed by a friend (Luke 22:48) and denied by those He loved (Luke 22:57).  He was judged wrongly (Luke 23:24-25), then  tortured, savagely beaten (Mark 16:15-16) and brutally crucified on a cross (Mark 15:25). 

Separated from God by our sin, Jesus died for YOU so you may be reconciled to God(Romans 5:6-11).  Do you not know that you will judge angels? (1 Corinthians 6:3)   Do you realize who you are, you child of God?

www.bibledonate.org and www.fivesimplesteps.org

Somewhat sickened by  the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a  stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks  scurried from under their dead mother’s wings.

The  loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster,  had carried her offspring to the base of the tree  and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could  have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her  babies. Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had  scorched her small body, the mother had remained  steadfast…because she had been willing to die, so  those under the cover of her wings would  live.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.  (Psalm 91:4) 

www.bibledonate.org and www.fivesimplesteps.org

What you may not know is that over sixty million years ago, Mount Everest was little more than a sand bar on the ocean floor.  One day, pressure began to build underneath the sea floor.   Underground plates began to push away from each other, which allowed molten rock to push upward through the resulting gaps.   Over time, the rock formed a reef; a habitate for marine life — but God wasn’t satisfied with a reef.  After several million years, the boiling, molten rock continued to push the reef upward until it broke the surface of the sea and formed what would have been a beautiful island — but God was not building an island.

Plates continued to pull, press, and tug deep within the earth.  It was extremely violent as molten rock continued to push the Island upward and eventually formed a large beautiful hill, covered with flora and fauna.   But God was not building a hill.   He created additional turmoil under the plates to stimulate further growth.  Over time, the beautiful hill had become a mountain.   But God wasn’t building just any mountain, so He continued to work on His masterpiece.  The mountain continued to grow until it reached the perfect height.  When God had finished, He crowned the mountain with a beautiful blanket of glistening, white snow.

God had taken a sandbar that could hardly be recognized at the bottom of the Ocean and over sixty million years, He molded it into the greatest mountain on the planet.  We all face adversity over the course of a lifetime.   What we may not realize is that adversity is often one of God’s greatest gifts.

I know, you’re asking yourself if this could possibly be a true story.  The answer is “yes.”  Underneath the white robe of snow, seashells can be found all across the summit of Mount Everest.

Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Prayer:

Wonderous Father, we are amazed at your creation.  It is difficult for our simple minds to understand the purpose of adversity.  Ignore our simplistic prayers to relieve us of our burdens.  Mold us in your image so that we may receive the crown you have prepared for us.  In the name of Jesus,

-Amen

Dear Brethren in Christ, I am very happy to write you this letter as I pray and hope you will answer my writing for the holy bibles for myself and the christian lepers that are with me.  I want to brief you little about myself. Sir i was born to the family of a chief priest – a well known idol worshipping family, and married to the daughter of another such family. we had four children, and lived their idol worshipping life happily. Then everything changed.

My wife came back from the city where she had gone to buy goats for our annual festival. She came back to inform me of his encounter with a man of GOD that told him about Jesus Christ and it was the first time she was hearing of that name. she also told me the man of GOD said we should accept Jesus Christ as our only lord and personal saviour.

We never really understand what it means to accept Jesus Christ as our only lord and personal saviour until two months later, April 25,when my Wife encountered this man of GOD again and he accompany my Wife back to the village, that he now taught us what it means to accept Christ as our lord and saviour. On the 10th of May, 1994, we were baptized and started our home fellowship. It was then that the trouble started.

The villagers including my Wife’s dad abducted my Wife and sacrificed her to their gods, and that same night they came to our house in the middle of the night and set our house ablaze, and I lost my 2 sons and daughter to the inferno. It was only a miracle that I managed to escape that night with my only surviving son, but by the time the villagers got to know about why we were running from our village, they too planned to use us for rituals, and they believed we are accursed for believing in Jesus Christ. But God had a purpose for me in life, and made one of the elders in the village to have compassion on us and let us escape before the day we were to be used as sacrifices to their gods. We eventually settled in O. Leprosy Centre where we were received with open arms. We were free from all the disturbance as the lepers are rejected people in our society back here. I was afraid to preach the gospel again as I was afraid of death.

But on October 27, 1999, God spoke to me in my dream that I should not be afraid of death, for death is the gateway to eternity in Heaven for we the believers…that HE preserved me and allowed all those persecutions to happen to me so I can serve him…. by the next day when I woke up I realise for the 4 years I have been with the orphans, none of them have ever heard of the gospel, and none of them knew anything about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So I started to preach the gospel of Jesus to them.

Initially they refuse to listen as they believed nobody loves or care about them and that Jesus I talk about is no different. But after much preaching and praying for six months, I was able to convert 10 of them for Jesus Christ. Today I am happy to say we are 163 in number, and we now have a church that is called Udororogbei Leper Community Bible Church

 We have been serving and doing the work of GOD diligently even with all the hardship and untold neglect from the members of the larger society. We don’t even have a church building, and we use under trees for our worship and services, but our major problem is the holy bible for 16 Elders in the Church and they are old and they can only read the GIANT PRINT BIBLES.Please do send us the Giant Print Bibles as soon as possible so that Souls will have God’s Word to study.

May God Bless you For the work you do for the cause of the kingdom In Christ. Evangelist Michael Gekpedonieh Our Mail Contact Address is written below (removed).

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It is because of such situations, that  Bibledonate.org has a purpose.   I just wanted to share this with you.

Somedays you would scold me.  I would roll over and you would rub my tummy and tell me it was okay.  My housetraining took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together and I tried really hard.

I remember laying in bed together.  You told me about your days, about your troubles, about your dreams and your fears.  We snuggled for hours and I would wait for you to fall asleep because I didn’t want to miss a word you had to say.  We went for long walks and played in the park.  I liked to ride in the car but it scared me.  But as long as I sat next to you, I knew I would be okay.

I remember the time you shared your ice cream with me.  Do you remember when I shared my cookie with you?  I missed you so much.  Everyday I would wait patiently, for the sound of your car and the thump of your door closing.

Summer turned to winter and back to summer again.  Tug-a-war, fetch…  I lost track of time because we had so much fun.   The ends of my hair started to turn white and I couldn’t play chase like I used to.  My back hurt a lot but you were always there to rub me and love me.

I feel bad most of the time and I can’t walk very well anymore.  I can’t even see your face but I sure can taste you when I give you kisses.   I can’t wait to get the shot you’ve been telling me about.    I really want to go to the place where I can chase butterflies and run with the wind.   You will be there too, won’t you?  Please tell me you will be there too!

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