Over the years I've taught many pastors and Christian leaders from countries where persecution of Jesus-followers is the norm. These include...
- three pastors from Egypt who collectively told me it would be safer for them to be in Saddam's Iraq than in Egypt
- two pastors from Pakistan who told me of the horrors of anti-blasphemy laws
- many pastors from China who told of suffering under China's atheist government
- a pastor from Cuba who was imprisoned for years under Castro's declared atheist-communist state following the Cuban revolution (see here, e.g.)
- a pastor who fled Liberia during the civil war as Muslim persecution of Christians grew
- a Christian leader who was imprisoned after her husband was killed in the Marxist coup
Today I am aware that, if anything, global persecution of Jesus-followers is on the rise. Some are even saying that this reality is the story of today. See today's Herald Scotland - "The persecution of Christians is on the increase across the globe." See "Hellish flashbacks on the Christian persecution front."
And from The Washington Times - "Persecution against Christians increases in many parts of the world."
Just google this.
Some of you are familiar with author Eric Metaxas, who wrote that great biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Metaxas writes the Forward to Persecuted: the Global Assault on Christians. Metaxas says:
"[Today] persecution is rampant in many places in the world - in the former Communist countries, and in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. But we hear so rarely about Christian persecution. Such stories are mostly glossed over in favor of the latest political news, or, far worse, an inane story about some celebrity. Can we doubt that God will judge us for what we allow to occupy our attention?" (VIII)
Pray. Ask God, "What would you have me do?"
And maybe pick up The Insanity of God, which Linda just finished and I've begun to read.
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And maybe pick up The Insanity of God, which Linda just finished and I've begun to read.
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Review
The Insanity of God is a book you could read in a single sitting but you won’t. You can’t. Time and again you will have to stop, go aside, and weep. At times you will weep for our suffering brothers and sisters around the world who experience persecution for King Jesus as normal Christianity. At other times you will weep for joy at how the gospel continues to run wide across the globe in spite of demonic opposition. And, you will also weep as the anemic and tepid “Christianity” of the American Church is exposed for the shameful counterfeit it too often is. I was literally “undone” by this book. I will not be the same for reading it. Be warned: neither will you!”
Daniel L. Akin
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
What can I possibly say about this book? It completely and utterly wrecked me. Half the time I found myself sitting in heartbreaking silence on the verge of tears, and the other half I found myself wanting to shout and dance over some of the stories. No one will read this book and be the same person after the last page. If you want a front row seat to the raw, potent, heart transforming power of Jesus, this book is a must read.
Jeff Bethke
Author, Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus
This is a book that every well-meaning Christian ought to read. It gives the most comprehensive overview of what life is like for the true followers of Jesus who are willing to pay the whole price for following Him. Extremely touching at times. It makes you cry and it makes you laugh. But remember they are your brothers and mine. Therefore we have a responsibility of standing with them as part of the body of Christ worldwide.
Brother Andrew
Founder, Open Doors International
Author, God’s Smuggler and Secret Believers
The Insanity of God is a compelling, convicting and life changing book. This true story grips you from the introduction and keeps you reading page after page. You will weep as you read about persecution around the world. You will fall under conviction as you read about the commitment of Christians in dark places who risk their own lives to share the good news of Jesus. You will be encouraged as you realize that the power of the gospel supersedes evil and the malevolent intentions of men. In the end you will come away with a renewed sense of faith in God who truly is enough, even in the face of extreme persecution.
Dr. Mac Brunson
Pastor, First Baptist Church Jacksonville, FL
In his book, The Insanity of God, Nik Ripkin takes us on a journey of extreme emotional highs and lows to demonstrate that our limited understanding of events in our lives is only one piece of God’s larger puzzle of fulfillment and salvation. This book puts our daily struggles into perspective and leaves us inspired and ready for the next challenge.
Dr. Ben Carson
Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D. and Dr. Evelyn Spiro, R.N. Professor of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
President and Cofounder, The Carson Scholars Fund
Author, Gifted Hands
Not only was Jesus persecuted, so are his followers to this day around the world. This is a heart-breaking, faith-stretching, insider’s look at what it means to pick up your cross and follow Jesus.
Mark Driscoll
Founding & Preaching Pastor of Mars Hill Church
Founder of Resurgence
Cofounder of Acts 29
NY Times #1 Best-selling Author
The story is gripping; the crisis is universal.
John Eldredge
Author, Wild At Heart and Beautiful Outlaw
We are in danger of rapidly losing what it means to feel compassion for those held in the grip of sin on this broken planet. After glancing at a few fleeting photos and hearing the usual review of “today’s tragedies” on each evening’s network news, we casually top off the evening with a little “weather and sports” before plodding off to an undisturbed sleep. But for Jesus, the very sight of those crushed beneath the boot of the Adversary was nothing short of gut-wrenching. He was compelled to do something about it! Now Nik Ripken takes you on a personal, real life journey with Jesus into the dark, back-alleys of human depravity where only Christ’s love can overcome. With remarkable clarity, this gifted writer transports you into a world where, through the blood-stained glass of persecution, the light of Christ shines brightly.
Tom Elliff
President, International Mission Board
In The Insanity of God we are reminded of the power of the gospel to save using biographical sketches that most of us in the American church will struggle to comprehend. Deeply moving, intensely powerful and challenging describes the stories contained in these pages. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. This book will help you walk closely with Jesus and challenge you to take great risks for the sake of His name.
Micah Fries
Lead Pastor, Frederick Boulevard, St. Joseph, MO
Nik and Ruth Ripken have long been heroes of mine as I have watched and admired them from afar, drawing personal inspiration from their passion, faith, and resilience that comes from the Resurrection Lord they serve. More than once I have been encouraged to keep going, because they kept going, overcoming challenges that would crush lesser souls. In this, I am not alone. Around the world, I have met countless young missionaries who trace their pilgrimage back to the influence of Nik and Ruth.
The Insanity of God merges the Ripkens’ story with those of hundreds of other heroes of the faith who did not consider their present sufferings worth comparing to the glory that will one day be revealed in them. These stories bear telling, and hearing, and reproducing. You need to hear these stories that the Ripkins have rescued from this world’s prisons, gulags and shadows. I pray that they will do for you what they have done for me: encourage you to shake off your slumber and press on to the high calling that is ours in Christ Jesus.
David Garrison
Author, Church Planting Movements
A touching, deeply stirring book about the seriousness of the Great Commission. This book rekindled my passion to do all that God is leading me to do for the nations, to expect and attempt great things. I am grateful for the grace that drips off every page of this great work.
J.D. Greear
Lead Pastor, The Summit Church
If there’s one thing many desire, it’s going deeper and knowing the God of the Bible intimately. When one takes the trip of following Jesus to the ends of the earth, having previously counted the cost, died to self, surrendered fully to His call, they may then know the reality of 2 Timothy 3:12, “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” The Insanity of God will stretch you to new places of trusting God for the impossible in reaching the nations, at any cost.
Johnny Hunt
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA
In this life-changing book, Nik Ripken recounts his adventures as one who walked in faith, hoping against hope, obeying God’s call regardless of its costs in hardships, pains, and bewilderments. To the list of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, we may add our contemporaries who took God’s Word seriously, and at any cost! I heartily recommend this epic story as a necessary “vitamin” to help Christians live out their faith in this terribly secular age, demonstrating that we walk by faith, and not by sight.
Bassam Michael Madany
Middle East Resources
Nik Ripken has told a great story, and in doing so he has made it clear that the question every believer must answer is whether we have the courage to bear the consequences of obediently exercising our freedom to be salt and light to all peoples, wherever they live. Perhaps Nik has put it best when he says, “Perhaps the question should not be, ‘Why are others persecuted?’ Perhaps the better question is, ‘Why are we not?’”
John Maxwell
New York Times Best-selling Author
This is not a book. It’s a soul earthquake. You don’t read it as much as you experience it, and when it’s done with you, you’ll never be the same. Ripken’s story is one of those that shows up once in a generation, and everyone I know needs to read it. ‘The Insanity of God’ may very well be the book of the century.
Johnnie Moore
Vice President, Liberty University
Author, Dirty God: Jesus in the Trenches
Once I picked up The Insanity of God I literally could not put it down! After multiple occasions of participating in the Ripken’s persecution workshops with our team at East-West Ministries, I thought I was prepared for what I was about to encounter in The Insanity of God. I was wrong. Nik Ripken is truly one of the best, most captivating story tellers that I have ever met. In The Insanity of God, these stories literally come to life, carrying the reader on a dramatic, li...
