Why I pause to remember All Saints Day

Why I pause to remember All Saints Day

 

All Saints Day, Persecuted Church,  Martyrs, John 15:20-21

Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. (John 15:20–21)

Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. (Psalm 44:22)

A little background

The church has known martyrs as long as it has known Jesus. Jesus promised persecution would come and the church did not have to wait long. Stephen, the first martyr died in Acts 7, and so church history began.

And, as long as we have had martyrs we have stopped to remember them. The church has always paused to pay our respects to those whose witness of the gospel cost them the ultimate price, their very own lives.

Early in church history individual local martyrs were celebrated in various countries and cities. But, as the numbers of martyrs grew the early church fathers began to combine the local celebrations into one day of remembrance when the churches would pause to remember those who shed their own blood declaring the gospel of Jesus, and to pray for those who were being persecuted.

All Saints Day

The early church celebrated the martyrs on All Saints Day, and they chose the first Sunday after Pentecost as their celebration day. The Eastern Orthodox Church still uses the same date.

However, in the early eighth century the western or Catholic Church changed the date to November 1 at the direction of Pope Gregory III. In parts of Europe and Ireland a fall harvest festival with dark and evil undertones was also celebrated the evening of October 31 through the evening of November 1. Some believe the pope chose that date so that All Saints Day would override the pagan celebration of Samhain or what we would call Halloween. Obviously that did not work out well and what we call Halloween looks more like Samhain than it does All Saints Day.

The ancient Irish church, having come out of the pagan traditions of Samhain, refused to move the celebration date and kept All Saints Day as a spring celebration.

In English our words saint and holy come from the same Greek word hagos. In the Old English it is translated as hallowed. Therefore, November 1 became All Hallowed Day, with October 31 as the evening before or All Hallowed Eve, which in time we abbreviated to Halloween.

In America the day to pause and remember the martyrs and the persecuted church has been completely overshadowed by a Halloween celebration of all things evil and sugary.

Why I pause to remember the persecuted church and martyrs of the faith.

But, let me tell you why I still pause to remember the persecuted church and martyrs of the faith. It has been estimated that between 33 AD and 2000 AD, more than 70 million Christians have been killed for refusing to deny Christ. That averages out to just over 35 thousand a year. But in the first decade of the 21st century almost 2 million Christians have been martyred for refusing to deny Jesus Christ. That is about 200 thousand a year. The numbers are staggering, but Jesus warned us they would be.

Each year the church has the opportunity to stop and remember those whose faith in Jesus Christ cost them their lives, and those who are currently being persecuted. For as long as the church has existed we have stopped to honor those who were martyred for the faith. On All Saints Day or All Hallowed Day, I stand in a tradition more than nineteen hundred years old and I pray for the persecuted and remember those who died.

This year it means more to me than ever before because I recently met some of the persecuted. For six days we sat together, we ate together. I listened to their stories and we wept together. Let me share just one story with you.

The story

When the persecutors came we fled to the jungle. They came after us but God sent a rain storm and it covered us so they could not see us. My sister gave birth in the jungle, in the rain, in the mud, but we had an umbrella. My two pastors were burned to death. We thought we found help at a refugee center but the water tanks had arsenic and hundreds were dying. The smell of the bodies was terrible. We fled to a large city and hid in a slum. Today I live in a small hut in the slum and I pastor a small church of about fifty people.”

With tears in my eyes I asked him, “Aren’t you angry? Bitter toward these men who have done this to you?”

The question embarrassed him and looking down he said “I have no anger in my heart for them. We do not know the plan of God. Perhaps God wanted me in the slum to win souls for Him.”

And that is why I pray for the persecuted and remember the martyrs, because they are better men than I am!

 

Guest blogger: David Lawson

Their Lives Preached Their Funerals!

Their Lives Preached Their Funerals!

This past week two great men of God passed away. You did not hear about them on the news either local or national, flags weren’t lowered on public buildings, but they were men who made a huge impact on the world.

Although I learned a lot from watching these two men live life, this week what I learned in their deaths has been seared into my spirit. The lessons were not new, in fact some I had taught many times. However, this week I believe God opened the eyes of my understanding and took me to a level I had not been to before.

Read more

Choosing the One Thing that Really Matters!

Choosing the One Thing that Really Matters!

We get up early and we go to bed late. We go, go, go, all day and fall into bed exhausted at night and then we do it again the next day! We never feel rested and we long for the day we can sleep as long as we want. Our lives are packed full of really good and meaningful activity, some meaningless activity and everything in between. Something has to give, but what do we leave out? We are tired, cranky and at the end of the day we are left feeling unfulfilled and often feel as though we have nothing to show for all that energy we used all day! Does that sound like you?

Read more

The Value of Remembering

The Value of Remembering

We were in Israel over their Memorial Day. In fact we had just landed and were driving north to the Galilee. At precisely 11 am our driver pulled over to the side of the road (as did all the other vehicles), we got out and stood for 3 minutes of silence remembering all those who lost their lives fighting for Israel.

At the very heart of Israel’s culture is the word remember. Moses reminded the children of Israel how God led them out of Egypt with His mighty outstretched arm. Before going in to the Promised Land Joshua reminded them of the same thing. When the Priests crossed the flooded Jordan on dry land God told them to set up 12 stones as a memorial. When their children saw them and asked about them they were told how God had dried up the waters so their parents/grandparents could cross on dry ground and that all the earth would know that the hand of God is mighty.

Read more 

Intentional Discipleship – 4 Simple Steps

Intentional Discipleship – 4 Simple Steps

 

 

Intentional Discipleship,precept ministries, establish, kay arthur, bible study,

The United States has more churches, Bibles, and Christian resources available per capita than any other nation on the planet. 79.5% of Americans claim to be Christians, and yet our country is in a moral turmoil and nothing in popular culture looks Christian. The church has lost its moral voice in our culture. Why is that?

From the beginning the church’s mission was to make disciples and it is still the same today. Is it possible that we have lost our focus and strayed from the example Jesus set for us in the “Great Commission”, to make disciples?  Have we have become distracted, perhaps by things which are good, and stopped doing what we have been commissioned to do?

Click here to read more about Intentional Discipleship – 4 Simple Steps

(In case you are wondering why I am linking you to another site, it is because I also write blogs for Precept’s Establish blog site! You may want to subscribe to it as well because what I don’t write on there David does!)

Pin It on Pinterest