That others would see and be bold

I blogged about two Americans arrested for distributing Christian literature in Putrajaya a couple of months back. The two, Rick Rupert and Zach Harris, were briefly jailed and deported ten days later after charges were dropped. After his release, Rupert has gone on to talk about his incarceration saying he was honoured to be part of 'something that would give Malaysians more religious freedom.'

“[During my interrogation] I told them as much as I possibly could about the Glory of God expressed in the face of Christ! We told them that we loved them because God loved them,” Rupert said.

“They were the elite of the police force in this nation, and yet, often-times the Holy Spirit completely turned the tables and they were the ones who felt like they were on trial and had to answer our, or His, questions,” Rupert said.

In the first cell Rupert and Harris were put in, the other prisoners had scratched a calendar on the wall and looked forward to each day so they could check another day off; one more day closer to being released.

“I thought about how in the lake of fire there would be no calendar to mark another day off, there would be no end in sight and no hope of ever being released. As I thought about what that would mean [for them], it broke my heart and I wept,” Rupert said.

After Rupert shared with the prisoners, many asked the guards for Bibles. Though none of the Malays got Bibles, a Chinese man did. The Bible was read constantly by four Chinese men until a guard took it away three days later.

Rupert and Harris were separated from each other and Rupert was moved away from the other prisoners to keep him from sharing his faith with them.

The other prisoners yelled to Rupert's cell and asked him to explain how their sins could be forgiven and he yelled the message back to them. The prisoners nearest him would pass the message down the line."

Rupert added: “Our sacrifice communicated, to the authorities and all watching, that obeying Jesus is worth going to jail for. Pray that we would still be bold and that others would see and be bold as well!” Read the rest of the story here.

Is God saying something to us?

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