A group photo of pastors and leaders trained by GTN in Shashamene, Ethiopia.

BarnabasAid reports:

An Ethiopian Christian leader called for an international inquiry into the slaying of hundreds of Christians, including pregnant women, children and whole families, in ongoing Oromo Muslim extremist attacks in the parts of the Oromia regional state, extending south, south-east and east of Addis Ababa, since the end of June. According to reports, more than 500 were killed.

In door-to-door attacks on Christian households the Qeerroo extremists arrived in cars and, armed with guns, machetes, swords and spears, sought out and slaughtered Christians. Children were forced to witness their parents being brutally murdered with machetes.

Barnabas regional contacts confirmed attacks in numerous towns including….

Ziway and Shashamene…

An Oromo Christian was beheaded for refusing to deny his faith by tearing off the thread around his neck (worn by many Ethiopian Christians as a sign of their baptism). His widow told Barnabas, “The attackers said that it is only he/she who prostrates with us before Allah for prayer who is considered an Oromo.”

Christians’ business premises and houses were burnt down, vandalized or destroyed by the extremists. Billions of dollars of damage were caused to property, including businesses owned by internationally renowned Christian athlete, Haile Gebreselassie, in Ziway and Shashamahe towns.

The severity of the atrocities shocked local witnesses who gave accounts of harrowing scenes.

In Dera, a witness described how the killers desecrated corpses by “dancing and singing, carrying the chopped or hacked body parts of those they slaughtered”.

Another witness reported how the hacked bodies of an elderly Christian couple, who were beaten to death in their home, were dragged through the streets in Gedeb Asasa.

Thousands of traumatized survivors have fled for their lives, including orphaned children, and many are being sheltered in churches and community centers.

Since September 2018, violent ethnic clashes have led to some two million Ethiopians becoming internally displaced.

For more information on this situation, you can access the full article here.

Tragically, throughout much of Africa and Asia, this is not an isolated incident. These types of atrocities happen on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

But they never make the nightly news or the front page of American newspapers.

Over 95% of all the people on planet earth live outside of the United States. Americans make up a very, very small minority of the global population.

God loves all people – no matter their race, ethnicity or geographical location. They are made in His image. Therefore, we should deeply care what happens to them.

Please join me in praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the Majority World who are suffering immensely for their faith in Christ.

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood
you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”

(Revelation 5:9-10 ESV)

By loving well the visible people He has placed in our lives

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it:
Love your neighbor as yourself.

All the Law and the Prophets hang on
these two commandments.”

(Matthew 22:36-40)

If there is one thing that I have observed in 40-plus years of ministry, it is that we can never be reminded enough of the central importance of loving one another.

The greatest apologetic we have to a watching world is loving others.

In Galatians 5, the Apostle Paul says that the whole law can be summed up in one single command: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

“For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)

Think on that.

The entire law summed up in one single command.

Francis Schaeffer wrote years ago,

“Through the centuries men have displayed many different symbols to show that they are Christians. They have worn marks in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, even had special haircuts.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with any of this, if one feels it is his calling. But there is a much better sign—a mark that has not been thought up just as a matter of expediency for use on some special occasion or in some specific era. It is a universal mark that is to last through all the ages of the church till Jesus comes back.

What is that mark? Love—and the unity it attests to—is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with that mark may the world know that we are indeed Christians.”

(Francis Schaeffer, from his book: The Mark of the Christian)

So, if the greatest commandment is to love God with our whole heart (Matthew 22:36-40), how do we practically carry that out?

I would suggest the primary way that we demonstrate our love for an invisible God is by loving well the visible people that He has placed in front of us on a daily, weekly and monthly basis (1 John 4:7-21).

Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-47,

“You have heard that it was said,
‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?
Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?
Do not even pagans do that?”

Jesus said in John 13:34-35,

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jerome, one of the early church fathers, tells us that when the apostle John was very old, he continued to say again and again, “Little children, love one another, love one another, love one another…” When asked why he said nothing more, his response was, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and because when this is done, all is done.”

In this season of great political and racial divide in our nation, it is vital that we stay focused on what is central to following Jesus: loving one another.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,
a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

(Ephesians 5:1-2)

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with…
compassion,
kindness,
humility,
gentleness and
patience.

Bear with each other and
forgive whatever grievances
you may have against one another.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtues put on love,
which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

(Colossians 3:12-14)

Our four youngest grandkids on a recent camping trip.

Recently, I came across a quote from a well-known, well-respected secular developmental biology text written by Dr. Scott Gilbert.

In his text, when describing the embryo, he writes of the amazing and seemingly miraculous biological developments that need to happen in order for that embryo to fully develop.

Gilbert writes…

“To become an embryo, you had to build yourself from a single cell. You had to respire before you had lungs, digest before you had a gut… form orderly arrays of neurons before you knew how to think…”

(Scott Gilbert – Developmental Biology)

Theism is the best explanation of the observable universe.
Christianity is the best explanation of theism.

Photo by Paul Madson. Sunset over Big Lake, Arizona (captured on our last camping trip).

One of the best new books that I have read in the past 10 years is Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund (Crossway Publishers, released April 2020).

This is the kind of book that I will re-read and come back to often in the years ahead. It is theologically rich, easily accessible, and profound in its application to our daily lives.

Here is a small sample of the richness you’ll find throughout Ortlund’s book….

“Consider God’s richness in mercy for your own life. ….

Perhaps, looking at the evidence of your life,
you do not know what to conclude
except that this mercy of God in Christ
has passed you up.

Maybe you have been deeply mistreated.
Misunderstood.
Betrayed by the one person you should have been able to trust.
Abandoned.
Taken advantage of.
Perhaps you carry a pain that will never heal till you are dead.

If my life is any evidence of the mercy of God in Christ,
you might think, I’m not impressed.

To you I say, the evidence of Christ’s mercy toward you is not your life. The evidence of his mercy toward you is his – mistreated, misunderstood, betrayed, abandoned. Eternally. In your place.

If God sent his own Son to walk through the valley of condemnation, rejection, and hell, you can trust him as you walk through your own valleys on your way to heaven.

Perhaps you have difficulty receiving the rich mercy of God in Christ not because of what others have done to you but because of what you’ve done to torpedo your life, maybe through one big, stupid decision or maybe through ten thousand little ones. You have squandered his mercy, and you know it.

To you I say, do you know what Jesus does with those who squander his mercy? He pours out more mercy. God is rich in mercy. That’s the whole point.

Whether we have been sinned against or have sinned ourselves into misery, the Bible says God is not tightfisted with mercy but openhanded, not frugal but lavish, not poor but rich.

That God is rich in mercy means that your regions of deepest shame and regret are not hotels through which divine mercy passes but homes in which divine mercy abides.

It means the things about you that make you cringe most, make him hug hardest.

It means his mercy is not calculating and cautious, like ours. It is unrestrained, flood-like, sweeping, magnanimous.”

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”
(2 Corinthians 1:3 ESV)

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
(Psalm 23:6 ESV)

“But this I call to mind,
And therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV)

Photo by Aaron Burden

Dear Friends of GTN,

To say that our nation is divided, trust has been broken and turmoil is evident on the streets in our cities, is certainly an understatement.

As we follow the news and see our nation in turmoil, my heart, like many of yours, aches. All of us long for righteousness and peace.

As my friend, Mark Bailey, president of Dallas Theological Seminary, recently wrote:

All Christians should feel extremely bothered, hurt, and righteously angered over the recent tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, not to mention all others who have needlessly died due to racial injustices and systemic racism.

Racism is a grievous sin, resulting in systemic oppression, and does not display our Lord’s heart. It is demonic, and we, as the body of Christ, are called to stand against it. While equal treatment and justice are American values that we proclaim, too often they are not experienced by all people.

As we travel throughout the Majority World, we see that injustice is far greater and more prevalent than even here in the United States. The sad reality is: injustice is common globally.

And the people that suffer the most are usually the poor and disenfranchised.

These are the people Jesus calls us to “pay attention to” and “speak up for.”

Throughout the pages of the Bible, we find the command to “treat others the way you would like to be treated.” (Luke 6:31)

When you and I speak up for the marginalized and mistreated, we are living out Scriptural mandates.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9 NIV)

When power is abused it creates chaos and dysfunction at every level of culture.

James tells us…

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” (James 2:8-9 NIV)

As the injustices that happen within our nation have hit the front pages of our newspapers once again, we are all reminded that we live “in a fallen place in the midst of a fallen race.”

God calls all Christ-followers to be involved in helping to redeem this broken world back to Himself. Scripture says that one of the ways we do this is by speaking up for the poor, oppressed and marginalized within our society.

Micah 6:8 says…

“He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?” (ESV)

Many times, throughout history we have not spoken out as we should have in defense of those oppressed because of the color of their skin or ethnicity.

It is appropriate for us to collectively mourn with our brothers and sisters who have experienced the hurtful oppression of racism and who live in fear as part of their daily experience.

It is also appropriate for us to join our voices with those who are protesting peacefully and who are denouncing the violence and vandalism that ultimately distracts from the real root issues that we are trying to solve as a nation.

If we want to see social unrest decrease, we as followers of Christ need to appropriately, clearly, and yet graciously, speak up and speak out against all injustice and unrighteousness.

The prophet Jeremiah reminds us to “…seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

My prayer is that God would be gracious to us as a nation and bring healing to us, and our world, in this troubled time.

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24 ESV)

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

(Proverbs 14:34 NASB)

By God’s Grace and for His Glory,

Paul R. Madson

Big Stock Photo

The above four-word sentiment was tweeted a few weeks ago by Pastor Scott Sauls.

We can all relate.

Best-selling author and speaker, Paul David Tripp, recently reminded us of why we can have hope in the midst of these challenging times. And it has to do with considering the birds of the air:

Here’s a mind-boggling figure: scientists estimate that in the United States alone, 13.7 million birds die every day.

It’s a seemingly random and rather unpleasant statistic, but when I came across it, my heart was deeply encouraged.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father.” (Matthew 10:29, ESV)

There are hundreds of billions of birds in existence around the world today. Almost all of them have no monetary value whatsoever. Apart from a handful of endangered or noteworthy birds, we don’t track these creatures, name them, care about them, or know them.

But their Creator does. He is in control over every aspect of their life: their birth; the color and quantity of their feathers; their nest; their breeding; their migration; and ultimately, the time, location, and manner in which they die.

Think of all the technology, human resources, and coordination that is required for us to track the relatively few planes that are in the sky every day. God is in complete control over the flight paths of every single one of these hundreds of billions of birds.

This reality alone should be unbelievably reassuring.

No matter how it looks at street level, your world is not out of control; no, it is under the careful administration of the Creator who has the wisdom and power to be the great Author of it all.

But that’s not enough; Jesus takes the comforting illustration even further: “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:30-31)

By grace, you are now the adopted child of the One who has this immeasurable control. As his son or daughter, you are far more valuable than any bird.

This means your heavenly Father exercises intimate, personal, and specific control over your life for his glory and your good.

Discovering peace in difficult times is never accomplished by measuring the size of your strength and wisdom against the size of your trouble. No, rest is found when you compare the size of what you’re facing against the Creator of the heavens and earth. By grace, He is your father wherever you go.

Whatever you are facing today, meditate on Matthew 10:29-31. Ask God to remind you of his power, presence, and promises.

And then get up and live, with courage and hope, in light of this truth!

“Exercise has such a wide range of physical and mental benefits that, if it were a pill, it would undoubtedly be the most widely prescribed of all medications. It is amazing that, despite this evidence and the public’s apparent acceptance of the importance of physical activity, millions of American adults remain sedentary.”

Dr. Gregg D. Jacobs (Ph.D.)

Dr. Gregg D. Jacobs (Ph.D.) writes the following about the practical benefits of exercise…

“If sedentary adults would adopt a more physically active lifestyle, they would experience a wide array of physical and mental benefits, including:

• Weight loss
• Lessened anxiety, stress, and depression
• Improved mood, energy, and a sense of well-being
• Improved self-control
• Improved health, longevity, and quality of life
• Improved sleep
• Reduced pain and disability

Regular exercise enhances health by improving…

• cardiovascular functioning,
• bone density, and
• immune functioning,
• and by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol

People who are physically active are much less likely to suffer from…

• coronary heart disease,
• hypertension,
• diabetes,
• osteoporosis,
• obesity,
• back problems,
• and colon cancer

Exercise also improves psychological functioning. Exercise is an outlet for the body’s excessive tension, providing a healthy way to release anger and anxiety.

Exercise has a tranquilizing effect that reduces anxiety more effectively than many anti-anxiety medications.

Studies have found that the tranquilizing effect follows within five to ten minutes of completing exercise and lasts for at least four hours.

Therefore, physically active people are less likely to develop mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.”

“Yes, I’ve had moments of euphoria known as the ‘runner’s high,’ and there are reams of scientific studies showing that running improves mood, alleviates depression and anxiety, and basically does every good thing for your brain short of removing it from your skull, giving it a wash and a blow dry, and putting it back in all toasty warm.”

– Peter Sagal
May 2017 issue of Runner’s World Magazine

John Piper writes in his book, When I Don’t Desire God…

“The Bible has little to say about physical exercise, not because it’s not important for modern sedentary people, but mainly because, in the biblical world of walking and farming and manual labor, the lack of physical exercise was not a problem.

The call today is for spiritual wisdom based on biblical principles and contemporary medical knowledge.

The biblical principles would include the following:

• Our bodies belong to Christ and are meant to glorify him (1 Cor. 6:19-20);
• Laziness is wrong and self-destructive (Prov. 21:25);
• Christians should be free from enslaving habits (1 Cor. 6:12);
• Hard work is a virtue and brings rewards (2 Tim. 2:6);
• Advance usually comes through affliction (Acts 14:22);
• and all Christ-exalting efforts are to flow from faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14).

‘No pain, no gain’ is an idea that could be documented from all over the Bible, especially the sacrifice of Christ.”

“$120 billion – the amount the United States would save annually in healthcare costs and related expenses if sedentary children began exercising every day.”

– May 27, 2017 issue of World Magazine

In the April 2017 issue of Christianity Today, Bradley Wright and David Carreon wrote…

“Research has found, for example, that people with more self-control…

• live longer,
• are happier,
• get better grades,
• are less depressed,
• are more physically active,
• have lower resting heart rates,
• have less alcohol abuse,
• have more stable emotions,
• are more helpful to others,
• get better jobs,
• earn more money,
• have better marriages,
• are more faithful in marriage,
• and sleep better at night.”

Moving our bodies regularly will benefit us in so many potentially profound ways.

So, whether you prefer to walk, hike, swim, bike or run… my encouragement is to get out and move regularly.

By way of encouragement, my dear 90-year-old mom gets out and walks a half mile to a mile (some of that is even uphill) almost every day 🙂

Bottom line: The more we get up, get out and move our bodies, the better we will be.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
(1 Cor. 10:31 ESV)

Bigstock Photos

“To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible’s teaching is offensive to you assumes that if there is a God, he wouldn’t have any views that upset you. Does that belief make sense?”
(Timothy Keller)

“Most of my sins are hidden. My friends think too well of me. My enemies think inaccurately of me. Only God knows. Good.”
(Ray Ortlund)

“Imagine a world without music. What a sad, sad place it would be.”
(Jackie Hill Perry)

“He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer his embrace.”
(Joni Eareckson Tada – well-known author and speaker who has suffered from paralysis for over 50 years)

“The more spiritually alive and mature we are, the more we recognize how far short we fall of the glory of God. The closer we get to a mirror, the more clearly we perceive our imperfections. The mirror for Christians is Christ. Therefore, it should not surprise us that those who have known Him best have been most aware of their imperfections and most appreciative of His love and grace.”
(Tom Hovestol – from his book: Extreme Righteousness)

“God is a lot more patient with you than you are with you.”
(Bryan Loritts)

“Our blustering civilization has completely robbed us of a concentrated inner life, dragged our souls out into a bazaar, whether of commerce or of party politics.”
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Christians get very angry toward other Christians who sin differently than they do.”
(Philip Yancey)

“Married people – Don’t play with fire. You’re going to get burned. Jesus is better than everything. The grass isn’t greener on the other side. The grass is greener where the lawn is taken care of.”
(Derwin Gray)

“Don’t save up love like you’re going to retire on it; we’re rivers, not reservoirs.”
(Bob Goff)

“Reading one book well is far better than reading ten to check off your list.”
(Karen Swallow Prior)

“Everyone will be forgotten, nothing we do will make any difference, and all good endeavors, even the best, will come to naught. Unless there is God. If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a True Reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God’s calling, can matter forever.”
(Timothy Keller)

“It is impossible to be happy without humility.

Unless we have a true sense of our insignificance in the wider scheme of things, unless we experience gratitude for the small blessings in life—the little graces that bring joy precisely because they are unearned and undeserved, we will never know joy.

The more towering the façade of our own importance, the more shrunken is our capacity for happiness.

Entitlement destroys the virtue best equipped to bring happiness—gratitude.”

(Trevin Wax)

“Theology doesn’t just think. Theology walks. Theology weeps. Theology bleeds.”
(Russell D. Moore)

“One sign you’ve encountered God is you walk with a limp, not a strut.”
(Matt Smethurst)

“If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.”
(Tim Keller)

“Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.”
(Elisabeth Elliot)

“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.”
(Francis Bacon)

“When a newspaper posed the question, ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ the Catholic thinker G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: ‘Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton.’ That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.”
(Timothy Keller)

“Gratitude. Collect your blessings. Catalog God’s kindnesses. Assemble your reasons for gratitude and recite them.”
(Max Lucado)

“…for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
(George Eliot, quoted at the end of
Terrance Malick’s movie A Hidden Life)

“The strength of patience hangs on our capacity to believe that God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours.”
(John Piper)

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
(Colossians 2:6-7 NASB)

“Studies have shown that….
grateful people view their lives more favorably than others,
have increased energy and self-confidence,
and demonstrate better coping.
They are more generous and optimistic,
have a greater sense of purpose,
have fewer medical problems,
exercise more,
and sleep better than their peers.…”
(Christianity Today article: “What Brilliant Psychologists Are Learning About Humility” by Mark R. McMinn)

“No amount of regret changes the past. No amount of anxiety changes the future. Any amount of grateful joy changes the present.” (Ann Voskamp) 

“When someone continually talks about how happy they are, I tend to doubt them; but when they talk about how grateful they are, I know they have found happiness.” (Rob Hawkins) 

“Undeniable guilt,
plus undeserved grace,
should equal unbridled gratitude.”
(Nancy Leigh DeMoss) 

“Seek… to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life.” (Alexander Maclaren – 1826-1910) 

“Keep your own happiness journal. Record God’s evident goodness around you every day. You’ll find that in time, you’ll see more and more gifts from him – not because there are more, but because you’re finally seeing what has been there all along.” (Randy Alcorn) 

“Ultimately, in his essence, Satan is an ingrate. And he sinks his venom into the heart of Eden. Satan’s sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude… Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren’t satisfied in God and what He gives.” (Ann Voskamp) 

“If only we could see our situation clearly. We deserve expulsion; he [God] gives us a diploma. We deserve the electric chair; he gives us a parade. Anything less than overwhelming gratitude would be unthinkable. He owes us nothing. We own him everything. ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?’ (Romans 11:35 – NIV), The answer is: nobody.” (Randy Alcorn)

“Once we experience thanksgiving as our default condition, we’ll find it’s inseparable from our happiness, and we’ll never want to go back to the barren wasteland of ingratitude.” (Randy Alcorn) 

“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich!” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) 

“Joy and cynicism. Both are contagious. Everyone infects the world with one or the other.” (Scott Sauls)

“Gratitude isn’t only a celebration when good things happen. Gratitude is a declaration that God is good no matter what happens!” (Ann Voskamp)