MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
Programs to help men become transformed to the image (character) of Jesus Christ.
MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
MEN ALIVE 216 - FAITHFULNESS...even unto death!
Do you ever wonder how faithfulness, a character quality of the Fruit of the Spirit, ties into our personal development? Drawing inspiration from Pastor Alan and Alice's life testament, we delve into a discussion on the virtues of faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Their relentless faith in God, even in the face of death, serves as a profound example for us all. Join us as we explore the importance of faithfulness in our spiritual journey, and how it's all interwoven with personal character development. We cordially invite you to visit GoTeachGlobal.com to learn more and tune into more riveting episodes. Witness a journey of faith, endurance, and victory that is sure to inspire.
Welcome to Men Alive, a biblical journey to help us conform to the image of Jesus Christ. I'm your host, paul Estabrooks, our teacher. As my longtime friend, dr Jim Penningham, consultant in adult education, director of Go Teach Global and author of the book Men Alive.
Speaker 2:Our topic today is a seventh in the list of the fruit of the Spirit, the one called faithfulness Paul, and I would like to tell you, our listeners, the story of one of the most faithful married couples we have met in our many years of travel together Pastor Alan and his wife.
Speaker 1:Alice Great story. You and I were visiting a country that was openly hostile to Christians. We met a pastor couple we will call Alan and Alice who were faithful to each other and to our Lord Jesus Christ, even though Pastor Alan was imprisoned for 21 years and 8 months.
Speaker 2:He told us this at the age of 17. I began a search for answers to three life questions why was life so meaningless? Second, how could one overcome sin and temptation and live a holy life? And third, what would happen after life on earth ended? Alan studied many world religions, like Buddhism and Confucianism, but they provided no answers. At this time he was not even interested in Christianity because he believed it was a foreign Western religion. However, in Alan's words at the age of 28, god revealed himself into my heart at that moment and I gave me the faith to believe in him. There I confessed my sins and accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. When I turned the light back on, the universe had changed for me. I was very, very happy. At age 32, after attending Bible college, alan started a church in the capital city. They rented a place, but most of their meetings were out in the streets. Many were saved and baptized.
Speaker 1:When he was 35, the country had a change of government. A new totalitarian, atheistic government came to power. This new authoritarian government told him he must register his church and be placed on the government payroll for his salary. No more offerings were allowed to be taken from church members. The government would pay his salary and his benefits, and no children under the age of 18 would be allowed to enter the building or attend any of the meetings, and his sermons must be edited and approved each week by a government agent.
Speaker 2:Alan refused to join the government-backed church. The government's idea was that each church should be self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating, with no ties to any foreign agencies. Alan believed that politics and religion should be separate and that the government is not the head of the church. He told them the church is a virgin bride prepared for the coming bridegroom, not a hoor to work for the government. For those words he was given a life sentence with no hope of being released and sent to prison, leaving Alice, their six children ages 6 to 17, and his mother living together without any visible means of support.
Speaker 1:Alice was told she would never see him again. She was left alone with the care of those six children and her mother-in-law, she told us. My heart was full of frustration. I argued with God about my situation. The future seems so dark. One dank God spoke to me and said these things have come from me. I told him if they are from you, please protect my family and me. Do not allow me to disgrace your name. I want to follow you and glorify you, and I receive peace in my heart.
Speaker 2:I remember Alice telling us of four tests she endured during the 21 years and 8 months. Alan was in prison. She said people failed me, but through these difficult years God never forsook me, but he did test me. Then she named four tests she endured with faithfulness. The first test was the pressures of life. She said I earned only 80 cents a day. How could my family and I live on such a small income? I heard God say if I can provide for the birds, I can provide for you. I slept peacefully. The next morning at 5.55 am there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a lady about 60 years old that I did not know. I asked her name and she replied I have no name, just thank the Lord. She walked out and disappeared. So I opened the parcel and among the food items it contained an envelope with $50. God is never late. We didn't even miss one meal.
Speaker 1:Pastor Allen was considered an enemy of the government, a counter-revolutionary. So while Allen was in prison, slaving nine hours a day at hard physical labor, alice was facing a second test of political pressure from the party. Alice was also deemed to be a counter-revolutionary, she told us. Authorities pressured me to criticize my religious beliefs and divorce my husband. Every day I was subjected to six hours of pressure in these struggle sessions. I hung on with the help of God. My strategy was to close my eyes and pray to endure the struggle sessions.
Speaker 2:The third test was the pressure of work. After the six-hour struggle sessions, alice was required to do eight hours of hard labor. She pulled wagon loads of construction bricks, stones and cement for the 80 cents a day. Every load was extremely heavy, she said. Sometimes I had to shovel cement over my head to the second floor. I survived by constantly praying and asking God to help me. He was merciful and gave me strength.
Speaker 1:The fourth test was the lust of the flesh. I was 39 years old when my husband was taken. Some men came to me with gifts of money and clothing. I tell them I'm a Christian, I cannot divorce or remarry. God loved me so much that he gave me the strength to overcome all these temptations for a comfortable life. Whenever I prayed, he provided all that I needed, even more abundantly than I had asked. After 21 years and eight months, my husband was released from prison. Over 21 years of separation is a long time, but God led us through. Alice said people failed me, but God never forsook me. Before we go further, let me remind you our listeners this is Men Alive, with Dr Jim Cunningham from GoTeachGlobalcom. Send your comments and questions to menaliveandtogodcom. Now back to Dr Jim and his thoughts on faithfulness.
Speaker 2:What a story we are remembering. Pebble, you and I think being away from Rita and Diane for two weeks is a long time. 21 years and eight months is beyond our comprehension. Alan used to always emphasize the extra eight months, for most people cannot imagine being separated for eight months, much less 21 years and eight months. This is the kind of faithfulness the Spirit gives us.
Speaker 1:At the age of 65, Alan met the conditions of being over 60 and in prison for more than 20 years, and was thus released earlier than his sentence. He went in at age 44 and was released at age 75, 21 years and 8 months later. His prison experience of cold weather, poor food, 9 hours of daily hard work made it impossible for his son to recognize him at the train station when he arrived home. So Alan walked to his house from the train station. Alice had not seen her husband for all those years. She said he was so thin. The only part of him she recognized was his eyes After not seeing him for almost 22 years. That is his faithfulness.
Speaker 2:The story gets even better. Alan had no Bible in prison and virtually no Christian fellowship, but he shared this thought when the Lord says you are a faithful servant, then you will exchange your cross someday for a crown. Alan still had to serve a 10 year probation when he was released from prison. Two times a week, from age 75 to 86, he had to report to his probation officer and he was stripped of his rights as a citizen to travel. People visited him at his home and he continued to share the gospel with him. He recorded his messages on tapes and gave them to his visitors. This led to them becoming followers of Jesus.
Speaker 2:Pastor Alan had so many new believers asking to be baptized as followers of Jesus Christ that he came up with a plan. He organized a family picnic at the nearby river and invited over 300 new believers to join his family picnic, as they were now his brothers and sisters in his family of Jesus Christ. During the picnic, the police arrived and Alan was interrogated again. What were the police supposed to do? He had already been in prison for 21 years and 8 months. He had just finished 10 years of probation, so they placed him under house arrest.
Speaker 1:For many more years Alan continued to pastor a protest church, an unregistered house church that met regularly to worship in his home as well. He entertained visitors and briefed them on prayer requests for the country and its fast growing church. Alan went to be with his savior in heaven at the age of 91. The summer before he died he and his team baptized over 700 new Christian believers at his last family picnic by the river. He gave us a video of the service. He also said I was able to baptize more new Christians after being released from prison than I did in all the years before I went to prison.
Speaker 2:Alan liked to quote Revelation 2, verse 9 and 10. That says I know about your suffering and your poverty, but you are rich. I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan. Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you in prison to test you. You will suffer for 10 days and if you remain faithful, even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. That was Alan's life goal to be faithful to Jesus Christ until we see him face to face. Alan had no Bible in prison and virtually no Christian fellowship, so he challenged us by saying memorize scripture and hymns while you can. There may come a day when you will have no Bible.
Speaker 1:Then he added memorize songs and hymns. Alan said I only knew two songs from memory when I went to prison. One was called. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross and he would sing it for us. And the second song was Psalm 27 from the Psalter the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom then shall I fear? And he sang that song for us. Being faithful requires being filled with God's Holy Spirit. That is our goal to allow the fruit of the Spirit to grow within us.
Speaker 2:Our first meeting with Pastor Allen was in a hotel room. Then in later visits we went to his small home where they packed in almost 100 people at their meetings. I still remember asking him how did you ever survive, as a husband and a father, the emotional pain of separation from your family and the physical pain of hard labor six days a week for all those years? His response he would extend his arms with palms open to show us his hands and then say, compared to Christ's suffering on the cross, it was nothing. Then he softly added when the Lord says you are a faithful servant, then you will exchange your cross someday for a crown. Pastor Allen and his wife Alice are both in heaven today. Both were examples to me, not as promoters of spiritual gifts, but models of the spiritual fruit of faithfulness, even unto death.
Speaker 1:There you have it, men, the seventh character quality of the fruit of the Spirit and the first of three personal development character qualities faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Check out GoTeachGlobalcom for more information. While there, you can also listen to more of the Men Alive programs. Keep us in your prayers and send us a note at menaliveintogodatgmailcom. Until next time. I'm Paul Estabrooks, on behalf of Dr Jim Cunningham, encouraging you to be Men Alive, transformed into the character of Jesus Christ.
