Are You Mortified?

"So what is the answer? How can you stand your ground when you are weak and sensitive to pain, when people you love are still alive, when you are unprepared?

"What do you need to make you stronger than the interrogator and the whole trap?

"From the moment you go to prison you must put your cozy past firmly behind you. At the very threshold, you must say to yourself: 'My life is over, a little early to be sure, but there's nothing to be done about it. I shall never return to freedom. I am condemned to die--now or a little later. But later on, in truth, it will be even harder, and so the sooner the better. I no longer have any property whatsoever. For me those I love have died, and for them I have died. From today on, my body is useless and alien to me. Only my spirit and my conscience remain precious and important to me.'

"Confronted by such a prisoner, the interrogation will tremble.

"Only the man who has renounced everything can win that victory."
- Aleksander I. Solzhenitzyn, The Gulag Archipelago*

Part 14: Preparations for Sufferings

Chances are you've never heard a sermon quite this severe. Be challenged to read this through and examine your heart honestly. The main point is this: We can't possibly be ready to "die for Christ" should persecution arise until we've first "died to self."

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