Rebecca

Two separate missionaries in Taiwan (which is on soft lockdown now) have recently had people saved through their online services. One was a lady watching the online Sunday school service with her daughter and called the missionary to come to her house to explain salvation in detail and she was saved. The other was similar, watching the online service with her daughter and was saved. The gospel being preached is the main thing no matter if it's in person or online.

Yes, many organizations exist where the members do not show kindness one toward another or the general public. Often, in order to keep their jobs, kindness is faked towards each other and the general public, it's a display and (almost) everyone knows it. Other times kindness is nonexistent most of the time. Examples include Walmart, any fast food chain, various airlines, social media (facebook, twitter, etc), sports teams, the list could go on. Even some organizations you think would be based on kindness are some of the worst/hateful: PeTA, ASPCA, my local animal shelter before it was shut down and rebranded, etc.

I didn't know it was a common argument against the KJV when I say I use the KJV 1769 and not KJV 1611, because I do say this all the time and I am not against the KJV! I do think it is misleading to say 1611 if it's not the one you're actually using, though. What's wrong with being accurate with the year of the KJV Bible you're using?

https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.young.9465/videos/6092621334097442

Thank you all for praying. For those who don't know, I'm Alan's daughter. This was posted on the facebook page started to keep family and friends informed of the situation: "For all who have been following. Plans have been discussed and settled. We are having a Memorial Service for Maurice Young, Saturday May 15th at 10 am, at Tabernacle Baptist Church, Lebanon, Missouri, Pastor Don Ball presiding. There is a luncheon afterwards for family and friends. For some family and friends, we are having graveside services Friday May 14th, at 11:30 in St. Louis. If more info is needed, message me for details. There are hotels in Lebanon, they can be found on internet. Thanks for all your prayers and support for our families loss." ____________________ If you could also be in prayer for the memorial service that will take place here in Taiwan on April 22nd, we would be grateful.

The pastor friend in Myanmar sent this message: “Last night, around 9:30pm, our neighbor was taken away. All street lights were out and dark. Please continue to pray for our safety and protection of God. My wife was so terrified. We were up the whole night. I will delete it again.” ______ Just sending that short message could put him and his family in danger, so he deleted it after sending. The people there are living in a state of terror, never knowing when they will be dragged from their homes to an unknown fate. The people are being worn down physically and emotionally, it's heart breaking that we have to sit and watch from afar while this unfolds, unable to help. Please continue to pray!

Things are indeed growing worse. There is so much I was going to say, but as an update, I will simply copy/paste what a local wrote: Dear praying brethren I am writing this Report with a broken and trembling heart. My eye is filled with sadness and tears of hurt. First of all I want to beg you to pray for our safety and protection. It is my prayer that the angel of the Lord will continue to surround every home in our country. Latest Update From the day that the M-C took control over the country which was February 1, there was a constant peaceful protest from our people. I can say it is the whole country uprising against the injustice act. About One week everything was calm with nonviolent. But starting from March 6 to 9, the Soldiers received ordered from their general to shoot as much as they want to these peaceful protestors. They used Machine Guns, Rifles, Snipers and even Air craft (Particularly to attack Kachin State) in their shooting,. Every day we needed to collect dead bodies on the road with tears and pains. They killed a school teacher who was just walking on the street; they also shoot a pregnant woman hid a young peaceful protestors. They would go to any house they want and bring people into prison. A lot of women were captured, and according to their testimony they were raped and beaten before they were released. From March 10- to 14, things even got worse; they captured the former NLD elected people. One of them is a president of a public school and much respected person. They brought him to their office and the next morning they called his wife to collect his body. His face was disfigured already. Things get worse and worse they took over a very importance places like University, Hospital, and any kind of school building by force. They entered into any house , they kick out or imprison the family and they occupy the place. No Bank is opened and I don’t know how long it will be. Internets are cut off, we can use only a few hours. And it is dangerous to post anything that against them. If they check and see we are in danger. From March 15-16, Today is the day of mourning and biggest shooting day. Our “ Hlaing tha yar” state started their protesting. Not very long the Soldiers came and shoot them with M-16, within one day we have 76 dead. A lot of them are young people who have such a bright future. It break my heart so much. Everywhere is filled with smoke and fire. They burned the chinese factories and they blamed over the civilian. There were 7 factories burned and destroyed. Thousands of people don’t have work, food and a place to stay now. Almost all of our church members ran back to their village now. There is neither market nor shop where we can buy food because every road is blocked now. How long we will last if it continues like this!? Just a while ago, the soldiers’ truck came and stop near our house. We were terrified; they captured six people who were having tea in the shop. We don’t know what they will do to them. God is my only Hope All missionaries are suffering greatly the misery of this. My missionary friend has a wife who is about to give birth and there is no hospital opened. He said to me , they will do it by themselves in their small house by trusting God. Dear friends…. I have two small little girls one is two year and another is six month, I don’t care if I don’t have food to eat but I am thinking much for them and their safety. May you continue to uphold us in your prayer for our safety, provision and protection." ________ Another Christian wrote much the same thing but added this: "Last night, S. came to our Bible College area and tried to occupy our building. We fervently prayed and they turned in another direction. We did hear gunshot sounds the whole night." The pastor I mentioned in my first post said: ”Thank you so much. I need to delete all my posts about the protests. They began going into houses and check their FB posts.” ___________ Please do not forget to pray for the people of Myanmar!

I am going to politely ask that this thread not be turned into yet another place for bickering and hobby horses, please and thank you. This thread is specifically asking for prayer for the people of Myanmar as they are going through a time of horrible turmoil and upheaval in their lives.

Some good news, the pastor friend got back in contact, he and his wife are safe! They are at home now but are emotionally drained and are having difficulty eating and sleeping. They are very grateful for the prayers and ask for continued prayers.

The military takeover of Myanmar is growing worse. I know of a missionary family who was successfully evacuated with other foreigners, but others are still there. The local church I work with here in Taiwan is close friends with a Myanmar pastor who has disappeared, he was last heard from on February 18th. People are being murdered in the streets, and as they flee from the military/police they head to churches for safety, but these places of refuge are ignored by the military/police, they are breaking down the gates and doors to arrest anyone who flees into these buildings, and even arrest the pastors for giving the people sanctuary. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4142159 https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/police-raid-kachin-baptist-church-in-lashio-10-arrested-including-ministers Video of police breaking into a house: https://fb.watch/40DTgwjmRZ/

I have to amend my above comment as I was reminded of a situation where the new regulations have affected Christians, although they were not specifically targeted. One of the ways Taiwan has been successful in combating the virus is because they closed their borders. In order to come to Taiwan you have to meet strict criteria. There are new missionaries who were set to arrive in Taiwan this year, but due to the new regulations and not being far enough along in their paperwork they did not meet the new requirements so they cannot come to Taiwan. Two new missionary families arrived just last month because they met all the requirements and had certain documents the others did not have. So right now it's a waiting game for any new missionary to see when Taiwan will allow them entry. These new requirements for entry to Taiwan affect everybody so at this moment in time they are not targeted at keeping missionaries out of Taiwan.

Here in Taiwan there have been no infringements on religious freedoms. The regulations due to Covid can be inconvenient at times, especially now as we are entering the Chinese New Year week. However, these regulations are not as insane as other countries, and are not targeted to certain groups, religious or otherwise. I am very thankful for the freedoms we can still enjoy here and pray for those who are beginning to experience persecution.

An updated modern KJV has already been done, in 1994. It's called the 21st Century King James Bible if you want to check it out and compare it to the 1769 KJV. I've never read it so I don't know what differences are in it, however it was supposedly only changing some 'archaic' vocabulary words, not grammar or the thee's and thou's. So if the Bible scholars in this thread want to check it out, feel free and maybe give us a good review on a separate thread and tell us what you think.

I just wanted to share what an amazing service we had at church today. I serve at a little church in Taitung, Taiwan. Since last year, our church has done an outreach with the Indonesian workers that live in and around our city (caregivers and fishermen). We had a good Christmas service with many attending last year, and this year we made plans to do the same thing, to have our church members be servants to the Indonesians who attend the Christmas service. Word got around and today we had a record-smashing 98 people attend service today! Many of them are Muslim and they all listened well as the gospel was shared as Christ was glorified and preached. While no decisions were made, seeds were planted. Please pray for the people who heard the gospel today, they know how to reach any of us if they have questions, so pray they have the courage to reach out! The lady to the right of the pastor is translating everything from Chinese to Indonesian. The little church building was packed wall to wall, front to back. I sat in the back on the stairs!

Tonight's sunset was spectacular! I took several photos, but since my phone camera doesn't have a panoramic setting, I took a video instead. This was taken from the roof of my house.