I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today...You has me how I know He lives?  He lives within my heart.
                                                                                                       He Lives - text and music by Alfred H Ackley

With all the compelling evidence for the resurrection, the empty-tomb, the eye witness accounts, the clear, indisputable testimony of the Scriptures and Christ Himself, perhaps the most persuasive evidence, that which cannot be easily dismissed, is our own personal encounter with the risen Lord.

I remember as a cocky, rebellious 17 year-old kid boldly declaring I did not need God in my life.  But then I came face to face with the resurrected Christ and everything changed.  I cannot fully explain it but I know it is real. For almost 40 years the Lord Jesus has continually revealed His mercy and kindness to me.  I have been the recipient of His amazing grace.  I have heard Him whisper words of affirmation and love; I have been given direction and purpose in life and an eternal hope and sustains me in those times when the path gets hard and the world seems like a dark and scary place.  I have know what it is to live as beloved child of the Father.

My encounter with the risen Christ has changed my life's ambition, my life's vocation; it has changed our geographical location and more importantly it has changed my heart's orientation.  I've experienced the transforming power of the truth of His Word and the life-changing power of His grace.  As I look back on my journey of faith, I see a continual, undeniable pattern of His leading and provision and care. When I have wandered or lost my way, even in the dark night of my soul, I have never been abandoned for He has promised, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.  (Hebrews 13:5)  I have experienced His abiding presence;  I know what it is to rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)

When I am weak, I have know His strength; when I have been restless, I have know His peace.  When I have been afraid, I have heard Him whisper, do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)  When I have cried out, He has heard my prayers; when my courage has faded, He has renewed my confidence and restored my hope.  I have lived the promise of His Word that those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.  (Isaiah 40:31)

As a core conviction of my life I hold to the truth that there is a God, that He loves me, that we are in a covenant relationship; that His desire is to break into my life and to lead me in ways that consistent with His highest hopes for me and when my journey here on earth is over, I will have a home in heaven; I will be with Him forever.  You ask me how I know He lives...because these truths are so incredibly real and powerful in my life I have no other explanation; because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.  2 Timothy 1:12

The following was written by our friend Rev. Benjamin Lee Hegeman, PhD

SIM missionary scholar in residence at  École Biblique en Langue Baatonou, Benin (since 1990)
Academic Dean of The Lilias Trotter Center
Adjunct faculty at Wesley Biblical Seminary 
Adjunct faculty at Houghton College
Adjunct faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary (as of 2017)


Not all fear is phobia. Getting off a narrow road when an 18-wheeler transport truck is roaring near you is not a phobia but a healthy fear. Dreaming every night of trucks chasing you is a phobia (see your doctor).
In my field of missions, there is a healthy fear of Ɛslɛm and an irrational phobia of Mɔslɛms. Both need a Scriptural response.

This, then is reasonable fear. 1st, you have heard that worldwide a militant minority in Ɛslɛm cannot be controlled by ‘moderate’ majority Mɔslɛms. Fearing militants is understandable. 2nd, you read of isolated cases of moderate men being radicalised overnight to a militant Ɛslɛmic view. To be distressed by this is to be of a sound mind. 3rd, you are informed of how some new converts to Ɛslɛm are turning fanatics. İt is realistic to be anxious. 4th, you listen to reports of how radical Mɔslɛms are successfully recruiting Western penitentiary prisoners into become jihɛdists. Your alarm is reasonable. 5th, you glance through articles explaining how brutally and violently jihɛdists attack other Mɔslɛms and Christians. Being shocked needs no apology. 6th, being informed and fearful of how Shari’a laws aggressively oppress and humiliate minorities, especially Christians and Mɔslɛms converting to Christ, is logical. Such fear confirms that you are normal and informed.

Now before I recommend Scriptural responses to ‘reasonable fear’ let me list the irrational phobias. 1st imaging that all Mɔslɛms are secret jihadists is plainly irrational. (Very few are.) 2nd, dreading that militant Islam is an unstoppable force taking over the world is profoundly illogical. (They couldn’t, even if they tried.) 3rd, being afraid that all mosques camouflage radical jihadists is blatantly unreasonable. (Most mosque leaders fear radicals.)   4th being petrified that all Oriental foreigners with turbans or veils are hiding terrorists at home is utterly unfounded. (Jihadist wouldn’t trust them to hide them.) 5th, being terrified that all Mɔslɛms are trying to convert everyone in the West is also absurd. (Sure, Mɔslɛms are overly proud of Ɛslɛm but very lousy at selling it.) 6th, being horrified that all liberal secular thinkers are blind to the dangers of Ɛslɛm is also ludicrous. (They know better but they have a phobia about begin called Ɛslɛmɔphobic.)  

Any of the above phobias confirm that folks are relying on fear-mongers to supply their news. Radical Mɔslɛms are only too happy when their terrorising propaganda makes us phobic. They want to convert people to Ɛslɛmɔphobia.

Fear and phobia must be treated but in different ways. Healthy fears lead to fervent prayers for protection and wisdom, which everyone in the West now needs. Fear is not sinful if it leads us to trust God. Proverbs says; “Wisdom will deliver you from the way of evil, from men… Who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil.”
If the emergence of a healthy fear makes us grow in understanding and discernment of Ɛslɛm, how is that bad? If the rise of Ɛslɛm makes Christians pray more for Mɔslɛms and themselves, how is that wrong?

Phobias, however must be confessed as slander against a people who do not yet know God. Phobias are worse than fear because they include anger, sweeping generalisations, and unbelief.  Nasty stuff. It must go. Any fear or phobia, left untreated, turns to hatred -and how can hatred be defended from Scripture?

But let’s beware of two reactions here: first to those who are obsessed with labelling others as Islamophobic. By reacting fearfully against Islamophobic people, how is that not an oxymoron? That is as self-righteous as hating those who hate others. Second, let’s beware of those who would shield the Qur’an from any probing interrogation about its intended (often legitimately disturbing) teachings. Since when does the alleged ‘Eternal Noble Qur’an’ need protection from secular pundits?

The best cure of phobia is confessing it and replacing it with prayer, understanding, and joining experienced missionaries and ministries in reaching out to refugees and needy Mɔslɛms. It’s hard to fear or hate a people for whom you are praying and serving in compassion.

Finally, do pray for the fear of God to seize the conscience of a jihadist minority. Pray they will fear being caught, fear being deported, fear being exposed, and fear being rejected by their families. There is a fear that is the beginning of wisdom. Pray for it.