GHG SHORT BIOGRAPHIES - 1 (MATTHEW AYAIRGA)

Matthew Ayairga was not a Christian. He went to Sirte, Libya to find much needed work. One day he was captured by a group of ISIS militants. He was kept in prison for five weeks with other 20 captured Christians. After keeping them five weeks in prison, the militants took them to a beach to behead them. No one knows why the ISIS militants kidnapped him with the rest.

He was not a Christian yet then was forced to join other kidnapped men dressed in orange jumpsuits, kneeling on a beach, with their black-clothed attackers standing behind. The men wearing black, terrorists affiliated with ISIS were holding knives. 

Each man was then systematically beheaded. Every man who was captured, their lips proclaimed "Lord Jesus Christ," in their final moments. The militant who was holding knife to Matthew's neck asked him, "Do you reject Christ?" 

Matthew Ayairga would have had a much better chance at life had he rejected Christ on that day. He saw everyone who was knelt along with him beheaded. But then after reportedly witnessing the "immense faith" of fellow believers and their death, who all came from Egypt, he decided to become a follower of Christ himself. 

And so he boldly said to the militant, “Their God is my God.” And soon he was beheaded.

"Troubled soul, the "much tribulation" will soon be over, and as you enter the "kingdom of God" you shall then see, no longer "through a glass darkly" but in the unshadowed sunlight of the Divine presence, that "all things" did "work together" for your personal and eternal good." - A.W. Pink

#GHG Short Biography

CHALLENGING LIFE STORY OF RACHEL JOY SCOTT - AUTHOR UNKNOWN (TAKEN FROM THE INTERNET)

Rachel Joy Scott (1981-1999)

 

 

The Columbine High School Massacre took place on April 20, 1999 in Columbine, in the State of Colorado in United States. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 students and one teacher and then took their own lives. It was a heart breaking tragedy that shocked the entire nation.

Rachel Joy Scott was one of the murdered victims in the shooting. She was the first one to get shot by the shooters Eric and Dylan.

Rachel Joy Scott was a committed Christian. She was 17 at the time of her death. She was open about her faith in Christ and unashamedly witnessed in her school campus about Jesus. Her family said that she was not a super spiritual person. She had her struggles. She was like any other teenager but loved God greatly. Her diary revealed many things about her commitment to Jesus and her love for Him. Below are few of the excerpts and quotes from Rachel’s diary that her family shared with the public.

On April 20, 1998, Rachel wrote in her diary
, “I lost all my friends at school, now that I’ve begun to ‘walk my talk’, they make fun of me.

I don’t even know what I have done. I don’t really have to say anything and they turn from me.” 
She continues, “I have no more personal friends at school, But you know what? I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus. I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that’s fine with me. I always knew being a Christian is having enemies, but I never thought that my ‘friends’ were going to be those enemies.

She states also, “If I have to give up everything, I will”.

Somehow Rachel had a feeling that she was going to die young. Less than a year before the shooting, Rachel had written in her diary, “This is my last year, Lord. I have gotten what I can. Thank you.”

Some more excerpts from her diary:

Rachel wrote addressing to God, “I want you to use me to reach the unreached.” The diary was in her backpack the day she was shot. “God is going to use me to reach the young people, I don’t know how, I don’t know when.” “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.”

Three weeks before the shooting she had witnessed to the shooters Eric and Dylan. Eric and Dylan were the odd pair out and students mostly stayed away from them. But Rachel tried to talk to them and encouraged them to leave their hateful feelings and turn to Jesus. But they hated her more and even made homemade videotapes mocking her Christian faith.

On the day of the shooting, Rachel was outside the school building having her lunch. Eric and Dylan entered the school campus and first shot Rachel. They shot her in the leg twice and shot her again in the back. They left but returned seconds later. On noticing that she was still alive, Eric walked over to Rachel and grabbed her by the hair, lifted up her head and asked her “Do you still believe in your God?” Her response was unflinching and unwavering,
”You Know I Do”, and that provocated Eric and he responded “Then go be with Him,” and shot her in the head.

Millions of people have come to know Jesus in her death. It stirred and impacted millions of young and the old and solidified their devotion and passion for Jesus. 

When Rachel was 13, she wrote:

“These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott and will some day touch millions of people’s hearts.”  

In the back of her diary she wrote in big, large letters: “I won’t be labeled as average.”

What I learned about Rachel and her last moments, impacted me greatly that day. It forced me to ask myself, “Would I have said Yes?”. It brought tears to my eyes and stirred my heart deeply. Her life and death added to my resolve to stay committed to Jesus and to live passionately for God.

 “Would I have said yes?” I pray, I would. Let’s resolve that we won’t be average in our devotion and love for the Lord. Sometimes, it is living for Jesus and taking a stand that will cost us everything. But isn’t He worth it all. 

As our dear Apostle Paul said:

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. [Philippians 1:21]

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. [Philippians 3:8]

GOD CAN TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE AT ANY AGE & AT ANY STAGE (REMARKABLE LIFE STORY OF A YOUNG WOMAN)

(My dear young friends, recently I read about the life of Frances Hunter and I was amazed to know how God transformed her life and has done mighty things through her ministry. Here is a short write-up of her story. If you want to read more about her life you can refer GOD’S GENERALS: THE HEALING EVANGELISTS)

Frances Hunter did God’s work along with her husband Charles Hunter. She and Charles had been marked by God for His amazing purposes. God used the Hunters to transform the course of the healing ministry, making people realize that ordinary believers can be used to heal the sick. 

Frances Eileen Fuller entered into the world on May 8, 1916 as two pound baby girl. Her mother had gone into labor two months early. The midwife found that there was no hope for the tiny baby girl and so she had laid her little body in the shoe box to be buried later. But from that first breath of life, Frances was destined to do far beyond the possible.

Frances had a difficult childhood in Chicago as her mother was stricken with tuberculosis.  Fred fuller, the father of Frances made her life exciting to live. At her young age, Frances met a handsome young guy named Larry and began to love him a lot. After several months they both got married and soon she gave birth to baby boy in the year 1945. Frances was so happy about her life and she never knew that very soon she will be facing a great tragedy.

In the late 1940s Larry was diagnosed with brain cancer and he died after battling with it for two long years. Frances became a widow at the age of thirty three and widowhood became another challenge for her to overcome. To overcome the pain of losing her loving husband she began to attend social parties to have few drinks and to be with friends.

Soon she met a successful builder named Walter Gardner. He proposed his love for Frances and her son. Swept off her feet by his sweet talk he married him which turned disastrous as she discovered that he was an abusive alcoholic. He had deceived her and so after five years of suffering abuse, Frances divorced Walter. But yet she got a greatest gift of her life through this marriage, Joan her daughter who became the source of blessing to Frances throughout her life. 

Later in the upcoming years she became a wild sinner. For ten years she smoked five packs of cigarettes a day, drank martinis every night. Yet a young pastor patiently showed her the love of Christ talking with her every week for four years but Frances never made a move towards Christ. Even though she never moved closer to God, He decided to move towards her.

Soon Frances met with an accident and three months later she found that she had lost sight in her left eye. The fear of surgery overwhelmed her and she cried out to God for His help.

Frances experienced a miracle as she lay in the hospital bed the night before the surgery. She had been reading a verse from Psalm 23 to the nurses, trying to appear spiritual. After they left, she turned back to the Psalm to finish reading and discovered that the two pages were completely blank-wiped clean. Suddenly she saw a hand write the words “Frances, I love you” in red across the blank pages. Overwhelmed by God’s love for her, she surrendered her life to God that night and she promised God that the rest of her life she will serve Him.

Later in the year 1966 she walked down to the altar of a church committing her entire life for God and she was born again at the age of forty-nine. She told God on that day, “God, I will make a deal with You. I will give You all of me…in exchange for all of You.” 

She was committed to her deal and God honored her deal. God begun to use her and He had send Charles Hunter into her life and in the year 1970 they both got married. As a family they began to do God’s ministry healing several people through God’s power. Several people including deaf, crippled experienced God’s healing power through their ministry.

In the year 2009, Frances Hunter died at the age of 93. By the time of her death it was found that nearly 200 million peoples were blessed through their ministry. Over and over in their ministry they declared like this: “God said it, we believe it and that settles it.” 

My dear young friend, If God can touch the life of a woman at the age of 49 and make her as a source of blessing to 200 millions of people by the end of her life, how much God can do with your life. The only thing you have to do is to commit your life to Christ and trust Him. He will not let you fail. You might be a wild sinner today but God can transform you as a great Servant of Him in the coming years. He is all powerful God and He will surely transform your life. Just surrender your life to God and you will see His glory penetrating into your life. Surely God will use you for His glory and you will glorify His name all through your life.