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    <description>Renowned National Speakers Self-Evident Ministry is dedicated and burdened to educating Americans about the Biblical heritage of our nation, of government, and preaching the gospel to all who will hear.</description>
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    <itunes:subtitle>Renowned National Speakers Self-Evident Ministry is dedicated and burdened to educating Americans about the Biblical heritage of our nation, of government, and preaching the gospel to all who will hear.</itunes:subtitle>
    <itunes:author>info@theselfevidenttruth.com (Massey Campos)</itunes:author>
    <itunes:summary>Renowned National Speakers Self-Evident Ministry is dedicated and burdened to educating Americans about the Biblical heritage of our nation, of government, and preaching the gospel to all who will hear.</itunes:summary>
    <itunes:owner>
      <itunes:email>info@theselfevidenttruth.com</itunes:email>
      <itunes:name>Massey Campos</itunes:name>
    </itunes:owner>
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    <itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
    <item>
      <title>Our Public Response to The True Texas Project Controversy</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Recently, several articles published by Robert Downen and Juan Salinas II from The Texas Tribune sought to do damage to a True Texas Project event being held next month. Massey Campos and Mike Sonneveldt, from Self-Evident Ministries, are slated to be keynote speakers at the event, both before and after the breakout sessions.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">This event, a 15-year birthday celebration, will host speakers covering several major topics. The themes of the break-out sessions include titles such as "Multiculturalism and the War on White America", "Great Replacement Theory", "The Case for Christian Nationalism", "Is Christian Zionism Biblical?", and more.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Of course, these topics make great fodder for those in the progressive camp. The issues are spicy enough to bait activist journalists and leaders of progressive groups to use all of the usual rhetoric against such lectures. Words like racist, xenophobic, white supremacist, white-identitarians, Christian Nationalists, and so forth become common focal points when trying to build a generalized identity of the event and its speakers. People believe that the labels become powerful artillery in a war of ideas.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">And that is precisely the intention of these articles and the subsequent discussion taking place. The true meaning of the topics does not matter. It's all about association. Whether the topics and speakers themselves truly hold the motives they're being accused of doesn't matter...it's all about association.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">If an association or tangential link can be used to drag down public perspective, then activists will stop at nothing to play up the connection. In fact, it becomes a primary tool and reeks of a thorough internalizing of Saul Alinsky's <i>Rules for Radicals</i>. The more an association with an extremist person or thought can be made, the easier it is to isolate, embarrass, and destroy a group or organization.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">An ulterior motive shows itself best in covering up the inconvenient facts or nuances of an issue. While these speakers were certainly called and asked whether they wanted to associate with such an event, we find little evidence of honest work being done to understand the foundational beliefs of the speakers. Conclusions were made and guilty associations were played up.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">In fact, even Richard Spencer's name was conveniently used to draw gross connections to Paul Gottfried. Mind you, Gottfried has publicly denounced antisemitism and the white supremacist movement. He is Jewish, attended a Jewish university, and his family escaped Hitler's government and the genocide of the holocaust.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">In the mission of the activist posing as an investigator, the inconvenient facts should never get in the way of the emotional goal. In other words, you can't create fear, animosity, division, and suppression unless the emotions of the ignorant and uninformed are stirred into passion and vitriol. Use Spencer's name, attach emotions to Gottfried.</span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h5><span style="line-height:100%">Self-Evident's Position</span></h5>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">We will proudly be attending True Texas Project's 15-year birthday celebration. In a recent phone call, we were asked by Mr. Downen whether we wanted to step down from this event and if we had a comment.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Here's our comment: We refuse to step down.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">In honor of the supposed thirst for knowledge, we will provide some of our reasons.</span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h5><span style="line-height:100%">1) Why would we do what our opposition wants us to do?</span></h5>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Despite the seemingly caring demeanor, a member of the opposition is not out for your good. Their request of you should always be circumspect, especially if it is not to build a relationship but to offer an option.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Activists do not wish for your success unless you are aligned. They wish to silence, suppress, and destroy their opposition. Placating them provides the fastest way to lose your self-respect and gain a reputation as a fool and a slave to their desires.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">When a person who is your opposition comes to you with a suggestion on how to be better, it should be easy to see the sleight of hand. Remember, the voice of Satan seemed to be concerned for Eve, but the machinations were death and destruction for her progeny.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Listen to the voice of your accuser at your peril.</span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h5><span style="line-height:100%">2) We don't need to fully agree with everyone</span></h5>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">We're not interested in whether we agree 100% with everything said at any event we go to. In fact, it is expected that no matter where we go, a disagreement in beliefs will occur at some point. It is asinine to assume that positions and beliefs must align perfectly, or else you are in danger of being associated with that thought or idea.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Unfortunately, we live in a culture in which association means reputation. And reputation means everything. While some may concern themselves with every person they could possibly be associated with, we at Self-Evident recognize that at some point, a vindictive enough person can associate you with anybody. Whether it is random comments on an X or Facebook post, something taken out-of-context, or a former leader or associate – the world is rife with "ugly" connections.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Simple-minded people base their judgment of a person on vague associations. The conniving recognizes and uses this to their advantage. It becomes a game of name-dropping with the intended consequence being to damage someone's reputation.</span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h5><span style="line-height:100%">3) We're there to minister</span></h5>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">We are a ministry. We will go where we're called to speak the truth. We have been invited to organizations in the past that would rankle the feathers of the common Christian or conservative. We didn't care. We went and spoke Jesus. We gave the truth. We prayed with those people. We ministered where we could.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">While we are far from being Jesus, He Himself was a man of no reputation. He was often ridiculed by his accusers for spending time with the tax collectors, prostitutes, and drunkards. His goal was to minister, heal, and convert the unwashed masses. The elite and establishment figures didn't like Him because He spent too much time with the outcasts and "associated" with the wrong people and espoused the wrong thoughts and ideas. But they HATED Him because He converted people into His followers. His presence threatened the supposed authority of the elite and therefore was dangerous.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Most importantly, He did not value His reputation among men but continued to do the will of His Father. This disregard for His worldly reputation not only earned Him eternal honor but led Him to the cross – a place He willingly went. Even when evil, inaccurate, and false accusations were lobbed at Him to seal His fate of execution, He continued with His mission.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">We as a ministry will go where we are invited and where we're called. Even if it were an event in which we disagreed with the main premise, we would be inclined to go and give the truth. If we're invited to give our message, then we will. After all, the fields are ripe for harvest with a people who need to hear the message of Christ!</span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h5><span style="line-height:100%">4) We love True Texas Project</span></h5>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">We have a long relationship with True Texas Project. We have done tours across Texas, speaking to their groups and forging relationships with their people. We have never seen the aforementioned antisemitism, white supremacy, and extremist hate that supposedly boils over from every crevice of True Texas Project.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">We have seen the groups be nothing but kind, generous, and thoughtfully dedicated to getting active and doing something in their locality. We watched as they prayed openly, ministered to each other, and desired a moral and value-driven Texas.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">While progressives may wish to trash and belittle the group, their usual tropes become worn-out and dusty. We get it. Conservatives, especially those deplorable ones who love God, guns, and country must all be racist extremists with Hitleresque aspirations. But at some point, the labels lose meaning. And we will not swallow the tripe of a couple of articles slathering on the labels written by antagonistic outsiders when we personally know and love those who lead and serve in True Texas Project.</span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h5><span style="line-height:100%">Conclusion</span></h5>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">Some may say that the titles of the breakout sessions are racist, xenophobic, and promote conspiracy theories.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">So, we're going to be clear, lest you accuse us of being vague. We agree with plenty of the points being made in these lectures. There may be points we don't agree with, but it does not matter to us. Either way, we will be there to minister and show the light of Christ. We will be there to support a movement we feel is doing great work in Texas. We will show up and give our backing to down-home folks who do not wish to see their country ripped to shreds by those people who have no interest in the history of America but merely wish to wipe the slate clean and build the nation in their own image.</span></p>

<p><span style="line-height:100%">See you in Texas.</span></p>
<br /><a href='https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/our-public-response-to-the-true-texas-project-controversy'>Cari Campos</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/our-public-response-to-the-true-texas-project-controversy'>...</a>]]></description>
      <link>https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/our-public-response-to-the-true-texas-project-controversy</link>
      <author>cari@theselfevidenttruth.com (Cari Campos)</author>
      <comments>https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/our-public-response-to-the-true-texas-project-controversy</comments>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/our-public-response-to-the-true-texas-project-controversy</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2024 20:41:00 GMT</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Missionary Heros: 7 Great Missionaries That Changed The World</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span class="font-xlarge"><u><b>Missionary Heroes: 7 Great Missionaries that Changed the World</b></u></span></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">This is our curated list of 7 great missionaries who changed the world.</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Most people do not hear about the work and effect missionaries have across the world, and we felt it was time to shine a light on the legacy just a few dedicated Christians have left on the world at large.</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><strong><span class="font-large">1) George Muller: Faith For All Our Needs</span></strong></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">George Muller was a missionary, evangelist, and caretaker whom would found the Ashley Down New Orphanage Houses, also known as the Mueller Homes, between 1849 and 1870. When he began taking care of orphans in 1836 there were very few orphanages in Britain, and those that existed were run with slave labor. Muller was a man who walked the faith we are called to have for our provisions, demonstrating this faith in his daily life, and relying on God to truly provide for all his needs and those he cared for. At any one time, the five Mueller homes held over 2,000 orphaned children and approximately 17,000 had lived in the homes before the buildings were later sold to the Bristol City Council in 1958. Over the course of Mueller’s lifetime, he parted with over $700,000 for the personal needs of others (worth substantially more in today’s value). In addition to the homes, he established 117 schools offering a Christ-centered education to more than 120,000 students. The famous Charles Dickens once referenced Mueller in an article he wrote called “Household Words” dated November 1857 in which he described his extraordinary work. In addition to the orphanage homes, Mueller traveled a total of 200,000 miles in the course of his missionary work and visited a total of 42 countries as an advocate for bible literacy. He paid for the printing of Bibles and tracts, eventually giving away 280,000 bibles, and funded tuition for hundreds of children to go to school. Relying on prayer as the primary function to fund ministerial care, he raised and gave away the equivalent of $129,000,000 in todays money, with only a small amount remaining for himself before he died. The trust funds established in his day continues to support missionaries around the world. Many accounts of God’s miraculous provision surrounding his life remain available today for further reading, in which Mueller offered nothing but prayer and trust to God for food to be provided for the children around him.</font></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong><span class="font-large">2) Amy Carmichael: Sheltering the Vulnerable</span></strong></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">Amy Carmichael was a missionary to India for 55 years, in which she focused on rescuing girls from temple prostitution. After departing to India she never returned home to Ireland. Carmichael founded the Dohnavur Fellowship In Tamil Nadu, South India, that became a sanctuary for over 1,000 children. The facility grew and came to include nurseries, education buildings, housing for boys and girls, a house of Prayer, and a hospital. Amy had a conviction against asking people for money, preferring to rely on prayer: “If we are about our Father’s business, He will take care of ours. There is no want in the fear of the Lord, and it needeth not to seek help”. According to Carmichael her ministry of rescuing temple children began in 1901 with a seven-year-old girl named Preena, who had become a temple servant prostitute against her wishes. Preena escaped and was provided shelter by Carmichael, withstanding threats of those who demanded that the girl be returned to the temple to continue her assignment as a prostitute. Previous escape attempts resulted in Preena’s hands being branded with a hot iron. This was a common cultural practice at that time in India as part of Hinduism, in which young children were sold to ‘marry’ the Brahmin temple priests. Similar incidents continued surrounding Carmichael which naturally established her ministry of rescue. The Dohnavur Fellowship, settled on 400 acres with 16 nurseries and a hospital, continues to this day which actively supports 500 people at any given time. Temple prostitution in India was eventually outlawed in 1948.</font></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong><span class="font-large">3) Saint Patrick: Slave, Shepherd, Missionary</span></strong></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">Nearly everyone in our modern world has heard of the legacy of Saint Patrick. Patrick was a fifth century Christian missionary that brought the message of Christ to Ireland, returning after being held captive there for six years. At the age of sixteen he was captured by Irish pirates and served as a slave and animal herder before escaping to unite with his family once again. In his written account </font><font size="3"><i>The Confession</i></font><font size="3"> detailing his mission work there, he credits his time in captivity as essential for his spiritual development, that God had mercy on him despite youthful ignorance and gave him the opportunity to be saved. It was his time working as a shepherd, a role so appropriate given the description of Christ as the Good Shepherd, that initiated his relationship with God through prayer. According to the primary source of his own account he baptized thousands of people in Ireland, refused to accept gifts from kings, and was put on trial at one point to await execution. We see this mirrored in the persecution of many other missionaries in the past as well as today. Patrick's attitude toward God made evident in his missionary work was his reliance and faith in God to provide for his sustenance coupled with a desire to share the Gospel with the very people whom had once enslaved him. Even while starving in the wilderness after sailing home from his captivity, its recorded in his work </font><font size="3"><i>Declaration</i></font><font size="3"> that after he had urged his party to have faith and prayed, they finally encountered animals to hunt. Such stands today of an example of what can be accomplished in a missionary carrying the forgiveness of Christ and the spirit of faith.</font></p>

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong><span class="font-large">4) Jackie Pullinger: Faith Against All Odds</span></strong></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">Jackie Pullinger was a missionary to Hong Kong and the infamous Kowloon Walled City, founding the St. Stephen’s Society, </font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">which provided </font></font></font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">rehabilitation</font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> homes for recovering drug addicts, prostitutes, and gang members.</font></font></font><font size="3"> </font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">The charity's work was eventually recognized by the </font></font></font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">Hong Kong government</font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> who donated land for the rehabilitation homes.</font></font></font><font size="3"> </font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">At the age of 22 she wrote to various missionary organizations and was unable to find support, then seeking advice from a minister named Richard Thomson. She at first desired to go to Africa, but then had a dream of being sent to </font></font></font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">Hong Kong</font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">.</font></font></font><font color="#202122"><sup><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">   </font></font></sup></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">She departed in 1966, however when she arrived she knew no one there and had only $10 in her possession.</font></font></font><font color="#202122"><sup><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> </font></font></sup></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> Immigration officers allowed her in only because her mother's </font></font></font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">godson</font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> was a </font></font></font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">police officer</font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> there.</font></font></font><font color="#202122"><sup><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">  </font></font></sup></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> Regarding her decision to go alone, she writes in her book </font></font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"><i>Chasing the Dragon</i></font></font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">: “Abraham was willing to leave his country and follow Jehovah to a promised land without knowing where he was going,” she argued. “In the same way thousands of years later Gladys Aylward journeyed in faith to China.” Within the </font></font></font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">Kowloon Walled City, known for its immense density of people, lack of policing,</font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> drug proliferation, and prostitution, she found work as a school teacher. Kowloon in the 1960s produced massive amounts of opium run by the Chinese Triad gangs. She went on to create a youth center helping addicts and also taught music at the </font></font></font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">St. Stephen's Girls' College</font></font><font color="#202122"><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">.</font></font></font><font size="3"> The tiny apartments in the city lacked even basic amenities such as running water. At first she struggled in her ministry and learning the language, however she directly credits the power of the Holy Spirit through speaking in tongues that enabled the Gospel to really take hold in its hearers. Over the years, as her influence grew, many former gang members and drug addicts came to be saved and saw their lives transformed. Many could not understand why she prayed for and loved them until she preached that Jesus died even for his enemies. Eventually the Kowloon Walled City would be demolished in 1993 but her legacy lives on with the St. Stephen’s Society and those lives who were transformed by the Gospel during that time. </font></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><strong><span class="font-large">5) John G. Lake: Faith to see God’s Power</span></strong></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">John G. Lake was a charismatic church leader, missionary, and evangelist in the Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century who went on to co-found the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa. Writing such books as </font><font size="3"><i>Heavenly Authority: the Right of the Believer</i></font><font size="3"> and </font><font size="3"><i>Divine Healing: A Gift From God</i></font><font size="3">, he advocated for a theology that expressed walking in the power and authority of Christ which included divine healing for the sick. He viewed disease as an enemy and physical healing as something Christ paid for at the Cross and whipping post. Lake played a pivotal role in the spread of Pentecostalism and the Gospel in South Africa. </font><font color="#0f1111"><font size="3">After five years he departed the African ministry, having raised up 1,000 preachers, 100,000 documented converts and many accounts of the miraculous. </font></font><font size="3">After his work in Africa, he ministered for 20 years along the west coast of the United States in dedication for praying for the sick and establishing churches. Along the way he taught many others to minister exampled in the way Christ ministered in the Gospels and to see the results of Christ’s power. These he referred to as Divine Healing Technicians. Lake was influenced by the healing ministry of John Alexander Dowie and his ministry lives on today with John G. Lake Ministries, pastored by Curry Blake. Many attest to experiencing the power of Christ today through his ministry in their lives with over 100,000 documented healings since 2003. JGLM went on to raising up small group homes across the world dedicated to praying for the sick and afflicted.</font></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3"><strong><span class="font-large">6)</span></strong> </font><strong><span class="font-large">Francis Xavier: Bringing the Gospel to Hostile Lands</span></strong></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">Francis Xavier was an evangelist, missionary, and co-founder of a group called the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. In 1534, he and six other men made a vow of poverty and chastity, dedicating their lives to preaching the Gospel. He soon became instrumental in Asia and the Portuguese Empire East of India . On his 35</font><sup><font size="3">th</font></sup><font size="3"> birthday he set sail for Goa on the West Coast of India. In India he showed compassion to prisoners and the sick, taught groups of children about Christ, and adopted the common lifestyle of the people in the region. Often he lived only on rice and water and slept in a hut with a dirt floor. Almost 40 churches were eventually built along the coast of India. Together with his fellow Jesuits he spent extensive time in Portugal caring for the sick and teaching. </font><font color="#2f222a"><font size="3">Among Xaviar’s missionary efforts he encountered opposition and persecution from both Hindus and Muslims. Muslims had initially expanded into India many years prior. In 1545 he proceeded to Malaysia before leading the very first mission to Japan in 1549. Before this he was also the first major missionary to journey into the Maluku Islands. </font></font><font color="#202122"><font size="3">Francis Xavier reached Japan on July 1549 and was given a friendly welcome by the Shimazu Takahisa, the daimyo of Satsuma, however the daimyo outlawed his people from converting to Christianity under penalty of execution the next year. Francis would spend years struggling to learn the difficult language and processing how to best connect with the Japanese leaders, bringing expensive and appealing gifts. Many Japanese placed their faith in Christ and underwent severe persecutions and massacres as Christianity was eventually completely outlawed in Japan, forcing the church to go underground. There was even a “stepping stone” test devised to “root out” Christians in which lines of people were forced to step on an image of Christ. When someone refused, that would be an indication they were a Christian and were summarily executed. These events would culminate in the Shimabara Rebellion. </font></font></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><strong><span class="font-large">7. Eric Lidell: Walking Away to Run the Race of Faith</span></strong></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font color="#000000"><font size="3">Known as the “Flying Scotsman” and featured in the movie Chariots of Fire, Lidell was an extremely talented Scottish Olympic-level athlete for most of his life. He competed for the Scottish International Rugby team and Scotland’s Olympic team. He became known for his uncompromising passion for God, choosing God as more important than running races and winning medals. He shocked the world when he refused to compete in a race held on Sunday during the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, sacrificing two gold medals by refusing to run. He regarded Sunday as truly a day of rest, holy unto God, and not be used for games. He had never run competitively on Sunday and continued to never do so. Going on to achieve great success, he collected wins in the Scottish Amateur Championships in the 100-meter, 220-meter, and quarter-mile running events, becoming known as the fastest runner in Scotland. At the peak of his success he walked away from it all to pursue becoming a missionary to China. He ministered there as a missionary teacher from 1925 to 1943 in&nbsp;Tianjin&nbsp;and the town of Xiaozhang, a very poor era that became dangerous due to the invasion of Japan in WWII. Additionally he taught at the&nbsp;Anglo-Chinese College&nbsp;for wealthy Chinese students. In 1941 Lidell said goodbye to his wife and children as they left for Canada, deciding to stay and continue God’s call for his life. In 1943 the Japanese eventually captured the mission station he resided at and was placed in the the&nbsp;Weihsien Internment Camp. Lidell naturally became a leader in the camp, continuing to do good works and assisting with morale in any way he could. This included helping the elderly, teaching bible classes, playing games, and teaching the children. It is recorded that one internee noticed his worn down sneakers and referred to him as “Jesus in running shoes.” Lidell became ill and died of an undiagnosed brain tumor at the camp, being buried in a simple grave in the camp marked only with a cross. As this was later discovered and his life and legacy became widely known, he forever stands as a testimony to what God can do with one wholly consecrated to him and willing to leave everything behind.</font></font></p>

<p style="margin-top: 0.08in; margin-bottom: 0.17in"><br />
&nbsp;</p>

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<br /><a href='https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/missionary-heros-7-great-missionaries-that-changed-the-world'>Mike Sonneveldt</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/missionary-heros-7-great-missionaries-that-changed-the-world'>...</a>]]></description>
      <link>https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/missionary-heros-7-great-missionaries-that-changed-the-world</link>
      <author>mike@theselfevidenttruth.com (Mike Sonneveldt)</author>
      <comments>https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/missionary-heros-7-great-missionaries-that-changed-the-world</comments>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 13 Dec 2023 18:55:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>The Shroud of Turin</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3"><b>Self Evident Apologetics- The Shroud of Turin: The “Photograph” of Jesus?</b></font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">What if I told you something exists akin to an actual photograph of Jesus? You would likely have great suspicion of that statement and expectedly assume this to be impossible. A precise image of Jesus during his time here on Earth? We know with God all things are possible, as our Lord himself stated. Met with enormous investigative intrigue, doubt from believers and non-believers alike, and confidence by those in awe of the experimental outcomes associated with it, we have the Shroud. More specifically referred to as the Shroud of Turin, due to being kept in Italy, it is an ancient linen cloth that appears to have been wrapped around a Man crucified, somehow capturing his image with extraordinary clarity. What better evidence could one ask for- an actual image of the Man in question at the scene of the act, proving the event of the Resurrection of Christ? In a court of law, this is conclusive, unlike an eye witness testimony (though there were hundreds of those who witnessed Christ after his resurrection.) If your skeptical, your already waving your hand against the whole thing. Of course, with today’s technology a mere photo can be faked within seconds using countless methods. For it to be fool-proof, the image would have to be produced in a way that would be impossible to reproduce with modern technology, and of course with primitive methods from a thousand years ago. This is what makes the Shroud so amazing- though it is an ancient artifact, to this day the image found on the Shroud has been impossible to recreate. Every method attempted has failed. </font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">The Shroud contains numerous fascinating, intriguing, and incredible complex features that make the artifact one-of-a-kind and unique in the world. Attempts to recreate the image of the Shroud and replicate all of its features remains completely elusive to this day among entire teams of world-class scientists. The claim of it being a “medieval forgery” seems absurd when considering the image cant even be reforged with modern technology and every attempt to do so has failed. This leaves one to consider the supernatural. These features are as follows: the image is a perfect photographic negative (something not done in photography until the 1800s) fully three-dimensional (allowing digital 3D facial reconstruction), only present on the outermost fringes of the shroud (containing no paint or pigments proven by X-ray fluorescence and infrared thermography tests), and contains blood wounds consistent with Roman crucifixion specific to the biblical account, including a crown of thorns (a wound unique to history), a pierced side, scourging, and nailed hands and feet. Analysis has shown it contains blood both shed alive from the one crucified and after death. A fascinating historical record of that of Robert de Clari, a 13</font><sup><font size="3">th</font></sup><font size="3"> century crusader, details seeing something that can only be described as the Shroud on display in Constantinople. Furthermore, the image is scorch-like as if burned onto linen, yet couldn’t have been created by heat because the images do not fluoresce. No paints, dyes, or inks have been found on the image and there are no brush strokes. Additionally, the outline contains no direction which would be impossible if it were a painting. (A few random particles of paint that don’t make up the image have been found on fibers due to the practice of many artists panting replicas throughout the Middle Ages. Upon completion they would press them upon the Shroud.)</font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">Contemporary research on the Shroud began in 1978 with a group of scientists labeled as the "Shroud of Turin Research Project" (STURP) whom concluded they did not know how the image was produced. They conducted ultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, microscopy, thermography, pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry, laser-microprobe Raman analyses, and microchemical testing. A brief summary of their findings can be covered here and show a fascinating level of microscopic complexity and detail (a full link to the original paper is posted below for the full reading). Some of their conclusions were: </font><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">the Shroud image was not made by pressing the cloth on a “heated based-relief”, and its color resides on the outer surface of the fibers with coloration depth being extremely thin. They were in fact found to be thinner than the wavelength of visible light, or less than about 0.6 micrometers. The process by which the Shroud’s shallow coloration image was created is completely unknown. As mentioned earlier, the image was found to have three-dimensional information of the body encoded in it. Amazingly so, analysis of the blood revealed “anatomical consistency” of its serum levels with the wound affliction, correctly containing bilirubin. To purposely create this consistency through forgery would require knowledge of anatomical and forensic medicine not known until the 19</font></font><sup><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3">th</font></font></sup><font face="Calibri, serif"><font size="3"> century. </font></font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">Much has been made of a carbon 14-test performed in 1988 of several fibers dating the shroud to the Middle Ages, though later it was found that the fibers in question were edge pieces likely inserted to repair the Shroud during the 16</font><sup><font size="3">th</font></sup><font size="3"> century. A paper published in Oxford University's Archaeometry by researchers describes the testing results as flawed because the shroud image itself was not analyzed- only the few edge fibers. This is consistent with statistical analysis form 2017 demonstrating a less than 1% chance of the fibers that were dated actually matching the Shroud. Skeptics tend to focus only on this singular dating event and refrain from discussing the image of the Shroud itself or any of the dating tests since performed. A dating test was conducted by Giulio Fanti of the University of Bologna involving the linen and in April of 2022, professor Liberato De Caro of the Institute of Crystallography used an X-ray dating method. Both of these placed the Shroud in the 1</font><sup><font size="3">st</font></sup><font size="3"> century. Lastly, the University of Padua has performed two chemical tests and one mechanical test dating the shroud to the 1st century AD; Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, as well as a test measuring several micro-mechanical characteristics of flax fibers. </font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">The shroud is so detailed and precise in its measurements that it was able to be used to create an exact physical representation of the man it covered following his crucifixion. “This statue is the three-dimensional representation in actual size of the Man of the Shroud, created following the precise measurements taken from the cloth in which the body of Christ was wrapped after the crucifixion,” explains Giulio Fanti, teacher of mechanical and thermal measurements at the University of Padua. His comments express his confidence that the Shroud’s extraordinary image is that of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Therefore, we believe that we finally have the precise image of what Jesus looked like on this earth. From now on, He may no longer be depicted without taking this work into account.” He goes on to describe the features of the Man in the image: “According to our studies, Jesus was a man of extraordinary beauty. Long-limbed, but very robust, he was nearly 5 ft. 11 in. tall, whereas the average height at the time was around 5 ft. 5 in. And he had a regal and majestic expression.” The Shroud having an exact three-dimensional image projected perfectly onto its body allowed even Fanti to count the number of wounds the Man had due to flagellation. “I counted 370 wounds from the flagellation, without taking into account the wounds on his sides, which the Shroud doesn’t show because it only enveloped the back and front of the body. We can therefore hypothesize a total of at least 600 blows.</font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">There may be one answer that science can provide as to how the image was formed that coincides with biblical descriptions of the power of God. A nuclear physicist at Duke University and Harvard by the name of Dr. Thomas Phillips has stated a “miliburst of radiation”, or what is described as a “neutron flux”, “could be consistent with the moment of resurrection”. Scientist Paolo Di Lazzaro with the Italian agency ENEA were finally able to reproduce a few square centimeters of the image using ultraviolet light radiation from extremely short laser bursts. They could not reproduce the whole image, not even close, because the level of ultraviolet light necessary “exceeds the maximum power released by all ultraviolet light sources available today.” It would require “intensities of several billion watts.” Again the question is presented forth: if the most advanced technologies available in the 21st century could not produce a copy of the shroud image how could it have been done by a medieval forger? These findings support the idea that the image on the Shroud was made by a sudden flash of high-energy radiation. </font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in">“<font size="3">The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.” -Isaiah 30:26</font></p>

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<p style="margin-top: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0.07in; line-height: 100%"><font size="3">“H</font><font size="3">e is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upolds the universe by the word of his power.” -</font><font size="3">Hebrews 1:3</font></p>

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<p style="margin-top: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0.07in; line-height: 100%">“<font size="3">God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” -1 John 1:5</font></p>

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<p style="margin-top: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0.07in; line-height: 100%">“<font size="3">Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” -Ephesians 5:14</font></p>

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<p style="margin-top: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0.07in; line-height: 100%">“<font size="3">And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” -Revelation 21:23</font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3">-Andrew Alleman</font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in; page-break-before: always"><a href="https://aleteia.org/2018/03/28/this-3d-carbon-copy-of-jesus-was-created-using-the-shroud-of-turin/"><font size="3">https://aleteia.org/2018/03/28/this-3d-carbon-copy-of-jesus-was-created-using-the-shroud-of-turin/</font></a></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3"><a href="https://www.therichest.com/rich-list/10-reasons-why-the-shroud-of-turin-is-so-difficult-to-dismiss">https://www.therichest.com/rich-list/10-reasons-why-the-shroud-of-turin-is-so-difficult-to-dismiss</a> </font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3"><a href="https://www2.cbn.com/news/news/precise-image-what-jesus-looked-3-d-replica-created-shroud-turin">https://www2.cbn.com/news/news/precise-image-what-jesus-looked-3-d-replica-created-shroud-turin</a> </font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><a href="https://www.eai.enea.it/component/jdownloads/?task=download.send&amp;id=938&amp;catid=42&amp;Itemid=101"><font size="3">https://www.eai.enea.it/component/jdownloads/?task=download.send&amp;id=938&amp;catid=42&amp;Itemid=101</font></a></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-07-shroud-turin.html"><font size="3">https://phys.org/news/2019-07-shroud-turin.html</font></a></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><a href="https://www.newgeology.us/presentation24.html"><font size="3">https://www.newgeology.us/presentation24.html</font></a></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/cosmic-log/was-holy-shroud-created-flash-italian-researchers-resurrect-claim-flna6C10402695">https://www.nbcnews.com/science/cosmic-log/was-holy-shroud-created-flash-italian-researchers-resurrect-claim-flna6C10402695</a> </font></p>

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<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in"><font size="3"><a href="https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2011/12/14/news/the-shroud-is-not-a-fake-1.36913560/">https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2011/12/14/news/the-shroud-is-not-a-fake-1.36913560/</a> </font></p>

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<br /><a href='https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/the-shroud-of-turin'>Mike Sonneveldt</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/the-shroud-of-turin'>...</a>]]></description>
      <link>https://theselfevidenttruth.net/blog/the-shroud-of-turin</link>
      <author>mike@theselfevidenttruth.com (Mike Sonneveldt)</author>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 04 Dec 2023 16:35:00 GMT</pubDate>
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