Photo courtesy of The Heritage Project, International Media Ministries
International (MNN) – When looking at the state of the world today, it may be tempting to think there has never been a worse time to live. However, Denise Godwin of International Media Ministries says we can be encouraged today by stories from the early Church.
“As we dig into these historic stories, and even as you dig and learn more about the stories in the Bible, and what the cultures were surrounding them, we find out that what we see today has happened before,” says Godwin.
IMM shares powerful stories of early Christian leaders from North Africa in a docudrama series called The Heritage Project. All leaders featured in the series lived in North Africa before Islam became the majority religion. English speakers can watch the series under the title Lost Legacy Reclaimed on Redeem TV. Godwin adds,
“We know that God can use these stories that are lost in the current day culture, to awaken faith, as he has in other parts of the world, as he has in our own hearts.”
According to Ecclesiastes 1:9, “There is nothing new under the sun.” The team of IMM has seen this truth while producing media about biblical stories and church history. Godwin says Christians in the first five centuries faced similar challenges to today’s issues and saw God’s faithfulness.
Leaders such as Augustine stood against heresies that claimed Jesus wasn’t fully God and fully man. Today, Mormons and Muslims are among the many that deny the divinity of Jesus.
Other issues of identity Godwin notes in history are gender and sexuality. She says, “We see different seasons in the Word of God, as well as in history, where the idols of different kinds of sexuality have been followed. And the more you dig into history, the more you see parallels to our own time, with the different discussions of sexuality. We just don’t sacrifice to the gods with that anymore, but the descriptions are fairly similar.”
Yet, history also shows that God again and again saves and redeems those lost in darkness.
“We think we’re unique, we think we’re living in the most extraordinary time. But if you have time to dig into some of the historical data surrounding biblical stories, it’s pretty incredible how God let humanity go, but then he wakes them up and says, ‘You know, there’s a better way,’” says Godwin.
“I think it’s important right now for Christians to recognize that God is at work in spite of the strange times we may live in.”
Pray for The Heritage Project series to introduce more viewers to Jesus and encourage believers persecuted for their faith.
Godwin says, “We have brothers and sisters all over the world that are standing firm in their identity in Jesus Christ.”
Just as early Christian leaders persevered through turbulent times, so can we today. Watch their stories in The Heritage Project series Lost Legacy Reclaimed on Redeem TV.
“What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1:9
Header photo courtesy of International Media Ministries.
