Optimism

Ivan S. Prokhanov was an evangelical preacher in Russia in the early part of this century. He was arrested at gunpoint. Several times he was put in prison.  During the Bolshevik reign of terror he nearly starved to death. One winter he nearly froze to death. He wrote a book, In the Cauldron of Russia.  The subtitle is "The Life of an Optimist in the Land of Pessimism." That describes the lives of many Christians who remember all that Jesus said about Joy and in spite of everything have that joy down in their hearts.

 

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J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.