Jesus Freaks Volume 1
I am currently reading Jesus Freaks by dc Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs. This has truly been an inspirational book, kind of a modern day Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
Here in the USA, being a Christian (or anything else, for that matter) is pretty easy. Sure, there are the usual things in the way - fear of what people think about us, politics as usual, debate over freedom of speech, abortion activism, and the list goes on. Now set those things out of your mind and think of this: an estimated 156,000 Christians were martyred in 1998, an estimated 164,000 will be martyred in 1999 (the publishing date of this book, so we’ll have to deal with those numbers for now). That is more martyrs in one year than all of the Roman Persecutions combined.
Think about this for a minute: You are taken away from your family and thrown in prison. Not just any prison mind you, not a “country club” atmosphere like what is provided in the “civilized” world. No. This is a prison where you might share an 8×8 cell with a dozen other inmates. Dirty, dark, cold, no room to lay down, no blankets, filth, grunge, and disease. You are taken out and beaten daily by the guards, told to renounce your faith. But still you pray for your captors and those that inflict the beatings on you. And not just when they aren’t looking, while you are in your dirty cell. You pray for them right in front of them, while they are beating you. Then, one day, they decide to stop beating you. They take you out in to the courtyard and say they’ve had enough. Renounce your faith or you will die. They put a gun to your head.
What would you do?
Would you continue to stand strong for your faith?
Would you continue to love and pray for your captors?
Since the free gift of salvation comes so easily for us in our country, it is pretty hard for us to fathom this type of scenario. But it continues all around the world today. This is an awe inspiring book, giving you a look into the lives of those that were not only martyred for their faith, but also did what Jesus asked of them right up to the end: Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Comments
Leave a Reply
![[Valid RSS]](/wp-images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
