Do you know?

[kestrel]

As you sit there, browsing the forums, and perhaps coresponding with friends or family by e-mail, do you know how many people are dying for their faith in Christ? When you're eating a food you don't care too much for just because it's there, do you know how many Christians are starving to death? When you're lounging on your favorite chair, reading or perhaps watching TV, how many Christians are screaming and writhing in agony? Can you in good conscience answer?

I can't.

Just something to remember...

Pray for the persecuted.

[Willowbirch]

From a radio sermon (not sure if the statistics are exact)...

250,000 Christians will be persecuted this year.

160,000 will be martyred for their faith.

Every day, an average of 700 people will face imprisonment, torture, the loss of friends and family, and other forms of cruelty. Many are given a choice, whether to give up Jesus or face persecution. Their secret church meetings are spied on and "busted". Their pastors are arrested.

Every day, and average of 450 are murdered for Jesus.

These statistics are based on reported cases, and does not include secret persecution.

A hymn from a Chinese church, translated into English:

From the time the early church appeared on the day of Pentecost,
the followers of the Lord all willingly sacrificed themselves.
Tens of thousands have sacrificed their lives that the Gospel might prosper.
As such they have obtained the crown of life.
Those apostles who loved the Lord to the end,
Willingly followed the Lord down the path of suffering.

[several verses describing the death of the apostles]

Chorus: To be a martyr for the Lord, to be a martyr for the Lord,
I am willing to die gloriously for the Lord.

These Chinese Christians live in the face of persecution, and their churches are full of such songs. They are always ready to lay down their lives for the One they love, Jesus. They know what price they may have to pay, and consider it worth the prize.

Lord, we have so few enemies in power in America right now; our lives are not sought after by the government, or radicals who's actions are approved by the authorities. Help us to grow and be strong in You, that when the day may come that we face the trials so many of our brothers and sisters have faced, we might also be full of Your Spirit, and be willing to "die gloriously" rather than reject Jesus. Don't let us forget about the Suffering Church, or become too comfortable with the freedoms we have. Let us never water down Your truth in us, since it is the very thing that so many have counted their lives as worthless for. Forgive me, Lord, for I am so often willing to ignore the soldiers on Your battlefield.

[Symphony]

Yes, I pray for His wonderful peace and strength to stand in that Day...


     

[kestrel]

Amen! That's pretty cool, Willowbirch! Thanks for sharing!

And amen to you, too, Symphony!








These are some cool links I found pertaining to this subject... I haven't searched them in depth, so I'm not completely sure about all of them, but the first one seems really good...

http://www.persecution.com/

http://www.assistnews.net

http://www.gospelcom.net/epa/

http://www.nrb.org

http://www.csoa.org

Check 'em out!

[Whitehorse]

Voice of the Martyrs offers books with the names and addresses of Christians in prison, so you can write to the persecuted saints around the world. While the often do not receive the letters, it often wins them better treatment and early relsease, because it makes it known to the guards and the government, both, that the international community has a name and address-they know the personal, private business of those who persecute Christians.

Thanks for pointing this out, nX.

[Tibby]

How do they get this info? Does the Chinese Government have a score sheet or something? Just a thought... It just seems to me, from the description of how they are persecuted, it would be hard to get hard facts out about such things.  

[ebia]

How do they get this info? Does the Chinese Government have a score sheet or something? Just a thought... It just seems to me, from the description of how they are persecuted, it would be hard to get hard facts out about such things.  

I dare say information on individual cases sneaks out, but you're right that the statistics have to be made up.  No-one knows how much of different crops are grown in China (information the Chinese govenment has no reason to hide and might even be proud of), so the chance of having accurate information on something the goverment wants to hide is vanishingly small.

[Whitehorse]

How do they get this info? Does the Chinese Government have a score sheet or something? Just a thought... It just seems to me, from the description of how they are persecuted, it would be hard to get hard facts out about such things.  

The organization was started by a Romanian martyr, Richard Wurmbrand, who actually died recently. He had spent 13 years in a communitst underground prison. Anyway, the organization works closely with the Christian Communities in China and other countries, because it offers supplies and aid, schools, funding, etc. They keep in contact with lawyers representing the Christians, etc.

[sincereheart]

I dare say information on individual cases sneaks out, but you're right that the statistics have to be made up.

You ARE doubting the validity of the statistics and not the reality of persecution, right?  


It always amazes me to read that the more persecution there is, the stronger the Body becomes.....

As you sit there, browsing the forums, and perhaps coresponding with friends or family by e-mail, do you know how many people are dying for their faith in Christ? When you're eating a food you don't care too much for just because it's there, do you know how many Christians are starving to death? When you're lounging on your favorite chair, reading or perhaps watching TV, how many Christians are screaming and writhing in agony? Can you in good conscience answer?

I can't.

Just something to remember...


  I felt that sledgehammer!  

[sincereheart]

from Love Worth Finding:
BIBLE MEDITATION: “And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10:22

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Have you ever read God’s hall of fame in Hebrews 11? These men and women of faith did miraculous things. “Who through faith subdued kingdoms.” Hallelujah! “Wrought righteousness.” Praise the Lord! “Obtained promises.” Amen! “Stopped the mouths of lions.” Glory! And how did they do it? Faith. “And others [men and women of faith] had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder...” (Hebrews 11:36-37). “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise” (Hebrews 11:39). Some had faith to escape; others had faith to endure. If it is God’s will for you, faith to endure may be the kind of faith God wants you to have. Will God be enough if He lets you go into the fiery furnace?

ACTION POINT: Read Hebrews 11.
http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Hebrews+11&KJV_version=yes&language=english&x=10&y=11

[Symphony]

...lawyers representing the Christians..



   Huh?


     

[NateyCakes]

Amen! Amen! Great Post

How we need to pray for the lost & Unsaved!

[sincereheart]

And it won't be long till we start seeing it in the US. Especially once homosexual marriages are legalized. Then if a Preacher/Pastor refuses to marry someone, he'll be breaking the law!  

Yes, we should pray for those going through so much. And we should pray for a country that's full of complacent Christians!  

[Tibby]

I really don’t know about that. I think we are going to see a great returning in the next generation. Even if we don’t, I don’t think there is going to be an Ancient Roman style persecution of Christians in America.

[sincereheart]

True freedom is to share
All the chains our brothers wear,
And, with heart and hand, to be
Earnest to make others free!

- James Russell Lowell