Martyrs - Chuck Missler - khouse.org Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. - Hebrews 13:3 The persecution watch group Open Doors recently reported that 2,123 Christians were killed for their faith in 2013, with Syria alone claiming 1,213 of those lives lost. The number of martyrs is up from 1,201 in 2012, but Voice of the Martyrs believes the true number of Christian casualties in 2013 is much higher, closer to 8,000. The world holds an estimated 2.2 billion Christian worldwide, yet Christianity is persecuted in 111 different countries. According to Open Doors, North Korea was the cruelest, most destructive country persecuting Christians for another year in a row. An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people are held in North Koreas reeducation Communist death camps, suffering even as this article is written. A wide number of churches gathered together at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston on January 25th, where a crowd to over 500 gathered to pray and remember the many Christian martyrs of the past century. More Christians were martyred in the twentieth century than in all the other nineteen centuries combined, Archdiocese of Boston spokesman Terrence Donilon said. [The service] recognizes that many of our brothers and sisters around the world live not just under persecution for their Christian faith, but give their lives for it. The ecumenical service brought together representatives from a wide variety of denominations, including Protestant and Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, black and Evangelical churches, all interested in remembering and praying for fellow followers of Jesus Christ who have suffered and died in his name. Martyrs from around the world were honored at the service, with time spent remembering those in the Middle East, Asia and Oceania, the Americas, Africa and Europe. In Egypt alone last year, 70 churches were burned in one single day. A young man told the story of his brother, who had to escape Egypt when Muslims in the Egyptian Army began to thin all the non-Muslims from among them. Monica Gabriel, an Egyptian Coptic Christian living in the United States said, Any time we hear the news, it always strikes close to home just because there are so many little churches and its a small community. So, any time anything happens, we worry that we know someone there. Even if we dont, I mean, were all family. It affects us all. There are a wide variety of Christian organizations who reach out to the persecuted church around the world, who step in and look after the children and wives of pastors in prison, who distribute Bibles and offer Christian training, who provide boats for Christian fisherman when their livelihoods are taken from them or who offer blankets and shelter after villages are burned down. We need to continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, who dearly need the power and comfort and love of the Spirit of God in their lives as they live through prison and torture and cold and hunger. We also need to support organizations that reach out to these men and women and children. Open Doors, Voice of the Martyrs, International Christian Concern and others are there in the ditches, doing the solid work of love in the name of Christ, and we can be a part of the work they do through financial support and especially through prayer. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:35-39
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 21:47:18 +0000