Christian Martyrs – Then & Now

Our Journey of Prayer Begins

Persecution in the 20

th

Century

More Christians have been martyred in the past 100 years than in all prior 1900 years combined. And the persecution of Christians is growing. Today more Christians are persecuted for their faith than ever.

Persecution in the 20

th

Century

Persecution in the 20

th

Century

In 2012, Open Doors, a non-denominational ministry that monitors the persecution of believers and supports persecuted Christians worldwide, documented the martyrdom of more than 1,200 Christians. In 2013, there were more than that martyred just in Syria, where even the United States & European governments and Sunni Arab dictators — have been arming and funding jihadist rebel groups.

The number of Christians murdered for their faith almost doubled in 2013 over the previous year, according to an annual survey by Open Doors. Hardline Islamist regimes and Islamic terrorists were behind most of the slaughter. However, for the 12th year in a row, the barbaric communist autocracy of North Korea was ranked as the number one persecutor of Christians in the world.

Overall, the report documented 2,123 murders of Christians for their faith in 2013.

Persecution in the 20

th

Century

Christian persecution reached historic levels in 2014!

And 2015 is on record to surpass 2014!

ARE YOU SURPRISED?

An estimated 100 million believers in Christ, meanwhile, still suffer from ruthless persecution around the globe, Open Doors found. Among other atrocities carried out against Christians for their faith: imprisonment, torture, rape, execution, expulsion, forced labor, and more. Christians are persecuted in more than 65 countries around the world, with the vast majority in Asia and Africa — and especially in the Middle East, where Islamist rulers often purport to make faith in Christ a crime.

The surge in anti-Christian attacks was most extreme in Syria, as anti Christian jihadist marauders continue to flood in from around the world to fight in the internationally fueled war against the Assad regime.

2015 World Watch List – The Top 50 Persecutors

North Korea

Self-styled god-man Kim Jong-un in North Korea and his dictatorship, though, topped the list again.

According to Open Doors and other organizations, the tyrant in North Korea is conservatively believed to have between 50,000 and 70,000 people imprisoned in his gulags, where there are comparisons to the National Socialist (Nazi) concentration camps in Germany. The real numbers are likely far higher. Unique in the world, however, is the fact that North Koreans sent to the barbaric camps often do not go alone. Instead, their descendants can be imprisoned as well.

Islamic Extremism

Open Doors found that the most severe persecution is concentrated in the Middle East. “Overwhelmingly, the main engine driving persecution of Christians in 36 of the top 50 countries is Islamic extremism,” the organization said in a statement announcing its findings. At the top of the list, for example, are Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the Maldives, Pakistan, Iran, and Yemen — all Islamic countries where Christians are harshly persecuted for their faith.

Christianity in Iraq is on the verge of extinction after two millennia in the nation following the U.S. “regime change” operation. Estimates suggest that under the regime of deposed strongman Saddam Hussein — despite his barbaric rule, minorities such as Christians were largely protected from Islamist violence — there were as many as 1.5 million Iraqi Christians. Over the last decade, however, facing ruthless persecution, more recent estimates suggest the number is now closer to 200,000. Many of the remaining Christians would leave if they could.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree”

Much of the Iraqi Christian community fled to neighboring Syria, where the brutal Assad regime also protected Christians. Since the United States -backed Sunni Islamic uprising, however, Christians have been targeted in what many experts even call “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.” As jihadist rebels took over wide swaths of the nation last year, the Christian minority — about 10 percent of the population — has suffered under an increasingly brutal campaign of persecution, murder, torture, rape, and more. Thousands have been martyred already, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes.

The situation is reaching crisis levels: Christianity faces possible extinction in the Middle East and persecution is growing at alarming rates in Asia and Africa. In all, a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report found that Christianity faces restrictions and hostility in more than 110 countries — far more than half of the nations in the world.

Are We Approaching End Times?

In fact, some of the worst persecutors of Christians are actually top U.S. government allies, such as the dictatorship ruling Saudi Arabia. Others, in addition to being allies, are also top recipients of foreign aid — the government of Pakistan, for example, or Afghanistan. In the Ivory Coast, meanwhile, the United States and the United Nations helped overthrow the Christian president and replaced him with a Muslim central banker whose militias slaughtered countless innocent Christians on the path to seizing power.

Some German politicians and human rights groups criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for saying this at a Protestant Church conference there, saying it was pointless to try to rank religions according to how persecuted they were.

The nations of the world are turning against Israel and anti-Semitism is on the rise, especially in Europe.

Rev. Franklin Graham has stated "We used to be 'one nation under God,' now we're a nation that has turned it back on God. History shows that when nations do this, their end is near,".

Matthew 28 – Signs of the End of the Age

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the 9 beginning of birth pains.

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Pastor Mohan Babu

TESTIMONY

- On April 25, Pastor Mohan Babu and two other believers were severely beaten by 35 Hindu extremists for holding a Vacation Bible School (VBS) near Bangalore City, in Karnataka State. According to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts in India, the three-day VBS was organized by Ragigudda Baptist Church. VOM sources said, "Around 60 children from different backgrounds were attending the VBS. As they were worshiping, about 35 people belonging to a Hindu extremist group forcefully entered the hut chanting slogans and demolished the hut. The extremists mercilessly beat Mohan, Samuel and Krishna, alleging forceful conversion. The perpetrators chased the children without any courtesy and tore the Bibles. Mohan was severely injured on his lips and was profusely bleeding. The believers are living in fear and did not lodge complaint with the police." Pray for healing for all those injured in this attack. Pray they forgive their attackers and for the children who were attending VBS to continue growing in their faith despite the attack.

Pastor Florescu

TESTIMONY:

Pastor Florescu couldn't bear to watch his son being beaten by the Communist officers. He had already been beaten himself, and he had not slept for two weeks for fear of being attacked by the starving rats the Communists had forced into his prison cell. The Romanian police wanted Florescu to give up other members of his underground church so that they, too, could be captured.

Seeing that the beatings and torture weren't working, the Communists brought in Florescu's son Alexander, only fourteen years old, and began to beat the boy. While Florescu watched, they hammered his son's body unmercifully, telling the pastor that they would beat his son to death unless he told them the locations of other believers. Finally, half mad, Florescu screamed for them to stop. "Alexander, I must say what they want!" he called out to his son. "I can't bear your beatings anymore.“ His body bruised, blood running from his nose and mouth, Alexander looked his father in the eye. "Father, don't do me the injustice of having a traitor as a parent. Stand strong! If they kill me, I will die with the word Jesus on my lips." The boy's courage enraged the Communist guards, and they beat him to death as his father watched. Not only did he hold on to his faith, he helped his father do the same.

Pastor Abedini

TESTIMONY:

Saeed Abedini, a 34-year-old Pastor, father, and husband from Idaho, is currently imprisoned in an Iranian prison. On 28 July 2012, during a visit to Tehran to visit family and to finalize plans for an orphanage he was building in Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard detained Saeed, asserting that he must face criminal charges for his Christian faith. After intense interrogations, Saeed was placed under house arrest and told to wait for a court summons. After four days the Revolutionary Guard informed the family that Saeed was in solitary confinement in the notorious Evin Prison. Saeed had been denied medical treatment for infections that resulted from beatings. While in Evin, the ward doctor and nurse refused to treat him because, as a Christian, he was considered “unclean” and an infidel.

In early 2013, it became known that Saeed was suffering from internal injuries and doctors determined that his injuries warranted immediate attention, and, in their medical opinion, he needed to be treated in a non-prison hospital. For almost a year, the Iranian regime ignored this advice.

21 Keys of Advice on How Believers Are to Overcome: Suffering, Trials, Tests, & Adversity

1. Trust the Lord Completely, Not in Human Wisdom —No Matter What Size Storm (Prov 3:5-8) 2. Sing Praise to the Lord & Give Your Worries & Cares to Jesus (Psalm 51:8-15) 3. Let God's Word Dominate Your Thoughts — Cast Down & Hold Captive All Thoughts that are Contrary to God's Word (2 Cor 10:3-6) 4. God is More Concerned About Your Eternal Soul Than Your Temporal Earthly Happiness (Matt 10:28) 5. The Greater 'God's Word' is Inside You, The Smaller the Trial Will Seem on the Outside (1 John 4:4) 6. Resist the Devil & he Will Flee - Quote God's Word - Like Jesus Did!

(James 4:4-10) 7. God Might Be Testing What is in Your Heart by Appearing to Withdraw From You (2 Chron 32:31)

21 Keys of Advice on How Believers Are to Overcome: Suffering, Trials, Tests, & Adversity

8. Allow The Lord To Prune & Weed Your Life - Stripping You Of The Old Nature (Heb 12:1) 9. Stay Humble (1 Pet 5:6-10) 10. Pray Hard for God's Will to be Done (Matt 26:39) 11. Stay Alert & Watch Out for Satan's Attacks and Strategies (1 Pet 5:8) 12. Be Praying at All Times in the Power of the Holy Spirit (Eph 6:18) 13. Put On All of God's Armor - And Keep It On (Eph. 6:10-20) 14. Stand Firm, Be Strong In Faith & In God's Word Alone (Joshua 1:9) 15. God Knows What It Takes for You to Receive a Greater Eternal Reward (Gal 2:20) 16. God Desires To Comfort You & Heal Your Broken Heart (2 Cor 1:3-11)

21 Keys of Advice on How Believers Are to Overcome: Suffering, Trials, Tests, & Adversity

17. Remember to Keep Producing Good Fruit for Jesus (John 15:5-8) 18. Don't Be Double Minded, Ask the Lord for Wisdom, & Trust Him for the Answer (James 1:2-8) 19. Remember: Trials Can Get Worse Before They Get Better Praise Him Anyway - God Has a Plan (Exod 5:1-23) 20. Greater is Jesus Who Lives in You, Than He That Is Of This World (1 John 4:4) 21. Remember: God Is Testing You to Find Out What is in Your Heart (Deut 8:2-20)