Persecution Resources

On Sunday I preached on Matt 5:10-12, on the subject of persecution (you can listen here). It is of course a subject we naturally shy away from thinking or talking about, but must not be ignored. The more I looked into it, the more I realised that this subject is discussed right through the New Testament, but we can too easily skip over those verses as they don’t seem directly applicable to our less pressured situations.

As part of my preparation, I sought out a few books of stories of persecution and websites of current news. I thought I would share them here, first as a reminder to pray for our brothers and sisters who are suffering for their faith, and second as an encouragement to us to live with an eternal perspective.

Websites:

• Barnabas Fund
• The Voice of the Martyrs

Books:

• Jesus Freaks (Vol 1) – from Voice of the Martyrs, lots of short stories of persecution and quotes. A Foxe’s book of Martyrs for a new generation.
• Jesus Freaks (Vol 2) – More stories – More stories, more up to date
• Married to a Martyr (Jonathan Carswell & Joanna Wright) – the story Suzanne Geske, widow of one of three martyrs in Turkey
• Tortured for Christ – the story of Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand
• The Heavenly Man – the story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun

Do let me know in the comments if you know of any others worth looking at.