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:
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.
Easily the best one-stop resource is Ronald Boyd-Macmillan’s “Faith that Endures” – my review here.
I thought you preached really well Mark!
A great message Mark – you drew the short straw when it came to dishing out the beatitudes but did an excellent job of giving us a truly new testament perspective.
Another book for your list is Charlie Cleverly’s “The passion that shapes nations”. Worth reading.
thanks Steve & Chris, I wasn’t fishing for complements, honest!
I’d forgotten about Charlie Cleverly’s book. I haven’t read that one yet, although heard him give a few talks based on the content of the book.