Blogging for the Persecuted Church

As you may have noticed there is a badge on my blog site stating that I blog for the persecuted church. This is an opportunity to share information from the Voice of the Martyrs ministry about the persecuted church around the world. The commitment that I have made is to write on the persecuted church at least twice a month in order to encourage other Christians to learn more about this often forgotten group of our brothers and sisters. You may wonder why I am choosing to do this. I am doing this in the hopes that others will want to learn more about those who are risking their lives, livelihood and families just for believing in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and to remind myself and others that we know nothing of true persecution in this country though it may well be coming. How willing are we to face losing our jobs, our homes, even our lives for believing in Christ and sharing that belief with others? I pray that my answer would be that I am willing to die for Christ. In this country where often times we may be told in church, on the radio or television that believing in Christ will make us wealthy, successful, without pain or disease if we just have enough faith, are we willing or even able to endure persecution, ridicule, loss of face, etc because of our belief in Christ and if we are not how real is our faith. I have been asking myself these questions for a long time and maybe this is one way I can put some feet to my faith. Christ never promised that we would not suffer and I pray that if it comes to having to suffer for my faith I would be as courageous as those such as Graham Staines and his sons in India who were burned alive for their faith in the Lord. If you are interested in more information on the persecuted church please see these two sites: http://www.persecution.com/ and http://www.persecutionblog.com/ and thanks for listening.