“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the Body also.” Hebrews 13:3
​
In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John was given a glimpse into Heaven. He sees the martyrs, and he hears their prayer. What are the martyrs who have died for Christ praying?

​The Martyr’s Prayer

“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘how long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” Revelations 6:9-11

Praying for Justice

Here we obtain a glimpse into Heaven. Those who had been faithful to God’s Word, and had been slain for the testimony that they had maintained, are in the very presence of God and they are praying: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Throughout the world I have come across many people who are praying for peace. However it is notable that the martyrs in Heaven are praying for justice.

And how does the Lord respond to these prayers? Does He rebuke them? No! Each of them is given a white robe signifying their right standing with Almighty God. They are told to be patient for a little while. When the full number of their fellow servants and brethren have died for Christ, their prayer for justice will be answered.

The Wrath of the Lamb

The rest of Revelations 6 illustrates that judgment: “And the kings of earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb! For the Day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17

If the World Hates You
The Lord Jesus warned us: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the Word that I said to you, ‘the servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” John 15:18-20

With Christians under fire throughout North Africa and the Middle East, we need to remember the persecuted and learn from their steadfastness amidst suffering. 25th July marks the anniversary of a dreadful atrocity in Cape Town, a terrorist attack on St. James Church of England, which left 11 people dead and over 50 wounded.

Sanctuary Desecrated
At about 7:30pm, on Sunday, 25th July 1993, while the congregation of 1,400 listened to a hymn of worship, a group of APLA terrorists burst into the church and opened fire with automatic weapons.

​Eye Witness Accounts
"I noticed the handle of the side door facing the congregation turn and then the doors were kicked open. A black man wearing some kind of overall was standing in the doorway. He was carrying an assault rifle. As he stepped forward he raised the rifle, cocked it and fired it on full automatic directly into the congregation."
 
Another eye-witness described it this way: "I saw this man kick open the door next to the stage and holding his rifle from the hip he opened up on us spraying bullets across a wide arc into the packed congregation. But before he even opened fire, two other black men who seemed to be wearing some olive green uniforms lobbed two hand grenades into the centre of the church."
 
"There was this trail of smoke from the grenades and a few puffs of smoke from the first shots fired. The grenades were still in the air when he started firing."
 
"As I dived under the pew for cover, I heard two grenades explode. I looked up and saw pews sticking up into the air. The firing went on for a while and then suddenly everything was quiet."

When War Comes to Your Neighbourhood
For many years Frontline Fellowship has taken the Gospel to the war zones. On Sunday, 25th July 1993, the war came to us. Our Mission headquarters was a few metres from St. James on the same road. Several of our workers were members and both my father and my brother were converted at St. James.
 
I had just been singing with my daughter, Andrea and was about to pray with her before putting her to bed when the phone rang. "It was the worst nightmare, Peter, St. James has been attacked by terrorists." As I sped to the church my mind reeled with the implications. I thought of my many friends there and prayed that they would be safe. Vivid memories of blood splattered churches and scenes of massacres in Angola and Mozambique flooded my mind.

Storm
As if in sympathy with the storm in many hearts, lightning flashed across the sky and the heavens wept in a blinding downpour of torrential rain. Above the roar of the rain, the air was filled with wailing sirens from convoys of ambulances, police vehicles and fire engines as they converged upon 3rd Avenue, Kenilworth. Flashing lights and flashing lightning lit up a scene of dazed survivors fleeing from the church, weeping churchgoers praying in the rain and frantic relatives searching for loved ones.

Shocking Scene
I was soaked as I stumbled into the church. The tiles in the foyer were smeared with blood. Inside the church, there were several bodies lying on the blood-stained carpets, or on shrapnel-scarred pews. Some wooden pews were overturned. There was a hole in the carpet where one grenade had exploded. Prayer books, music sheets, welcome cards and Bibles were strewn amongst the pools of blood. The ceiling was pockmarked with shrapnel.​

Emergency Workers
Rescue workers were working swiftly and efficiently. Some of the wounded were being cared for inside the church. Others were being carried out on stretchers to the waiting ambulances. A broken pew was used to transport one person. Pockets of Christians sat, or stood, holding hands and praying. The police moved swiftly, but with sensitivity, to clear the church sanctuary of all but emergency workers. Then they began to separate eye-witnesses for questioning.
 
I located several friends and then began to help serve tea to the shocked survivors. Only later, as I began to hear the different testimonies of those involved, did the full scale and horror of the attack strike me.​

Personal Testimonies
Mrs Marita Ackermann was shot in the chest at close range. She died about 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital. Marita had twice triumphed over cancer and she had helped start an outreach ministry to Khayelitsha and had also initiated an outreach ministry to Russian seamen passing through the harbour in Cape Town. Marita left behind her husband and three children, Braam, LiesI and Pierre. She was buried on her birthday.
 
Mr Lorenzo Smith had his wife Myrtle die in his arms. A piece of shrapnel had pierced her heart. They had been married for 21 years. She left behind her husband and her two children, Craig and Mandy, who were not hit in the attack.
 
Peter Gordon, who was wounded in the attack, saw his wife Denise murdered next to him. Denise left behind her husband and her little daughter, Sarah.​

Sacrifice
Seventeen-years-old, Richard O' Kill died instantly from a bullet through his head as he flung himself across two young friends, Lisa and Bonnie, to shield them from the line of fire.
 
Twenty-one-years-old Gerard Harker died instantly as he dived on top of one of the hand grenades, absorbing the full blast in his body to protect the lives of those around him.
 
A police spokesman praised the selfless action of Gerard and said that his act of sacrifice undoubtedly saved the lives of many others by absorbing most of the blast. Gerard's brother, 13-years-old Wesley, also died in the attack. They left behind their elder brother Shaun (23) and parents Dennis and Dawn Harker.
 
Four of the slain were Russian and Ukrainian sailors - Valentin Varaksa, Pavel Valujev, Andrey Kajl and Oleg Karamzin. Another victim was Guy Javens.

Crippled
Of those victims crippled in the attack, the most heart-rending situation is that of Ukrainian sailor Dimitri Makagon. Both his legs were ripped off when one grenade fell in his lap. His right arm had to be amputated and both his eardrums burst in the blast. Dimitri, who was 23-years-old, was earning money as a sailor in order to pay for his wedding upon his return. The St. James Church flew out his fiancée, Olga and started a fund for the victims of the massacre.
 
Wounded
A medical student, Gillian Schermbrucker, narrowly escaped death when a piece of shrapnel pierced her lung and an artery. Her feet were also badly damaged yet she still sang a hymn to comfort her friends as she lay bleeding on the church floor.
 
Murderous Tools
Several survivors expressed their amazement that more people had not been killed. Police investigators agreed. The M26 fragmentary hand grenades had nails attached to provide additional shrapnel. If Gerard had not covered the one grenade with his body more would have been killed. If another member of the congregation had not shot back, apparently wounding one of the terrorists, then many more would have been shot.

Shooting Back
After the grenades exploded, one of our missionaries, Charl van Wyk, returned fire with his 38 snub-nosed revolver. One bullet wounded the gunman who was firing into the congregation. The shooting stopped and the attackers immediately fled. Charl then pursued the terrorists into the parking lot and fired at their getaway car as it sped off into 3rd Avenue. When the police later recovered the terrorists' getaway car blood-stains indicated that at least one of the attackers was wounded.
 
Saving Lives
If one compares the St. James massacre with similar atrocities in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and Sudan - it becomes apparent that many more people would have died had Charl not fired back. An official Commendation by the Police Commissioner N.H. Acker, stated: "On 25 July 1993, Charl Adriaan Van Wyk endangered his own life in warding off the attack perpetrated on the St. James Congregation in Kenilworth. His action in pursuing the suspects on foot and returning fire prevented further loss of life. One of the suspects was wounded in the incident and was later arrested."
 
Why?
In numerous reports on the St. James massacre, the questions have been asked: Who could possibly want to attack a congregation of Christians worshipping in a church? What could anyone hope to accomplish through such senseless slaughter? To these questions Christians have added another: How should we as believers respond?

Christians Under Fire
When I saw the shocking carnage at St. James Church, it immediately brought similar bloody scenes flooding back into my mind. Over the last 38 years of missionary work, I have personally come across many similar atrocities, especially in Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sudan. In August 1983, Frelimo troops killed 5 pastors and burnt down all 5 churches in Maskito village, Zambezia province, Mozambique. In September 1983, Frelimo troops killed over 50 Christians and burnt a church down in Pasura village. At Chilleso Evangelical Church, in Angola, Cuban troops shot 150 Christians during a church service. At New Adams farm in Zimbabwe, 16 missionaries and their children were murdered in November 1987.
 
Churches Attacked
Over 5 years, between 2010 and 2015, Muslim mobs and Boko Haram terrorists bombed and burned down 1,000 churches, killing 17,000 Christians in Nigeria. In Sudan, hundreds of churches have been bombed and burned. Many hundreds of churches have been attacked in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea and all churches in Somalia were destroyed by 1993. One could continue to recount literally hundreds of similar atrocities against Christian churches, the fact is that churches have often been the target of Muslim extremists and Marxist terrorists.​

What Do Such Terrorists Aim to Accomplish?
In answer to the second question, as to what anyone could hope to accomplish through the attack at St. James, we must note that it is the aim of terrorists to instil fear in the hearts of their target community. To paralyse people into inactivity and non-resistance. To induce people to flee the country, or at least to be too afraid to fight back. An additional aim of terrorism is to provoke an unreasoned and extreme response, to provoke counter-terrorism, which would then be exploited for propaganda purposes.
 
The Aim of Persecution
The aim of persecution is not to kill Christians. Sending believers to meet their Lord in Heaven hardly achieves the purposes of evil. No, the aim of persecution is to shock Christians into fear and inactivity. To paralyse and neutralise the church. Only if one gives in to this fear and allows oneself to be intimidated into silence and compromise does the enemy achieve his objectives.

How Are We to Respond?
This should encourage us not to betray the Faith for which the martyrs have died. The only appropriate response to such massacres is for us to be faithful to Jesus Christ and His Word - The Bible. We dare not allow the fear of man to divert us from fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and we are to love our neighbour as ourselves… making disciples… teaching obedience to all things the Lord has commanded.
 
Political Exploitation
In this context, it is shameful that some sought to exploit such tragedies to enhance their own public image or to promote inter-faith services. As I wrote in the following letter to a Cape newspaper:
 
Hypocrisy
"It is hard for us to take politicians or Archbishop Tutu seriously when they so shamelessly milk tragedies like the St. James massacre for media coverage and to advance their political agenda. I find it offensive that certain priests and politicians have cynically exploited the Sunday massacre for their own political ends.
 
"With the ANC's abysmal human rights record of placing landmines in farm roads, car bombs in public streets and limpet mines in shopping centres and restaurants, they are the last people who have the right to condemn violence. The thousands of victims of ANC necklace murders, petrol bomb attacks, stonings and shootings and those dissidents tortured in ANC concentration camps bear eloquent testimony to the ANC's real position on violence.
 
"As for Tutu - how could he barge into St. James and lie to the policemen on duty, claiming that he was the head of the denomination, in order to gain access to the site of the massacre? Most people are not aware that the Church of England in South Africa (CESA) is an entirely separate denomination from Tutu's Church of the Province of SA (Anglican) denomination. Yet surely Tutu is aware that he is not the head of the CESA!
 
"For Tutu to have gained access for his media entourage to St. James by deception and then to have desecrated the sanctuary by turning it into a media circus to exploit this tragedy for his image overseas is despicable.
 
"Other political activists in the guise of the priesthood have suggested that we use this opportunity for a 'reconciliation' service. St. James is a fully multi-racial church that has opened its doors to all races at all times. Our church has an outreach to Khayelitsha and offers Bible studies in Xhosa on a weekly basis. We have always worked for reconciliation; first to God and then to man. St. James does not have to use this tragic event to prove our commitment to reconciliation.
 
"The Church of England in South Africa is an Evangelical denomination which holds to the Inerrancy of the Bible as God's perfect Word. CESA holds to the full Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and to His bodily Resurrection from the grave. We proclaim salvation by the Grace of God, through the Atonement of Christ, received by faith. For this reason, it would betray the martyrs who were killed on Sunday if we were to partake in an inter-faith service with those who reject this Gospel.
 
"The greatest tribute and memorial which we could erect in honour of the victims of the massacre would be for us to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible. May many more come to Christ in true faith and repentance."

Manipulation by High Profile Atrocities
I also noticed that every time the negotiation process stalled and reached a deadlock, some high profile atrocity occurred which was then used to accelerate the process of hurtling this country towards the transitional executive control which the socialist "liberation forces" so desired. Their expressions of outrage were hard to take seriously. Their actions, stained with the blood of thousands of innocent victims, spoke far louder than their words.
 
How Then Should We as Christians Respond?
Which brings us to the third question: How should we as believers respond? In any crisis, or tragedy, we need to turn to God and cast all our burdens and frustrations upon Him in prayer. We need to seek answers and guidance from studying the Word of God. Many survivors of similar atrocities have found tremendous comfort and strength through praying the Psalms.
 
At the mid-week service, three days after the massacre, the church was packed almost to its capacity. Bishop Frank Retief opened the service by reading Psalm 11: "In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: Flee like a bird to your mountain? For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy Temple; The Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence His soul hates. On the wicked He will rain fiery coals and burning sulphur; a scorching wind will be their lot. For the Lord is righteous. He loves justice; upright men will see His face."
 
Frank Retief said that many had commented on the calmness of the St. James congregation in the face of this tragedy. "While we are shocked, stunned, shattered, hurt and angry at the senselessness of what has happened, we also have a sense of peace."

Triumph Amidst Tragedy
At the Sunday evening service one week after the massacre, over 2,000 people packed the church and the overflow facilities. If the aim of the terrorists had been to terrify people into avoiding the church, they had clearly failed.
 
At that service, Rev. Frank Retief outlined a Biblical response to the tragedy, which I summarised as follows:
 

1. The world is not our home. We are pilgrims passing through. Do make a meaningful contribution to improving society, but don't get too caught up in materialism and personal ambitions. We won't live forever.
2. We must believe in a Day of Judgement. If evil is not finally punished then this world is meaningless. The wicked may seem to prosper for a time, but a just God will deal with sin. Only Christians have the spiritual resources to cope with such tragedy.
3. Life is uncertain. None of us know how long we will live. Spiritual apathy is dangerous. We need to be jolted awake.
4. There is a constant need to re-examine ourselves. Is your faith genuine or nominal? Watch out for temporary emotional motivation. Be done with empty words. Do away with frivolous things. Be serious about your faith. Get involved in the life of your church and in the lives of others.
5. Do not be ruled by fear. Our trust must be in God. We fear God and no one else.

Testimonies of Grace
As we learned to cope with the shock and sense of loss, many testimonies of God's grace and sovereignty began to surface:
The attack took place on St. James Day, the day when the Church commemorates the first martyrdom of an Apostle (Acts 12:2-3).
 
The attack took place five minutes after the children had left for a children's service in a separate venue.
 
The attackers had apparently wanted to burst through several doors simultaneously, but all the other doors were locked on that cold winter night.
 
Excerpts of the un-preached sermon of Rev. Ross Anderson were printed in local newspapers. One verse, in particular, stood out: "Jesus said to her, 'I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.'" John 11:25
 
One man testified that as he pushed his wife's head down, he felt a bullet whistle over the back of his hand and heard it slam into the wall behind.
 
Another husband pushed his wife flat seconds before a bullet smashed into the backrest against which she had been sitting.
 
One Ukrainian seaman, Demichev Vladimir testified of how Marita Ackermann had led him to Christ: "I have been a seaman for 28 years and never in this time have I met such warm and kind hearted people as Marita and Dawie Ackermann. I met Marita in October last year, my first time in Cape Town. Marita gave me some papers to read about our Lord. Before that, I was an atheist. Marita invited me and my crew to church and our attitudes changed as we began to read and discuss the Bible."
 
Just three weeks before the massacre 72 Russian and Ukrainian sailors had made public commitments to Christ.
 
Marita's favourite verse was Philippians 3:10: "I want to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death."
 
Other members of the Church have shared these testimonies: "Possessions and position are no longer important to us, these things last only for a short time."
 
"When we keep our mind on God, God keeps our mind at peace."
 
"God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
 
On the Order of Service bulletins handed out at the main funeral service on 29th July this passage was quoted: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers... will be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39
 
The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail
Frontline Fellowship's official letter of sympathy to St. James Church included the following message: "Jesus Christ is building His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You cannot destroy the Church by attacking buildings. The Church is not buildings, but people. People who love Jesus Christ. People who have a relationship with God as their Father. People who have been changed by the Holy Spirit. One cannot kill Christians by sending them to Heaven. Death for the Christian is not final. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life... I rejoice in the assurance that the great work which He has begun at St. James will not falter, or be distracted, from the Great Commission."
 
A Spiritual World War
Such traumatic experiences remind us of the reality of the spiritual war in which each of us is engaged. There is a life and death struggle between the Kingdom of God and the forces of satan. Outside of Christ, man is desperately wicked. "It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement." Hebrews 9:27. God is just and He will ultimately reward the faithful and punish the wicked.
 
We need to live our lives for the Glory of God, to the fullest.
 
"Only one life - it will soon be past - only what's done for Christ will last."
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
www.hmsschoolofchristianjournalism.org

You can listen to a radio interview on this subject, click here.
To view a presentation by Lt. Colonel Schalk Visagie on the Police Investigation of the St. James Massacre and arrest of the terrorists responsible, click here.
 
See also:
Security and Survival Handbook
In the Lion's Den for the World's Greatest Revolutionary
Faith and Firearms
Shooting Back – The Right and Duty of Self Defence book
Shooting Back DVD
Under Fire in South Africa book

April marks the anniversary of the launch of the systematic extermination of the Christian Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. The Jihad began with the arrest of 250 Christian leaders in Constantinople (what is today called Istanbul) and over 800 other Christian leaders throughout the empire, on 24 April 1915. Over 1.5 million Christians were slaughtered by Muslims in Turkey during 1915. Additionally, 750,000 Assyrian Christians and 950,000 Greek Orthodox Christians were murdered in the Ottoman Turkish Empire between 1915 and 1922. That amounts to over 3.5 million Christian victims of the Turkish Empire over just 7 years.

Corruption and Cruelty
The Ottoman Empire declined into corruption and degeneracy from the beginning. When Sultan Murad III died in AD 1595, his son Muhammad had his 19 brothers murdered to prevent them from claiming "his throne". He also had seven of his father's pregnant concubines sown into sacks and thrown into the river. Many of his nephews were incarcerated in "the cage". Sultan Ibrahim threw his grand Vizier into a cistern. One morning, after an orgy, Ibrahim had all 300 women of his harem put into sacks and thrown into the Bosporus. Only one survived by being picked up by a ship bound for France. When Ibrahim was finally assassinated, the Ottoman Empire was torn apart by more corruption, nepotism, inefficiency, misrule and power struggles.

A New Wave of Muslim Massacres
In the early 19th Century, after the Ottoman Empire suffered defeats at the hands of Russia and Austria and as the Greeks and Serbs mounted successful wars of national liberation, Sultan Mahmut II decided to massacre all the Janissaries (solders recruited forcefully from Christian families). The reforms and westernisation of state institutions was accompanied by escalating persecution of Christians. Despite the adopting of a Western style constitution in 1839, to placate the European powers, the last century of Ottoman rule witnessed the most thorough and complete destruction of Christian communities throughout the Middle East, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and the Balkans. In 1822, the entire population of the Island of Chios, tens of thousands of people, were massacred, or enslaved. In 1823, 8,750 Christians were slaughtered by the Turks at Missolonghi. Thousands of Assyrian Christians were murdered in the province of Mossul in 1850. It was such atrocities as these that led the Russians to demand the right to protect the Holy Places which were under Orthodox supervision, in the Middle East. ​

​Slaughter in Smyrna
Even as the Ottoman Empire crumbled and was replaced by the new Republic of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk the ancient city of Smyrna, with its 300,000 Christian population, was destroyed. The burning of Smyrna and the massacre of its Christian population marked the end of Greek civilisation in Asia Minor. On the eve of its destruction, Smyrna was a bustling port and a vibrant commercial centre. The seafront promenade was a popular tourist destination.

The Martyrdom of Chrysostomos
On 9 September 1922 the Turkish mob, organized and mobilized by the Turkish army under the command of Mustafa Kemal, attacked the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Chrysostomos. The mob ripped his eyes out and dragged him by the beard, bleeding though the streets, beating and kicking him. Every now and then, when he had the strength to do it, he would raise his right hand and bless his persecutors, repeating: "Father, forgive them." One Turk became so infuriated at this that he cut off the Metropolitan's hand with his sword. Father Chrysostomos was hacked to pieces by the angry mob. The burning of Smyrna began on 13 September. The inhabitants were trapped between the flames on the one side and the Turkish bayonets on the other. On 13 September 1922, the Turks burned Smyrna, the last Christian city in Asia, to the ground.

Remember the Persecuted
It is vital that we learn the lessons of History, stand up for religious freedom, speak out for freedom of conscience, expose the enemies of liberty and fight the good fight of Faith. All the darkness cannot put out the smallest light. We need to understand Islam and we need to Evangelise Muslims. Remember the persecuted. "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also." Hebrews 13:3

Learning from History
As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote: "If we do not know our own history, we will simply have to endure all the same mistakes, sacrifices and absurdities all over again."

"Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted… now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition…" 1 Corinthians 10:6-11

Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
​mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
www.hmsschoolofchristianjournalism.org
www.idop-africa.org
www.ReformationSA.org

To hear a radio interview on this subject, click here.

This article is adapted from a chapter in Dr. Peter Hammond's book Slavery, Terrorism and Islam – The Historic Roots and Contemporary Threat, which is available from Christian Liberty Books, PO Box 358, Howard Place 7450, Cape Town, South Africa,
tel: 021-689-7478, fax: 086-551-7490,
email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za,
website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za.

The 14 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted. Visit www.idop-africa.org for resources to mobilise prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ.

Listen to From the Frontline broadcast Urgent Prayer and Action for the Persecuted.
 
Refusing to Worship Caesar
Foxes Book of Martyrs records many testimonies of courageous Christians who suffered for the Faith. It is important to note that Christians were not persecuted in the Roman Empire for worshipping Jesus. The Romans were polytheists. They had an entire pantheon of gods. If the early Christians had registered their religion with the state and if they had burnt incense before an image of Caesar, they would have been left alone.

However, by refusing to participate in Emperor worship and declare "Caesar is lord" Christians came under suspicion and violent persecution. They were not persecuted because they worshipped Christ, but because they refused to revere Caesar.
 
Christian Courage
It is extraordinary to read these testimonies in Foxes Book of Martyrs of dynamic believers responding to persecution with joy.
 
Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch, when sentenced to death by the Emperor Trajan responded: "I thank Thee O Lord, that they has vouchsafed thus to honour me. I am God's grain, to be ground between the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become a holy loaf for the Lord."
 
Polycarp of Smyrna
When Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, was arrested he declared: "God's will be done!" He provided food for his captors before they escorted him before the Roman consul. The consul was struck by how old Polycarp was: "Pity your grey hairs, old man, just burn some incense before the Emperor and you can go free."
 
Polycarp responded: "If you think for a moment that I would do that, then you pretend not to know who I am. Hear it plainly, I am a Christian!"
 
"Then do this, old man, just curse Christ and I will set you free."
Polycarp responded: "86 years I have served my Christ and He has never done me any wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who has saved me."
 
"I have wild beasts" threatened the pro-consul.
 
"Bring them" Polycarp said. "I would change my mind if it meant from going from the worse to the better, but not from the right to the wrong."
 
"If you despise the wild beasts, I will have you burned, warned the consul."
 
"You threaten me with a fire that burns for but an hour and then is extinguished. But you know nothing of the fire of Eternal Judgment which will never be extinguished. Bring what you will."
 
As Polycarp was led into the arena he was heard to pray: "Lord God, Father of our blessed Saviour, I thank Thee that I have been deemed worthy to receive the crown of martyrdom and that I may die for Thee and Thy cause."
 
Cyprian of Carthage
Cyprian of Carthage, when sentenced to be beheaded, exclaimed: "Thanks be to God!"
 
Perpetua - Forever Faithful
Perpetua was a Christian noblewoman living in Carthage (North Africa). In A.D. 202 when Perpetua was a 22-year old mother, she was one of the first to be arrested in a new wave of persecution. When her pagan father visited and pleaded with her to deny that she was a Christian, Perpetua responded that it was impossible that she be "called anything other than what I am, a Christian."
 
When the governor ordered Perpetua to worship the emperor her response was decisive: "I will not."
 
"Are you a Christian then?" asked the governor.
 
"Yes I am!" Perpetua’s determined response brought immediate condemnation. The governor condemned her and her friends to be thrown to the wild beasts and to die in the arena.
 
When Perpetua and her friends entered the stadium they were singing Psalms in such a joyful demeanour that the crowd demanded that the Christians be scourged first. This was done.
 
As the mob screamed abuse, Perpetua was heard to say: "You have condemned us, but God will condemn you."
 
Perpetua encouraged the other Christians: "You must all stand fast in the Faith and not be weakened by what we have gone through."
 
Witnesses in the stands described Perpetua in the arena as "young and beautiful, a pure and modest Christian lady, with shining countenance and calm step, as the beloved of God, as a bride of Christ, putting down everyone stare by her own intense gaze."
 
Her bold testimony: "I am a Christian and cannot deny Christ" was repeated throughout the Empire. Her example of Christian resolve and Christian courage, choosing to suffer and die with a clear conscience, rather than deny her Saviour, inspired generations of Roman Christians to stand firm in the face of relentless persecution.
 
"Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life." Revelation 2:10
 
The Blood of the Martyrs
As Tertullian famously declared: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." For every Christian killed in the arena multitudes were converted in the stands.
 
Converting the Persecutors
In time the slaves of the Roman Empire were converted, the nobles of the Roman Empire were converted, the barbarian invaders were brought to Christ and even the bloodthirsty Viking invaders were won to Christ.
 
The Waldensians
The Waldensians of Southern France, Northern Italy and Switzerland endured much persecution between the 12th and the 17th Century, courageously standing firm and enduring as the oldest community of Protestants in the world today.
 
Wycliffe and the Lollards
Professor John Wycliffe of Oxford University and his itinerant evangelists (the Lollards), despite severe persecution, continued to translate the Scriptures into English and to proclaim and sing the Gospel in English in the market places. They were the field workers of the Reformation, sowing the good seed of the Word of God and laying solid foundations for the mighty move of God’s Spirit in the Reformation.
 
Jan Hus of Prague
Professor Jan Hus of Prague courageously worked for Biblical Reformation and was burned alive in 1415. His final prayer was: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. I am willing, patiently and publicly to endure this dreadful, shameful and cruel death for the sake of Thy Gospel and the preaching of Thy Word." He died signing praises to God.
 
William Tyndale
The Reformer William Tyndale of England was burned alive at the stake for the crime of translating the Bible into the English language. His last words, his dying prayer: "Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!" was wondrously answered as the very King, Henry VIII, who had condemned Tyndale for his work of Bible translation, within two years of Tyndale’s death, had authorised that same Bible in English to be placed in every parish in the land, accessible to the common people, in the common tongue.
 
George Whishart
Patrick Hamilton and George Whishart of Scotland were burned at the stake for preaching Biblical Reformation. George Whishart prayed an Imprecatory Prayer against the cardinal who had condemned them. Within three months that cardinal had met a violent death.
 
John Knox
Reformer John Knox of Scotland was imprisoned and chained as a slave in a galley for nineteen months. At one point he refused to kiss an idol of Mary. Throwing it overboard, he declared: "She is light enough, let her learn to swim!"
 
The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
The Huguenots of France endured vicious persecution and massacres, particularly the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 24 August 1572.
 
Condemning a Nation
At one point in the 16th Century the Spanish Inquisition condemned the entire nation of Holland (3 million men, women and children) to death as heretics! By God's grace and through the courage of Prince William the Silent and his followers, the Dutch succeeded in throwing back the Spanish invaders and winning freedom for Protestant Holland.
 
The Greatest Century of Persecution
You may be surprised to know that more Christians died for Christ in the 20th Century than in all previous 19 centuries combined. At least 42 million Christians were martyred in the 20th Century, mostly by atheists in secular communist governments.
 
Persecution Today
Over 400 million Christians live under 67 governments which restrict religious freedom and persecute believers. Every year an average of 200,000 Christians are killed for their Faith.
 
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the Body also." ​Hebrews 13:3
 
The Second Sunday in November is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Please mobilise your church, school, prayer fellowship, family and friends to focus on the Persecuted Church.
 
Click here for a 3 minute video: Remember the Persecuted, which you can share and show your friends, family, school and church, this week. You can also join the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted event on the Frontline Fellowship Facebook page. Please like, link and share it with your family and friends.
 
Visit the IDOP Africa website for news, articles and resources to educate and inform your congregation, school, colleagues, friends and family to pray for the persecuted.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond has served the persecuted Church for over 38 years. He is the author of Faith Under Fire in Sudan; Holocaust in Rwanda; In the Killing Fields of Mozambique and Slavery, Terrorism and Islam - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.frontlinemissionsa.org​

See also:
Sudan’s Former Dictator Omar Al-Bashir Goes on Trial
Floods in Sudan
Promising Prospects of Peace in the Nuba
South Sudan Celebrates 9th Anniversary of Successful Struggle for Secession
Sudan in Crisis at a Crossroads
Bibles and Books to Sudan with Love
Persecution in the Bible
Serving the Persecuted
Learning from the Persecuted
Praying for Justice

Click here for more articles on the Persecuted.

​The Purpose of these Prayers
And the purpose of these prayers for justice is declared: 

"Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules..." 59:13; 

"to proclaim the power of God" 68:34; 

"All kings will bow down to Him and all nations will serve Him" 72:11; 

"Who knows the power of Your anger? For Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due You." 90:11
 
The Mystery of the Missing Psalms
Yet despite the fact that 90 of the 150 Psalms include imprecations (prayers invoking God's righteous judgement upon the wicked) such prayers are rare in the average Western church. However, amongst the persecuted churches these prayers are much more common.
 
Praying Against the Persecutors
Amidst the burned out churches and devastation of Marxist Angola I found survivors of communist persecution - including the crippled and maimed and widows and orphans praying for God to strike down the wicked and remove the persecutors of the Church. I was initially shocked - yet it was Biblical (Even the martyrs in Heaven pray 

"How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 
​Revelation 6:10).

​/Avenging Angola’s Agony
The initiator of the communist persecution in Angola was Agostinho Neto. Described as a “drunken, psychotic, Marxist poet”, Neto had been installed by Cuban troops as the first dictator of Angola. He boasted that: “Within 20 years there won't be a Bible or a church left in Angola. I will have eradicated Christianity”. Yet despite the vicious wave of church burning and massacres, it is not Christianity that was eradicated in Angola but Agostinho Neto. Neto died in mysterious circumstances on an operating table in Moscow.

​Persecutors Judged in Romania
In Romania, I learned of a series of remarkable incidents recorded of God judging the persecutors of the Church in answer to prayer:
A communist official ordered a certain pastor to be arrested. Soon after that the official died of a heart attack.
Another communist party official ordered that all the Bibles in his district were to be collected and pulped, to be turned into toilet paper. This blasphemous project was in fact carried out. But shortly after that when the official was medically examined, he was informed that he had terminal cancer. He died shortly afterwards.
On another occasion, a communist official who had ordered a Baptist church to be demolished by bulldozers died in a car crash.
​
When an order was given to dismantle a place of worship on the mountainside in a forest, the workmen flatly refused to carry out the order. At gunpoint, a group of conscripted gypsies also refused to touch the church. In desperation, the communist police forced prisoners at bayonet-point to dismantle the structure. Yet the officer in charge pleaded with the local Christians to pray for him, that God would not judge him. He emphasised that he had nothing against Christians and was only obeying strict orders. The building was in fact reconstructed later and again used for worship. 

"They were all seized with fear and the Name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honour... in this way the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power." 
Acts 19:17,20

​Persecutor Executed
Nicolae Ceausescu the dictator who ordered much of the persecution in Romania was overthrown by his own army and executed on Christmas day, 1989, to joyous shouts of "anti-Christ is dead!" in the streets. Many testified that this was in answer to the fervent prayers on the longsuffering people of Romania.
 
Communist Persecution in Mozambique
Another persecutor of the Church who challenged God was Samora Machel, the first dictator of Marxist Mozambique. Samora Machel was a cannibal who ate human flesh in witchcraft ceremonies in the 1960s. He pledged his soul to satan and vowed that he would destroy the Church and turn Mozambique into “the first truly Marxist-Leninist state in Africa”. Thousands of churches in Mozambique were closed, confiscated, nationalised, chained and padlocked, burned down, or boarded up. Missionaries were expelled, some being imprisoned first. Evangelism was forbidden. Bibles were ceremonially burnt and tens of thousands of Christians, including many pastors and elders, were shipped off to concentration camps - most were never seen again.

​Sharpen Your Sword
If you have been guilty of dulling your sword, by neglecting or undermining these Psalms, repent of that sin, sharpen your sword anew and go forth to do battle in the Name and for the Glory of Jesus - until

​"the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the water cover the sea" Habakkuk 2:14.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
www.idop-africa.org
​
Visit www.idop-africa.org website, or click here for a 3-minute video: Remember the Persecuted, which you can share and show your friends, family, school and church, this week.

Dr. Peter Hammond has served the persecuted Church for over 38 years. He is the author of Faith Under Fire in Sudan; Holocaust in Rwanda; In the Killing Fields of Mozambique and Slavery, Terrorism and Islam - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.
 
Dr. Peter Hammonds books and an audio CD of the full message, that this article was adapted from and other resources for the persecuted, are available from: Christian Liberty Books, P.O. Box 358, Howard Place, 7450, Cape Town, South Africa, Tel: 021-689-7478, Fax: 086-551-7490, Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za, Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za
 
See also:
Invitation to Join the Largest Prayer Movement for the Persecuted
Persecution in the Bible
Persecution in History
Learning from the Persecuted
Serving the Persecuted
Sudan in Crisis at a Crossroads
Bibles for the Nuba Mountains
The Nuba Mountains for Christ
Mission to Sudan’s Nuba Mountains
Zimbabwe Celebrates as Mugabe Falls
 
Click here for more articles on the Persecuted.

14 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted.
To listen to a lecture on this article click here
​
Visit www.idop-africa.org for resources to mobilise prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ.
 
What Have You Learned?
The pastor under whom I was converted and discipled, Rev. Doc Watson, challenged me after my first cross-border Mission to Mozambique in 1982: "Many Missionaries tell us what they have done, I would be more interested to hear what they have learned." That profound challenge has continually guided me in over 36 years of ministering to the Persecuted Church.
 
Prayer and Partnership
There is so much that we can learn from the Persecuted Church. Yes, they need our prayers and support. We are commanded: "Remember the prisoners as if chained with the..." Hebrews 13:3 and "In as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matthew 25:40. But we also need to remember that these precious brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone through the fires of tribulation have much to teach us. 

Understand Islam to Evangelise Muslims
Slavery, Terrorism and Islam – The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat (290 pages, 200 pictures). No Frontline Fellowship publication has engendered more controversy and been in more demand worldwide than: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam – The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat. The first four editions, and six printings, sold out so fast that we are almost continually out of stock. The first edition earned me a Muslim death threat Fatwa and Amazon.com began offering second hand copies of the hard-to-find book for hundreds and then even thousands of Dollars! It was clear that we needed to reprint, but I was determined each time, to thoroughly revise, expand and produce better editions. The fourth edition of Slavery, Terrorism and Islam is now available – both in print and as an E-book (60,446 words, 41 pictures). This fourth edition is now three-times the size of the first edition and is one of our most successful publications, both in terms of educating and alerting Christians to the dangers of Islam and mobilising Christians to be effective in Evangelism of Muslims. It is our earnest prayer that the Lord will continue to use this book to alert Christians to the real threats, the urgent needs and the unprecedented opportunities before us, to reach Muslims with the Life Transforming Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mobilise Prayer and Action for the Persecuted
Over 400 million Christians live in 67 countries of the world which severely restrict, or persecute, believers. Please visit www.idop-africa.org and www.frontlinemission.org website for resources, information, Prayer posters and prayer requests for the persecuted.
 
"And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually." 1 Corinthians 12:26-27.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.frontlinemissionsa.org
​
​Resources for the persecuted, are available from: Christian Liberty Books P.O. Box 358 Howard Place 7450 Cape Town South Africa Tel: 021-689-7478, Fax: 086-551-7490, Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za. 

​See also:
Sudan’s Former Dictator Omar Al-Bashir Goes on Trial
Floods in Sudan
Promising Prospects of Peace in the Nuba
South Sudan Celebrates 9th Anniversary of Successful Struggle for Secession
Sudan in Crisis at a Crossroads
Bibles and Books to Sudan with Love
Invitation to Join the Largest Prayer Movement for the Persecuted
Persecution in the Bible
Persecution in History
Serving the Persecuted
Praying for Justice
Bibles for the Nuba Mountains
The Nuba Mountains for Christ
Mission to Sudan’s Nuba Mountains
Zimbabwe Celebrates as Mugabe Falls
 
Click here for more articles on the Persecuted.

Listen to From the Frontline broadcast: Urgent Prayer and Action for the Persecuted.

The 14 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted. Visit www.idop-africa.org for resources to mobilise prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ.
 
Praying for the Persecuted
In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John was given a glimpse into Heaven. He sees the martyrs and he hears their prayer. What are the martyrs who have died for Christ praying? 

The Martyr's Prayer
"When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 'how long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed." ​Revelation 6:9-11 

Praying for Justice
Here we obtain a glimpse into Heaven. Those who had been faithful to God's Word and had been slain for the testimony that they had maintained, are in the very presence of God and they are praying: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Throughout the world I have come across many people who are praying for peace. However it is notable that the martyrs in Heaven are praying for justice.
 
How does the Lord respond to these prayers? Does He rebuke them? No! Each of them is given a white robe signifying their right standing with Almighty God. They are told to be patient for a little while. When the full number of their fellow servants and brethren have died for Christ, their prayer for justice will be answered. 
 
The Wrath of the Lamb
The rest of Revelation 6 illustrates that judgment: ​"And the kings of earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb! For the Day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand?" Revelation 6:15-17 
 
If the World Hates You
The Lord Jesus warned us: "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the Word that I said to you, 'the servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." John 15:18-20 
 
The Sufferings of Paul
The Apostle Paul testified: "In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness - beside the other things which come upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches." 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 
 
The Suffering is Temporary
The Apostle Paul wrote: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18. The suffering is temporary - the glory is eternal. 
 
Following in His Steps
The Apostle Peter wrote: "For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His step" 1 Peter 2:20-21 
 
Will Suffer Persecution
"Yes and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." 2 Timothy 3:12 
The Scripture does not say some, nor does it say many, nor even most. "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." 
The Scripture does not say may, or could, suffer persecution. "Will suffer persecution..."  
 
Faithful Under Fire
If we are seeking to be faithful to our Lord Jesus, we will suffer some persecution for it? By God's grace, perhaps, not the violent and vicious persecution which Christians in communist and Muslim lands have suffered. However, if we remain faithful to the Lord, there will be times when we will be misunderstood, slandered, discriminated against, threatened and abused. Whether from family or friends, neighbours, or co-workers, whether at school, or at the work place, those who maintain a consistent testimony for the Lord are bound to suffer some abuse. 
 
Watch and Pray
When the Lord warned his disciples of coming persecution (Matthew 16:21-16; 26:31-35), they responded with disbelief. Because they did not believe Christ's warning, they did not "watch and pray." As a result, they denied the Lord and ran away (Matthew 26:40-46; 56; 60-75).
 
The Apostle Paul strengthened the disciples and encouraged them to remain true to the Faith by teaching: "We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God." Acts 14:22 
 
Rooted in the Word
Jesus taught that many believers would forsake Him (Matthew 24:9-10) when trouble or persecution comes because of their superficial commitment. Those with no roots in God's Word would fall away quickly (Matthew 13:21).
 
In response to the clear warnings of these Scriptures and in the light of the increasing hostility towards Christianity in so many circles, it would be wise for every Christian to study what the Word of God has to say about persecution. 
 
Victorious Faith
"And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death." Revelation 12:11
 
Christians can overcome satan by the Blood of Christ's Atonement and by the Word of God. Not only by the Word known and memorised in our hearts and minds, but by our living testimony, applying the Word of God to every area of life. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that we should not be afraid of those who can only kill the body and after that can do no more. The Lord told us whom we should fear. We must fear God, who after the killing of the body has power to throw both body and soul into hell, forever (Luke 12:4-5). 
 
Courage
It is this kind of courage that we see in the apostles in the Book of Acts. When Peter and John were dragged before the Sanhedrin they courageously responded: "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:19-20.
 
In response to the threats of the Sanhedrin, Peter and John gathered with the other disciples and prayed for the boldness to continue to proclaim God's Word: "Now Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word..." Acts 4:29
 
The Scripture records that "when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness."  Acts 4:31 
 
To Obey God or Man?
Then you read that the High Priest rose up with great indignation and arrested the apostles, casting them into prison. "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this Name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this Man's blood on us!" But Peter and the other apostles answered: "We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:28-29 
 
Suffering Shame for His Name
The Sanhedrin then had the Apostles flogged and commanded them not to speak in the Name of Jesus. We read that the Apostles left the council "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name. And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Acts 5:41-42 
 
The Steadfastness of Stephen
We then read of the martyrdom of Stephen who is described as "full of Faith and power" and who did great wonders and signs among the people (Acts 6:8). The people were stirred up against Stephen and false witnesses were produced. Stephen's courageous stand before the Sanhedrin is recorded in Acts 7: "You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of Whom you now have become the betrayers and the murderers, who have received the Law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." Acts 7:51-53 
 
Scattered by Persecution
We read that "a great persecution arose against the Church which was at Jerusalem; and they all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria... those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word." Acts 8:1-4 
 
The Martyrdom of James
In order to please the people, king Herod had James, the brother of John, beheaded. He then ordered the Apostle Peter to be arrested. However, God opened prison doors and set the captive free - in answer to prayer. God judged Herod. "An angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the Word of God grew and multiplied." Acts 12:23-24 
 
Power Amidst Persecution
Throughout the Book of Acts we see peace and power amidst persecution. Paul and Barnabas boldly proclaimed the Gospel and responded to persecution with joy. "But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." Acts 13:50-52 
 
Singing in the Cells
In Acts 16 we read of Paul and Silas seized and dragged before the authorities, "Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailor to keep them securely... he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing Hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:22-25 
 
Triumph Amidst Tribulation
Stripped and beaten, flogged and imprisoned, chained in the prison cells, Paul and Silas determined to praise God amidst their persecution. "Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed." Acts 16:26. By God's grace Paul and Silas were able to see their captor converted and his entire family brought to Salvation. 
 
The Testimony of the Apostles
Indeed, all of the Apostles suffered severe persecution for Christ:
Peter was crucified upside down in Rome after much outreach.
James the Elder was beheaded by Herod in Palestine after fearless preaching.
John, after a life of evangelism, was boiled in oil and banished in exile to Patmos.
Andrew was crucified in Greece while spreading the Gospel there.
Philip died as a martyr in Asia Minor after preaching the Gospel to the Gaul's.
Nathaniel preached the Gospel in India and Armenia before being flayed alive and beheaded.
Thomas established churches throughout Babylonia and India before being axed to death.
Matthew was burned to death while preaching the Gospel in Ethiopia.
James the younger was crucified while evangelising in Egypt.
Jude preached the Gospel throughout Syria and Persia where he was finally martyred.
Simon the Zealot preached the Word of God throughout Syria and Mesopotamia and was sawn in half in Persia.
Matthias was crucified on a missionary outreach in the Crimea (in what became Russia).
 
Tested by Fire
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your Faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour and glory at the Revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:6-7
 
8 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
 
Persecution Worldwide
Over 400 million Christians live under 67 governments which restrict religious freedom and persecute believers. Every year an average of 200,000 Christians are killed for their Faith.  
Click here for a 3 minute video: Remember the Persecuted for you to share and show your friends, family, congregation and school.
Click here to view the Missions to the Nuba Mountains of Sudan video (also available in German and French).
 
You can also join the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted event on the Frontline Fellowship Facebook page. Please like, link and share it with your family and friends. See www.idop-africa.org website for articles, news and resources to mobilise your church, prayer fellowship, or school, to pray for the persecuted.
 
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the Body also." Hebrews 13:3 
 
Dr. Peter Hammond has served the persecuted Church for over 38 years. He is the author of Faith Under Fire in Sudan; Holocaust in Rwanda; In the Killing Fields of Mozambique and Slavery, Terrorism and Islam - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.frontlinemissionsa.org

See also:
Sudan’s Former Dictator Omar Al-Bashir Goes on Trial
Floods in Sudan
Promising Prospects of Peace in the Nuba
South Sudan Celebrates 9th Anniversary of Successful Struggle for Secession
Sudan in Crisis at a Crossroads
Bibles and Books to Sudan with Love
70 Years of Communism in China
Mugabe’s Legacy in the Light of Eternity
Persecution in History
Serving the Persecuted
Learning from the Persecuted
Praying for Justice
Reign of Terror in Central African Republic
Bombing of Churches in Nigeria Intensifies
Christian Students Targeted in Nigeria
Christians Under Siege in Egypt
Jihad Against Christians in Nigeria
Why Does God Not Stop All the Suffering?
The Holocaust in Rwanda – 25 Years Later
​
An audio CD of the full message that this article was adapted from and other resources for the persecuted, are available from: Christian Liberty Books, P.O. Box 358 Howard Place 7450 Cape Town South Africa, Tel: 021-689-7478, Fax: 086-551-7490, Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za, Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za

To see the video on Serving the Persecuted, click here.
To listen to a lecture related to this article click here

​The 14 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted. Visit www.idop-africa.org for resources to mobilise prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ.

Listen to the latest From the Frontline broadcast – Urgent Prayer and Action for the Persecuted.
 
Serving the Persecuted
During more than 37 years of missionary work I have had the privilege of serving persecuted Churches in Mozambique, Angola, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Rwanda, Sudan, Northern Nigeria, the Congo and Zimbabwe. During this time I have endured aerial bombardments, ambushes, artillery and rocket barrages and I have been arrested and imprisoned for missionary work.
 
Speaking up for the Persecuted
Some of what Christians suffer in Marxist and Muslim lands has been documented in; Faith Under Fire in Sudan; Holocaust in Rwanda; In the Killing Fields of Mozambique and Slavery, Terrorism and Islam - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat and in documentary films that we have helped to produce such as: Sudan: The Hidden Holocaust and Terrorism and Persecution - Understanding Islamic Jihad and Behind Enemy Lines.

Angola's Agony
On numerous occasions, communist Cuban soldiers in Angola have placed the heads of cattle, or an AK47, on altars or pulpits demanding that the Christians commit idolatry and bow before them. They have walked into services and taken the Bible off the pulpit and thrown it by the door and demanded: “You may all leave - one by one - just spit on the Bible and you can go free. If you don't - we will kill you!”
 
Communist troops have burst into church services declaring: “You Christians - you say that you worship the Lamb - well here is a lamb!” The Cubans taunted the worshippers as they started pouring the blood of this lamb over the believers saying the blood of the lamb is shed amongst you - worship the lamb! The head of the lamb was placed mockingly on the pulpit and people were dragged and forced to their knees to bow down before it.
 
Christians who have escaped from communist concentrations camps and prisons have told how they were often tortured by the Marxists. One prisoner told me of a time in Angola when they were near breaking point and one of them shouted out: “Why don't you just kill us and get it over with?”
 
The response of the communist concentration camp guards was most enlightening: “Oh no, we don't want to kill you! We don't want to send you to Heaven to be with God! No, we want you to curse Christ and to come to hell with us, for all eternity!”
 
The Aim of Persecution
The aim of persecution is not to kill Christians. There is no victory to the kingdom of darkness for Christians to go to Heaven. The aim of persecution is to intimidate Christians into silence. To persuade believers to compromise. To terrify Christians, to giving in to cowardice. If the devil cannot stop us being converted, he at least wants to divert us and distract us so that we are not effective in fulfilling the Great Commission and winning other souls to Christ. As long as you refuse to be intimidated into silence, neutrality and compromise, persecution fails.
 
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? And what will a man give in exchange for his soul?'" Matthew 16:24-26
 
Sabrina Wurmbrand
The wife of Romanian Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, Sabrina Wurmbrand, testified that before she went to prison she was very poor. But once she went to prison she became very rich. This was because she was poor in the things of the world, but rich in the things of God. When she came to prison she had the only currency that was of any value, she had much of the Word of God memorised and stored up in her heart and mind. Therefore in prison she was able to make many people rich!
 
After years in the slave labour camps of Romania, Sabrina was finally released. Sometime later a man came to her claiming to have been in prison with her husband and having a message from him to share with their congregation. Knowing how the communist state sought to infiltrate congregations by infiltrating spies and blackmailing members into being informers, Sabrina was cautious. Please, before we go any further, would you lead us in prayer? She bowed her head.
 
There was an awkward silence and then the man, who claimed to have a message from her husband, stuttered and stammered. Sabrina Wurmbrand looked up and, gazing directly into the man's eyes, said: Now then, aren't you ashamed of yourself? Wouldn't you like me to explain to you how you can become a real Christian?
 
What can we do to help these persecuted believers?
 
To Prison with Praise
In 1987, while leading a Frontline mission team across the border, we were arrested. This was my first prison experience. We were stripped and beaten. Thrown into cells covered with human filth. Deprived of water and food, blindfolded and transported from Livingstone to Lusaka. There we were thrown into an overcrowded prison. The cells, which were 15 feet by 25 feet, were crammed with an average of 60 prisoners per cell. There were no beds, furnishings, plumbing, or electricity in these cells. The whole prison seemed to be one big stinking disease factory. With our shoes taken away, walking barefoot, with cut and bleeding feet, amongst this filth, we could only imagine how many infections and diseases God protected us from.
 
Falsely Accused
In our prison cell there was Isaiah Moyo, a 26-year old black South African, who had been imprisoned on trumped up charges of being a South African spy! Actually, he had lent money to some ANC refugees in Lusaka, who had decided, rather than repay him, to accuse him of being a spy!
 
Tortured
Isaiah had been severely tortured. He had 26 pussy sores on his body where red-hot pokers had been pushed into his skin. His knees were calloused from the many hours he spent kneeling on the concrete floor praying to the Lord.
 
When, by God's grace, international prayer and pressure forced the Zambian government to open the prison doors and let us free, I determined to campaign for the release of Isaiah Moyo.
 
Publicising the Plight of the Prisoners
American Christians that I met in Cape Town encouraged me to come overseas and testify of the reality of communist persecution in Africa. I received an invitation to speak at the International Society for Human Rights Conference in Frankfurt, Germany and used that as the launching pad for my first overseas ministry trip. This involved radio and TV ministry in the USA, testifying to government officials of the atrocities I had witnessed and documented in communist Mozambique and Angola and speaking on the BBC World Service.
 
Later I heard that prison wardens had rushed with their radios to Isaiah Moyo in Lusaka Central Prison shouting: Isaiah, that white South African missionary who was locked in here, he is speaking on the radio - and he is talking about you!
 
Isaiah heard the tail end of my interview as I gave people his prison address and requested people to send care packages, with salt, soap, sugar, vitamins, pens, pencils, paper, etc.
 
Isaiah told us later that from that time on he was never mistreated again. Mail sacks of letters and parcels were dragged into the cell. He became the most popular person in prison. He had so many trading items which everyone wanted. People couldn't do enough favours for him.
 
The BBC World Service radio programme had raised him to celebrity status in the prison. The prison guards treated him with great respect and soon he was set free and allowed to travel back to South Africa to be reunited with his wife and two children.
 
Publicity Provides Protection for the Persecuted
This was my first experience of seeing what an influence Western Christians can have through prayer and pressure. Publicity provides protection for the persecuted. As our Lord Jesus taught in Luke 18:1-5, even an unjust judge will do what is right, in response to persistent prayer and pressure.
 
As virtually every Marxist dictatorship in the world is a beneficiary of vast amounts of foreign aid from Western nations, this provides leverage. Most dictators prefer foreign aid to foreign prisoners. If given a choice, they will let the prisoners go free in order to continue to receive the Western dollars, pounds, or euros.
 
Setting Captives Free
Whatever we bind will be bound, whatever we loose will be loosed. By the power of prayer and through persistent pressure, we can see the powers of darkness limited, prison doors opened and captives set free.
 
Jesus said: "For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or imprisoned and come to You? And the King will answer and say unto them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these brethren, you did it to Me.'" Matthew 25:35-40
 
"And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ and members individually." 1 Corinthians 12:26-27
 
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the Body also." Hebrews 13:3
 
10 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. 
 
Click here for a new 3 minute video: Remember the Persecuted, which you can share and show your friends, family, school and church, this week.
 
You can also join the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted event on the Frontline Fellowship Facebook page. Please like, link and share it with your family and friends.
 
Visit www.Idop-Africa.org for resources and updates to help you mobilise prayer and action for the persecuted.
 
Over 400 million Christians live under 67 governments which severely restrict religious freedom and persecute believers. Every year an average of 200,000 Christians are killed for their Faith.
 
Visit the www.idop-africa.orgwebsite for articles, news, PowerPoints and videos, to mobilise your church, or school to pray for the persecuted.
 
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689-4480
Email: mission@frontline.org.za
Website: www.frontlinemissionsa.org

An audio CD of the full message from which this article derived and other resources for the persecuted, are available from: Christian Liberty Books P.O. Box 358 Howard Place 7450 Cape  Town South Africa Tel: 021-689-7478, Fax: 0861-551-7490, Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za
 
See also:
Invitation to Join the Largest Prayer Movement for the Persecuted
Persecution in the Bible
Persecution in History
Learning from the Persecuted
Praying for Justice
Bibles for the Nuba Mountains
The Nuba Mountains for Christ
Mission to Sudan’s Nuba Mountains
Zimbabwe Celebrates as Mugabe Falls
 
Click here for more articles on the Persecuted.
​

To listen to a lecture related to this article click here​

14 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted. Visit www.idop-africa.org for resources to mobilise prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ.
 
Serving the Persecuted
During more than 38 years of missionary work, I have had the privilege of serving persecuted Churches in Mozambique, Angola, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Rwanda, Sudan, Northern Nigeria, the Congo and Zimbabwe. During this time, I have endured aerial bombardments, ambushes, artillery and rocket barrages and I have been arrested and imprisoned for missionary work.

​​Speaking up for the Persecuted
Some of what Christians suffer in Marxist and Muslim lands has been documented in; Faith Under Fire in Sudan; Holocaust in Rwanda; In the Killing Fields of Mozambique; Going Through; Going On and Slavery, Terrorism and Islam - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat and in documentary films that we have helped to produce such as: Sudan: The Hidden Holocaust; Terrorism and Persecution - Understanding Islamic Jihad and Behind Enemy Lines and Mission to the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.

Over 400 million Christians live under 67 governments, which severely restrict religious freedom and persecute believers. Every year an average of 200,000 Christians are killed for their Faith.
 
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the Body also." Hebrews 13:3
 
Click here for a 3-minute video: Remember the Persecuted, which you can share and show your friends, family, school and church, this week.
Listen to From the Frontline broadcast – Urgent Prayer and Action for the Persecuted.
Listen to From the Frontline broadcast – Serving the Persecuted Church.
To see the video on Serving the Persecuted in Africa, click here.

See also:
Sudan’s Former Dictator Omar Al-Bashir Goes on Trial
Floods in Sudan
Promising Prospects of Peace in the Nuba
South Sudan Celebrates 9th Anniversary of Successful Struggle for Secession
Children in the War Zones
God at Work in the War Zones
Caring for Leaders in Sudan
Sudan in Crisis at a Crossroads
Bibles and Books to Sudan with Love
Persecution in the Bible
Persecution in History
Serving the Persecuted
Learning from the Persecuted
Praying for Justice
 
Click here for more articles on the Persecuted.