Jesus Freaks: Martyrs

Yet another book done. This is book #53 on my list, but only the fourth book I've finished completely. :) Just gotta keep plugging away at it. ;) I'm done with school at the end of this week, so hopefully I'll be reading more often, as well as posting more often.

Jesus Freaks : Stories of those who stood for Jesus, the ultimate Jesus Freaks.

By : DC Talk and the Voice of the Martyrs.

368 pages.

This book is filled with stories of martyrs - people who have been tortured, beaten, imprisoned, and killed for their faith. Faith in Jesus. Just for teaching about Him, or even admitting that they were Christians could mean a long, brutal death for these strong Christians. It has stories of people all over the world, from England to Asia, to Africa, to South America. It has stories from all different times, whether it be 34 AD or 1999. It has stories about all kinds of people, both young and old, boy and girl, pastors and preachers, students and new converts.

Each story is short, only a couple of pages long. Some stories have short epilogues, so you know how it turned out in the end, after they were released from prison or whatnot. In between the stories, they have sprinkled Bible verses, quotes from martyrs, and prayer requests. This made the book very readable. If you're like me, when a book has terribly long chapters, you feel like you aren't making any progress, and often put off reading that book because you know that you'll have to dedicate a good chunk of time to read it. Not so with this book. Each story is set apart, by itself, so you can easily read one here and one there - one before dinner, a few right before bed, during a quick car ride, while you're waiting for a doctor's appointment... after about 50 pages or so, I was hooked, and read it every time I could.

At times, I felt very sad while reading this book. After all, all these strong Christians were being persecuted, and killed, for their faith! How can I not feel sad? I noticed a theme while I was reading this book though - these Christians, these martyrs - they weren't sad. They weren't mad. They were strong. And they were trusting in God to get them through whatever it was they were facing. They were about to die, and instead of crying or shouting for mercy, they were praising God, witnessing to anyone around them, praying, asking the people to stay strong in their faith and so on. They weren't feeling sorry for themselves! Many of them had said that they considered it a great honor to die for Jesus. Would they want me to feel sorry for them?

This book also changed my perspective a bit. Think about this. When we get tired, when we're having a "bad" day, when we're not feeling good, what do we do? We start grumbling a little bit. Or complaining. We get a little grumpy. Sometimes we snap at people. Or mope around, feeling sorry for ourselves. Should we be? NO! Look at what these men (and women!) were going through: they were beaten, thrown into icy cold lakes, made to work for hours on end, stoned, hung, burnt at a stake, whipped - they endured things that we cannot even begin to imagine. And they endured them joyfully. Joyfully. Did you catch that? While you might be sitting at home complaining because it's not your turn to do the dishes, but you got stuck doing them anyways, someone halfway around the world is being beaten because they are a Christian. This book definitely made me think.

In the back of the book, it has information listed about nearly 50 countries, what kind of persecution the Christians there are facing, and one or two main prayer requests for that country. It also has a list of ways you can help.

I loved this book. It wasn't hard to read, in a sense that it was written in a way that was easy to understand, and it grabbed my attention from the beginning. This book opened my eyes more to the kinds of things that many Christians are facing today, right now, and not just hundreds of years ago. Because of some harsh descriptions, I would be careful in reading some stories to a younger child. I would say 10 and up.

Overall, this book was amazing. I'm giving it five stars. Some parts were a little "Ew", but that was hardly enough to change my rating or opinion.This book changed my heart and attitude, and I think that it is one of those books that every Christian should take the time to read.

*I recieved this book for review compliments of Baker Publishing Group.*