Tag: martyrdom

Revelation, The Daily Word1 Comment

O Sovereign Lord, How Long? (Revelation 6.9–11)

georgepwood

Submission, peacemaking, generosity, and hospitality all require patience: Patience with a corrupt government to reform, with the violent to act peaceably, with the poor to move from dependency to productivity, and with the sick to heal. The last two items are borne with comparative ease. The first two items? Not so much. It is fascinating to me that after describing the devastation wrought on earth by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rev. 6:1-8), John turns again to a scene in the throne room of heaven (6:9-11). There, he sees “under the altar the souls of those who had been … Continue reading O Sovereign Lord, How Long? (Revelation 6.9–11)

Revelation, The Daily Word1 Comment

Suffering: The Second Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:8-11)

georgepwood

The first mark of the church is love. The second is suffering. Please do not misunderstand me. Christians are not masochists. We do not fetishize suffering or go looking for martyrdom. But if two thousand years of Christian history are a reliable guide, martyrdom may come looking for us. I freely concede that persecution and martyrdom are far from the minds of most American Christians. For all the religiously conservative complaints about secular humanist domination of the media, the fact is that Americans have near-total freedom to practice, publicize, and proselytize for their respective faiths—or non-faiths, as the case may … Continue reading Suffering: The Second Mark of the Ideal Church (Revelation 2:8-11)

Book Reviews, Current Events, Politics & Culture, The Global ChurchLeave a comment

Review of ‘Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians’ by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea

georgepwood

 Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea, Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013). $16.99, 368 pages. Saeed Abedini is a Christian minister currently imprisoned for his faith in Iran. A native of that country, Abedini converted from Islam to Christianity in 2000 and became a leader in Iran’s house-church movement. In 2005, he moved to America with his wife, Naghmeh, and became a naturalized citizen here as well. In the summer of 2012, he returned to Iran to visit his family and to build an orphanage in the city of Rasht. He was arrested and indicted … Continue reading Review of ‘Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians’ by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea