“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 witness they had borne.” Revelation 6:9
July 28, 2023
We must remember that the Bible ends the way it began. Persecution of the righteous by the unrighteous with Cain having killed Abel and many martyrs in the days before the second coming of Christ (Gen. 4:8; Rev. 6:9-11). The martyrs of the first months of the tribulation period cry out for justice, the desire for God’s justice to be done. The nearer we get to Christ’s return the greater will be the wrath of Satan against believers in Jesus Christ. Persecution will intensify as the Antichrist, war, famine, and other calamities will increase the numbers of those who die for their allegiance to Christ. We are told that during the last century there were more Christian martyrs in the world than in the previous nineteen centuries combined. But the worst is yet to come. Physical persecution is not necessarily worse than emotional and mental persecution. We are seeing momentum gather as totalitarianism gains ground in our nation. Cancel culture and pressures to back off on moral assertions and active resistance to those who deny the divine standards of creation order (e.g., the sanctity of human life and the divine institution of marriage). Pray for fellow believers in India. There is a strong push politically to insist that only Hindus are truly Indians. This false ideology results “in social exclusion of Christians, discrimination at work and false rumors which can lead to vigilante violence. Most at risk are new believers from Hinduism – they can face brutal assaults or even murder” (Open Doors).
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A Prayer for Secret Believers: “Lord Jesus, strengthen the underground networks of believers around the world. Give wisdom to their leaders, so that they know whom to trust, when to speak and when to stay silent.” Open Doors