And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered on account of the word of God and on account of the testimony which they had maintained. Rev. 6:9.
The sacrificial language of this text suggests that Christians will not fully proclaim the gospel to all nations (Matt. 24:14) until God's people become radical enough to die for the sake of the unreached. In the past many mission fields were pried open only in the wake of a multitude of Christian martyrs. Today's "difficult fields," such as the strongholds of Islam and Hinduism, may require similar sacrifice.
In the words of John Fischer: "Point a gun at each of the 60 million people who, according to [George] Gallup's poll, are born-again Christians. Tell them to renounce Christ or have their heads blown off, and then take a recount. I think George, like Gideon, would find his troops dwindling. Actually, the price probably wouldn't have to be so extreme today. Threatening to confiscate their TV sets might just produce the same results. When faith is cheap, it is easily pawned."
In the late nineteenth century Hudson Taylor sought recruits to help in his mission to China. He claimed that he needed "men and women...such as will put Jesus, China, souls, first and foremost in everything and at every time--even life itself must be secondary." Such a commitment was bound to be tested eventually. The Boxer Rebellion of 1900, a response to the insensitivity of many Westerners in China, slaughtered 188 Protestant missionaries and 30,000 Chinese Christians. Yet it led to threefold church growth in the decade that followed.
In 1986 on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn a minister urged a man to accept Jesus as the only way to be reconciled to God. The man became angry and announced that he had a gun and would kill the minister. "You talk about heaven," he charged. "We'll see how ready you are to die." How one responds at a time like that depends on the cumulative effect of many small decisions over the years. Most of us may never encounter a time when our lives are at stake on the basis of faith. But if we have proved faithful in the smaller tests that we face each day, we will be well-trained for the ultimate test if that should come.
In the incident on Flatbush Avenue the man with the gun ended up walking away and the next night even returned to apologize and ask where the minister's church was. The faith of the martyrs always produces fruit, whether or not someone dies.
Lord, I have only a small idea of what "martyr faith" is like. I'd prefer to go on living for a while, but I pray that whether I live many years or few, I will be found faithful today.
The sacrificial language of this text suggests that Christians will not fully proclaim the gospel to all nations (Matt. 24:14) until God's people become radical enough to die for the sake of the unreached. In the past many mission fields were pried open only in the wake of a multitude of Christian martyrs. Today's "difficult fields," such as the strongholds of Islam and Hinduism, may require similar sacrifice.
In the words of John Fischer: "Point a gun at each of the 60 million people who, according to [George] Gallup's poll, are born-again Christians. Tell them to renounce Christ or have their heads blown off, and then take a recount. I think George, like Gideon, would find his troops dwindling. Actually, the price probably wouldn't have to be so extreme today. Threatening to confiscate their TV sets might just produce the same results. When faith is cheap, it is easily pawned."
In the late nineteenth century Hudson Taylor sought recruits to help in his mission to China. He claimed that he needed "men and women...such as will put Jesus, China, souls, first and foremost in everything and at every time--even life itself must be secondary." Such a commitment was bound to be tested eventually. The Boxer Rebellion of 1900, a response to the insensitivity of many Westerners in China, slaughtered 188 Protestant missionaries and 30,000 Chinese Christians. Yet it led to threefold church growth in the decade that followed.
In 1986 on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn a minister urged a man to accept Jesus as the only way to be reconciled to God. The man became angry and announced that he had a gun and would kill the minister. "You talk about heaven," he charged. "We'll see how ready you are to die." How one responds at a time like that depends on the cumulative effect of many small decisions over the years. Most of us may never encounter a time when our lives are at stake on the basis of faith. But if we have proved faithful in the smaller tests that we face each day, we will be well-trained for the ultimate test if that should come.
In the incident on Flatbush Avenue the man with the gun ended up walking away and the next night even returned to apologize and ask where the minister's church was. The faith of the martyrs always produces fruit, whether or not someone dies.
Lord, I have only a small idea of what "martyr faith" is like. I'd prefer to go on living for a while, but I pray that whether I live many years or few, I will be found faithful today.
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