For Centuries, Christians have been persecuted for following Jesus Christ. They will die before renouncing their faith. These people are called Martyrs which is defined as: a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his or her religion. In this book, Bearing Witness, many never wavered when asked to stop worshiping their God and follow other pagan Gods. Stephen was stoned to death for his love and faith in Christ. There was Saul who was just standing by holding coats for the men, who would, in the end stone him to death.
One of my favorite tales is of Perpetua who was a 22 year old woman that came to learn with some other new, young believers when along came the Roman authorities and asked "what is your name?" Perpetua answered back, "Christian". This made the soldiers very angry and Perpetua and her friends were imprisoned for refusing to worship the empire’s deities.
Perpetua had a infant son and her 2 friends were pregnant. Perpetua's father was deeply sorrowed at his daughter's actions and pleaded for her and her son's life. All she had to do was follow the empires Gods and she could leave and keep her son, but still she hung on to her Jesus. This caused her father to pull his hair out and even physically beat his daughter, but still she replied I am a Christian. One of the women who was pregnant asked the Lord to save her baby. The Roman law at that time stated no woman pregnant could be thrown to the beasts to their death. God immediately caused the young woman to give birth and then she gave the baby to her mother so it would be spared. She and the other friend
were then cast to the beasts and eaten. Perpetua had her mother come and take her son away after a dream she had. The dream showed Perpetua climbing a tall ladder up into heaven , and a dragon sat at the top. Instead of the dragon killing her, Perpetua stomped on it's head and it dies. She knew she would die as a martyr and she did by grabbing the sword the soldier had tried to kill her with, and she slit her own throat.
These are a few of the true stories about Christian's who died as Martyr's in Christ's name. I loved this book. I learned so many things I never knew. On page 218 of this book there are some questions that will have you thinking. This book comes from stories researched by the writers of the book. This book would be great for any teen and adult Christians to read. It is an amazing collection of stories from early AD to today. We have people all over this world dieing in the name of our Lord. I wonder if you would be a hero -or martyr for Christ? We need to teach these stories to our children so they can understand the meaning of why Christ died for us and if we are confronted with standing up for our savior would we be willing to do the same? Many Christians live in this situation everyday. They are ruled by horrible rulers who want no part of Christianity. So we must spread the word and become Witness Bearers for the unbelievers.
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