The Argument from Martyrs

By Bridget Brenton

“They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
- Revelation 12:11

Islam was spread by the sword and the blood of those who opposed Muhammad.  Christianity was also spread with the blood, the blood of the saints and martyrs willing to die the same way as their Lord and Savior did.  The persecution started with Jesus and Paul summed up the attitude of a saint - if an evil world horribly murdered our Master then we should feel honored if the same thing happens to us. 

The word martyr comes from a Greek word meaning witness, and the common usage has come from the New Testament of the Bible.  Thus there were no 'martyrs' before Christianity, it began as a Christian concept from the moment Stephen was stoned for preaching about Jesus at the beginning of the book of Acts.  Islam which came much later borrowed the concept of martyrs from Christianity (as well as many other things). 

When I believed myself to be a Wiccan, I read a lot about how supposed Christians killed witches and burnt people at the stake and all the evils done by Christians but it wasn't until I read the Bible that I saw there was a difference between the true persecuted church and the ones that spread their own agenda in the name of Jesus.  People from the beginning have used God's name to try to justify their own evil practices.  As God is love, those that spread hate in the name of Jesus don't know Him at all!  But God has a special compassion on both the poor and the martyred - "blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake" and gives a promise that those murdered out of a hatred for their witness of God will be avenged.

A book called Foxes Book of Martyrs, which is a classic, documents the beginnings of how Christianity began with the bloodshed of the faithful, especially through Rome where Christians were set alight and thrown to wild beasts for public amusement.  And it makes sense that if the world is evil, as the Bible tells us, under the rule of the wicked one Satan, that there will be opposition to the true church.  And the death toll of the true church climbs because, like with the crucifixion Jesus, the world does not know His followers either.

Today the evidence is that there are more Christian martyrs than ever. The International Society for Human Rights documents that Christians are (by far) the most persecuted religious body on the planet and 80% of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians. According to the Pew Forum Christian martyrs are made in 139 nations, almost three-quarters of all the countries on earth and it’s said an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed each year for the past decade.  So to put it in perspective, there are 11 Christians killed somewhere in the world every hour, seven days a week and 365 days a year, for reasons related to their faith.

Yet, these stats are changing and not for the better, but for the worse.  Open Doors does studies on the worst 50 countries for Christian persecution and has noted Christian martyr deaths around the globe doubled in 2013 with 2,123 killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. That’s not even counting the accounts of discrimination, imprisonment, harassment, sexual assaults, and expulsion carried out in countries all over the world. 

In North Korea an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 followers of Jesus are suffering in prison camps for “crimes” such as owning a Bible, going to church, or sharing their faith.  It is reported they got the worst treatment in the country because (the same as in ancient Rome) they do not allow the worship of any other being than the Supreme Leader, who expects to be treated as a deity.  Many die of malnutrition, having to exist off insects and/or rats and have to suffer horrible tortures like being forced to drown their own children.

In Syria it is Islam or death and if Christians refuse then they can suffer the most horrible of fates.  Whole churches and villages have been burned to the ground because of the anger over those resisting the Islamic agenda.  India has also been known for this type of persecution.  Women raped, children kidnapped and men brutally killed all because they will not submit to the mighty hand of Islam.  In the African country of Eritrea Christians are sent to prisons which are described as “giant ovens baking people alive.” 

But there is another side to this, just how C.S Lewis said it was wrong to talk about human sufferings without also talking about heaven.  There is an eternal promise that makes sure these persecuted ones do not die in vain.  If it was all in vain it would be a horror upon horrors, but there is hope.  There is a witness of many who know God has heard their cries and will avenge them and give them a future.  I don’t just glibly believe it, I know it to be true, and so do the ones risking their lives for a chance of letting others know what the living, personal God means to them.

The Argument from Miracles

By Bridget Brenton

Miracles are extraordinary acts of providence which are beyond the causal powers of natural entities.  But yet some people would discount all the testimonies of these things occurring or would want to wave them off to an ‘unknown’ source.  But the irony is that many people become Christians because they’ve been a witness to a miracle that could have only come from God.  God is the main explanation in these cases because a miracle has been done through his people or from petitioning him directly or even through God speaking directly through the Holy Spirit.

Sadly you won’t realize that genuine miracles are still occurring unless you research it.  Doctors and medical professionals have attested before to tumors and cancers disappearing, to bones and flesh healing on the spot and to limbs being able to work anew.  The unexplainable occurs but when it does it isn’t usually talked about.  Why?  Because a stigma has been created to make people feel like they must be crazy if they’ve witnessed a miracle.  And even then the supernatural explanation of God doesn’t always get more than a passing mention which is why people don’t realize how often these things are happening. 

Take someone in my church for instance: she’s been plagued with cancer and tumors and spots but after prayer time and time again these threats on her life have been lessened or completely removed.  The doctors marvel at her increasing health but when she cites that it was done by God they laugh it off.  Miracles like this don’t have another explanation (though some demonic ones do).  This is a lady with a relationship to God and she vouches for action done by the God whom she directly asked to act on her behalf. 

I’ve heard stories of missionaries in Africa who have seen a girl raised from the dead, seen supernatural deliverance of items needed and seen freakish coincidences that could have come about by no other means but their prayer.  Babies pronounced dead in the womb have come out alive, people have been truly saved before certain death.

A miracle happened to me that I’ve written about before.  My daughter was spared before she was even born when we were hit by a car on a motorbike before I even knew I was pregnant.  While it wasn’t one of those jaw-dropping miracles I still knew it was God interceding because I was prompted to pray and if I hadn’t there would have been several ways our daughter would certainly have died.  Likewise there were many stories after 9/11 of people that had been warned by God or prevented by God directly from going to the Twin Towers that day.

These things do happen and they are an incredible testimony to the validity of God but atheists shrug it off.  For the atheist, miracles are simply things they do not yet understand as they’re waiting for science to come along and tell them that God is not needed for these things to occur.  That’s great.  But the thing they are overlooking is the fact that these miracles have occurred after direct request from God.  It seems more likely therefore that God does exist and does miraculous things on occasion than God not existing and miracles to be waiting for some other explanation because people have a predisposed bias against the supernatural.

It’s just like the case with demons.  There is eyewitness testimony galore but that isn’t good enough.  All of that can be ignored because they haven’t seen it with their own eyes.  But is that reason enough to doubt that it happens?  Why do we take eyewitness testimony in courts of law but don’t apply it to the deep issues of life like whether or not demons exist or miracles occur?  The supernatural can’t always be seen by our eyes but yet there is evidence galore for it!

As a note, some ‘Faith Healers’ are opportunistic charlatans, it’s the sad truth but in a world marred by sin this is to be expected.  Yet some are legit and even still many miracles do happen in individual congregations on behalf of a pastor and church members led by God.  Sometimes churches have been started because God miraculously provided the perfect amount of money for the job.  Open your ears to the existence of miracles and you’ll find evidence aplenty for the existence of God.