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.“I
tell you, my
friends, Do
not fear those
who can kill
the body…”
Luke 12:4
Intro
to this issue
The
Christian
martyrs
throughout
history have
much to teach
us and to
encourage us
in our call to
take up our
cross each and
every day to
follow the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
This
issue
focuses on the
lessons we can
learn from the
Christian
martyrs of
yesterday and
today.
“We live in the greatest period of persecution in the
history of
Christianity.
In the
twentieth
century, noble
martyrs like
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer and
Blessed Jerzy
Popieluszko
gave their
lives for
Christ amid a
cloud of
witnesses
greater in
number than
those martyred
for the Name
in the
previous
nineteen
centuries of
Christian
history. That
witness
continues
today in the
self-sacrifice
of men like
Shahbaz
Bhatti, a
Christian
cabinet
officer
murdered
because of his
defense of the
religious
freedom of all
of his fellow
Pakistanis.
As Evangelicals and Catholics who seek to honor the
witness of
these and
other martyrs,
we pledge to
work together
for the
renewal of
religious
freedom in our
countries and
around the
world.”
quote from Evangelicals and Catholics
Together: In
Defense
of Religious
Freedom
Sincerely
in Christ,
Don Schwager
editor
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