"Few people realize that we are today living through the largest persecution of Christians in history, worse even than the famous attacks under ancient Roman emperors like Diocletian and Nero. Estimates of the numbers of Christians under assault range from 100-200 million. According to one estimate, a Christian is martyred every five minutes."
The Bible says:
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another, and many false prophets shall arise, and deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." - Matthew 24:6-14
Recommended reading:
Foxex Book of Martyer, by John Fox
Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand
And You Came One Day Too Late (my post)
Recommended sermons:
When Government Tries to Be God, by Dr. David P. Murray
Why Persecution is Coming to the Church in America, by Pastor Kevin Swanson
Why Were Our Reformers Burned? by J. C. Ryle
(Note: This is a reading of a sermon that was done in the 1800s. The word "Faggot" is used in the sense that it was understood at the time, namely "a bundle of sticks bound together as fuel."
Over 100 years ago, Pastor Charles Spurgeon said the following:
"We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago...but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow minded bigot or give him a worse name, if you can think of one.
"Yet imagine that in those ages past Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and their compeers had said, 'The world is out of order, but if we try to get it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.'
"Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have
gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the love of Jesus too well to see them trampled on.
"It is today as it was in the Reformer's days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it but inwardly abhor every line of it...look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come.
"If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all those generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth today. We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way. But if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to his Word."
