International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. It's a reminder that global Christians in different parts of the world are likely facing persecution and even martyrdom for their Christian faith.

Here are a few books that may help in learning more about their struggles and plight. As one part of the body of Christ hurts, so do the others. If you are interested in learning more, some of these resources come from Voice of the Martyrs.

📗 Jesus Freaks by dc Talk
📗 Live Like a Jesus Freak by dc Talk
📗 Killing Christians: Living the Faith Where It's Not Safe to Believe by Tom Doyle
📗 Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea
📗 Between Two Tigers: Testimonies of Vietnamese Christians compiled by Tom White
📗 Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand
📽 Tortured for Christ
📗 God's Double Agent by Bob Fu
📘 Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
📘 Across the China Sky by C. Hope Flinchbaugh
📘 Daughter of China by C. Hope Flinchbaugh
📽 China Cry

Not pictured:
📗 Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
📗 I Dared to Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh and Richard H. Schneider

I've read a few biographies and books over the years from other parts of the world as well; however, you can probably detect that I have a heart for Christians in East and Southeast Asia and have collected those stories. If you're interested in learning more about which countries top the list for where Christians face the most extreme persecution, Open Doors offers a World Watch List to help guide our prayers.

May we remember our brothers and sisters in Christ and the trials they face for believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. - Matthew 16:25

Comments

Christian vs. Clean

This is a theme that isn't new if you've been following some of my musings over the past several months. You could even say this is the natural progression of taking this line of thinking to its conclusion. In evaluating which books to read, the refrain of Christian vs. clean has become so ingrained in my thinking that it's practically been on repeat for me. To be honest, I've never really held a view on Christian vs. clean books until the end of last year. Most of my reading since becoming a Christian has been all over the place, where I believed that acquiring knowledge, almost any knowledge, was worth it for the sake of becoming more learned. Being a voracious reader meant that I would consume most anything—especially if it was free as I didn't have a lot of books growing up (my parents preferred to take me to the library on a weekly basis as I would have cost them too much in books 😂). However, God has definitely been impressing upon me the conviction that I ca...

Christian Book Review Programs

Over time, I've been on the hunt for Christian book review programs that readers can join. As a result, I've been able to compile the following list which may be of interest if you are seeking review copies of Christian books. This list mostly applies to print and ebooks, although some publishers offer audiobooks as well. If further information is available for any of the publishers below (or any missing publishers), please let me know as I am happy to update this list—thank you! Please note that you can also search for these publishers on NetGalley and other review sites in case there are no review programs available or you don't qualify for one 😊 Christian Publishers B&H Publishing Group Previously offered the B&H/Lifeway Blogger program which has since closed Availability: Professors and instructors Link: B&H Academic Book Requests Baker Publishing Group Availability: U.S. and Canadian residents Genre: Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction Imprints: Bet...

Intentional ARCing

I realize ARCing isn't quite a real verb; however, I'm sure that fellow readers can understand the actions involved in experiencing ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) books, so please indulge my creative use of this word. I started reviewing ARCs 18 years ago, and though I certainly haven't been consistent, I'm grateful to have picked up a thing or two since that time, with many more lessons learnt since I've ramped up my volume in the last several years. Some of the biggest discoveries I've made in my reading journey have included the following: 1. Be discriminate, in the best ways. Over time, it's been easy for me to spot beloved publishers and even have an idea of an author's content and style, even if they're new to me by checking out the author's websites and platforms, along with review sites. This mostly applies to traditional publishing where it can be easier to source information, but the principles apply to indie books and authors as well. As ...