More than 43 million Christians have been killed for their faith since the crucifixion of Jesus.
It's been estimated that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th century than in all the prior 1,900 years combined.
There have been more than 26 million documented cases of martyrdom in this century alone.
More than 200 million Christians in over 60 nations face persecution each day.
150,000-165,000 are martyred each year.
Christians are the most persecuted group in the world. It is on the rise because of Communism, the expansion of Islam and Hindu extremism, and because of the growing anti-Christ spirit.
Of the worlds population of 6 billion:
2.1 billion are Christians
1.5 billion are Muslim
900 million are Hindus
376 million are Buddhist
151 million claim to be Atheists
The question is- Where are our prayers directed at this Christmas season? Maybe we do well to pause and pray for those in prisons suffering away for the name of Christ this Christmas. I just read a testimony from a Chinese house church leader that asked that the prayers would not be directed to stop persecution, but rather that we would pray that they could endure and the gospel spread further. So let us be challenged to do our part. Merry Christmas!
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