Rachel Scott

" I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what... it's all worth it to me. I am no going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus, I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put in me. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that's fine with me. Ya know, I always knew that part of being a Christian is having enemies... but I never thought that my "friends" were going to be those enemies."

Those astounding words came from Rachel Scott right after having some good friends reject her when she took a stand for Christ.

Many of you will probably remember the Columbine High School shooting of April 20, 1999. Rachel was one of the students killed in that shooting. The two young men that perpetrated the crime had, before-hand, singled her out to die because they had a great disdain for her Christian faith.



On that fateful day, Rachel was outside eating her lunch with a friend when the gunmen came out and open fire on her. She was wounded in the legs and was trying to crawl to safety when they returned and asked her if she believed in God. She said she did and a bullet to the head ended her life here on earth. She was a believer in life, a martyr at death, and a child of God that is now in heaven with her Savior.

"I Beg You to take Revenge..."

"'I beg you to take revenge . . . '

The readers of the letter from Spanish martyr, Bartolome Marquez, were shocked to see a call for revenge in his final letter. Then they saw that his call was not for human bloodshed to avenge him, but for more people to come under the blood of Jesus.

'I beg you to take Christian revenge by trying to do good to those who do me evil,' Marquez challenged other believers. 'I hope to see you where I will be soon, in heaven.'

The Spanish Communists killed Marquez, along with many other pastors, in 1939. His final letter was an epistle of joy to his wife and Christian brothers and sisters."

To read the rest of this interesting post, click through to the Persecution Blog.

Last Reminder

This Sunday (Nov. 8) is IDOP. Please join in with thousands of other Christians as we lift the persecuted believers to the Lord.

Christians Persecuted in the UK

Pray for the Persecuted

The month of October is flying by very quickly. Before you know it, we'll be right into November. If you haven't already marked your calenders for Nov. 8, you should. November 8 is the International Day of Prayer (IDOP) for the persecuted church.

You will be praying along with thousands of other believers worldwide for those are suffering for the sake of Christ. Please consider ordering the 2009 IDOP kit and sharing it at your church or maybe with a group of friends. Go to VOM's IDOP web page, here, and get prepaired to spread the news!

What is a Martyr?

The word martyr is only used twice in the whole Bible. However, if you look up what it means in the Greek, it's literal meaning is "a witness". This is very interesting to me. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, witnessed not only with his words, but also his death (Acts 7).

T.S. Eliot described a martyr as one "who has become an instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom."

What do you think a martyr is?

Christians Crucified in South Sudan

Seven Christians were recently found crucified in southern Sudan. Villagers found the bodies of the believers near the town of Nzara.

Who committed this horrific crime? The prime suspects are marauding soldiers from the Lord's Resistance Army. These guerrillas are also reported to have attacked two churches, desecrating the buildings and kidnapping several Christian young people.

To read more about this and watch a video of Todd Nettleton (who is a spokesperson for VOM) speak about the killings, click here.