This week in persecuted church history (June 7-13)

Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7b (ESV)

June 8, 1794: French revolutionaries replace Christianity with a deistic religion honouring a trinity of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." They renamed churches "Temples of Reason," and a new calendar announced a 10-Day week and holiday s commemorating events of the revolution. The "reign of terror" followed, with some 1,400 people losing their heads. Napolean recognized the church again in 1804, then proceeded to imprison Pope Pius VII.

June 8, 2007: Malaysian authorities demolish a church building belonging to the "Orang Asli" tribe of indigenous Christians in Kuala Lumpur, Kentan State.

June 8, 2008: Pastor Prem Kumar martyred by Hindu militants in Andhra Pradesh, India

June 9, 68: Nero Claudius Caesar, the ruler to whom the Apostle Paul appealed for justice (Acts 25:10) and who ordered the first imperial persecution of Christians, commits suicide.

June 11, 2007: Lorenzo Lopez (20) brutally martyred by local tribal people in the region of San Juan Chamula, Chiapas.

June 12, 2007: Fouad Salim (32) killed by Muslim militants while leaving the police station he worked at in Baghdad, Iraq because of his refusal to convert to Islam.

(sources: Christianity Today, The Voice of the Martyrs)

Prayer: “Grant that we, who now remember these before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” – taken from The Book of Common Prayer, Canada (1962)