This week in persecuted church history (October 4-10)

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

October 4, 1535: The first complete English translation of the Bible is published in Zurich, Switzerland, as Miles Coverdale completes William Tyndale’s work.

October 4, 2008: An armed group of suspected Islamist militants assassinate Hazim Thomaso Youssif (40) in front of his clothing shop and Ivan Nuwya (15) in front of his home, located near a mosque in the Christian-majority neighbourhood of Tahrir, In Mosul, Iraq.

October 5, 1744: David Brainerd, kicked out of Yale for criticizing a tutor and attending a forbidden revival meeting, begins missionary work with Native Americans along New Jersey's Susquehannah River. Jonathan Edwards's biography of Brainerd was key in promoting Christian missions and was counted by William Carey as one of his most influential reads.

October 5, 1981 • Coptic Leader Shenouda III is exiled to a monastery in Western Egypt by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat for protesting the weak governmental response to the killing of Coptic Christians and the bombing of a seminary by a Muslim militants.

October 5, 2004: As Pastors Tulsiram and Vijay were preparing to baptize thirty-two new believers in Chhattisgarh, India, they are severely beaten and kidnapped.

October 6, 1536: English reformer William Tyndale, who translated and published the first mechanically-printed New Testament in the English language (against the law at the time) is strangled to death. His body is then burned at the stake

October 6, 1573: Maey ken Wens, the wife of a faithful minister of the church of God in the city of Antwerp, Holland is burned at the stake for her faith in Christ.

October 6, 2008: A disabled 25-year-old Christian shopkeeper is shot and killed in the neighbourhood of Karama in Mosul, Iraq.

October 7, 2007: Rami Ayyad, manager of the Bible Society Bookshop in Gaza, is shot and killed.

October 8, 2008: Pastor Sebamalai Gunesh (33) of Elohim Gospel Church in the village of Orugodawatte on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka is found dead. The pastor was reported missing on October 6 when he did not return home from a religious meeting held in the town of Kadawatha. The body of Pastor Gunesh's brother is also found in a nearby location.

October 9, 1582: Hendrick Sumer, a minister of the Word of God, and Jacob Mandel are drowned in Baden, Switzerland for their belief that one needs to have a personal faith in Jesus Christ.

October 9, 1747: David Brainerd, pioneer missionary to Native Americans in New England, dies of tuberculosis at age 29. His journal, published by Jonathan Edwards, inspired hundreds to become missionaries, including the "father of modern Protestant missions," William Carey.

October 10, 1560: Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius, the founder of a theology that challenged Reformed assumptions, is born in Oudewater, Netherlands. (Note: I challenge people to actually read his theology rather than what others have said that he taught.  It is amazing how few think they understand Arminian theology, having never read a word of his writings or only what Reformed theologians say he taught)

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)