When the late Sabina Wurmbrand (co-founder of today's The Voice of the Martyrs) was told about the persecution of Christians in Sudan, she replied with one word: "Tears."
That's what many of us must feel today as we receive word from Open Doors that more than 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith during 2014-2015. That was 3,000 more than the previous year. Many were murdered at the hands of Daesh (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, and by Boko Haram in Nigeria.
OD says we can expect the numbers to continue to scale upwards.
I have been reporting about persecuted Christians for 32-years and I must say, I have not seen numbers like these. Christians in the Middle East are facing genocide. But it's happened before. Just ask the descendants of Armenian and Assyrian Christians who were victims of ethnic cleansing about one hundred years ago.
Many Christians may find the latest massive wave of persecution not only disturbing, but perhaps suprising--a bit like John Lennon, who sang shortly before his death in 1980 "Nobody told me there would be days like these."
But Christ did tell us there would be days like these.
Jesus warned in Matthew 10:21:
"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
So, persecution is nothing new. It's a way of life foretold by Jesus and it has occured since the early beginnings of the Christian faith.
Apostle Paul (Saul) was once a persecutor of Christians, but he encountered Jesus on the Road to Damascus and became the greatest evangelist of all time. Yes, we have tears for the persecuted. But let's pray not only for the persecuted, but also the persecutors. They, too need a "Road to Damascus" experience.
If God can change Saul into Paul, he can use Daesh (ISIS) and other persecutors in the same way and grow His church.
In that, there are no tears--only victory.