More Modern Role Models

Chapter eleven

Rejoicing in Suffering

Joy in suffering expresses faith.

Even if the fig tree doesn’t bud, and no grapes appear on the vines . . . and the fields produce no food . . . I will be jubilant in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God who delivers me. (Hab. 3:17–18)

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. (Col. 1:24)

Paul’s joy in Colossians 1:24 shows that one can demonstrate one’s love for God and others by (when necessary) suffering for them.

Responding to militant Islamist attacks, Evangelical Church Winning All, a Nigerian-based evangelical denomination with an estimated ten million members, made its theme for 2018 “Joy in Suffering,” using 1 Peter 4:13.1

That’s why you celebrate. Granted, now for a brief period various necessary testings have grieved you. These testings are meant to prove the genuineness of your trust in God. . . . Thus, though you don’t see him now, you trust him and celebrate with inexpressible and glory-filled joy. (1 Pet. 1:6–8)

Loved ones, don’t think strange the fiery burning that comes to test you, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, to the extent that you’re sharing Christ’s sufferings, be glad, so you may celebrate with joy when his glory is revealed. (1 Pet. 4:12–13)

First Peter focuses especially on ridicule and suffering for our faith. But we may also apply the principles to other significant hardships. As noted earlier, God counts them in our favor, so long as we respond to them for and in the Lord, as also described by Peter and James:

Slaves, submit to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and tolerant, but even to the corrupt ones. Do this because it brings God’s favor when, for the sake of one’s conscience before God, one puts up with grief while suffering unjustly. For what kind of credit do you merit for enduring being beaten as a result of sinning? But if instead you endure suffering as a result of doing right, this brings God’s favor on you. (1 Pet. 2:18–20)

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you experience various kinds of testing. (James 1:2)

As a whole, the letter of James focuses especially on the plight of people who are poor and exploited, who might be tempted to lash out at their oppressors. But as stated up front, the letter’s principles apply to “various kinds of testing.” The principle of celebrating during suffering because we trust our heavenly Father’s benevolent sovereignty applies to multiple forms of hardship.

Still Learning

Rejoicing in suffering is not a discipline that I would have chosen to write about on my own, because I am not very good at it. (This is true while the suffering is going on, though some of it makes for great stories afterward.)2 I suspect that I may not be alone; describing suffering, the author of Hebrews notes that

no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:11 niv)

The Psalms abundantly illustrate the appropriateness of lamenting and complaining to God when we suffer, and Paul reminds us to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). Both psalms of lament and imprecatory prayers have their place for those traumatized by injustice.3

Nevertheless, the Bible does offer the genuine possibility of celebrating suffering that is meaningful—especially when we are suffering for Christ. Not all suffering is equally meaningful. If I suffer “as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer” (1 Pet. 4:15), consequent suffering might help bring me to repentance, but it is not the same as suffering for doing what is right (4:16).

When we trust that God uses suffering for our good, we can embrace it with greater confidence and hope. One of my close friends who helped motivate this book—who has faced tremendous suffering but also found strength in God’s joy—was adamant that I needed to address the question of joyous courage and confidence in the face of suffering. Since I respect my friend’s wisdom and especially the Bible’s teaching on the subject, I gave in, despite my own need to grow in this practice. (But blame him for this chapter. He courageously asked to remain anonymous!)

More Joy in Suffering

Iris Global is on the front line of ministering to the needy in Mozambique. Their fourth core value, as already noted, is suffering for Christ, if necessary. The fifth core value is the one most relevant to this chapter: rejoicing in the Lord. “The joy of the Lord is not optional, and it far outweighs our suffering!”4 As Rolland Baker puts it, “Suffering for the Gospel was never intended to be a miserable experience, but rather one in which indescribable joy and seasons of hardship intertwine in a way that only God could imagine.”5 Rejoicing in Jesus when life is hard is an act of resistance against evil, an act of trust that the Lord is indeed watching over us.

New Testament Models

As noted in the last chapter, Jesus experienced joyless anguish in the face of death—though he endured it in light of the joy set before him (Heb. 12:2). In normal kinds of hardship, though, joy (without denying the reality of the hardship) is ideal. Paul, who urged continual joy and celebration in God (Phil. 4:4), also confessed great sadness concerning the resistance of his beloved people (Rom. 9:1–3), and daily concern for the state of all the churches (2 Cor. 11:28). How can sorrow and joy coexist? Paul models it

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. (2 Cor. 6:10 NASB)

Trust in God’s faithful concern for us and his plan, that he ultimately works all things for our good, is a reason for joy:

Our heart rejoices in him, because we trust in his holy name. (Ps. 33:21)

It is also a major reason we can praise him in the face of hardship. Officials in Philippi had Paul and Silas publicly stripped naked and whipped with rods. Then they had them thrown into the most secure part of the prison, immobilized in stocks (Acts 16:22–24). Stocks were blocks of wood with holes so prisoners’ legs could be stuck in various positions. Prisons were crowded and dirty and lacked toilet facilities. The apostles’ backs, caked now with dried blood, were likely up against a wall. Moreover, Paul and Silas could be concerned how the local people they had won to Christ would react to this humiliation. What new hardships would this public sentiment against the gospel’s agents cause the converts (2 Cor. 11:28)? Yet Luke explains:

Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25 NASB)

Christians in nearby Thessalonica knew what Paul suffered in Philippi (1 Thess. 2:2). They too had suffered persecution (1 Thess. 1:6; 3:3). Yet Paul’s closing exhortations to them include the following:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess. 5:16–18 niv)

These exhortations immediately precede his charismatic exhortation not to despise prophecies. Paul also emphasized rejoicing in the Lord always to the Philippians themselves (Phil. 4:4), as well as prayer with thanksgiving (4:6). In fact, joy is a frequent refrain throughout Philippians (1:4, 18, 25; 2:2, 17–18, 28–29; 3:1; 4:1, 10)—a letter Paul sent from Roman custody (1:7, 13). Paul would either get to keep working for the Lord, or he would depart and be with the Lord undistracted (1:20–24). Though ultimately he expected that he would be released (1:19, 25–26), he viewed both potential outcomes of his custody as win-win situations.

Paul also describes the Spirit-filled life in Ephesians 5. In contrast to being controlled with wine, Paul exhorts,

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 5:18–20 niv)

Paul wrote Ephesians, as he did Philippians, while in Roman custody (Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20). Paul’s emphasis on joy in hardship reflects a wider consensus among Jesus’s first followers.

You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. (Heb. 10:34 niv)

Any suffering in this life is temporary, and it is often followed by joy (Pss. 30:5, 11; 126:5), true even for the intense period of suffering during Jesus’s passion (John 16:20–22). Jesus endured the cross for the sake of the joy set before him (Heb. 12:2). We often sing, “This is the day that the Lord has made” (Ps. 118:24) as if the psalmist meant every day. While there is truth in us rejoicing daily (Phil. 4:4; 1 Thess. 5:16), the joy in the psalm reflects a special occasion, regarding a special day. The context runs like this:

The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

This is Yahweh’s doing, and we marvel at it.

This is the day which Yahweh has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad. (Ps. 118:22–24 NJB)

Ancient Jewish application of the psalm seems correct about its original idea: David, rejected and pursued by Saul, eventually was exalted. The New Testament applies the principle to the ultimate Son of David, Jesus, whom God exalted after the leaders rejected him (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10–11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7). When we sing this song, we can remember Jesus’s death and exaltation as the ultimate basis for our celebration.

John Chrysostom remarked, “What is required is not only to suffer for Christ, but to endure what we suffer nobly and with all gladness.”6 As archbishop of Constantinople, he often spoke boldly for justice and fairness for all and denounced the ostentatious materialism of the imperial court. Facing consequent political enmity, Chrysostom was banished to Armenia on June 20, AD 404. His enemies still feared him, however, and they ordered him relocated—on a forced march. He died in transit on September 14, AD 407, at the age of sixty.

Modern Examples

Lest we think the ideal limited to the New Testament or ancient times, many today have also offered models of rejoicing in hardship. God often provides his children special grace in times of hardship. Richard Wurmbrand recounts that prisoners understood the rules: Whoever preached the gospel to other prisoners would be beaten. With dark humor he adds, “We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us, so everyone was happy.”7 He recounts that even as believers endured torture, the joy God’s Spirit gave their hearts proved more than worth their suffering.8 His wife, Sabina, discovered the same principle. “In prison the guard used to tell us before we got a beating, ‘You wanted to be martyrs, so now suffer!’ And we did. But even at the worst times there was the joy of knowing that it was for Jesus.”9

Here are some examples (with more later in the chapter):

C. J. Wu, a missionary who spent seven years in a Chinese prison for sharing the gospel, recounts his perspective:

I knew that sooner or later I would be persecuted for my faith. Jesus said we will go through what he had experienced. For whosoever will pursue his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for the Lord’s sake shall find it. Also, I have been to every province in China, where I visited many Christians who were persecuted, beaten, and imprisoned. I’ve heard their testimony. So when the day came, I had a great peace in my heart. I knew I would pay a price for my faith, so I felt very joyful.25

At age thirteen, Purnima refused to deny her faith in Christ that had begun when the name of Jesus healed her big sister. Ordered to leave Bhutan, she trekked with other Christian exiles to Nepal. There at age fifteen she was abused by police for sharing Christ, then sentenced to imprisonment on false charges. Realizing that they were imprisoned for Christ, she and her fellow believers recognized that they were “privileged to be called to suffer for Christ.”26 Another of the Christians, Ashok, was beaten within inches of his life by cellmates,27 but some of Purnima’s cellmates were converted before the Christians’ release after some fourteen months.28

Insurgents in northern Mozambique have killed thousands and so far displaced roughly a million people.29 As already noted, Christians, including children, are beheaded and sometimes crucified. Yet pastors who have escaped with their lives are praising God for allowing these circumstances. Many followers of the region’s other main religion have seen how their religious compatriots are the ones killing and displacing them, while Christians instead care for them. This has led many to turn to Christ. When asked, “Do you think more people will go to heaven?” because of these attacks, “the pastors responded unanimously with a resounding ‘Yes!’”30 A pastor whose family is missing explained that because he is serving the Lord, he remains happy.31 Such happiness does not displace all grief, but it sustains us in it.

Why Joy?

Surely a key element of charismatic worship today is joy. The Psalms mention joy more than one hundred times. The Psalms are of course also honest about sorrows, and our prayer lives should exhibit such honesty too. God welcomes our emotions, though I understand that expressing emotion is harder for some cultures and personalities (including mine) than others. Contrary to what some traditional Western expositors insist, Scripture is explicit that God’s Spirit touches our emotions as well as our intellect. Joy is even a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

Invitations to Celebration

But while some exuberant worship today shies away from talk of suffering, the New Testament emphasizes that we should rejoice even in the face of hardship. This practice makes sense if we trust that God works all things for our good (Rom. 8:28). Like Old Testament psalms, worship can include some of each.

Pray, if any of you is going through a hard time; sing, if you’re cheerful. If any of you is sick, call for the elders and let them pray. (James 5:13–14)

Paul, who wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” (Phil. 4:4), also wrote, “I’m always very sad and have continual anguish in my heart” for the sake of his people Israel (Rom. 9:2). God’s servants sometimes experience anguish (Mark 14:34; 2 Cor. 2:4; 7:5; 11:28–29; 1 Thess. 3:5). We are not always happy and not always sad, but celebrating God’s grace during hardship is an act of faith that welcomes God’s infinitely longer-range perspective on our trials.

We rejoice in suffering partly because suffering puts us in good company. The Lord himself taught us:

How good it is for you when people hate you, and when they ostracize you and insult and dismiss your reputation as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that happens and jump for joy! Do so because (see!) you have a great reward in heaven, and because your enemies’ [spiritual] ancestors treated the prophets in just the same way. (Luke 6:22–23)

Jesus here gives two reasons to celebrate when we are mistreated for Jesus, one about the future and the other about the past. We celebrate, first, because we recognize that our reward from God (“a great reward in heaven”) is worth far more than sufferings inflicted by people. Paul says the same thing: Our present afflictions are light compared to the much weightier glory they bring us in God’s presence forever (2 Cor. 4:17). If we suffer with him, we’ll be glorified with him (Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12). We celebrate, second, because of how our sufferings connect us with the past. We are just like the prophets and Jesus himself, who suffered unjustly but whom we now recognize to be right.

Despite Jesus’s clear warning in Luke 6:22–23 and other passages, his disciples abandoned him in Gethsemane. It was different, however, after they experienced the power of the Spirit at Pentecost.32 In Luke’s second volume, he describes how Jesus’s disciples responded when the authorities whipped and threatened them. Their backs sore from the beating, the apostles

left the council, celebrating that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for [Christ’s] name. (Acts 5:41)

Suffering for Christ is a privilege, they understood, because it is an opportunity for us to prove our loyal love for him.

Celebrating Character Formation

Another reason to rejoice in suffering is because of what it does for our character. When suffering comes our way, we can choose to use it to learn to show our trust in God. Again, Paul encouraged Jesus’s followers in Rome (Rom. 5:2–4 nasb, modified):

We celebrate in hope of the glory of God.

And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations,

knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

and perseverance, proven character;

and proven character, hope.

Paul frames these verses with a Greek word that we translate as “hope” (Rom. 5:2, 5). But in the way Paul uses the term, elpis means more than what we often mean by the English word hope. It is not just something that we wish would happen; it entails confidence and expectation. The reason we can endure suffering is that our confidence in the Lord increasingly develops as the Lord walks with us through sufferings.33 Still, even weaker levels of confidence can have value. After surviving a dark night of the soul, I have been able to better encourage the discouraged that their future need not always be like the present that they are suffering. Psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl (1905–1997) observed that, on average, those who lost hope died much faster in the concentration camps than those who maintained hope.34 Frankl’s existential courage differs from Christian expectation, but it demonstrates the human need for meaning beyond our finite limitations.

The term that the nasb translates “celebrate” in Romans 5:2 can mean “boast” or “take pride in,” and Paul uses it three times in this passage. We boast because we share the expectation of God’s glory (5:2), because our sufferings shape us for that expectation (5:3–4), and finally, in summary, we boast in God through Christ (5:11). Little did Paul’s first audience know how seriously they would need to take his words. Less than ten years after Paul sent this letter, the emperor Nero began burning Christians alive as torches in his gardens.35 Christians at that time needed perseverance to endure that wave of deadly persecution.

Paul was not the only inspired writer to encourage joy in the face of suffering. Again, James writes, “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you experience various kinds of testing. This is because you know that the testing of your trust in God brings about endurance! But let endurance have its ultimate impact, so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2–4).

So also Peter, whose counsel we have already mentioned:

You are celebrating in God’s eternal promise, even though now, if necessary, for a short period you have been grieved by various kinds of testing. The purpose of this testing is the proving of your trust in God, a proving worth more than perishable gold refined by fire. In this way your trust in God will bring praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. . . . You rejoice with joy that is beyond describing and glorious. (1 Pet. 1:6–8)

Peter is contrasting perishable gold (1:7) with our imperishable inheritance in heaven (1:4). He promises that our salvation will be revealed (1:5) when Christ is revealed (1:7). And just as gold is tested in fire, so our trust in God is tested by our hardships (1:7). Sufficient heat refines gold by separating it from impurities; the same is necessary in our lives.

Peter is not speaking flippantly; he deliberately draws on an earlier biblical image. God’s people were tested as if refined by fire (Ps. 66:10; Isa. 1:25; 48:10; Zech. 13:9; compare Dan. 11:35; 12:10; Mal. 3:2–3). Sometimes this testing came as judgment, but always it came for their good. The Lord tests hearts like furnaces refine metals (compare Prov. 17:3; praise also can test us, Prov. 27:21); he desires us to emerge like gold (Job 23:10). As Mr. Xi said after being jailed at times for Christ in China, “Persecution is like fire. . . . If we want pure gold, we have to let it go through fire.” Those who embrace Christianity because it feels “cool” quickly fall away; persecution weeds out those who aren’t serious about following Christ himself.36

God Is Near the Broken in a Special Way

God takes into account our afflictions; he counts them in our favor (Pss. 56:8; 132:1). In fact, God is especially near the lowly and the broken, the “poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3), a theme recurrent in Scripture:

If we want to walk close to God, humbling ourselves before God and others is an important part of the process. (Keep in mind I am not talking about allowing other people to be abused when we can help them; Prov. 24:11–12.) Revival history—from the cries of Welsh miners to the girls in Pandita Ramabai’s orphanage to Chinese farmers and Mozambican orphans—has repeatedly reinforced this theme.

Joyful Praise During Hardship

Of course, we don’t praise God during testing only because the testing might be good for us. We praise God during testing also for the same reason we praise God at other times: He deserves our praise, both for who he is and for what he does (Ps. 150:2). Even our very existence gives us enormous reason for gratitude. Most human embryos conceived never survive to birth. The odds of an undesigned universe producing any life at all are virtually infinitesimal, and the odds of any of us with our distinctive genetic identities existing are far less. Whether it seems short or long, any amount of life is an undeserved gift. Life is a privilege; eternal life, at the price of Jesus’s death for us, an even greater one. How could we deny thanksgiving to our rightful Lord?

Rejoice in hope, keep enduring your hardship, continue praying. (Rom. 12:12)

Hearing good news about his converts in Corinth, Paul declared that he was “overflowing with joy in all our affliction” (2 Cor. 7:4 nasb).

In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. (2 Cor. 8:2 esv)

You accepted the message in the face of severe hardship, with joy from the Holy Spirit. (1 Thess. 1:6)

Although hostile people ran Paul and Barnabas out of town (Acts 13:50), their new converts “were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit” (13:52).

To the extent that you share Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, so you may also rejoice and celebrate when his glory is revealed! (1 Pet. 4:13)

More Modern Role Models

Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted Hitler and helped Jews escape Nazi Germany. As he languished in prison before his execution, he often faced discouragement. Nevertheless, he wrote, “I believed that we ought so to love and trust God in our lives, and in all the good things that He sends us, that when the time comes we may go to Him with love, trust, and joy.”37

After a ten-minute sham trial, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand’s Communist captors sentenced him to twenty years of hard labor. To those who tortured him, he explained that he was ready to meet God. When one of his tormentors demanded, “What are you praying for?” Wurmbrand responded, “I am praying for you.” As Richard was being taken to his second imprisonment, he urged Sabina, who was now free, to give his love to the informer who had turned him in. Altogether, Richard served fourteen years in prison, able to see Sabina during only one brief interval. Later freed with international Christian help, he founded Voice of the Martyrs, one of the key organizations serving the global persecuted church.38

Virginia Prodan took on cases defending Christians in dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s Romania. She was harassed, isolated under house arrest, and subject to assassination attempts—ultimately leading one of her would-be assassins to Christ. Despite her traumatic experiences, she thanks her persecutors in her book’s acknowledgments “for helping me trust God to teach me to love you as I never thought I could. I am a better person because of you.”39 As she recounts, “It is an honor to suffer for Christ.”40

I am no expert on church-state relations in China, but I can only admire the hope of joy in the face of persecution expressed by many Christians there. For example, Wang Yi, an urban church pastor arrested in China, resolved that if God “through persecution . . . continues disciplining and building up his church, then I am joyfully willing to submit to God’s plans, for his plans are always benevolent and good.”41 An elder from his church wrote, shortly before his arrest, “May the whole world know that we are joyfully willing to receive this persecution for the sake of our faith.”42

Admittedly, rejoicing in hardship is often easier said than done, and often coexists with a measure of concern or sorrow. As I have noted, I include advice on it because it’s in Scripture, not because I have come close to mastering it myself. One day after college, when a job I was counting on did not come through, I remembered that we are supposed to praise God in all things.43 So I thanked God that he had a better plan for me, and on the way home I stopped at what seemed a less likely place of employment. There I was hired on the spot. That was one of my better days.

I must confess that I didn’t rejoice when I have been beaten. Yet these experiences nevertheless stood me in good stead in the long run. When my PhD was nearly complete, one of my professors told me that I might not be allowed to graduate because I was too openly religious. He was a lone voice, but I was indeed concerned. Nevertheless, I had already been beaten and had my life threatened for my witness for Christ. Why would I let a professor’s words intimidate me into silence about my Savior?

There was a time in my life, before my PhD, when I told God that I loved him so much that nothing else mattered compared to him. A few months later, I lost the two things in life that I valued most: my marriage and my ministry. So far as I could tell at the time, I had lost them permanently. When someone goes through a crisis, a glib “All things work for good” can feel insensitive.44 But I had already accepted that affirmation theologically, so now I held on to it for dear life. A few years later, when I told God again that I loved him more than anything else, I understood better what I was committing to. If we really love our Lord more than anything else, then no one can take from us what matters to us most—because nothing can separate us from his love (Rom. 8:35, 38–39).

I conclude this chapter by referring again to the ultimate model. Jesus set the example for us: “For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at God’s right hand” (Heb. 12:2).

1 Weber, “Cheeks.” Usually simply called ECWA, the denomination originally meant Evangelical Church of West Africa.

2 Sometimes I could write, “Imitate me just as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), but I have not earned the right to say that here.

3 For the former, see, e.g., Young, Walking; for the latter, e.g., John, “Investigation.”

4 See Iris, “Core Values.”

5 Baker, Keeping the Fire, 101–2.

6 Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 23.4 (Bray, Corinthians, 95); compare Hilary of Arles, Commentary on 1 Peter 4:16 (Bray, Peter, 119).

7 Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ (2023), 42. Compare Wurmbrand, Wife, 86, on nuns imprisoned with her, who explained why they could sing: “We are allowed to sing, and they are allowed to beat us.”

8 Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ (2023), 77, 96–97.

9 Wurmbrand, Wife, 273.

10 Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ (2023), 128. Compare Acts 5:41.

11 Nettleton, When Faith Is Forbidden, 31.

12 Nettleton, When Faith Is Forbidden, 117.

13 Nettleton, When Faith Is Forbidden, 253–54.

14 Moeller and Hegg, Privilege of Persecution, 71–72. Earlier in Vietnam, when Communist soldiers heard a classroom discussing religion, they drove chopsticks into students’ ears, causing permanent deafness, and removed the teacher’s tongue (Shortt, Christianophobia, 207).

15 Nettleton, When Faith Is Forbidden, 143.

16 Voice of Martyrs, Hearts of Fire 2, 260. See further, Rostampour and Amirizadeh, Captive in Iran; Amirizadeh, Love Journey.

17 Kim, If I Perish, 53.

18 Nettleton, When Faith Is Forbidden, 164.

19 Quoted in Tracy, “Let My People Go.”

20 Voice of Martyrs, I Am N, 65–67.

21 Shortt, Christianophobia, 121. For the beheading of other Nigerian Christians, see, e.g., Casper, “11 Christians Executed”; Casper, “Pastor.”

22 Voice of the Martyrs update, September 3, 2022.

23 Doyle, Killing Christians, xii.

24 Voice of the Martyrs update, February 7, 2025.

25 Wu, “Price.”

26 Voice of Martyrs, Hearts of Fire, 69. Her full story is on 45–76. On Bhutan, compare also Open Doors, “World Watch List 2025,” 46.

27 Voice of Martyrs, Hearts of Fire, 72.

28 Voice of Martyrs, Hearts of Fire, 75.

29 Miller and Wood, “Dangerous Territory.” Already in 2021 numbers were close to eight hundred thousand (McDade, “Cannot Burn Jesus”).

30 Voice of Martyrs, “Lion’s Den.”

31 McDade, “Cannot Burn Jesus.”

32 See my article on this subject, Keener, “Deserters.”

33 One of the key points I learned from my limited time with the now late theologian Jürgen Moltmann (during “Expectation and Human Flourishing,” a special symposium sponsored by the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, June 22–23, 2015) is that, in contrast to the English term hope in the sense of mere wishes, we have expectation that rests on Christ’s accomplished victory in history and unfailing promise.

34 Compare Frankl, Death-Camp; Frankl, Embracing Hope.

35 See Tacitus, Annals 15.44.

36 Nettleton, When Faith Is Forbidden, 142–43 (quotation from 142).

37 Hefley and Hefley, Blood, 213.

38 See Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ; briefly, Lear, “Heartbeat,” 14. For Sabina’s story, see “Sabina: A Witness of Christ’s Love,” 109–58 in Voice of Martyrs, Hearts of Fire, for standing in a cupboard, 134; for Richard’s love for his informer, 156.

39 Prodan, Saving My Assassin, 304.

40 Prodan, Saving My Assassin, 298.

41 Yi, “My Declaration,” 224.

42 Yingqiang, “Face Persecution,” 230.

43 One widely circulating book in the charismatic movement at that time, the main thesis of which also positively influenced me, was by Methodist minister Merlin Carothers, Prison to Praise.

44 As rightly noted in Young, Walking, 6.

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