The Bible reads in the end time there will be a lot of believers who will be martyred for Jesus’ sake: (Revelation 20:4) “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

This is not the mindset of a lot of Christians in the west, especially with the focus-on-self-prosperity preaching popular in many churches. The fact is, the vast majority of Christians in the west have never faced persecution or the possibility of martyrdom for Jesus’ sake. From what I have gathered is that the early church grew rapidly in the midst of persecution and martyrdom until Constantine married the church with Rome. Could this be one of the possible reason why there has been no real revival in the west? In the 2nd century, Tertullian that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church (Apologeticus, Chapter 50).”  The more Christians were persecuted, the more Christianity spread. To make martyrs of Christians does nothing more than to spread the message of the eternal Gospel. I guess when unbelievers see Christians suffering or dying for their faith, it ignites interest because most people will only go through so much unless they knew it was true.

One writer wrote:

Letter to Diognetus, AD 80 – 200

“Christians … love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.  They are poor, yet make many rich;  they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless;  they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life. They are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.” (ch. 5)

“Don’t you see them exposed to wild beasts for the purpose of persuading them to deny the Lord, yet they are not overcome? Don’t you see that the more of them that are punished, the greater the number of the rest becomes? This does not seem to be the work of man. This is the power of God. These are the evidences of his appearance.” (ch. 7)

“When you despise that which is considered to be death here, then you shall fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who shall be condemned to the eternal fire, which shall afflict to the end those that are committed to it. Then shall you admire those who for righteousness’ sake endure the fire that is but for a moment, and you shall count them happy when you understand that fire.” (ch. 10)

Another wrote:

Ignatius of Antioch, AD 110

“The believing have, in love, the character of God the Father by Jesus Christ, by whom, if we are not in readiness to die into his suffering, his life is not in us.” (Letter to the Magnesians 5)

“May I enjoy the wild beasts that are prepared for me. I pray that they would be found eager to rush at me, and I will also entice them to devour me speedily and not deal with me as some, whom out of fear they have not touched. If they are unwilling to assail me, I will compel them to do so. Pardon me; I know what is to my benefit. Now I begin to be a disciple. Let no one, of things visible or invisible, prevent me from attaining to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the cross; let wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocation of bones; let cutting off of limbs; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the evil torments of the devil come upon me; only let me attain to Jesus Christ.” (Letter to the Romans 5)

And another wrote:

Justin Martyr, c. AD 150

“And when you hear that we look for a kingdom, you suppose, without making any inquiry, that we speak of a human kingdom. Instead, we speak of that which is with God, as can be shown from the confession of their faith made by those who are charged with being Christians, even though they know that death is the punishment awarded to those who so confess. For if we looked for a human kingdom, we would deny our Christ, so that we might not be killed. We would try to escape detection, so that we might obtain what we hope for. But since our thoughts are not fixed on the present, we are not concerned when men cut us off; since death is a debt which must at all events be paid.” (First Apology 11)

They must have really taken into heart what Jesus said that “…fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28

In the Book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had so much love and faith for God they were willing to be burned alive in a fiery furnace (Dan. Ch. 3) and this was long before Jesus sent the gift of the Holy Spirit – the Helper. Do a lot of Christians in the west have that much love and faith for God?

What’s interesting is that Jesus actually says who suffer for His namesake are blessed: “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” – Matthew 10:39

Paul wrote: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;” – Philippians 1:29

The followers of Jesus actually rejoiced when they suffered for their Lord: “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” – Acts 19:6

Do we love our life so much that we made it an idol? Are we willing to give it up for Jesus? “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” -Matthew 10:39

I guess Joel Osteen got it wrong. Our best life shouldn’t be now.