Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Persecuted by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, Nina Shea

Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, Nina Shea is s newly published book that brings to light the persecution of Christians worldwide- often overlooked by those who take Western freedoms for granted.  Who would imagine the punishment that people endure simply because they are Christians.  Even more incredible is that these faithful believers endure it, rather than to renounce their faith.

Persecution of Christians did not end in ancient Rome with the apostles and early converts.  widescale persecution: torture, imprisonment, rape and execution still occurs in countless countires all over the world.  This books systematically covers those nations that punish and persecute Christians.  Anecdotes and stories of these persecutions is provided to. This is not simply a book of facts, although numbers and statistics are included.  This book covers stories of real people and families, with their names and where they live.  This book is about real people and events occurring right this very moment.  It is not about past history, but current events that you will never get to hear about in the newspaper. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular region such as the post communist countries formerly known as Russia, South Asia, Muslim countries and Africa.  More indepth attention is dedicated to the Muslim countries going into detail about government policies and terrorism. This is the one resource to turn to for any information on Christian persecution. Extensive notes provides sources adding to the validity of the material for those critics. This book is not casual reading although it is written so that a layman can understand.

Although the book recognizes that there are a number of Christian denominations ranging from Roman Catholic, to protestant to non denominational evangelical churches, distinctions are not made when Christian persecution is an issue as members from all denominations are persecuted indiscriminately at the hands of tyrannical regimes, governments and terrorist groups.   "Christian worship services vary and traditions are stunningly different... our churches are united in belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior" page 5 As part of the ecumenical movement to focus on what unifies the various denominations, this book is not biased against one denomination or another.  The author's recognize that when it comes to persecution, it is not a time to be divisive about theology.  As a blogger for booksneeze I received a copy of this book published by Thomas Nelson for the purpose of writing this review.

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