Bearing Witness, by Charles E. Moore and Timothy Keiderling. with a giveaway

What does it cost to follow Jesus? For these men and women, the answer was clear. They were ready to give witness to Christ in the face of intense persecution, even if it cost them their lives. From the stoning of Stephen to Nigerian Christians persecuted by Boko Haram today, these stories from around the world and through the ages will inspire greater faithfulness to the way of Jesus, reminding us what costly discipleship looks like in any age. 

Since the birth of Christianity, the church has commemorated those who suffered for their faith in Christ. In the Anabaptist tradition especially, stories of the boldness and steadfastness of early Christian and Reformation-era martyrs have been handed down from one generation to the next through books such as Thieleman van Braght s "Martyrs Mirror" (1660). Yet the stories of more recent Christian witnesses are often unknown. 

"Bearing Witness" tells the stories of early Christian martyrs Stephen, Polycarp, Justin, Agathonica, Papylus, Carpus, Perpetua, Tharacus, Probus, Andronicus, and Marcellus, followed by radical reformers Jan Hus, Michael and Margaretha Sattler, Weynken Claes, William Tyndale, Jakob and Katharina Hutter, Anna Janz, Dirk Willems. But the bulk of the book focuses on little-known modern witness including Veronika Lohans, Jacob Hochstetler, Gnadenhutten, Joseph and Michael Hofer, Emanuel Swartzendruber, Regina Rosenberg, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, Johann Kornelius Martens, Ahn Ei Sook, Jakob Rempel, Clarence Jordan, Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, Tulio Pedraza, Stanimir Katanic, Samuel Kakesa, Kasai Kapata, Meserete Kristos Church, Sarah Corson, Alexander Men, Jose Chuquin, Norman Tattersall, Katherine Wu, and Ekklesiyar Yan uwa a Nigeria. 

This book is part of the Bearing Witness Stories Project, a collaborative story-gathering project involving Anabaptist believers from many different traditions."


My review:

  Occasionally I run across a book that I believe all Christians should read; and this is one such book. The book is very well written and goes from martyrs in the early church to modern day Christians and the persecution they face.

 This is a fascinating, convicting, and a bit scary of a read. I am familiar with some of these stories, but it was still amazing to me what these Christians went through instead of denying Christ, and what the Catholic Church did to those who dared read the Bible in English or teach adult Baptism. As I read these stories, I found myself wondering how well myself and other American Christians would do in the face of true persecution and threats of loss of life. The idea scares me a bit. I was also convicted of my shallowness and felt a new resolve to deepen my walk with Christ,


Courtesy of FlyBy Promotions, I have one copy of Bearing Witness to give away.

To enter, simply comment on this post. I will pick a winner 10 days from today on June 3 using Random.org.