17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

 In recent years there have been world wars such as never before witnessed. The slaughter of 6 million Jews is still mind boggling when humanity was in the hands of evil unleashed. Yet more people have been killed since that time under communistic rule of Stalin in Russia and Mao in China than the mind can imagine. There were not means to publicly expose them.  Jesus says Christians throughout the end times will be persecuted.

On the website, Persecution.org they reported this week local sources revealed the massacre of 70 Christians in Africa’s DRC’s eastern Lubero Territory near the country’s border with Uganda and Rwanda. Members of the militia reportedly detained many Christian villagers before tying them up in a local protestant church and decapitating them with machetes. pastors in North Kivu province told International Christian Concern (ICC) that the violence often targets Christians and has decimated churches.

“We are no longer talking about simple violence,” one pastor said. “We are losing fellow innocent Christians time and again. Our churches are now remaining empty…. the people of the Lord are suffering, and it’s just not bearable to watch.”

U.N. peacekeepers in the country are working to protect hundreds of thousands of displaced persons but have experienced increasing difficulty in executing their mission in recent weeks because of rebel advances.

Pray for peace and for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Pray for those who, because of their faith in the Lord, face discrimination, imprisonment and death. One Christian brother in India told me don’t pray for the stopping of persecution, but that those facing suffering will be a strong witness for Jesus. Pray they keep the faith in suffering,

Application:  Pray throughout the day for those being persecuted.  If one suffers, we all suffer as the body of Christ.  

Prayer:  Lord, it is hard not to pray for the stop of persecution, yet we are asked above all to pray that those in these situations will be give strong opportunity to witness for You!  Strengthen them and deepen their faith!