When the boy in the hotel finally spotted the visiting “businessman,” he ran to him and grabbed his hand. The startled visitor tried to pull away but soon realized that the boy was making the sign of the cross on his palm silently with his finger. The man, a missionary who had prayed to make contact with the church, looked down into the face of the rail-thin boy and immediately understood the message: “The church is alive in North Korea!”

Sebastian walked through the halls of the palace daily. He had worked hard to get to this position in the royal guard, but once he had gotten to Rome, he restrained himself from the idolatrous lifestyle of imperial Rome. He only wanted to serve Christ wholeheartedly.

The godless professor smiled at the photo of Lenin hanging next to the door and then stepped up to the pitcher of water sitting on a table. He pulled out a packet of powder, and as he slowly poured it in, the water turned red.

The ropes at his wrists and ankles stretched further until Roman Christian Vincent felt his arms pull out of his shoulder sockets and his hips come out of joint.

Nikolai Khamara was arrested for robbery and imprisoned for ten years. Khamara watched the Christians and wondered what kind of beings they were. They were men, but they would show joy despite their suffering and would sing in very dark hours. When they had a piece of bread, they shared it with someone who had none. Their faces would shine as they spoke to someone whom Khamara could not see.

To Dinh Trung has put hundreds of miles on his bicycle, traveling bumpy dirt roads to minister to the K’Ho tribe. This is one of sixty tribes in Vietnam that the government forbids visitors to evangelize. As he entered the village on April 4, 1995, police suddenly pulled him off his bicycle and started to beat him. They videotaped him and ridiculed him in front of the villagers.

The Commission

Carpus was nailed to the stake, and as the flames took hold of him, he joyfully prayed, “Praise be to thee, O Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, that thou didst deem me, a sinner, also worthy to die a martyr as you did!” Then he gave up his soul to heaven.