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.

The first episode of The Voice of the Martyrs podcast, Persecution Podcast, has just gone live. Listen to news and information on the persecuted church with hosts Todd Nettleton, Mark Sheppard and Mary Sue Leigh. Please check out the program and give us feedback on what you think and what you would like to hear in the future.

The following comes from our friends at VOM Canada. Please remember to pray for Indonesian believers, as they suffer tremendously for their faith in Jesus.

This story was found on Crosswalk.coms Religion Page today and I thought the statistics were very interesting considering all the controversy under Musharraf.

A few days ago I mentioned that a ministry team got held up in China because they were trying to bring bibles into China illegally. Today there is a follow up story at the BillingsGazette.com website. Here's a few snips...

I just got home from my vacation in Australia yesterday and when I was away I was totally hoping that I would receive my Olympic prayer band from The Voice of the Martyrs, but guess what - I haven't yet! :)

Our partners at Release International sent out a unique “prayer-a-day” for the month of August. This has something you can pray for China for every day in August. I encourage you print this out and use these prayers each day. You can start any day you like. It will only take a few minutes, and imagine how you can impact the world by bringing China before our all-powerful God. Here are the prayers for Day 21 through Day 26.

The following story was found on FoxNews.com

UPDATED: Todd did not appear on Janet's show after all. Last night when I wrote this post it was listed at Janet's site and this morning (here in Australia) I see that Janet didn't have Todd on. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please watch the video below.

Here is another great entry from the best selling book Extreme Devotion!