A martyr is not simply someone who dies for his faith.
“The cause, not the suffering, makes a genuine martyr.” —–St. Augustine
A martyr is one “who has become an instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom.” —–T. S. Eliot
In original Greek, “martyr” means “witness.”
“. . . we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses [martyrs], . . . ” —–Hebrews, His Book
“You shall be witnesses [martyrs] to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” —–Jesus
The time has now come when Christians in America also experience what Jesus promised:
“Blessed are you when people revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
(The promise that Islamic killers die for—70 virgins in glory—is one more appealing counterfeit of the devil.)