Jesus Freaks is a book of short stories united under a consistent theme. They are stories of people who have been persecuted for their Christian faith. The stories range from the time of the early church up until the 1980s-90s. It is a challenging book to read as you are reading through story after story of people being killed, tortured, and imprisoned for their faith. It forces one to face the reality of persecution that believers in places like the US and Europe don't have to deal with. Another unexpected challenge was the presence of love in many of these stories and how many of those being persecuted prayed for and loved those who were doing horrific things to them. It really should make us evaluate how we react to those who simply make fun of those who follow Christ or are simply not following Him themselves.

A couple of things set this book back for me. One is that it is just tough to go through story after story of persecution. It may be eye-opening and true, but it is not necessarily what I would call enjoyable reading. My other detraction is a nitpick. That is that in their handling of some of the 12 disciples they don't do a good job of letting us know that with some of the disciples the stories we have are not completely certain. It's a nitpick I know, but it bugged me for some reason.

I believe this book was meant to be put in my reading shelf. This book I felt was very educational it had opened my eyes to see that Christianity is not as strong as it should be and many people have and are still dying for the love of Jesus Christ. The book is great! I would not recommend you reading it through like I have it was made for you to read one story put it down and then read another later on. It started getting hard to read when I got towards the end. The book is very factual is why I think I had so much trouble with it. I feel that I understand Christianity a lot from the way these people die and endure all the torture without a blink of an eye. I have a lot more respect of those who do missionary work.

My husband thinks the way the book was manufactured was beautiful. It has faux weathered pages and aged cover.

This book was really an eye opener for me, I just always took it for granted that us Christians were a "guarded" or "protected" religion. I thought the Lord built a hedge around us, sort of like His chosen few? Well was I ever disillusioned! Christians suffer and die for their faith on a daily basis, and have been persecuted for centuries, I've been blinded by the freedom of religion, and the blessings of living in a free country. It appears the church needs some miraculous help, and more than a few spiritual warriors.

My son read the original version of this book and, to my knowledge, he still possesses it. I received this book from the publisher for my honest review and opinion.
A Jesus Freak is one who is willing to for Jesus no matter what. As I read each of the stories they would lead me to reflect if I would do whatever it takes for my faith in Jesus. Would I be willing to lay down my life for Him? This is such a powerful book I believe each of the stories should be read and thought about. This makes it a book I would recommend to the highest level.

I am so glad that this book was revised. Thank you to Bethany House for providing me this book and thank you to dc Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs for being willing to bring this book back.

This was a book about events that took place involving the martyrdom of Christians. It doesn't really have a storyline or characters. It just list over and over different people who sacrificed their lives for what they believed in. It shows the courage and even humility of people who were here before us. Whether religion is deep in your heart, I still find it a moving book just for the sake that these people gave up their lives no matter what the punishment would be, and in my opinion that is heroic.

Lots of stories of people dying for their faith. Both present and past, however some of the accuracy of the details of some historical stories is questionable. Despite being written almost 20 years ago, the countries guide at the end of the book is really interesting.

Even though it was an amazing book full of great examples of young people laying down their lives for their faith, I couldn't help but notice that it was "dumbed down" for teens. The writing could have been much, much, better. I think VOTM book, "Tortured for Christ" is a much better choice.

i loved it!! it inspires me to stand up for God no matter what&&not to be afraid to speak my mind!! my fav story in this is about saul[paul]. because he stood there&&watched while a bunch of men killed steven&&he pretty much hated christians too&&all of a sudden the next thing you know, hes a diciple!! one thing i so cant stand is how we[america] can sit here&&buyy all this crapp from china, who is a communist country&&be angry about the prices they charge us or whatever but not fricken care about all those people they kill over there for believing in God!! we are murderers!! maybe WE dont kill those innocent people, but we dont do anything to stop them either!!
arrg!! all this makes me so angry!! how can we let them get away with this??

wow, this book was pretty intense. It was an easy read, each page had a story about a person who would not renounce Jesus and the price they paid for it. I was amazed at how current some of the stories were and also how long this has been going on and still continues today! It makes me feel ridiculous for not always standing up for what I should....

I was expecting much more from this book. The cover and book design is terrific! That initially drew me to the book. There are wonderful quotes posted here and there that I copied down in my journal. I enjoyed finding out about people that I hadn't heard of before, which leads me to my main problem with the book. Most of the stories were very limited in details other than the grotesque torture and executions that these people endured. I would have liked to know more about the individual's beliefs and what exactly they were taking a stand on. Some stories did get into that info, but most did not. I was especially curious about the people tortured and executed by the Church of England. It did lead me to do research on the people in question. I also noticed that some of the stories were made more interesting with details that were most likely made up. Some stories were more myth in which no one really knows what happened. The writing style was too simplistic and amateur for my taste.
The back of the book contains a list of countries and a brief description of their stand against Christians. Since the book was written in the 90s, it is very interesting to research these countries to see where they stand now. I looked up the website for the non-profit to support martyrs and Christians who are persecuted around the world and it looks like they are still going strong.
The book does good in showing how faith can withstand a great deal of pain by focusing on the Kingdom of Heaven. In America today, we rarely have to experience persecution. That's why you hear Americans complain that they are being persecuted when they pick up their coffee at Starbucks and it doesn't have a Christmas tree design on the side. I marvel at the Christians in this book who had scripture memorized because they weren't allowed to have a bible, but so many American Christians don't even read the many bibles they have lying around their homes. The persecuted are truly the blessed ones.

This book was recommended to me a few yrs back by my pastor. It states it is geared towards teens and I did have my teenager read it as required reading after I read it. This is a phenomenal book I think all believers should read. The stories are true,gripping you from page one. The stories are short but powerful. The book tells about courageous men and women of all ages who took a stand for Christ from around the world. The courage these brothers and sisters displayed was nothing short of remarkable. They gave their lives for Christ! This is happening today! Jesus was not kidding when he said “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:18-19) At first I thought this book may be a bit depressing due to the torture/killing of these courageous souls...however it had just the opposite effect. The stories are uplifting and strengthened my faith deeply. I'm looking forward to reading the second book soon....

Humbling, inspiring, and deeply emotional collection of accounts. Not for the faint of heart, but a fair warning of the potential earthly cost of putting your faith ahead of all else.

This is not light reading, nor is it aimed at entertaining, and that ought to be taken into consideration. I read it at a dark time in my life, and while I can't exactly call it uplifting, I didn't see it as depressing either. These are people who had a hope that transcended this short and limited existence. And that, in turn, gave me hope and perspective.