This is a great book for someone new to Christianity, because it tells the stories of some modern-day and older martyrs. The book presents the stories in little snapshots of the moments when these people stood up for Jesus even in the face of death or torture. Some of the stories have the potential to be very moving, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is unfamiliar with the sheer heroism and love for God that martyrdom portrays.

However, the language is dumbed-down and the stories lack the background of the person who gives up their life for God. In the end, I think I'd rather read the biography of just one person than the snapshot of the one moment of martyrdom simply because it helps you to understand why they made that choice and all the good they'd done ("white" martyrdom) leading up to it. I guess my main complaint is that the stories felt to me like I was missing too much.

Jesus Freaks by DC Talk and Voice of the Martyrs is about how people were martyrs for believing in Christ. Most start with them having to hide due to their faith otherwise known as religious persecution. The middle is the story on what happened to them that led them to their death. Most end with a sad explanation of how they were executed, but some have miraculous survival stories.
One example of the good ending is a guy sent to be boiled alive in oil but God protected him then the king had him burned but he still managed to survive the flames. This shows that he believed in God and his God protected him. One with a bad ending is this guy who was arrested for his belief in Jesus Christ and was sentenced to be burned at the steak and was tied to it and was burned alive and the whole time until completely died he prayed.

Jesus Freaks is a collection of 1-2 page, very short, biographies of Christian martyrs throughout history. For what it is, it's decent. It's certainly not an in-depth look at each person's life; usually each story focuses on the events immediately leading to the person's death. If you are looking to get a broad understanding of Christian martyrdom throughout history without much detail, this is a good read. Many of the older stories are from Foxe's Book of Martyrs. The book is printed in conjunction with Voice of the Martyrs, so it has a tinge of their agenda, too.

I stopped reading this book pretty early on. It seems like it was primarily written for 15-year-olds, which is, by no coincidence, how old I was when it was published. I'm sure that it was marketed to 15 year old me and some part of my brain put it down as, "You should probably read this book some day."

But don't read it when you're 30 and more cynical than your 15 year old self.

That said, stories of people standing up for what they believe in can be encouraging. What is less encouraging is the attitude that everybody who is not a Christian must be some terrorist, bent on destroying Christianity. Just because someone is a Muslim or a Communist doesn't make them anti-Christian. The "Us Vs. Them" attitude of this book turned me away early on.

This review is from my blog: http://mrsundquist.blogspot.com/2013/...

Absolutely amazing book. I read it as a teenager and it was a life changer. Stories of death, life, courage and love. The ability of people to love and be joyous while facing death is a very strong motivator to those of us who are not facing death to love and be happy. No matter how bad your life is, it could always be worse.

Jesus Freaks is a book that describes martyrs and how they came to be classified as such. The book follows the path of Christian martyrs from the time of Christ up to modern day believers. The book gives individual stories of those that have been persecuted all over the world. It also contains information on the Christian presence in other countries today and how you can make a difference.

I am thankful that I live in America where I can practice the Christian religion. After reading this book, I have a new found appreciation for my freedom of religion. I am amazed at how modern day Christians must suffer in other areas of the world in order to practice and share their beliefs.

Christians continue to be persecuted for their beliefs around the world. More Christians were killed in the 20th century than all of history prior to that century! This book is a bit graphic, but the stories within the pages make you realize how important it is to pray for Christians in other countries.

This book is pretty amazing. Contrary to being depressing, it is actually extremely encouraging, and humbling as well. It really, really opened my eyes to the plight of many Christians worldwide, and I just can't believe that people have gone through this type of thing.

One criticism I had was that I think some of the stories belonged more to the realm of Christian legend than historical truth, but most of them weren't like that. Great read, and it really helps to bring you into an awareness of the persecuted church in both ancient and modern times.

This book is often marketed to young adults, but I think that's more because older adults often give up a lot of the zeal for God that comes with youth. It's just too easy for us (especially in the well-off, consumerist west) to forget or blow off any idea that there really are times when we might have to literally give up everything - our family, our religious community, or home, even our life - because someone more powerful than us demands it.

This book is a collection of short (1-2 page) stories, letters, and so on, each providing a glimpse into a life-event of someone who had to make a hard choice to stand for Jesus no matter what. Reading these stories is meant to inspire and teach us from the examples of others who did it right by hanging on to Jesus and Jesus alone, through even the hardest trial of their lives.

The only thing I do not like about the book is the feathered pages. Sure, it's pretty and "cool" looking, but it makes it a real pain to turn pages as you're reading.

Empowering and inspiring stories from persecuted Christians around the world that make me question my faith walk and just how much and far I would and should go in the name of Jesus.

While I read and own the oldest edition there are several other reprints of it that probably contain different, but no less empowering stories of extreme faith, so I highly recommend anyone and everyone to read any edition of this book because this is how all Christians should be no matter where we live or in what way we are or aren’t persecuted for our faith.

This book started me on the true path of releasing everything for the sake of Christ and His plan for me. I cried, I yelled, I screamed then I understood.

300 pages of the same kind of story from the past 2,000 years. Incredible, inspirational, and awesome (in every sense of the word 'awe') real-life stories, but the monotony of it began to make each story feel less and less incredible since they were all told in the same way, same structure, same outcome.

It's a quick read, but take your time, otherwise you'll be underwhelmed with the similarities as I was rather than awed in more episodic chunks as the format can lend itself to.