Jeff King's New Book "The Whisper” Shares Life-Changing Lessons from Persecuted Christians

International Christian Concern (persecution.org) President Jeff King's new devotional book, The Whisper: Lessons of Renewal Whispered from the Prisons of the Persecuted Church - a 30-Day Devotional, shares the deep spiritual lessons he has learned from the persecuted Christians around the world over the past 21 years. "I have been working on this book for a long time," said King.

As King explains, "For years, the Lord urged me to listen to the persecuted. To learn their lessons and shout them to the world. 'The Whisper' is my attempt to fulfill that charge, to pass on to readers a few profound and life-changing lessons that were whispered to me by those imprisoned, tortured, and murdered for their faith - the persecuted church."

"After a decade of being exposed to the persecuted. . . I began to understand the connection between persecution and church growth. I understood why and how 'the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church' (Tertullian). I finally understood the life-giving whisper of the persecuted uttered from their prisons and graves. Paradoxically, it was a message of renewal, victory, and great hope."

One of the core lessons of the persecuted church is the hidden connection between suffering and life transformation. 

"Twenty years ago, I interviewed several pastors in China who had spent decades tortured for their faith in concentration camps. We had gone to great lengths to hide from the secret police because association with me would have put them back in prison.

"When I asked them about persecution, they told me it was a gift. 

"They told me their biggest worry was regarding the younger pastors they mentored. 

"'What worries you about them?' I asked.

"'Our worry is that they haven't been hunted, tortured, and murdered like we have been,' they answered.

"They had my attention.

"Those Chinese pastors gave me a gift that took years to unwrap. I wrote this book to share with you the treasure that persecuted Christians have given me. I want you to hear and learn from them as I have."

King details how he was drawn from a young age to those who suffered greatly. Long before he was a Christian, he was strangely drawn to reading autobiographies such as The Gulag Archipelago, and Man's Search for Meaning, which dealt with great suffering that led to spiritual growth. It was out of character for the self-described "party boy and joker," who, while in college, "majored in finance but minored in beer."

"In these accounts, I could see a clear connection between great suffering and unbelievable spiritual transformation," King says. He became a Christian at the end of college and after working several years in corporate and mortgage banking, he was called into ministry Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU), where he worked in international ministry for eleven years.

"In 2003, I was called to work with International Christian Concern (ICC), through the means of a miraculous dream." He was "dropped into a foreign world where ordinary Christians suffered horrendous torture and even murder simply because they were Christians." 

The teachings of the persecuted church are a blessing for all readers because even though Western believers aren't imprisoned for their faith, they all find themselves. . .

"In the prison of exhaustion, loneliness, anxiety, disease, financial struggle, or divorce. Like the persecuted, you know what it is to be in prison without the strength to endure your sentence. This is why you must journey with those who have suffered the most and been transformed in the process. They will teach you where you can find the manna they lived off during decades of deprivation.

"They will show you where they found the light in their long journey through the dark. Their lessons will become a light, a compass, and a map for your journey through life. The persecuted and the martyrs are about to start whispering to you as they did me. They are going to change you, as they did me. And soon, I think you'll say, 'They taught me what it really means to be a Christian.'"

"It all starts with asking the Lord to give you the ears to hear the life-changing lessons whispered to you from the cells and graves (of the persecuted)."

All profits from the sale of The Whisper: Lessons of Renewal Whispered from the Prisons of the Persecuted Church go to support the families of martyrs and the book will be available in the next few weeks on Amazon.

Jeff King has served as ICC President since 2003 and is one of the world's top experts on religious persecution. He has advocated for the persecuted everywhere, including small and large churches, the State Department, and the halls of Congress. Jeff has testified before the U.S. Congress on religious freedom. He has been interviewed by numerous leading media outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

This is King's third book; his previous works include Islam Uncensored: 14 Leaders: Liberals, Conservatives, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, Christians, & A Former CIA Director Reveal: What The Government & Media Won't Tell You About Islam, and Last Words of the Martyrs: Life Changing Spiritual Lessons from Believers Who Paid the Ultimate Price.

Since 1995, ICC has served the global persecuted church through a three-pronged approach of assistance, advocacy, and awareness. ICC exists to bandage the wounds of persecuted Christians and to build the church in the toughest parts of the world. Visit the International Christian Concern media page here. Learn more about International Christian Concern at its website, www.persecution.org, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube pages.

 

 

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