Anutza Moise was a close family friend of Rev. Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand.  Her short book, A Ransom for Wurmbrand, tells of her personal experience with them before, during and after their imprisonments. In the conclusion to her book, she wrote a simple, yet powerful ending:

We must work ceaselessly to help those oppressed by the communists, and at the same time to win the communists and atheists for Christ.  We must also awaken our fellow Christians and those of other religions (A Ransom for Wurmbrand, 126).

Even though this book was published over forty-years ago, Moise recognized that the church around the world was “sleeping” and that the answer was somehow related to sharing the stories of suffering and martyred Christians.  In other words, their faithfulness in the midst of persecution inspires and equips Christians to live out their own faith in whatever context they are living.  Martyrs’ stories are not a way to promote emotions of pity in the church but rather a way to inspire Christians to imitate those who have given their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Moise went on to say,

There is only one way to do this: by allowing ourselves to be so filled with the Spirit of our Lord and Master in every part of our lives that we cannot fail to draw many after us (126).

The Holy Spirit that’s present in our own lives is just as important as the Holy Spirit’s presence in the lives of the martyrs.  We don’t awaken anyone with emotional stories, chic newsletters, or well-designed PowerPoints. Moise closed by saying that fulfilling this calling

Is the task of the many, the small, the weak, the insignificant, whose duty it is simply to get on with the job which lies to hand. God used me, one of His smallest, to ransom the Wurmbrands.  In their turn, they, two of His giants, have been used by Him to start a might work whose results cannot be calculated this side of Heaven (126).

The work of Voice of the Martyrs is not meant only for leaders like Rev. Wurmbrand or Rev. Foley, but it’s meant for you and me.  And the challenging and inspiring stories of the martyrs are not meant only to be read by folks like us, but they are meant to teach us obedience, faithfulness and boldness. That is true in both the lives of the giants and the small, the weak, and the insignificant.