Great Story!
But muzzies are doing this very thing in churches in Africa and the Middle east this very day, and not a whole lot of people leave. In fact hardly any of them do. Sometimes the evil ones burn down the church with the entire congregation INSIDE.
So while that apocryphal story may have stirred hearts from the pulpit a few years ago, now it is the stories of the Copts, Catholics, Orthodox, and Evangelicals who die with Jesus on their lips that will inspire us to faithfulness.
Lukewarm, laodician churches need not apply.
BTW... here is a great “apocryphal” story from WW2. A bunch of hard-boiled soldiers land on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. A group of very ferocious looking natives meet them on the beach. The chief says “Are you Christians?”
The head of the military group says “Naw..we don’t believe in that old fashioned stuff!”
“Good thing for you, we old fashioned” says the chief. “Otherwise we EAT you!”
:-)
You’re right - we should all be inspired by the stories of Christian perseverance in the Middle East and Africa.
We’ve been supporters of Voice of the Martyrs for a long time.