History of Spirit of Martyrdom

In the beginning of David Witt’s speaking ministry with The Voice of the Martyrs, the Lord spoke to his heart that he should engage the Body of Christ with the three greatest gifts of the spirit. They are faith, hope and love. Throughout the past ten years God has shown how genuine love is a spirit of martyrdom. This fruit of the spirit was illustrated powerfully by Tio in Indonesia who asked God in his last words to not punish but forgive the Muslim gunman who murdered him. God strengthen David’s understanding of faith by the faithful lives of overcoming persecuted believers. One Iraqi pastor was a mighty example of this faith. He was arrested by Saddam Hussien’s secret police for his Christian witness. He was beaten, tortured and interrogated. He continued to share Christ’s love to the Muslim inmates. He said, “God spoke to me and told me that if I would be faithful to speak His name inside of prison then I would be faithful to speak His name outside of prison. Last of all, David met believers who held on with hope and vision for the Kingdom of God when few others had any hope. A wonderful example of this kind of hope was found in Egypt. The Muslim background believers have found hope in the prophecy of Isaiah 19:23-25. This prophecy speaks of the day when a highway of worship and peace will come to this area of the Middle East. God will pour out his blessing upon Egypt, Israel and Iraq. The followers of Christ believe they are preparing for this day. They told David that the highway will be built by the blood of the martyrs. Their hope is contagious and inspires great courage.

The week before the 911 attacks David was at the office of The Voice of the Martyrs for meetings. An international lawyer, who was a Muslim and now is a believer in Jesus Christ, was briefing the staff on Islam. He has much of the Qur’an memorized. He reported to the staff that there are over 3,000 Islamic organizations in the United States alone. Islam is infiltrating the United States with propaganda in every major sector of society including millions of dollars in universities, school systems, libraries, media, and government. He outlined the belief of Islam and the teaching of jihad and warned the VOM staff of impending danger in America. His teachings were alarming. That weekend David spoke at various churches in another state and pondered the report he had been given regarding the growth of fundamental Islam. David traveled back home late Monday night. Tuesday morning, on September 11^th, he woke up with a call from a friend who told him to turn on the television to see the present attack happening in New York and then Washington, DC.

God has taught David well that there are no coincidences, but only God incidences. Considering the warning David had been given just a few days before and now seeing jihad unleashed before his eyes, was a wakeup call. He felt the Lord calling him to begin to study Islam and become informed so that he could teach and equip the Body of Christ around the world.

David felt the Lord speak, “David, American Christians have fallen into fear. Go preach my message and set them free.” The message God had already given him was on the topic of “spirit of martyrdom” since the beginning days that he had joined the staff of The Voice of the Martyrs in 1998. From the start of working with VOM, he began to preach in churches on Biblical and current Christian martyrdom. As he traveled around the world serving persecuted Christians, he witnessed overcoming love, courageous faith, and unbending hope with forgiveness for their enemies. The Holy Spirit continued to open up his eyes to see the Biblical principles alive in these precious believers. They were living martyrs with a fearless love that comes from the spirit of Christ. About this time, Sabina Wurmbrand, a Romanian Jewish background believer in Jesus, and co-founder of The Voice of the Martyrs said to me, “Martyrs do not make truth, but truth makes martyrs.”

The Bible tells us that in the end times the love of most will wax cold. It is fear that waxes love cold. We live in days of terrorism. Love overcomes terrorism. Biblical love is martyrdom. Jesus demonstrated sacrificial love and died for His enemies. He invites us to pick up our cross and be known for our sacrificial love. This is the message David began to discover in his own life from global visits to the persecuted Church and personal studies. In his research, he found very few books written on Biblical martyrdom. He also found that there was a lack of concise teaching on Islamic martyrdom in the western culture.

From 2001 to 2004, David began to teach on Islam, jihad, and witnessing the Gospel to Muslims. Also, he would teach on Biblical martyrdom in context with the persecuted Christian Church around the world. Christianity is the number one persecuted minority in the world and Islamic nations are the leading persecutors. Presently, The Voice of the Martyrs lists 32 Islamic controlled nations that restrict Christian freedom and are hostile to the Gospel. If the institutional Church in America is to be effective in ministry to persecuted Christians in Islamic nations, Christians must understand the world view that supports the human rights violations. Now America is under spiritual and physical attack from the same philosophy that supports persecution of Christians. In this environment, David has found Churches very hungry to receive teaching regarding these issues.

In 2004, David was led to begin writing his first book, The Spirit of Martyrdom; Fearless Love. He had developed a dear friendship with Dr. Mujahid El Masih from Pakistan. Dr Masih and David had taught together on Islam many times. David asked him if he would collaborate in the writing of the book. Dr Masih’s teaching on jihad was the best David had found anywhere. They wanted to write one book that Christians could read which gave them an understandable premise of the teaching and danger within Islam, and specifically the Islamic teaching regarding jihad. Yet, they wanted to do so with a spirit of love to equip the Church to witness the Gospel to Muslims. David and Dr Masih saw the contrast between Islamic martyrdom and Biblical martyrdom and how these two specific subjects were the perfect springboard to bring all these issues together. They had to write the book in between their busy schedules speaking and traveling for The Voice of the Martyrs. David’s wife Cindy helped edit the book and they would sometimes wake up at 4:00 a.m. to begin their work. This book was a three year process and a labor of love. In 2007, Casscom Media offered to produce The Spirit of Martyrdom as an audio book. The president of Casscom Media and his staff shared that this project was very significant and timely. They rushed it into production and in November 2007 they completed the audio book and began to distribute it.

In December 20, 2007 Spirit of Martyrdom was incorporated as a non-profit ministry. On April 1, 2008 David moved from staff with The Voice of the Martyrs. He continues to serve The Voice of the Martyrs as a volunteer Associate Representative today while serving Spirit of Martyrdom ministries full time as the Chief Executive Officer.