I am dead already

The point being, you cannot kill someone who is already dead. By that I mean, if you are dead to sin and alive to Christ, the world cannot kill you again.

Rev. Hossein Soodmand was such a man and in 1989 he was executed for apostasy. Although born a Muslim, Hossein had been a Christian for 25 years. He was an evangelist and the pastor of the Assemblies of God Church in Mashad. Despite pleas for clemency by fellow pastors to the Dayro-E-Tasalamat (an Ombudsman and Muslim cleric-literally, "he who hears the cries of the oppressed"), Hossein was hanged on the 3rd day of December at the insistence of the Ombudsman. He left a blind wife and four children.

Others thought this would frighten the believers but just the opposite happened. 

For example, Ramtin, the son of Hossein was thrown in jail himself in 2008.  Ramtin’s sister Rashin Soodmand, who lives in London, and gave this moving interview to the Telegraph while her brother was still in a Mashad prison. In it, she describes her father spurning a bargain to abandon his illicit denomination in exchange for his life.

Of course, my father refused to give up his faith … He could not renounce his God. His belief in Christ was his life — it was his deepest conviction.

Mehdi Dibaj spent nine years in prison and in that time he wrote this to his son --

"One of my guards in prison once asked me, "Does Jesus Christ know that He has someone in this prison who loves Him?" I told him, "Jesus Christ our Lord has millions of people all over the world who love Him and who wish to sacrifice their lives for Him. I too wish to be one of them."

Six months later they found the dead body of Mehdi Dibaj - he had been hanged.  A few days later the replacement for Bishop Haik was found - he had been shot in the head.

The church had doubled in size in the past six months after Bishop Haik's death.

Christians who consider themselves already dead have a tremendous liberation of spirit to do the work of the Lord without fear.