nstead of the numbers decreasing they are actually increasing to the point where we currently don`t have just 8000 Anointed we actually have over 18000 claiming to be Anointed with the heavenly hope.
where did you find that , the year book ? I firmly believe it's a literal martyrdom not the symbolic one they claim . Probably wont happen until the GT and mark of the beast stuff happens .Some of those probably legit , many called few chosen . If they died of natural causes in the first century they were believed to have sinned and not confessed , like the story of Ananias , the early apostles were pretty indestructible , the apostle paul ways beaten left for dead a couple times , survived a ship wreck and the bite of a deadly snake , thrown off a cliff ... still moved on to being fed to the lions