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The Word...Epistle 1.6...Courageous Frontliners Let us recall those of the Early Church whom we often read about, but very seldom consider the outcome of their lives. Let’s meditate the price they paid to follow Jesus and to carry His Gospel in their lifetime, and imagine what would it be like if we were in their shoes instead. What makes us think that in our days we are so special and spiritual that we don’t have to go through the same things they endured? May their lives be a living sermon to us today: Matthew faced martyrdom in Ethiopia . He died by a sword wound. Mark was killed in Alexandria , Egypt . He was dragged by horses through the streets until he died. Luke was hanged in Greece because of his bold preaching to the lost. John was boiled in a big basin of boiling oil during a time of persecution in Rome . However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos . He wrote the book of Revelation there. He was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully. Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross because he told his tormentors that he was unworthy to die the same way as his Blessed Lord. James, the leader of the Church in Jerusalem , was pushed and fell a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his Lord. Because he survived the fall, his enemies beat him to death with a fuller’s club. This was the same pinnacle of the Temple where Satan tempted Jesus (Luke 4:9). James, a son of Zebedee, a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him, was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem . The Roman officer who guarded James watch amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the same officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian. Hallelujah! Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia . He preached in present day Turkey , and was martyred in Armenia when he was flayed to death by a whip. Andrew was crucified on a X-shaped cross in Patras , Greece . After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led to the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words, “I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.” He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired. Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent. Jude, the brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. Matthias, the apostle who replaced the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and beheaded. Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, wrote the epistle of Barnabas. He preached throughout Italy and Cyprus . He was stoned to death at Salonica. Paul, the one who wrote most of the epistles in the New Testament, was tortured and then beheaded by the ruthless emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. He endured a lengthy imprisonment that allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he formed throughout the Roman Empire . With a burning heart, I pray we would all come to know our Lord Jesus Christ as intimately as these early apostles had. To be willing to pay the great price they paid to maintain and fulfill the Spirit and the Word in their lives. They loved not their lives even when they had to face torment, agony and death. They gave their all. Oh, what love and devotion they had for their Lord Jesus! May we also burn with such passion! shagged on 4/25/2009 12:13:00 PM Comments: Post a Comment