How to Live with Persecution as a Believer

Persecution and light

By records in stories and history, many Christians, including the apostles and disciples of Jesus faced intense persecution. They faced cold cruelty for the sake of the Faith.
 

The Death of the Apostles

Working and walking with Jesus during His time on earth did not prevent certain events from happening to the disciples. Like many believers today, they were. In the next few lines, we shall duly examine the different ways through which the apostles in the Bible died.
 

1. Matthew

Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia and was killed by a sword wound.

2. Mark

The Apostle Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by Horses through the streets until he was dead.

3. Luke

Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his constant preaching to the lost.

4. John the Disciple

John the disciple faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge Basin of Boiling Oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. He was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. It was at the Island of Patmos that he wrote the prophetic Book of Revelation. Apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man and was the only apostle to die peacefully.

5. Apostle Peter

Peter, despite the fact that he led the early church alongside other disciples, Apostle Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross. According to history and church tradition, he was crucified this way because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die In the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
  • James was the leader of the Church in Jerusalem until his death. He was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple in Matthew 4:5 when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. According to records, this was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation. After James was thrown down from.the height, he did not die. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat him to death with a fuller's club.
  • James, the Son of Zebedee was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the 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.
  • Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, Bartholomew was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for the Lord Jesus in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
  • Andrew, called the Protokletos was the "first-called" disciple of Jesus Christ according to John 1:35. He was formerly a disciple of John the Baptist until this time. At his death, he was crucified on an 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 toward 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 gave up the ghost.
  • The Apostle Thomas was stabbed with a spear in *India* during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the Sub-continent.
  • Jude, the disciple was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
  • Matthais, according to Apostles 1:21–26, Matthias was the apostle who was chosen to replace the traitor, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ. After enduring persecution like the other apostles up to the point of death, he was stoned and then beheaded.
  • Apostle Paul, just like Matthais, was tortured for a while before he was beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational Doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.

Today, many more Christians are being persecuted. A large number of these persecution stories are shared by Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand's ministry to serve as light and encouragement for other Christian believers across the earth.

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
 

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