An interesting read.
HOW THE APOSTLES DIED.
1. Matthew. Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia
when he was killed by a sword wound.
2. Mark. Died in Alexandria, Egypt
, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
3. Luke. Was hanged in Greece
as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
4. John. 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.
John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos.
He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos
. The apostle John 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
5. Peter. He was crucified upside
down on an x shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told
his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ
had died.
6. James. The leader of the church
in Jerusalem , was thrown over a hundred feet
down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple
when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he
survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club.
This was the same pinnacle where
Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
7. 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.
8. Bartholomew-also known as
Nathaniel. He was a missionary to Asia. He
witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred
for his preaching in Armenia
where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9. Andrew. 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 expired.
10. Thomas. He was stabbed with a
spear in India
during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the Subcontinent.
11. Jude. He was killed with arrows
when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12. Matthias was apostle chosen to
replace the traitor Judas Iscariot. He was stoned and then beheaded.
13. Paul. He was tortured and then
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.
