HOW THE APOSTLES DIED
Author Unknown
1 Matthew
Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, 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, James 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 Great
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 ultimately 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 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
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
Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent.
11 Jude
Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12 Matthias
The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
13 Paul
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.
This is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor compared to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles disciples during their times for the sake of the Faith.
*Persecution will be intense in the end times. But know that God will give you strength.
21-22 “Brothers are going to betray their brothers to death,
and fathers their children.
Children are going to betray their parents
and have them executed.
You yourselves will be universally hated
because of my name.
But the man who endures to the very end
will be safe and sound.
Matthew 10:22 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
28 “Never be afraid of those who can kill the body
but are powerless to kill the soul!
Far better to stand in awe of the one
who has the power to destroy body and soul in the fires of destruction!
29-31 “Two sparrows sell for a farthing, don’t they?
Yet not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
The very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Never be afraid, then— you are far more valuable than sparrows.
32-33 “Every man who publicly acknowledges me
I shall acknowledge in the presence of my Father in Heaven,
but
the man who disowns me before men
I shall disown before my Father in Heaven.
Matthew 10:28-33 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
