permafrost Loc: Minnesota

I never had this information on a single sheet. Thought I would pass it on.

If any of them are wrong, feel free to correct the post..




HOW THE APOSTLES DIED.
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 , 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 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.
Perhaps 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 and disciples during their times For the sake of the Faith. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Pass on to encourage other Christians
Why Do we feel sleepy in Prayer,
But stay awake through a 3 hour movie?
Why are we so bored when we look at the HOLY BOOK,
But find it easy to read other books?
Why is it so easy to ignore a msg about God,
Yet we forward the nasty ones?
Why are Prayers getting smaller,
But bars and clubs are expanding
Why is it so easy to worship a celebrity,
But very difficult to engage with God?
Think about it, are you going to forward this?
Are you going to ignore it, cause you think you will get laughed at?
Forward this to all your friends.
80% of you won't forward this.
God said:
If you deny me in front of your
friends, I will deny you on the day of judgment:
When one door closes , God opens two : If God has opened doors for you.

Highlander66 Loc: Illinois

Very sobering, and similar things are still happening to Christians around the world now. Thanks for posting this.

bylm1-Bernie

Very good, Frosty, I'm proud of you. In answer to the last part of your post, we are living in an evil world. When I told my dying son two years ago that I was angry with God for taking him, he said, "Don't be angry with God, Dad, we are living in an evil world, there will be no lasting peace until we get to Heaven." Even though I'm glad he now is enjoying that peace, I still miss him and am thankful that he doesn't have to endure the problems we do today.

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

so sorry he is gone.. I can not grasp what that loss would be like nor how to cope with it..

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Would the apostles have died for a lie? No, they were first-hand witnesses to the life and resurrection to the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. They were also Hebrews and established the Christian faith. That is the debt we owe to the Jews, they knew who the Messiah was, they ate and lived with him for three years and they were convinced unto death, they neither shirked nor denied He was God in the flesh and the sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Well done Frosty!

PeterS

The early version of Jim Crow...

Weasel Loc: In the Great State Of Indiana!!

Thank you.

bylm1-Bernie

Thank you.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

Addressing Gawd brings a peace which can cause relaxation. Gawd don't mind.

Interesting post.

TrueBornSonCSA

Why weren't they raptured? Maybe because it was never heard of untill 1830. Brought about by a mentally ill woman in Scotland.
Christ shall return exactly as He said He would. There is no pre-trib ear tickling rapture.

Mike Easterday

Thank you for the education! I can let someone else read it.

Liberty Tree

You have no knowledge of the difference in the rapture and the Second Coming.

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

Permafrost, this is a testament of Jesus, they walked with Jesus, saw miracles and because he was the Messiah (God in the flesh) they were willing to die for the truth of the gospel knowing the flesh will die but their spirit will live eternity with Jesus. All of them willing to die, in order to save souls with the gospel.

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

But here is why the Rapture and the Second Coming are NOT the same event.

1) Mystery:  The Apostle Paul referred to the rapture ‘catching up’ as a mystery (1 Cor. 15:51).  A mystery in the biblical sense of the word is a truth that had not yet been previously revealed to mankind.  So if the Rapture and the Second Coming were the same event, and Jesus had already discussed His Second Coming at length in His Olivet Discourse some twenty years prior to Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians (AD48-51), then Paul would not be revealing a mystery, but simply expounding on something that Christ had already explained, and thus, he would have been incorrect in calling it a mystery.  But he wasn’t, because this was a new revelation that had been given to Him, by Christ, years after Christ had ascended.  (Gal. 1:11-12)

2)Wrath: Throughout the New Testament, a reoccurring theme is that although the church experiences trials and tribulation in this life, we will not experience God’s wrath, but rather be delivered from it.  (1 Thess. 1:10, 5:1-4, 9; Col. 3:5-7; Romans 5:9; Rev. 3:10)  Even more so, is the picture that is repeatedly painted throughout the Bible, that God delivers His own before He pours out His wrath upon the earth.  Remember Enoch?  Remember Noah?  Remember Lot?  What He is delivering us from, is the wrath to come, that HE is pouring out on the Christ-rejecting earth. (Isaiah 26:19-21; Jer. 30:7-11)  So if we are delivered from God’s wrath, when does the wrath begin?  Rev. 5:1-4explains when and how…

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”  And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.

So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

3) Grace, not works:  Inarguably, the major theme for the believer in the Church Age, is that our Gospel is that of Christ Crucified (1 Cor. 1:23, 15:1-5) and our salvation is by grace through faith, and NOT of works.  (John 3:18, 36; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5)  Believers in this age, are sealed by the Holy Spirit UNTIL our redemption. (2 Cor. 1:21-22; Eph. 1:11-14)

Daniel’s 70th week (all seven years), will be a period of intense testing for all the inhabitants of the earth. (Matt. 25:1-13; Rev. 3:10)  Believers at large will no longer be afforded the sealing by the Holy Spirit, but will have to maintain their salvation at the cost to their own lives.  (Rev. 14:12-13; 16:15)  The only ones who are sealed, are the 144,000 Jewish male virgins from the 12 Tribes of Israel. (Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5) Along with that, the world will no longer have the restraint provided by Him to hold evil at bay.  (John 16:7-10; 2 Thess. 2:7)

Since the Holy Spirit is God and is omnipresent, it’s not that He ceases to exist on the earth, it’s that His role during this short period of time, reverts back to the way it was prior to that first Pentecost when He descended down as ‘cloven tongues of fire’ in Acts 2.  No one will argue that the Holy Spirit existed prior to Pentecost, and yet, there was a distinct change in His interaction upon the earth from then until now.

Just as believers in the Old Testament were not guaranteed their salvation, (Psalm 51:11) so too will those who miss the Rapture and enter into the Tribulation.  The mark of the beast system that the Antichrist imposes upon the entire earth will absolutely force you to either suffer under extreme duress (can’t buy or sell anything), or suffering martyrdom.  And since you cannot both take the mark of the beast and be sealed by the Holy Spirit, there was to be a period of separation between the two eternal sealings.  (Rev. 13; 14:9-10)

Jesus also spoke of ‘enduring to the end in order to be saved’.  This salvation is not in the spiritual, eternal sense, but in the physical sense (as deliverance) into the Messianic Kingdom which is initiated at the end of the Tribulation, if they make it through the Sheep and Goat judgment, which precedes the Millennial Kingdom. (Matt. 24:13, 22; 25:31-46)

Conclusion

So what is the ‘so what’ of all this?  I mean, won’t the Rapture (when it occurs) sort all this out? Yes, it will.  But God told us ahead of time, what will occur, so when it does happen, we would believe.  (John 13:19)  When people and churches promote faulty interpretations that lead the believer away from what the Scriptures actually teaches, it steers the believer off course.  Views that put the Church inside the 70th Week, can only do so, by doing great interpretative damage to other parts of the Scripture, either confusing the Church with Israel, or denying the unique nature of the Church, of which Christ built, and who He is the Head of. (Col. 1:24-26)

While knowing or not knowing the order of end-times events is not critical to one’s salvation, it is critical to one’s sanctification.  If one holds to an errant view of Eschatology, and Eschatology is the capstone by which all other doctrines find their culmination, then one cannot mature in the faith into that ‘perfect man’ that each believer in this dispensation is destined to become.  It is because of this…

…He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ--Eph. 4:11-15

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
 
 I have recently read a significant amount of material about the supposed fallacy of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church. Some Christian commentators are saying quite openly that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture as a doctrine has now been fundamentally discredited. 
 
 The argument seems to be that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is a doctrine that has only been taught and believed since the 1800s. Ostensibly, the argument is that a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is false because it is a "modern invention." 
 
 Proponents of this view teach that before 1800 and J. N. Darby (1800-1881), the Rapture was     not taught in the Christian church at all. They wrongly go on to state that a young Scottish women called Margaret MacDonald is the true originator of the modern Pre-Tribulation Rapture belief system and that she received this information through independent spiritual revelation. The unspoken assertion here is that this revelation was in fact demonic in origin.
 
 Some even going so far as to argue that the concept of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture was completely unknown and unheard of before 1800, therefore lacking any legitimate creditability for today's Church. These objections have, in these last days, become harsh and bitter.
 
 There  is however, a solid biblical basis for believing in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.
 
 "Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke21:36).
 
 "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth" (Revelation 3:10).
 
 "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: 'He could not be found, because God had taken him away.' For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God" (Hebrews 11:5).
 
 The biblical basis for the Rapture of the Church is a subject that has been well-covered elsewhere; this is but a sample.
 
 There is also a wealth of biblical teaching that has from the very beginning been used to teach of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, using metaphors and imagery from Scripture.
 
 But what did the earliest ancient Church fathers believe regarding a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church? What did these men, some who were taught personally by the Apostles of Jesus Christ, believe? Were these men who became pillars of the early church Pre-Tribulation, Mid-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation Rapture believers?
 
 Or did they not believe in a Rapture at all?  
 
 While we need to be remember that the writings of these ancient Church fathers are not on par with Scripture, it is nonetheless important that we know what the early church believed, especially about the Rapture of the Church.
 
 Irenaeus (130 A.D. - 202 AD)
 
 Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp. Polycarp learned his Christian faith from the apostle John, "...the disciple whom Jesus loved..." (John 21:7) As well as writing the gospel that bears his name and a number of early letters, John wrote the Book of Revelation. There could be no better tutor other than the Lord Jesus himself. Both Polycarp and Irenaeus knew John personally.
 
 Irenaeus later became bishop of the church in Lyons, France and is famous for his five volume treatise, Against Heresies, which described and challenged all false teaching from the emerging cults of his day.
 
 Irenaeus believed in the three and a half year reign of the Antichrist as ruler of the world before the Second Coming of Christ. He also believed in a literal millennial reign of Christ on earth following the Second Coming and in the resurrection of the just. Irenaeus also believed in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church. In  Against Heresies 5:29 he wrote:
 
And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, "There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be." For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption.
 
 Note Irenaeus' use of the , "caught up." It is the exact same Rapture terminology used in 1 Thessalonians 4. The word used is 1 Thessalonians 4, is "harpazo", meaning to be "caught up." Irenaeus believed that the Rapture of the Church occurred prior to the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
 
 Cyprian (200 AD - 258 AD)
 
 Cyprian, the bishop of the early church at Carthage was beheaded for his faith in 258 AD and was a great pillar of the early church. He shepherded his church through intense Roman persecution and was well known for his eloquent treatises in defense of the faith. In his work Treatise of Cyprian he wrote:
 
We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as   possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by an early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent? Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us hence, and sets us free from the snares of the world and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.
 
 Like Irenaeus, Cyprian, a highly prominent early church father believed in a "...early deliverance" for believers who would be "delivered" from judgments which would be devastating and global in nature. He taught that the Body of Christ would be delivered from the Day of the Lord. 
 
 Cyprian taught his followers that, "God has not appointed us to wrath, but salvation..." (1 Thess. 5:9), and joyfully encouraged his church to expect to be "taken away" before the Tribulation begins. Indeed, he exhorted his church to eagerly anticipate the mansions Jesus had gone to heaven to prepare for them individually, as detailed in John 14.
 
 Ephraim the Syrian (306 AD - 373 AD)
 
 There is a genuine sense of urgency about Ephraim's writings. A deacon in the large church in Syria he later became the bishop of the church at Nisibis. In his work,  The Last Times - Two, Ephraim wrote:
 
See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: "Woe to   those who desire to see the day of the Lord!" For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that   is to overwhelm the world because of our sins. And so, brothers most dear to me, it is the eleventh hour, and the end of the world comes to the harvest, and angels, armed and prepared, hold   sickles in their hands, awaiting the empire of the Lord.
 
And we think that the earth exists with blind infidelity, arriving at its downfall early. Commotions are brought forth, wars of diverse peoples and battles and incursions of the barbarians threaten, and our regions shall be desolated, and we neither become very much afraid of the report nor of the appearance, in order that we may at least do penance; because they hurl fear at us, and we do not wish to be changed, although we at least stand in need of penance for our actions!
 
 Ephraim believed that all Christians should know that the Day of the Lord approached and should be able to recognize the signs of the times. He also clearly linked to Old Testament Day of the Lord with the New Testament forthcoming Great Tribulation.  
 
 This is just a flavor of early church teaching. Each and every church father, where their writings exists, testify to a belief in a Rapture of the church. Each of these fathers all place this Rapture of the church before the Day of the Lord, or the Great Tribulation.
 
 These writings on their own do not prove the existence of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, nor can they be regarded in any way as authoritative as Scripture. They do, however, clearly demonstrate that the teaching of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is not a "modern invention" that supposedly began in the 1800s.
 
 What their writings also prove, without doubt, is that the teaching of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture has been a part of Christian beliefs since the earliest days of the Apostles.
 
 Jesus is coming soon...
 
 "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3).
 
 "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).