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Discussion Forum : General Topics : Upcoming SermonIndex.net Simulcast 2012: The Church And Coming Persecution - Oct 5-6

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The Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs by Greg Gordon

"Some Christians they proved by fire, others by the sword, others by wild beasts; yet others tasted martyrdom from cudgels and iron claws." - Tertullian (160-225AD)

Torture not just martyrdom has been the experience of many of God's saints in history.

Christians throughout the centuries have been subject to the worst of tortures. The evil of men have excelled in its implements of torture as they punished those they deemed the worst criminals of mankind. Christians who are the light of the world and the salt of the earth were considered the dung and refuse of the earth most of the known world many times in history. The most heinous, wicked acts imaginable have been the experience of those least deserving them. History will never truly tell what satanic, devil filled men have done to the righteous of the earth. This sort of thing seems far-fetched to the modern mind yet all across the world these things still occur and will occur more at an alarming rate. An end time persecution of the church of God is coming and will be world-wide.

Several years ago I was led on a tour in a German castle on the rhine river. What beautiful architecture, inlaid stone rooms, pathways and wonderful views of the german countryside. Room after room we walked through and ending the tour going through the lower rooms of the castle. As we entered the last room I noticed right away some of the devices in the room that clearly showed me it was a room where individuals were locked up and imprisoned. Also more shockingly there were implements of torture, including crowns with spikes on them and racks to stretch bodies. My mind raced through church history to realize this room could have very well been a place were Anabaptist dissenters were tottered for their faith in Jesus Christ.

It should not surprise us that there have been so many martyrdoms in Church history when it began with the martyrdom of all the Apostles expect the Apostle John in which they attempted to boil him alive in oil and he survived being exiled to the prison island of Patmos. Here follows as per tradition the Apostles deaths by martyrdom: Apostle Andrew, Martyrdom by crucifixion (bound to a cross). Apostle Bartholomew, Martyrdom by being Flayed alive and crucified, head downward. Apostle James the Greater, Martyrdom by being stabbed with a sword. Apostle James the Lesser, Martyrdom by being thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple at Jerusalem , then stoned and beaten with clubs. Apostle Mark, Was dragged in the streets until his death. Apostle Jude, Martyrdom by being beaten to death with a club. Apostle Matthew, Martyrdom by being beheaded. Apostle Peter, Martyrdom by crucifixion at Rome with his head downwards. Apostle Philip: Martyred. Apostle Simon: Martyrdom by being sawn in half. Apostle Thomas, Martyrdom by being stabbed with a spear. Apostle Paul, Martyrdom by being beheaded in Rome.

One could rightly re-name the first historical book of the church from Acts Of The Apostles to Acts of the Martyrs.

Many of us in the modern church age consider martyrdom something of a quick death where those involved would pass away quickly. Yet in church history it has been sadly the opposite where faithful Christians have endured great torment, torture and death at the hands of wicked men. I am writing these things not condemn or frighten anyone but to give us the proper respect and realization of the suffering many will have undergone in the name of Christ and will in the future persecution. Just as the church began with a powerful revival of the word of God spreading through the anointed Apostles lips, it will end with a great revival of preaching the Gospel yet under the same circumstances of martyrdom and suffering. God is raising up end time missionaries that have no fear of death and have such a great realization of the love of Jesus Christ that they will suffer everything to spread this precious Gospel to the ends of the earth.

I ask that you plead read this list reverently as such things occurred to countless brothers and sisters in the faith of Jesus Christ throughout the last 2000 years. May God prepare us to suffer more to spread this great Gospel of God's love.

Here is a list of some of the various tortures used widely against Christians in Church History:

Martyrs suspended by one foot. Nailed to the cross, head downwards. Hung up by both arms, heavy weights being attached to the feet. Christian woman suspended by the hair. Martyrs hung up by one arm only, ponderous stones being fastened to their feet. Martyr suspended by both feet, and a great stone fastened to his neck. Sometimes the Blessed Martyrs, after being smeared with honey were bound to stakes fixed in the ground, and so exposed to the rays of the sun to be tortured by the stings of flies and bees.

Martyr suspended by the feet, and his body and head at the same time pounded with hammers. Sometimes martyrs were bound to the circumference of great wheels, and so hurled from a height over stony places. Martyr whose limbs are interwoven in the spokes of a wheel, on which he is left exposed for days, till he dies. Crushed in the press, just as grapes and olives are pressed in making wine and oil. Martyr bound to four stakes and beaten with cudgels. Martyr thrown head-first into a caldron full of molten lead or boiling oil. Martyr in a hot frying-pan.

Martyr cast into a burning fiery furnace. Martyr who's limbs are amputated one by one. Hands and feet cut off. Sawn in two with an iron saw. Martyr tortured by having sharp reeds stuck under his finger and toe nails. Thrown down naked to be devoured by wild lions. Wrapped in a wild beast's hyde, and so left to be torn by animals.

Oh saints of God may we weep for such Faithful ones that endured so much for that precious name of Christ that we speak of at times so freely. There is a force of evil so strong that will be fully loosed in the last days to wreak havoc on the Church of God in the earth. This time right now is a season of grace to spread the Gospel far and wide. To meet regularly to encourage each others in the things of the Kingdom of God. A day is coming when our freedoms will be gone to meet, bibles will be burned, churches closed and in the end suffering and martyrdom.

No matter how much persecution, torture or torment we have to endure we can steadfastly know that Christ is with us. He has promised to never leave or forsake us. Great shall be our consolation soon. That even the Apostle Paul calls every earthly trial: "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)


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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2012/6/14 20:28Profile









 Re:

Greg, truly appreciate the contunued emphasis on persecution etc. Wanted you to know that cuz this post may seem to rub but not meant to.

Mt 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

If you want to prepare for coming persecution then just live righteously, tommorrow at work. Do your work and work hard. Some around you will be irritated by you working while they want to goof off.

Be willing either at work or the store or wherever to share Christ TOMMOROW. Yea you have got to do it. If you cannnot face your fear of man and laziness now then...
Also you may not even live to the end of the week.

Yea, you may miss out on the "great persecution in America" by not being here by the end of the week.

Anyhow, feel the pressure now of the disapproving co worker or the fellow christian who thinks your a little to "spiritual" or you just don't understand God's grace and are a legalist."

On each of my tours to Iraq I had no fear. I was shot at, IED, Rocketed as well as running all around in a gun truck.
No, I wasn't a macho soldier. I was and am a Born Again Christian, the fear of death has no power over me.
God has the exact time and means of my death.

Torture? ok sure but again now is the time to...LIVE this scripture.....
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

As Greg has exhorted us

Quote,
"No matter how much persecution, torture or torment we have to endure we can steadfastly know that Christ is with us. He has promised to never leave or forsake us. Great shall be our consolation soon. That even the Apostle Paul calls every earthly trial: "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)

 2012/6/14 21:09









 Re:

HI Staff, what would you consider to be the " excesses" of a post or mid trib view? If the Lord says that there is a time coming such as has never been before, then, knowing what we know has happened in history and recent history with the Jewish people in Europe, could one really preach in excess on this subject if one held that view?

Secondly, one man's doom and gloom is another mans glory. Men like David Wilkerson have widely been critisized as a doom and gloomers, yet anyone who listend to Wilkerson would know that he preached Jesus and the Glory of God.

I may not be a preacher but I will testify to you that I believe that the coming persecution is the end times persecution. So there you have my commmitment. Bohoeffer writes in The Cost of Discipleship that " Suffering then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his Master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer. That is why Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true Church, and one memoranda drawn up in preperation for the Augsburg Confession similarly defines the Church as the community of those who are persecuted and martyred for the Gospels sake. If we refuse to take up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands of men, we forfiet our fellowship with Christ and have ceased to follow Him. Discipleship means allegience to the suffering of Christ and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer. In fact it is a joy and a token of His grace. The acts of the early Christian martyrs are full of evidence which shows how Christ transfigures for his own the hour of their mortal agony by granting them the unspeakable assuarance of His presence."

We have been called to suffer Staff. We suffer because He suffered. If they wanted to kill the Lord, why would they not want to kill His followers? If the spirits behind the persecution of the martyrs ( witness in the Greek) down through the ages still roam this earth, and they do, have they had a change of heart in regard to the Church? No brother, they still hate us with a perfect hatred, a relentless hatred and so many of us see a gathering storm, written of course in Scriptures, where Satan will make all out war against the saints in the end times. This " unspeakable assurance of His presence," that Bonhoffer speak of that the martyrs of old experienced as they were being persecuted is what many believe, including myself, is the last great outpouring. As the great flood of persecution pours in and threatens to drown and sweep away God's people, God raises them up above the storm, just as Peter walked above the waves." They may kill the body, as they did with Stephen, but look how Stephen died, having a vision and crying out that his persecutors crimes would not be held against them. This is the hell shaking love of Calvary. This is what we will see in those days in great abundnace, and Christ will shine so brightly through His people that men will be saved or they will persecute, there can be no middle ground in those days, a true seperation of the sheep from the goats.........bro Frank

 2012/6/15 1:05
staff
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Joined: 2007/2/8
Posts: 2227


 Re:

Hi Appolus,
I consider the excesses of the post tribulation view as this view that we are always to be persecuted/suffering or we are not in the will of God or somehow less of a christian.(suffering is the mark of a true church thing)
Constantly post tribulation believers put out dis information about pre tribulation view.I consider mid trib as a type of pre trib view as the rapture in this view happens prior to God pouring out his wrath.
Their have been times of persecution and their have been times of peace within the church.Times of Stephen and times of Billy Graham.
I consider the post tribulation excesses are very negative.
I dont consider David Wilkerson to be a doom and gloom preacher.
Some people are called into suffering(its a relative term anyway) more than others.We are all called to follow Christ that doesn't mean we will be whipped and beaten or martyred.

At least you say that you think this is the end times;my complaint is with the preacher that wants it both ways,their is a persecution coming but it may or may not be soon and it may or may not be the end times.You cant have your cake and eat it.The apostles suffered but also had powerful demonstrations that god was behind them.
We live in an era of "tv evangelism" of "blab and grab it" of fake revivals etc;mostly on this forum we all hate this.
Some people think the reason this happens is because of "
a "pre tribulation cheap grace teaching" and the over emphasis on persecution/martyrdom teaching is a opposite reaction to this.It is not based on hearing from God that a persecution is around the corner and it is not based on the word in my opinion.That's why it is so vague,they are careful not to prophesy and careful not to say it is definitely the end times persecution.They are hedging their bets and this makes me think they are not sure themselves,
Yours Staff

 2012/6/15 6:43Profile
staff
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Joined: 2007/2/8
Posts: 2227


 Re:

Hi Appolus,
I didnt address one point you made about the "Jews in Europe" holocaust and it is important.
I have no doubt that the time for the Jews at the end will be worse than the holocaust but this is not just persecution or tribulation but the "Great tribulation" and this is not the message of the upcoming conference as far as I can tell.The message for the upcoming conference is that the present day church(christians) are to suffer persecution,Yours Staff

 2012/6/15 6:51Profile
Anamosa41
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Joined: 2011/10/19
Posts: 112
Georgia, USA

 Re:

Thank you for yours, brother. I certainly will share the word.

Quote:
Amen brother. We are looking for you to be involved and do share the word with others. Many will ignore such a conference because of the theme but may God bring them. The body of Christ needs to hear these messages. Thank you for your heart for the Lord.



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Ryan Rutan

 2012/6/16 20:47Profile









 Re:

Agreed. The body of Christ does need to hear these messages.

Bear.

 2012/6/16 22:59
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Dear Saints,

Do continue to spread the word about this upcoming free event and consider having your church or home fellowship be a simulcast location:

http://sermonindex2012.eventbrite.ca/


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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2012/7/1 0:44Profile





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