The Relational Church

What happens if you keep the faith?  If you live with all your heart then what does the Bible tell you to expect in terms of your quality of life and the circumstances of how you would die?  Given that the disciples followed and wanted to be like Christ, many of them followed Him into the same fate of horrible deaths.

Andrew: crucified, taken down and then hung on an olive tree.

Bartholomew: crucified with his head downward in India.James (son of Alphaeus): stoned to death by Jews in Jerusalem.

Peter (Simon): Nero had him crucified head downward because, by Peter’srequest, he thought himself too unworthy to die the same way as Jesus.

John: (brother of James and son of Zebedee): although not dying a terrible death, John was banished by a king and spent the final years of his life in hiding from those wanting him executed (he was never found by them and died of old age).

James: Acts 12:1-2 states James was beheaded by the sword of King Herod.

Matthew/Levi: died of natural causes. One source says he was martyred in Ethiopia.

Philip: crucified with his head downward in eastern Turkey.

Simon the Zealot: died of old age (reportedly at the age of 120).

Thaddaeus/Judas son of James: died of natural causes. However, one source says he was martyred in Iran.

Thomas: with a pine spear, pierced in four separate places of his body, in India.

Judas Iscariot: Matthew 27:5 states that as Judas tried to hang himself but he fell down a slope and was dashed to pieces.