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 hot oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. He 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, according to church tradition, was crucified upside down on an x shaped cross. He requested to be crucified upside down because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
6. James, an elder 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 him watched in amazement 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 Subcontinent.
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 in 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.ld
“You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” Mark 13:13
These faithful men are heroes to us, not because they had super human strength to endure, but because they had mustard seed sized faith in the same God and Savior that we believe in. The Holy Spirit filled them with the strength to endure, and He will do the same for us, no matter what we face in this life.
"And let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for Her who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23
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