I’ve just completed an investigation of the gospels and at the end of each gospel I included how each writer died. It occurred to me maybe everyone doesn’t know how all the Apostles died including some of the most noteworthy disciples of Christ. I thought I’d include a list here how some of the early followers of Jesus died.
PETER – The Apostle was imprisoned in Rome by the Emperor Nero who had him crucified upside down in 67 AD.
MATTHEW – The Apostle was preaching the gospel of Christ in Ethiopia and suffered martyrdom by the sword.
JAMES THE LESSER – The Apostle was thrown from the top of the temple and when that didn’t kill him he was beaten to death with a club.
JAMES THE GREAT – The Apostle was put on trial in Jerusalem and sentenced to death. James was beheaded.
BARTHOLOMEW – The Apostle was also known as Nathaniel. Bartholomew was preaching the gospel of Christ in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was flayed to death by a whip while in Armenia.
ANDREW – The Apostle was crucified in Patras, Greece for preaching the gospel of Christ.
THOMAS – The Apostle was on one of his missionary trips to India to preach the gospel when he was stabbed to death with a spear.
JUDE – The Apostle was also known as Thaddeus. Jude was killed by arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
PHILLIP – The Apostle was beheaded in Turkey for preaching the gospel of Christ.
SIMON THE ZEALOT – The Apostle was sawn in half in Persia for preaching the gospel of Christ.
MATTHIAS – The Apostle chosen to replace Judas Iscariot was stoned for preaching the gospel of Christ and then beheaded.
JOHN – The last of the original disciples of Jesus did face martyrdom in Rome where he was boiled alive in a huge basin of oil. However, John was miraculously delivered from death by God (remember God needed John to write his gospel and the book of Revelation). John was also sentenced to work in the mines on the Isle of Patmos but ultimately John died of old age as the only Apostle not to suffer martyrdom.
PAUL – The Apostle was imprisoned in Rome and beheaded by the Emperor Nero in 65 AD.
MARK – The writer of the book of Mark and disciple of Christ was preaching the gospel in Alexandria, Egypt when he was martyred. An angry mob bound Mark’s feet and he was drug through the streets of Alexandria by a team of horses.
LUKE – The writer of the book of Luke and disciple of Christ was hanged in Greece for preaching the gospel.
JOHN THE BAPTIST – John was the prophesied forerunner of Christ. John was imprisoned by Herod and later beheaded.
STEPHEN – This disciple of Christ was stoned to death in Jerusalem for his faith.
The above individuals are just some of the famous people from the Bible that we know were killed in service to God. The number of unknown Christians who were martyred in the early days we’ll never know but there were a lot. Today in America Christians aren’t persecuted like they were back then but the day will come when they are so we need to be prepared to meet that challenge. Revelation tells us Christians will one day be beheaded for not renouncing their faith in Christ.
Some Old Testament prophets called to service by God were also slain:
ISAIAH – Killed with a saw by Manasseh, King of Judah.
ZECHARIAH – Slain in the temple by Joash, King of Judah.
JEREMIAH – Stoned to death in Egypt by Jews living there.
EZEKIEL – Slain in Chaldea by the chief Jew living there.
HABAKKUK – Stoned to death in Jerusalem by Jews.
AMOS – Tortured and killed with a staff by the priests of Bethel.