Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Focus on the Family

    Strengthening families through biblical principles.

    Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.

  • Guest, Join Papa Zoom today for some uplifting biblical encouragement! --> Daily Verses
  • The Gospel of Jesus Christ

    Heard of "The Gospel"? Want to know more?

    There is salvation in no other, for there is not another name under heaven having been given among men, by which it behooves us to be saved."

THE FOXES BOOK OF MARTYRS THREAD

2024 Website Hosting Fees

Total amount
$905.00
Goal
$1,038.00

JLB

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life
Supporter
In this thread I would like to share some writings from Foxes book of martyrs so that we would take courage and be strengthened in our faith and resolve to endure to the end.

Please pray before you read these accounts of the faithful Christians who endured great suffering and remained steadfast unto the end. Please know that it is by grace, His grace and strength we are able to endure to the end.


Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”
Revelation 2:10-11


Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.




JLB
 
The fourth persecution, under Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (A.D.162-180)


Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher, and wrote Meditations, a classic work of stoicism, which is an indifference to pleasure or pain. He was also fierce and merciless toward Christians and responsible for the fourth general persecution against them. The cruelties against Christians in this persecution were so inhuman that many of those who watched them shuddered with horror, and were astonished at the courage of the sufferers. Some of the martyrs had their feet crushed in presses, and were then forced to walk over thorns, nails, sharp shells, and other pointed objects. Others were whipped until their sinews and veins were exposed. Then after suffering the most excruciating tortures that could be devised, they were killed in terrible ways. Yet few turned from Christ or begged their torturers to lessen their pains.

When Germanicus, a young man and true Christian, was delivered to the wild lions on account of his faith, he behaved with such astonishing courage that several pagans were converted to the faith that inspired such bravery.
 
Polycarp, who was a student of the Apostle John and the overseer of the church in Smyrna, heard that soldiers were looking for him and tried to escape but was discovered by a child. After feeding the guards who captured him, he asked for an hour in prayer, which they gave him. He prayed with such fervency, that his guards said they were sorry that they were the ones who captured him. Nevertheless, he was taken before the governor and condemned to be burned in the market place. After his sentence was given, the governor said to him, “Reproach Christ and I will release you.” Polycarp answered, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never once wronged me. How then shall I blaspheme my King who has saved me?” In the market place, he was tied to the stake rather than nailed, as was the usual custom, because he assured them he would stand immovable in the flames and not fight them. As the dry sticks placed around him were lit, the flames rose up and circled his body without touching him. The executioner was then ordered to pierce him with a sword. When he did, a great quantity of blood gushed out and put out the fire. Although his Christian friends asked to be given his body as it was so they could bury him, the enemies of the Gospel insisted that it be burned in the fire, which was done.
 
These are the names of the Apostles and how they were martyred for their faith in Christ as they witnessed and testified of Him. These types of martyring still continues in the world today and will continue until the return of Christ when he takes alive the beast and the false prophet casting them into the lake of fire, Rev 19:11-21.

Matthew 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.


John the Baptist, (forerunner of Christ) beheaded at the palace-fortress of Machaerus, present day Jordan, approximately around 28, 29AD
Stephen, stoned to death outside of Jerusalem 34AD
James the son of Zebedee, beheaded in Jerusalem 45AD
Philip, stoned to death in Hierapolis, Phrygia 54AD
James (the lesser) stoned and clubbed to death in Jerusalem 63AD
Barnabas, burned to death at Salamanca on Cyprus 64AD
Mark, dies along the way being dragged to the site of his burning, Alexandria, 64AD
Peter, crucified upside down in Rome on the order of Nero, 69AD
Paul, beheaded in Rome on Nero's order, 69AD
Andrew, crucified at Patras in Achaia around 70AD
Thomas, tortured by the natives in Calamina, cast into an oven and stuck through with a spear, 70AD
Simon the Zealot, crucified in Syria 70AD
Matthew, also called Levi the son of Alpheus, nailed to the ground and beheaded, Naddavar, Ethiopia 70AD
Matthias, hung on a cross, stoned and beheaded in Ethiopia 70AD
Luke, hung from an olive tree in Greece, 93AD
John, son of Zebedee, banished for two years to the isle of Patmos before being released back to Ephesus, 97 or 99AD
Antipas, roasted alive in a copper pot in Pergamos in 95AD
 
Blandina, a Christian lady of a weak constitution who was not thought to be able to resist torture, but whose fortitude was so great that her tormentors became exhausted with their devilish work, was afterward taken into an amphitheater with three others, suspended on a piece of wood stuck in the ground, and exposed as food for wild lions. While awaiting her suffering, she prayed earnestly for her companions and encouraged them. But none of the lions would touch her, so she was put back into prison—this happened twice. The last time she was brought out, she was accompanied by 15-year-old Ponticus. The steadfastness of their faith so enraged the multitude that neither her sex nor his youth were respected, and they were subjected to the severest punishments and tortures. Blandina was torn by the lions, scourged, put into a net and tossed about by a wild bull, and placed naked into a red-hot metal chair. When she could speak, she exhorted all near her to hold fast to their faith. Ponticus persevered unto death. When Blandina’s torturers were unable to make her recant her faith, they killed her with a sword.


Point of interest —

When she could speak, she exhorted all near her to hold fast to their faith.

Ponticus persevered unto death.

When Blandina’s torturers were unable to make her recant her faith, they killed her with a sword.
 
PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND


During King Edward III’s reign (1327-1377), the Church of England was corrupted with errors and superstition. The light of the true Gospel of Christ had been virtually extinguished by the darkness of man’s doctrines, burdensome ceremonies, and gross idolatry. At the same time, Wycliffe’s followers, reformers called Lollards, had become so many that the clergy was annoyed, and though the clergy molested them in underhanded ways, they had no authority to put them to death. After the usurpation of the English throne by Henry IV in 1399, the Lollards were subject to increasing persecution. Soon after, the papist clergy prevailed upon the king to introduce a bill into parliament to condemn the Lollards who remained obstinate in their reform beliefs, and turn them over to the secular authorities for burning as heretics. Despite strong Lollard resistance in the House of Commons, the statute De haeretico comburendo (On the Burning of the Heretic) was passed by Parliament in 1401, and was immediately put into effect. It was the first time in Britain that a law was passed to burn people for their religious beliefs. The first martyr to die under the new law was a priest named William Santree [or Santee]—he was burned in *Smithfield. Soon after, the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, and his bishops began to move against Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham), a popular Wycliffe follower and personal friend of Henry IV, whom they accused of commissioning others to preach who were not licensed by the bishops, and of encouraging false teachings against the sacraments of the church, images, pilgrimages, and the pope. Before they could charge him, however, they knew they had to enlist the aid of the king. The king listened to them politely, and then told them to deal with Sir John with respect, and restore him to the church through gentleness. He also offered to reason with Sir John on their behalf. Soon after, he sent for Sir John and admonished him to return to his mother the Holy Church, and, like an obedient child, acknowledge that he deserved punishment because he had been wrong. Sir John replied: Most worthy king, you know I am always prompt and willing to obey, because I know that you are a Christian king and the appointed minister of God, and that you bear the sword with which to punish the evildoers and protect the virtuous. Next to my eternal God, I owe you my obedience, and I am ready, as I have always been, to submit all that I have of money or properties to fulfill whatever you command me in the Lord. But, concerning the pope and his clergy, I owe them neither attendance nor service, since I know by the Scriptures that he is the antichrist, the son of perdition, the open adversary of God, and the abomination of Daniel standing in the holy place. When the king heard this, he made no answer and left the room. The archbishop again approached the king about Sir John, and was given authority to charge him, examine him, and punish him in accordance with their devilish decrees: The Laws of Holy Church. But when Sir John did not appear before them as he was told to, the archbishop condemned him for contemptuous resistance to authority. Then when he was told that Sir John mocked him; disdained everything he did; maintained his same opinions; viewed with contempt the church’s powers, a bishop’s dignity, and the order of the priesthood; he raged openly and excommunicated him. In response, Sir John Oldcastle wrote out his personal confession of faith and took it to his friend, Henry IV, whom he expected would gladly receive it. Instead, the king refused it and commanded it to be delivered to the archbishop and his council of bishops who would judge him. When Sir John appeared before the council, and in the king’s presence, he asked that a hundred knights be assembled to hear his case and judge him, for he knew they would clear him of all heresies. To clear himself, he even offered to the fight to the death any man who disagreed with his faith, according to the Law of Arms. Finally, he gently stated that he would not refuse any manner of correction that was according to the Word of God, but would obey it meekly. When he finished, the king took him into his private chambers, where Sir John first told him that he had appealed to the pope, and then showed him what he had written. At this, the king angrily told him to wait for the decision of the pope, and if it was that he should submit to the archbishop, then Sir John should do it, and he should not appeal again. All of this Sir John refused, and the king commanded him to be arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Because of Sir John Oldcastle’s great popularity and esteem, the archbishop proceeded slowly with his trial over a period of several weeks from September until December, but the judgment had already been predetermined, and Sir John’s condemnation for heresy and sentence of death by hanging and burning surprised no one. In his defense, Sir John had written this: As for images, I understand that they are not a matter of faith, but were intended, since faith in Christ was tolerated by the Church, to represent and bring to mind the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the martyrdom and good living of other saints. But whoever gives to dead images the worship that belongs to God, or puts hope and trust in getting help from them as he should to God alone, or has greater affection toward them than toward God, he is committing the great sin of idol worship. Also, I know this fully, that every person in this earth is a pilgrim toward bliss or toward pain, and he who does not know the holy commandments of God and keep them in his life here, even though he may go on pilgrimages to all the world and die doing so, he shall be damned; but he who knows the holy commandments of God and keeps them, he shall be saved, even though he never in his life went on a pilgrimage, as people do now, to Canterbury, or to Rome, or to any other place. On the day appointed for his execution, Sir John Oldcastle was brought out of the Tower of London with his hands tied behind him. He smiled cheerfully at those around him. Then he was laid upon a frame as if he were a heinous traitor to the crown, and dragged to St. Gile’s field. When they reached his place of execution and he was taken off the frame, Sir John knelt down and asked God to forgive his enemies. Then he stood up and exhorted the people who had come there to follow the laws of God written in the Scriptures, and to beware of teachers whose conversation and living are contrary to Christ. Then chains were tied around his stomach, and he was lifted into the air, and a fire was started under him. As the fire consumed him, he praised God until he could praise Him no more. Throughout the crowd who watched him there was great weeping and grief, for a godly and good man had died. The year was 1417.
 
Last edited:
In 1532, Thomas Harding and his wife were accused of heresy because they denied that the bread and wine turned into the actual body and blood of Christ when the priest prayed over them in the mass. For this, the bishop of Lincoln, in eastern England, condemned them to be burned alive at the stake. They were taken to Chesham in the Pell near Botely and chained to a stake. Faggots were piled around them and set on fire. As the fire rose up, one of the enraged papist spectators struck Thomas in the head with a thick piece of firewood so savagely that his head split open and his brains fell out into the fire. The priests who attended the burning told the people that whoever brought faggots to burn heretics would be given indulgences that would allow them to sin for forty days.
 
Matthew 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Matthew 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
John 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
 
PERSECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND (1527-1558)


Martin Luther’s teachings and controversy with the Roman Catholic Church had far-reaching results throughout Europe, Great Britain, and many other places. It stirred up the hearts of many and sent them searching for the truth of God’s Word. Among the searchers was a Scotsman named Patrick Hamilton. To learn the truth of the Scriptures, he and three companions attended the University of Marburg in west-central Germany, north of Frankfurt. It was Europe’s first Protestant university and was founded by Prince Philip of Hesse, who at that time was a 23-year-old *landgrave. While there, Patrick and his companions became friends with Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, the German theologian who in 1521 wrote Loci Communes, the first extensive treatise on Protestant doctrine. The writings and teachings of Luther and Melancthon convinced Hamilton and his friends to leave the papal church and convert to Protestant beliefs. Now inflamed with true knowledge of faith and godliness, Patrick Hamilton was anxious to return to Scotland and teach his countrymen the right ways of God and Christ as shown clearly in the Scriptures. Taking with him his three companions, he returned home without delay and began to teach wherever he could. Soon, however, James Beaton, the archbishop of St. Andrews, who was an adamant papist, heard of Hamilton’s teachings and summoned him to appear before him, which Hamilton did without delay, thinking he would have an opportunity to dispute papist doctrine. But after only a short examination, the archbishop had him arrested and held in the most loathsome part of St. Andrews castle until the next morning, when he was taken before a council of bishops for further examination as a heretic. The charges read against him were that he had publicly disapproved of pilgrimages, purgatory, prayers to saints, prayers for the dead, the mass, and had denied the infallibility of the pope. Hamilton agreed that all the charges were correct. For this he was immediately condemned to be burned alive, and on the order of the bigoted archbishop the sentence was to be carried out that very afternoon. When Hamilton was taken to a place of burning only a day after he had willingly met with the archbishop, the crowd that gathered did not believe they were actually going to burn him, but thought it was part of his examination and intended to frighten him into recanting his teachings and returning to the doctrines of the Romish religion. But they soon learned they were mistaken. When they brought Hamilton to the stake, he knelt down and prayed fervently for some time. When he finished, he was chained to the stake and faggots were piled around him. A bag of gunpowder was then placed in each armpit and set on fire first, but they did not explode and only scorched his arms and face and did not injure him otherwise or start the faggots on fire. So more gunpowder and some dry kindling was brought and set among the faggots and lit. The gunpowder did not explode but did ignite and fire quickly flamed up around Hamilton. As the flames engulfed him, he cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! How long will darkness overwhelm this realm? And how long will You allow the tyranny of these men?” Apparently, however, the faggots themselves were green, and after the initial fire died down they burned slowly and caused him great anguish. Yet he bore the suffering with such Christian courage that it was obvious to all the true believers who were watching that the grace of God was much with him in his martyrdom. The year was 1527.
 
In 1538, Dean Thomas Ferret, vicar of Dolor and a canon at St. Colm’s Inche, preached every Sunday morning to his congregation from the New Testament. This was seldom seen in Scotland because usually only a black friar or a gray friar preached, and almost never from the Scriptures. Therefore the friars became jealous and accused him to the bishop of Dunkeld of being a heretic, and of teaching the mysteries of the Scriptures to the people in their common language, thus making the friars detestable in their sight, for the friars never preached in a language that the people could understand. Furthermore, he did not take the cow and the quality too much to preach every Sunday without being paid, and that for him not to do so would prejudice the people against the churchmen. Also, that he should preach only those good epistles and good gospels that expressed the liberty of the holy Mother Church. Dean Ferret said that preaching only on Sundays was not enough, but he would take the cow and cloth from his poor parishioners, and anything else they would give him, and in exchange he would give them anything that he had; and so he and the bishop were in agreement on that. Further, if the bishop would show him the good epistles and good gospels, and the evil epistles and evil gospels, then he would preach the good and omit the evil. At that the bishop angrily said, “I thank God that I never knew what the Old and New Testament were. I will know nothing but my mass book and my *pontifical. Go your way, and let go of all these fantasies of yours, for if you continue in your erroneous opinions you will be sorry for it, and they will be no way to change the consequences.” Ferret answered, “I am confident my cause is just in the presence of God, and therefore I am not concerned about the consequences.” Then he left. Soon after, a summons was issued by the Cardinal of St. Andrews and the bishop of Dunkeld to Dean Thomas Forret, friars Keillor and Beveridge, a priest named Duncan Simpson, a layman named Robert Forrester, and several others. On the day of their appearance before the bishop’s council, they were all condemned as heretics and given no chance to defend themselves or recant if they so wished, because it was charged that they were chief heretics and teachers of heresies. Further, there was this against them—most of them attended the wedding of a priest, the vicar of Tulibothy beside Stirling, and ate meat (alleged to be a goose) in Lent at the wedding feast. And so they were all taken to Castle Hill at Edinburgh and burned alive.
 
John Stilman In 1518, John Stilman was charged for publicly speaking against worshipping images and praying to them and giving them offerings—also for denying the actual presence of Christ in the consecrated Eucharist, and for highly praising John Wycliffe and declaring that he was a saint in heaven. After being judged guilty and condemned by the Council of Bishops, he was delivered to the sheriffs of London and burned at Smithfield.
 
Back
Top