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Scripture: Matthew 13:23

"The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams" MSG

   

When Jesus departed from the eleven remaining disciples shortly after his resurrection --- life on earth turned upside down and inside out --- in just under 300 years. In that time the disciples armed with the Holy Spirit took on a vigor which stands head and shoulders above any other event in history.

Peter, Paul and the close followers of Jesus spread out preaching and teaching about Jesus --- confronted with torture, prison time and death. Although they encountered many who believed and were baptized it was their seeds that turned the world upside down and inside out. For you see by the time the calendar reached 100 years they were all dead. But their seeds were alive and well in the hearts of the baptized. The vigor of the disciples was gone but the same Holy Spirit vigor was sprouting up a new everywhere.

So what happened here? Although we don't have every one exactly documented we have church traditions that suggest the following:   

Paul and Peter --- Paul was beheaded and Peter was crucified upside down on a cross by Nero in Rome --- some speculate on the same day!

Andrew --- nailed to an x shaped tree. He hung on the tree for two days in pain. On the third day he died still preaching Jesus.   

Barnabas --- stoned to death.
James -- beheaded in Jerusalem.

Mathias --- stoned and beheaded.

Thomas --- speared to death in India.

Mathew --- killed by a sword in Ethiopia.
Philip --- hanged from a pillar at Heiropolis.

Luke --- hanged on an olive tree in Greece.

Bartholomew --- skinned alive and beheaded.

Jude (Thaddaeus) --- put to death by an onslaught of arrows.

Mark --- dragged to death along the main street of Alexandria, Egypt.

John --- dipped in boiling oil at Jerusalem --- was not harmed --- exiled to the Greek island of Patmos --- died of natural causes.

Constantine was the Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 --- during his reign the entire Roman Empire embraced Jesus Christ as Lord in Saviour. Peter, Paul and the close followers of Jesus through their martyrdom had laid the seeds of Christianity which took root throughout the entire Roman Empire and the world as it was known.

There were no Printing Presses, Computers, Internet, TV's, Radios, Ipods or Phones --- just the pure Word of The Lord spread by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen !!