Special Tests for Special Purposes – Part 21

As far as the world is concerned, however, God has never sought to set the record straight. What about Peter, the leader of the twelve apostles? According to reliable tradition, Peter too, his life ended on a cross – crucified head downward, at his own request because he did not feel worthy to suffer in the same way as his Lord. We have no reliable record of the death of John but we do know that in his old age he was banished to the barren, rocky island of Patmos, where he received the visions recorded in the book of Revelation.

What about Paul? We have his own record of how he and fellow apostles lived (1 Corinthians 4:11-13). Finally, after a powerful and miraculous ministry that opened up the Gentile world to the gospel, Paul ended in chains in a cold Roman dungeon, forsaken by some of his closest co-workers. From there he was taken out for public execution by beheading.

Do these records of Jesus, Peter John and Paul mean that all committed Christians must necessarily die the death of martyrs? Or that no committed Christian could ever be wealthy? But they do enforce one extremely important point: We must never let the world entice us into accepting its standards of success, we must never seek the world’s approval and that, the desire for popularity is always dangerous.