Believers Can Overcome Sicknesses And Diseases By Faith

BREAKING NEWS: CORONA VIRUS CAN BE OVERCOME BY THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE - Plagues Will Die In And By Your Hands!

By John G. Lake

Now watch the action of the law of life.

Faith belongs to the law of life. Faith is the very opposite of fear. Faith has the opposite effect in spirit, and soul, and body.

Faith causes the spirit of man to become confident. It causes the mind of man to become restful, and positive.

A positive mind repels disease. Consequently, the emanation of the Spirit destroys disease germs.

And because we were in contact with the Spirit of life, I and a little Dutch fellow with me went out and buried many of the people who had died from the bubonic plague.

We went into the homes and carried them out, dug the graves and put them in. Sometimes we would put three or four in one grave.

We never took the disease. Why?

Because of the knowledge that the law of life in Christ Jesus protects us. That law was working.

Because of the fact that a man by that action of his will, puts himself purposely in contact with God, faith takes possession of his heart, and the condition of his nature is changed.

Instead of being fearful, he is full of faith. Instead of being absorbent and drawing everything to himself, his spirit repels sickness and disease.

The Spirit of Christ Jesus flows through the whole being, and emanates through the hands, the heart, and from every pore of the body.

During that great plague that I mentioned, they sent a government ship with supplies and corps of doctors. One of the doctors sent for me, and said, “What have you been using to protect yourself?

Our corps has this preventative and that, which we use as protection, but we concluded that if a man could stay on the ground as you have and keep ministering to the sick and burying the dead, you must have a secret.

What is it?”

I answered, “Brother that is the ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’ I believe that just as long as I keep my soul in contact with the living God so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itself to me, for the Spirit of God will kill it.”

He asked, “Don’t you think that you had better use our preventatives?”

I replied, “No, but doctor I think that you would like to experiment with me.

If you will go over to one of these dead people and take the foam that comes out of their lungs after death, then put it under the microscope you will see masses of living germs.

You will find they are alive until a reasonable time after a man is dead. You can fill my hand with them and I will keep it under the microscope, and instead of these germs remaining alive, they will die instantly.”

They tried it and found it was true. They questioned, “What is that?” I replied, “That is ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’ When a man’s spirit and a man’s body are filled with the blessed presence of God, it oozes out of the pores of your flesh and kills the germs.”

Suppose on the other hand, my soul had been under the law of death, and I were in fear and darkness? The very opposite would have been the result. The result would have been that my body would have absorbed the germs, these would have generated disease and I would have died.

You who are sick, put yourself in contact with God’s law of life. Read His Word with the view of enlightening your heart so that you will be able to look up with more confidence and believe Him.

Pray that the Spirit of God will come into your soul, take possession of your body, and its power will make you well.

That is the exercise of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.


"The Law of Gravity states that, anything that goes up must surely come down whilst the Law of Aerodynamics states states that, it is possible that something can go up and remain there. The Law of Aerodynamics has always been present but it was found out as true only when it was discovered and put in use personally.

In the same way, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has always been there, but only when we believe it against sicknesses and diseases, the law of sin and death which states that all humans can die any moment because of external influence from sin, sicknesses and diseases is withheld and suddenly the realization that being in constant touch with God from our spirit to His Spirit can suddenly make it possible for us to become immune to virus, plagues, sicknesses and diseases to remain hale and healthy for the Glory of God in spite of the law of sin and death operating all around us.

Just as the Scripture states and confirms the stated truth by saying, 'A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.' Faith and fear cannot go together, one flees the scene when the other is present because they are eternal enemies who cannot coexist at the same time and same place. Have faith in God and His Word to have constant communication with God, and fear will flee and you will stay healthy in a supernatural way with the Law of the spirit of life operating in your personal life for the Glory of God by superseding the law of the sin and death which works in all humans." — Abraham Israel  

India And The World Knew His Missionary Exploits For Jesus Only After His Death!

Graham Staines The Meek Who Became A Mighty Testimony

Graham Stuart Staines (1941 – 23 January 1999) was an Australian Christian missionary, who along with his two sons, Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), were burnt to death by a gang who claimed themselves as local members of a Hindu fundamentalist group named Bajrang Dal while sleeping in their station wagon in the village of Manoharpur-Keonjhar, a district of Odisha in India, on 23 January 1999. In 2003, Bajrang Dal activist Ravinder Kumar Pal was convicted of leading the gang that murdered Graham Staines and his sons and was sentenced to life in prison.

Before his death Graham Staines had been working in Odisha since 1965 as part of an evangelical missionary organisation named Mayurbhanj caring for people who had leprosy and looking after the tribal people in the area who lived in abject poverty. However, some Hindu groups alleged that during this time he had lured or forcibly coerced many Hindus into believing in the Christian faith. The Wadhwa Commission found that although some tribals had been baptised at the camps, there was no evidence of forced conversions. Staines's widow Gladys also denies forced conversions ever happened. Gladys continued to live and work in India caring for those who were poor and were affected by leprosy until she returned home to her native country of Australia in 2004. In 2005, she was awarded the fourth highest honor a civilian can receive in India, the Padma Shree, in recognition for her work in Odisha. In 2016, she received the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice.


Early life and early career

Graham Staines was born in the Sunshine Coast suburb of Palmwoods located within the state of Queensland in Australia. As an adult he decided to visit India for the first time in 1965 by joining the Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM), and work in the remote tribal area of Odisha state, which had a long history of active Christian missionary style work. He took over the management of the Mission at Baripada in 1983 after helping to establish the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home as a registered society in 1982.


Personal life

Graham Staines met his wife of 16 years, Gladys, in June of 1981, while they worked together taking care of leprosy patients on the mission field. Not too long after that they decided to get married, in 1983; they worked together until his death. Together they had three children: a daughter, Esther, and two sons, Philip and Timothy. During the course of his work Staines had managed to assist in the translation of part of the Holy Christian Bible into the language of the Ho people of India, which included his crosschecking the work with the entire manuscript of the New Testament, though it is largely believed his main focus was on his ministry to the lepers. It was reported that he could speak the Odia language fluently, and was popular among the patients whom he had managed to cure. In addition to this it also reported that he used to teach people how to make mats and baskets out of rope, sabai grass (Eulaliopsis binata) and tree leaves.


Death and reaction

On the night of 22 January 1999, Graham Staines had attended a jungle camp in Manoharpur, which was an annual gathering for Christians in the area to congregate for a conference and discuss their beliefs in a social setting. The village where the camp was located was right on the border between the tribal villages of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar, which is located within the district of Odisha. He was travelling to the village of Kendujhar with his sons, who were on a break from their schooling in the hill city of Ooty in southern India, when they decided to take a break from the journey towards the jungle camp, and elected to spend the night in Manoharpur, sleeping in the vehicle due to the severe cold at the time. His wife and daughter did not accompany them on the journey, having decided to remain behind in the town and municipality of Baripada.

According to reports at the time, a mob of about fifty people, armed with axes and other implements, attacked the vehicle while Staines and his sons were fast asleep, and set the station wagon alight, trapping them inside and burning them to death.

It is reported that Staines and his sons had awakened and apparently tried to escape, but were prevented from doing so by the angry mob of vigilantes.

The murders were widely condemned by religious and civic leaders of the time, along with politicians and journalists. The US-based Human Rights Watch group accused the Indian government of failing to prevent violence against Christians, and for exploiting the sectarian tensions that existed at the time for their own political gain. The then-Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee, a leader of the BJP, condemned the "ghastly attack," and called for swift action in catching the killers. Published reports stated that the church leaders alleged the attacks were carried out at the behest of hard-line Hindu organizations seeking revenge for what they perceived to be forced conversions of the tribal poor into Christianity. Dara Singh, who was convicted of the murders, was treated as a hero by the hard-line Hindus and reportedly protected by some villagers. In an interview with the Hindustan Times, one of the accused killers, Mahendra Hembram, stated that the killers "were provoked by the 'corruption of tribal culture' by the missionaries, who they claimed fed villagers beef, and gave the women brassieres and sanitary towels."

In her affidavit before the Commission on the death of her husband and two sons, Gladys Staines stated:

"The Lord God is always with me to guide me and to help me try to accomplish the work of Graham, but I sometimes wonder why Graham was killed, and what also made his assassins behave in such a brutal manner on the night of the 22nd/23rd of January 1999."

"It is far from my mind to punish the persons who were responsible for the death of my husband Graham and my two children. But it is my desire and hope that they would repent and be reformed."

The Least of These: The Graham Staines Story, a film that is based on his killing, was released in 2019.


Supreme Court of India judgement

A trial (sessions) court in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha (then named Orissa), sentenced the convicted ringleader of the mob, Dara Singh, to death by hanging for killing Staines and his two sons. In 2005, the Orissa High Court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court decision on 21 January 2011.

"In the case on hand, though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity," the court said. The Court stated, "Our concept of secularism is that the State will have no religion. The State shall treat all religions and religious groups equally and with equal respect without in any manner interfering with their individual right of religion, faith and worship." Yet, while condemning (even voluntary) religious conversions, the Court also said, "It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone's belief by way of 'use of force', provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other". Dismissing the Central Bureau of Investigation's plea for death penalty to Singh, a Bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B. S. Chauhan endorsed the Orissa High Court's finding that his crime did not fall under the rarest of rare category. In its 76-page judgment, the court came out strongly against the practice of conversion.

However, four days later, on 25 January 2011, the Supreme Court of India, in a rare move, expunged its own comments with regards to conversions from its verdict. This was perhaps done due to severe criticism from the media. Leading editors, media groups and civil society members from across the country signed a statement taking strong exception to the Supreme Court's observation that the killing of Graham Staines and his two minor children was intended to teach the Australian missionary a lesson for preaching and practising conversion.


Article Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Staines#Early_life_and_early_career

 

Missionary To India: The Legacy Of Ziegenbalg In Tamil Nadu

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg 
...................................

An Apostle To India

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, the great missionary of South India, was born in Saxony in 1682. He studied at the University of Balle, then the center for the Pietistic movement in the Lutheran Church. He responded to an appeal from the King of Denmark for missionaries, and in September 1706, he and Heinrich Plueshau arrived in Tranguebar (anglicized form of Tharangambadi in Tamil language), a very small Danish colony on the east coast, close to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, on the southeast coast of India, as the first Protestant missionaries in that country.

Ziegenbalg began his life in Tranquebar first with the help of interpreters and translators. However, he was determined to learn the local language Tamil, and mastered it in such a way that he would be able to use it for the translation of the Bible and to communicate with the natives in their own language. He and Heinrich persevered in their efforts.

They began preaching and baptized their first converts about ten months later. Their work was opposed both by militant Hindus and by the local Danish authorities. In 1707/08, Ziegenbalg spent four months in prison on a charge that by converting the natives, he was encouraging rebellion.

More than the opposition, he had to cope with the climatic conditions in India. Ziegenbalg wrote: “My skin was like a red cloth. The heat here is very great, especially during April, May and June, in which season the wind blows from the inland so strongly that it seems as if the heat comes straight out of the oven”.

Ziegenbalg began to learn write Tamil letters immediately after his arrival. The missionaries invited the local Tamil Pandit (teacher) to come and stay with them and to run his school from their house. Ziegenbalg would sit with the young children in this school on the floor and practice writing the letters in the sand, a very traditional practice that was in vogue even in early 1650s in Tamil Nadu villages.

Following was an account of his hard work to master the Malabar (Tamil) language:

From 7 to 8 a.m, he would repeat the vocabularies and phrases that he had previously learnt and written down. From 8 a.m. to 12 noon, he would read only Malabar language books which he had not previously read. He did this in the presence of an old poet and a writer who immediately wrote down all new words and expressions. The poet had to explain the text and in the case of linguistically complicated poetry, the poet put what had been read into colloquial language. At first, Ziegenbalg had also used the translator, namely, Aleppa, whom he later gave to one of his colleagues. Even while eating, he had someone read to him. From 3 to 5 p.m., he would read some more Tamil books. In the evening from 7 to 8 p.m, someone would read to him from Tamil literature in order to avoid strain on his eyes. He preferred authors whose style he could imitate in his own speaking and writing.

He soon set up a printing press, and published studies of the Tamil language and of Indian

religion and culture. His translation of the New Testament into Tamil in 1715, and the church building that he and his associates constructed in 1718, are still in use today.

He married in 1716, and about that time, a new and friendly governor arrived, and he was able to establish a seminary for the training of native clergy. He died on 23 February 1719 at the age of 37 when he left a Tamil translation of the New Testament and of Genesis through Ruth, many brief writings in Tamil, two church buildings, the seminary, and 250 baptized Christians. Ziegenbalg accomplished great things for God in the prime of his youth and that too, in an alien country, despite the inclement climatic conditions and the hostile attitude of the local people to the preaching of the gospel. (Courtesy: Friends Focus – Sept.2003)

Select Bibliography for a Study on the Life and Activities of Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg

Ziegenbalg, B. and J.E. Gruendler: A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Geo Lewis, Chaplain to the Honourable the East India - Company at Fort St. George: Giving an Account of the Method of Instruction used in the Charity Schools of the Church call'd Jerusalem, in Tranquebar by the Protestant Missionaries there, London, 1715, 32p. (Published in English language during Ziegenbalg's lifetime)

Ziegenbalg B., Grammatica Damulica, Halle, 1716 (Published in Tamil-Latin during Ziegenbalg's lifetime)

Germann, W. Ziegenbalgs Bibliotheca Malabarica, in: Missionsnachrichten der Ostindischen Missionsansalt zu Halle, vol.32, Halle, 1880 (this article gives us the complete list of the 119 rare Tamil literature collection, which Ziegenbalg sent to Germany)

Lehmann Arno, German Tamil Studies, in: Wissenbschaftliche Zeitschrift derMartin Luther Universitaet, Vol.17, Halle, 1968.

Germann, W. (Ed.), Genealogy of the South Indian Gods, New Delhi, 1984.

Baierlein, E.R., Rev.: The land of the Tamulians and Its missions, translated from the German by J.D.B.Gribble, Madras, 1875, 242 p.

Beyreuther, Erich: (Tr.from German by S.G. Lang & H.W. Gensichen), Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, A Biography of the First Protestant Missionary in India 1682-1719, Madras, 1955, 80 p.

Buchanan, C., Rev.: Christian Researches in Asia, London, 1812, 312 p.

Hooper, J.S.M.: Bible Translation, Oxford, 1963.

Lehmann, Arno: (Tr. into English by M. J. Lutz) It began at Tranquebar, Madras, 1956, 185p.

Leifer, Walter: India and the Germans, 500 Years of Indo-German Contacts, Bombay, 1977.

Pamperrien, K. (Translator): History of the Tranquebar Mission - worked out from the original papers by J. Ferd, Fenger, Translated into English from the German of Emil Francke, Tranquebar, 1863, 324p.

Penny, Frank, Rev.: The Church in Madras, Vol. I, London, 1904, xii

Samuel G, Rev.: History of the Tranquebar Mission in Tamil, A.D. 1706 -1955, Madras, 1955, 288 p.

Sherring, M.A.: The History of Protestant Missions in India from their Commencement in 1706 to 1871, London, 1875, 484 p.

Stephen Neil: A History of Christianity in India, Cambridge, 1985.

Mohanavelu, C.S.: Standard of education of native Tamil people 300 years ago, as observed and reported by the Germans, in: Wissenschaftliche Zietschrift der Martin Luther Universitat, Halle-Wittenberg, Jg. XXXXI, Nr.3, Halle, 1992, pp.129-134

Mohanavelu, C.S.: German Tamilology, Madras, 1993

275 years of the arrival of Ziegenbalg, Jubilee Malar, 1706-1981

Bergendorff, Conrad, Ziegenbalg - The Church of Lutheran Reformation, St.Luis, 1967

Sandgren, From Tranquebar to Serampore, Carey Lectures, Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta, 1955, 22 p.

Ziegenbalg, Dr. Daniel Jeyaraj, 2004.

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, - the German who printed the first Tamil text (1682 - 1719)

Indo Asian News Service

4 July 2006

Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu), July 4 (IANS) This small coastal town is holding a weeklong commemoration in memory of an 18th century German missionary who not only printed the first English book in Asia but also wrote the first Tamil dictionary.

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, a 23-year-old protestant missionary, arrived in Tranquebar, where the Danish set up a colony nearly 300 years ago, on July 9, 1706. The commemorations that began Monday will include a seminar on the contribution of missionaries to civil society in India as well as on the post-modern challenges to Christian missionary activity. A postal stamp on Ziegenbalg, who hailed from the university town of Halle and was sent by King Frederick IV who felt that there should be protestant priests in the tiny Danish colony, will be released on the occasion. The New Jerusalem church in Tranquebar, where he was buried, will be rededicated.

Ziegenbalg was a born linguist. He quickly learnt Portuguese as well as 'Malabar' Tamil. It is said his Tamil teacher was an assistant called Ellapar, who taught him the 'Malabar' alphabets by drawing them on beach sand. He was keen on the new printing technology rather than preaching and conversion and began writing books on Tamil language, dictionaries and manuals on printing.

By 1708, two years after he reached, Ziegenbalg had compiled a bibliography of 161 Tamil books he had read in a text called the 'Biblithece Malabarke', which described what each book contained.In 1709, Ziegenbalg asked for a printing press from Denmark. He also sent back to Halle drawings of Tamil types to be made into blocks. The Halle type for Tamil came to Tranquebar in 1712. It was, however, too large and Ziegenbalg got local workmen to caste smaller types, copied expertly from the Halle type, from cheese tins. His first press came in 1713 along with a printing hand, who ran away. So, Ziegenbalg recruited a German soldier named Johann Heinrich Schloricke, who printed his first book in India in Portuguese.

A printer named Johanne Adler along with two apprentices arrived on the Tamil Nadu coast that same year to help Ziegenbalg's printing industry. Adler set up a type-making factory near Tranquebar to supply Ziegenbalg's press. In 1715, he started a paper mill in the village. And then Adler opened a printing ink making factory nearby. So, Ziegenbalg's press had all that it needed locally.

In 1716, it printed the first book in Asia in the English language, 'A Guide to the English Tongue'. Next year, the press produced a Portuguese A B C book. The press existed for the next 100 years. There is no record of anything printed in this press after that. From the Tranquebar press, the art of printing spread to Thanjavur, Tirunelveli and then Madras (Chennai). Also to the Danish settlement of Srirampore on the Bengal coast. It is in the Srirampore Danish mission that William Carey, often credited with the first printing work in India, and others took forward Ziegenbalg's legacy.

Ziegenbalg had worked on several other Tamil-German scholarly texts. These were only printed 250 years later in Halle and in Madras. Among them were texts like the 'Nidiwunpa' and 'Ulaga Nidi'. Ziegenbalg died in 1719.

Opening the commemoration ceremonies, historian S. Muthiah recalled that Ziegenbalg wrote the first Tamil dictionary and translated Tamil grammar prose into Latin. He established the first Tamil-German scholarly link. He first translated the New Testament into Tamil 'Pudu Etpadu'. The function is being organised by the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute here and the National Council of Churches in India.



DOWNLOAD for further reading: St. Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, the Morningstar of India.pdf


Missionaries and Men of God - Bartholomäus ziegenbalg Biography - Tamil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKe9RE9GKXk

A TAMIL SHORT FILM ABOUT THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF BARTHOLOMAEUS ZIEGENBALG:

Polycarp — An Early Christian Martyr - Died ca. AD 155, in Smyrna (Izmir In Modern Turkey)

Polycarp The Mighty Sons Of The Apostles

It’s not hard to understand why. According to Irenaeus, Bishop Polycarp was one of the few living disciples of the apostle John, who was the “beloved disciple” of Jesus himself. Polycarp preached what he had learned directly from eyewitnesses of Jesus. His connection with Christ’s first apostles served as a bridge between the first generation of believers and those who followed, including influential thinkers and theologians such as Irenaeus, who would live to be a prominent church father in his own right.

Polycarp led the church in Smyrna with wisdom and authority, having been appointed to leadership by men who had seen and heard the Lord. He was frequently called on to settle disputes or correct false teaching. Even the other leaders of the early church valued his insight. When Polycarp visited Rome, the bishop there deferred to him regarding when to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, as a sign of honor and respect.

Heeding John’s warnings against false teachers, Polycarp faithfully defended the apostles’ teaching against early heretics, including one Marcion, who held that the God of the Old Testament and the Father of Jesus were separate entities. Polycarp could be fiery, particularly when faced with such dangerous errors. In their only face-to-face meeting, Marcion asked, “Do you know me?”

“I know you, you firstborn of Satan!” Polycarp replied.

He was able to turn many away from such heresies, and thus strengthen the church’s witness.

But Polycarp’s work as a pastor and leader would not continue freely. When persecution broke out in Smyrna, some Christians were rounded up for interrogation, and required to renounce Christ and bow before the Roman emperor as a condition of release. When they refused, they were tortured and executed.

Eventually the crowd took up the refrain, “Away with the atheists! Go find Polycarp!”

Eyewitness accounts from this time highlight the public brutality of the persecution. Believers were lashed until their muscles were laid bare, forced to lie down on shards of shells, and thrown into arenas to be devoured by wild animals in front of the townspeople. There are striking examples of early martyrs welcoming these sufferings in the name of Christ. One Germanicus even embraced the wild beast and pulled it toward himself to meet death as quickly as possible. But not all withstood the brutal torture. A man named Quintus, who had come forward of his own free will rather than wait to be arrested, when confronted with the beasts of prey, renounced Jesus and took the oath of fidelity to the emperor.

Though some bystanders wept with pity for the persecuted Christians, these spectacles of death and drama in the arena also served to sharpen the people’s taste for Christian blood. Eventually the crowd took up the refrain, “Away with the atheists! Go find Polycarp!” (“Atheist” was a popular term for Christians, who in denying the Roman divinities in favor of a God who could not be seen, were thought of as atheists.)

Polycarp was undismayed by the growing public demand for his death. Rather than flee, the old bishop even resolved to remain in the city, where they could easily find him. His companions eventually convinced him to retreat to a farm outside of town, where the threat to his life was less immediate. There he spent his time in prayer, interceding for members of the church throughout the world.

Three days before his arrest, Polycarp fell into a deep trance. On regaining consciousness, he declared that he had received a vision. He had seen his pillow bursting into flame around his head. Polycarp had no question what the vision meant. Turning to his companions, he said, “I am going to be burned alive.”

Polycarp prayed so earnestly that one hour became two, and several of the soldiers regretted their role in his arrest.

Not long after, the Roman authorities captured two slaves. One of them broke down under torture and revealed the location of the farm where Polycarp was staying. When soldiers arrived on horseback to seize him, Polycarp refused to run. Instead, he offered his captors hospitality and food, requesting only that he be allowed an hour for prayer. When they agreed, Polycarp prayed so earnestly that one hour became two, and several of the soldiers regretted their role in the arrest of such a venerable old man.

They then put Polycarp on a donkey and led him back into the city. Upon arrival, his captors ushered him into the carriage of a man named Herod, the captain of the local troops. Herod tried to convince Polycarp to save himself. “Why, what harm is there in saying, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ and offering incense?” When Polycarp refused the very suggestion of renouncing Christ, the official grew threatening and forced him out of the carriage so roughly that he injured his shin.

Without even turning, Polycarp marched on quickly as they escorted him to the stadium, where a deafening roar arose from the throngs of spectators. As he entered, his Christian companions heard a voice from above say, “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” He was brought before the proconsul, who urged him to deny his faith and bow before the emperor: “Swear by the spirit of Caesar! Repent, and say, ‘Away with the atheists!’”

Turning with a grim look toward the crowd calling for his death, Polycarp gestured at them. “Away with the atheists,” he said dryly.

Undeterred, the proconsul pressed him further to deny Christ. Polycarp declared, “Eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?”

“We are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil.”

Once more the proconsul urged Polycarp to swear by Caesar. This time Polycarp replied, “Since you pretend not to know who and what I am, hear me declare with boldness: I am a Christian. And if you wish to learn more about Christianity, I will be happy to make an appointment.”

Furious, the proconsul said, “Don’t you know I have wild beasts waiting? I’ll throw you to them unless you repent.”

Polycarp answered, “Bring them on, then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil.”

Next the proconsul threatened to burn him alive. To this Polycarp replied, “You threaten me with fire which burns for a little while and is soon extinguished. You do not know the coming fire of judgment and eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly. What are you waiting for? Do what you wish.”

The fire formed a circle around him, but his body did not burn.

The proconsul sent his herald out into the arena to announce that Polycarp had confessed to being a Christian. At this, the assembled crowd seethed with uncontrolled fury and called for Polycarp to be burned alive. Quickly, they assembled a pyre, gathering wood from workshops and the public baths. Polycarp removed his clothes and tried to take off his shoes, though his advanced age made it difficult. His guards prepared to nail him to the stake, but he told them calmly, “Leave me as I am, for the one who gives me strength to endure the fire will also give me strength to remain at the stake unmoved without being secured by nails.” They bound his hands behind him. Polycarp offered a psalm of praise and thanksgiving to God. His captors ignited the wood.

According to observers, as the flames grew, they did not consume Polycarp as expected. The fire formed a circle around him, but his body did not burn. Since the fire did not have its intended effect on Polycarp’s body, an executioner was ordered to stab him to death with a dagger. His blood extinguished the flames.

Observers that day were shocked by the contrast between Polycarp’s martyrdom and the deaths of non-Christians they had witnessed. They beheld the same faithful discipleship in Polycarp’s death that had characterized his life: a humble acceptance of God’s will; praise of God in the most extreme trial; and a joyful, unwavering commitment to Christ even when faced with death.

Polycarp’s was among the first recorded Christian martyrdoms. His steadfast obedience to Christ was a powerful testimony, an inspiration not only to the church he pastored so faithfully in Smyrna, but to Christians throughout the centuries.



From Bearing Witness: Stories of Martyrdom and Costly Discipleship.

Taken from three different sources: “The Martyrdom of Polycarp” in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Philip Schaff, et al., translated by Marcus Dods (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996) is the most complete account. History of the Church in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2: Eusebius, edited by Philip Schaff, et al. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1984) includes valuable commentary by Eusebius. Finally, Irenaeus, Against Heresies, translated by Philip Schaff; edited by Alexander Roberts, et al. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001) contains details on Polycarp’s earlier life and character.

Article Source: https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/witness/polycarp