Holy Martyrs

In Franz Kafka's great novel, The Trial, there is a parable of a man who is told to enter a kingdom through a certain gate. When he arrives at the edge of the kingdom, sure enough, he finds the gate there just as he was promised. e also finds a sentinel there - guarding the entrance. So, seeing the sentinel, he sits down on the grass outside, and he waits

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2 Cor 5:20b - 6:13 NRSV) We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. {21} For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. {6:1} As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. {2} For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! {3} We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, {4} but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, {5} beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; {6} by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, {7} truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; {8} in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; {9} as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see--we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; {10} as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Hall of Apostolic Martyrs

Jesus Christ - crucified by the Romans.

Stephen and Nicanor - two deacons from Acts of the Apostles - stoned by the Jews.

James the Apostle, Jesus' brother - beheaded by Herod in 44 AD.

Philip - crucified in Phrygia in 54 AD.

Matthew - speared to death in Ethiopia in 60 AD.

James, brother of Jesus - clubbed to death by the Jews in 94 AD.

Matthias, the 13th disciple, stoned and beheaded at Jerusalem.

Andrew - crucified on a transverse cross in Edessa.

Mark - pulled to pieces under the idol of Serapis in Alexandria, Egypt.

Peter - crucified upside-down in Rome, 64 AD.

Paul - beheaded by Nero in 65 AD.

Jude, Jesus' brother - crucified in Edessa.

Bartholomew - beaten to death by idoloters in India.

Thomas - speared to death by pagan priests in India.

Luke - hanged by pagan priests in Greece.

Simon Zelotes - Crucified in Britain in 74 AD.

Barnabas - died in 73 AD as a result of the horrible punishments of persecution.

Modern Martyrs

Margaret George - the "Joan of Arc of the Assyrians" - was killed by communists in Iraq while fighting for the religious freedom of Catholics (1972).

Steve Welsh and Timothy Van Dyke of the United States - kidnapped and murdered for the gospel in Colombia.

Romulo Saune - Bible translator - shot to death by Shining Path Rebels in Peru.

Israel Havugimana and two daughters - evangelist - murdered by Tutsi rebels in Ruwanda.

Sister Rani Maria - a Catholic nun - stabbed to death by Hindu militants in northern India.

Veronica Diaz Jiminez - a Protestant laywoman - murdered by tribespeople in Chiapas, Mexico.

Manzoor Masih - Catholic layperson - received the death sentence by the courts in Pakistan and died for merely being a Christian.

Mehdi Dibaj - a Bible translator and missionary - murdered by government assassins in Iran.

in 1994, 52,000 women lost there lives for the Gospel.

2 Cor 6:

{11} We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. {12} There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. {13} In return--I speak as to children--open wide your hearts also.

The Four Chaplains

"Early in the morning of February 3, 1943, the US troop transport "Dorchester" was wallowing through icy seas off Greenland. Most of the 900 troops on board were asleep in their bunks. Suddenly a torpedo smashed into the Dorchester's flank. Frantically pounding up ladders, the troops milled in confusion on the decks.

"In those dark moments of panic, the coolest men aboard were four US chaplains - First lieutenants Clark Poling (Reformed), Alexander Goode (Jewish), John Washington (Catholic), George Fox (Methodist). The four chaplains led the men to boxes of life jackets, passed them out to the soldiers with boat-drill precision. When the boxes were empty, the four chaplains quietly slipped off their own life preservers, put them on four young GIs and told them to jump.

"The Dorchester went down 25 minutes later in a rumble of steam. Some 600 men were lost, but the heroic chaplains had helped save over 200. The last anyone saw of them, they were standing on the slanted deck, their arms linked, in prayer, to the one God they all served."

The Trial

In Franz Kafka's great novel, The Trial, there is a parable of a man who is told to enter a kingdom through a certain gate. When he arrives at the edge of the kingdom, sure enough, he finds the gate there just as he was promised. e also finds a sentinel there - guarding the entrance. So, seeing the sentinel, he sits down on the grass outside, and he waits for the sentinel to either give him instructions or to grant him permission to enter. But the sentinel does nothing; he doesn't say anything or do anything. He just stands there at the gate.

The man continues to wait and wait. The days go by. Then the weeks. The months go by, and then the years. For a whole lifetime the fellow just sits there, and the sentinel just stands there. Finally one day, the sentinel leaves his post. He goes over to the big door, takes hold of it, closes it, and locks it. Before disappearing, he turns to the man on the grass and says, "That door was made for you and for you alone. I was guarding it so that no one but you would enter. But because you chose not to enter it, it is now being closed forever."

Jackson Snyder, 1998