Freedom

Part 1
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:19 Reading about the founders of this great nation humbles all who have been blessed to have and are living in it. We many times take for granted the blessings that automatically flow to us just because we are Americans, but truly, we have untold blessings, here!! Such stories of the American Revolution only remind us of what price they had to pay to make our existence possible and many do not even know about them. These were not soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty MORE. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn’t fight just the British, we were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!! Remember, freedom is never free!! “Commit your way to the Lord: trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”
Often, I am asked about the “other apostles” of Jesus Christ, where did they preach, to whom, how did they fare, and what was their end in this life. I confess that many times we act as though there were only two or three apostles, namely Peter, Paul, and John and leave the others out of our knowledge as though they did nothing. I know there were individual things these three great apostles did that no other human being could duplicate, but were they the ONLY ones who preached the gospel to the world of the first century? Many of us may think that since we never have heard of the exploits of apostle Andrew that he just crawled off somewhere in a hole and did nothing to advance the cause of his Lord. That is just shear ignorance on our part and needs to change. These men, all of them, gave their lives for the cause of Christ as did the apostles Peter, Paul, and John. They were the best of the best in a time when good men were scarce!
I hear some of our brother’s talk about “witnessing”. It is evident they do not understand the word they are using. The word matrus is the Greek word translated Witness. Literally, it means one who remembers, one who has information or knowledge of anything, and hence, one who can give information, brings to light, or confirms anything. It usually denotes simply that the witness confirms something, though in many cases it also implies that he avoids something and supports his statement on the strength of his own authority. Peculiar to the New Testament is the designation that martures (witnesses) is used as a designation of those who will give their lives, suffer death in consequence of confessing Christ!! Witnessing became the CAUSE of their death! I don’t think many of these so-called “witnesses” of Jehovah that run around today spreading their lying propaganda are told they are supposed to DIE for the boys in headquarters in Brooklyn!! Jesus said: “Ye shall be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and in all Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8 To the preacher Ananias, concerning Paul, Christ said: “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:16 It cost to be free!!

 

Part 2
If there are “witnesses” alive, today, being “witnesses” they soon will not be!! The apostles were said to be the “witnesses” Jesus would send to the world. The Apostles went as commanded and as told them they all gave their lives for the cause of Christ!! This again separates the Church of Christ from all other religious bodies; no other religious institution has had ALL their original members give their lives in defense of the church of which they were the organizers!! We will begin a study of those who paid the debt showing It Cost to Be Free!!
All or many of us know of the life and service to the cause of Christ by the Apostle Paul. I personally think the apostle Paul took the place of John the Immerser as being the greatest man born of woman!! Unselfish, loving, patient, devoted to the cause, the apostle Paul was born in Tarsus, Acts 22:3. Tarsus was a rich commercial center which was also home to the important schools of philosophy of that day, the Stoics and Epicureans. It was in this city Paul could have learned the art of Grecian rhetoric and become acquainted with the profound religious questions that tormented the hearts of the pagans tired of offering incense to numerous divinities, but not so of Saul, the son of the synagogue keeper of Tarsus. Wealthy parents always sought for their sons the BEST teachers of the day, for example Phillip of Greece got for his son Alexander the best pagan of his time, Aristotle. Saul’s father by his influence among the Jewish people gained for his son Saul an appointment with Gamaliel of Jerusalem. Gamaliel, grandson of the greatest Hebrew teacher of Israel, Shammei was THE most sought after teacher of the day. Saul was sent to Jerusalem at a very young age. In those days the student had to earn the right to be taught by a great teacher. Saul was earnest and consistent in his studies far exceeding in zeal the efforts of his fellow students. Philippians 3:4-6
From Gamaliel Saul learned not only the Law, but the rules that interpreted the Law. At the end of his schooling, Saul (the Jewish name, Paul, the Gentile name) became a Pharisee, a term that means “separated one,” and strictly interpreted how he was to live Judaism. If we are deceived by his lowly estate as an apostle of Jesus Christ we do not know the Saul of Tarsus, Saul was “someone”! A convinced Pharisee, he acts in a way that is consistent with his identity: his profound desire to carry on the will of God lead him to take on the responsibility of destroying the infant Church of Christ. As a member of the Sanhedrin, Saul easily retained letters of authority from this body to destroy all that called on the name of Christ. As he walks (the Roman Catholics tell us he rides a horse) towards Damascus, Acts 22, ready to take as prisoner any who persisted in the new sect, a voice from Heaven demands: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul responds. “I Am Jesus, and you are persecuting Me. Get up, go into Damascus and it will be told you what I want you to do.”
When the Damascene Jew heard Saul of Tarsus, member and agent of the Sanhedrin was coming to Damascus, their hearts were thrilled. They had lost many to a sect he was coming to destroy as he had in other cities. Ananias, the local instructor of this new sect, although a good man and well thought of among even the Jews, had done an amazing job holding the little Church of Christ together, but now hearing the “mad dog of Benjamin” was on his way, many of the newer saints had denied the faith. The Jewish synagogue had been made ready for Saul’s coming. Food and festival seemed everywhere with the Jew while fear and death was the demeanor of the Christian. A runner came into Jerusalem; something was wrong! Food, fun, and festival seemed over for the Jew!

 

Part 3
Did he ever win his family to Christ? Were he and his mother close? What relationship did he have with his father? Was he married? Was his wife a Christian? Did he and his wife ever have children? What was his interest other than preaching Christ and Him crucified? Was Timothy a replacement for the son he never had? We know he had at least one sister, did he have a brother? How could a man write at least two-thirds of the New Testament and we not know any more about him, personally, than we do? Did any other man ever have the zeal for the Law of Moses as did Paul, or was his zeal for the Jew and the Jewish people? It is as interesting what we DO know about him as what we do not. The great apostle Paul lost his life in Rome on the Apian Way as the bust of Simon Magus looked down on him. He was beheaded, it cost to be free!!
Most references in the New Testament to Andrew simply include him on a list of the Twelve Apostles, or group him with his brother, Simon Peter. But he appears acting as an individual tree times in the gospel of John. One, when the Gentile Greeks or Greek speaking Jews wished to speak to Jesus. (It has always been interesting to me that Simon Peter’s brother had a Greek name, Andrew. In fact Andrew and Philip were Greek names). The Greeks approached their dilemma by asking Philip, who tells Andrew. Both Philip and Andrew approach the Lord. This had singular importance for by this Christ knew His death was imminent, see John 12:22-23. Again, it was Andrew who found the lad with five loaves and two fishes! see John 6:8. Finally, it was Andrew who brought his brother, Simon Peter, to meet the Lord. On each occasion where he is mentioned as an individual, Andrew, obeys the Lord. It seems to be less likely Simon Peter would change his mode of action/reaction at any other occasion.
As Peter was well known and loved in Western Europe so Andrew was in Eastern Europe. In fact we are told that some of his relics were brought by a missionary named Rule to Scotland, to a place called Rife, but now is known as St. Andrew’s (best known as the site of a world-famous golf course and club in England). When Constantine established Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire, replacing Rome, the bishop of Byzantium, Andrew became very popular. (There were five sees (bishoprics) in the early part of the second century. They were Rome, Alexandria, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Constantinople). Now, the congregation at Rome claimed the two most famous apostles, Peter and Paul, as founders. Alexandria, Egypt claimed Mark as its founder. Mark had gone to Alexandria after the death of Peter and started the Church of Christ, there! Since Mark, who had been Peter’s scribe and assistant, and had written the letter of Mark as Peter dictated it, was the founder of the work in Alexandria, Egypt, it left Constantinople without ANY apostle in its history . It would seem to me that Mark should have been the man to inherit Peter’s authority as Pope, especially since he was the scribe for the book of Mark and I and II Peter, AND, was the last assistant of the apostle Paul, but that would leave out Rome and they could not have that!! Constantinople responded to the shame of its lack-luster church father by drafting Andrew, Peter’s brother. Andrew is the national saint of Scotland.
Andrew was at first a disciple of John, the Baptist. He is called Protokletos (the first called) because he was the first apostle to be summoned by Jesus into His service. Andrew and Peter made their livings as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. By the second century Peter symbolically came to represent the Church of the West, Andrew, the Church of the East.

 

Part 4
Have you ever wondered how the Church started in Russia? How did the Church in the eastern part of Europe get so large and why was it so numerically strong?
According to ecclesiastical tradition, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter began his missionary activity in the Provinces of Vithynia and Pontus on the southern shores of the Black Sea. Later he journeyed to the City of Byzantium and founded the Church of Christ there where he ordained the elders and appointed evangelists. Here, he was said to have found Stachys, on of the 70 whom our Lord sent out on the limited commission.
After Pentecost, Andrew taught in Byzantium, Thrace, and Russia. He converted the Jews in the temples, baptized them, and healed their sick, built churches, and left there preachers of the gospel on whom he laid hands. It is said Andrew foretold of the greatness of Kiev as a city and stronghold of Christianity. One thing is for sure, where ever Andrew started the Church no place was found for the Islamic religion which began some 500 years, later. It is legend that on one of his missionary journeys to Greece, Andrew visited the City of Patras. Here, by the preaching of the gospel and the miracles of healing her performed, in the name of Jesus, he healed Maxmilla, the wife of the Roman Proconsul, Aegeates. Seeing this miracle of healing and hearing the gospel, one Stratoklis, the highly intellectual brother of the Proconsul, also was baptized into Christ and it was Aegeates that Andrew laid hands on and made him the first preacher of the gospel in that area.
The life of Andrew touched the life of Matthias, one of the twelve who, in Sinope was imprisoned for preaching the gospel. Andrew interceded for Matthias in prayer and (according to legend) the chains fell from him and the cell door opened which held him captive.) Because of this great deed, the people beat Andrew, breaking out his teeth, cutting his fingers, and left him for dead in a dung heap. Accordingly, when he arose the next day and went into the city, people were amazed and believed his message concerning Jesus, the Messiah.
When the afore-mentioned Aegeates heard his own family were members of this NEW religion, with the urging of the idolaters in his court, he decided to crucify Andrew. The crucifixion was carried out on an X-shaped cross with the body of the Apostle upside down so that he saw neither the earth nor his executioners, but only the sky which he glorified as the heaven in which he would meet his Lord. Aegeates had him tied to the cross in this X-shaped-manner so that he could live longer and suffer more. It is believed that some 20,000 of the faithful followers of Christ stood by and mourned and as they watched, Andrew preached to them the gospel of Christ. Out of fear of the people, Aegeates came to remove Andrew from the cross, Andrew, began to entreat Aegeates to become a follower of the risen Savior. His body was tenderly removed from tree by Stratoklis and Maximilla and buried with the entire honor befitting the Apostle. Soon after the death of Andrew a demon fell upon Aegeates and tormented him so powerfully that he committed suicide. In 357 AD Constantine (son of Constantine the great) ordered the body of Andrew removed from Patras and interned in the Church of the Apostles of Christ at Constantinople. He was in life what he lived so purely that his death kept alive for many centuries the great Church of Christ of Constantinople. (It is here, in this building, we find relics of Luke and Timothy, also).
The deeds and preaching of Andrew became known in all parts of the world. He is the patron saint of Russia, Scotland, and Romania to this day.

Part 5
Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of James the Less, and a relative of our Lord. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lydia. According to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year 62 AD, and assisted the election of his brother, Simeon, as the leader of the church of Jerusalem. He is an author of an epistle to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Nicolatians and Gnostics. This apostle is said to have suffered martyrdom in Armenia, which was then subject to Persia. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third Century, history records. Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world.
Little is known of his life. Legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa; possibly martyred with Simon in Persia. Jude is the apostle whom the Catholics invoke in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stressed faithfulness as necessary to inherit eternal life. Jude is NOT the same man as Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God’s mercy. It cost!!
James, was the half-brother of the Lord, some confuse him with a cousin of Jesus. He is the author, as directed by the Holy Spirit, of the book that bears his name. Of all the pious men of holy character, James is the one who, according to the saints of the first century, stands out the most!! It was James and his brothers who persuaded Mary to publicly embarrass the Lord during His earthly ministry, (Matthew 12:46-50, 13:55-56). James and others tried to push the Lord off the pinnacle of the hill in Nazareth when the Lord went by on a Sabbath day. (Luke 4:16-30, Luke 6:1-6, Matthew 13:53-58). James and his brethren mocked the Lord in John 7 when Christ did not want to go to the Feast of Tabernacles. It is James as Paul records was visited personally by Christ after His resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:7 The historical account of his death has James thrown off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was James who had those obviously strange knees so calloused, they were said to look like the knees of a camel (because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer). James was the managing brother of the only council held under the auspices of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem (Acts 15). It was James who advised Paul to take the pledge of the Nazarite in Acts 21. It cost to be free!!
James, the greater was distinguished as being in Jesus’ innermost circle and the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the book of Acts, Acts 12: 2. James and his younger brother, the apostle John, are designated Boanerges (from the Greek which meant thunder), see Mark 3:17. He and John had such violent tempers they were constantly involved with what their tempers meted out. Some, knowing the violence of men with this malady mocked them just to see them put on a display of their tempers. With Peter and Andrew, James and John were the first four disciples, whom Jesus called, see Mark 1:16-19. It was believed that is James who asked the question, “tell us, when will this (the end of the Jewish age), be?” Mark 13:1 As a member of the inner circle, James witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37, Luke 8:51), the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2, Matthew 17), and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33, Matthew 26:37). The mother of James and John asked Jesus to let them sit, one at right and the other on the left hand when Jesus came into His Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23, Mark 10:35-45), a favor Christ was not able to grant. James was beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa I of Judea. It cost to be free!!

Part 6
Legend has it that Jude was possibly martyred with Simon in Persia. For some reason the Roman Catholics invoked Jude in desperate situations until they decided to remove all the saint-relics and prayers to him. Again, Jude is NOT Judas Iscariot who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God’s sacrifice. It cost to be free!
Bartholomew is the apostle also called Nathanael, a native of Galilee described in John 1:45-51. Tradition tells us he preached the gospel in India (probably more accurately Arabia), where he left behind a copy in Hebrew of the Gospel of Matthew. He is said to have been flayed alive, there. It cost to be free!
Simon, the Cananaean is wrongly thought to have been from Cana or Canaan. Kananaios, is a transliterated word from an Aramaic word, quan’ anaya, which means “the zealot”. Zealots were a Jewish nationalistic party before AD 70 of whom Peter was a member, who swore on the head of their oldest son to deliver Israel from Roman bondage. He is to have preached the Gospel in Egypt before joining the Apostle Thaddaeus, (Judas), in Persia, where, according to legend, he was martyred by being cut in half with a saw. It cost to be free!!
Thomas, called Didymus was the Apostle that missed a very important worship service one Sunday evening. Thomas, Hebrew or Aramaic for “twin” was called Didymus, also a Greek word for “twin”. It was Thomas who refused to believe the Risen Lord had appeared to the other apostles on the evening of His resurrection. The next Sunday evening, Thomas was present when Jesus entered to room. Thomas had been the only apostle who “stood up” for Christ when He was delaying to go to Jerusalem after the death of Lazarus. John 11:16 Faith did not seem to be a problem with Thomas. When Christ asked him to “Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing”. Thomas cried “My Lord and My God”. John 20:19-29 Because of this episode, he has been known ever since as “Doubting Thomas” which seems to me unfair when he alone, wanted to go with Jesus to Jerusalem when the Lord’s life was in danger there!! John 11:7-8,16 If Thomas was pessimistic, he was also loyal.
At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “I go to prepare a place for you…and whither I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas replied: “Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?” To this Jesus answered: “I Am the way, the truth and the life.” John 14:1-6 Thomas is again mentioned as one of the seven disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Tiberius when the Risen Lord appeared to them. John 21:2 History records Thomas was speared to death in India. It cost to be free!!

Part 7
Judas Iscariot is not by any means to have the honor of association with these great men and their love for our Lord. Yet, many do not know much about this man “who it had been better had he never been born”!! It is told that there was a city named Iscaria from which Judas matriculated. To be given the name of a city usually associated that person with an association of importance. Among the Jew, it usually was the keeper of the synagogue. Judas could also have been a surname, a spelling of the word sicarius, from the Latin ‘murderer’ or ‘assassin’. Also, Judas could have come from a family among the Jewish people called the Sicari, the most radical Jewish group, some of them were terrorists. Always the last on the list of the disciples, Judas was the treasurer of the group; ‘he had the money box’. He it was who disclosed the whereabouts of Christ to the Chief Priests and Elders for 30 pieces of silver. They provided the armed guard that he brought to the Garden of Gethsemane, near Jerusalem, where Jesus went to pray with the other eleven disciples after the Last Supper. There Judas identified Jesus with a kiss, a show of friendship that was seamy with hypocrisy. There is an interesting thing that took place with Judas that has often intrigued most of us who have read of it. Judas was with Christ at the Last Supper where, after Jesus took the bread and blessed it; “Satan entered him.” John 13:27 Luke 22:3-6 tells “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.” Like any coward, Judas sought to deliver Christ to the Sanhedrin “in the absence of the multitude.” When Jesus first mentioned a rebellion among His disciples, He named the man who was to betray Him by describing what he would do. “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil”? Acts 1:18 tells of the demise of this fiend who repented (Matthew 27:3-10) after seeing Jesus condemned to death having returned the 30 pieces of silver (the price of a common slave in those days). Unfortunately, the Muslims have undertaken to dress this traitor in different clothes. In Muslim polemic literature, Judas ceases to be a traitor; instead, he supposedly lied to the Jews in order to defend Jesus (whom, they claim was never crucified, by the way). A 14th century Muslim apologist named ad-Dimashqi maintains that Judas assumed Jesus’ likeness and was crucified in His place.
It is taught by many, and that innocently, that Judas “office of an apostle” was taken by Matthias. Acts 1:21, Jesus choice of 12 men point to a consciousness of the symbolic number, 12, that always signifies “the chosen”. Matthias accompanied Jesus and the disciples from the time of the Lord’s baptism to His Ascension. Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebius of Caesarea write that Matthias was among the 72 disciples paired off and sent to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. It is true that Matthias was baptized in the Holy Spirit as were the other 11 on the day of Pentecost, and that he had a part of their ministry, but I have never thought Judas “bishopric” was taken by Matthias. I have seen the unbelievable parallel between Judas family, background, training, and driving spirit to be exactly like that of Saul of Tarsus. Here, I believe was the man CHRIST chose to replace with honor and distinction, Judas. Matthias worked in Judea and then went to the Caspian Sea, where he was martyred by crucifixion and, according to other legends, was chopped asunder. It cost to be free!
Philip is mentioned only by name in the list of the Synoptic Gospels. He is a frequent character in the gospel of John (John 1:43-51), which states that he came from Bethsaida. At the time of entering the work with the Lord, Philip was a disciple of John the Baptist.

Part 8
The apostle Philip is sometimes confused with Philip who preached in Samaria and to the Eunuch, they are not the same. In John 1:43 Philip was called by Jesus to be His follower; he introduced Nathanael (sometimes identified as Bartholomew) to Jesus. It was Philip that asked what it would cost to buy enough bread to feed the five thousand; it was Philip who brought Helenized Jews to see Jesus at their request. John 12:20-50. Finally, it was Philip that asked during the Last Supper to see the Father, John 14:8-21.
History records many interesting things about Philips’s work as an apostle. Clement states that Philip was married, had children, and one of his daughters was also married. Eusebius quotes from Papias, preacher at the Hierapolis Church of Christ, that he had heard one of Philips’ daughters. According to Christian tradition, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, he went about preaching and working miracles. His work took him to Galilee and Greece (where he is said to have established Narcissus as bishop), Syria, and Phrygia.
According to tradition, Philip was buried in Hieropolis with his virgin daughters, while another daughter was buried at Ephesus. Philip’s authority was invoked by the Gnostics, who ascribed to the apostle a number of works: for example a Gospel of Philip forms part of their Nag Hammadi library. While preaching in Phrygia with Bartholomew, Philip and Bartholomew were crucified. Bartholomew survived but Philip died; it cost to be free!!
The apostle Philip is sometimes confused with Philip, the Evangelist, who appears in several episodes of Acts of the Apostles. These brethren shared the same name, faith, and Lord; no other connection appears. This brother was one of the chosen who “worked the tables” for the apostles in Acts 6:5, who, by the way was crucified, according to history. It is interesting to note that all of these brethren died as the Lord had described, by martyrdom, and gladly received the “crown of life” as their reward.
There are other brethren that gave their lives for the cause of Christ, notably Stephen the first C hristian martyr, Matthias (the one chosen by the disciples to replace Judas. According to history, 100,000 preachers of the Gospel had been killed before the next century had been completed. It has always been my contention that with the deaths of so many saints of God, denominationalism had an easy way of entering the stage of human affairs. The “cream of the crop” had been killed off and those that were left many times were incapable or unwilling to make the “supreme sacrifice”!! These shielded themselves in convents, behind walls of error that kept them from the job assigned the Truth, “once and for all delivered to the saints”, truly, men of whom it was said: “the world was not worthy”. We are truly PROUD to be apart of such a royal priesthood, a chosen generation and have our hope and confidence in the Lord God of Nazareth, Jesus Christ. I hope this has shown the splendor of those who made up the ranks of these first century giants to encourage all of us to NEVER surrender our faith to anyone for any cause waiting for the coming of Christ!! No wonder Christ “was not ashamed to call them, brethren.” IT COST TO BE FREE.