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Could I Be A Martyr?
I was listening to the radio on my way home from the grocery store today and the guy was talking about William Tyndale. Tyndale was around in the early 1500’s in England. His main passion in life was to translate the Bible into English and spread it through England and the rest of the English speaking world. However, this act was looked at as heresy and in 1535 Tyndale was arrested, jailed in Belgium for more than a year, tried for heresy and treason and then strangled and burnt at the stake…all for translating the Bible into English.
This got me thinking a lot about my faith, and the faith of many Christians. Would I, we, still believe in Jesus and all He did on this earth if it was not socially acceptable to do so? Much of what we do in today’s society is based on what is or is not socially acceptable. If believing in Christianity would get you arrested and tortured, would you still believe?? Not only believe, but outwardly say so? For example, could you go to Iraq or Iran today and stand in the middle of the largest city and stop people to talk to them about Jesus? That’s a good question. I would love to be able to say yes, but if I was honest with myself I know I would balk at the opportunity. I wonder what God thinks about that. Matthew 10:33 says, “But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my father in Heaven.” Does that mean even if you’d get killed for disowning God? I’m gonna go ahead and say yes.
William Tyndale wasn’t the first martyr. In fact, he just fell in a long line of Christian martyrs who willingly died for what they believe in. The majority of believers in the first century A.D. died a martyrs death. The first, Stephen, was stoned to death for preaching in Jerusalem (Acts 6-7). Many of the people who wrote the Bible died a martyrs death. Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, was beheaded in Rome. In fact, he wrote most of his letters that are in the Bible while awaiting his death in a prison cell…and his letters are all uplifting! How did he, they, do that? How did they have such a strong faith that they could willingly walk towards death? Perhaps it was because many of them were there, the early Christians anyways. They saw for themselves what we, as Christians, believe in. William Tyndale wasn’t though, and he still believed strongly enough to become a martyr.
All of this makes me think of two things.
1. I hope and I pray that my faith would be strong enough to speak the name of Jesus, even if doing so would likely end up in death.
2. I thank the Lord I was born in America, where being a Christian is a freedom I am blessed with.
