The Twenty-One Gun Salute, Day Four

THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS

Twenty-one of my Brothers were beheaded in Libya for being men of  “The Nation of the Cross.”  Their heads fell like twenty-one shots heard ‘round the world as they bled and died in service to The King, but…Is it possible for satan’s plan to be turned on its own dead head?
Is it possible satan has lost?

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CROSS?

satan thought he had Jesus by the heel by having him crucified and buried in a tomb, but when Jesus rose from the grave, He took satan by the head.  He publicly humiliated him, crushing his evil ambitions and giving those who would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ an eternal safety and a promise of eternal life in heaven.   Sometimes, when satan thinks he’s won, he’s lost...

 TO THE POWER OF THE CROSS.

I read the names of The Twenty-One out loud, and can't make it through the list without crying.  Evil led this band of brothers down by the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and had them kneel in the sand.  Black stood in back, each to a man, each to one of my brother's heads, and they cut them clean off.   What is it in us, as Christians, that rises up despite the loss, the wickedness, the sickening tragedy? Christ.  These men lay the burden of life down.  They now rest from the struggle, from the fight, from the hard road of righteousness.   They ran a good race; they persevered to the end; they didn't deny Jesus Christ, and they knelt on the shore by the sea ready to go home.  This is how satan lost...

TO THE MEN OF THE NATION OF THE CROSS.

Their shed blood mingles with our own.  It makes us alive to the calling of a Christian to suffer and be persecuted and hated and despised.  To be like Jesus.  The Gospel flips everything, and our brothers died in good company because satan also lost...

 TO THE DISCIPLES OF THE CROSS.

-Simon Peter was crucified upside down. 

- Philip was also crucified upside down. 

- Batholomew was flayed alive and then crucified upside down. 

- Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross. 

- James (son of Zebedee) was executed by sword. 

- James (son of Alphaeus) was crucified and the body sawed to pieces. 

- Matthew was possibly murdered. 

- Simon the Canaanite was executed by saw. 

- Judas Thomas was executed by spear.
-The details of the death of Jude (Thaddaeus) are unknown.
-The apostle John died of old age after failing to die from being boiled in oil.

The result of their deaths?  

               The         spread         of         the         Gospel.

You see?

satan lost...

TO  THE  MAN  ON  THE  CROSS.

Do you know this Jesus?

Bernadette