Know Your Christian Heroes

Quite apart from Jesus the all-time greatest of the heroes of the Christian Faith, there were others who qualify to be classified as worthy heroes. The plank of this article is to encourage Christians to study the lives of great men and women who lived in the deep past.

ABRAHAM (father of nations or father is high): He was the son of Terah and founder of the Hebrew nation. He is also called the father of faith. He was 100 years old when he had Isaac born to him, the son he agreed to sacrifice to God. He lived 175 years before he died. He was buried beside Sarah his wife (Gen. 25:7-10).

MOSES (Drawn out): He was born in Egypt to the lineage of Levi. He was the only one, apart from Jesus, who had three ministries. He was the greatest among the Christian prophets (Deuteronomy 18:15-20). He was a priest before Aaron and his sons. In addition, he was a king (Deuteronomy 33:5).

He alone had the privilege to see God face to face. He got the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue) from God for man. He saw the Promised Land. He died and was buried by God.

DEBORAH (Bee): She was the fourth greatest of Israel's judges. She was a prophetess and she was a wife to Lappidoth (Judges 4:5). She was devoted to God and remained fearless, which qualities led her to be a deliverer and a mother of Israel.

ELIJAH (Jehovah is God): He was the son of Harim a Tishbite. He predicted drought to the wicked Ahab. He was fed by ravens and also a widow. He slew 450 prophets of Baal. He had the great privilege of being taken to heaven without seeing death. He was also at the Mount of Transfiguration most probably to discuss the death and resurrection of Christ with Him.

JEREMIAH (Jehovah is High): He is often referred to as "the weeping prophet." In my Bible school days, we called him the weeping prophet without converts because no one seemed to believe him at that time. He was born into a priestly family of Anathoth. He got called as a youth, but he went through great pain and agony both physically and spiritually. At a point, he felt God deceived him. He was forced or deported to Egypt where he later died.

PAUL (Little): He was the great apostle to the Gentiles. His early name was Saul (asked of God). He was near the beginning of the first century in the busy Greco-Roman city of Tarsus and was, therefore, a Roman citizen. This greatly aided him in bridging the gap between the Gentiles and the Jews in the Christian Faith. He was one of the greatest teachers, missionaries and apostles that ever lived.

He was sent to Rome in AD 60 as a prisoner and no one is certain if he was ever released before he died. He wrote most of the books of the New Testament.

JOHN (the apostle, Jehovah has been gracious). He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and was a brother to James. He was a very close friend of Jesus, which reason endeared him to Jesus' heart.

He lived to old age and had the great opportunity to get great