Horrifying! 

Can you imagine being an elderly man violently strapped to a heavy wooden machine designed to slowly tear you apart, feeling your joints being slowly pulled apart, and still absolutely refusing to speak a single word against Jesus Christ?

During the cruel and bloodthirsty days of the early Church…

The adversaries of the Gospel devised horrific instruments designed not just to kill…

But to maliciously prolong the agonizing suffering of the faithful.

Among those targeted was Origen of Alexandria…

An aged and devoted servant of Christ whose absolute constancy simply could not be overcome.

The elderly man was violently laid upon the rack.

With heavy machinery, his limbs were brutally drawn out…

The thick cords were tightened, and his fragile joints were stretched far beyond their natural bounds.

The ruthless tormentors, seeing his body extended in sheer agony, assumed his spirit would instantly break.

They commanded him to simply speak one single word against the blessed Name of Jesus, and the torture would end.

Origen didn’t answer with compliance or panic; he answered with unshakeable, supernatural patience!

Furious and weary of his steadfast silence, the executioners renewed their cruelty.

They viciously turned the heavy wheel and fastened the cords even tighter…

Desperately trying to force just one tiny sign of yielding from the old man.

But as his physical flesh gave way to the unimaginable pain, his faith stood completely immovable!

Lifting his eyes straight upward, as one who beheld a far better country…

He endured the agony by fixing his sight on the invisible God.

His body was made a horrific spectacle of suffering, yet his soul remained at absolute liberty.

The brutal executioners learned a terrifying lesson that day:

The rack may violently extend the limbs of a man, but it can absolutely never reach his conscience!

Origen finished his course without a single word of recantation…

Leaving behind a blazing testimony that no engine of cruelty could ever silence!

~ Patti Young

Patti Young, is also on Facebook.

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