The “Adoration of the Magi” – by El Greco – celebrated on January 6 as part of Epiphany…

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Saturday, January 6 , is the Feast of the Epiphany.

In the Christian church, that day “celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ.”   But January 6 goes by other names as well.  For one thing, it’s known as the last of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  (And just to confuse things, the evening of January 5 is known as Twelfth Night.)  Yet a third name for January 6 is Three Kings Day.

There’s more about the Three Kings later, but first note Satucket on Epiphany:

“Epiphany” is a word of Greek origin, related to such English words as “theophany,” “phenotype,” and “phenomenon.”  It means an appearance, a displaying, a showing forth, a making clear or public or obvious.  On this day, Christians have traditionally celebrated the making known of Jesus Christ to the world.

(See Epiphany, circumcision, and “3 wise guys,” and To Epiphany – “and BEYOND!”)

Here’s Matthew 2:1-12:  “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?  For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’” 

That news – of a “new-born king” – scared the heck out of Herod the Great.  (The “Roman client king of Judea.”  His “fright” led to the December 28 “feast” for the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents.)

But back to the Three Kings:  As Wikipedia noted, solid facts are hard to find:  “Though the event is recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, there are no further details given with regards to their names, the number of Magi that were present or whether they were even royal.”  But for some solid theories see Epiphany, circumcision, and “3 wise guys.”  (Which includes information on the famed Christmas carol,  “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”)

Note also that the word originally used to describe the Three Kings was Magi, which gave rise to the current word “magic.”

For more on the Season of Epiphany, see To Epiphany – “and BEYOND!”  That post notes that the full season runs from January 6 to – and through – the Last Sunday after the Epiphany.  This year, 2018, that date is February 11.  The following Tuesday, February 13, we celebrate Mardi Gras.  (A.k.a. Fat Tuesday.)  The day after that – February 14 – is Ash Wednesday, illustrated above right.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. . .

Getting back to the “eve” of January 6 as “Twelfth Night:”  That night is a “festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany.”  But as with some “holy-days,” that festival has gotten known for too much celebrating – if not debauchery – as shown in the painting below.  In fact, “Twelfth Night in the Netherlands became so secularized, rowdy and boisterous that public celebrations were banned from the church.“

In other words, it became yet another occasion for “licentious, wild, and wanton partying [and] riotous pagan holiday spirits.”  (See Happy New Year – 2018?!?)  And that tradition goes back to the time before William Shakespeare. (1564-1616.)  See also Twelfth Night – Wikipedia:

“Twelfth Night” [in the play] is a reference to the twelfth night after Christmas Day, called the Eve of the Feast of Epiphany.  It was originally a Catholic holiday but, prior to Shakespeare’s play, had become a day of revelry.  Servants often dressed up as their masters, men as women and so forth.  This history of festive ritual and Carnivalesque reversal, based on the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia at the same time of year (characterized by drunken revelry and inversion of the social order; masters became slaves for a day, and vice versa), is the cultural origin of the play’s gender confusion-driven plot. [E.A.]

See also On coming home from a pilgrimage and the coming holidays.

So what’s the point?  One point could be that people love to party, and have since the beginning of time.  But another point could be that – also since the beginning of time – other people have found all that partying a bit too much.  As Wikipedia noted of Saturnalia:

Pliny [ – the lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome – ] describes a secluded suite of rooms in his Laurentine villa, which he used as a retreat: “…especially during the Saturnalia when the rest of the house is noisy with the licence of the holiday and festive cries.  This way I don’t hamper the games of my people and they don’t hinder my work or studies.”

Or as I noted in Happy New Year – 2018, “the web article on ‘The Truth About New Year’s‘ may convince you to stay home this New Year’s Eve…  But heck, I was going to do that anyway.  (Stay at home…)”  Not that I’m comparing myself to Pliny, but see also “great minds think alike.”

So – however you celebrate it – have a Happy Season of Epiphany, starting this January 6th.

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“Twelfth Night (The King Drinks) by David Teniers c. 1634-1640.”

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The upper image is courtesy of Epiphany (holiday) – Wikipedia.  The full caption:  “‘Adoration of the Magi‘ by El Greco, 1568, Museo Soumaya, Mexico City.”  See also Epiphany, from the “DOR” site.

The image to the left of the paragraph beginning “Back to the Three Kings” is courtesy of Wikipedia.  The caption:  “‘The Adoration of the Magi‘ by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. 

The lower image is courtesy of The Twelve days of Christmas.  See also the January 2015 post, On the 12 Days of Christmas, which noted, “The Feast of the Epiphany is on 6 January [and] celebrates the visit of the Wise Men (Magi) and their bringing of gifts to the child Jesus.  In some traditions, the feast of Epiphany and Twelfth Day overlap.”

“In Christendom … New Year’s Day traditionally marks the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ…”

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Just in case you were wondering, Christmas is not just one day, it’s a whole season.  Not a long season, just 12 Days.  (Which 12 days of Christmas have been immortalized by a “host of songs and spin-offs,” including one ending with “some parts to a Mustang GT.”)  And that 12-day Season of Christmas  ends on January 6, a day known in some quarters as “Plough Monday.”  

Plough Monday was the traditional start of the English agricultural year.  That was the time when people quit partying during the 12 days of Christmas and got back to work.  (See “Here’s to Plough Monday!” – 12/28/2015.)  Of course in our present day we get “back to work” on January 2.  That’s after we’ve spent New Year’s Day watching college football and/or recuperating from all the partying we did on New Year’s Eve.

But naturally that’s not how we celebrate New Year’s Day in the Universal Church.  (That is, the undivided church of the followers of Jesus, including Catholic and Protestant denominations.)  In that undivided church, January 1 is known as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.  (See also The Holy Name, for one set of Bible readings for the day.)  But there’s another name, for the less squeamish:

On January 1st, we celebrate the Circumcision of Christ.  Since we are more squeamish than our ancestors,* modern calendars often list it as the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, but the other emphasis is the older.  Every Jewish boy was circumcised (and formally named) on the eighth day of his life,* and so, one week after Christmas, we celebrate the occasion when Our Lord first shed His blood for us.  [By and through the aforementioned circumcision, as illustrated above left.]

See Epiphany, circumcision, and “3 wise guys.”  (From 1/4/2016.)  That post from last year at this time explains about Epiphany – the “Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as human in Jesus Christ” – celebrated on January 6.  It also explains that January 6 too has an alternate name:  “Three Kings Day.”  And we’re familiar with those three wise men today largely thanks to a Christmas carol,  “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”  (For a live “old-timey” version see the Kings College Choir, Cambridge.)  And just as an aside, they were also known as Magi, and in its original sense the term meant “followers of Zoroastrianism or Zoroaster.”

But we’re digressing here…

For more on the upcoming seasons of the church, see To Epiphany – “and BEYOND!”  (From January 14, 2017.)    The title of that post refers to Buzz Lightyear and his catch-phrase, “to infinity, and beyond!”

The point being that practicing Christians also work to go “to infinity – and beyond!”  Or in the words of the Book of Common Prayer, to “live with confidence in newness and fullness of life,” and to await “the completion of God’s purpose for the world.”

But we were talking about New Year’s Day – and Eve – and the consensus seems to be that the origins of that time of celebration – if not debauchery – go back to pagan antiquity.

Back in 2,000 B.C. – 4,000 years ago – people in Mesopotamia – modern Iraq – started the practice of celebrating the new year.  But they partied hardy “around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March.”  The early Roman calendar too designated March 1 as the new year.

But then came the Julian calendar, named for Julius Caesar.  It added ten days to the prior 355-day year, and had the New Year start on the first day of January.  (Named for Janus, the “two-faced” god of gateways and beginnings.  Another BTW:  We now use the Gregorian calendar, which started in 1582.)  And finally, for a really in-depth analysis of New Year celebrations going back to “pagan antiquity,” see The Truth About New Year’s! Origins of New Years Celebration:

New Year’s Eve has become a time for people to wallow in excesses of liquor! The modern attitude seems to be, “have a wild time on New Year’s Eve, and turn over a new leaf on New Year’s Day!”  Most people seem to have convinced themselves that God is out of the picture for good. That God is not concerned with their modern revelings, drunken parties, promiscuous behavior!  

Be that as it may, the web article on “The Truth About New Year’s” may convince you to stay home this New Year’s Eve.  (For reasons including but not limited to New Year’s Eve being “noted for its licentious, wild, and wanton partying [and] riotous pagan holiday spirits – for the most part emanating from liquor bottles – all the while calling it “Christian!”)

But heck, I was going to do that anyway.  (Stay at home this evening that is…)

Have a Happy – and Safe – New Year! 

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“New York’s famed Times Square at midnight, December 31…”

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The upper image is courtesy of New Year’s Day – Wikipedia.  The full caption:  “In Christendom, under which the Gregorian Calendar developed, New Year’s Day traditionally marks the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, which is still observed as such by the Anglican Church and the Lutheran Church.”  Text and/or images for this post were gleaned from New Year’s Day – Wikipedia, The History | Origin of New Years Day / December 31st, The Ancient Origins of New Year’s Celebrations, and/or The Truth About New Year’s! Origins of New Years Celebration.  The latter article includes a sub-article on “The Modern Attitude of Compromise,” accepted by many ostensible Christians, with the comment that “Excessive drug use has become common at New Year’s Eve events.”

Note also that an asterisk in the main text indicates a statement supported by a reference further explained in this “notes” section. Thus as to the definition of squeamish – as to the full meaning of January 1 in the Christian calendar – the term means “easily shocked, offended, or disgusted by unpleasant things.”  The painting to the left of the paragraph in question is courtesy of Circumcision – Wikipedia, with the caption:  “The Circumcision of Jesus Christ, by Ludovico Mazzolino.”

Also, as to every Jewish boy being circumcised “on the eighth day of his life,” modern readers are sometimes confused by the Jewish method of counting days.  To us, the eighth day of Jesus’ life would be January 2, by starting the count on December 26.  But the ancient Jews – in effect – counted “inclusively,” meaning they started their eight-day count on December 25.  The main reason for such counting-of-days was that they had no way of determining “midnight” with any precision.  (The first “clocks” as we know them didn’t appear until the 1400s.)  Thus the Jewish day started “with the onset of night,” or dusk, or the setting of the sun.  See e.g.  Jewish Time – simpletoremember.com.

Note also:  This is why the Bible says Jesus was raised from the dead “on the third day,” Sunday, when He’d been crucified the previous Friday.  (See e,g, Acts 10:40.)  According to modern time, Jesus was raised on the second day, but that method is different from “Bible time.”  

As to the web article, The Truth About New Year’s! Origins of New Years Celebration:  I’m pretty sure the authors of that site don’t agree with the premises of this blog, to wit:  That God will accept anyone;  That God wants us to live lives of abundance;  That God wants us to do even greater miracles than Jesus; and:  That the “only way to live live abundantly and do greater miracles than Jesus is to read the Bible with an open mind.”    

The lower image is courtesy of The Truth About New Year’s! Origins of New Years Celebration.  The full caption:  “New York’s famed Times Square at midnight, December 31, as thousands gather to usher in the pagan Roman New Year.  The undampended [sic] spirits of the crowd bring to mind the ancient Roman Saturnalia.”  Also note, “Photo by Countdown Entertainment LLC.”

Thomas the Apostle, as envisioned in El Greco‘s “dramatic and expressionistic style…”

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The year 2017 is rapidly drawing to a close.  At the same time, Christmas is only a few days away.  But first comes the Feast day of Thomas the Apostle, on December 21.  And Thomas – in his own way – serves as a metaphor for all us “Doubters.”

(At least until we saw the light that is, and came to Jesus…)

Incidentally, after his “doubting episode” with the risen Jesus, Thomas traveled at least as far as India in his missionary journeys.  (The image at left shows the “Shrine of Saint Thomas in Mylapore,” where legend has it that he was martyred.)

You can read more about Thomas at St. Nick and “Doubting Thomas,” and On “Doubting Thomas Sunday” – 2017.  The latter post noted that basically this “Saint Doubting Thomas” has two special days:  One in December right before Christmas, and one on the Sunday right after Easter.  That is, the first Sunday after Easter – officially the second Sunday of Easter – is known as  “Doubting Thomas Sunday.”  (In 2018, it falls on April 8.)

That Doubting Thomas Sunday – in Easter – is so called because it always features the Gospel reading from John 20:19-31:

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”  But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

But the second Sunday of Easter is also called the “Sunday of Many Names.”  Those names include the “Octave of Easter,” and “Quasimodo Sunday.”

(The “octave” in question is the eighth day of Easter, or Sunday right after Easter Sunday.  And “Quasimodo” doesn’t refer to the guy shown above right, better known as the “Hunchback of Notre Dame.”  It refers to the Latin for the beginning of First Peter 2:2, also read that day.  In Latin the verse reads:  “Quasi modo geniti infantes.”  A rough translation:  “As if in the manner of newborn babes…”)

But we’re digressing here…

The point is that according to Wikipedia, the term Doubting Thomas refers to a “skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience.”

But that’s exactly what going to church and reading the Bible is supposed to provide:  An opportunity to have a direct and personal experience with the Force that Created the Universe.  (See Develop your talents with Bible study and The Bible and mysticism, which said Christianity is about “obtaining unity with God, through Christ.”) 

The latter post on mysticism included the definition of a mystic as “a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute…”  In other words, a person who seeks a direct personal experience with God.

The post also included a reference to page 339 of the Book of Common Prayer, which says that “by sharing Holy Communion we are assured ‘that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son…’”  (Emphasis added.)

Which – to my way of thinking – is what Christianity is all about:  Obtaining a mystical unity with God, through Christ, by and through direct personal experience,  just like “Doubting Thomas.”

So in plain words there are two sides of the Christian experience:  The “corporate” or business side, and the “mystical” side.  The problem is that so many Christians get hung up on the “business side” of the Christian faith.  Mainly because it’s so much easier to work on.

But it’s only the mystical side that can lead to a direct personal experience with God, and Thomas the Apostle is a reminder that – hard as that may be – it can be done….

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The “Mystic marriage of Christ and the Church…”

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The upper image is courtesy of Apostle St Thomas by GRECO, El – wga.hu.  For more on Thomas and his missionary journeys, see Doubting Thomas’ “passage to India.”

For more on “Quasimodo Sunday,” see The Bible – Lectionary Musings and Color Commentary.

Re: I Saw the Light.  According to Wikipedia, this was a “country gospel song written by Hank Williams.”   While Williams’ version “did not enjoy major success during its initial release,” it was “soon covered by other acts and with time became a country gospel standard.”

The lower image is courtesy of Christian mysticism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  

The REAL Saint Nicholas – of Myra – “saved three innocents from death.”  (“Inter alia…”)

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Aside from the ongoing Season of Advent – from December 3 to 24 – there’s another Feast day to celebrate in early December.  Wednesday, December 6, was the Feast day for the REAL “Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick.”  He was Saint Nicholas of Myra, and he lived from 270 to 340 A.D.  So when Dr. Philip O’Hanlon told his daughter Virginia – at left – “Yes, there is a Santa Claus,” he was telling the truth.

Or at least the truth as that term is defined in today’s politics.

But seriously, on December 6 each year Nicholas of Myra is celebrated as a friend of children, giver of gifts and climber of chimneys.  (“Etc.”)  And as noted in the painting atop the page, he was brave enough to “save three innocents from death.”

Nicholas was visiting a remote part of his diocese [when he heard of the “three innocents.”  He set out for home and] found a large crowd of people and the three men kneeling with their arms bound, awaiting the fatal blow.  Nicholas passed through the crowd, took the sword from the executioner’s hands and threw it to the ground, then ordered that the condemned men be freed from their bonds.  His authority was such that the executioner left his sword where it fell…

Incidentally, the three innocent men had been sentenced to death by the ruler of Myra – today’s city of Demre, Turkey – “the corrupt prefect Eustathios [who] had accepted bribes to bring about the deaths of three men.”  This first St. Nicholas “was not one to be intimidated by the power of others, especially the power of the corrupt.”  He “stormed into the prefect’s office and demanded that the charges against the three men be dropped.”

That corrupt official eventually “confessed his sin and sought the saint’s forgiveness.  Nicholas absolved him, but only after the ruler had undergone a period of repentance.”

Which leads to this thought:  “Boy, we could sure use him today!!!”

Then there were the stories of Nicholas of Myra’s “love for God and for his neighbor:”

The best-known story involves a man with three unmarried daughters, and not enough money to provide them with suitable dowries.  This meant that they could not marry, and were likely to end up as prostitutes.  [This was in “the good old days.”]  Nicholas walked by the man’s house on three successive nights, and each time threw a bag of gold in through a window (or … in colder climates, down the chimney).  Thus, the daughters were saved from a life of shame, and all got married and lived happily ever after.

Another story was more gruesome, but also had a happy ending.  During a time of famine, a butcher “lured three little children into his house, where he killed them, placing their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham.”  But Nicholas of Myra both “saw through the butcher’s horrific crime” and resurrected the three children from the barrel.

And it was from that “first St. Nicholas” that the jolly old elf at right evolved from.  (Even if some stories about him may lessen your appetite for pickled goods this holiday season…)

But then there’s the question:  “Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25, if St. Nicholas Day is December 6?”  There are a number of theories, but the most reasonable says that December 25 is nine months after March 25, by tradition the date of The Annunciation.  (I.e., the date of the “announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.” See On the Original St. Nicholas.)

You can see more at St. Nicholas [the] Saint Who Stopped an Execution, and Celebrating St. Nicholas: the Story of the Three Condemned Innocents.  Or from this blog, On the REAL “Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick,” and On St. Nick and “Doubting Thomas…”

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The upper image is courtesy of Saint Nicholas – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the caption:  “Saint Nicholas Saves Three Innocents from Death (oil painting by Ilya Repin, 1888, State Russian Museum).”   See also St. Nicholas Center … Saint Who Stopped an Execution, and saint nicholas church st nicholas church is the most outstanding … tourmakerturkey.com, which added:  “The protective personality of St. Nicholas and desire of helping children in difficult situations have been transformed into a sympathetic old Santa Claus … appearing on Christmas Eve to make everybody happy.”

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St. Andrew – the Protoklete or ‘First Called’ apostle” – brought his brother Peter along with him…

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Thursday, November 30, is the Feast day for St. Andrew.   And:  “Just as Andrew was the first of the Apostles, so his feast is taken in the West to be the beginning of the Church Year.”

Which brings up that Liturgical (church)  year that begins with the Season of Advent:

Advent is “a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.”  The theme of Bible readings is to prepare for the Second Coming while “commemorating the First Coming of Christ at Christmas….”  The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah…  (E.A.)

As Wikipedia also noted, the church calendar “divides the year into a series of seasons, each with their own mood, theological emphases, and modes of prayer.”  Put another way, “Advent” begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and/or “the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day (30 November).”  So this year the First Sunday of Advent falls on December 3.  (Which is also the Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s day.)

Incidentally, the Fourth Sunday of Advent is Christmas Eve Day.  (Which is cutting it really close.)  

And which brings us back to St. Andrew.  As noted in St. Andrew, the “First Apostle,” Andrew was one of Jesus’ closest disciples, but many people know very little about him.   Which is another way of saying that he was pretty important, but that he often gets overlooked:

Andrew was “one of the four disciples closest to Jesus, but he seems to have been the least close of the four…   That’s ironic because Andrew was one of the first followers[.  In fact,] because he followed Jesus before St. Peter and the others – he is called the Protoklete or ‘First Called’ apostle.”

All of which means that if it hadn’t been for Andrew – dragging his brother along – we might never have had a St. Peter.   Also incidentally, St. Andrew ended up crucified on an x-shaped cross, as illustrated above left.  (Which will be tied in a bit further below…)

Andrew chose that method – according to tradition – because he  “deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.”  And that x-shaped cross –  a saltire or crux decussata – is now commonly called a “Saint Andrew’s Cross.”  (Which appears on a number of flags and emblems, including Great Britain’s Union Jack, seen at right.) 

And that raises the question, How Did The Other Apostles Die?

Short answers:  Peter and Paul died in Rome around 66 A.D.  Paul was beheaded – an “honor,” because he was a Roman citizen – while Peter chose to be crucified upside down.  (Like Andrew, he “did not feel he was worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.”)  Matthias – who replaced Judas Iscariot – died by burning.  Thomas was “pierced through with the spears of four soldiers.” Philip was “arrested and cruelly put to death,” for converting the wife of a Roman proconsul. And James was said to have been “stoned and then clubbed to death.*”

And all of that brings up the hoax – if not heresy – of “prosperity theology.”

Briefly, prosperity theology “is a religious belief among some Christians [which] views the Bible as a contract between God and humans:  if humans have faith in God, he will deliver security and prosperity.”  Which brings up the question:  Didn’t the Apostles have faith in God?

The short answer is yes they did, but they certainly didn’t end up secure and prosperous.  They ended up with something far more precious, despite their gruesome deaths  See 1 Peter 1:6-7:

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Then too, as Jesus Himself said in Matthew 6:24:  “No man can serve two masters…  Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  (In the King James Version, the Bible God uses.  “Mammon” is illustrated above left.)  And speaking of a “contract,” according to the Wex Legal Dictionary it is an “agreement between private parties creating mutual obligations enforceable by law.”

So, if Mr. Prosperity Theologist feels like he isn’t getting all he “deserves” from God, in what court will he file a lawsuit?  (See e.g., You Can Sue God, But You Can’t Win.  For one thing, “There could never be service effectuated on the named defendant…”)  But we’re digressing here.

The point is that mixing up the worship of God and Mammon has been around since the time of Jesus.

The same could be said of “peddling God’s word,” along with other forms of hucksterism.  That’s also been around for some 2,000 years.  See for example, 2 Corinthians 2:17.  In the New Living Translation it reads, “You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit.”  Or in the New International Version:  “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.”

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You can read more on the upcoming Season of Advent in the following posts:  On Andrew – “First Apostle” – and Advent.  (11/30/16.)  On Advent – 2015.  (11/30/15.)  And An early Advent medley.  (12/4/15.)

As to all of which a follower of prosperity theology might simply say, “Why bother with all that Advent rigamarole?  I’ve got a contract with God.  He owes me!!”

In the meantime, the rest of us can enjoy the upcoming “time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.”  And also the calling of St. Andrew, who – along with his brother Peter – were two of the preeminent Apostles…

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“The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew,” by Caravaggio…

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The upper image is courtesy of Andrew the Apostle – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “‘Saint Andrew the Apostle’ by Artus Wolffort.”  Note also that an asterisk in the main text indicates a statement supported by a reference detailed further in this “notes” section. 

Thus as to how other Apostles died:  Of the rest of the 12, some accounts say Matthew “was not martyred, while others say he was stabbed to death in Ethiopia.”  There are various accounts of how Bartholomew “met his death as a martyr for the gospel.”  Simon the Zealot was said to have been “killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god.”  Only John was “thought to have died a natural death from old age,” after writing the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation.  But an early tradition had him “escaping unhurt after being cast into boiling oil.”

The “snake oil” image is courtesy of Patent medicine – Wikipedia.

The lower image is courtesy of Caravaggio: The calling of Sts Peter and Andrew – Art:

A beardless Jesus gestures Peter … and his brother Andrew to follow him…  Caravaggio gives his own interpretation.  Because of his prominence, the man on the left is thought to be Peter…  One of the details that shows this work must be the original is a carving in the ground layer under Peter’s ear.  Caravaggio often used such incissions [sic]…

See also, The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew – Wikipedia.

And finally, a distinction between “prosperity theology” and lives of abundance, per John 10:10:

“Abundant life” is a term used to refer to Christian teachings on fullness of life…  For a Christian, fullness of life is not measured in terms of “fun” and “living large”, or in terms of wealth, prestige, position, and power, but measured by fulfilled lives of responsibility and self-restraint, and the rewards and blessings that accrue over a lifetime of pleasing God. According to the abundant life interpretation, the Bible has promises of wealth, health, and well-being, but these promises are conditional promises.  

In other words – Mr. Prosperity Theologist – lots of luck in that lawsuit where you start off, “I’ve got a contract with God.  He owes me!!“