The 12 Year Old Japanese Boy Who Changed History

As we get closer to the return of Jesus Christ, the persecution of Christians is going to get more intense, and more Christians will be facing the prospect of dying for their faith.

Will modern Christians have the courage to hold on to their faith in the face of torture and death?

There is much we can learn from the past. In particular, there is much that we can learn from the story of a 12 year old Japanese boy.

The following story originally comes from The Voice Of The Martyrs:

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After they all had been tried, found guilty, and sentenced to die, twenty-six Christians were marched to the place where crudely made crosses stood. Almost three months earlier, they had been arrested in Kyoto, Japan, and charged with following Christ. One of the convicts was named Ibaragi Kun.

Seeing how young Kun was, an official took him aside and urged him to recant his faith to save his life. Looking the official in the eye, Kun said confidently, "Sir, it would be far better if you yourself became a Christian. Then you could go to heaven with me."

The officer stared, startled by the young man's faith. Finally, Ibaragi asked, "Sir, which cross is mine?"

The bewildered official pointed to the smallest of the twenty-six crosses. Young Kun ran to the cross, knelt before it, and embraced it. When the soldiers began to nail his hands and feet to the cross, he did not cry out in pain. He courageously accepted the path God had laid out for him.

The crucifixion of twenty-six Christians on November 23, 1596, was the beginning of a period of intense persecution of Christians in Japan.

Over the next seventy years, as many as one million Japanese Christians would be killed for their faith. Many would embrace their own crosses to follow the example of Ibaragi Kun, a very mature twelve-year-old boy.