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n 64 AD, a fire destroyed three fourths of the city of Rome. Even though it appears that Near himself set the fire, he blamed the Christians and began to cruelly persecute them.[1] Although torture is horrible and we wish it on no one, torture had its positive effect. Torture kept the ranks clean. In those days no one was a half way Christian. It is said that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the kingdom. These sacrifices were the driving force behind much of the church growth. When people saw the courage and commitment of these Christians, even when they were being tortured, they were made to wonder if the Christians had something that they needed. The persecution of Christians continued off and on until early in the Fourth Century when Constantine XE "Constantine" became emperor of Rome. Constantine noticed how calmly the Christians faced torture and death for the cause to which they were committed. He decided that this powerful force could be a benefit to the Roman Empire. He abolished torture and in its place gave money and governmental power to church leaders. Although we all want an easy road, we must agree that Constantine probably did more damage to the church than all the persecution put together, for now it was easier to be a “Christian” than not to be.

Religious leaders soon developed a hunger for governmental power and wealth. Their hunger for wealth led them into such evils as preying on the ignorance of their own flock. They invented the places of Purgatory and Limbo. They convinced their people that if they didn’t pay them to pray for their departed loved ones they would slip from this intermediate state into an eternal hell. The religious leaders even went so far as to sell the privilege of sinning. St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome stands today as a reminder of the huge sums of money collected from these sales of, indulgences.[2]

Through the Dark Ages the common person was a slave to the church. The people were hungry to know what God’s word really said. The Bible was copied thousands of times by hand. As the Catholic church learned of these copies of the Bible, they often had them confiscated and burned. To discourage Bible reading, the Church leaders insisted that they were the only ones who could understand it properly. John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English and later died a natural death. Afterwards the Pope had his body dug up and burned to show his resentment for his work.[3]

In the early 1500’s, Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, made a list of 95 ways the teaching of the Catholic church was in direct defiance of God’s word. Luther nailed this list to the Church door[4] and was later excommunicated from the church.[5]

Not long after Luther took his courageous stand, Christians in France began to show their opposition to the Pope. These events led to the slaughter of hundreds of French Christians. At first the Pope had 35 Christians executed: Then 22 towns were completely destroyed. In 1572, 8,000 Christians were slaughtered in Paris. Near the end of the 1500’s, over 50,000 of the best families left France rather than suffer further persecution.[6]

In England, the Catholic Church was replaced by the Church of England. The major difference being that the Church of England rejected the Catholic Pope. As the desire to return to the Bible swept across Europe many people left the Church of England in search of a purer way to worship and serve God. One such group was the Pilgrims and another the Puritans. The major differences between these groups were the Pilgrims were marked by poverty, generally less educated and they wanted to separate themselves from the Church of England. The Puritans were more wealthy, better educated and desired to purify the Church of England from within. Eventually the Puritans realized that they would have to leave England in order to become influential enough to effect the Church in England.

John Robinson , a pilgrim, wrote that, “...since the first breaking out of the Light of the gospel...[there have been] wars and oppositions... [Some have met] bloody death and cruel torments, otherwise imprisonment, banishments and other hard usages...”[7] They were hounded, bullied, forced to pay assessments to the Church of England, clapped into prison on trumped-up charges and driven underground. They met in private homes, to which they came at staggered intervals and by different routes, because they were constantly being spied upon. In the town of Scrooby, persecution finally reached the point where the congregation decided to move to Holland. In Holland they struggled for 12 years at extremely hard labor. Everyone old enough worked from 12 to 15 hours a day. They had dreamed of a way to be a stepping stone for others in carrying the Light of Christ, but their dream had not been realized in Holland.[8]

[1] F. W. Mattox, Ph.D., The Eternal Kingdom, Gospel Light Publishing Co. Delight, AR., p. 91.

[2] Paul Hutchinson and William E. Garrison, Twenty Centuries of Christianity, Harcoult, Brace Co. NY., 1959, p. 196.

[3] Kenneth S. Latourette, Christianity Trough the Ages, Harper & Row, Pub., NY., 1965, p. 151.

[4] Frederick A. Norwood, The Development of Modern Christianity Since 1500, Abingdon Press, NY., 1956, p. 43.

[5] Kenneth S. Latourette, Christianity Trough the Ages, Harper & Row, Pub., NY., 1965, pp. 168-169.

[6] F. W. Mattox, Ph.D., The Eternal Kingdom, Gospel Light Publishing Co. Delight, AR., p. 300.

[7] Peter Marshall/David Manuel, The Light and the Glory, Flleming H. Revell, Division of Baker Book House Co., Grand Rapids, MI., pp. 107,108.

[8] Peter Marshall/David Manuel, The Light and the Glory, Flleming H. Revell, Division of Baker Book House Co., Grand Rapids, MI., pp. 108,109.

THE PERSECUTION