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FOR ALL THE SAINTS
Isaiah 25:6-9
Revelation 6:9-11
November 1, 2009
There is no way to conclusively prove who wrote any of the books in the Bible. Now, what small evidence does exist is enough to prove to me, personally, that the Apostle John was the author of Revelation. If so, when he sits in a small cave on the island of Patmos and receives his visions, he knows quite a bit about the persecution of the saints of Jesus Christ. John writes somewhere around 90 – 100 AD, but the persecutions had begun thirty years before under the Roman Emperor Nero.
Nero hated the Christians. From time to time he would send out raiding parties to find them in worship, execute them, and leave their dead naked bodies in the streets to rot. On one occasion he captured almost 100 Christians and tied them to large poles. Their bodies were covered with tar, and they were burned alive – so he could use them as the lighting for a dinner party.
In the year 64 Nero had the Apostle Peter executed in Rome. Legend tells us that Peter was crucified upside down, because he didn’t consider himself worthy of dying in the same manner as Jesus. That same year Paul was also executed in Rome. His jailers, Ferega and Parthemius, brought him to the place of death. There, Paul used a puddle of water to baptize both men, and pray for their souls. They cut his head off with a sword and then escaped into the catacombs to join the Christian community. From 64 – 90 AD persecution took place mainly in Rome, primarily to satisfy Nero’s sadism.
From 90 – 96 AD Domition was the Emperor. Again, persecution was primarily in the city of Rome; but now there was a purpose. Christians refused to offer monthly incense to the genius of the Emperor. They could have their possessions confiscated and their citizenship revoked. This is the time in which John was exiled to Patmos and received his Revelation. From 98 – 117 AD the Emperor was Trajan. During his rule persecution was officially, but sporadically, enforced. “Christians were lumped with other groups whose patriotism was considered suspect. Christians were to be executed when found out, but not sought out.” Sort of a don’t ask, don’t tell policy.
Hadrian was the Emperor from 117 – 138 AD, and under him life got slightly better. The policies of Trajan were continued; but, Hadrian punished those pagans who brought false witness against Christians. At least they had to tell the truth about you before they executed you.
From 161 – 180 AD the Emperor was Marcus Aurelius, and now things got nasty. He blamed Christians for any natural disasters that occurred. So, if there was an earthquake the solution was to search every house in the city, find the Christians, and execute them. Now, to back up for just a second. When the Apostle John was very old he was released from the island of Patmos, and allowed to travel to Ephesus. There, he wrote the Gospel of John. One of the men who acted as a secretary for John tutored a young man named Polycarp as a disciple. Polycarp became a devout Christian, and eventually wound up as the Bishop of the city of Smyrna. Polycarp was eighty six years old, when Marcus Aurelius became Emperor.
After a summer drought, and a poor harvest of crops, the Emperor had Polycarp dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and brought to the arena to be murdered in a public spectacle. He was given one chance to deny Jesus and worship the Emperor; which he refused. You might wonder, why not just lie to the Emperor – tell him what he wants to hear – then go back home and resume worshipping Jesus. Polycarp, who had once met an Apostle in person, believed that if we ever deny Jesus – even as a lie – we will go straight to hell when we die. The Emperor told Polycarp, if you don’t worship me I will have you burned alive. Polycarp responded, “The fire you threaten burns an hour and is quenched after a little while. You do not know the fire of the coming judgment and everlasting punishment that is laid up for the impious.” They started to tie him to a stake, but he told them that Jesus would give him the power to stand there without being tied. So, of his own will, he stood in the middle of the pyre and was burned alive.
Septimus Severus ruled as Emperor from 202 – 211 AD. He continued the persecutions of Marcus Aurelius, and made it a crime to convert to Christianity, even if you didn’t practice your faith. During this time a 22 year old woman named Vibea Perpetua, who came from a wealthy family and had just had a baby boy, became a Christian. Of course, she was arrested and placed in jail. In those days Christians believed that baptism physically took away all of your sins. But, if you lived very much longer after your baptism you might get new sins. So, the idea was to be baptized as close to death as possible. Perpetua was baptized in jail.
Her father brought her infant son to her, and told her she could nurse him if she would just renounce Jesus. How hard do you suppose it was to turn her own baby away and claim the name of Jesus instead? She was brought before the Governor. Three times he asked if she was a Christian. Three times she affirmed she was. She was tied up in a net, and taken to the coliseum. There, crowds cheered as she was gored over and over by a bull until she bled to death.
Septimus was followed by Maximinus the Thracian, who ruled from 235 – 236. His policy was to cut off the head of the snake. Hunt down all of the clergy, Bishops and Priests, and murder them. If there are no leaders there can be no followers. Remember that in those days you didn’t decide to become a priest, go to seminary, study Jesus and get ordained. Priests were picked from among the members of a congregation. Do you think it was a little scary when a congregation got together, pointed at you and said, “You know the most about Jesus; you be the Priest.”
The next Emperor was Decius. He also had a short reign; 249 – 251. However, he decided that the disease of Christianity had spread too far. It must be hunted down everywhere in the empire, not just those regions near Rome itself. His policy was the complete extermination of Christianity. Christians living in Jerusalem and Egypt were now murdered. He was followed by Valerian (257-260) who continued to hunt down Christians, confiscate their property, and jail them.
The last of the Roman persecutions were the worst. Diocletian Galerius ruled from 303 – 311 AD. Churches were destroyed; Bibles were burned. All civil rights of Christians were suspended. You were brought before the authorities where you either sacrificed to the pagan gods, or your head was cut off. This went on all day, every day. No one has been able to accurately assess how many hundreds of thousands of Christians were murdered.
Then, everything changed. Constantine fought and won a war. He was inspired to victory by a vision he believed came directly from Jesus himself. After he was crowned Emperor he made Christianity the official religion of the empire. Suddenly, if you wanted to get a government contract; if you wanted to be invited to the best parties; if you wanted the best seats at the theater – you needed to be a Christian. Yes sir, life was pretty sweet. And it would stay that way for one thousand years; until Christians began to murder Christians for either being the wrong kind of Christian, or not being Christian enough.
In 1371 John Wycliffe was a Professor of Divinity at Oxford University in England. Because of his job he was allowed to read the Bible; which was off limits to everyone else. Now, that might seem strange in a Christian nation. But, the Catholic Church had decided that Bibles could only be written in Latin – no other language. And, since there could be mistakes when you interpreted Latin, the average person should not be allowed to read the Bible. Their Priest should read the Bible and tell them what is in it. But, they must not read for themselves.
In the course of his teaching, Wycliffe began to realize that what the Church said, and what the Bible said, were often different. He began to write sermons. In them he said things like: the church in Rome isn’t any more important than any other church; the Pope is not any more important than any other Priest; you can be saved by Jesus, without ever joining the Church; the rules in the Bible are more important than the rulings of the Church. As you can imagine, that didn’t set well with the authorities.
The Church ordered Wycliffe fired from his job. They demanded he appear before a tribunal to be punished. Instead, he went into hiding and began to translate the Bible from Latin into English – so everyone could read. He died of natural causes in 1384 and was buried in the cemetery of his home church. Forty one years later, when they realized they had never gotten around to properly punishing Wycliffe, the Church ordered his body dug up from the graveyard, his bones were burned and then thrown in a river so they could never be buried in holy ground. However, the small group which he started, Wycliffe Translators continues today to be the world’s largest translator of Bible’s into native languages.
England continued to persecute men and women for being the wrong kind of Christians. One hundred years after Wycliffe, Dirick Carver and John Launder were arrested and burned at the stake. Their crime was to be caught praying to God in English. A real Christian only prays to God in Latin. You’ve heard stories about the Inquisition. For two hundred years the Christian Church hunted down and killed its own people. Nearly as many people were killed by the Church as were murdered by the Roman Emperors. Fortunately, that was the end of persecution – right?
Wrong. In 1998, around the world, 156,000 Christians were murdered for their beliefs. The next year 164,000 were murdered. The year after that 165,000 were murdered. We believe that number has increased substantially every year for the last decade. And, it’s not just happening in one place – the persecutions are everywhere.
On April 20, 1999 Erik Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Colorado. They were carrying a variety of weapons. Harris walked up to Cassie Bernall, laying beneath a desk and asked her, “Do you believe in God?” She could have said anything, but she said, “Yes.” So, he shot her in the head.
Anila was a 17 year old Christian girl living in Pakistan – a Muslim country. She met 18 year old Perveen at school. During lunchtime talks she shared her faith with her. Eventually, she snuck her a copy of a Bible. Once or twice, Perveen was able to make excuses to her family and join Anila for church; which was always held in a secret place. During a Good Friday service Perveen gave her life to Jesus. When her parents found out they were outraged. They had Anila and her Pastor arrested and jailed for kidnapping. Then, to restore honor to the family, Perveen’s brother stabbed her to death. He turned himself in to the authorities. However, given the circumstances, he was released without any charges.
Petrus Kristian is the oldest son of an Indonesian Pastor. On October 10, 1996 a mob of 200 angry men showed up at the church. They had tools with them, and began smashing the walls, windows, and doors of the church. They used the tools to attack anyone who tried to escape from inside. The church was set on fire and everyone inside; including Petrus’ Mother, Father, Sister and Cousin were burned alive. The police stood and watched, but took no action. The day of his parents’ funeral Petrus was pulled aside by a government official who warned him, “We will be watching you in case you try to take the law into your own hands for revenge.”
Last year, 2008, there were more Christians murdered in India than there were non-believers who became Christian in America. Here is the amazing incongruence of Christianity. Faith becomes stronger and more powerful during times of persecution, than in times and places where it is ignored or tolerated. Why should that be?
We started by talking about the Apostle John, let’s finish with him as well. When John wrote his Gospel the church was under terrible attack. They were under attack by the Roman Emperor’s, and by their Jewish friends and neighbors. Jesus still had not come back, and all hope seemed lost. So, John wrote a Gospel filled with amazing hope in the face of adversity. And, he gave us special encouraging words from Jesus that the other writers had not preserved. Only John tells us that Jesus once knelt down and prayed for us; saying,
“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world” (John 17:14-16).
I think it works like this. The world doesn’t hate those who love the world; it only hates those who separate themselves from the world. As a Christian’s faith becomes stronger, they begin to separate themselves more and more from the world. The world notices that, and begins to persecute them. So, I don’t think that persecution creates strong faith; I think strong faith invites persecution. So, what does that tell you when you realize there is very little persecution here in America? Are we really that civilized, or is our faith not strong enough to be worth persecuting?
All of the information on the Roman Emperors and their persecutions comes from Robert C. Walton, Chronological and Background Charts of Church History (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2005).