Labarum Cross
By COGwriter
While many realize that the Roman Empire imposed a variety of persecutions upon Christians, what many do not realize is that once a non-apostolic version of Christianity was accepted by the Roman Emperor Constantine, this church and state alliance persecuted many associated with the Church of God.
Persecutions have long been one of the ultimate tests of faith. Will those who wear some type of cross be the persecutors or the persecuted in the end-times?
Jesus foretold persecution to Christians before He returns:
11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12, NKJV throughout unless otherwise specified).
When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes (Matthew 10:23).
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:9-14).
29... Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, 4 Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”
5 And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 6 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. 7 But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. 9 But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all men for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved…” (Mark 13:3-13).
... they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake (Luke 21:12).
If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you (John 15:20).
... yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you (John 16:2-4).
The above persecutions predicted by Jesus in Matthew and Mark strongly indicate that a major persecution is going to occur because at least part of the Church will be success in getting the gospel message to the world as a witness. This is likely to lead to the persecution by the Beast, also known as the King of the North (for more details, see Who is the King of the North?).
In addition to end-time and generalized persecutions, Jesus foretold various persecutions for many eras of the true church.
The Apostle Paul also foretold persecutions (Romans 12:14) and was himself persecuted (2 Corinthians 11:24-26; 2 Timothy 3:11). Yet Paul never became a persecutor. Instead he told Christians:
Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
As neither Jesus nor Paul engaged in military warfare or murderous retaliations, it should be clear that true Christians are subject to persecution, but unlike false Christians (who historically have also been subject to some severe persecutions), true Christians do not become persecutors themselves (see also Military Service and the Churches of God: Do Real Christians Participate in Carnal Warfare?).
Notice also what the Apostle John wrote:
11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God (3 John 11).
Being a persecutor is evil. Real Christians never would do that.
After their was a revolt by the Jews in 132-135 A.D., notice what happened:
But at length, under the reign of Hadrian, the desperate fanaticism of the Jews filled up the measure of their calamities; and the Romans, exasperated by their repeated rebellions, exercised the rights of victory with unusual rigour. The emperor founded, under the name of Alia Capitolina, a new city on Mount Sion, to which he gave the privileges of a colony; and denouncing the severest penalties against any of the Jewish people who should dare to approach its precincts, he fixed a vigilant garrison of a Roman cohort to enforce the execution of his orders. The Nazarenes had only one way left to escape the common proscription, and the force of truth was on this occasion assisted by the influence of temporal advantages. They elected Marcus for their bishop, a prelate of the race of the Gentiles, and most probably a native either of Italy or of some of the Latin provinces. At his persuasion the most considerable part of the congregation renounced the Mosaic law, in the practice of which they had persevered above a century. By this sacrifice of their habits and prejudices they purchased a free admission into the colony of Hadrian...When the name and honours of the church of Jerusalem had been restored to Mount Sion the crimes of heresy and schism were imputed to the obscure remnant of the Nazarenes which refused to accompany their Latin bishop (Gibbon E. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I. ca. 1776-1788. The Modern Library, NY, pp. 389-391).
In other words, after the first Latin Bishop in Jerusalem (who may or may not have had any direct affiliation with Rome—the churches that became Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox at that time were still not unified but just starting to cooperate) was put in charge, those who had been faithful Christians were accused of heresy there in the second century. This was perhaps one of the first persecutions that differentiated those with original Nazarene Christianity from those who did not have it.
Probably because of the practices of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, many in Rome (around the same time) changed the date of Passover to be different than that which the Jews and the uncompromising Nazarenes kept (see Passover and the Early Church).
Towards the end of His direct message to the Church in Smyrna, Jesus said "you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death" (Revelation 2:10). A ten year persecution from 303-313 A.D., unleashed by Roman Emperor Diocletian, resulted in many deaths.
Sadly, persecution was not limited to emperors who claimed to be pagan.
Towards the end of the Smyrna era, Constantine became emperor. He decreed circa March 7, 321,
"Let all judges, the people of cities, and those employed in all trades, remain quiet on the Holy Day of Sunday. Persons residing in the country, however, can freely and lawfully proceed with the cultivation of the fields; as it frequently happens that the sowing of grain or the planting of vines cannot be deferred to a more suitable day, and by making concessions to Heaven the advantage of the time may be lost." (Code of Justinian, Book III, Title XII, III. THE JUSTINIAN CODE FROM THE CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS. Translated from the original Latin by Samuel P. Scott. Central Trust Company, Cincinnati, 1932).
This was followed by the famous Council of Nicea, which took place in 325 A.D. This council decided that Sunday was to be the day of worship and that Passover was to be observed on Sunday (and that eventually became what is known as Easter). After various church councils, those in the Church of God who kept the Sabbath were considered to be heretics and outcasts and had to flee in the wilderness (Revelation 12 teaches that the church would flee into the wilderness for 1260 years).
The Emperor authorized persecution. Around 332, Constantine issued what is known as the Edict Against the Heretics,Victor Constantinus, Maximus Augustus, to the heretics. “Understand now, by this present statute, ye Novatians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Paulians, ye who are called Cataphrygians, and all ye who devise and support heresies by means of your private assemblies, with what a tissue of falsehood and vanity, with what destructive and venomous errors, your doctrines are inseparably interwoven; so that through you the healthy soul is stricken with disease, and the living becomes the prey of everlasting death. Ye haters and enemies of truth and life, in league with destruction! All your counsels are opposed to the truth, but familiar with deeds of baseness; full of absurdities and fictions: and by these ye frame falsehoods, oppress the innocent, and withhold the light from them that believe. Ever trespassing under the mask of godliness, ye fill all things with defilement: ye pierce the pure and guileless conscience with deadly wounds, while ye withdraw, one may almost say, the very light of day from the eyes of men. But why should I particularize, when to speak of your criminality as it deserves demands more time and leisure than I can give? For so long and unmeasured is the catalogue of your offenses, so hateful and altogether atrocious are they, that a single day would not suffice to recount them all. And, indeed, it is well to turn one’s ears and eyes from such a subject, lest by a description of each particular evil, the pure sincerity and freshness of one’s own faith be impaired. Why then do I still bear with such abounding evil; especially since this protracted clemency is the cause that some who were sound are become tainted with this pestilent disease? Why not at once strike, as it were, at the root of so great a mischief by a public manifestation of displeasure? (Chapter LXIV.—Constantine’s Edict against the Heretics. This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College).
Some of those referred to as Paulians (Paulicians) and Cataphrygians were part of the true Church of God. And like some other persecutions, it included those truly in the Church of God and those not in the true church. Herod, when he tried to kill Jesus, persecuted an entire nation, killed many babies, but Jesus' family fled the persecution and He survived. Constantine's tactics seem similar.
Christianity under Constantine becomes a form of imperial Roman culture. One Christian denomination is favored with his patronage. They get tax breaks. They get big, beautiful Bible codices copied at public expense. They can use the imperial post for free. They ask Constantine to kick out the leaders of the other Christian denominations in town. So the people who get the worst treatment after Constantine becomes a patron of this one church are other Christians. More Christians are persecuted after the conversion of Constantine than before, because they’re targeted by one particular branch of the church (Hulme, David. Interviews Paula Fredriksen Paul and Paula. Vision magazine, Fall 2005).
Of course, no branch of the actual true church would be persecuting--it is an apostate branch that Constantine favors.
Since Constantine's declarations did not stop everyone from properly observing Passover, a later Roman Emperor decreed the death penalty:
Edicts of Theodosius against the heretics, A.D. 380-394...Theodosius...decreed that...by the death of the offender; and the same capital punishment was inflicted on the Audians, or Quartodecimans, who should dare to perpetrate the atrocious crime of celebrating on an improper day the festival...
The theory of persecution was established by Theodosius, whose justice and piety have been applauded by the saints (Gibbon E. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume III, Chapter XXVII. ca. 1776-1788).
Is killing those that followed the example of Jesus and John to observe the Passover on the 14th instead of Sunday a sign of a true Christian leader or a sign of a supporter of antichrist? How could any true saint applaud Theodosius for killing people who followed Jesus', Johns', Polycarps', etc. example of observing Passover on the biblical date?
On the night of His final Passover, Jesus declared:
the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. (John 16:2).
And those who followed the Emperor Theodosius fulfilled that prophecy--they killed people for keeping Passover the same night that Jesus did. Those who will follow the final Imperial leader are apparently prophesied to do the same thing (Daniel 7:25).
Notice a few additional related details:
The various enactments against heretics are contained in the Code of Theodosius (16. tit. 5. s. 6—23; and the commentary of Gothofredus): the Eunomians, whose guilt consisted in denying any resemblance between the two sub- tances, and who were accordingly Anomoeans, were also deprived of the power of testamentary disposition, and of taking by testamentary gift: they seem, in fact, to have been deprived of all the rights of citizens. The Manichaean heresy was punishable with death; and the same penalty threatened the Audians or the Quartodecimans, who celebrated the festival of Easter on the wrong day. To the reign of Theodosius belonged the glory or the infamy of establishing Inquisitors of Faith, who seem to have been specially enjoined to look after the crime of the Quartodecimans (Smith W. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology : Oarses-Zygia. J. Murray, 1890 Item notes: v. 3 Original from Harvard University Digitized Jul 8, 2008, p. 1064).
There were binitarian (sometimes called Semi-Arians) Paulicians in Armenia who also kept the seventh-day Sabbath in the late fourth century:
Eustathius was succeeded by Erius, a priest, and semi-Arian...Erius also condemned fasts, stated feasts, prayers for the dead, and the celebration of Easter; he urged a purer morality and a stricter observance of the Sabbath. He had many followers, whose numbers were augmented by one of Paul of Samosota, from whom they were called Paulicians. Notwithstanding the opposition of the prelates, who invoked the secular arm to prevent the defection of their spiritual subjects, the tenets of this sect struck deep root in Armenia and many of its eastern provinces, and finally the great body of Christians in the former country, withdrew from the Episcopal communion, and publicly espoused the sentiments of the Paulicians...The bishops of Syria, Pontus, and Cappadocia, complained of the defection of their spiritual flocks...induced the Grecian emperors to commence, and continue for nearly two centuries, the most terrible persecutions against the Paulicians (Davis, Tamar. A General History of the Sabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, pp. 20-23).
Those who influenced the Grecian emperors would have been associated with what is now called the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Notice the following from the Emperors of the East and West:
Arians, Macedonians, Pneumatomachians, Appollinarians, Novatians or Sabatians, Eunomians, Tetradites or Tessarecaidecadites, Valentinians, Paulians, Papianists, Montanints or Priscillians, Phrygians, Pepuzites, Marcionists, Borborites, Messalians, Euchites, or Enthusiasts, Donatists, Audians, Hydroparastetes, Tascodrogites, Batracites, Hermogenians, Photinians, Paulinists, Marcellians, Ophites, Encratitians, Carpocratitans, Saccophores, and Manicheans, who are to be classed as guilty of the worst of all heretical crimes, shall never have the power to assemble or reside in the Roman Empire. Moreover, Manicheans must be expelled from towns, and delivered up to extreme punishment, for no place should be left them in which they may cause any injury even to the elements. Moreover, all laws which have formerly, at different times, been enacted against them and others who are opposed to our religion, shall always be observed in all their force...Given at Constantinople, on the third of the Kalends of June, under the Consulate of Felix and Taurus, 428. (The Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian to Caesar Florentius, Praetorian Prefect. Justinian Code, Book 1. Citied in Scott, S. P. The Civil Law, XII, Cincinnati, 1932).
Even The Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledged that the Roman and Orthodox Churches got the emperors to persecute those who did not accept what became beliefs of mainstream "Christianity":
When Constantine had taken upon himself the office of lay bishop, episcopus externus, and put the secular arm at the service of the Church, the laws against heretics became more and more rigorous. Under the purely ecclesiastical discipline no temporal punishment could be inflicted on the obstinate heretic, except the damage which might arise to his personal dignity through being deprived of all intercourse with his former brethren. But under the Christian emperors rigorous measures were enforced against the goods and persons of heretics. From the time of Constantine to Theodosius...Theodosius is said to be the first who pronounced heresy a capital crime; this law was passed in 382 (Wilhelm J. Transcribed by Mary Ann Grelinger. Heresy. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VII. Published 1910. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).
But of course, if these emperors were truly Christian, they would not have killed and persecuted those faithful to apostolic teachings, nor endorsed carnal warfare.
Also notice the following from one of Theodosius’ other edicts:
…let us believe in the one diety of the father, Son and Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since in out judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that the shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of divine condemnation an the second the punishment of out authority, in accordance with the will of heaven shall decide to inflict...(Theodosian Code XVI.1.2. Cited in Bettenson H, ed., Documents of the Christian Church, London: Oxford University Press, 1943, p. 31).
So the title “Catholic Christian” is supposed to be for those who believe in the trinity and other Greco-Roman doctrines. Because he is condemning the non-trinitarians (which were the majority of those who professed Christ even into the fourth century), Theodosius apparently should have studied into the question Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity?
These persecutions were not unexpected as they were biblically prophesied. Jesus also told the Church of Smyrna:
Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer (Revelation 2:10).
But persecutions did not stop the Smyrnaeans. And they continued until they were replaced by those of the Church of Pergamos.
Jesus told the Church of Pergamos:
I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells (Revelation 2:13).
Pergamos was the capital of the Roman province of Asia in Asia Minor. Just as the initial local Church at Pergamos was situated in a city where Satan swayed human politics, this work of God's church occurred within the bounds of the government of Satan's Eastern Roman Empire.
They were not popular with the Roman Catholics because they considered them to represent forces that were anti-Christ. Notice the following from The Catholic Encyclopedia:
The Papal-Antichrist theory was gradually developed by three historical bodies: the Albigenses, the Waldenses, and the Fraticelli, between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries: are these the expositors from whom the Church of Christ is to receive the true interpretation of the prophecies?" (Maas AJ. Antichrist. In The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).
Perhaps it should be noted that that idea of a Roman anti-Christ was apparently developed by Polycarp, and he seems to have learned this from the Apostle John.
While the Smyrna Church was subject to many persecutions, including Emperor Constantine's Edict Against Heretics, persecution was not limited to Constantine. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes this about the Paulicians:
Leo V, though an Iconoclast, tried to refute the accusation that he was a Paulician by persecuting them furiously. A great number of them at this time rebelled and fled to the Saracens. Sergius was killed in 835. Theodora, regent for her son Michael III, continued the persecution...
We hear continually of wars against the Saracens, Armenians, and Paulicians...
This eliminated the sect as a military power. Meanwhile other Paulicians, heretics but not rebels, lived in groups throughout the empire (Fortesque A. Transcribed by Richard L. George. Paulicians. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI. Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).
In other words, since the Paulicians and Emperor Leo V were against idols, Leo decided he had to persecute them because he was accused of being a bit like them in that area. And additional persecution followed Leo's. The above quote also shows that there were Paulicians, who even though persecuted, would not fight back.
And while not all who claimed to have been Paulicians were in the true church, notice how brutal the persecution was:
The empress, Theodora, instituted a new persecution, in which a hundred thousand Paulicians in Grecian Armenia are said to have lost their lives (Paulicianism. WIkipedia, viewed 06/26/08).
Thus, the "Orthodox" Empress Theodora apparently killed 100,000!
Furthermore, the Eastern Orthodox also oppressed the Bogomils. Notice this odd admission:
The Orthodox, as have all religions, berated other confessions and denominations. But Orthodoxy was always benign - no "jihad", no bloodshed, no forced conversions and no mass expulsions - perhaps with the exception of the forcible treatment of the Bogomils. It was all about power and money, of course. Bishops and archbishops did not hesitate to co-opt the Ottoman administration against their adversaries (Sam Vaknin Ph.D. The Crescent and the Cross - Religion and Community in the Balkans - The Communities of God American Chronicle - March 30, 2007).
Notice that the Orthodox claim to have not caused bloodshed, forced conversions, or mass expulsions of any group, except what they did to the Bogomils. I cannot comment on how they treated others, but obviously, they felt mistreating people that were associated with the true Church of God was acceptable (which the "Orthodox" also did earlier than this with the Paulicians in the Smyrna era).
The Bogomils and Paulicians eventually became absorbed into the Thyatira era of the church.
Thyatira had to endure various persecutions. But for a short while, killing them was discarded, in favor of other methods.
One Pope Leo actually decided that killing those associated with the Church of God was not appropriate. This was confirmed by the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which apparently decided that economic blackmail was better:
As St. Leo says, though the discipline of the church should be satisfied with the judgment of the priest and should not cause the shedding of blood, yet it is helped by the laws of catholic princes so that people often seek a salutary remedy when they fear that a corporal punishment will overtake them. For this reason, since in Gascony and the regions of Albi and Toulouse and in other places the loathsome heresy of those whom some call the Cathars, others the Patarenes, others the Publicani, and others by different names, has grown so strong that they no longer practise their wickedness in secret, as others do, but proclaim their error publicly and draw the simple and weak to join them, we declare that they and their defenders and those who receive them are under anathema, and we forbid under pain of anathema that anyone should keep or support them in their houses or lands or should trade with them. If anyone dies in this sin, then neither under cover of our privileges granted to anyone, nor for any other reason, is mass to be offered for them or are they to receive burial among Christians. With regard to the Brabanters, Aragonese, Navarrese, Basques, Coterelli and Triaverdini {17 }, who practise such cruelty upon Christians that they respect neither churches nor monasteries, and spare neither widows, orphans, old or young nor any age or sex, but like pagans destroy and lay everything waste, we likewise decree that those who hire, keep or support them, in the districts where they rage around, should be denounced publicly on Sundays and other solemn days in the churches, that they should be subject in every way to the same sentence and penalty as the above-mentioned heretics and that they should not be received into the communion of the church, unless they abjure their pernicious society and heresy(Third Lateran Council, Canon 27. 1179 A.D. Translation taken from Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P. Tanner).
The Third Lateran Council took place under Pope Alexander III, Frederick I being emperor. There were 302 bishops present. It condemned the Albigenses and Waldenses (The 21 Ecumenical Councils. Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/library/almanac_14388a.htm 02/12/06).
But economic boycotting and shunning was not enough, as the 1968 WCG also wrote, .
The infamous INQUISITION was then set up to complete the job by eliminating religious objections. Papal bull decreed severe punishment against any person suspected of even sympathizing with "heretics." Confiscations, imprisonments, burnings and every imaginable form of persecution continued for more than a hundred years. Thousands died. In the city of Montsegur alone, 200 persons were burned in one day...
Gregory IX issued another bull against the Waldenses in 1231. From 1231 to 1233 a general persecution raged in Germany, cutting short the Work in Holland. By 1235, persecution on a large scale began at Milan, original seat of the Lombard Waldenses. The archbishop "razed their school" -- apparently the College -- but LEFT THE PEOPLE FREE! On the French side of the Alps, killing and burning reached the Valley Louise in 1238. (LESSON 51 (1968) AMBASSADOR COLLEGE BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place ..." Rev. 12:6).
One Protestant scholar noted:
The next major step in the establishment of the Inquisition was taken by Innocent III...In the West, the same pope launched a "Crusade" against the Cathars, or Albigenses, of Southern France in 1208...In the second century of the Christian Era, most Christians refused to take up arms at all.. One millennium later, Christians were not only fighting for the church against "infidels" who had conquered ancient biblical lands, but against other Christians, heretical ones, who only asked to be able to live in peace on their ancestral soil...No matter how dreadful the use of violence against the dualistic Albigenses was, it must be acknowledged that their heresy is incompatible with Christianity, indeed with biblical religion as such...Perhaps for medieval popes the crucial factor that caused them to condemn dissidents was really the dissidents' rejection of papal authority (Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, p. 260-261).
Notice that the Protestant scholar seems to feel that murdering Cathars and Albigenses who simply wanted to live in peace (but were not Greco-Roman trinitarian) is more compatible with Catholic/Protestant "Christianity" than being faithful to the teachings of Christ and the early Christians who were against warfare. Are the real heretics those who were faithful to New Testament teachings against warfare or those who changed those teachings and killed?
Later, the famous inquisition, also in southern France, began in earnest in 1231/1233 when Pope Gregory IX charged the Dominican order with wiping out Cathari (their name mean Puritan, and that is where the Puritan developed from) and others they considered to be heretics.
There is a long history of European church leaders attempting to eliminate those part of, or sympathetic to, the Church of God.
The Albigneses were condemned by various councils. And one, the Council of Albi (sometimes spelled Alby) in 1254 apparently stated:
They savour of Judaism...they observe the Jewish sabbath, but say that the holy Dominical day is no better than any other day; let them be accursed (Quoted in Davis, Tamar. A General History of the Sabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, p. 64).
Notice what a former Roman Catholic priest reported:
It has been reckoned that in the last and most savage persecution under Emperor Diocletian about two thousand Christians perished, worldwide. In the first incident of Pope Innocent's Crusade ten times that number of people were slaughtered. Not all were Albigensians. It comes as a shock to discover that, at a stroke, a pope killed far more Christians than Diocletian (De Rosa, Peter. Vicars of Christ. Poolberg Press, Dublin, 2000, pp. 160-161).
(The entire persecution that Roman Emperor Diocletian unleashed lasted from 303-313 A.D; the inquisition-persecution that Innocent III unleashed lasted hundreds of years.)
In the Transylvanian regions, the major faiths seemed to unify against those that kept the Sabbath. Daniel Liechty reported:
…the most thorough persecution of the Sabbatarians began in 1618. At that time an ordinance was passed which gave the Sabbatarians “until Christmas” to join one of the “four received religions” of fact the full wrath of the law. Again large numbers of books and writings were confiscated and burned…The persecution drove the Sabbatarians even further into secrecy (Liechty D. Sabbatarianism in the Sixteenth Century. Andrews University Press, Berrien Springs (MI), 1993, pp. 66,67).
And then it got worse:
And finally, the tragic “Accord of Deés” or Complanatio Deesiana in July 1638 definitely disjoined Sabbatarians from Unitarians. Unitarians were ordered to worship Jesus, baptize in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, and to allow their publications censured--a coerced “complanatio.” The “Judaizers” and those who rejected and cursed Jesus, however, were excluded even from the new amnesty. Sabbatarians were easy target of the new discriminatory law: they observed the Sabbath, therefore they farmed on Sundays, abstained from eating pork and blood, celebrated the Passover with unleavened bread, and refused baptism of their children--the very sign of their expected conversion (Gellérd, Judit. Spiritual Jews of Szekler Jerusalem A Four-Centuries History of Transylvanian Szekler (Székely) Sabbatarianism. In Literature of Memory VI: Hope and Despair STH TS 870, Fall 2000 Professor Elie Wiesel. http://www.unitarius.hu/cffr/papers/sabbat.htm--12/14/02).
Note that the "Judaizers" are separate from "those who rejected and cursed Jesus" as well as from the Unitarians (who were granted some type of amnesty). In this region, there were both true Christians (the "Judaizers" who celebrated the Passover with unleavened bread, etc.) and those who rejected Christ as Messiah (hence the Judaizers were not actually unitarian).
Some in Russia also participated in persecuting "Judaizers" during this time:
...1503...the leader of the Possessors was Abbot Joseph of Volokolamsk...a rather severe ascetic who imposed...the burning at the stake...the sect of the Judaizers...
Judaizers...in Russia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries...denied the Trinity (Fanning S. Mystics of the Christian Tradition. Routeldge, New York. 2001, reprinted 2006, pp. 49, 255).
Hence, persecution of the faithful occurred in many lands.
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes this about one of its inquisitors:
Bernard Guidonis
Inquisitor of Toulouse against the Albigenses and Bishop of Lodève, b. at Royères (Limousin) in 1261, d. at Lauroux (Hérault), 30 December, 1331. He was one of the most prolific writers of the Middle Ages.
Here are some of the beliefs he found that those he persecuted held:
Nevertheless, attention should be called to the fact that among the Beguins are found some who know, accept and believe many or all of the errors listed below. These are more steeped and hardened in them. Others can say less about these errors yet are sometimes found to be worse in holding and believing them than are others. Still others have heard or remember less and yield to valid reason and saner counsel. Others obstinately persist and refuse to recant, choosing to die rather than abjure their errors, saying that in this matter they defend the gospel truth, the life of Christ, and evangelical and apostolic poverty...
Again, they say that the prelates and inquisitors who judged and condemned them as heretics - and indeed all those who consented or now consent knowingly to their condemnations - have by this action become heretics (if they persevere in it), and by this action have lost the ecclesiastical power to bind, loose and administer the ecclesiastical sacraments...
Again, they say that prelates and members of religious orders whose clothing is too abundant or too costly violate gospel perfection and Christ's precept, according instead with the precept of Antichrist. Such clerics who go around in pompous fashion are of the family of Antichrist...
Again, they say they are not required to take oaths, nor should they be made to reveal under oath the names of their fellow believers, accomplices and associates, because, as they say, this would violate the command to love one's neighbor and would on the contrary injure one's neighbor...
they say the carnal church (by which they mean the Roman church as it exists, not only in the city of Rome, but throughout the whole area under Roman jurisdiction) is Babylon, the great whore of whom John spoke in the Apocalypse. Thus they apply these passages to the Roman Church and attribute to the church all the evil things written there, such as that it is drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus Christ...
Again, they distinguish between two churches, the carnal church which they say is the Roman church which contains the multitude of rebrobate, and the spiritual church which contains those people they describe as spiritual and evangelical, who emulate the life of Christ and the apostles. They say the latter is their church...
Again, some of them claim that on those elect spiritual and evangelical individuals through whom a spiritual and benign church will be founded in the seventh and last period, the Holy Spirit will be poured out in greater or at least in equal abundance as on the apostles, the disciples of Jesus Christ, on the day of Pentecost during the time of the primitive church. And they say the Holy Spirit will descend on them like a fiery flame in a furnace, and they take this to mean that, not only will their souls be filled with the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit will live in their bodies as well.
Again, they claim that there is a double Antichrist, one spiritual or mystical and the other the real, greater Antichrist...
Again, they say that both in the time of persecution by Antichrist and in that of the aforesaid war carnal Christians will be so afflicted that, despairing, they will say, "If Christ were God, he would not permit Christians to suffer so much and such intense evil." Thus despairing, they will apostatize from the faith and die. But God will hide the elect spiritual individuals so that they cannot be found by Antichrist and his ministers. Then the church will be reduced to the same size as the primitive church when it was first founded...
Again, they say that after Antichrist's death these spiritual individuals will convert the entire world to the faith of Christ; and the whole world will be so good and benign that there will be no malice or sin in people of that period, except perhaps for venial sins in a few of them; and all things will be common as far as use is concerned; and there will be no one who offends anyone else or encourages another to sin. For there will be the greatest love among them, and there will be one flock and one pastor. According to some of them this period and condition will last for one hundred years. Then, as love fails, malice will creep back in and slowly increase until Christ is, as it were, compelled to come in universal judgment because of it.
Again, these insane heretics seriously and ignominiously rail against the Lord Pope, the vicar of Jesus Christ, calling him the mystical Antichrist, precursor of the greater Antichrist, preparing the way for his life (BERNARD GUI: INQUISITOR'S MANUAL, Chapter 5. Translated by David Burr, History Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. http://phi.kenyon.edu/Projects/Margin/inquisit.htm 04/09/07).
It should be noted that Albigenses and Waldenses were sometimes arrested with the Beguins. Now while most that were killed in the Inquisition were not in the Church of God, nor were the Franciscan Beguins, it is obvious that Church of God doctrines such as that ministers should not dress like the Roman clerics, Christians are not to swear oaths, and that God will offer salvation to all, were clearly condemned by the Roman Catholics during the time of Thyatira.
Also notice the following:
"Of the many who were burned and otherwise destroyed for Judaism," observes a Spanish author of the sixteenth century, "it is not probable that one-tenth were of the race of Israel, but heretics, who, for persisting in saying that the law of Moses was still binding, were accused of Jewish practices, such as circumcision and sabbatizing, to the latter of which they uniformly plead guilty" (Quoted in Davis, Tamar. A General History of the Sabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, p. 88).
Notice that it was the supposed Jewish practice of keeping the Sabbath, and not circumcision, that they uniformly plead guilty to (Jews would always have been "guilty" of circumcision, while not all the that profess Christ would participate in that practice).
This actually seemed to upset one inquisitor named Gregory. Notice the following account:
On the 14th of September, 1492, about thirty persons were committed to the inquisitional dungeons of Toulouse upon a charge of Judaism...Of there was Anthony Ferrar, who had been a pastor or teacher in the Sabbatarian church of that city. After remaining in prison ten days, he received a visit from an Italian monk named Gregory...
Greg.--But Anthony, you must be a liar and a deceiver, for I have been credibly informed that yourself, and all of your friends, were of the cursed race of Israel.
An.--It is false, we were honest Frenchmen, and Christians, followers of Jesus.
Greg.--Nay! but you were Jews, for instead of baptizing your infant children, you have all the males circumcised.
An.--You were very wrong to accuse us of that practice ; for it is something of which we are entirely innocent.
Greg.--Hey ! do you then baptize your children?
An.--We do not, neither do we circumcise them.
Greg.--Nevertheless, you must be Jews, since you say the law of Moses is still binding.
An.--We say that the ten commandments are still binding.
Greg.--Yes, and instead of observing the festivals of the Holy Church, and honouring the holy day of the Lord, on which he rose from the dead, you were accustomed to meet for worship upon the old Sabbath, or Saturday.
An.--We did, indeed, rest and attend divine worship upon the seventh day, even as God commanded...
Anthony, with his associates in misfortune, were subsequently burned in the marketplace in Toulouse, and all died praising God that they were worthy to suffer for his name (Quoted in Davis, Tamar. A General History of the Sabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, pp. 87-88).
Lest one think that persecution was limited to sources linked to Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, it needs to be understood that Martin Luther and his followers persecuted and condemned Church of God believers as well.
The Lutherans decided to collectively condemn those who were against the Greco-Roman trinity:
Our Churches, with common consent, do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting...They condemn all heresies which have sprung up against this article, as the Manichaeans, who assumed two principles... (The Confession of Faith: Which Was Submitted to His Imperial Majesty Charles V. At the Diet of Augsburg in the Year 1530. by Philip Melanchthon, 1497-1560. Translated by F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau. Published in: Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, pp. 37-95.)
Overtime, many associated with Thyatira were called Anabaptists. The term means "re-baptizers" as they required that adults be baptized, so if someone had been baptized as an infant, they would have to be baptized later if they were to truly be in God's Church according to those who held Church of God doctrines.
The Anabaptists were condemned by the Lutherans because they did not support infant baptism, taught one could reject salvation, taught that Christians should not be soldiers, taught that there would be an end to punishments, and that Jesus would rule with His people on the earth:
Article IX: Of Baptism. Of Baptism they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and that through Baptism is offered the grace of God, and that children are to be baptized who, being offered to God through Baptism are received into God's grace. They condemn the Anabaptists, who reject the baptism of children...
Article XVI: Of Civil Affairs. Of Civil Affairs they teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that it is right for Christians to bear civil office, to sit as judges, to judge matters by the Imperial and other existing laws, to award just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers, to make legal contracts, to hold property, to make oath when required by the magistrates, to marry a wife, to be given in marriage. They condemn the Anabaptists who forbid these civil offices to Christians.
Article XVII: Of Christ's Return to Judgment. Also they teach that at the Consummation of the World Christ will appear for judgment and will raise up all the dead; He will give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without end. They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils. They condemn also others who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed. (The Confession of Faith: Which Was Submitted to His Imperial Majesty Charles V. At the Diet of Augsburg in the Year 1530. by Philip Melanchthon, 1497-1560. Translated by F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau. Published in: Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, pp. 37-95.)
It should also be noted that Lutherans and other Protestants considered that those who relied on the Bible alone for doctrine promoted "ancient heresies".
In the sixteenth century, "Anabaptists" taught millenarianism and were condemned by Roman Catholics for that belief (Birch D. Trial Tribulation & Triumph. Queenship Publishing, Goleta (CA), 1996, p. lvii).
Look at this admission from the Protestant scholar and theologian H. Brown:
Although classical theology is certainly not without its problems, historically it is almost always the case that the appeal to the Bible alone...leads to the reemergence of ancient heresies...The Reformation began with the slogan "To the sources!" and sought to deal a fatal blow to the place of church tradition in shaping life and faith...Despite their efforts not to be influenced by the authority of tradition, each of the major Reformation churches found itself borrowing from the past and building up a traditionalism of its own...when the Anabaptists and other radicals discovered Scripture to be teaching things the Lutherans found detestable, Lutherans learned the usefulness of tradition...(Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, pp. 335,350-351).
It should be noted that the above is not limited to one Protestant scholar, even Martin Luther truly did not believe in rallying cry sola scriptura.
Furthermore, Martin Luther himself had many people killed. Notice the following:
"I, Martin Luther, slew all the peasants in the rebellion, for I said that they should be slain; all their blood is upon my head. But I cast it on the Lord God, who commanded me to speak this way" (Werke, Erl. Edition, lix, p. 284 ‘Table Talk’ as quoted in Stoddard JL. Rebuilding a Lost Faith, 1922, p.96).
It is reported that 100,000 perished at that time. Martin Luther also advised his followers
...to burn down Jewish schools and synagogues, and to throw pitch and sulphur into the flames; to destroy their homes; to confiscate their ready money in gold and silver; to take from them their sacred books, even the whole Bible; and if that did not help matters, to hunt them of the country like mad dogs (Luther’s Works, vol. Xx, pp. 2230-2632 as quoted in Stoddard JL. Rebuilding a Lost Faith, 1922, p.99).
Hence, it would appear that Martin Luther had little problem persecuting those who differed from him, even if they felt their practices were based upon the Bible.
Notice the following actions taken against the Anabaptists by the Protestant "Reformers":
It is well known that the Lutheran princes and prelates practiced upon the Anabaptists all the cruelties to which they themselves had been subject by the Roman hierarchs. The names Luther, Calvin, and Zuinglius, have been marked in this indelible stain...
Calvin, who could smile with complacency over the tortures of those who refused to be governed by his own opinions; and Zuinglius, who, when questioned regarding the fate of certain Anabaptists, replied,
"Drown the Dippers"
(Davis, Tamar. A General History of the Sabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, p. 106).
“In order to set up an effective system, Calvin used the State to inflict more severe penalties. Such penalties proved to be much to {sic}severe, fifty-eight being executed and seventy-six exiled by 1546”. These numbers are supplied by the Presbyterians themselves, and only the Lord knows how many Saints of the Lord were really executed for their faith! See- Christianity Through The Centuries, by Cairns, page 338 (Duff, Rex. ANABAPTIST HISTORY. The Official Website of Anabaptists. http://www.anabap.com/anabaphistory.htm viewed 3/30/08).
Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli ended up killing, often by drowning, the Anabaptists who promoted and practiced adult baptism (Bacchiocchi S. “ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED”. ENDTIME ISSUES NEWSLETTER No. 197, 2008 ).
Zwingli (as also Luther and Calvin) had conceived of Zurich as a Christian state, a single unified Christian society… The Anabaptists were thus viewed as a threat to the stability of the social order and less as mere theological heretics (Storms S. Zwingli and Anabaptists. Nov 8, 2006. © Copyright 2008 Enjoying God Ministries. http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/19-zwingli-and-anabaptists viewed 3/30/08).
Perhaps it should also be noted that John Calvin of Geneva had Michael Servetus, a Spaniard, a physician, a scientist, etc. burned to death because Servetus taught against infant baptism and the trinity. John Calvin also encouraged his followers to carry on similar acts of persecution against those that did not hold to various "Calvinistic" views. Also notice:
In November, 1552, the Council declared that Calvin's "Institutes" were a "holy doctrine which no man might speak against." Thus the State issued dogmatic decrees, the force of which had been anticipated earlier, as when Jacques Gouet was imprisoned on charges of impiety in June, 1547, and after severe torture was beheaded in July. Some of the accusations brought against the unhappy young man were frivolous, others doubtful. What share, if any, Calvin took in this judgment is not easy to ascertain. The execution of however must be laid at his door; it has given greater offence by far than the banishment of Castellio or the penalties inflicted on Bolsec -- moderate men opposed to extreme views in discipline and doctrine, who fell under suspicion as reactionary. The Reformer did not shrink from his self-appointed task. Within five years fifty-eight sentences of death and seventy-six of exile, besides numerous committals of the most eminent citizens to prison, took place in Geneva (Barry W. Transcribed by Tomas Hancil. John Calvin. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III. Published 1908. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).
Hence, it is not only Roman Catholic leaders who have savagely persecuted those who held to more biblical views. If Protestants really wish to believe in Sola Scriptura then they would change their practices, truly strive to live as Jesus lived, and not at all venerate such people as the murderous ones like Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli (also known as Ulrich Zwingli), or John Calvin.
Persecutions are not simply a thing of the past.
Jesus taught:
If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also (John 15:20).
Sadly, many of those who claim to be Christian do not keep Jesus' word, have persecuted in the past, and will persecute in the future.
While many in the Church of God have experienced economic and social persecution in their walk with Christ, future severe persecution, beginning first with the Philadelphia remnant of Christians, is expected.
Notice the following from the Living Church of God:
...concerning the mysterious 1,290 and 1,335 days prophecies in Daniel 12:11-12.
These prophecies refer to events leading up to Jesus Christ’s return and the resurrection of faithful Christians and saints. Daniel 12 emphasizes a great “time of trouble” (v. 1), the same “Great Tribulation” of which Jesus spoke in Matthew 24:21. Daniel’s theme is “the time of the end” (v. 4), the time at which, when “the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished” (v. 7)...
Daniel makes a brief statement about the 1,335 days that lead up to “the end”: “Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days” (v. 12). God gives this blessing to His people who endure for the 1,335 days until Christ’s coming. Jesus stated in Matthew 24:13, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” “Waiting” usually implies patiently enduring trials and persecution.
In chapter 12, verse one, Daniel announces the beginning of the Great Tribulation, which Jesus also proclaimed in Matthew 24:21-22. This “time of trouble” will last three and one-half years, “a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 12:7; Revelation 12:14). Jesus said that the abomination of desolation would be a sign for God’s people to flee before the Great Tribulation begins (Matthew 24:15-20). Those counted worthy (see Revelation 3:10) will then be taken to a place of safety God has provided for them (Revelation 12:14-16). Once God’s Church is in a place of protection, the 1,260 days (“a time, times, and half a time,” or 42 months) of tribulation and judgment will begin. At the end of the 1,260 days, Jesus Christ will return to this earth (L187. Personal Correspondence Department, Living Church of God).
While we in the Living Church of God like to focus on the idea that the Philadelphians will flee to a place of protection, it needs to be understood that there will apparently be a time of severe persecution just prior to the fleeing. Specifically, evangelist Richard Ames has taught that the 45 day period (the 1335-1290 days) begins intense persecution against the true Philadelphian Church, and this will fulfill Matthew 24:9 (Ames R. Welcome the King, Feast of Trumpets sermon for 9/13/07).
When Richard Ames mentioned, “the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished”, it should be understood that part of that power is the power to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness so that the end will come (cf. Matthew 24:14). It is likely that because of the success of the preaching by the Philadelphia era remnant that this will trigger the persecution of the Philadelphians.
It seems that part of this time is also discussed in Daniel 11:32-36 (information of the persecution just prior to Daniel 11:31 can be found in the article Who is the King of the North?):
Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time (Daniel 11:32-35).
The persecutions above are by one called the King of the North (Daniel 11:40)--the King of the North will NOT like the message that the Philadelphians are proclaiming (part of which will likely be identifying him to the world as the prophesied King of the North).
This King of the North seems to be the same one that certain Catholic "prophecies" call the Great Monarch who will rule a revised Roman Empire. Notice that Catholic prophets have indicated that heretics will be eliminated by their Great Monarch, and that a small "sect" will have their possessions (and probably some of their bodies) burnt:
St. Francis of Paola (Born in Italy, 15th century). "By the grace of the Almighty, the Great Monarch will annihilate heretics and unbelievers. He will have a great army, and angels will fight at his side. He will be like the sun among the stars. His influence will spread over the whole earth. All in all, there will be on earth twelve Kings, one Emperor, one Pope and a few Princes. They will all lead holy lives." (Dupont, Yves. Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), 1973, p.38).
Capuchin Friar (18th century)..."A scion of the Carolingian race, by all considered extinct, will come to Rome and behold and admire the piety and clemency of this Pontiff. who will crown him, and declare him to be the legitimate Emperor of the Romans. He shall destroy the Ottoman Empire and all heresies" (Dupont, p. 34).
Anne Catherine Emmerich (Purification day 1822) "I saw during the last few days marvellous things connected with the Church. St. Peter's was almost entirely destroyed by the sect, but their labors were, in turn, rendered fruitless and all that belonged to them, their aprons and tools, burned by the executioners on the public place of infamy. They were made of horse-leather, and the stench from them was so offensive that it made me quite sick..." (Schmöger Carl E. The Life and Revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Volume 2. Approbation: Bishop of Limbourgh Peter Joseph. TAN Books, reprint 1976, p.292)
Annihilation and burning certainly are forms of persecution.
The Living Church of God has also published the following statements:
Just as God’s people have had to do from the first century onward, so His people today must "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). God states clearly: "He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness" (Romans 9:28). Who will He use to do it? According to Daniel 11:32 it is "the people who know their God [that] shall be strong, and carry out great exploits." (God's Church Through the Ages By John H. Ogwyn. LCG Booklet.)
This time is Satan’s wrath against the modern day descendants of Israel as well as against spiritual Israel, the Church. This is made plain in Revelation 12 where we read of the Church being described by the metaphor of a woman...In verse 13 we find that after Satan is cast back down to the earth, a yet future event, he launches all out persecution upon the Church. At this time, we are told, the Church will be taken to a place in the wilderness to be supernaturally nourished and protected during the final three-and-a-half year period preceding Christ’s return (The Secret Rapture-False Hope for End-Time Christians! By John H. Ogwyn. Tomorrow's World. Jan-Feb 2000).
After religious persecution intensifies, Jesus states: "By your patience possess your souls. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near" (Luke 21:19-20) (The Middle East in Prophecy By Richard F. Ames. Tomorrow's World, Jul-Aug 2001).
Revelation seems to show that those that flee will be persecuted just before they flee, and those that do not flee will later be persecuted:
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:13-17).
The presiding evangelist of the Living Church of God (LCG), R.C. Meredith of the Living Church of God publicly has taught:
We will be persecuted before the Great Tribulation...We will be persecuted from time to time...But the Laodiceans will have it worse during the Great Tribulation (Meredith RC. Prophecy Overview. Sermon, July 19, 2008).
By "We" Dr. Meredith is referring to are the Philadelphia Christians as they are the ones who will primarily bear the brunt of the 21st century persecutions which occur up until getting to a place of safety. The Laodiceans (see The Laodicean Church Era), who basically will have almost no intense persecution prior to that time (though historically, Satan is not real picky and does not seem to mind when others not specifically targeted are killed), will be then thrown into a period of intense persecution for three and one half years:
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time (Daniel 7:25).
The "He" above is the King of the North. This leader will terribly persecute, and normally attempt to kill, the Laodicean and other Christians that are not then in a place of protection (see also the article There is a Place of Protection for the Philadelphians).
Even though other parts of the Book of Revelation show that persecution will come from a combination of church and state (i.e. 13:1-8), various verses (i.e. (Revelation 12:13-17) show that it is truly Satan that is behind the persecutions. The old Radio Church of God taught this about Revelation 12:13:
Now turn to verse 13...this is the persecution that is yet in the future, a persecution that is being secretly planned... (Hoeh H. Are Christians Again to be MARTYRED? Plain Truth, November 1956, p. 21).
Revelation mentions:
And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them (Revelation 13:3-7).
But notice that the persecution is not limited to true Christians (saints) as any who do not worship the beast will not be able to buy or sell and this hour of trial comes to all except the Philadelphians:
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (Revelation 13:11-17).
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write...I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth (Revelation 3:7,10).
(More information on the Beast and the Antichrist can be found in the articles Europa and the Beast and Some Doctrines of Antichrist.)
Perhaps it should also be noted that at least one apparition claiming to be "Mary" (but has not been offficially accepted by the Vatican as valid) hinted that those who did not have faith in her would be persecuted. Notice what “Mary” allegedly stated in an apparition Pfaffenhofen, Germany on April 25, 1946:
Wherever it is taught that I am all-powerful, I will spread peace, for peace will be where all men have faith in my power...I am the sign of the Living God..." (Culleton, Reign of Antichrist, p. 216).
The Bible does not state that Mary is all-powerful, that people should have faith in her power, or that she is the sign of the Living God. But the above apparition strongly is implying that those who do not have faith in her power will not have peace--hence those who hold fast to the Bible will apparently be persecuted by those who have faith in Mary. Apparitions claiming to be Mary apparently may be one of the reasons that those who support that Beast will use to justify persecution. (More on Mary can be found in the article Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions.)
Did you know that a type of "cross" became a military symbol after a sun-worshiping Emperor claimed to have a vision and a dream:
In 312, the Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great was in Trier, Germany where he had an unexpected vision of a cross that appeared in the sky..Constantine’s soldiers, the majority of whom were pagans, placed the sacred image of the cross on their shields (Mangan C.M. In This Sign You Conquer, 10/15/03 Copyright © 2004 Catholic Online).
He {Constantine} said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens , above the sun, and bearing the inscription , Conquer by this...in his sleep the Christ of God appeared to him with the same sign which he had seen in the heavens , and commanded him to make a likeness of that sign which he had seen in the heavens , and to use it as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies....At dawn of day he arose, and communicated the marvel to his friends: and then, calling together the workers in gold and precious stones, he sat in the midst of them, and described to them the figure of the sign he had seen, bidding them represent it in gold and precious stones...
Now it was made in the following manner. A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of the cross by means of a transverse bar laid over it. On the top of the whole was fixed a wreath of gold and precious stones; and within this, the symbol of the Saviour's name, two letters indicating the name of Christ by means of its initial characters, the letter P being intersected by X in its centre...
The emperor constantly made use of this sign of salvation as a safeguard against every adverse and hostile power, and commanded that others similar to it should be carried at the head of all his armies. (Eusebius. The Life of Constantine, Book I, Chapters 28,30,31).
Labarum Cross
This type of cross is known as a labarum:
The Labarum (☧) was a vexillum (military standard) that displayed the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" (Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, or Χριστός) — Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ). It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine I. (Labarum. Wikipedia, viewed 03/04/09).
There is also a Catholic writer who indicates that the image or perhaps mark of the beast may be something that resembles that Constantinian cross:
Priest P. Huchedé (19th century): What this sign shall be time alone will reveal. Yet there are some {Catholic} commentators of the Holt Writ, who, according to a special revelation pretend to say that it shall be formed out of the Greek letters X and P, interlaced...which resembles the number of Christ. (Cornelius a Lapide in Epis. 2 to Thes.). No one can either buy or sell without that…(Huchedé, P. Translated by JBD. History of Antichrist. Imprimatur: Edward Charles Fabre, Bishop of Montreal. English edition 1884, Reprint 1976. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), p. 24).
If some type of cross is a symbol of the future Antichrist/Beast power as Priest P. Huchedé claims it will be (and it is in a book with an official imprimatur), perhaps those who come from faiths descended from Emperor Constantine should be concerned about their religion now--before it becomes even further removed from the original faith. The Bible indicates that the true Christians will NOT have the symbol/mark needed to buy or sell when the two beasts of Revelation 13 are in power, but only those that will follow those beasts will (Revelation 13:16-17)--and while some type of crosses may not necessarily be required everywhere, other Catholic writings suggest that in certain places, they will be.
Although all real scholars admit that the original Christians would not kill or intentionally participate in military service, after Emperor Constantine claimed to see a spear in the sky with a traverse bar (see Constantine is Why “Christians” War), the group that accepted his authority then allowed him to convene what is known as the Council of Nicea in 325. A.D.
Astoundingly, there are writings that indicate that those wear some type of cross will be persecuters:
St. Francis de Paul (1470): These holy Cross-bearers shall reign and dominate holily over the whole world until the end of time...(Culleton, G. The Prophets and Our Times. Nihil Obstat: L. Arvin. Imprimatur: Philip G. Scher, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno, November 15, 1941. Reprint 1974, TAN Books, Rockford (IL),p. 157-161).
Josefa von Bourg (d. 1807): God will choose a descendant of Constantine, Pepin, and St. Louis, who has been tried by a long period of exile to rule over Europe. He will have the sign of the cross on his breast...Under him the Catholic religion will spread as never before (Culleton, pp. 181-182; Connor, p.37).
St. Bridget of Sweden (died 1373): ...war shall end when an emperor of Spanish origin will be elected, who will, in a wonderful manner, be victorious through the sign of the Cross. He shall destroy the Jewish and Mahometan sects... (Culleton, The Prophets and Our Times , p. 154).
Anne Catherine Emmerich (October, 1820): citizens and peasants, many of whom were marked on the forehead with a red cross. As this army drew near, the captives and oppressed were delivered and swelled the ranks whilst the demolishers and conspirators were put to flight on all sides (Emmerich AC. The Life of Lord Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations. Schmöger edition, Vol. IV. Nihil Obstat: D. Jaegher, 14 Februari 1914. Imprimatur: A.C. De Schrevel, Brugis, 14 Februari 1914. Reprint TAN Books, Rockford (IL), 2004, pp. 290-291).
Notice what one claimed to be “Mary” (but has not been offficially accepted by the Vatican as valid) allegedly stated in an apparition Pfaffenhofen, Germany on June 25, 1946:
I am the great Mediatrix of Grace. The Father wants the world to recognize His handmaid...My sign is about to appear. God wills it...I cannot reveal my power to the world as yet...Then I will be able to reveal myself...Chose a sign for yourself so that the Trinity may soon be adored by all! Pray and sacrifice through me!...I will impose crosses on my children that will be as heavy and as deep as the sea because I love them in my sacrificed Son. I pray, be prepared to bear the cross in order that the Trinity may be honored (Culleton, Reign of Antichrist, pp. 217-218).
Real Christians would not pray and sacrifice through Mary. Nor would true Christians force the wearing of a cross and persecute!
In 1958, Matous Losuta of Czechoslovakia claimed that "Mary" (this apparition has not been offficially accepted by the Vatican as valid) stated:
All my children will receive and carry the sign of the cross on their foreheads (Flynn, Ted & Flynn, Maureen. Thunder of Justice: The Warning, the Miracle, the Chastisement, the Era of Peace. Signs of the Times Illustrated by Kaleidoscope Graphics Staff Contributor Malachi Martin Published by Maxkol Communications, 1992, p. 331).
But this is not something that the Bible advocates. (More on Mary can be found in the article Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions.)
Thus, according to various Catholic mystics and writers, those that follow a persecuting power will wear some type of cross--the type is not entirely clear--nor will it necessarily matter. Though according to at least one Catholic priest, it is the to be similar to the type of cross that Emperor Constantine used, and according to that same priest, it may be an important symbol for the beasts of Revelation 13 and their followers.
Severe persecution has occurred throughout the history of the true Church. Severe persecution is expected to occur against the Philadelphian Christians just prior to the time the true Church is to flee (please see the article There is a Place of Protection for the Philadelphians).
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand (Matthew 24:21-25).
Jesus indicates that the end time persecution may be the biggest test of faith for believers. Notice:
And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:7-8)
The Bible and the facts of history have revealed persecutions for the people of God. While false Christians have also been persecuted, true Christians have never been the persecutors as true Christians "do not imitate what is evil" (3 John 11). Those who really want to know what happened to the true Church of God should begin with the The History of Early Christianity page.
Perecution is a fact of history. It has happened before and we should be prepared for the fact that it will happen again. And during the time of the final persecutions, the Bible records:
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
Thus, though the Philadelphian Christians will be subject to intense persecution first, even the Laodiceans (The Laodicean Church Era) and other Christians will receive some praise if they endure the persecutions that will then come during the time of "the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world" (Revelation 3:10).
An article of possible related interest may be Military Service and the Churches of God.
Thiel B., Ph.D. Persecutions from Church and State. www.cogwriter.com/persecutions.htm 2007/2008/2009 0409