History records that the church that Simon Magus built hounded and persecuted the church that Christ built for hundreds of years following her founding on the Day of Pentecost, 31 A.D. Constantly on the move to avoid total destruction, God’s saints found themselves moving from place to place throughout first the Middle East, then Europe. The Catholic Church’s efforts to stamp out the ever-shrinking Church of God continued relentlessly until there remained only a few hearty souls who refused to observe the pagan practices of the ever-growing Universal Church. Tens of thousands of believers died rather than deny their Lord. As horrific as the bloody onslaught was, the Words of Jesus continued to ring true– the gates of hell would not prevail against (destroy) His church. In spite of the danger, there was always a “remnant”–His “Little Flock”–who stood against Satan while the rest of the known world bowed to his religious system. The war continues today as a few thousand saints world-wide stand up against and expose the heathenism of Satan’s church system (Catholicism/Protestantism) which numbers in the billions. Due to social laws protecting the right of spiritual belief and practice, the blood-letting has stopped. This will not last. Soon those laws will be lifted and God’s people will once again be fair game for Satan’s people. The future purging will make the former purging pale by comparison. Once again Catholicism, having forced the masses comprising Protestantism to return to their religious mother and having been joined by all other religious ‘isms, will persecute to the death those who are not individually protected by God. See The Ingathering. Now back to the past.

Over time Catholicism’s persecution of God’s saints took on a more organized form, eventually evolving into a more manageable undertaking. Initially, the persecution was carried out on a local basis and was directed toward not just non-Catholics, but also against local Catholics whom the officials believed to  not be Catholic enough. Local church authorities questioned parishioners as to their attitudes, words and actions relative to church dictates on an ad hoc (on the spot) basis. If found to be lacking in the proper relationship with church doctrine and practice, the person was punished to some extent. Minor infractions were punishable by such things as being forced to visit the local church, or to wear a cross. Because the church’s efforts proved to be somewhat haphazard, the process of ferreting out local church members who were lacking in religious fervor eventually took on a more organized form. All the while a deadly war against God’s people continued to be waged throughout the Roman Empire.

Let us return to the local level where church officials were casting an appraising eye on their parishioners. First, a public call would go out for voluntary confession of sins against the church. Those who confessed and followed church dictates were not punished as a general rule. Following a period of grace in which the guilty could voluntarily “confess” on their own, the local inquisitor would then question known slackers who had not confessed, often questioning everyone in his geographical jurisdiction. As the power of the questioners grew and their control over the populace expanded in reach, people began to resist the power of the ruling church. Due to the extent of the popular rebellion, local church bodies reached a point where they could no longer deal with the problems presented by the growing numbers of people who opposed them.

It was due in part to this problem that the Council of Nicea was convened. It was at this meeting that Roman Emperor Constantine I proclaimed that from that time forward Christianity (Catholicism) would be the state mandated religion. He then dedicated the power of the Roman Government to the enforcement of church mandates.

As time passed and those who resisted the church’s power increased, ever-increasing pressure was applied against the rebels. After some 800 years of hit-and-miss dealings with the problem, a permanent body was instituted to direct the efforts of the local church bodies. Still, incidences of individual resistance to the church continued to be dealt with on a local basis.

As the rebellion increased and the resisters began to organize into localized bodies of believers, the church felt the need to take more drastic measures. It was at that point that Pope Gregory IX in 1231 issued a papal bull in which he decreed the death sentence upon anyone who did not come under the Catholic umbrella. By 1255 Catholicism’s war against all who did not obey her dictates was in full swing throughout central and western Europe. The deadly purge would eventually spread throughout other parts of the world and would include any and all who did not swear allegiance to Rome. To be continued. L.J.