PAPAL PERSECUTIONS

We come to a period when persecution, under the guise of Christianity, committed more enormities than ever disgraced the annals of paganism. Disregarding the maxims and the spirit of the Gospel, the papal Church, arming herself with the power of the sword, vexed the Church of God and wasted it for several centuries, a period most appropriately termed in history, the "dark ages."

 

The kings of the earth, gave their power to the "Beast," and submitted to be trodden on by the miserable vermin that often filled the papal chair, as in the case of Henry, emperor of Germany. The storm of papal persecution first burst upon the Waldenses in France.

 

Persecution of the Waldenses in France

Popery having brought various innovations into the Church, and overspread the Christian world with

darkness and superstition, some few, who plainly perceived the pernicious tendency of such errors,
determined to show the light of the Gospel in its real purity, and to disperse those clouds which artful priests had raised about it, in order to blind the people, and obscure its real brightness.

The principal among these was Berengarius, who, about the year 1000, boldly preached Gospel truths, according to their primitive purity. Many, from conviction, assented to his doctrine, and were, on that account, called Berengarians. Berengarius succeeded Peer Bruis, who preached at Toulouse, under the protection of an earl, named Hildephonsus; and the whole tenets of the reformers, with the reasons of their separation from the Church of Rome, were published in a book written by Bruis, under the title of "Antichrist."

By the year of Christ 1140, the number of the reformed was very great, and the probability of its increasing alarmed the pope, who wrote to several princes to banish them from their dominions, and employed many learned men to write against their doctrines.

In A.D. 1147, because of Henry of Toulouse, deemed their most eminent preacher, they were called

Henericians; and as they would not admit of any proofs relative to religion, but what could be deduced from the Scriptures themselves, the popish party gave them the name of apostolics. At length, Peter Waldo, or Valdo, a native of Lyons, eminent for his piety and learning, became a strenuous opposer of popery; and from him the reformed, at that time, received the appellation of Waldenses or Waldoys.

Pope Alexander III being informed by the bishop of Lyons of these transactions, excommunicated Waldo and his adherents, and commanded the bishop to exterminate them, if possible, from the face of the earth; hence began the papal persecutions against the Waldenses.

The proceedings of Waldo and the reformed, occasioned the first rise of the inquisitors; for Pope Innocent III authorized certain monks as inquisitors, to inquire for, and deliver over, the reformed to the secular power.

The process was short, as an accusation was deemed adequate to guilt, and a candid trial was never granted to the accused.

The pope, finding that these cruel means had not the intended effect, sent several learned monks to preach among the Waldenses, and to endeavor to argue them out of their opinions. Among these monks was one Dominic, who appeared extremely zealous in the cause of popery. This Dominic instituted an order, which, from him, was called the order of Dominican friars; and the members of this order have ever since been the principal inquisitors in the various inquisitions in the world. The power of the inquisitors was unlimited; they proceeded against whom they pleased, without any consideration of age, sex, or rank. Let the accusers be ever so infamous, the accusation was deemed valid; and even anonymous informations, sent by letter, were thought sufficient evidence.

 

To be rich was a crime equal to heresy; therefore many who had money were accused of heresy, or of being favorers of heretics, that they might be obliged to pay for their opinions. The dearest friends or deaest kindred could not, without danger, serve any one who was imprisoned on account

of religion. To convey to those who were confined, a little straw, or give them a cup of water, was called favoring of the heretics, and they were prosecuted accordingly. No lawyer dared to plead for his own brother, and their malice even extended beyond the grave; hence the bones of many were dug up and burnt, as examples to the living.

If a man on his deathbed was accused of being a follower of Waldo, his estates were confiscated, and the heir to them defrauded of his inheritance; and some were sent to the Holy Land, while
the Dominicans took possession of their houses and properties, and, when the owners returned, would often pretend not to know them.

These persecutions were continued for several centuries under different popes and other great dignitaries of the Catholic Church.

(Excerpt from Foxe's Book of Martyrs)

(To be continued)

Damascus, Syria and Isaiah 17

Does the Bible Predict God’s End-Times Destruction of Syria —and Is Prophecy About to Unfold Before Our Eyes?

[1] The burden against Damascus. "Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. [2] The cities of Aroer are forsaken; They will be for flocks Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. [3] The fortress also will cease from Ephraim, The kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Syria; They will be as the glory of the children of Israel," Says the LORD of hosts. [4] "In that day it shall come to pass That the glory of Jacob will wane, And the fatness of his flesh grow lean. [5] It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, And reaps the heads with his arm; It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain In the Valley of Rephaim. [6] Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, Like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, Four or five in its most fruitful branches," Says the LORD God of Israel. - Isa 17:1-6 NKJV

Bible prophecy speculators will tell you this passage refers to the modern State of Israel and Syria.  This prophecy has been fulfilled.  Please read the following:

From the Geneva Bible Marginal Notes concerning Isaiah 17:1-6

Isaiah 13:1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

The burden of Babylon is the great calamity which was prophesied to come on Babel, a grievous burden which they were not able to bear.  In these twelve chapters following he speaks of the plagues with which God would smite the strange nations (whom they knew) to declare that God chastised the Israelites as his children and these others as his enemies: and also that if God does not spare these who are ignorant, they must not think strange if he punishes them who have knowledge of his Law, and do not keep it.

The chief city of Syria.  It was a country of Syria by the river Arnon.  It seems that the prophet would comfort the Church in declaring the destruction of these two kings of Syria and Israel, when as they had conspired the overthrow of Judah.

The ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance with other nations: therefore he says that they will be brought down and the Syrians also.  Verse 4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of…Meaning of the ten tribes who boasted themselves of their nobility, prosperity, strength and multitude.

As the abundance of corn does not fear the harvest men that would cut it down: no more will the multitude of Israel make the enemies shrink, whom God will appoint to destroy them.

Verse 6 Yet gleaning grapes shall…Because God would have his covenant stable, he promises to reserve some of this people, and to bring them to repentance.

Revelation 9:1 - 3

[1] Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. [2] And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. [3] Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. - Rev 9:1-3 NKJV

The armies of locusts in Revelation 9 are Islamic armies out of the Arabian Desert.  They overran the civilized world and spread Islam far and wide. 

This ungodly doctrine was developed in 620 A.D. and is a blend of Christian heresies, Jewish  rabbinical stories from the Talmud and Arabian superstitions. 

Islam – Apollyon, a destroyer, for that is his business, his design, and employment, to which he diligently attends, in which he is very successful, and takes a horrid hellish pleasure; it is about this destroying work that he sends out his emissaries and armies to destroy the souls of men.

(To be continued)

The Temple Needs to be Rebuilt

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the subject of great controversy between the Jews and Muslims.  Many Jews want to see a temple to replace the one that was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.  However, there is a big obstacle in their way, and that is the Muslim Dome of the Rock that sits on that site.  The Muslims are not prepared to give it back to the Jews at any price.  Millions of Christians (futurists) believe that a temple will be rebuilt because it is a prerequisite for the rise of antichrist, the great tribulation, and the final battle of Armageddon.

Modern-day prophecy writers (prophecy speculators) insist that there will be a rapture of the church first.  After the pretribulational rapture their next prophetic event in their dispensational system is where Israel takes center stage.  This they say will set off a series of prophetic events leading up to the millennial reign of Christ, including the rebuilding of another temple in Jerusalem after the destruction of the "tribulation temple."  But it is in the future post-rapture "tribulation temple" that the antichrist is to take his seat (2 Thess. 2:4), place a statue of himself for people to worship (Matt. 24:15), and proclaim himself to be god (2 Thess. 2:4).

The futurists have failed to supply one verse from scripture that states that there will be another rebuilt temple.  The Old Testament clearly mentions that there was a decree to rebuild the post-exilic temple (2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; 5:6-17).  The foundation stone was laid (Ezra 3:10-12) and the temple was completed (6:13-18). 

Rebuilt temple advocates are forced to admit that "There are no Bible verses that say, "There is going to be a third temple."

In Randall Price's updated 700-page book on The Temple and Bible Prophecy still can't produce a verse from the New Testament that actually states that another temple is prophetically required to be rebuilt. 

Considering that there are two books (Ezra and Nehemiah) from the Old Testament devoted to the details of rebuilding the temple when the Jews returned from the Babylonian capitivity, one would think there would be at least one verse in the New Testament that says something about the rebuilding of a distant post-rapture temple.

If the temple is such a crucial piece of the end-time puzzle, why doesn't the New Testament say something about it?  The silence is deafening.

(From Gary DeMar - 10 Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered)

Rebuilt Temple

The Meaning of Ezekiel's Temple

The book of Ezekiel begins and ends with visions.  The opening visions are of God: 
"Now it came about in the thirteenth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God" (1:1).  The visions of God are as intricate and specific as the visions related to the temple in Ezekiel 40-48.  Any attempt to construct a physical representation of the visions of God would have missed the intended picture of glory found in the visions.  Ezekiel tells us that the visions of the temple were "like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar" (43-3c).  In Ezekiel 40-48, Ezekiel is shown a vision of the future in the form of a Temple and City.  Like the visions in the first chapter, the elements of these visions were not to be built.  The vision pictures the glories of the New Covenant that is realized n the person and work of Jesus Christ who is the ultimate manifestation of the temple, sanctuary, city, land, and people.  To be "in Christ" is to be in the temple, sanctuary, city, and land.  Just like the image of God is magnificent, so is the reality of the New Covenant in Christ.  Only Jesus could fulfill the reality of the sanctuary, temple, land and city.

And He said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.  And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, by setting their threshold by My threshold, and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them.  And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed.  So I have consumed them in My anger" (Ezek. 43:7-8).


Israel was to see Jesus as this temple and the fulfillment of the shadows of the Old Covenant: "When He said, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete.  But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready (lit. near) to disappear" (Heb. 8:13).  It was ready to disappear in the first century because of the person and work of Jesus.  The outward manifestation of the Old Covenant did soon disappear when the temple was torn down stone by stone in A.D. 70.  Paul M. Hoskins, writing in "Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Temple in the Gospel of John argues that the combined evidence from passages like John 1:14, 1:51, 2:13-22 and 4:20-24 "suggests that the coming of Jesus inaugurates a new phase in the relationship between God and his people.  In these verses, Jesus fulfills and surpasses prophecies and patterns associated with the Temple.  In doing so, Jesus appears to be the fulfillment of the Temple who has come to take its place."  In Ezekiel 47 we read about the water that was "flowing from under the threshold of the house" (47:1).  "Jesus alludes to the water flowing from Ezekiel's end-time temple in John 7:38 and interprets it of himself and of the Spirit in relation to believers, a passage that further develops the 'living water' theme of John 4."

Quoting Isiah 49:8, Paul writes, "And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain -- for He says, 'At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you'; behold, now is 'the acceptable time,' behold, now is 'the day of salvation'"
(2 Cor. 6:1-2).  The New Testament brings to a climax what was promised under the directives of the Old Covenant.  The New Testament, as promised, is the Old Covenant fulfilled.

(Gary DeMar - 10 Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered)