“A Light That Is Lit „Cannot‟ Be Hid”: How the Atrocities of the „Reformation‟
Defined Modern Christianity and Why Most Hold No Real True Faith in God
“The „STONE‟ which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” – Psalms 118:22
For almost 2000 years, the Bible has remained the most controversial book in all of human
history. While today, we take for granted the some 24,000 different translations of the
Bible – there was a time when those who read the Book* did so in morbid fear for their
lives. Yet we know that the Bible – is the “only” authoritatively-inspired Word of God to
mankind and remains “the single, solitary light” through which mankind can past from the
darkness of a sin-cursed world into the marvellous light of a world tomorrow ruled by
Jesus Christ in utopia and eternal bliss.
It cannot be denied that 2000 years ago, the life and death of this Jewish carpenter
changed the world forever. He was murdered by His own people for laying claims to the
prophetic “Promise” of the Old Testament that He was indeed Yeshua Hamashiach („Jesus
The Messiah‟).
Following the crucifixion of Jesus, it can be said that the Bible remains the most blood-
soaked, blood-stained book since mankind sojourned upon the earth. The atrocities that
have been committed in its name and against its true followers are nothing short of
patently apocalyptic. Yet many of Christ‟s servants have sought to share the Good News of
the Gospel while others have sought their destruction and the “trampling underfoot” of
their faith as a mean to silence the work of righteousness and the advancement of truth.
Today, as the Scriptures speak even louder in an age of screaming, demonic voices set on
drumming out the voice of God and stymieing the move of the Spirit of Christ – we know
for a certainty, that Light which has been lit cannot be hid, neither does any man light a
candle and put it under the bed; rather, he puts it on the top of the house where it can
give light to the whole house. Yet somehow in a comatose world running on barely life-
support, men choose to walk in darkness instead of embracing the light of truth – calling
darkness, light and light, darkness!
Ominously, the Bible warned us as far back as the 1st century AD that these things would
happen. Paul had said that the Gospel had been made known to all nations in the then known
world (Romans 16:25-26) – but after his demise “grievous wolves” would come into the
Church and lead the sheep astray in as little as [3] years (Acts.20:31). And so it was! He
also warned of those who would “corrupt the Word of God” (2 Cor. 2:17) with what Peter
the Apostle called “damnable heresies” „where many would follow their own pernicious ways
and their “good” would be evilly spoken of…‟ (2 Pet.2:1-2). And again, so it was!
So The Word of God and His people entered – “THE DARK AGES” (538AD – 1798), aptly
named because the Bible was forbidden for common use by the common people – chained to
library walls because only the “priests” had the “divine” authority in such matters and they
alone could understand it!
Sadly, we face a similar time in our world today where such resurgent darkness encroaches
- not because of the forbidding of a Book but because of the abject denial of the
“AUTHOR” of the said Book – Jesus Christ! And as the Spirit of God is being withdrawn
from the earth, and the angels loose the [4] winds of strife - the hearts of men imagine
only evil continually as Satan gains greater dominance and momentum in the affairs of
mankind.
Like the epic days of Noah‟s generation, we believe that history has come full circle once
again where we are about to witness the “turning of the scroll”? And if so, what does that
mean for all humanity who now dwells upon the earth? What does that portend for the
prophecy in Daniel 2 of the great image? And who will stand?
Let us see what lessons can be gleaned from the Biblical and historical text! And can we
trust the Bible as the “Guiding Light” to get us safely through the darkness to that
peaceful shore?
After the resurrection of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD - medieval
history states that some 1.5 million souls perished between the reign of the Roman
emperors Nero, Domitian and Diocletian. A reign of terror deluged upon the people of God
set with intent upon their permanent extermination!
However by 313AD, what persecution, ostracism, exile and death could not accomplish –
assimilation was to accomplish under Emperor Constantine. Social commentators today are
calling this rapprochement – “The Borg Agenda” – a nebulous attempt at deception that is
subliminally inconspicuous to the senses far less to the naked eye but designed to bring
about deceptive compliance without the need for the gun.
Constantine claimed to have seen a vision of a flaming cross where a voice said – (“In this
sign, CONQUER”) - an insignia which would later adorn the vestiture of the Knights
Templar in their Crusades against infidels; a relic of the Roman Church; a modern
aesthetic jewellery symbol adorning the necks of Christian and pagan alike but most
importantly, a symbol of shame based on the words of Scripture – “CURSED IS ANYONE
WHO DIES ON A TREE!”
So in 313AD, the Edict of Milan was signed giving Christians protection from the tyranny
of the ecclesiastical state powers, however by 318AD another edict was issued stating
that those who would not come under the faith of the State would become enemies of the
State (with us or against us).
Interestingly, researcher David Hunt argues that “while Constantine headed the Christian
Church, he also headed the pagan priesthood” and so Christians honored him as Bishop of
bishops while Constantine called himself “Vicarius Christi” – Vicar of Christ (A Woman Rides
the Beast p.46)
This apostate union of church and state resulted in more Christians being persecuted
under Constantine than before he became a Christian. So after the death of the Emperor,
Roman bishops took up the title “Pontifex Maximus” and religious and spiritual sovereignty
moved from heaven to earth where like the Emperors before them – the bishops (Popes)
were now to be the “gods” on earth.
For the next 1000 years, the popes ruled the world as emperors before had done but with
one slight variation – all state sanctioned decisions were at the behest of the church
powers. So by the 13th century, Rome made every effort to snuff out the light of the
Gospel. This began with a Catholic priest called Dominic de Guzman (known as Saint
Dominic) in concert with Pope Innocent III who was to become the socio-religious engines
of terror known as The Inquisition.
Contrary to popular opinion, The Inquisition did not begin as a result of witchcraft and the
burning of witches or the Crusades against Muslims but as a direct result of the
persecution of true Christians known as the ALBIGENSES (named after the French city
of Albi) because in 1206 they made a confession that “the church of Rome was not the
spouse of Christ but the church of confusion, drunk with the blood of the martyrs… that
church of Rome was neither good nor holy, nor established by Jesus Christ.”
So at the Colloquy of Montreal in 1207, in a theological debate, Dominic Guzman was
defeated and humiliated by the Albigensian leader (Benoit de Termes) and in a fit of rage
Guzman swearing in the name of Christ threatened the Albigenses with slavery and death.
Guzman eventually formed The Order of Dominicans which was to become the unholy
instrument in the reign of terror during The Inquisition (the forerunners to the Society of
Jesus [The Jesuits Order]).
Two years later, Pope Innocent announced The Inquisition against the Albigenses
spearheaded by one Simon de Montfort, a close personal friend of Guzman and (a brutal
mass murderer) where it is said that “the Crusade of Simon de Montfort so utterly
destroyed them that… Simon stamped out not only a people but a literature…”
So by 1233, Pope Gregory 1X would institute The Inquisition as official church policy and
doctrine which would have sway for another 500 years as canon law over-ruled the “Law of
God”. Death becomes the order of the day. Bible-believing Christians were hung, drawn and
quartered; burned at the stake; fed to wild animals and done every evil imaginable for
translating, possessing, reading, carrying or distributing a BIBLE* in any form. This was
the legacy of “TRUE” Christianity! This was the price the “servants” of Jesus Christ paid
for their faith!
Historian David Cloud explains that “the light brought by the Scriptures made Rome‟s
heresies plain…The persecutions which Rome poured out upon these peace-loving people
were intended to destroy them as well as the Scriptures” (Rome and the Bible p. 65).
John Dowling in his book “The History of Romanism” p. 541, published in 1845 stated that
“it is estimated by careful and credible historians that more than 50 million of the human
family have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors.”
Yet the Church of Jesus Christ lived on!
The blood of the martyrs became the “seeds” sown in good ground which would bring forth
much fruit. The light could not be extinguished. So what persecution, carnage, genocide,
ethno-religious cleansing and murder could not accomplish – extirpation would succeed
through amalgamation, assimilation and absorption.
History has taught us to never forget the lessons of the past. Far too many are ignorant
of history (living in a vacuum) in an age where all the walls and boundaries are being
dismantled as “dark forces” work feverishly for the ultimate control of human minds and
hearts.
By the time the 16th century had rolled around, so much blood had been shed in the name
of Christ – a concatenation of events over a 1000 years had brought the world to an age of
protestation. With the demise of the Albigenses and the Waldenses – murdered for their
faith in Christ, a papal curse by Pope Lucius 111 was placed upon Peter Waldo (leader of the
Waldenses) and he was subsequently excommunication by Pope Alexander.
On the scene, Martin Luther because of his teachings was being accused by the Pope of
“only renewing the heresies of the Waldenses and the Albigenses which had been longed
condemned…” But before Luther could inflict the deadly wound upon the papacy – John
Wycliffe (“the morning-star of the Reformation”) was to be the first of the Reformers to
publish the Bible in English (a historical work worthy of personal study).
F. Tupper Saussy argues that “the term “PROTESTANT” was coined in 1529 to describe
the large number of princes and delegates of fourteen cities, largely German, who
protested Emperor Charles Habsburg‟s attempt to enforce the Edict of Worms. This edict
bound the Empire‟s three hundred princely states and free cities to Roman Catholicism.
The Protestants proposed a compromise formula – basically a statement of the Lutheran
faith – known as the Augsburg Confession. For fifteen years the Edict of Worms and the
Augsburg Confession kept Catholic and Protestant rulers in a Mexican standoff. Then, on
December 13, 1545, Paul III called both factions to the small German-speaking northern
Italian cathedral city of Trent. The promise was to resolve differences peacefully in an
ecumenical council.”
The Council of Trent had not been seated four months before it decreed that the books
and biblical translations of Luther, LeFevre, Zwingli, Calvin, and other “unapproved
persons” were “altogether forbidden [and] allowed to no one, since little advantage, but
much danger, generally arises from reading them.”
So while the Reformers in Europe were at a standoff - Wycliffe and his followers (known
as Lollards - English preachers of righteousness) equally suffered great adversity and
many were burned at the stake with copies of their Bibles hung around their necks.
Wycliffe had taught that “we ought to believe in the authority of no man unless he says
the words of God…that if any man in earth, either angel of heaven teacheth us contrary to
holy writ, we should flee from him as from the foul fiend of hell and hold us steadfastly to
the truth and freedom of the holy Gospel of Jesus Christ” (Wycliffe cited by David Cloud,
Rome and the Bible, p. 81).
One of Wycliffe‟s passionate followers Jan Huss, a Bohemian who opposed the church
vehemently was subsequently burned at the stake in 1415 – but before he died he spoke of
how God gave him a promise. His name Huss in the Czech language meant “goose”. God said
to him –“they will silence the goose, but in 100 years I will raise a swan from your ashes
that no one will be able to silence.” A century later, (partly inspired by the sermons of
Huss) Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses upon indulgences to the castle church door at
Wittenberg, Germany, as a final act that would launch The Great Reformation.
So the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was kept aflame by these sacred guardians who
refused even in the face of death to allow no earthly power to extinguish the fire that was
shut up in their bones. Wycliffe, Luther, Tyndale, Huss, Knox, Swingley, Jerome and
others were all priest who were defrocked by the church for taking the shield of faith and
the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:16, 17) and not fearing death or
any man did what God through the Scriptures demanded of them.
Today, the Spirit is saying - “I have set before you an open door that no man can close”
(Rev. 3:8), how will you respond?
