CHRISTIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS

William Sierichs, Jr.

*Words in [] are my inserts.

WILL THE REAL ATHEISTS PLEASE STAND UP

"... what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.." --- Paul on the true identity of the pagan gods, 1 Cor. 10:20-21, 1st century

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them." --- Paul on pagans’ "atheism," Rom. 1:18-23, 1st century

"We do proclaim ourselves atheists as regards those whom you call gods ..." --- Justin Martyr, "First Apology," 2nd century

"We cease worshipping your gods when we find out that they are non-existent." --- Tertullian, "Apology," 2nd century

"Three things are alleged against us: atheism, Thyestean feasts [cannibalism], Oedipodean intercourse [incest]." --- Athenagoras answering pagans, "A Plea for the Christians," 2nd century

"So the enemy of salvation concocted a more subtle conceit to violate the purity of faith. ‘Christ,’ he said, ‘is the lover of unity. Therefore, let there be unity.’ Those people who were already fawning on [Satan] and were deserted by God came to be called ‘Catholics’." --- Donatist Christian "Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus," 4th century

"If then they deny Scripture, they are at once aliens to their name [i.e., Christians], and may fitly be called of all men atheists, and Christ's enemies ..." --- Bishop Athanasius on Arian Christians, "Defence of the Nicene Definition," 4th century.; he calls Arians atheists repeatedly because they denied Jesus’ divinity

"Therefore their worship and deification is no part of religion, but the bringing in of godlessness [or "atheism"] and of all impiety, and a sign of a wide departure from the knowledge of the one true God, namely the Father of Christ. Since then this is thus proved, and the idolatry of the Greeks is shewn to be full of all ungodliness [or "atheism"], and that its introduction has been not for the good, but for the ruin of human life ..." --- Bishop Athanasius on pagans, "Against the Heathen," 4th century

"For the Jews too, when convicted by the Truth, and unable to confront it, used evasions ... they complained still according to their wont, and by calling [Jesus] Beelzebub, preferred the suspicion of Atheism, to a recantation of their wickedness." --- Bishop Athanasius, "Defence of the Nicene Definition," 4th century

"If, then, the Jews fail to know the Father, if they crucified the Son, if they thrust off the help of the Spirit, who should not make bold to declare plainly that the synagogue is a dwelling of demons. God is not worshipped there. Heaven forbid! From now on it remains a place of idolatry. ... Does not greater harm come from this place since the Jews themselves are demons. ... So the godlessness of the Jews and the pagans is on a par." --- Bishop John Chrysostom, "Discourses Against Judaizing Christians," 4th century

"But unbelievers and godless people who are opposed to Christianity may well think that the kingdom of Christ is also divided against itself, considering the various heresies and schisms ... The pagan enemy of Christ and the Jewish enemy of Christ are divided against each other - and both belong to the devil’s kingdom." --- Bishop Augustine, Sermon 71, 5th century

"... the godless adherents of the abominable heresy ... Later these atheists were transferred to a prison of maximum security and after languishing there for a long time died in their wickedness." -- Byzantine Princess Anna Comnena on Bogomil heretics, "The Alexiad," 12th century

"In Peter’s Fast, the godless Lithuanians came out against Pleskov ..." in Russia. --- The Novgorod Chronicle on pagans of Lithuania, entry for year 1212

"... again the most kind and merciful God, lover of men, preserved and protected us from the foreigners since they laboured in vain without the command of God. ..." --- The Novgorod Chronicle on Russian Orthodox Prince Alexander Nevsky’s defeat of Swedish Roman Catholic invaders, entry for year 1240

"The King of Krakow with a large force seized the country of Volynia by deceit, and did much injury to the Christians, and he converted the sacred churches to the Latin service hated of God." --- The Novgorod Chronicle on Roman Catholic ["Latinists"] crusaders’ invasion; the "Christians" here are Russian Orthodox; entry for year 1349

"For thus did God bring the pagan Tartars upon the land of Lithuania because of the pride of their [ruler]; for God had given Vitovt to the land of Lithuania as its [ruler], for the sins of the Christians. For [ruler] Vitovt had previously been a Christian, and his name was Alexander, but he renounced the Orthodox faith and Christianity, and adopted the Polish faith, [i.e., Roman Catholicism] and perverted the holy churches into service that is hateful to God." --- The Novgorod Chronicle, entry for year 1399

"The godless do this in imitation of the apostles, their disciples and many pious bishops and saints of a later day, who performed signs and wonders if they spoke only a few words from the Gospel. The godless also uttered these words with the intention of performing such miracles. ..." --- Martin Luther on Roman Catholics, "The Gospel of St. John," 16th century

People "observed, that such as be the followers of the said Quakers, are in their Opinions and Judgments, either Jesuiticall, forbearing and forbidding to read the Scripture, and hold it of no more esteem than Popish Tradition, or Athiesticall; denying the Trinity, the Humanity of Christ, his Ascension, the Resurrection of the Body, and the like." --- Anonymous 17th-century tract, "Quakers are Inchanters,"

"Certainly this suffices to show superabundantly by how many roads Modernism leads to the annihilation of all religion. The first step in this direction was taken by Protestantism; the second is made by Modernism; the next will plunge headlong into atheism. ..." --- Pope Pius X on "modernism," encyclical "Pascendi Dominici Gregis," Sept. 8, 1907

Abolitionism is "that hateful infidel pestilence." --- Episcopalian Bishop Stephen Elliott of Georgia, co-author of pastoral letter from the General Council of the Confederate Protestant Episcopal Church, Nov. 1, 1862

"... the fanatical, unholy, and atheistic crusade against God’s Word and ... the vital institutions of the South." --- Rev. Thomas Smyth, minister of Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S.C., praising the fall of Fort Sumter in 1861 and defending slavery; he elsewhere called the Declaration of Independence an atheistical document that encouraged the atheism of abolitionism

"Last of all, in this great struggle, we defend the cause of God and Religion. The Abolition spirit is undeniably atheistic. ... This spirit of atheism, which knows no God who tolerates evil, no Bible which sanctions law, and no conscience that can be bound by oaths and covenants, has selected us for its victims, and slavery for its issue. Its banner-cry rings out already upon the air ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’ ..." --- Rev. Benjamin Morgan Palmer, Nov. 29, 1860, sermon in New Orleans, La.

A Feb. 23, 1933, Associated Press article reports Hitler’s "campaign against the ‘godless movement’ and an appeal for Catholic support." It says that in a speech, Hitler had attacked communists for the spread of atheism. The article adds, "An appeal to Catholic nazis was printed Wednesday in Hitler’s Voelkischer Beobachter, assailing the Catholic centrist and populist parties. It recalled the papal encyclical of January 9, 1928, which admonished priests to serve the religious interests of the nation and not to affiliate with political parties. Hitler, himself, is a Catholic."

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

"But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough." --- Paul, 2 Cor. 11:3-6, 1st century

"Let those persons, therefore, who blaspheme the Creator, either by openly expressed words, such as the disciples of Marcion, or by a perversion of the sense {of Scripture}, as those of Valentinus and all the Gnostics falsely so called, be recognized as agents of Satan by all those who worship God; through whose agency Satan now, and not before, has been seen to speak against God, even Him who has prepared eternal fire for every kind of apostasy. ..." --- Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon, "Against the Heretics," 2nd century

"Their practices were rooted in the old Serpent who had already showed himself the enemy of the Christian Name. By deceitful fraud, he strove to lay hold of those he could not conquer by direct persecution. ... [But Satan could not deceive the Donatists] As much as he recently took pleasure in [Catholics’] weakness of faith, so now he rejoices in this fraud. He is even more secure when they are called ‘bishops’ or ‘Christians’ ..." --- North African Donatist "Sermon on the Passion of Saints Donatus and Advocatus," @320

"It is indeed true the agents of [Catholic Church] unity took many harsh measures... Impute them to your ancestors, who, as it is written in the prophet, ‘have themselves eaten sour grapes, that your teeth may be troubled.’ First {it should be imputed} to those who divided the people of God and formed unnecessary churches, then to Donatus of Carthage, who was the next to provoke an attempt to bring about unity ..." --- Bishop Optatus, Against the Donatists," 4th century

The Arian leader George "strove to strike terror into the minds of the people, and carried on a cruel persecution against the followers of Athanasius, and, moreover, imprisoned and maimed many men and women ..." --- Sozomen, "Ecclesiastical History," 5th century

"The devil, full of all envy and wickedness, the destroyer of mankind, unable to bear the sight of the Church sailing on with favourable winds, stirred up plans of evil counsel, eager to sink the vessel steered by the Creator and Lord of the Universe. ... In [Arius] the enemy of the truth found an instrument whereby to stir and agitate the angry waters of the Church ..." --- Theodoret, "Ecclesiastical History," 5th century

"Arius, who is unjustly suffering persecution from Bishop Alexander on account of the all-conquering truth for which you also struggle ...... For this bishop is haughtily banishing and persecuting us and working all kinds of evil against us, in order to chase us from the city as though we were atheists." --- Arius, quoted by Marius Victorinus in "Theological Treatises on the Trinity," 4th century

"So then he ordered the commander of the troops whom the King had sent with him, whose name was Sakellarios, to take them out to the ditch outside the southern gate, which was called the Beth Shemesh Gate, and he slaughtered them all in a single pool of blood. In number they were four hundred men." --- Monophysite Patriarch Dionysius of Tel-Mahre on Byzantine Emperor Maurice’s persecution of Monophysite Christians in Edessa in 599, quoted in "Chronicle of AD 1234"

"[Emperor] Alexius condemned the heretics out of hand: chorus and chorus-leader alike were to suffer death by burning. When the Bogomils had been hunted down ..." --- Byzantine Princess Anna Comnena, "The Alexiad," 12th century; the Bogomil leader, Basil, was burned; his followers died in prison

"As he heard this, Master Gervais at once realized that she was one of that most impious sect of Publicans, who at that time were everywhere being sought out and destroyed, especially by Philip, count of Flanders, who was harassing them pitilessly with righteous cruelty. ... yet [she] could be recalled from the stubborn course upon which she had embarked neither by the inducement of reason nor by the promise of riches, she was burned." --- Abbot Ralph of Cistercian monastery of Coggeshall, 1170s

After Western crusaders in Latvia defeat a pagan Lithuanian invasion, "It came to pass as often happens: when something good happens to a poor man, then the evil one becomes jealous and discontented. The Russians learned how Christianity was growing in the land and wanted to prevent this. It caused them heart-felt sorrow. So they gathered a great army and led it against the Christians." --- Anonymous, "Livonian Rhymed Chronicle," 13th century; the author was Roman Catholic; Russians were Orthodox Christians

"Bishop Herman of Dorpat began to quarrel with the Russians. They wanted to obstruct Christianity just as before, and their godlessness caused much harm. ... They took the castle by storm and let not a single Russian escape, killing or capturing all the defenders." --- Anonymous, "Livonian Rhymed Chronicle," 13th century

"Therefore heresy is a species of infidelity ...Therefore it is the worst of all sins. A disbeliever is punished for his sin of infidelity more severely than another sinner for any other sin ... Even as taking a vow is a matter of freewill yet keeping it is a matter of obligation ... And so heretics should be compelled to hold to the faith." --- Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologica," 13th C

"Also this yere the 28th day of Aprill was burnt in Smythfeld an old woman, abowte the age of 60 yere and mor, called Johan Bowghton, which was there burnt for many heresies to the number of 9 Articles of heresy. And never wold turne from the said heresies for noon exortacion, but in the said false and heronyous opynyons dyed." --- London chronicle, entries for April 28, 1494

"The wild boar out of the wood seeketh to exterminate and root up thy vineyard. ... false liars have risen up, bringing in sects of perdition, to their own speedy destruction; whose tongue is like fire, full of unquietness, and replenished with deadly poison ..." --- Pope Leo X condemning Luther’s writings in bull "Exsurge, Domine," June 15, 1520

"Thus then have we here proved by this first and manifest argument, that the aforesaid bull proceedeth from none other than very Antichrist himself, the chiefest adversary of God and of all godliness. ... Canst thou, O christian reader, now doubt that the great dragon of hell himself speaketh in this Bull ..." --- Luther’s response to Leo X, in John Foxe’s "Acts and Monuments," 16th century

Luther claims Catholic actions threaten to provoke a war or rebellion, in which all will perish. "... Thus in the end we will undertake a little pilgrimage together - they, the papists, into the abyss of hell to their god of lies and murder, whom they served with lies and murder; I to my Lord Jesus Christ, whom I served in truth and peace." --- Martin Luther, "Warning to his Dear German People," 16th century

"All Infidels are in law ‘perpetui inimici,’ perpetual enemies (for the law presumes not that they will be converted, that being ‘remote potentia’ (a remote possibility), for between them, as with the devils, whose subjects they be, and the Christians, there is perpetual hostility, and can be no peace ..." --- Lord Coke’s opinion in "Calvin’s Case," 1608, drawing upon centuries of Christian-based laws, legal thought

"... we abhor and detest all contrary religion and doctrine, but chiefly all kind of papistry in general and particular heads, even as they are now damned and confuted by the Word of God and Kirk [Church] of Scotland. But in special we detest and refuse the usurped authority of that Roman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of God ... And seeing that many are stirred up by Satan and that Roman Antichrist ..." --- Scottish Presbyterians’ "National Covenant," Feb. 27, 1638

"Whereas there is a cursed sect of haereticks lately risen up in the world, which are commonly called Quakers, who take upon them to be immediately sent of God ... seeking to turne the people from the faith, & gaine proselytes to theire pernicious wayes ..." --- Massachusetts Bay Colony law, Oct. 14, 1656

"... trover will lie for a negro boy, for they are heathens, and therefore a man may have property in them, and that the court without averment made, will take notice that they are heathens." --- Ruling of English court upholding enslavement of Africans, "Gelly v. Cleve," 1694; similar ruling in "Butts v. Penny," 1677

IT’S NOT JUST A CHRISTIAN IDEA, IT’S A CHRISTIAN LAW!

"If someone shall become Jew from Christian and shall be joined to sacrilegious assemblies after the venerable law had been established, we decreed that his property shall be vindicated to the fisc’s dominion once the accusation were proven." --- Law of Roman Emperor Constantius II, July 353

"The rest, however, whom We judge demented and insane, shall carry the infamy of heretical dogmas. ... they shall be smitten ... by the retribution of Our hostility ...." --- Law of Roman Co-Emperor Theodosius making Nicaea decree official state policy, condemning non-Nicaeans, February 380

"We interdict all persons of criminal pagan mind from the accursed immolation of victims, from damnable sacrifices, and from all other such practices that are prohibited ... [if] any person has mocked this law, he shall be punished with death." --- Law of Roman Co-Emperors Theodosius II, Valentinian, 435

"We determine that there should be no participation of a heretic, or even of those who practise the Jewish superstition, in testimonies [in lawsuits] against Orthodox litigants, whether one party to the trial is Orthodox or the other." --- Law of Roman Emperor Justinian; 531

"If anyone in contempt of the Christian faith should spurn the holy Lenten fast and eat meat, let him die ... If anyone follows pagan rites and causes the body of a dead man to be consumed by fire ... let him pay with his life. ... If there is anyone of the Saxon people lurking among them unbaptized, and if he scorns to come to baptism and wishes to absent himself and stay a pagan, let him die. ... On Sundays there are to be no assemblies or public gatherings ..." --- Frankish King Charlemagne’s "Capitulare Paderbrunnense" for pagan Saxons, 785

"If a temporal lord, required and instructed by the church, neglects to cleanse his territory of this heretical filth, he shall be bound with the bond of excommunication by the metropolitan and other bishops of the province. ..." --- Canon 3 of the Fourth Lateran Council, decreeing Albigensian Crusade, 1215

"Since the Lord has reserved tithes unto himself as a sign of his universal lordship, by a certain special title as it were, we decree, ... the payment of tithes shall precede the exaction of dues and rents ..." --- Canon 54 of the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215

"9) If a servant, against his lord's command, do servile work between sunset on Saturday evening and sunset on Sunday evening, he is to pay 80 ‘sceattas’ to his lord.

10) If a servant rides on his own business on that day, he is to pay six (shillings) to his lord, or be flogged.

11) If, however, a freeman (works) in the forbidden time, he is to be liable to his ‘healsfang’; and the man who discovers it is to have half the fine and half the (profit from the) work.

12) If a husband sacrifice to devils without his wife’s knowledge, he is to be liable to pay all his goods and 'healsfang'; if they both sacrifice to devils, they are to be liable to pay ‘healsfang’ and all their goods. [‘Devils’ means non-Christian gods.]

13) If a slave sacrifices to devils, he is to pay six shillings compensation or be flogged." --- Laws of King Ethelbert of Kent, England, 602; later English kings issued many similar decrees

"Common reason requireth every state & society of men to be more carefull of preventing ye dishonor & contempt of ye most high God (in whom we all consist) yon of any mortall princes & magistrates, it is therefore ordered & decreed, by ye Corte, for ye honor of ye eternall God, whom onely we worship & serve, that no person within ye jurisdiction, whether Christian or pagan [Indians], shall wittingly & willingly presume to blaspheme his holy name ... if any person ... shall break this lawe they shalbe put to death." --- Law of Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court Nov. 4, 1646

"2. That no man speake impiously or maliciously, against the holy and blessed Trinitie, or any of the three persons, that is to say, against God the Father, God the Son, and God the holy Ghost, or against the knowne Articles of the Christian faith, upon paine of death.

3. That no man blaspheme Gods holy name upon paine of death, or use unlawful oathes, taking the name of God in vaine, curse, or banne, upon paine of severe punishment for the first offence so committed, and for the second, to have a bodkin thrust through his tongue, and if he continue the blaspheming of Gods holy name, for the third time so offending, he shall ... receive censure of death for his offence.

5. No man shall speake any word, or do any act, which may tend to the derision, or despight of Gods holy word upon paine of death ..." --- Virginia Colony "Lawes, Divine, Morall and Martiall," 1610-1611

"At that time indeed the great council of Piotrkow [Poland] met under Our great predecessor and fellow citizen Gregory XIII [1572-1585] ... To the great glory of God it prohibited the principle of freedom of conscience; adherents of this principle were seeking to introduce and establish it in Poland." --- Pope Benedict XIV, encyclical "A Quo Primum," June 14, 1751

"... Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. ... This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs ...Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the priesthood. It is certain that that concord which always was favorable and beneficial for the sacred and the civil order is feared by the shameless lovers of liberty. ..." --- Pope Gregory XVI, encyclical, "Mirari Vos," on freedom of religion ("indifferentism"), Aug. 15, 1832

"Since, then, no one is allowed to be remiss in the service due to God, and since the chief duty of all men is to cling to religion in both its teaching and practice - not such religion as they may have a preference for, but the religion which God enjoins, and which certain and most clear marks show to be the only one true religion - it is a public crime to act as though there were no God. So, too, is it a sin for the State not to have care for religion ... All who rule, therefore, would hold in honor the holy name of God, and one of their chief duties must be to favor religion ..." --- Pope Leo XIII, encyclical "Immortale Dei," condemning freedom of religion, Nov. 1, 1885

"That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error. ..." --- Pope Pius X, encyclical "Vehemeter Nos," Feb. 11, 1906

A CRUSADE IS A CRUSADE IS A CRUSADE IS A CRUSADE

"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." --- Jesus, Matt 12:30

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." --- Jesus, Matt. 10:34

"Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?" --- Paul, 2 Cor. 6:14-15

"[Pagan] practices must be eradicated, Most Holy Emperors, utterly eradicated and abolished. All must be set aright by the severest laws of your edicts ... it is better for you to save them against their will than to let them follow their wishes into perdition." --- Christian writer Firmicus Maternus, "The Error of the Pagan Religions," 4th century

"The governor of Alexandria, and the commander-in-chief of the troops in Egypt, assisted Theophilus in demolishing the heathen temples. These were therefore razed to the ground, and the images of their gods molten into pots and other convenient utensils for the use of the Alexandrian church ..." --- Socrates Scholasticus, "Ecclesiastical History," 5th century

"We forbid anyone stricken with the madness of the impure Hellenes to teach, so as to prevent them, under the guise of teaching those who by misfortune happen to attend their classes, from in fact corrupting the souls ..." --- Roman Emperor Justinian banning teaching of philosophy, 6th century

The 6th-century Emperor Maurice "commanded Stephen, the bishop of Harran, to initiate a persecution of the pagans there. When this bishop received the order, he began to persecute them. Many became Christians; and as for those who refused, he would cut them in half with a sword and hang their sides along the streets of Harran. The governor of Harran at that time was a man called Acindynus; in name he was a Christian, but in secret a pagan. He was betrayed to the bishop by his scribe, a young person called Honorius and they impaled him on the tell in Harran." --- Monophysite Patriarch Dionysius, quoted in "Chronicle of AD 1234"

"... the temples of the idols among that people should on no account be destroyed. The idols are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves are to be aspersed with holy water, altars set up in them, and relics deposited there. For if these temples are well-built, they must be purified from the worship of demons and dedicated to the service of the true God. In this way, we hope that the people, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error ... And since they have a custom of sacrificing many oxen to demons, let some other solemnity be substituted in its place, such as a day of Dedication or the Festivals of the holy martyrs whose relics are enshrined there. ..." --- 601 letter from Pope Gregory to Bishop Augustine of England in Bede’s "Ecclesiastical History of the English People," 8th century

Charlemagne "decided to attack the treacherous and treaty-breaking tribe of the Saxons and to persist in this war until they were either defeated and forced to accept the Christian religion or entirely exterminated. ... Once the Saxons had been soundly beaten, their country laid waste, and their hostages received, the king returned to Gaul ..." --- "Royal Frankish Annals," entries for years 775, 795

St. Lebuin at Saxon meeting: "But if you are unwilling to accept God’s commands, a king has been prepared nearby who will invade your lands, spoil and lay them waste and sap your strength in war; he will lead you into exile, deprive you of your inheritance, slay you with the sword and hand over your possessions to whom he has a mind: and afterwards you will be slaves both to him and his successors." --- Biography of St. Lebuin, 8th C; he offered them God’s benefits if they converted

"We utterly forbid that for any reason whatsoever a truce should be made with these peoples, either for the sake of money or for the sake of tribute, until such a time as, by God's help, they shall be converted or wiped out. ..." --- St. Bernard of Clairvaux, supporting 1147 bull of Pope Eugenius III, "Divina dispensatione," authorizing war against pagans in northeastern Germany, Baltic States

Latvians are converted after brutal war. "Certainly, through the many wars that followed, the pagans were to be converted and, through the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments, they were to be told how they might attain to the true Peacemaker and eternal life. ... The church rejoiced in the tranquillity of peace and the whole people together praised the Lord, Who, after many wars, had at last converted the hearts of the pagans from idolatry to the worship of their God ..." --- Henry of Livonia, "Chronicle," 13th century

After crusaders besiege a pagan Baltic tribe, the Selones, they "secretly called together the leaders of their army and begged for peace. The Christians then said: ‘If you wish true peace, renounce idolatry and receive the true Peacemaker, who is Christ, into your camp; be baptized and, moreover, remove the enemies of Christ's name, the Lithuanians, from your fort.’ " --- Henry of Livonia, "Chronicle," 13th century

"Here they found in all the villages and places men, women, and children in their houses, and from morning to evening they killed those whom they found, both women and children, together with three hundred of the better men and leaders of that province, not counting innumerable others. ... Since it was Gaudete Sunday, all, without exception, joyfully blessed God, because, through new converts, the Lord had taken such vengeance, even on other nations." --- Henry of Livonia, describing typical raid against pagan Balts, "Chronicle." 13th century

IN THE SYNAGOGUES OF SATAN

"Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires." --- Jesus on Jews, John 8:43-44

"Although such beasts are unfit for work, they are fit for killing. And this is what happened to the Jews: while they were making themselves unfit for work, they grew fit for slaughter. ... [Rather than fasting, like Christians] these Jews are gathering choruses of effeminates and a great rubbish heap of harlots; they drag into the synagogue the whole theater, actors and all. For there is no difference between the theater and the synagogue. ... But the synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts." --- Bishop John Chrysostom, "Discourses Against Judaizing Christians," 4th century

"There is really no adequate cause for all this commotion, people being punished so severely for the burning of a building, and much less so, since a synagogue has been burned, an abode of unbelief, a house of impiety, a shelter of madness under the damnation of God Himself." --- Bishop Ambrose, to Emperor Theodosius protesting order that Christians must rebuild a synagogue they destroyed, 388; the order was canceled

Bishop (St.) Avitus ordered the Jews in Clermont-Ferrand, France, to convert or be expelled in the late 500s. "More than five hundred were baptized. Those who refused to accept baptism left the city and made their way to Marseilles." --- Gregory of Tours, "The History of the Franks," 6th century

In 582, "[Frankish] King Chilperic ordered a great number of Jews to be baptized. He went so far as to help some of them out of the baptismal pool himself. Washed clean as they were in a bodily sense, some of them were not cleansed in their hearts, and they clung to the beliefs to which they had always subscribed. They lied to God, for they still observed the Jewish Sabbath while appearing to honour the Lord's Day. [One Jew] Priscus in particular could not by any persuasion be induced to accept the truth. The King was furious and ordered him to be locked up, saying that if he would not believe of his own free will he should be compelled to listen and to believe despite himself." --- Gregory of Tours, "The History of the Franks," 6th century

"Therefore, because a cruel and astounding act of presumption should be extirpated by a still more cruel punishment, We declare, by the following edict: that, whenever it has been proved or shall be proved that a Christian ... has practiced circumcision, or any other Jewish rite (may God avert this!), he shall be put to an ignominious death by the zeal and cooperation of Catholics, under the most ingenious and excruciating tortures that can be inflicted, {that he may learn} how horrible and detestable that offence is ..." --- Visigothic law in Spain, mid-7th century; many Jews had been forcibly converted earlier

The Fourth Council of Toledo in Visigothic Spain issued Canon 60, ordering baptized children of Jews to be taken from their parents and brought up by Christians ... The Seventh Council of Toledo decreed that all Jewish children over the age of seven were to be taken and reared as Christians.

"Yet what advantage will it be to vanquish these enemies of our Christian Hope who live in distant countries, if blasphemers who are far worse than the Saracens, viz, the Jews - living not far off but in our very midst - so freely and boldly, and without any fear of punishment, blaspheme, abuse, and even defile Christ and all our Christian mysteries? I do not say this to sharpen the royal or the Christian sword to slay them. God does not wish this, but rather that they should be preserved like Cain, in a life that is worse than death." --- Clunaic Abbot Peter the Venerable, letter to King Louis VII of France, 1146, on the Second Crusade

"The minor children of the enslaved Jews [in the late 15th century in Portugal] were taken from their parents and sent to the island of Saint Thome." --- Alexandre Herculano, "History of the Origin and Establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal," 19th century

"In the early part of April 1497, orders were issued that throughout [Portugal] children under fourteen years of age of those Jews who had preferred exile to baptism should be taken from their parents and distributed through the various cities, towns, and villages, to persons who were to bring them up in the Christian belief." --- Alexandre Herculano, "History of the Origin and Establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal," 19th century

"It serves them right that, rejecting the truth of God, they have to believe instead such abominable, stupid, inane lies, and that instead of the beautiful face of the divine word, they have to look into the devil's black, dark, lying behind, and worship his stench." --- Martin Luther, "On the Jews and Their Lies," 16th century

"For such ruthless wrath of God is sufficient evidence that they assuredly have erred and gone astray. Even a child can comprehend this. For one dare not regard God as so cruel that he would punish his own people so long, so terribly, so unmercifully. ... Therefore this work of wrath is proof that the Jews, surely rejected by God, are no longer his people, and neither is he any longer their God." --- Martin Luther, "On the Jews and Their Lies," 16th century; it was Christians who inflicted so much suffering on Jews

"It is a wonderful thing ... to see this Jewish people existing so many years in perpetual misery, it being necessary as a proof of Jesus Christ, both that they should exist to prove Him, and that they should be miserable because they crucified Him; and though to be miserable and to exist are contradictory, they nevertheless still exist in spite of their misery." --- Blaise Pascal, "Thoughts," 17th century

Jews are "the only People upon the Earth, whose Principles lead them to abhor and persecute Christians. ... As Subjects to the Devil, they are in perpetual Hostility with Christ, so that there can be no Peace between them and Christians." --- William Romaine of England, "An Answer to a Pamphlet," 16th century

OOPS, YOUR PARANOIA IS SHOWING

"Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil ..." --- Paul, Eph. 6:11

"Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour." --- 1 Peter 5:8

"Since, therefore, all things were made by God, and since the devil has become the cause of apostasy to himself and others, justly does the Scripture always term those who remain in a state of apostasy 'sons of the devil' and 'angels of the wicked one.’ " --- Bishop Irenaeus, "Against the Heretics," 2nd century

"[The demons’] business is to corrupt mankind; thus the spirit of evil was from the very beginning bent upon man's destruction. The demons, therefore, inflict upon men’s bodies diseases and other bitter misfortunes, and upon the soul sudden and extraordinary outbursts of violence. ... [Demons cause crop diseases.] ... It is with the same mysterious power of infection that the breath of demons and {fallen} angels induces the corruption of the mind by foul passions, by dread derangements of the mind, or by savage lusts accompanied by manifold perversities." --- Tertullian, "Apology," 2nd century

"For everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is an antichrist; and whoever does not confess the witness of the Cross is of the devil; and whoever perverts the sayings of the Lord to his own evil desires and says there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that one is the first-born of Satan." --- Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna [possibly], letter "To the Philippians," 2nd century

"Many have believed [Marcion of Pontus] ... they are victimized by the demons and their atheistic teachings. These spirits whom we call demons strive for nothing else than to alienate men from God their Creator, and from Christ, His first-begotten." --- Justin Martyr, "First Apology," 2nd century

"Thereupon the Enemy, seeing his idols abandoned and his temples and haunts deserted by the ever growing numbers of the faithful, devised a fresh deceit, using the Christian name itself to mislead the unwary. He invented heresies and schisms so as to undermine the faith, to corrupt the truth, to sunder our unity. Those whom he has failed to keep in the blindness of their old ways he beguiles, and leads them up a new road of illusion." --- Bishop Cyprian, "The Unity of the Catholic Church," 3rd century

"It has indeed lately come to Our ears, not without afflicting Us with bitter sorrow, that in some parts of Northern Germany ... many persons of both sexes, unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the Catholic Faith, have abandoned themselves to devils, incubi and succubi, and by their incantations, spells, conjurations, and other accursed charms and crafts, enormities and horrid offences, have slain infants yet in the mother's womb [and committed many other misdeeds.] ... and at the instigation of the Enemy of Mankind they do not shrink from committing and perpetrating the foulest abominations and filthiest excesses to the deadly peril of their own souls, whereby they outrage the Divine Majesty and are a cause of scandal and danger to very many." --- Pope Innocent VIII, papal bull of Dec. 9, 1484, naming witch hunters

"The Pope is a old hoore, sittyng upon many waters, havyng a cuppe of poyson in his hande. Also that the Pope is Antecrist, and all Cardinalls, Archebisshoppes, Bisshoppis, Prests, and Religious men be the disciples of Antecrist. ... Also that the Churche of Rome is the Sinagoge of Sathan." --- Statement of Stephen Swallow of England, abjured heretic, July 3, 1489

"That is the chief doctrine of the Turkish faith in which all abominations, all errors, all devils are piled up in one heap. .... Thus when the spirit of lies had taken possession of Mohammed, and the devil had murdered men's souls with his Koran and had destroyed the faith of Christians, he had to go on and take the sword and set about to murder their bodies." --- Martin Luther, "On War Against the Turk," 16th century

"... so great a pestilent pleasure have some devilish people caught, with the labour, travail, coste, charge, peril, harm, and hurt of themselves, to seek the destruction of others. As the devil hath a deadly delight to beguile good people, and bring their souls into everlasting torment ... so do these heretics the devil’s disciples beset their whole pleasure and study to their own final damnation, in the training of simple souls to hell by their devilish heresies." --- Sir Thomas More on why heretics continue to produce banned books, "The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer," 16th century

"... To do aught good never will be our task, But ever to do ill our sole delight, As being the contrary to His high will, Whom we resist. ..." --- John Milton, speech of Satan, "Paradise Lost," 17th century

"A dayngerus Instrument of the Divell raysed up by Sathan amongst us to rayse up Divissions and Contentions ..." --- Statement of Brother Willson at trial of Anne Hutchinson in Boston, March 1638

Antinomians call the Puritan clergy "no better than Legall Preachers, Baals Priests, Popish Factors, Scribes, Pharisees, and Opposers of Christ himselfe." --- Account by Puritan leader John Winthrop, 17th C

The Massachusetts Bay Colony is divided into two groups, one under a Covenant of Grace, who are friends of Christ; the other under a Covenant of Works, "enemies to Christ, Herods, Pilates, Scribes, and Pharisees, yea, Antichrists." --- Antinomian leader John Wheelwright, sermon against Puritans, 17th century

"My end is, that the greatest Sons of Bloud (the Papists) may know, when ever (as the Saints in Queen Marie’s days confessed) ["Bloody Mary" Tudor] it shall please the jealous God for the sins of his Saints to turn the Wheels of his most deep and holy Providences, and to give the Power to the Paw of the Beast, against His Saints and Truths, for their last dreadfull slaughter ..." --- Roger Williams, "The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody," 1652

"In which course though you say you doe not remember an houre wherein the countenance of the Lord was darkned to you, yet be not deceived, it is no new thing with Satan to transforme himselfe into an Angell of light, and to cheare the soule with false peace, and with flashes of counterfeit consolation." --- Puritan leader John Cotton against Roger Williams, letter, 1643

"The tender Mother will own no other, of all her numerous brood, But such as stand at Christ's right hand, acquitted through his Blood. The pious Father had now much rather his graceless Son should ly In Hell with Devils, for all his evils, burning eternally." --- Puritan poet Michael Wigglesworth, "Day of Doom," 1662

Protestant Bible societies "... work by every means to have the holy Bible translated, or rather mistranslated, into the ordinary languages of every nation. There are good reasons for fear that ... they will produce a gospel of men, or what is worse, a gospel of the devil!" --- Pope Leo XII against Protestant Bible societies, encyclical "Ubi Primum," 1824

"God has given the Church the power and the right to take possession of the baptized children of infidels in order to protect in them the sanctity of what they have received, and to nourish them for eternal life. ... It would work against all notions of fairness and personal justice, against all natural and Divine right, if this son of grace were to be returned to the power of his infidel parents and thereby consigned to the next opportunity for his perversion and his death. Ah, yes! such unjust and cruel sentiments can be only in the hearts of those lacking in faith and charity!" --- Pope Pius IX rejecting appeal of the Jewish parents of Edgardo Mortara for Church officials to return their son, kidnapped after he supposedly was baptized Catholic, 1859

"Most people today do not realize what humanism really is and how it is destroying our culture, families, country - and one day, the entire world. Most of the evils in the world today can be traced to humanism, which has taken over our government, the UN, education, TV, and most of the other influential things in life. ... I believe there is yet time for us to defeat the humanists and reverse the moral decline in our country that has us on a collision course with Sodom and Gomorrah." --- Tim LaHaye, "The Battle for the Mind," 1980

"There will never be world peace until God's house and God's people are given their rightful place of leadership at the top of the world. How can there be peace when drunkards, drug dealers, communists, atheists, New Age worshipers of Satan, secular humanists, oppressive dictators, greedy moneychangers, revolutionary assassins, adulterers, and homosexuals are on top? Under their leadership the world will never, I repeat never, experience lasting peace." --- Pat Robertson, "The New World Order," 1991

Hindus live under "the power of Satan ... worship gods which are not God"; Baptists should "pray that the darkness and the power of Satan will be broken ..." --- Southern Baptist Convention booklet, October 1999

"REGARD THE BISHOP AS THE LORD HIMSELF"

"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." --- Paul, Rom. 13:1-2

"Plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself." --- Ignatius, letter "To the Ephesians," 1st-2nd centuries

"He that honoureth the bishop is honored of God; he that doeth aught without the knowledge of the bishop rendereth service to the devil." --- Ignatius, letter "To the Smyrnaeans," 1st-2nd centuries

"From these things it is clear how wisdom and religion are connected one with the other. Wisdom looks toward children; it exacts love. Religion looks toward slaves; it exacts fear. For just as the former ought to love and honor their father, so the latter should serve and fear their master (God). ... we ought to love Him because we are His children, and we ought to fear Him because we are His slaves." --- Bishop Lactantius, "The Divine Institutes," 4th century

"Does a man think he is with Christ when he acts in opposition to the bishops of Christ, when he cuts himself off from the society of His clergy and people? He is bearing arms against the Church, he is waging war upon God's institutions." --- Bishop Cyprian, "The Unity of the Catholic Church," 3rd century

"Let those who are able understand that it is rather the Catholic Church which suffers persecution through the pride and wickedness of the carnal-minded, and that it attempts to correct these through temporal penalties and fears. ... How many believe that it makes no difference to what section of Christianity a man belongs, and remain in the Donatist sect because they were born there and no one forced them to leave it and come over to the Catholic faith. For all these, the fear of the laws promulgated by temporal rulers who serve the Lord in fear has been so beneficial ..." --- Bishop Augustine, letter to Vincent, 5th century

"She caused a great deal of astonishment to many, for she emitted no sigh, not a tear, no groan, but endured all the agony of the conflagration steadfastly and eagerly, like a martyr of Christ. But for how different a cause from the Christian religion, for which they of the past were slaughtered by pagans. People of this wicked sect choose to die rather than be converted from error ..." --- Ralph, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Coggeshall, on burning of a heretic in the 12th century

"Among unbelievers there are some who have never received the faith, such as heathens and Jews. These are by no means to be compelled to the faith, for belief is voluntary. Nevertheless the faithful, if they are able, should compel them not to hinder the faith, whether by their blasphemies, or evil persuasions, or even open persecutions. It is for this reason that Christ's faithful often wage war on infidels, not indeed for the purpose of forcing them to believe, because even were they to conquer them and take [the infidels] captive, they should still leave them free to believe or not, but for the purpose of stopping them obstructing the faith of Christ. However there are other unbelievers who at one time accepted and professed the faith, such as heretics and apostates of all sorts, and these are to be submitted to physical compulsion that they should hold to what they once received and fulfil what they promised." --- Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologica," 13th century

For [conversion] to take place, I also wish ... to see the heathen subjugated and placed under the yoke of obedience to the Christians, so that we could imprint on them all that we desire. ... Nothing can be done with them if they are left at liberty, for they are brutish people." --- Jesuit Father Manoel da Nobrega on converting Indians in Brazil, letter, 1559

"An atheistical, infidel politician, that makes not these heavenly glorious things the ends of his policy, does set kings, and commonwealths, and laws as far below a Christian king, commonwealth, and law as earth is below heaven, and almost as a dog is below a man; and commit the highest treason almost that men are capable of committing, destroying (doctrinally) God's kingdom and men's, and setting up a malkin in the place; and indeed are intolerable in a Christian commonwealth." --- Richard Baxter, "A Holy Commonwealth, or Political Aphorisms," 1659

"Neverthelesse this hindreth not, but if they or any others should blaspheme the true God, and his true Religion, they ought to be severely punished; and no lesse doe they deserve, if they seduce from the truth to damnable Heresie or Idolatry." --- Puritan John Cotton, "Answer," to Roger Williams, 1644

"But this doth not hinder the Magistrate from that use of his coercive power, in matters commanded or forbidden in the first Table, no more than it doth hinder him from the like power in matters of the Second Table." The "Tables" are the Ten Commandments. The "first Table" includes the theocracy statements. --- New England Cambridge Synod, 1646

"First of all education belongs pre-eminently to the Church, by reason of a double title in the supernatural order, conferred exclusively upon her by God Himself; absolutely superior therefore to any other title in the natural order. ... Again it is the inalienable right as well as the indispensable duty of the Church, to watch over the entire education of her children, in all institutions, public or private, not merely in regard to the religious instruction there given, but in regard to every other branch of learning ..." --- Pope Pius XI, encyclical, "Rappresentanti in Terra," Dec. 31, 1929

"Instruction in the Catholic faith is a regular part of the curriculum in the elementary, technical, intermediate, and high schools and is taught in accordance with the principles of the Catholic church. It will be a special concern of religious instruction, as is the case with all other subjects, to inculcate a sense of patriotic, civic, and social duty in the spirit of Christian faith and morality. The syllabus and selection of text-books for religious instruction will be determined with the agreement of the church authorities. ..." --- 1933 concordat between Pius XI and Adolf Hitler

REPENT, FOR THE END IS NEAR

"The end of all things is near." --- 1 Peter 4:7

"These are the last times. Henceforth let us have reverence; let us fear the long suffering of God, lest it turn into a judgment against us." --- Ignatius, letter "To the Ephesians," 2nd century

"The Antichrist is to come when the termination of the Roman Empire and the end of the world are imminent. Ten kings of the Romans will rise up together, ruling in different places perhaps, but at the same time. Following these, an eleventh, the Antichrist ..." --- Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem, "Catechesis 15," 4th century

"I have already showed above that that change must take place when six thousand years have been completed and that that last day of the final conclusion is already approaching. ... the entire expectation or length of time left seems to be no greater than 200 years." --- Bishop Lactantius, "The Divine Institutes," 4th century

"Already the heavenly fire is a-borning, already the approach of divine punishment is manifest, already the doom of coming disaster is heralded. ... For after long ages, in the last reaches of time, that is, almost at the end of the week of the centuries ..." --- Firmicus Maternus, "The Error of Pagan Religions," 4th century

"We are moved particularly by the terrible fear of the approaching Judgment which urges us to increase our studies of religion, and by the deceitfulness of the new heretics which requires much careful attention. ..." --- Vincent of Lerins, "Commonitories," 5th century

"... the end of the present world is already close at hand, and the reign of the saints is coming, which can have no end. ." --- Pope Gregory I, letter to King Edilbert of England, 6th-7th century

"According to these calculations there are only 155 years to the year 7000, around which, the said authorities state, the world will come to an end." --- Christopher Columbus, letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, 1501

"The seventh thousand year, which is now dawning, will be the rising of the son of universal love again ..." --- Gerard Winstanley, leader of "Diggers" movement in England, "A New-Year’s Gift," 1650

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