by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
It has been ten months since Linda's and my return from our trip to England in Nov. 2013. Before our travels there from where many of our own ancestors originally lived, we viewed the almost forty episodes of The Tudors, a rendering of the history of King Henry VIII, his break with Roman Catholicism, and formation of what evolved to be the Church of England and Anglicanism, which is the tradition in which we both worship today. We learned of the horrid history of "burnings at the stake" perpetrated against religious reformers, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and proponents of Henry VIII's brand of Catholicism. The persecutions became an equal opportunity effort by all branches of so-called "Christianity."
Our visit stimulated intensely my appetite to learn about the king's schism, the Protestant Reformation, and even earlier the history of the faint evolution of the light of Jesus beginning to shine forth brightly after the Dark Ages. Upon my return I found a long-ago acquired copy of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs and expanded my understanding of the roots of the Protestant Reformation and the challenges of bringing alive to the people the Bible in their own written languages and the person of Jesus Himself as a real Being, and not just some historical figure. John Foxe was an Englishman, who lived from 1516 to 1587, through the reigns of Henry VIII, Catholic Queen Mary, and Protestant Queen Elizabeth. In chapter 16 of the Gospel of St. Matthew Jesus was first acknowledged by Peter to be the Son of God and proposed that His (Jesus') church would not only be established and would come under intense attack, but would prevail.
Our Christian Church has indeed prevailed, but many of its adherents have suffered with their very lives for their beliefs, which perhaps could be termed in today's phraseology as not being "politically correct" at that time in history or under that religious/political state. Actual persecution of Christians began in the Roman Empire when the Emperor Nero set Rome afire and blamed it on Christians. Martyrdom of Christians began with Christ's crucifixion and continues today with the horrendous atrocities being perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The stories of horrific martyrdom of the early Christian missionaries would take up an entire volume all by itself. Foxe wrote that Jerome related the story of Apostle Andrew, Peter's brother. In 80 AD Andrew had preached the Gospel as far away as Ethiopia.
The story of Andrew, one of the first Christian martyrs, gives me, and should give all Christians, great heart and motivation in defense of our faith and beliefs. We have evolved today threatened in America only by secular society, atheists, "lone wolf" Islamic jihadists, and our own lack of dedication to the principles and precepts of our Christian faith, but so far are not subjected to beheadings and burnings at the stake. What our Christian brothers and sisters suffered up into the 1600s is unimaginable today.
The story of Andrew ended in Achaia in modern day Greece on the island originally popularized and populated by the Spartans. He was crucified by the region's governor, Aegeas. Andrew boldly spoke of Jesus to this Roman proconsul Aegeas. Andrew spoke of spiritual warfare when he spoke to Aegeas, saying:
"Andrew did plainly affirm that the princes of Rome did not understand the truth and that the Son of God, coming from Heaven into the world for man's sake, hath taught and declared how those idols, whom they so honored as gods, were not only not gods, but almost cruel devils, enemies to mankind, ...and so by the wicked service of the devil, they do fall headlong into all wickedness, and, after their departing, nothing remaineth unto them, but their evil deeds." (Foxe 8).
Obviously this was not taken well by the proconsul and it is no different today when we boldly proclaim the tenets of our faith in dedicated fashion. History is just new dates, but old bad people, and those who do not wish to be told of Jesus and what He came in to the world to change. On the way to his own crucifixion Andrew was calm, cool, and collected and is reported to have proclaimed, "O cross, most welcome and long looked for! with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously, I come to thee, being the scholar of Him which did hang on thee: because I have always been thy lover, and have coveted to embrace thee." (Foxe 9). (In a footnote Foxe writes that the accounts of the martrydoms of the apostles are mainly traditional). Andrew was buried at Patrae on the north part of the island. There were ten waves of persecutions of Christians through succeeding Roman Emperors until approximately 300 AD when Constantine came to power.
We are so comfortable to worship in freedom today in our land, but I became motivated to learn of the pioneers of our faith who gave their very lives to pave the way for us today.
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