BAPTISTS DURING THE DARK AGES
500 AD to 1700 AD
By
Elder Jerry Asberry
Mt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Re 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. This word admiration means amazement.
Ac 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. The Lord’s church never gets people in by force or threat, we are to be witnesses and the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit brings about the purposes of God.
The persecuted people had their irregularities and like Baptists today didn’t always agree on everything. If we were to write a history of Baptists today we can only imagine what would be included in explaining the conservatives, liberals, premils, postmils, midtribs, one cupers and variations on church policy and conduct especially we who are Independent Baptists, the world doesn’t understand us now and certainly would not if many of our enemies had written our history.
This period is sometimes referred to as he middle Ages or Medieval period. The Dark Ages refer to a period of time when most of the world was in intellectual stagnation. Simply put, people were kept in the dark by the religious intolerance of the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic church. This erring church wanted to keep people in superstition and ignorance and depend on the leaders to interpret scripture and religious teachings; anyone who could think for themselves was a threat to Catholicism. The only people who had individual rights were Catholics and their leaders. Civil government had become the bed fellows of the Catholic Church and the powers of the church and state were merged. This was the darkest of times for people whose only rule of faith and practice was the bible.
In order for us to describe this period, we need to give out some definitions:
Inquisition-The systematic pursuit of heresy or heretics and the punishment of heretics, a tribunal or Holy Office of the “Church” established for the purpose of exposing and punishing heretics. The Inquisition period was a time when the Roman Catholic Church intended to exterminate the true Christians.
THE INTERNAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE INQUISITION
Under this head, as all know now, the darkest
deeds, the most irresponsible tyranny and inhuman cruelties that ever blackened
the annals of mankind might be written; but lengthy details, however painfully
interesting, would be out of place in our "Short Papers;" so we will
content ourselves with a few brief statements and extracts. No tribunal, we may
safely affirm, so regardless of justice, humanity, and every sacred
relationship in life, ever existed in the dominions of heathenism or Mahometanism.
When a man was slightly suspected of heresy,
spies, called the Familiars of the Inquisition, were employed narrowly to watch
him, with the view of discovering the least possible excuse for handing him
over to the tribunal of the Holy Office. The man may have been a good Catholic,
for Llorente assures us that nine-tenths of the prisoners were true to the
Catholic faith; but, perhaps he was suspected of holding liberal opinions, or
he may have shown in conversation that he knew more of theology than the
illiterate monks, or differed with them on some point of doctrine. Any of these
things would be enough to create suspicion; for nothing was more to be dreaded
than new light or truth; he was now marked and denounced by the familiars.
At midnight a knock is heard, the suspected man
is ordered to accompany the messengers of the Holy Office. His wife and family
know what that means; their distress is great; they must now take a last
farewell of the beloved husband and the beloved father. Not a word of entreaty
or of remonstrance dare be breathed. Thus suddenly and unexpectedly this
frightful institution pounced upon its victims. A wife gave up their husbands,
husbands their wives, parents their children, and masters their servants,
without a question or murmur. Terror constituted the great element of its
power. No man, form the monarch to the slave, knew when the knock might come to
his door. An impenetrable secrecy characterized all the proceedings of this
institution. This feeling of insecurity and the workings of the imagination
lent their aid to exaggerate the fearful reality. Neither rank, nor age, nor
sex, afforded any defence against its watchful vigilance and its pitiless
severity.
The prisoner, the helpless victim, is now within
the gates of the Inquisition; and few who ever entered there left it absolved
and acquitted; not more, it is said, than one in a thousand. Certain forms were
gone through as to the question of the alleged guilt of the accused, but all
were a gross mockery of justice. "The court sat in profound secrecy; no
witness was confronted with the accused; who were the informers, what the
charges, except the vague charge of heresy, no one knew. The suspected heretic
was first summoned to declare on oath that he would speak the truth, the whole
truth, of all persons living or dead, with himself, or like himself on
suspicion of heresy, or Waldensianism. If he refused, he was cast into a
dungeon, the most dismal, the most foul, and the most noisome, in those dreary
ages. No falsehood was too false, no craft too crafty, no trick too base, for
this deliberate, systematic, moral torture which was to wring further
confession against himself, denunciation against others. It was the deliberate
object to break the spirit; the prisoner's food was to be slowly, gradually,
diminished till body and soul were prostrate. He was then to be left in
darkness, solitude, and silence." The next part of the procedure of the
Holy Office in these secret prisons was the application of bodily torture. The
helpless victim was charged with the culpable concealment and denial of the
truth. In vain did he affirm that he had answered every question fully and
honestly to the utmost extent of his knowledge; he was urged to confess if ever
he had entertained an evil thought in his heart against the church, or the Holy
Office or anything else they chose to name. No matter what answer he gave, he
was denounced as an obstinate heretic. After some hypocritical expressions as
to their love for his soul, and their sincere desire to deliver him from error,
that he might obtain salvation, a vast apparatus of torturing instruments were
shown to him; the rack must now be applied to make him confess his sin.
THE APPLICATION OF TORTURE
Were it not the truth and impartial history
demand that the real nature of the papacy should be told, we would much rather
not describe, even in the briefest way, those scenes of torture; but few of our
young readers in these peaceful times have any idea of the cruel character of
popery, and of its thirst for the blood of God's saints. And that nature, let
it be remembered, is unchanged. As late as 1820, when the Inquisition was
thrown open in Madrid by the orders of the Cortes, twenty-one prisoners were
found in it; not one of them knew the name of the city in which he was; some
had been confined for three years, some a longer period, and not one knew
perfectly the nature of the crime of which he was accused. One of these persons
was to have suffered death the following day by the Pendulum.
This method of torture is thus described. The
condemned is fastened in a groove, upon a table, on his back, suspended above
him is a pendulum, the edge of which is sharp, and it is so constructed as to
become longer with every movement. The victim sees this implement of
destruction swinging to and fro above him, and every moment the keen edge
approaches nearer and nearer; at length it cuts the skin of his face, and
gradually cuts through his head, until life is extinct." This was a
punishment of the Secret Tribunal in 1820. The penances and punishments to
which the accused were subjected, in order to obtain such a confession as the
inquisitors desired, were many and various; the rack was usually the first. The
naked arms, to which a small hard cord was fastened, were turned behind the
back, heavy weights were tied to the feet; and then the sufferer was drawn up
by the action of a pulley to the height of the place he was in. Having been
kept suspended for some time, he was suddenly let down with a jerk to within a
distance of the floor; this done several times, the joints of the arms were
dislocated, whilst the cord, by which he was suspended, cut through the skin
and flesh, and penetrated to the bone; and by means of the weights appended to
the feet, the whole frame was violently strained. This species of torture was
continued for an hour and sometimes longer, according to the pleasure of the
inquisitors present, and to what the strength of the sufferer seemed capable of
enduring. The torture by fire was equally painful. The prisoner being extended
on the floor, the soles of his feet were rubbed with lard, and placed near the
fire, until, writhing in agony, he was ready to confess what his tormentors
required. A second time the judges doomed their victims to the same torture, to
make them own the motives and intentions of their hearts for their confessed
conduct or sayings; and a third time, that they might reveal their accomplices
or abettors.
When cruelties failed to wring a confession,
artifices and snares were resorted to. Persons were sent into the dungeons,
pretending to be prisoners like themselves, who ventured to speak against the
Inquisition, but only with the view of ensnaring others that they might witness
against them. When the accused was held to be convicted, either by witnesses or
by his own forced confession, he was sentenced according to the heinousness of
his offence. It might be to death, to perpetual imprisonment, to the galleys,
or to flogging. Those sentenced to death by fire were allowed to accumulate,
that the sacrifice of a great number at once might produce a more striking and
terrible effect.
THE AUTO DE FE
The cruel death by which the Inquisition closed
the career of its victims was styled in Spain and Portugal as AUTO DE FE, or
"Act of Faith," being regarded as a religious ceremony of peculiar
solemnity; and to invest the act with greater sanctity, the cruel deed was
always done on the Lord's day. The innocent victims of this papal barbarity
were led forth in procession to the place of execution. They were dressed in
the most fantastic manner. On the caps and tunics of some were painted the
flame of hell, and dragons and demons fanning them to keep them brisk for the
heretics; and the Jesuits thundering in their ears that the fires before them
were nothing to the fires of hell which they would have to endure for ever. If
any brave heart attempted to say a word for the Lord, or in defence of the
truth for which he was about to suffer, his mouth was instantly gagged. The
condemned were then chained to stakes. Any of the persons confessing that he
was a true Catholic and wished to die in the Catholic faith, had the privilege
of being strangled before he was burned; but those who refused to claim the
privilege, were burnt alive, and reduced to ashes.
A quantity of furze, sometimes green, and pieces
of wood were laid around the bottom of the stakes and set on fire. Their
sufferings were indescribable. The lowest extremities of the body were
sometimes actually roasted before the flames reached the vital parts. And this
appalling spectacle was beheld by crowds of people of both sexes, and of all
ages, with transports of joy; so demoralized were the people by Romanism. For
upwards of four centuries the Auto de Fe was national holiday in Spain, which
its kings and queens, princes and princesses, witnessed in the pomp of royalty.
According to the calculations of Llorente,
compiled from the records of the Inquisition, it appears that from the year
1481 to 1808 this tribunal condemned, in Spain alone, upwards of three hundred
and forty one thousand persons. And if to this number be added all who suffered
in other countries, then under the dominion of Spain, what would the total
number be? Torquemada, on being made Inquisitor-general of Arragon in 1483,
burned alive, to signalize his promotion to the Holy Office, no less than two
thousand of the prisoners of the Inquisition. Sovereigns, princes, royal
ladies, learned men magistrates, prelates, ministers of state, were boldly and
fearlessly accused and tried by the Holy Office. But the Lord knows them
all--He knows the sufferers, He knows the persecutors, He knows how to reward
the one and how to judge the other. The dark deeds of those secret dungeons,
the pitiful wail of the helpless sufferers, the cruel mockings of the
unaccountable Dominicans, must all be revealed before that throne of inflexible
justice, of overwhelming purity. The pope and his college of cardinals, the
abbot and his fraternity of monks, the inquisitor-general and his gaolers,
tormentors, and executioners, must all appear before "the great white
throne"--the judgment seat of Christ. There we leave these wicked men,
thankful that we have not to judge them, and perfectly content with the Lord's
decisions. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
He who rebuked His disciples for entertaining
the thought of calling down fire on the Samaritans will judge them by His own
standard. He then placed on record what should have been a guide to His people
in all ages. He rebuked the disciples, and said, "Ye know not what manner
of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but
to save them" (Luke 9:55,56).
It may be necessary just to state here, that we
do not consider all who suffered by the Inquisition to be martyrs, or even Christians.
The Crimes of which the inquisitors took cognizance were heresy in all its
different forms; such as Judaism, Mahometanism, sorcery, polygamy, apostasy;
besides, we have not the privilege of knowing the final testimony of the
sufferers. It was quite different with the martyrs under the heathen emperors.
At the same time, it is impossible not to be strongly moved with horror as well
as compassion, in reading the histories of that dark and diabolical period.
FEMALE PENITENTS THREATENED WITH INQUISITION UNLESS THEY HAD SEX WITH THE PRIEST
In NEWS1675, we revealed that
riests threatened their female penitents in the confessional that, unless they
would have sex with them, they would turn them into the Inquisition! So
effective was this threat that one dying priest revealed in 1710, "by
these diabolical persuasions they were at our command, without fear of
revealing the secret." [Page 36, "MASTER-KEY TO POPERY",
Father Givens]
Since so few people today have been taught even the rudiments of history, most do not know what the Inquisition was REALLY and TRULY like. Most people today have no idea of the rampant barbarism and torture wreaked upon the unfortunate inhabitants of Europe for 1,200 years! Most people have no idea how the entire population was consumed by fear, for a knock on one's door in the middle of the night meant immediate beginning of a torturous death at the hands of the Inquisitors.
Accusation equaled Guilty.
Therefore, if a priest threatened a woman that he would lie about her to the officers of the "Holy" Inquisition, she knew the type of torture and death that awaited her. The priest would probably report the woman to the Inquisitors as a witch. As you shall see in a few moments, the Inquisitors treated alleged witches with special relish, glee, and attention.
In this treatise, we have attempted to walk a fine line between Christian modesty and a fervent desire that you should know the fullness of truth regarding the Inquisition. Since many of the victims were stripped nude and tortured publicly, or stripped nude and raped privately, we have had to weed out numerous drawings that depicted such nudity; however, we have included a couple of pictures which, even though they depict the nudity of the victim, do so in such a way as to not depict sexual body parts. We hope your sensibilities are not offended. If you think they might be, you may stop reading now.
DRAWINGS TELL THE STORY OF THE INQUISITION
Many of the victims were simply burned at the stake, as you
can see here. Such burnings were usually carried out in public, so the
population would see with their own eyes what happens to anyone who crosses
Rome. However, most of the people who were publicly burned were first privately
tortured. All over Europe, Kings and his subjects knew that the Pope's
torturers were absolutely the best; they could force "confessions"
through such skilled torture techniques that a King knew he could call upon
them if his own men could not get the confession. You see, confessions provided
the thin facade of responsibility; a King could show a confession from a victim
to the public to convince them that this torture and death was justified.
A secular historian -- John J. Robinson -- provides a unique glimpse into this dark, dank world of Papal torture and murder in the year, 1310. Writing in his book, "Born In Blood: The Lost Secrets of Masonry", Robinson reveals:
"Two years went by, and the Templars being questioned without torture confessed nothing, constantly reaffirming their innocence ... In response to a papal demand that torture be applied, [King] Edward replied that torture had never played a role in either ecclesiastic or secular jurisprudence in England, so that he didn't even have anyone in the kingdom who knew how to do it. Exasperated, [Pope] Clement V wrote, warning Edward that he must look to the fate of his own soul in thus flouting the direct orders of the vicar of Christ on earth, and saying that he would try just one more time, giving King Edward the benefit of the doubt. The pope was dispatching ten skilled torturers to England in the charge of two experienced Dominicans; now Edward would be out of excuses.... It says something of the Pope's resolve that he took time out of his holy office on Christmas Eve, 1310, to deal with the problem of the captive Templars. His Christmas gift to the people of England was the introduction into their legal system of interrogation by torture." [Page 148]
Even though
Emperor Constantine (321) began the policy of suppressing all people and
doctrine not in conformity to official dogma, most scholars place the beginning
of the official Inquisition to Pope Theodore I (642-649), who began the
practice of dipping his pen into consecrated wine before signing the death
warrants of heretics. ["The Magic of Obelisks", by
Peter Thomkins, p.
In he book, "Lives of the Popes", we learn that the "consecrated wine" by which Pope Theodore I signed these death warrants was Eucharistic wine [McBrien, P. 105].The Inquisition was started back in this period, and was aimed at the "heresies" of the Hermetic Philosophers, i.e., the Black Magick practitioners of Europe. In this picture, you can see the fear that the early Inquisition generated amongst the general population in the villages and cities; the officers of the Inquisition would march into the town, armed with the Papal Bull that authorized the top leader of the Papal forces that have entered the city. The top Vatican official would march to the city center square, and surrounded by heavily armed soldiers, would read the Papal declaration. Once the declaration from the Pope was read, the soldiers would begin to arrest the "heretics" -- defined as disagreeing with the Church of Rome. Roman dogma was the standard, not the pure Holy Bible.
Just as pagans have always done throughout every era, the Roman
Catholics utilized pain and torture for the sheer panic it spread among the
people. In this picture, we see a Catholic Bishop having his eyes put out for
some type of heresy of which he was accused and for which he would not repent.
Eye piercing was generally given to a learned person because their livelihood
and their passion was academic pursuit. After their eyes were put out, they
were usually destitute and could no longer influence people with their
"heresy" any longer. Truly, these terrified villagers discovered
firsthand that the yoke of Rome was horrible, heavy to be borne, and terribly
oppressive. The light yoke of the Savior seemed like a distant memory, lost in
the mists of many centuries, hidden by the veil of pagan Rome.
Once the "heretics" were arrested and gathered at the site
chosen for the public executions, sheer hysteria would grip the soldiers of the
Vatican as they began their slaughter. Occultists have no difficulty seeing the
heavy, pervasive influence of the demonic host sweeping through these soldiers.
Once they began to kill, they were suddenly seething with the sheer power of
demons. Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, writing of his personal observations during
the Communist slaughters in Russia and China wrote: "Revolutions do not
cause love to triumph. Rather, killing becomes a mania. In the Russian and
Chinese revolutions, after the Communists had murdered tens of millions of
innocents, they could not stop murdering, and brutally killed one another ...
Communism is collective demon possession." ["Marx & Satan",
by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, p. 107-108] Black Magick practitioners will tell
you that the entire 1,200 year period of the Inquisition represented the height
of demonic infestation in all of European history. The "Holy"
Inquisition was "collective demon possession", as you shall see after
examining the Catholic document which undergirded the entire 1,200 years of
murder. Stay with us, so you shall know the truth.The death told was
immeasurable:
"And so was inflicted on the south of France one of the ferocious massacres in history. Bands of northern brigands pillaged and plundered. In the Cathedral of Saint-Nazaire, twelve thousand 'heretics' were killed ... Those who tried to flee were cut down and butchered. Thousands more were burned at the stake. At Toulouse, Bishop Foulque put to death ten thousand people accused of heresy. At Beziers the entire population of more than twenty thousand was slaughtered. At Citeau, when asked how to distinguish Catholics from Catherists, the abbe replied with his famed cynicism: 'Kill them all; God will know his own'." [Thompkins, P. 58]
It is no secret why the soldiers of the Inquisition chose burning at the stake as one of their favorite methods of execution. Satan literally trembles with fear at the thought of his ultimate home in the Lake of Fire. During this time, he loves to burn as many people as they can at the stake. He truly loved burning Protestants at the stake, for this very reason.
During such annual sacrifices as the 13-Day Sacrifice to the Beast -- April 19 - May 1 -- their human sacrifices must be by fire, and must produce as much human terror as possible. A sacrifice to Lord Satan that is most pleasing contains the following elements, with each element exaggerated to the highest possible degree
1. Trauma, stress, and mental anguish, sheer terror
2. The final act in the drama should be destruction by a fire, preferably a conflagration.
3. People must die as human sacrifices.
After the slaughtering had begun, the Vatican decided the effort was
so worthwhile that it needed to be systematic, not dependent totally upon local
Catholic leaders. At this time, the Office of the
Inquisition was established. Not only did this office provide
central leadership to the slaughter, it was able to use the resources of the
Catholic Church to better train executioners and, most importantly of all, to
train carefully chosen sadistic men how to be the best torturers in the
world.While much of the killing was carried out in public, the torturing to
obtain "confessions" was accomplished in secret rooms, usually in a
dungeon within a church, specifically designed for torture. In this picture, we
can see a man hanging by ropes tied behind his back, while an Inquisition
official was preparing to torture a prisoner through the use of a hot tong that
he would soon shove up the man's toenails. In the middle, a prisoner is on a
stretcher that is being pulled by ropes and pulleys into a vertical hanging
position, in which he would remain for hours, and vulnerable to all sorts of
tortures through violence done to the ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. From this
position, as well as in the hanging you see in the upper left, a person's joints
could easily be pulled out of joint, producing excruciating pain.
As we stated earlier, accusation of a crime equaled being guilty. No
condemned person ever won their case, ever beat the charge and walked free. You
can see this poor accused man before the priests conducting the show trial. The
crucifix to which the friar is pointing is hanging to the right of the accused,
as these men thought their torturous activities were really serving and
advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Well did Jesus speak of these men when He said: "... the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." [John 16:2]
This prophecy describes the entire Roman Catholic Inquisition perfectly! For 1,200 years, hundreds of thousands of loyal Catholics tortured and slaughtered tens of millions of "heretics", thinking they were serving the Savior by obeying the cruel dictates of the Pope. They really thought they were "doing God a service".
Then, Jesus tells us why these men could do such terrible things to believers in the name of God.
"And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." [John 16:3]
There you have it, from the lips of the Savior; these poor deluded Catholics carried out these horrible tortures in full view of the Crucifix because neither they, nor the Bishops, Cardinals, and Pope knew Jesus Christ! They were the counterfeit Christians of which Jesus spoke: "... having two horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon". [Revelation 13:11]
Counterfeit Christians!
In this picture,
you see a most common form of torture. This poor man has been bound with a
tight broad cord around his neck and his waist, both of which are fastened to a
small board resembling a door. Then, the man's feet have been placed in stocks,
with the soles facing a very hot bowl of burning charcoal. This doomed man is
going to be tortured with fire to his feet while his neck is going to be
increasingly constricted by the band attached to the door.
The terrified expression on his face tells the full story, don't you think? Remember, in Witchcraft, greater occult power flows to the perpetrators of the Satanic sacrifice if the victim suffers horribly. Thus, a witch sacrificing the victim will go to great lengths to visit maximum pain to the victim as the victim is slowing dying from torture. All this hatred and all this planned torture makes a great deal of sense once you understand this principle of Witchcraft.
THE TORTURE GETS MORE SOPHISTICATED
As the Inquisition rolled along, another demonic spirit swept
through the Church and the people carrying out the Inquisition. This spirit was
a spirit of absolute, diabolical hatred of mankind, accompanied by a
corresponding love of torture. If you look closely, you can see some wealthy
people sitting on the other side of the plate glass window, looking at this
poor man being tortured, as if they were watching an opera! Women as well as
men were watching this poor man slowly die as he rotated on this very sharp
point.
The man is suspended with these many ropes so he can be rotated on that exceedingly sharp point sticking into his anus. The pain was incalculable and quickly unbearable. We have other pictures of women being suspended on this same type of sharp point, which is sticking into her female organ!
In the Inquisition, pain inflicted on sexual organs was
very prevalent, another clear sign of the sexual obsession brought on by the
perversions of celibacy. This type of sexual perversion has occurred in every
Mysteries Religions in all of history: the Babylonian Satanic Mysteries,
Egyptian Mysteries, the Greek Mysteries, and the Mysteries of Imperial Rome.
Celibate Catholic priests were just the latest to feel the scourge of sexual
perversion brought on by celibacy.
WOMEN FELT A SPECIAL FEAR OF THE INQUISITION
If a woman was accused of being a witch, she was in for very special
torture from this sex-starved clergy. As you will discover when you read "The
Malleus Maleficarium", women were specially targeted for
persecution as potential, or suspected, witches. If a woman was merely thrown
off a high place, as we see here, she could count herself fortunate to die a
quick and relatively painless death. As we shall demonstrate, a demonic spirit
of sexual obsession and deviant lust blew through this entire Inquisition after
the introduction of "The Malleus Maleficarium"; Pope
Innocent III issued the Papal Bull on December 5, 1484, that established this
document as the standard by which the Inquisition was to be conducted. Celibacy
had been in existence at this point for 361 years, enough time for priests to
be truly sexually deviant.
This sexual obsession quickly grew to the point where a woman lived in fear that one day, out of the blue, she would be accused by some nameless wretch of being a witch; since accusation equaled guilt, that woman could expect a slow, torturous death at the hands of sexually deviant celibate priests. This statement is historic fact, and we shall prove it, through the official document of the Roman Catholic "Holy" Inquisition, "The Malleus Maleficarium".
We have declined to put in most of the pictures we have depicting
women of this era being sexually abused, and scorned during the time of the
Inquisition, simply because we do not want to show sexual body parts on this
website; however, this picture does demonstrate the fact that women were
sexually abused during the Inquisition, without being so visually graphic.
Here, you see a condemned woman, accused of being a witch, stripped naked and forced to crawl in front of the leering crowd to a crate where she will be placed and then hung up off the ground for all to see. Catholic priests believed that a witch lost her powers when she was suspended off the ground; therefore, when Soldiers of the Inquisition arrested a woman accused of being a witch, they would pull her physically off the ground and carry her to the dungeon of confinement. This drawing captures the essence of this ridiculous belief.
One of the most
heinous of all torture devices used against women in the Inquisition were these
"Witch-prickers", pictured here. As you can see, these are really
knives. "The Malleus Maleficarium" declared that
witches have a "Devil's Mark" somewhere on their body. This required
the priestly investigator to indulge himself in carrying out closer scrutiny by
stripping the poor woman totally naked and giving her a close inspection. This
inspection was often carried out amidst a crowd of men who were merely acting
as voyeurs, but ostensibly "forced" to witness this "inspection"
because of their religious duty!
"To increase the number of hits [stab wounds], the subtle notion was concocted that the devil's mark left a spot insensible to pain, only discernible by an inspector probing with a sharp prick [one of these knives]. Thus was raised a whole guild of 'witch-prickers' paid only when they discovered a witch, which in turn led to the 'foolproof' system of using an auxiliary retractable prick. The official 'pricker', having painfully, and visibly, drawn blood from several spots on a naked victim, would painlessly plunge the substitute bodkin [knife] to the hilt, astounding the crowd, and ensuring his fee for a witch delivered to trial." [Thomkins, p. 391]
In other words, this retractable knife would not penetrate the skin when it was forcefully thrust upon the woman, but would retract into the handle as it was designed to do. But, the crowd would not know this, and would believe that the reason the woman did not scream, and did not pour forth blood even though she had just been stabbed, was because she was a witch.
These "witch-prickers" looked for other "Devil's Marks" on the woman's body as well.
"According to the Church, somewhere on the body of a female witch, the devil left his mark, the obvious of which was a supernumerary nipple -- 'sure sign' of dedication to the many-breasted goddess Diana, queen of the witches. And, as the modern medical profession estimates that three out of a hundred have such vestiges, the chances of 'netting' a witch were considerable. [NOTE: the dictionary defines "supernumerary" as having more than the standard; therefore, a woman with more than one nipple has a "supernumerary nipple"]
Certainly, celibate, "chaste" priests would be very interested in examining 100 women to find the three who had a "supernumerary nipple"! But, the "witch-prickers" would stab each and every one of these "Devil's Marks" with one of these "prickers", these nasty looking knives. Since the entire episode was conducted by a celibate, "chaste" priest, they would get mightily sexually aroused by "examining" women in this manner. Thus, you can understand the next revelation from Thomkins."... there was that depraved compulsion, described by Wilhelm Reich as the 'emotional plague', whereby a pox of sexually malfunctioning 'armored' individuals, unable to enjoy the pleasure of natural lovemaking, set about relieving their pent-up sexuality through ripping, tearing, and burning the very flesh they could neither kiss, caress, nor inflame with pleasure." [Ibid.]
Thus, Celibacy -- the "doctrine that demons teach" -- invaded and took over a huge part of the "Holy" Inquisition. Satan found it easy to invade the Catholic Church this mightily, for he had been moving them into the practice of witchcraft since 321 AD, when Constantine asserted his rule over the church. By the time this period of the Inquisition began, the Church had been separated from the True Vine -- Jesus -- for 800 years.
Therefore, the standing timber was very dry, susceptible to the fires from Hell that Satan blew, using the Inquisition. A Black Magic practitioner will tell you that the demonic spirit from the sexual demon, Larz, and his demonic host, virtually took over the Inquisition with their sexual lust and obsessions, a take-over made extremely easy by the imposition of celibacy. Priests became murderers, rapists, and sexual voyeurs. As many as 75 million people paid the ultimate price, while many millions more were intimidated, tortured, and forced into having sex by a priest wielding this terrible weapon at the woman with whom he was trying to get into bed!
ANOTHER FAVORITE TERM. Heretic-religious opinion opposed to the doctrine of any established church or religious group, the term becomes relative to who is calling one a heretic. The true meaning is any teaching opposed to the bible. The name heretic may even be considered a compliment as we observe who is doing the name calling. It would be good for us to say here that a person may be in error and not be a heretic.
How do we identify Baptists during the dark ages? We identify them primarily by the recorded persecutions and names given to them by their persecutors. We can’t find a lot of specific records going into the dark ages but we can find much concerning the latter years because the horror of the persecutions were beginning to be recognized for what they really were, great and terrible slaughters against those who would believe the bible only and would not surrender to man made doctrines. ILLUSTRATIONS: we do not have to go to the Garden of Eden to know what a real sheep is, we can tell by their characteristics, size, shape, wool, voice, etc. If you see a Yellow Freight truck go into the tunnel on I-77 between Virginia and West Virginia you do not have to go all the way through the tunnel with it to recognize it as a Yellow Freight truck when it comes out. We don’t find really good records for these old Ana-baptists all the way through the dark ages but can identify them by the persecutors and persecutions. Those who protested or resisted the Catholic church were often labeled as protestants even before Luther nailed his 95 thesis on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany and officially started the protestant reformation. All through the dark ages the names of Henricans, Paulicians, Waldenses, Albigenses, Paterines, Bogomils, Separatists, and Ana-baptists.
Excerpts from Anabaptist
Historical Sources
on the Waldensians and related movements
I. From The
Swiss Anabaptists: A brief summary of their History and Beliefs, [Main author, Clair R. Weaver],
Eastern Mennonite Publications, 1990.
From Chap. 1, part II:
The Rise of Dissenting Voices
". . . The need for a true church became evident to the faithful in these
dark days. . . There was a rise of dissenting voices which resulted in numerous
dissenting groups. . . Some eventually abandoned their teachings because
of bitter persecution and because of dispersion into different countries.
However, their teachings were similar on four important points of
doctrine: (1) Wars of all kinds are to be abolished among Christians. (2)
Baptism was to be administered upon adults [by conscious choice only, and not
for infants,] on confession of faith. (3) Oaths of all kinds are prohibited. .
. . (4) Nonconformity to the world and its vain and fleeting fashions is a
characteristic of the true Christian.
. . . These ancient confessions of faith show us that the beliefs of the
Anabaptists in Reformation times were not a new doctrine, but were
rather a continuing link in the chain of faithful, peasant believers, whose
light was never extinguished, during the 'Dark Ages.'"[My emphasis]
The Waldensian church -- A Beacon in the Dark Ages
". . . Peter Waldo . . . is sometimes thought to have founded the
Waldensian church. . . In 1180, he helped to form a church . . . He
abandoned his merchant vocation, dispersed all his material goods to the poor,
and assumed the role of a public teacher. . . He was bitterly opposed by the
authorities of his day, but this only served to multiply the number of his
followers. The first established churches were in France. Later
churches were established in Lombardy [Northern Italy, on the south side of the
Alps], and from there, they spread to every province of Europe."
[A list follows of their beliefs and doctrines. An excerpt:]
". . . They adopted, as the code of their moral discipline, the Sermon of
Christ on the Mount, which they interpreted and explained in the most rigorous
and literal manner, and of consequence prohibiting and condemning in their
society all wars, and suits of law, all attempts to the acquisition of wealth,
the infliction of capital punishments, self-defense against unjust violence,
and oaths of all kinds."
* * * * * *
"It seems evident that the Waldensian church was a continuation of the 'peasant' religions of previous times and was not founded by Peter Waldo. Rather, he and his immediate followers joined them and became revitalizing leaders." [My emphasis]
II. From Annals of the Pioneer Swiss and Palatine Mennonites of
Lancaster County, and other Early Germans of Eastern Pennsylvania, by H.
Frank Eshleman.
"Switzerland has passed through centuries of bloodshed, civil convulsion,
war and religious persecution. Before Christ, Caesar fought the Helvetian
War, partly on its soil. The objects were conquest and empire. The
Romans held it four centuries; then the Allemani, in the German invasion, took
possession; and in turn the Franks overthrew the Allemani . . . "
"We will not vouch for the truth of the statement . . . [but] Ezra E. Eby,
. . . author of The Eby Family, states that the Ebys lived in Italy
known as the Ebees and were heathen until the Waldenses in the 12th
century or later brought them into Christianity. The Ebys were supposed
to have come into Switzerland during the 11th century."
"[The Waldensians] early reached Northern Italy and the border of
Switzerland. . . The Waldensean doctrine was spreading rapidly.
And by 1199 one of their enemies said a thousand cities were filled with
them. They filled Southwestern Europe, England, Germany, Hungary, and
Northern Italy. Jacob Mehring says these people who did not believe in
infant baptism, transubstantiation, force, war, or political affairs were
contemptuously called Anabaptists, Waldenses, Berengarians, . . . etc. As
far as the German, Swiss and Dutch are concerned, the 12th century ended with
the expulsion of many of these Waldesian [sic] Christians from Metz and the
burning of their books, which books they had translated from Latin into their
native language."
". . . We may notice that persecution about 1212 began to rage in Holland;
and at that time 108 Waldenses were burned to death at Strasbourg, Germany; 39
at Bingen and 18 at Metz."
"Müller tells us that in 1212 in and about Strasbourg, Germany there were
more than 500 of these Waldenses . . . and that they were made up of Swiss,
Italians, Germans and Bohemians. . . By 1250, there was scarcely a land
where the Waldensean sect had not found its way; and everywhere, they were
known by their plain dress, moral life, their temperate living and their
refusal to take part in government and oaths . . . "
"In the year 1277 in Berne [Switzerland], the opponents of the Catholics
from Schwarzenburg . . . were brought before the Dominican Humbert and the
inquisition plied against them; whereupon many of them were burned."
"Bracht says that about 1305, the light of the evangelical doctrine began
to arise on the Alps, through a pious man and his wife who had accepted the
Waldensian faith. Many followed his teaching but in 1308 he and his wife
were torn limb from limb and 140 of his followers burnt alive. . . "
"From the year 1382 to the year 1393 Muller tells us that by order of Pope
Clement VII the Minorite Franz Borell burned about a hundred of these Waldenses,
or antecedents of the Mennonites, round about Lake Geneva in Switzerland on
account of their religion, the papal church declaring them heretics worthy of
death."
The Anabaptists
By Norman H. Wells
It is an established fact of history that as far back as the fourth century those refusing to go into the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and refusing to accept the baptism of those baptized in infancy, and refusing to accept the doctrine of "baptismal regeneration" and demanding rebaptism for all those who came to them from the Hierarchy were called "Anabaptists" — rebaptizers.
A. For the first century or so, nearly all the churches remained comparatively pure in doctrine and practice.
1. With the growth of error concerning church government, doctrine, ordinances, etc., there came a widening of the separation between those churches departing into error and those remaining loyal.
2. Those churches that remained loyal were called ''Anabaptists'' from the very beginning.
3. One of the first great errors to divide the churches was ''baptismal regeneration" and "infant baptism."
B. As all the groups who bore many different names held true to "believers baptism" they were all called Anabaptists. The Montanists, Novatians, Donatists, Paulicans, Henricans and Arnoldists were all Anabaptists.
C Near the beginning of the 16th century, the ''Ana'' was dropped, and the name shortened to simply "Baptist," and gradually all other names were dropped.
D. No definite beginning can be ascribed to the Baptists of today this side of Christ Himself.
1. First, all churches were true New Testament churches believing and practicing the doctrines held by Baptists today.
. For centuries the loyal, true, New Testament churches were called by many different names and were always classified "Anabaptist."
3. The Baptists of today are a continuation of this line.
The Character of the Anabaptists
A. Never in any age, did the Anabaptists form any hierarchy that bound their churches together.
1. No one leader ever spoke for all of them.
2. In every age they remained free, independent churches governed by the rules of democracy.
B. Not all the churches that were called Anabaptist remained true to the New Testament. Each age and each locality had its deflections and errors but it is marvelous to see how the truth was preserved through these churches.
C With no connecting link of communication and with no history to go by, these churches scattered all over the world and in every age all fit into the same pattern of doctrine and practice.
1. All this was accomplished without any centralization of authority, establishment of hierarchy, etc.
2. This is the miracle of the fulfillment of God's promise, "the gates of hell shall not prevail."
The Persecution of the Anabaptists
A. The Anabaptists were always hated and despised by those who sought to bring about the establishing of error.
B. During the 1,200 years of the "dark ages" it is stated that fifty million died of the terrible persecution. The great majority of these were Anabaptists.
C. During this period it is recorded that along one single European highway, thirty miles distance, stakes were set up every few feet along this highway, the tops of the stakes sharpened, and on the top of each was placed the gory head of a martyred Anabaptist! End NHWell quote
Let us notice some instances at various times in history, these persecuted people existed because they continued steadfast.
"I the year of our Lord 1539 two Ana-Baptists were burned beyond Southwark, and a little before them 5 Dutch Ana-Baptists were burned in Smithfield," (Fuller, Church History.)
In 1160 a company of Paulicians (Baptists) entered Oxford. Henry II ordered them to be branded on the forehead with hot irons, publicly whipped them through the streets of the city, to have their garments cut short at the girdles, and be turned into the open country. The villages were not to afford them any shelter or food and they perished a lingering death from cold and hunger." (Moore, Earlier and Later Nonconformity in Oxford, p. 12.)
The old Chronicler Stowe, A.D. 1533, relates: "The 25th of May--in St. Paul's Church, London--examined 19 men and 6 women. Fourteen of them were condemned; a man and a woman were burned at Smithfield, the other twelve of them were sent to towns there to be burned." Froude, the English historian, says of these Ana-Baptist martyrs-- "The details are all gone, their names are gone. Scarcely the facts seem worth mentioning. For them no Europe was agitated, no court was ordered in mourning, no papal hearts trembled with indignation. At their death the world looked on complacent, indifferent or exulting. Yet here, out of 25 poor men and women were found 14, who by no terror of stake or torture could be tempted to say they believed what they did not believe. History has for them no word of praise, yet they, too, were not giving their blood in vain. Their lives might have been as useless as the lives of most of us. In their death they assisted to pay the purchase of English freedom." Likewise, in writings of their enemies as well as friends, their history and their trail through the ages was indeed bloody:
Cardinal Hosius (Catholic, 1524), President of the Council of Trent: "Were it not that the baptists have been grievously tormented and cut off with the knife during the past twelve hundred years, they would swarm in greater number than all the Reformers." (Hosius, Letters, Apud Opera, pp. 112, 113.)
The "twelve hundred years" were the years preceding the Reformation in which Rome persecuted Baptists with the cruelest persecution thinkable.
Sir Isaac Newton:
"The Baptists are the only body of known Christians that have never symbolized with Rome."
Mosheim (Lutheran):
"Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay secreted in almost all the countries of Europe persons who adhered tenaciously to the principles of modern Dutch Baptists."
Forerunners of the
reformation-Halley’s bible handbook
Albigenses or Cathari. In Southern France, Northern Spain, and Northern Italy. Preached against the immoralities of the priesthood, pilgrimages, worship of saints and imaged; completely rejected the clergy and its claims; criticized church conditions; opposed the claims of the Church of Rome; made great use of the Scriptures; lived self denying lives and had great zeal for moral purity. By 1167 they embraced possibly a majority of the population of South France; by 1200 were very numerous in North Italy. In 1208 a crusade was ordered by Pope Innocent III; a bloody war of extermination followed; and the inhabitants murdered without distinction of age or sex; in 1229 the inquisition was extablished and withing a hundred years the Albigenses were utterly rooted out.
Waldenses, Southern France and Northern Italy. Similar to Albigenses, but not identical. Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, South France 1176, gave his property to the poor and went about preaching; opposed clerical usurpation and profligacy; denied the exclusive right of the clergy to teach the Gospel; rejected masses, prayers for the dead and purgatory; taught the Bible as the sole rule of belief and life’ their preaching kindled a great desire among people to read the Bible. The were gradually repressed by the Inquisition except in the Alpine Valleys southwest of Turin where they still are found, the only medieval sect still surviving, a story of heroic endurance of persecutions. Now the leading protestant body in Italy. JBA notes, “many of these groups have slipped into Protestantism just as the SBC is doing in some parts of our country today.”
Edinburg Cyclopedia (Presbyterian):
"It must have already occurred to our readers that the Baptists are the same sect of Christians that were formerly described as Ana-Baptists. Indeed this seems to have been their leading principle from the time of Tertullian to the present time."
Tertullian was born just fifty years after the death of the Apostle John.
III
Baptists do not believe in Apostolic Succession. The Apostolic office ceased with the death of organized the first one during His earthly ministry until He comes again. He promised--
"I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18)
Then, when He gave the great Commission, which tells what His churches are to do, He promised--
"I will be with you always, even unto the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20)
This Commission--this work--was not given to the Apostles as individuals, but to them and the others present in their church capacity. The Apostles and the others who heard Him give this Commission were soon dead--BUT, His Church has lived on through the ages, making disciples (getting folks saved), baptizing them, and teaching the truth--the doctrines--He committed to the Jerusalem Church. These faithful churches have been blessed with His presence as they have traveled the TRAIL OF BLOOD.
This history shows how the Lord's promise to His churches has been fulfilled. Dr. Carroll shows that churches have been found in every age which have taught the doctrines He committed unto them. Dr. Carroll calls these doctrines the "marks" of New Testament Churches.
"MARKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH"
1. Its Head and Founder--CHRIST. He is the law-giver; the Church is only the executive. (Matt. 16:18; Col. 1:18)
2. Its only rule of faith and practice--THE BIBLE. (II Tim. 3:15-17)
3. Its name--"CHURCH," "CHURCHES." (Matt. 16:18; Rev. 22:16)
4. Its polity--CONGREGATIONAL--all members equal. (Matt. 20:24-28; Matt. 23:5-12)
5. Its members--only saved people. (Eph. 2:21; I Peter 2:5)
6. Its ordinances--BELIEVERS' BAPTISM, FOLLOWED BY THE LORD'S SUPPER. (Matt. 28:19-20)
7. Its officers--PASTORS AND DEACONS. (I Tim. 3:1-16)
8. Its work--getting folks saved, baptizing them (with a baptism that meets all the requirements of God's Word), teaching them ("to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you"). (Matt. 28:16-20)
9. Its financial plan--"Even so (TITHES and OFFERINGS) hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel," (I Cor. 9:14)
10. Its weapons of warfare--spiritual, not carnal. (II Cor. 10:4; Eph. 6:10-20)
11. Its independence--separation of Church and State. (Matt. 22:21)
When we see them all through the dark ages and then coming out on this side of the reformation and settling new and free worlds, we must believe Matt 16:18 is the reason for our existence today.