Martyrs200
 
                 Pre-Reformation Darkness 
                        Revelation  9:21 

 

     Neither repented they of their murders,  nor of their sorceries, 

     nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. Rev 9: 21

  

                               The Roman Priesthood
                               Speaking Lies in Hypocrisy
  

     Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot

     iron; forbidding to marry. I Tim 4: 2

 

     The Monastic life "forbidding to marry" and saint-worship began about

     the  same time.  The monks and  friars  practiced sorceries  (bleeding

     bones and winking images) without concern; carried on a vast system

     of   fraud  without   wincing;  incarcerated  and   burned  the  innocent

     without compassion; while practicing gross immorality under the mask

     of piety.

 

     Germany  was  completely under their  thumb.  Legions  of mendicant

     friars, relic hawkers and miracle workers continually wandered across

     the country  begging,  collecting,  offering indulgences  and extracting

     large sums of money from the people.

 

                              The Nearer to Rome

                                  The Worse the Christian

 

     Babylon is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul

    spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Rev 18:2

 

    When Luther visited Rome his reverence turned into loathing. The city

    was  a sink of iniquity,  its priests infidel  and  hypocritical.  The Papal

    courtiers were men of depraved lives. Cardinals lived in open sin.

 

    There was no knowledge of literature, or reverence for Divine things,

    almost no religion remaining. It was said "shame itself had perished".

                              The Popes Led the Way
                              Rome Followed their Example

 

     Woe  unto  them!  for they  have gone  in  the way of Cain,  and ran

     greedily  after the  error  of  Balaam for reward...trees  without fruit,

     twice dead...raging waves of the sea,  foaming out their own shame.

     Jude 1: 11-13

 

     At the close of the 15th century Pope Alexander VI  stood before the

     world as a notorious monster of iniquity.  The wickedest Pope openly

     purchased  the  papal  tiara  and  lived  only  to  enrich  himself  and

     promote his family.

 

     He plunged the Papacy into an abyss of degradation perhaps unique

     in history. All this while sitting high in the church as Christ Himself.  


                             All Opposition was Crushed

                    The Two Witnesses were Silenced

 

     The 15th century closed with the church helpless  and forlorn. Earlier

     attempts  at  reform  led  by Wycliffe and  Huss  had  been  crushed.

     Their  followers  were  hunted  down and  butchered.  The  merciless

     inquisition finally silenced all opposition.

 

     In 1514,  the  papacy  celebrated.  There  was  not  one voice left in

     Europe   that dared  protest.   Figuratively  the  two  witnesses were

     dead.

 

     Then a miracle happened. They suddenly revived and stood on their

     feet!