“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12).
John the Baptist was forerunner of Christ and introducer of the New Testament. His ministry was a transition between the Old Testament and the New. From his time down through this final dispensation there has been a remnant who have faithfully held to and practiced the principle teachings of Jesus Christ and His apostles. The following is taken from “The New Directory for Baptist Churches” written by Edward T. Hiscox and first published by Judson Press in 1894. “It is on all hands conceded that from the days of the Apostles to the Reformation there existed congregations and communities of Christians separate from the prevailing and dominant churches. … These separate communities maintained their distinct existence and served God according to their understanding of the Scriptures and the dictates of their consciences. “During all the dark ages since the kingdom of Christ appeared these companies and communities have confessedly existed. They have been known by many names, and have differed somewhat among themselves in different ages and in different countries. By the prevailing and dominant secularized churches they were stigmatized as heretics, who differ from the majority, and have conscience and courage enough to defend their position, and if need be suffer for their faith. “Thousands on thousands of those dissenting disciples were put to death by the most painful tortures for no other crime than a purer faith than their persecutors possessed, and because they would hold, profess and defend that purer faith. Those who were permitted to live were doomed to endure unequaled cruelties. Emperors, kings and princes, popes, priests and people, Senates, Synods and Councils, pursued them with every device of cruelty which malice could invent or power execute, to waste, blot out and exterminate them from the face of the earth. Language is too weak to portray the diabolical and fiendish cruelties perpetrated upon the innocent, helpless and, for the most part, unresisting people of God by those who were able to invoke the secular power to execute their fell designs.” My dear readers the burning stakes, the steel sword, the arenas with their wild beast loosed upon helpless dissenting Disciples of Christ may be only to many a mark in history. Yet there remains the persecuting tongue of beast-like men who devour the character of those who refuse to bow or bend to the perverted teachings of secular religion. And I for one thank God for them and take my stand with them. ~~Terry Worthan, 1938-2022
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