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CHAPTER V

PERSECUTION

1. The persecution of those who knew and believed in Jesus Christ during his existence on earth and of those who suffered death immediately after his ascension into heaven furnishes the strongest possible evidence of the fact that he was divine and that they recognized him as such.

It is both unnatural and unreasonable that men and women would suffer persecution and death for clinging to a false faith when their own personal knowledge told them whether their faith was well founded.

If we credit the record, the disciples of Jesus Christ were specially warned by him that they would suffer persecution and even death on his

account.

"Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (John xv. 20.)

"They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." (John xvi. 2.)

Those who suffered persecution during the first century and were old enough to know for themselves whether the earth quaked and darkness covered the face of the earth for three hours at the time Christianity says that Christ was crucified must have endured their sufferings on account of their own personal convictions as to the truth of the claims of Christianity. In other words, if Christ actually lived and performed the wonderful miracles attributed to him, if he had the authority to delegate to others the power to work miracles, and did actually give this power to his disciples-something it is impossible for men to do and no one but God can do and if his birth, baptism, and death were attended by the miraculous manifestations of his divinity claimed by his friends, then these early martyrs knew these things and had a reason for the faith that sustained them in their sufferings. If these things did not occur in connection with the life and death of the Christ, then they were either bound to know personally of the falsity of their faith, or they could have discovered the truth by proper inquiries, which any reasonable person would have made before submitting to persecution.

The first to suffer death was the precursor of Christ, John the Baptist. The death of John the

Baptist at the hands of Herod is fully confirmed by Josephus, the great Jewish historian.

Now, some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John that was called the Baptist, for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue both as to righteousness toward one another and piety toward God and so to come to baptism. (“Antiquities," Book XVIII., Chapter V.)

The first of the disciples of Jesus to suffer death was James, the brother of John.

"Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword." (Acts xii. 1, 2.)

The persecution of the disciples and of the early Christians as detailed in the book of the Acts of the Apostles is fully corroborated by the secular histories of that period.

Tacitus, in his famous "Annals," writing of the persecution of the Christians under Nero in A.D. 64 and of the report that Nero had set fire to the city of Rome, says:

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the

extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate; and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out, not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful, from all parts of the world, find their central and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then upon their information an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burned, to serve as a mighty illumination when daylight had expired. Nero offered his garden for the spectacle and was exhibiting a show in the circus while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not as it seemed for the public good, but to the glut of one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

Thus we learn from Tacitus, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest and most reliable of pagan historians, writing about the year 88 of the persecution of the Christians in the year 64 under Nero, that the outrages committed against the followers of the Nazarene had grown with such violence since Peter and John were first cast into prison, thirty years before, that sport was made over the spectacle of an "immense multitude" being torn by

dogs and burned to death to please a wicked ruler and that "mockery of every sort was added to their deaths."

This shocking persecution of the Christians occurred only about thirty years after "Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate."

Could any evidence show more conclusively the authenticity of the New Testament Scriptures than this historical statement of Tacitus that Christ had been crucified under Pilate at the very time claimed by the four biographers of Jesus Christ? This testimony of Tacitus also shows that "an immense multitude" had become so convinced of the divinity of Jesus Christ that they preferred death in the most cruel form rather than give up their faith in him.

Let it not be forgotten that this horrible persecution of the Christians, conclusively attested by profane history, took place in the lifetime of persons who, according to the record, must have been witnesses of the darkness that attended the death of Jesus Christ and must have felt the earthquake that occurred at that time.

Infidelity tells us that such a person as Jesus

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