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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Inspirational
- Subject: History / Historical
- Published: 09/27/2012
Into the Darkness
Born 1954, M, from Magalia, California, United StatesInto the Darkness
It was a stroke of political brilliance. The Roman empire was struggling after the mismanagement of three prior heads of state, starting with Emperor Nero. The destruction of Jerusalem had put an end to the rebelliousness of the ever so prickly Jewish religion, its temple sacked and 100,000 led into slavish captivity.
But now, nearly two hundred and fifty years later, the entire empire was about to go up in flames with the religious squabbling between the Greeks, Romans, Orientals, and European religions. The Druids of the west coast, along with the warlike Norse with their dragon boats raiding the coasts and the continuous warring of the high desert tribes with everyone who approached their precious wells all dedicated to myriads of unknown gods and goddesses made for endless insult and blood feud.
And then Emperor Constantine took the throne. A man of insight and brutal action. In his youthful years he had seen the situation and thought it stupid. The thought that there might be a God somewhere that man should pay heed seemed unlikely just on the basis of the confusion and unfeeling chaos that was evident in the world around him. Indeed, if there was a god somewhere, it was obvious that he wasn’t paying attention to what man was doing. Constantine was paying attention, and he was going to alleviate the pain and suffering that was being brought about by the degradation that he saw occurring with the imminent collapse of his beloved Rome.
The Druids, the desert tribes, and many of the oriental sects practice the most gruesome forms of human sacrifice, to plead favor from their gods. The others were distinctly warlike. Judaism was repugnant to all because of their arrogance and racial prejudice, although Constantine had studied its laws and found that their God, Jehovah, welcomed the alien resident and encouraged the Jews to call him brother if they conformed to his laws. Christianity had started out all sweetness and light, completely harmless, although they had worshiped the God of the Jews and followed Jesus Christ, the so called Son of God. Within the first sixty years they had began to change into a confused conglomeration of contradiction. Few followed their founder’s teachings.
By the time Constantine had taken the throne he had done his homework and he was ready to act. Forming a council, he commanded them to come up with a universal doctrine that would be pleasing to THE GOD, whoever they decided that may be. They would discuss his nature, his laws, his desires and his commands to his adherents. This would become the basis for the Universal, or Catholic, Church. This would be the one and only permissible religion to practice. To be caught practicing any other would mean death by order of the emperor’s decree. This is not science fiction. This is real history. It happened. In 325 our Common Era, Emperor Constantine the Great formed the Holy Roman Empire of a thousand years. So began the DARK AGES.
“I saw Christiana today,” Bella sobbed. “She was on a stake by the road. She had a copy of the gospel tied around her throat, and they were getting ready to burn her.”
“I’m so sorry, sissy,” Marcus said. “Have mother and father come home yet?” He was holding his sister and trying to comfort her, but these sort of atrocities were becoming more and more frequent. A lot of the friends spent their days on the edge of tears. They were being told to give up their relationship with their God, throw away their copies of the holy scriptures and worship God in a way that the Jews had been punished for when Jerusalem fell in the days of King Jehoiakim. They could not, and they would not do it. They were not afraid to die, but it was horrible to see their friends and family tortured and killed.
“I hope they are alright,” Marcus whispered.
Just then both parents came into the house. Both looked deeply disturbed. Then they saw their children there, safe in their home, and breathed in relief. “Crissy, Marc, we must pack up some light bags and leave. We are no longer safe in this city,” said Tomai, their father.
“I was thinking that,” said Marcus.
Pricilla, their mother said, “Our neighbors talked to the authorities about several of our friends. Some escaped.” Tears began rolling down her cheeks, as she had to cease speaking. Tomai continued to speak for her. “Several of the older men and their wives are gone. The authorities are rounding up all in the congregation. This looks wide spread. Now, get going. Pack just a few things that you need. Then we’ll leave.”
Under the cover of night, Tomai and his family quietly left the city. They had plans to visit some friends in a small village about a half a day’s walk away, but at first they moved slowly and easily, trying not to draw any attention. As they traveled a small ways up the road, they stopped at the side and prepared to make camp. They lit no fire, but just huddled closely and spoke quietly before sleep.
Christiana asked in a whisper, “Have we finished telling the good news?”
The family’s eyes turned to the father, but it was Macus that answered, “I don’t think so. I was thinking of something that Jesus said “I have spoken these things to you that you may not be stumbled. Men will expel you from the synagogue. In fact, the hour is coming when everyone that KILLS you will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God. But they will do these things because they have not come to know either the Father or me. Nevertheless, I have spoken these things to you that, when the hour for them arrives, you may remember I told them to you. So he said this would happen sometimes.”
Tomai also said, “I read in the prophet Daniel where God told Daniel, 'Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of the end. Many will cleanse themselves and whiten themselves and will be refined. And the wicked ones will certainly act wickedly, and no wicked ones at all will understand; but the ones having insight will understand.” That is certainly taking place right now. They have abolished the use of God’s name so that they could adapt the Babylonian, Egyptian and oriental use of Trinitarian gods into the new religion. They’re hiding Jehovah’s name, making Jesus the Sun God and the Son of God and the holy spirit God. That would be extremely offensive to Jesus. The Jews are superstitiously refusing to name Jehovah because someone MIGHT use it disrespectfully. We must keep the word of God in tact and continue telling out the good news!”
“Well, I’ve heard enough Santos! How about you?” Said a gruff voice from the darkness. Suddenly they were surrounded by Roman soldiers. “By the order of Caesar, you are under arrest!”
“Tomai!” Pricilla gasped. “Oh no!”
“Father!” Christiana called out.
“Be calm! The Lord is with us!” That was Marcus. Tomai was both alarmed and proud.
“Sirs, be at ease. We will cooperate,” said Tomai. He could see approximately ten persons coming out of the darkness. Among them he saw one whom he had counted as friend. Pretending not to notice he asked, “Is there some reason you would not let us just move on to another principality? We would trouble you no more.”
“Its too late for that! You and your pestilent sect have been an annoyance to decent people for years. We’ll have no more of you breaking up families with your Jesus and Jehovah preaching. No more seducing our soldiers away from the armed forces and our young men from dedicating their lives to Caesar. You will hail Caesar and sacrifice to the Mother of God or you will be a torch in her honor! That is all the choice you have.”
Christiana, determined to remain faithful, fell to her knees and began to pray out loud, even as Pricilla and Marcus were doing silently. “Oh my God, Jehovah, in Jesus name please take care of my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Strengthen those whom I have been teaching the scriptures, please …”
At that point one of the soldiers bashed her with his shield and she fell bleeding from loose teeth and her ear. It was all Tomai could do to remain still. In his heart he prayed for God’s spirit to give him strength to walk in his master’s steps. He rejoiced in the faithfulness of his family.
Each one faced the flames while nailed to a stake. Each one confident that their creator would remember them for their faithfulness. Each one remembered the words, “My vows I shall pay to Jehovah, yes, in front of all his people. Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of his loyal ones.”
Into the Darkness(Ric Wooldridge)
Into the Darkness
It was a stroke of political brilliance. The Roman empire was struggling after the mismanagement of three prior heads of state, starting with Emperor Nero. The destruction of Jerusalem had put an end to the rebelliousness of the ever so prickly Jewish religion, its temple sacked and 100,000 led into slavish captivity.
But now, nearly two hundred and fifty years later, the entire empire was about to go up in flames with the religious squabbling between the Greeks, Romans, Orientals, and European religions. The Druids of the west coast, along with the warlike Norse with their dragon boats raiding the coasts and the continuous warring of the high desert tribes with everyone who approached their precious wells all dedicated to myriads of unknown gods and goddesses made for endless insult and blood feud.
And then Emperor Constantine took the throne. A man of insight and brutal action. In his youthful years he had seen the situation and thought it stupid. The thought that there might be a God somewhere that man should pay heed seemed unlikely just on the basis of the confusion and unfeeling chaos that was evident in the world around him. Indeed, if there was a god somewhere, it was obvious that he wasn’t paying attention to what man was doing. Constantine was paying attention, and he was going to alleviate the pain and suffering that was being brought about by the degradation that he saw occurring with the imminent collapse of his beloved Rome.
The Druids, the desert tribes, and many of the oriental sects practice the most gruesome forms of human sacrifice, to plead favor from their gods. The others were distinctly warlike. Judaism was repugnant to all because of their arrogance and racial prejudice, although Constantine had studied its laws and found that their God, Jehovah, welcomed the alien resident and encouraged the Jews to call him brother if they conformed to his laws. Christianity had started out all sweetness and light, completely harmless, although they had worshiped the God of the Jews and followed Jesus Christ, the so called Son of God. Within the first sixty years they had began to change into a confused conglomeration of contradiction. Few followed their founder’s teachings.
By the time Constantine had taken the throne he had done his homework and he was ready to act. Forming a council, he commanded them to come up with a universal doctrine that would be pleasing to THE GOD, whoever they decided that may be. They would discuss his nature, his laws, his desires and his commands to his adherents. This would become the basis for the Universal, or Catholic, Church. This would be the one and only permissible religion to practice. To be caught practicing any other would mean death by order of the emperor’s decree. This is not science fiction. This is real history. It happened. In 325 our Common Era, Emperor Constantine the Great formed the Holy Roman Empire of a thousand years. So began the DARK AGES.
“I saw Christiana today,” Bella sobbed. “She was on a stake by the road. She had a copy of the gospel tied around her throat, and they were getting ready to burn her.”
“I’m so sorry, sissy,” Marcus said. “Have mother and father come home yet?” He was holding his sister and trying to comfort her, but these sort of atrocities were becoming more and more frequent. A lot of the friends spent their days on the edge of tears. They were being told to give up their relationship with their God, throw away their copies of the holy scriptures and worship God in a way that the Jews had been punished for when Jerusalem fell in the days of King Jehoiakim. They could not, and they would not do it. They were not afraid to die, but it was horrible to see their friends and family tortured and killed.
“I hope they are alright,” Marcus whispered.
Just then both parents came into the house. Both looked deeply disturbed. Then they saw their children there, safe in their home, and breathed in relief. “Crissy, Marc, we must pack up some light bags and leave. We are no longer safe in this city,” said Tomai, their father.
“I was thinking that,” said Marcus.
Pricilla, their mother said, “Our neighbors talked to the authorities about several of our friends. Some escaped.” Tears began rolling down her cheeks, as she had to cease speaking. Tomai continued to speak for her. “Several of the older men and their wives are gone. The authorities are rounding up all in the congregation. This looks wide spread. Now, get going. Pack just a few things that you need. Then we’ll leave.”
Under the cover of night, Tomai and his family quietly left the city. They had plans to visit some friends in a small village about a half a day’s walk away, but at first they moved slowly and easily, trying not to draw any attention. As they traveled a small ways up the road, they stopped at the side and prepared to make camp. They lit no fire, but just huddled closely and spoke quietly before sleep.
Christiana asked in a whisper, “Have we finished telling the good news?”
The family’s eyes turned to the father, but it was Macus that answered, “I don’t think so. I was thinking of something that Jesus said “I have spoken these things to you that you may not be stumbled. Men will expel you from the synagogue. In fact, the hour is coming when everyone that KILLS you will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God. But they will do these things because they have not come to know either the Father or me. Nevertheless, I have spoken these things to you that, when the hour for them arrives, you may remember I told them to you. So he said this would happen sometimes.”
Tomai also said, “I read in the prophet Daniel where God told Daniel, 'Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of the end. Many will cleanse themselves and whiten themselves and will be refined. And the wicked ones will certainly act wickedly, and no wicked ones at all will understand; but the ones having insight will understand.” That is certainly taking place right now. They have abolished the use of God’s name so that they could adapt the Babylonian, Egyptian and oriental use of Trinitarian gods into the new religion. They’re hiding Jehovah’s name, making Jesus the Sun God and the Son of God and the holy spirit God. That would be extremely offensive to Jesus. The Jews are superstitiously refusing to name Jehovah because someone MIGHT use it disrespectfully. We must keep the word of God in tact and continue telling out the good news!”
“Well, I’ve heard enough Santos! How about you?” Said a gruff voice from the darkness. Suddenly they were surrounded by Roman soldiers. “By the order of Caesar, you are under arrest!”
“Tomai!” Pricilla gasped. “Oh no!”
“Father!” Christiana called out.
“Be calm! The Lord is with us!” That was Marcus. Tomai was both alarmed and proud.
“Sirs, be at ease. We will cooperate,” said Tomai. He could see approximately ten persons coming out of the darkness. Among them he saw one whom he had counted as friend. Pretending not to notice he asked, “Is there some reason you would not let us just move on to another principality? We would trouble you no more.”
“Its too late for that! You and your pestilent sect have been an annoyance to decent people for years. We’ll have no more of you breaking up families with your Jesus and Jehovah preaching. No more seducing our soldiers away from the armed forces and our young men from dedicating their lives to Caesar. You will hail Caesar and sacrifice to the Mother of God or you will be a torch in her honor! That is all the choice you have.”
Christiana, determined to remain faithful, fell to her knees and began to pray out loud, even as Pricilla and Marcus were doing silently. “Oh my God, Jehovah, in Jesus name please take care of my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Strengthen those whom I have been teaching the scriptures, please …”
At that point one of the soldiers bashed her with his shield and she fell bleeding from loose teeth and her ear. It was all Tomai could do to remain still. In his heart he prayed for God’s spirit to give him strength to walk in his master’s steps. He rejoiced in the faithfulness of his family.
Each one faced the flames while nailed to a stake. Each one confident that their creator would remember them for their faithfulness. Each one remembered the words, “My vows I shall pay to Jehovah, yes, in front of all his people. Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of his loyal ones.”
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