Even before Jesus Christ was sent to earth, a nation was already at work in the world that was the richest, the most modern and with the greatest military power among all other nations, which was Rome.
Such a nation, due to its strong power and glory, decided to expand to conquer and annex more territories for its government and undertook with it several wars, conflicts and negotiations, thus becoming no longer a simple nation , but an empire, which became known as the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire is considered the greatest civilization in Western history. It lasted for five centuries: it began in 27 BC and ended in 476 AD
It stretched from the River Rhine to Egypt, reaching Great Britain and Asia Minor. Thus, it established a connection with Europe, Asia and Africa.
Such EMPIRE should always be obviously led by an emperor, which means one who commands, orders and obliges.
The emperor should be seen by everyone around him as a “lord”, a “god” and thus no other type of leader would be accepted with another teaching or other proposal that did not directly involve the worship and total obedience to the emperor.
As the Roman Empire was advancing and possessing more nations for itself, the emperor himself appointed a leader who would govern this region, which was called a province. Thus, the emperor even delegated his power with more rulers, but under no circumstances would he accept the emergence of someone who could be a new type of leader among the people.
The Roman Empire had no interest in changing the culture, that is, the way of life of the nations that they dominated and did not even prohibit the religions that such people wanted to follow, as long as they paid their obedience, their honor, their respect and, above all, their taxes to the emperor.
There was a certain tolerance regarding emperor worship by Jews and Christians who did not live in Rome, in cities like Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, etc… They were not required to make an image in their city and worship the emperor , however, were seen by the Romans as rebels, lunatics and insane.
It is evident that in all these centuries of the existence of the Roman Empire, several emperors were sworn in and did their job as they saw fit, but let’s focus only in 4 emperors who had m a greater presence in situations involving Christians.
In the time of Jesus for example, for much of his life, the acting emperor was Augustus Caesar, so much so that he was mentioned in the famous expression of Christ when he said “give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” and in his crucifixion the current emperor was Tiberius Caesar.
It was with the authorization of this last emperor that Pontius Pilate, ruler of the Roman province in Judea, condemned Jesus to crucifixion, even though he did not see anything in him that could condemn him, but he did so, to please the Jews and of course, to the emperor.
Jesus and his leadership, influence and teaching, became a strong threat to the lordship and reign of both the emperor and the rulers of his provinces, as he claimed to be a new King and have a new Kingdom. Therefore, he was vigorously condemned to crucifixion, so that under no circumstances would the emperor have his position threatened! We know that this was all part of God’s plan to save us, but it is important to understand this political context in order to better understand a given empire.
Another Roman emperor who was one of the most dangerous and somehow inhuman , was Nero Caesar, who after there was a fire of great proportions in Rome, which many believe to have been Nero himself who caused, cowardly accused the Christians of the city as the perpetrators of the tragedy. This accusation culminated in hatred and an even stronger persecution against the Church; therefore, to please everyone, Nero had Peter Crucified and Paul beheaded killed, who were the main leaders of the Church. we have already learned before, Titus Flavius Dominiciano.
Like the other emperors, Dominiciano also had attachment to power, human glory and fame at any cost, and with him there was no tolerance with whom I did not want to see him as “lord” or “god”, so much so, that every emperor should be venerated and worshiped as a “god” after his death, but Dominiciano wanted to receive this adoration while he was alive!
Upon learning that the apostle John did not accept to worship and serve, but only to adore and serve Jesus Christ, while teaching others to do the same, he understood that such an apostle had also ended up becoming a threat to his reign, that is why he was indignant and ordered that João be thrown into exile on our already known Isle of Patmos.
Such empire, like any other empire with human leaders, was destroyed in a battle with the “barbarians” and today it is only in history! Rome still exists, but it never rose again as an empire.
It is interesting to note that many reasons led this empire to its downfall, such as loss of military strength, economic and social difficulties, etc… but most historians, both Christian and non-Christian, agree that the power, strength, and influence of the Christian Church, which would not accept surrender to any lord other than Christ, was like a heavy blow to the whole world. empire, because every week more and more people joined the gospel and belonged to the Church, literally generating an army of faith and courage to face it in the name of God, even even those who called themselves “gods”.
The Church of Christ will always obey and honor human authorities, as long as they are based on the word, however, if such authorities give orders contrary to the divine word , will always see a Church against them.
We learn from this, that everyone who if you say Christian, you must, therefore, worship and obey only Jesus Christ, therefore, you must be ready to be contrary to any group, man or system, that is contrary to Christ and His Word, even if such a position costs your own life.
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