The Roman Empire was one of the most oppressive regimes. They salted fields so that nothing would grow, they crucified people and placed them at the market places so that when you got your groceries you saw friends or strangers filleted, rotting, and nailed to wooden poles and cross beams. The Romans crushed any sign of revolt and inspiration that could drive a kingdom to become independent. When the Jews tried to emancipate and annex Jerusalem, The Romans arrived with Titus, blockaded the city in a circle so no goods could enter. Josephus records women roasted and ate their babies in the city walls of Jerusalem. Eventually Titus decided to sack Jerusalem, he began burning it and even The Temple was destroyed, the gold melted and poured into the cups of Centurions. Rome was totalitarian, they had a Senate, and once upon a time they were a Republic, but that was long gone with advent of the Cesars who became dictators and tyrants who helped forge Rome from Republic to an Empire (granted others had a hand in the devolution, not just the Cesars).
There is some incredible lines about this empire that broke the conquered’s spirit, “They will take everything you have, they will make you watch other’s suffering to forget your own.” (Sheik Ilderim, Ben Hur 2016, Opening Scenes). This was Rome, it played chess with people’s souls and trafficked in their lives. While it is true many Romans came to follow Jesus Christ our Lord, even Centurions (Matthew 8:5-13, Acts 10:23-40), the Roman will to subjugate all things continued, when Rome saw it could not snuff out Christianity with the torches of Nero and the lions of the Colosseum, it became content to take the Blessed Hope under its auspices and mutate the Christian faith into Paganized Cult variant that became the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church [this happened under Emperor Constantine]. The aim was to make those pesky insolent Christians finally would bow to gods of Rome in new forms, turning Mars into St. George, and Diana/ Artemis the Queen of Heaven into Mary Queen of Heaven. Rome would dominate the church with idolatry, paganisms, superstitions, and Roman Law until the 16th Century when a brave German monk rose up and dared to contest their supremacy. It is perhaps ironic that it was out of Germany that The Reformation came and broke the Roman yoke over the Church, for it was the German Goths who had made the Western Roman Empire fall in the time of Augustine of Hippo (He wrote about it in his work “City of God”), even more intriguing is Martin Luther was Augustinan Monk.
Today we see the spirit of Rome continue to seek the subjugation of people, to break people with its iron. This spirit drives certain nations in conquest and like Colosseum it make sport of bloodshed. We watch as the modern chariots ride across cities and the silver eagles fly into restricted air zones. Rome is a potent ideology, many nations are infected by it including the United States of America. As Christians we are called to The Kingdom of Heaven, a kingdom ruled by Christ that shall descend on earth in its totality when He returns in the flesh. The Kingdom of God is already at hand and ruling, but it is a kingdom at variance with Rome. Jesus urges us to love our enemies and to be kind to our persecutors (Matthew 5:43-48), while Rome crucifies its enemies and persecutes those who do not bow to its ways. Much of what Jesus said at The Sermon on the Mount was an answer to how to fight back against Rome; you can’t win with swords and politics, but rather saving souls and being peacemakers. Rome is very much the model of Antichrist’s coming reign (Revelation 13:7), where he will crush all people. If we are to fight back against Rome in its many forms it is not with legions of riflemen and political appointees, but with faith, hope, and love. Our victory against the savagery of Rome is in the words, life, and teachings of Jesus. If we try to fight back with swords we become simply Rome’s reflection, we turn into our enemy. We need to pray as we see Rome being reborn in current events, and spend our time doing what Jesus said, rather than what some radio or YouTube personality says. Amen.
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