Church and State

Revelation 2:12 "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,'These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it."

Can you imagine a Christian nation with Christianity as the official state religion?

What if Christianity could be protected from all forms of religious persecution, and protected by law from any sort of discrimination?

Wouldn’t the church flourish in such a political environment?

It was October 28, 312AD, and Constantine was confronted by the massive army of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, which crossed the Tiber River just north of Rome. Constantine was visited by a dream the night before the battle, wherein he was advised "to mark the heavenly sign of God on the shields of his soldiers...by means of a slanted letter X with the top of its head bent round, he marked Christ on their shields."

Eusebius describes another version, where, while marching at midday, "he saw with his own eyes in the heavens a trophy of the cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message, In Hoc Signo Vinces or "with this sign, you will conquer"; in Eusebius's account, Constantine had a dream the following night, in which Christ appeared with the same heavenly sign, and told him to make a standard, the labarum, for his army in that form.

By appearance anyway, Constantine became a Christian as a result of the visions he received, and with his upset victory over Maxentius, (whose army was twice the size of Constantine’s,) Constantine entered Rome and as emperor proclaimed Christianity to be free from all types of religious intolerance.

Finally, all forms of persecution suffered under the ‘ten days of tribulation,’ were ended. Christians were free to move about the building…

And then Christianity began a long, slow, downward spiral of official acceptance and spiritual compromise which Jesus notes and predicts here, in His letter to the Church in Pergamos. The reign of Constantine began with the merger of church and state. Was the church strengthened by political acceptance?

-Pastor Bill