VOLUME XXII March 14, 1999 Number 10
HOSPITAL NEWS: We continue to remember Clarice Turk, Callie Kilgore, Tammy Moss, Tressie Farmer, Doran and Norma Deal, Willie Pearl Williams, and others of our number who have been sick lately. We also remember our Nursing Home Residents, Alberta Roney and Lola King.
CEMETERY NEWS: Our appreciation is expressed to Nola Whitehead who donated $ 100.00 to the maintenance of the cemetery.
SYMPATHY: Our sincere sympathy is extended to the family of Annie Lee Sikes. Sister Sikes passed away Tuesday March 2, 1999 at the age of 92 years. I had the privilege of baptizing her into Christ when I worked with the church in Camden, AL and she was very special to my family and I. Gene and Betty Ellis, her Son-in-law and daughter, are very special friends.
MONTHLY MEAL: The monthly meal for March is scheduled for Sunday March 21 after the evening Worship services. It will be a finger-food. Keith and Angela Killingsworth are hosting. Join us!
REMEMBER THE BIBLE CLASSES AND SUNDAY EVENING WORSHIP SERVICES!!!
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? Hear the Gospel (Romans 10:17), Believe the Gospel (Hebrews 11:6), Repent of Sins (Acts 2:38), Confess Faith in Christ (Acts 8:37), be baptized (Acts 22:16), and remain faithful, even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10). May we assist you in becoming a faithful Christian?
"I APPEAL UNTO CÆSAR" Part 2
CONCLUSION
INFAMOUS IMMORALITY
With respect to this "Nero" unto whom Paul made his appeal, it is difficult to think of him in any way other than as an immoral and perverted man. While on an island retreat, hiding from his duties as emperor, he had made a "secret place". The island itself, Capri, afforded "but one way of access...by a small shore and landing place...enclosed round about, partly with craggy rocks and steep cliffs of an exceeding height, and in part by the deep sea" (Suetonius, tr. Philemon Holland, p. 184). In the midst of this secluded and remote island and in the "secret" room he had made, "removed from the eyes of people, at length he poured forth and showed at once all those vices which with much ado for a long time he had cloaked and dissembled" (Suetonius, 184-185). Because of his excessive drinking he was given many derogatory nicknames. Suetonius tells us that in mockery of his first name, Tiberius, he was called "Biberius", a word meaning "drinker"; in the place of Nero they called him "Mero", a word meaning "wine". In the midst of "reforming the public manners and the misdemeanor of the city (Rome), he spent with Pomponius Flaccus and Lucius Piso one whole night and two days in gluttony and drunkenness" (Suetonius). Among the things our world might think improper (although it is hard to know these days just what the public might think improper) we find dinners being given wherein the female attendants (waitresses), called wenches, would serve totally naked at the table. In this secluded Capri he "devised a room with seats and benches in it, even a place of purpose for his secret wanton lusts" (Suetonius). Among the things done therein include the show of individuals he called "spintriae", who would strike and 'pollute' each other's bodies for the pleasure of the onlookers. "He devised in the woods also and groves here and there, certain places for lechery and venereal acts; and throughout the caves and hollow rocks he had youths of both sexes, in the habit of Pans and Nymphs, ready to prostitute themselves: wherefore now men, in open place, abusing the usual name of the island, termed him the Carpinicus [Goat-like]" (Suetonius). The record of his moral offenses is much too detailed and graphic to be printed herein, involving everything from disgusting acts with youths of his same sex, and even surgically altering a young boy in order that he might take him to wife. There was a saying concerning this last mentioned atrocity, something to the effect that the public wished that Nero's father had taken such a wife, and then the world would have been a much better place... Tacitus reports that after an absence from the city Nero returned to Rome, so as to make it appear that he loved the capitol and preferred it as his dwelling, and gave great feasts and celebrations. At one such party, officially given by Tigellinus, "brothels" were provided, staffed with "ladies" of high rank, and over the way from them "could be seen naked prostitutes, indecently posturing and gesturing" (Tacitus, Annals, chapter 14). He continues, "At nightfall the woods and houses nearby echoed with singing and blazed with lights. Nero was already corrupted by every lust, natural and unnatural. But he now refuted any surmises that no further degradation was possible for him. For a few days later he went through a formal wedding ceremony with one of the perverted gang called Pythagoras. The emperor, in the presence of witnesses, put on the bridal veil. Dowry, marriage bed, wedding torches, all were there. Indeed everything was public which even in a natural union is veiled by night."
His lack of regard for morals found its way into his dealing with alleged
lawbreakers as well. He thought nothing of taking the life of another
without cause, and indeed even invented causes that were no causes for
the purpose of disposing of those for whom he had no use. Suetonius
tells us that "he broke out into all kinds of cruelty, as one who
never wanted matter to work upon; persecuting the familiar friends and
acquaintance of his own mother first, then, of his grandsons and
granddaughter, and at the last of Sejanus; after whose death he grew to
be most cruel" (page 199). Among the descriptions of his cruelty
Suetonius wrote: "There passed not a day over his head, no not so
much as any festival and religious holiday without execution and punishment
of folk." He forbade the near family (wife, children, parents) of
one condemned to die the privilege of mourning for their death, cruel indeed.
A poet who had written unflattering things about Agamemnon and saying that
Brutus and Cassius were the last of all the Romans, thus slighting those
who counted themselves Roman at the (then) present, was punished, and with
all those like-minded their writings were collected and destroyed.
When a virgin was condemned to death, seeing the Roman custom of not executing
virgins, Nero ordered that before they were killed they were to be "deflowered"
by the hangman. It was reported (Suetonius) that at Capri Nero would
throw condemned people into the sea where they would be beaten by the sailors
with their oars and etc. until they died, either from drowning or the wounds
sustained in the beatings, or a combination of both. "He had devised,
moreover, among other kinds of torment, this: what time as men, by
deceitful means, had their load with large drinking of strong wine, he
would suddenly knit fast and tie their privy members with lute strings,
that he might cause them to swell and be pent in most dolorous pains occasioned
at once as well by the strait strings, as by the suppression and stoppage
of urine. And had it not been that both death prevented, and Thrasyllus
also enforced him of purpose (as men say) to put off some designs in hope
of longer life, he would have murdered a good many more (as it is fully
believed) and not spared those very grandsons of his that remained yet
alive, considering that he both had Gaius in suspicion, and also cast off
Tiberius as conceived in adultery" (Suetonius, pages 201-202). Having
condemned his daughter-in-law and grandsons to die, he commanded that prior
to their execution they be placed in a cloth sack, tightly sewn together
all about, forbidden contact with any and all, and carried wherever he
went. The record of his cruelties goes on, but such as is offered
suffices to indicate the extent of his vicious and malevolent disposition.
Nero fancied himself quite an actor, singer, athlete and musician.
Tacitus (chapter 12, Nero and his Helpers) tells us that "Nero had long
desired to drive in four-horse chariot races. Another equally deplorable
ambition was to sing to the lyre, like a professional. 'Chariot-racing',
he said, 'was an accomplishment of ancient kings and leaders...Singing,
too, is sacred to Apollo..." The same ancient historian tells us
of Nero's stage debut: "Meticulously tuning his lyre, he struck practice
notes to the trainers beside him. A battalion attended with its officers.
So did Burrus, grieving -- but applauding. Now, too, was formed the
corps of Roman knights known as the Augustiani. These powerful young men,
impudent by nature or ambition, maintained a din of applause day and night,
showering divine epithets on Nero's beauty and voice". Not satisfied
with merely singing, he also sought fame as a great poet, again doubtless
with external shows of approval by the audience. You might call these
'command performances', inasmuch as the audience was commanded to attend
and enjoy what was done. His participation in the "arts" was very
much disdained by the people he "served", as such a profession was very
much looked down upon as unsuitable for one of noble birth.
When the city of Rome caught fire, around A.D. 64, Nero turned his
rage on the church. Great panic filled the city as people sought
a way out, but for many no way out was to be found. There have been
suggestions that Nero himself set the fire, indeed many of his own day
so believed. The historical testimony leads one to favor this view,
but it does not demand such a view. It is true that Nero desired
more room for his palace, and further that he was unable to secure the
desired space through legal channels. This has led many historians
to believe that he burned the city merely to procure the needed real estate.
Be that as it may, the city burned and the damage was great. As rumors
circulated that he was responsible for the burning, and "neither human
resources, nor imperial munificence, nor appeasement of the gods, eliminated
sinister suspicions that the fire had been instigated" (Tacitus, Annals
14), he tried to turn suspicion on the church. "First, Nero had self-acknowledged
Christians arrested. Then, on their information, large numbers of
others were condemned -- not so much for incendiarism as for their anti-social
tendencies. Their deaths were made farcical. Dressed in wild
animals' skins, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or made
into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight.
Nero provided his Gardens for the spectacle, and exhibited displays in
the Circus, at which he mingled with the crowd -- or stood in a chariot,
dressed as a charioteer" (Tac.*Annals 14).
Nero instituted the assault on the Jews and the city of Jerusalem,
but died before it could be accomplished. "A few days before his
death the lighthouse of Capri was wrecked by an earthquake...The people
were so glad of his death, that at the first news of it some ran about
shouting, 'Tiberius to the Tiber,' while others prayed to Mother Earth
and the Manes to allow the dead man no abode except among the damned.
Still others threatened his body with the hook and the Stairs of Mourning,
especially embittered... When the funeral procession left Misenum, many
cried out that the body ought rather to be carried to Atella, and half-burned
in the amphitheater. But it was taken to Rome by the soldiers and
reduced to ashes with public ceremonies" (Suetonius). "Nero is indirectly
concerned with the New Testament at three points. 1. It was Nero
to whose superior justice Paul appealed...(Acts 25:10-11)...2.*...To divert
suspicion that he had started [the fire] for his own entertainment, Nero
accused...Christians...conducted mass arrests, and...burnt [them] alive...
3.*In the closing years of Nero's regime his commanders in Palestine were
drawn into the war that ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70,
an event that finally set the Christian churches free from their Zionist
orientation..." (The New Bible Dictionary, Eerdmans, pages 877-878).
An illegitimate beginning, a wicked life, and a shameful end. This
was the man whose rule allowed Paul to travel to Rome and preach the very
gospel so despised by Nero.
This is not an exhaustive consideration of his life, but one which seeks
to inform concerning the political and social climate and backdrop against
which the New Testament story is cast. Men such as this, Nero, wicked
and vile to the core, when coupled with the opposition of the Jews, make
our appreciation of the first Christians fidelity all the greater.
Tim Smith 1272 Enon Road Webb, AL 36376 (334) 899-8131
ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?
Have you heard and believed the truth (Romans 10:17, Hebrews 11:6), repented of sins (Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38), confessed faith in Jesus as the Christ (Acts 8:37, Matthew 10:32), and been properly baptized (Galatians 3:27, I Peter 3:21)? Are you being faithful in all things (Revelation 2:10, Matthew 6:33)? If not, please call on us at the Enon Church of Christ and allow us to assist you in coming to salvation, before it is too late!
*********************************************Tim Smith*******************************************