[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by mfblume

Many lies were told on the Christians. Nero claimed they burned Rome. They were said to be quite immoral and into cannibalism due to a misunderstanding of the communion supper. Lies, all incited by satan who hated the church.

But you gotta remember, too, that SOME CAESARS fought FOR the church. The Caesar before Nero had an edict out that forbade, for example, persecution against Christians, and some Jews in Rome were actually exiled due to that edict. He was plotted against and Nero's mother, his wife, fought against him, and Nero took power and these Jews were returned and Nero went after the church like a hellhound.

Feeling Nero is the man of sin in 2 Thess 2, I wrote in another thread these thoughts:

It is a historical fact that Claudius held back persecution of the church. He commanded a ruling entitled "religio licita" which disallowed Christian persecution and even banished some Jews from Rome because of their riots against "Chrestus", referring to Christ and Christians. (Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Claudius, XXV, 4. Cf. Acts 18:2). This means Jews could not persecute the church so long as Claudius remained in power. His wife, Agrippina, poisoned him and her son, Nero, came to power, showing that the one who restrained was removed so the wicked one could be revealed. Nero's wife Poppaea was a Jewish proselyte and brought the Jews back into favour in Rome. The mystery of iniquity, which could be seen as antichristian power of persecution, was then allowed back as Nero became emperor.

Thus sets the stage for one of the greatest novels, Quo Vadis.