Here is a snippet of one the latest writings of a very popular Christian writer (one of my favourites), Frederica Mathewes-Green. It is from a new devotional by Zondervan [A Faith and Culture Devotional, Zondervan, 2008]. You can read it all by following the link at the bottom of this post. By the way, did you know that our bookstore carries a few of the books written by Mathewes-Green? You should check them – you won’t be disappointed!
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; they cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?”( Revelation 6:9-10)
During the first centuries of Christianity, the church was battered within and without. Pseudo-Christians distorted the faith and misled the faithful, while the powerful Roman Empire persecuted Christians with torture and death. When local church members were able to gather the remains of their fellow-believers (often, this was forbidden), they lovingly interred these broken bodies beneath their altars, a reminder that the blessed departed are invisibly present to join us in worship. St. John writes that, in his vision, he heard the voice of the martyrs crying out from under the altar.
The persecutions ended when, by God’s mercy, the Roman Emperor Constantine had a miraculous conversion in 312 AD. However, those who distort the faith were about to launch a new attack. A priest named Arius proposed that, if Christ is the Son of the Father, he can’t be the same age as the Father. Christ must have been created by God, at some point before the universe was made. This would mean that Jesus is not really God, not in the way God the Father is.
That theory may sound familiar to you; throughout the centuries, there have been many who find it more appealing…
And here is the link: http://www.frederica.com/writings/the-voice-beneath-the-altar.html
heucc.wordpress.com 