# The Neronian Persecution



## MSH (Sep 3, 2019)

How widespread was the Neronian persecution? I have read that it was confined to Rome only, that it spread across Empire ( with the Jews being very eager to help in the persecution), and some even claiming that there wasn’t even a Neronian persecution. 

Thanks 


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## arapahoepark (Sep 3, 2019)

There seems to be a fairly widespread persecution during the time from what I can glean from Clement, Severus, Eusebius and Tacitus.
As for the idea that it didn't happen is ludicrous. Clement was around during the time, for instance, as were many who mentioned it. Roman and church historians had access to other records and sources that document it, that we no longer have.
You might get some more info from The Beast of Revelation by Ken Gentry.


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## MSH (Sep 3, 2019)

arapahoepark said:


> There seems to be a fairly widespread persecution during the time from what I can glean from Clement, Severus, Eusebius and Tacitus.
> As for the idea that it didn't happen is ludicrous. Clement was around during the time, for instance, as were many who mentioned it. Roman and church historians had access to other records and sources that document it, that we no longer have.
> You might get some more info from The Beast of Revelation by Ken Gentry.



Thanks for the reply. I don’t buy the idea that there wasn’t any persecution under Nero myself. I just mentioned it as I’ve read of it, mostly by liberal scholars. 

Thanks for the Ken Gentry recommendation. 

Are you a partial-preterist? 

Thanks


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## RamistThomist (Sep 3, 2019)

It wasn't widespread in the sense of a Mark of the Beast computer chip and global control. It happened but it wasn't the end of the world (literally and figuratively), which is problematic for some readings of preterism.


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## arapahoepark (Sep 3, 2019)

MSH said:


> Thanks for the reply. I don’t buy the idea that there wasn’t any persecution under Nero myself. I just mentioned it as I’ve read of it, mostly by liberal scholars.
> 
> Thanks for the Ken Gentry recommendation.
> 
> ...


Yes.


BayouHuguenot said:


> It wasn't widespread in the sense of a Mark of the Beast computer chip and global control. It happened but it wasn't the end of the world (literally and figuratively), which is problematic for some readings of preterism.


Key word is 'some.'


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## MSH (Sep 4, 2019)

arapahoepark said:


> There seems to be a fairly widespread persecution during the time from what I can glean from Clement, Severus, Eusebius and Tacitus.



Do you have any quotes from the names mentioned above that indicate a widespread ( outside of Rome)persecution of Christians during the reign of Nero? I’d be especially interested if we had proof of persecution happening in the area of the seven churches written to in the book of Revelation during this time. 

Thanks




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## MSH (Sep 4, 2019)

BayouHuguenot said:


> It wasn't widespread in the sense of a Mark of the Beast computer chip and global control. It happened but it wasn't the end of the world (literally and figuratively), which is problematic for some readings of preterism.



As to the Mark of the Beast this is how I currently understand this;

Verses 16-17: Selling and buying was limited only to those who bore the mark, i.e. “the name of the beast or the number of its name.” David Clark comments, “This was to boycott or ostracize the Christians, and deprive them of the common rights of citizens, or the common rights of humanity. The pressure of economic distress was to be laid on them to compel them to conform” (Steve Gregg, p. 304). David Chilton adds, “Similarly [the Jewish leaders] organized economic boycotts against those who refused to submit to Caesar as Lord, the leaders of the synagogues ‘forbidding all dealings with the excommunicated,’ and going as far as to put them to death.” [Here Chilton partially quotes from Austin Farrer in his 1964 work entitled The Revelation of St. John the Divine (p. 157).] Richard Anthony (2009) speaks further of the allegiance required by Nero during his lifetime:

All those under the jurisdiction of Rome were required by law to publicly proclaim their allegiance to Caesar by burning a pinch of incense and declaring, “Caesar is Lord”. Upon compliance with this law, the people were given a papyrus document called a “libellus”, which they were required to present when either stopped by the Roman police or attempting to engage in commerce in the Roman marketplace, increasing the difficulty of “buying or selling” without this mark (emphasis added).

In the first post for chapter 13 we also saw a quote from C. Marvin Pate and Calvin B. Haines Jr., from their 1995 book entitled Doomsday Delusions, in which they said,

Megalomaniac that he was, Nero had coins minted in which he was called “almighty God” and “Savior.” Nero’s portrait also appears on coins as the god Apollo playing a lyre. While earlier emperors were proclaimed deities upon their deaths, Nero abandons all reserve and demanded divine honors while still alive (as did also Caligula before him, AD 37-41). Those who worshipped the emperor received a certificate or mark of approval – charagma, the same word used in Revelation 13:16 [the famed mark of the beast].

As to the end of the world I am understanding this to be the end of the Jewish/ Old Covenant-Levitical world.

Thanks


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## arapahoepark (Sep 11, 2019)

MSH said:


> Do you have any quotes from the names mentioned above that indicate a widespread ( outside of Rome)persecution of Christians during the reign of Nero? I’d be especially interested if we had proof of persecution happening in the area of the seven churches written to in the book of Revelation during this time.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> ...


They are fairly easy to look up. Euseibius in Book II, if I recall. There were others, like Clement, I think chapter 6 but don't quote me on that. They seem to imply widespread persecution out of Rome by their rather broad description and universality of the horrors as well as the length of the description in comparison to others that they mention.


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