The response to heresy, error, and blasphemy should be witnessing, not coercion; intercession and instruction, not intimidation; prayer and preaching, not persecution; testifying and teaching, not torture; evangelism, not execution.
This is not to say that there is no place in the church to admonish, mark, and separate from heretics. There is (Titus 3:10; Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5:13). However, it has been the wicked wont of certain who call themselves Christians – as well as Muslims and others – to “evangelize” with the sword, coercing confessions and killing dissenters. This time of year in 1572 (August 23-24) brings to mind one such historical record, the slaughter of the French Huguenots. The pope of Rome rejoiced over the slaughter of some 30,000 Huguenots (the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre). Pope Gregory XIII sent King Charles IX of France a Golden Rose (a “blessed” golden ornament). The pope ordered a “Te Deum” to be sung in thanksgiving for and rejoicing over the massacre. Additionally, the pope had a gold medal struck to memorialize the occasion, containing the motto Ugonottorum strages 1572. (The Latin translates to something like “Massacre of the Huguenots 1572.”) Pope Gregory XIII also commissioned the artist Giorgio Vasari to paint three frescos (related to the massacre) in the Sala Regia (a state hall in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City).
Revelation 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Note: The Huguenots were French Protestants of the Reformed tradition. France was ruled by Catholics aligned with the church in Rome.
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