So openly corrupt did the fallen "church" become in the middle ages, we can readily understand why in many sections of the land men rose up in protest.  Many were those noble souls who rejected the false claims of the fallen church and the Pope, looking instead to the Lord Jesus for salvation and to His Word for truth.  These were called "heretics" and were bitterly persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church.

One of the documents that ordered such persecutions was the inhuman "Ad Exstirpanda" which was issued by Pope Innocent IV.  This document stated that heretics were to be "crushed like venomous snakes".  Priests, kings, and lay-members of the Romish system were called upon to join in the crusade.  In so doing, said the document, any property they had gotten illegally would become rightfully theirs with a clear title and among other things, they were promised remission of all their sins if they killed a heretic!

This Papal document also formally approved the use of torture against these so-called "heretics".  Men pondered long in those days on how they could devise methods that would produce the most torture and pain.  One of the most popular methods was the use of the rack.  This was a long table on which the accused was tied by the hands and feet, back down, and stretched by rope and windlass - thus dislocating the joints and causing great pain.

Heavy pincers were used to tear out fingernails or were applied red-hot to sensitive parts of the body; rollers with sharp knife blades and spikes attached were used, over which the "heretics" were rolled back and forth; there was the thumbscrew, an instrument made for disarticulating the fingers and "Spanish Boots" which were used to crush the legs and feet.

Then there was also the horrid "Iron Virgin", a hollow instrument the size and figure of a woman.  Knives were arranged in such a way and under such pressure that the accused were lacerated in its deadly embrace.  And what makes it even more blasphemous is that this and other torture devices were sprayed with "holy water" and inscribed with the Latin words: "Soli Deo Gloria", meaning, "Glory be only to God".

Victims, after being stripped of all their clothing, would have their arms tied behind their backs with a hard cord.  Weights were attached to the feet.  Then by action of a pulley, the victim would be suspended in mid-air.  Then, as if this was not bad enough, the sufferer would be dropped and raised with a jerk, which dislocated the joints of his arms and legs.  The cord by which he was suspended would penetrate the quivering flesh to the bone.  While such torture was being employed, priests holding up crosses would attempt to get the "heretic" to recant.

In the year 1554 Francis Gamba, a Lombard, of the Protestant persuasion, was apprehended and condemned to death by the Sentence of Milan.  At the place of execution, a monk presented a cross to him, to whom Gamba said, "My mind is so full of the real merits and goodness of Christ that I want not a piece of senseless stick to put me in mind of Him."  For this expression his tongue was bored through and he was afterwards burned.

Others who rejected the teachings of the Roman church had molten lead poured into their ears and mouths.  Some had their eyes gouged out and others were cruelly beaten with whips.  Some were forced to jump from cliffs on to long spikes fixed below, where, quivering from pain, they slowly died.  And still others were choked to death with mangled pieces of their own bodies, with urine, or with excrement.

At night, the victims of the Inquisition were chained closely to the floor or wall where they were a helpless prey to the rats and vermin which populated those bloody torture chambers.

Not only were individuals and groups tortured and killed, but such also was the fate of entire cities which rejected the dogmas of Romanism.  In 1209, for example, the city of Beziers was taken by men who had been promised by the Pope that by engaging in the crusade against "heretics" they would immediately enter heaven upon death and that they would not even have to pass through purgatory to get there!  Several historians report that 60,000 in this city perished by the sword, while blood flowed in the streets.

At Lavaur in 1211, the governor was hanged on a gibbet and his wife thrown into a well and crushed with stones.  Four hundred citizens of the town were burned alive.  The Crusaders attended high mass in the morning, then proceeded to take other towns of the area where people had rejected the Catholic dogma.  In this siege, it is estimated that 100,000 Albigenses (Protestants) fell in one day.  Their bodies were heaped together and burned.  The "clergy" thanked God for this great victory for the "church", and a hymn was composed and sung about this so-called victory.

Then there was the massacre of Merindol.  Among other horrible things that transpired in this area that had become largely populated with Waldenses (Protestants), 500 women were locked in a barn which was set on fire.  When any of them leaped from the windows, they were received on the points of spears!  As in other cases, women were openly and pitifully violated.  Children were murdered right before their parents who were powerless to protect them.  Some were hurled from cliffs and others were stripped of all clothing and dragged through the streets.

Similar methods were used in the Massacre of Orange in 1562.  The Italian army was sent by Pope Pius IV and commanded to slay men, women, and children.  The command was carried out with terrible cruelty, the people being exposed to shame and torture of every description.

Ten thousand Protestant Huguenots were killed in the bloody massacre in Paris on "St Bartholomew's Day"  1572.  The French King went to mass to return solemn thanks that so many of these "heretics" were slain.  The Papal court received the news with great rejoicing and the Pope, Gregory XIII, in grand procession went to the church of St Louis to give thanks for the victory!  The Pope ordered the Papal mint to make coins commemorating the event.  The coins showed an angel with sword in one hand and a cross in the other, before whom a band of Huguenots, with horror on their faces, were fleeing.  Under the inscription are the words: "Ugonottorum Strages 1572" which signify, "The slaughter of the Huguenots 1572".

Even as late as the time of Napoleon, we read that after his troops had captured Toledo, an Inquisition prison was opened there.  The historian of Napoleon's wars said it was like opening tombs, as the poor captives came forth.  Their beards had grown down over their chests, their finger nails were like bird claws, and their bodies not much more than mere skeletons.  Some of them had not breathed fresh air in years.  Some were hopelessly crippled and deformed from having been kept in dens so low that they could not rise up in them.  The next day, General LaSalle and several of his officers carefully inspected the place.  The torture instruments they found filled even these men of the battlefield with horror.

Now any one of the Popes could have stopped the horrible Inquisition by merely affixing his name and seal to a piece of paper.  But did they?  No.  Some of the Popes that today are acclaimed as "great" by the Romish church, lived and thrived during those bloody days.  Not one of them made a serious attempt to open the dungeon doors, to stop the slaughter of the dripping blades, or quench the murderous fires that blackened the skies of Europe for centuries!

And now I ask you: Could such a system that instituted this horrible Inquisition of the Dark Ages be the true church?  Could a church that would employ such cruel methods be the Church founded by Him who said to turn the cheek, to forgive our enemies, to do good to them that despitefully use us?  Who, even when hanging in death at the hands of evil man, said; "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"?  Could these sadists - these monks and priests - be members of the pure, spotless,and undefiled bride of Christ?  Or could their leader, the Pope of Rome, be the representative of that Christ on earth?  I tell you NO, A MILLION TIMES NO!