An amateur,
genealogical researcher discovered that his great, great uncle, Remiss Starr, a
fellow lacking in character, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in
Montana back in 1889. The only known photograph of Remiss Starr, shows him
standing on the gallows, rope around his neck. On the back of the picture, is
this inscription,
“Remiss Starr,
horse thief, sent to Montana
Territorial prison 1885, escaped 1887,
robbed the Montana Flyer six
times, caught by Pinkerton detectives,
convicted shortly
thereafter, hanged 1889. “
A family friend rewrote the story of Remiss
and this is the way he presented the biography:
“Remiss Starr was a famous cowboy in the
Montana territory.
His business empire grew to
acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the
Montana railroad.
Beginning in 1885 he devoted
several years of his life to service at a government facility. Finally, taking
leave to resume his dealings with the railroad in 1887, he was a key player in
a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889,
Remiss passed away during an important civic function held in his honor, when
the platform upon which he was standing collapsed.”
While we find that rewrite of family history
humorous, there have been many attempts down through the ages of people determined
to rewrite history, to cover up the egregious behavior of past decades and
centuries in the name of social justice and equality.
There are people today who deny that the
holocaust ever happened. But after World War II, the Jewish nation was markedly
determined that history would remember the horrors of the holocaust and the
Nazi effort to wipe out a whole race of people. They preserved, as painful as
it was, the stories and pictures and artifacts that would document the horrors
of that time so that mankind would never allow it to be repeated or forgotten.
There have been many attempts down through
the Gospel age of people and governments who have attempted to rewrite history
by trying to destroy the Christian religion and eliminate any evidence that it
existed, including it’s one great tangible of the faith, the written Holy Word
of God.
The persecution of Christians by the Roman
Empire was one of those horrifying realities of history. But of the 10 Roman
Cesare’s who ruled after the death of Christ, Diocletian (284-305 AD), inaugurated
the most venomous and violent persecutions of all. The 10th and last of the Emperor’s
to inflict their wrath on the Christian faith, Diocletian began a systematic
attempt to wipe the name of Christ from the earth and from the history books.
In a.d.303, Diocletian issued an edict requiring the uniformity of worship of
Cesare. By refusing to pay homage to the image of the emperor, all Christians
became outlaws. Their public and private possessions are confiscated, their
assemblies are prohibited, their churches are torn down and worst of all, their
sacred writings are destroyed. Those tortured and killed is estimated to be in
the hundreds of thousands. Every means was devised to exterminate the obstinate
religion.
And yet, as it always does, the truth of
scripture would prevail as God had promised, “But the word of the Lord abides
forever.” I Peter 1:24
One promise is clear from
scripture that one day “… the earth will
be filled
With the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.”
So no matter how hard fallen humanity rails
against Jesus and those who follow Him, the attempt to rewrite His history in
this centuries old battle of good and evil, will still only end one way, when
Jesus Christ ultimately rules as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the
entire breadth of humanity. The Word of God will endure forever because it is
God Almighty who controls and writes the history of mankind.
“And I
saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on
it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
He judges and wages war. … and His name is
called The Word of God. … And
on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND
LORD OF LORDS.”
Revelation 19:11,12,16
Br. Dennis
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