You are listening to the Passion City Church, D.C. podcast.

To learn more about Passion City Church, including our gathering times in Atlanta and Washington,

D.C. visit us online at passion city church.com.

Today's talk comes from Pastor Ben Stewart.

Well, I want to begin by talking to you about the historic Christian response to infectious diseases.

In about the 300th AD, Constantine was the Emperor of Rome who allegedly became a Christian and

made Rome a Christian nation. When he died two generations later his nephew

Julian became Emperor of Rome and Julian hated Christianity and wanted to stamp it out and he wanted to revive the worship of the pantheon of Hellenistic gods and so he began to launch on a campaign of suppressing Christianity.

He extracted it from schools, stopped financial benefits to churches, began to persecute Christians

by arresting them, things like that. And then he also began to funnel a lot of money

into the worship of the Greek gods. And we have letters that he wrote about that experience.

And it's fascinating. We have one to Arsechius the high priest of Galatia

and as he was writing to him he told him the Hellenic religion does not prosper as I desire.

He said I'm trying to promote it but it's not working. And he said

and it's the fault of those who profess it. This is your fault. He says for the

worship of the gods is on a splendid and And yet we're not growing.

And then he calls his high priest to look at the Christians.

He says, their Christianity is being advanced specifically through their

care's,

care for the the pretend holiness has done the most to increase their atheism.

He called it atheism because they didn't believe in the gods.

He said, Christian is being advanced because look how they treat the stranger.

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