It is obvious that a medical doctor’s license does not protect patients from sexual abuse or unnecessary medical procedures; nor protect students from incompetent or predatory teachers; nor guarantee a reasonable-looking haircut from barbers; nor assure a fair, reasonable defense by attorneys; nor, but then you get the idea.

In the mid-400s, Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor from 408 to 450, made it a punitive offense for a man to teach the public without a state license; and soon such licenses were given only to “Christians.” Now that the Church was in control, they decided to keep the unbelievers out of teaching by requiring permission from the church-controlled government.

As early as 1534, the English clergy were forbidden to preach without a government license and John Bunyan got caught up in government machinery that tried to control preachers and teachers.

John Bunyan has been one of my major heroes all my adult life. But, I recently discovered that John, after spending more than 12 years in jail for preaching the Gospel, finally accepted a license to preach! While that was wrong in my opinion, it does not diminish Bunyan’s courageous stand against King Charles II and the king’s demand that John and other dissidents (those who disagree) not preach the Gospel. Preaching the Gospel was very costly to all except the Church of England preachers and even they did not have total freedom of conscience since they had to obey the King and Parliament regarding religious matters.

In the seventeenth century, all religious groups hated the Roman Catholics who like all dissidents met in homes. Everyone in England and Europe remembered the Inquisition where “the papists” mangled, mauled, and murdered hundreds of thousands of “heretics.” All the dissidents and the Church of England preachers agreed–“No popery, no popery!” Of course, everyone should have had freedom of conscience–Catholics, Anglicans, Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, and even the religious weirdos. Moreover, all the groups were against the Baptists because of their insistence on baptism by emersion of only those who had trusted Christ as Savior. No babies under any circumstance.

King Charles I had feuded, fussed, and fought with Parliament and ended up being beheaded in 1649 followed by Oliver Cromwell becoming Lord Protector until his death in 1658. Although a strict Puritan, Cromwell provided religious freedom for everyone. Into this religious mix, mess, and maelstrom walked two men who would make their mark on English history–a preacher and a king.

When Charles II restored the monarchy in 1660, he reneged on his promise of religious freedom he had made in his Declaration of Breda a few weeks earlier (a mistake I hope Trump does not make). The people had experienced about twenty years of freedom of worship but now nonconformist (Baptist, Presbyterian, Independent, etc.) services were banned, and ministers were rounded up and arrested. The major hero in this religious mix was a born-again tinker, a Baptist preacher named John Bunyan. The resultant clash was titanic.

Soon after his conversion, Bunyan began preaching in 1655 and was arrested in 1660 while preaching in an unapproved religious meeting (conventicle). He served a prison stretch until 1672 when he was released with other dissidents. He was jailed again for a few months in 1675.

The Act of Uniformity 1662 required every preacher to adhere to and accept the doctrine of the Church of England or leave the country. That included all preachers of the Church of England (many of them Puritans) and all the various independent groups. Everyone had to attend the Church of England regularly with fines, banishment, and then hanging for a third offense. (That would sure help one decide whether or not to sleep in on Sunday morning!) The act required all clergymen to use the Book of Common Prayer; consequently, about 2,000 Puritan clergymen were forced to resign. Some of them recanted while others became dissident preachers, others got other employment.

As to unbiblical ceremonies in the Church of England, Puritans (and all dissidents) objected to kneeling during the Lord’s Supper, the observation of holy days, the use of the surplice (outer garment worn by priests), and the signing of the cross in baptism.

The noose got tighter when the Conventicle Act 1664 became law forbidding more than five people, not members of the same family, to meet for worship. This was followed the next year by the Five Mile Act that forbade any preacher from coming within five miles of any incorporated town or their former place of abode. The noose was now tight and the preachers were standing on a very fragile, shaky platform.

The Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and other dissidents from the Church of England continued to meet surreptitiously in homes, barns, and abandoned buildings while the Quakers very bravely continued to meet openly. This was a time of persecution without parallel as Protestants (Anglicans) persecuted Protestants (Puritans and dissidents).

However, Charles and the Anglicans did not have it easy in hounding, hunting, and harassing the dissidents. In 1668, the Bawdy House Riots proved that sane citizens recognized the insanity of persecution of decent people. London crowds attacked brothels as they protested against a government which had tolerated prostitution while persecuting devout, principled preachers!

Present day parallels are numerous as the state asserts its authority to control religious colleges, license Christian counsellors, certify Christian teachers, regulate school curriculum, prohibit anti-homosexual regulations, restrict military chaplains, etc.

The modern state is as arrogant, asinine, and aggressive as King Charles II was and it’s time for principled Christians to resist to the point of jail.

Boys’ new book Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! was published recently by Barbwire Books; to get your copy, click here. An eBook edition is also available.

Additionally, it would negate a recent bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown of California who jumped with hobnail boots upon the rights of all Christian colleges in that state. That oppressive law now includes California’s Christian colleges and universities and forces all schools to report to the state officials four times a year on every expulsion and suspension of a student, and the reasons for the discipline. That is none of the government’s business and private college presidents should clearly tell authorities that fact and say: “We will not obey that law. Come and get us.” Only a weak, wavering, wobbly weasel of a college president would obey such a law.

Trump must keep his promise made at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 2 when he promised, “My administration will do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty.” Evangelical Christians put him in office and we can take him out. We don’t want a return of the government seeking to control Christians in the colleges, churches, or culture.

I don’t want any heel on my neck, not Trump’s, nor a governor’s, nor a local dictocrate’s heel. If these oppressive laws are not overturned, then we will see a return to 17th century England when preachers defanged King George II.

John Bunyan was one of the first to feel the heat of tyranny for his biblical convictions.

The Bedford church and similar churches were called Independents since they did not have any ties to the Church of England, and I freely and gladly identify with them. Being independent was illegal since everyone had to be a member of the Church of England and regularly attend services. Or severe penalties were imposed.

It was safer to be a desperado in England than it was to be a dissident!

Bunyan moved to Bedford in 1644 (when Charles I was king) to be closer to the dissident church. When his wife died in 1658, John was left with blind Mary, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas. Convinced that he would be put in prison, he asked a teenage girl in the church to marry him and care for his children. He and Elizabeth were married in 1659 and they had two more children. They learned to love each other as they got older, proof that often you may not always marry the one you love but you can love the one you marry. Elizabeth became an aggressive advocate, approaching various judges seeking John’s release.

John was taken to court and warned by the judge that the charges against him were serious: John had never attended services in a Church of England as the law required, and was known to have preached in unapproved churches. Bunyan told the judge, “The depositions speak the truth. I have never attended services in the Church of England, nor do I intend ever to do so. Secondly, it is no secret that I preach the Word of God whenever, wherever, and to whomever He pleases to grant me opportunity to do so.”

John took a deep breath and continued, “I have no choice but to acknowledge my awareness of the law which I am accused of transgressing. Likewise, I have no choice but to confess my guilt in my transgression of it. As true as these things are, I must affirm that I neither regret breaking the law, nor repent of having broken it. Further, I must warn you that I have no intention in the future of conforming to it.” John had a backbone of steel and did not wear lace on his drawers, as do most preachers today.

Judge Wingate said, “Charles II has made provision for dissenting preachers to hold some limited meetings. All that is required is that such ministers procure licenses [permission] authorizing them to convene these gatherings.” But, John knew that he did not need permission from anyone to preach the Gospel.

John replied, “I must repeat that it is God who constrains me to preach, and no man or company of men may grant or deny me leave [permission] to preach. These licenses of which you speak, M’lord, are symbols not of a right, but of a privilege. Implied therein is the principle that a mere man can extend or withhold them according to his whim. I speak not of privileges, but of rights. Privileges (licenses) granted by men may be denied by men. Rights are granted by God, and can be legitimately denied by no man. I must therefore, refuse to comply.”

The frustrated judge sentenced John to prison saying, “I strongly suspect that we have heard the last we shall ever hear from Mr. John Bunyan.” Somewhat of an understatement.

In November of 1660, John was taken to the county jail on Silver Street in Bedford where he was imprisoned for 12 years except for a few weeks in 1666. His home on High Street was a short walk away. In March 1675, he was imprisoned for six months in the Bedford town jail on the stone bridge over the Ouse River.

The major storm of church-state conflict was building on the horizon that would smash a staggering nation and leave behind thousands of Christians without incomes, homes, and reputations–all because a tyrannical king insisted on controlling preachers with a government license. A license always means control.

Modern Americans, including most religious leaders, are totally ignorant of the danger of a government license.

It was safer to be a desperado than it was to be a dissident in England; and America and Canada are on the same path. Trump, keep your word, and protect the people who elected you!

Boys’ new book Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! was published recently by Barbwire Books; to get your copy, click here. An eBook edition is also available.