How to Face Fiery Trials

[373 words] The Roman Emperor Nero began persecuting Christians on a very horrible and violent level. Tacitus, the Roman historian, records that “Nero falsely accused and executed with the most exquisite punishments those people called Christians…And perishing they were additionally made into sports: they were killed by dogs by having the hides of beasts attached to them, or they were nailed to crosses or set aflame, and, when the daylight passed away, they were used as nighttime lamps. Nero gave his own gardens for this spectacle…” (Annals, translated by Richard Hooker). It was during this time that Peter would have written his first epistle to Christians who would undergo some of these executions. His encouragement to them was to stay faithful to Christ. He wrote in 1 Pet. 1:7 that some them would have their faith “tested by fire.” The thought of being torn apart by dogs, crucified, or burned…