We would like to paint the founding of America and the original settlers with a rosy tint of perfection. Such a portrayal is both inaccurate and unreasonable because that’s just not the case. Just ask Roger Williams and he would tell you. This founder of the first Baptist church in the colonies got banished from the original blue colony of Massachusetts, evidently liberal from the onset.
Supposedly, the Puritans came to this country in search of religious freedom. However, they weren’t as big of proponents of religious freedom as we are led to believe. They had enlisted the civil government to punish any dissenters to their way of thinking. Remember, this is the group that had Christmas banned in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 because it was too “joyous.” Such exuberant celebrations were deemed irreligious and an affront to their piety. This ban stayed in place until 1836!
The religious superiority of the Puritans also led them to believe that they had the right to take the land of the Native Americans for their own. Roger Williams spoke out against them, making himself a target for their not-so-righteous anger.
“On October 8, 1635, Williams was summoned…to appear before the court. The court decided to give Williams a final chance to recant, to take back what he had preached or written…Williams could not be persuaded that he was wrong. Stubborn, yes – but not wrong. And so he went back to court the next morning, October 9, of the same mind and heart. Similarly, the court could not be persuaded that it was wrong. And so, most solemnly, the court began: “Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elder of the church at Salem, hath broached and divulged diverse new and dangerous opinions…It is therefore ordered that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks.”1
Williams “radical” belief that there should be religious freedom and that the Native Americans should not have their land stolen out from under them made him a threat and too dangerous for the Puritans. Makes me think of the early Christians who were accused of sedition because of the truth-filled doctrine they preached.
Acts 16:18-22 takes place in Philippi. We are familiar with the story in this chapter where Paul and Silas are in jail but what we might not remember is why. The passage says, “And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. (19) And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, (20) And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, (21) And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. (22) And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.”
A while later in Corinth, Paul is once again accused of seditious, heretical teaching. Acts 18:9-13 says, “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: (10) For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. (11) And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. (12) And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, (13) Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.”
Seems to me that Roger Williams was doing the same thing Paul was doing. He was preaching the truth according to the Scriptures, challenging error, and those promoting it. This got BOTH men labeled as heretics. Roger is banished from Massachusetts and ends up founding Rhode Island. Paul gets banished to Rome – which is where he wanted to go anyway in order to preach to Caesar.
The Puritans seemed to have a lot of Pharisee in them. When challenged with truth, they got angry. People today will get angry as well over the truth of God’s Word. Just look at what happened to Charlie Kirk.
Will we be willing to face banishment – maybe from a school event, work, family, neighbors, friends – in order to speak for the Lord even though we’ve been told to be quiet or to recant? Let’s stand strong for the Lord in these dark days, taking encouragement from the example of Paul, Roger Williams, and even Peter in Acts 5:28-29.
“…Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. (29) Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
1Roger Williams, Gaustad, Edwin S. (Edwin Scott), published 2005, New York : Oxford University Press
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
