The trail of blood starts outside Eden
running from Abel to Zechariah, even
to the foot of a Roman cross on Golgotha,
“the place of a skull”- the great massacre.
A stone’s throw away we come to Stephen,
Herod killed James then tried to do the same to Cephas;
Antipas sealed his witness where Satan dwells,
and since then the church has fought the devils of hell:
John against Cerinthus, Augustine against Pelagius,
while Wycliff and Tyndale write the beast rages.
Luther teaches and writes 95 Theses,
Calvin, Knox, Beza, Ferril, and Wittingham put together the pieces.
Bunyan imprisoned, Puritans ejected,
Westminster and London confesses,
the prince that preached was then dejected.
We follow the trail into a new millennium-
In an age of lies the truth is fought for by few representatives;
faithful men and women fall at our side.
The trail comes to us, now will we run and hide or die?
“Chop off my head, and it won’t harm me.
I have a God who will give me a new one.”
-Martin Luther
