Before me is a book which has 734 pages describing the extent, the despotism, and the horror of the so-called "legal proceedings", the greediness and maliciousness of the accusers and judges during the years when the church of Rome was reaping the harvest of superstition that had been sown over many years. The Bible speaks of a struggle between good and evil, God and the devil from the very beginning of the book of Genesis. God shows to man the consequences of rejecting Him and the perils connected to a man who falls away from the loving God.

Christ was born, lived a sinless life, was crucified, died on the cross, was resurrected on the third day, ascended to heaven and sits to the right hand of the Father. Only a few years later the Apostle John began to speak of "anti-christ" as an opponent to Christianity and the Church. The term anti-christ in those days was understood by the Church as being a political figure who would suppress and persecute Christians and their new belief system.

When persecution stopped, however, the term "anti-christ " took on a different meaning. Christians began to believe that there was a prince of darkness building his kingdom beside the Kingdom of heaven, but that this kingdom would be defeated by Christ. Christians believed that Jesus had conquered the devil, which was expressed by the patriarch Hermes when he said, "You shall not fear the devil." The "holy " Augustine, however, accepted the idea that the powers of darkness are very intelligent, quick, knowledgeable, and had a lot of experience. He said, "The devil has the capability to have sexual union with godless women and because of it, he can use them to become mediums, create storm and hail,destroy the farmers crop, give the evil eye and do many other unexplainable things."

While the Christian emperors went against witchcraft by using deadly torture, the Church dealt with the same problem by disfellowshipping with those that had grossly sinned, because they believed that witchcraft was not possible without idolatry. The Synod of Bracara (563) had a very different view. They believed that anyone who believes the devil has power of his own to make thunder and lightning, droughts and floods, etc., should be damned. The law of one part of Europe, when accusing a witch of heaving eaten another human being, fined her 200 soldos (a former copper coin of Italy), while the Synod of Paderbornn, Germany (785), in comparison, threatened its citizens with execution if they believed like the heathen, became deceived by the devil, and were found to be witches that ate human beings.

Against such views stood Thomas of Aquinas with his teaching that anyone who declares that demons are the product of wild imagination has to be in error, for the R.C.church demands steadfastly that real demons have the power to do physical harm, can deprive men of their manhood, and can bring about hurricanes, tornadoes and fire storms. Aquinas's works were recommended by pope Leo X, and they truly laid the foundation for the Inquisition. The R.C. church believes that every child born is protected by an angel and this protection doctrine was carried to Mary and the saints and it was solidified by the priesthood with the understanding that everyone has the right to choose their own angel or saint. Out of this sprung up the notion that the devil and all his evil spirits were very powerful beings.

To make matters worse, a sect called Manes was founded by a Persian prophet, who wanted to establish his teachings of dualism within Christianity. This teaching is called Manicheanism, and was condemned by the R.C. church, but by that time, great damage had been done. It was no longer an impossibility that the belief in the devil's great power was in many people's minds. The R.C. church maintained, however, that she already had a task force in place, called "exorcists", who drove out demons through prayer and the sign of the cross, which were supposed to be powerful antidotes. It was also believed that the devil would enter into a covenant with any godless person, have a intimate relationship with him, supply him with supernatural strength that would enable him to fly through the night to meet at a secret place. He was supposed to be endowed by the devil to do harm to anyone he wished, namely women, to the devil's delight.

Through the cultivation of monasticism, the belief in witches grew ever so fanatically. Behind the walls of their self-imposed prisons, the monks had time enough to develop a kind of superstition that would work toward their interest, because the uneducated multitudes were seeking their safety and advice on how to deal with the powers of hell. Through this, the R.C. priesthood fortified their power over the weak souls, and great sums of money paid for their indulgences went into the treasury of the Vatican. As the people were fleeced by the clergy, the clergy in turn offered prayers of salvation. This was pleasing in the eyes of the R.C. church, and they considered it ill judgment to destroy their public image by telling the people things they knew, but didn't want anyone else to know. This belief in witches was further strengthened when the R.C. church began to change the meanings of the words "heretic" and "witchcraft". They began to use them interchangeably, and finally, they were both known to have the same meaning. To make matters worse, the priesthood and monks, who had no knowledge of the supernatural, were chosen to judge over such matters. The result was that everything that could not be explained was labeled as witchcraft and of the devil, increasing their own understanding of superstition followed by a number of absurd conceptions and notions about the supernatural.

It was around that time that men rose up, men like Peter Walden, (Pierre de Vaud), who began to attack the R.C. church, the rulership of the pope, his infallibility, and all the priesthood, ordinances, decrees and doctrines of the Vatican. He made himself their number one enemy. He insisted that Christianity was to be led back to the purity it had before Catholicism. The year 1170 found him very active drawing many followers in Northern Italy, Southern France and Germany. To us they are known as the Waldensians.

Walden and his followers were accused of the most horrendous crimes from being heretics to immoral people, and stories circulated that they were witches and warlocks and needed to be exterminated. The R.C. priesthood took every opportunity to show their hatred toward them, and left nothing undone to eliminate them, by sword and by fire. In the mendicant monks they found their greatest enemy. These monks were harbored such hatred toward them that it could only be described as fanaticism in its worse state. The unfortunate ones who fell into their hands found in them the most ferocious and merciless persecutors imaginable. It didn't take long for them to catch on to the fact that their accusations were always successful. Most of the accusations were fabrications of their superstitious minds. A mind that has been fed nothing but superstition from the time of early childhood, mainly through the teachings of the priests and monks, but also in the confession box and by observation of trials and executions, has no other understanding but fear. This is even more pronounced by those who are tender minded and sensitive, who always were in fear of being overtaken by the devil. Reading the " Legends of the Saints" only helped to increase their fear, and this explains why often in monasteries cases of strange fascinations took place. There we find those suffering from nervous debilities and sexual neuroses, which were more pronounced in females than in males. This explains why there is a higher number of witches than warlocks.

In the course of time, the religious concept of what western Christianity was supposed to look like had undergone a huge transformation that was initiated by the R. C. priesthood. The Christian's relationship with the Savior, Redeemer JESUS,and HIS love and good will for all mankind had all but disappeared. It was bent out of shape by ungodly priests, hirelings of the devil, using the name of Christ Jesus to cover up their heinous crimes of human malice, lust for power, and stupidity.

In the early days of Christianity there was little talk of the "devil's power", and the saying of the Church father Hermes, "You shall overcome the power of the devil", was still in the minds of many. This, however, changed as time went on, by the priesthood. "You shall overcome" had become an offense and an insult to them, so that in a short time people began to believe that the devil and his henchmen, with God's approval of course, now had power over every Christian, and none of them were safe anymore. Instead of reading the Bible to find out about the devil and his schemes, a pagan-inspired doctrine of demons took hold over the western world that led to superstitious beliefs in witches and magicians, and tore Christianity to pieces over the next few hundred years. In the beginning, the priesthood's understanding of the word "heretic" was one who had, or was believed to have fallen away from Christ and the sound teaching of the gospel. These were the ones who were brought before the Inquisition to bring them back to the church. Eventually, a heretic was often accused of being a witch or magician, so to the Inquisition court it was safe to assume that the full weight of the court should to be applied. As soon as the R.C. church had successfully merged the meaning of the words "heretic" and "witch" (magician), however, the judges found it quite in order to condemn anyone who was found to have a tendency toward the supernatural, to be burned at the stake. The legal profession in those days, being very much influenced by the R.C. church, went often way beyond their judicial limits and control.

In Germany, witches trials commenced on Dec. 4, 1484. Pope Innocent III, by means of a bull (Summis desiderantes), set them in motion. He was the one who had persecuted the Waldensians and the Hussites earlier; he, together with two professors of theology, the Dominican Heinrich Krämer, Jakob Sprenger, and a lawyer named Johann Gremper. The lawyer was added to the team to reside over the court of Inquisition. They were all given extensive powers by the pope. They were to judge over every person accused of being a witch (meaning a heretic), no matter what level of society they were from. When evidence was given that they were guilty as charged, the full weight of the Inquisition was to be applied. This meant that they were to be disowned, and their land and possessions were to be taken away from them. Their bank accounts were confiscated, and they were subjected to severe torture. Anything that seemed to help to solve the case was allowed, and it was to be done freely and without restraint, and when necessary, they were to call upon the civil government power to help them.

The wretched and money hungry bishop of Strasbourg, Albert of Bavaria, had received strict orders to keep a close eye on the procedures and the courts, that no harm would befall them, and to place the interdict upon every one who even so much as spoke about such a possibility. Once the papal bull was made known to all parts of the land, the Inquisition began their dirty work in earnest. The doors were opened to the despotism of the judges. At first, there was much resistance from both the bishops and civil government's judicial system, but the monks had no intention of giving up their newly found power and fountain of wealth, and pressed on to extend it. Their religious zeal in making good use of this persecution mania had no limits, and because of their total ignorance in worldly matters, nothing else was to be expected.

To speed things up, the court of Inquisition spread the message that the kingdom of the devil had come upon Christianity in Germany and the pope had come to rescue them and destroy his kingdom. His main problem was to convince all the priesthood that it was the truth. If there was any reluctance found among the clergy measures were taken to stir up the people by using the pulpit to proclaim the message with all its implications. Although it was custom in those days for the civil courts to deal with crimes committed, the introduction of satan made this a brand new ball game. The clergy now saw all criminal activities as being driven by the forces of hell. This made it easy to shift the power of governments to the Inquisition, for it was no longer a civil matter, but a spiritual one and must be fought by spiritual means. It was now a crime to think in terms other than what the church permitted.

Having this mighty tool in their hands, sanctioned by the pope, and safeguarded by a papal bull, the Inquisitors began their damnable work. These butchers understood their business, e.g. the extermination of human souls in the name of Jesus. The Inquisitors had hardly begun their work when it was made known that in two of the southern German dioceses in five years 89 victims had been burned at the stake for only one crime, being a witch (heretic). The accusations were fabrications of the minds of depraved judges. The hatred of the multitude of nations turned toward so-called "sniffers" who went about the land to sniff out heretics, and some sober minded rulers chased them out of their land.

It dawned on these papal heretic sniffers, however, that the papal bull "Summis desiderantes" needed an overhaul to broaden its effectiveness. It was concluded that the "witches trials" had to have a "book of law" that could deal with court procedures in a precise way and practice in dealing with witches and magicians (heretics). In the year 1487, the most monstrous and damnable book ever written was introduced into Germany. Some writer spoke later, in the 18th century, against this book by saying, "This is a book through which many hundreds of thousands of souls were robbed of their honor, their earthly possessions and their lives[.][B]eing gruesomely tortured, they went to their death."

This book describes, in vivid detail, how to hunt down witches to bring them to "justice". It goes on, saying,"[...] should a witch survive the first day of torture so is it permissible to continue the following day and as often it is necessary to bring her to confess. Does she admit to have committed this crime she is accused of, she will be given over to a civil court that will sentence her to death. But if she does not confess any wrong doings so is it acceptable to throw her into prison to let her suffer until she will confess. " The book's title is "The Witches Hammer". It is also called "Malleus maleficarum". The first part of this "book of law" deals with witches in general terms. It speaks of the influence of the devil over witches and magicians. It speaks of the children of witches, explaining the terms "incubus" and "succubus" with human beings. It also speaks of how witches can hurt people, how they can change them into animals, how to deal with midwives that practice black magic and cast spells on the unborn, how witches can bring about miscarriages, how they introduce children to the devil, how this all is done with God's approval and how females are more prone to be deceived than males.

The second part of the same book deals with what questions are to be asked and how to safeguard oneself from the various types of witchcraft. It deals with how curses can be lifted and recovery attained. The assertion was made that the devil, through a female medium, exclusively zeros in on pious virgin to cause them to stumble. It is pointed out that the devil can do damage in three ways. 1.) Through time loss. 2.) Through loss of faith in the grace of God. 3.) Loss of eternal salvation. It is interesting to know that there are three classes of witches. 1.)Those that can cause trouble, but cannot help. 2.) Those that can help, but can't do any damage. 3.) Those that can help to reverse curses. It is, however, of some interest to note how the mind of man can degrade to such a low level, losing itself in such small bagatelle and develop therein its wretched sagacity.

The "witches hammer" seems to know of the most secret occult practices. It drew a line between a solemn pact of the devil and a witch, which required the whole coven to be present, and a private pact that only required the usual formalities, but no ceremonies. On top of the highest ranking position were those that ate children and by the power of satan could endure the most excruciating pain imaginable without blinking an eye. The aristocrats of the witches were able to produce hail, hurricanes and tornadoes, thunder and lightning, cause emotions like love and hatred, could give the evil eye that killed, could kill children in the mothers womb, and many other such deeds. They were able to touch the judge's heart to cause them to have mercy and be loving toward the accused victim. It was said that the best antidote against any of the power of the witches was fasting, prayer, confession, taking part in the eucharist, or any of the sacraments; in short, anything that would bring in revenue for the monasteries. This included the use of holy water, incense, holy salt, and amulets, which were always available for a price and always accompanied by some sort of ritualistic ceremony. The stupidity of many was their source of income, and therefore secured the future of the monastery.

The third part of the "witches hammer" was very important, for it laid the foundation for the witches trials. The most important principle was that whoever was under suspicion of being a witch was immediately marked as a heretic and no civil or ecclesiastic authority had any jurisdiction in such matters, nor were allowed to interfere. The following steps were necessary to start court proceedings. The introduction was done by the judge even when there had not been any complaints or accusations received. If there was a rumor that a witch resided in a certain town or village, the court in its entirety was allowed to go from house to house to gather evidence. If two or three spoke ill against such person, it was accepted as enough evidence to bring her to trial.

There was no care taken in the selection of witnesses. Any excommunicated person, any accomplice to the crime, any servant or relative was accepted, even personal enemies, if they did not seek the life of the accused. What an immense margin of personal revenge was given here into the hands of greedy, jealous and malicious people. This book of law became the plumb line for all "Christian nations" across the world. It was difficult for it to become legal, for there was much resistance, and there needed to be proof of validity from the authors, but in the end they succeeded. Once it was accomplished in Germany, the rest of Europe followed. Pope Alexander VI ordered the Dominican monk Angelus as head of the Inquisition in the Lombardy. Pope Leo X complained in one of his letters (1521) that some of the accused heretics chose rather to die than to admit their guilt. The government of the republic of Venice had taken steps to prevent the execution of the penalties handed down by the Inquisition. As did Leo, so did pope Julius II.

The infallible authority of the popes that looked upon it all with approval had now opened the sluices of destruction. It was the extension of the 200 years slaughter of Christianity by which millions already had perished, being innocent victims in most cases. This book of law, the "witches hammer", united the R.C. church and the civil governments with their judicial systems to set up the theory whereby great men of philosophy, the medical profession, and the existing criminal practices were all brought together to produce the material to confirm this theory.

The whole world trembled from the terror of the tortures applied in these proceedings and there was much resistance all over at first. The "witches hammer", however, drove the belief in witchcraft and the belief in demon power, as the pagans once knew it, deep into the minds and souls of Christianity right up to the 18th century. In the early days of Christianity, believers in Christ Jesus rejoiced in the soul cleansing message of Jesus and believed the power of satan was broken, and that every believer had the guarantee that victory over evil had been achieved and satan had to fear the Church, not the other way around. For the first time in history, man was given the opportunity to be free from the power of sin, and it continued that way almost right up to the end of the first millennium of Christianity. It was understood, more or less, that any work of the devil was no more than an imitation and counterfeit of the real power in Christ, and that satan had lost his power at Calvary.

As the power of the papacy rose around the year 1,000 A.D., however, the most heinous curse over mankind was made into a dogma. The misery from which Jesus had delivered the world was now replaced by the papacy. Christianity once more trembled of the secret and hidden powers of the devil, witches and magicians. In matters of the law, it was common practice that if someone were accused, he had the right to call character witnesses to his defense, and to meet the accuser face to face. This law was altered, however, because accusing someone of witchcraft or casting magic spells required only a rumor to set the machinery of the Inquisition in motion. Then through torture people were forced to confession of guilt. Older women, often times widows, were the main targets. For hundreds of years they were only a step away from being accused of being witches.

Let us now look into the behavioral practices of the Inquisition. Suspicion of being a witch was detected if: a person did not go to church at all, for she had a relationship with the devil already and did not wanted to go to church not to be found out a person showed too much zeal going to church, she was trying to hide and cover up her dealings with the devil.

If someone was slandered against, it was said; "vox populi - vox dei" the voice of the people - the voice of God. If a slandered person paid no mind to the accusation against her because she knew she was innocent, the voice of the people said; she looks suspicious maybe the devil has given her some kind of assurance. If a slandered person defended herself,this was a sure sign of her guilty conscience, and she was afraid. If she moved to another place to seek refuge, this was a signal that she had something to hide. At the time of her arrest, if she was found to have cold skin, she was already guilty. If she was found to have hot skin so was this the same sign. She was as good as dead if she was found to have stigmas on her. Any cross - examination was conducted like this: "Do you belief in witches?" If the answer was No, it was interpreted as she being guilty. If she answered by saying Yes, this was taken as a hint that she knew more about it than had been expected, and the torture could begin to extract all she knew. The same happened to older women, which happened to have red eyes. As soon as they were under suspicion, all illness of man and beast were attributed to them in an effort to save their own wealth and lives.

Often times a town or village was set in uproar purposely, so that the people of such place would cry for the Inquisition to come and deliver them from the uncertainty that had befallen them. In almost all cases, the Inquisition court was not too far away and came with great haste, and almost always they were greeted with great festivity by the mayors and the citizenry. A poster was nailed to the church door commanding every person to reveal any person suspicious of witchcraft or having cast magic spells, within 12 days. Whoever did not adhere to this would be placed in the interdict and put on trial. On the other hand, those who accused someonewere promised confidentiality, money, and the blessings of the church. Unfortunately, this trick never failed to bring forth at least one victim, often more. Depending on the location within the country, those accused were simply thrown into prison to make them pliable. Their stay was uncertain, but while they were locked up they were given the most detestable food, they laid in unheated rooms, wet, cold, often without windows and ventilation, sitting in their own excrement completely isolated from any one else. It was no wonder many of them went insane, became sick, and often died before they had their day in court.

The prisons mainly consisted of towers, deep excavations, and vault like enclosures made up of thick walls. The prisoners either stood upright, or they were sat on a block of wood, the naked ground, or on stone slabs, or tied up in an odd position so they could not move. In some parts of the land,prisoners were tied to wooden crosses, and there they were left either hanging, laying on their backs, or standing without being able to move even the slightest little bit. In other regions, they were put away in cave like structures just big enough for a person to fit into with their heads between their legs and locked up behind iron doors. They were unable to turn, stretch or comfort themselves in any way. When taken out of these holes they could no longer walk or stand upright. Most of them could not use their normal bodily function, could not sleep, could not fend off the rats, mice and lice that were eating away on their flesh.They were also subjected to daily ridicule and mental abuse by the keepers, and deep depression ran wild among them.

Victims who at first thought they could endure this torture, being strong in body and spirit, soon found out they had succumbed to fright, faint hearts, loss of confidence, and had become impatient and vexed. If there was ever a case of a person being set free immediately, she was not, for she had to pay the court cost. O, what a wonderful administration of justice! Now she had to stay in jail until it was all paid.

The Christian standard of morals and decency was undermined. The minds of the people were poisoned by the witch-hunt and trials that swept across Europe. If someone slept in, this was a sign that she had been out during the night at a witches coven meeting. If someone was easily scared or startled, this was a sure sign of guilt, for who else could have made them jumpy, but the devil. Too many innocent victims died over those years not ever having anything to do with that which they were accused. A woman was under suspicion of being a witch. She was tortured and asked if she had any accomplices. Yes, she cried out: You have taken me from my children, because I am poor, but you have spared the wealthy ones. In her anguish she named a number of highly esteemed citizens of the town, including the mayor's wife, and all of them suffered the same fate, death. It was dangerous to be a relative or a friend of someone who was under suspicion of being a witch. The madness did not stop because of age, gender, rank, wealth or education. There was no safeguard for those who lived a high standard of morality, nor the lowest form of depravity. Withdrawing from life was not helping, nor the sanctuary of the family dwelling; not friendship, enmity, nor maternal bands. The children of such victims were closely observed, and thought of as witch's broods, and treated as such.To be continued.....