16. (a) Against whom did Christendom’s leaders show special hatred? (b) What took place in Christendom during the Middle Ages? (c) Did the Protestant rebellion, or Reformation, change Christendom’s apostate ways?

¹⁶ While claiming to be shepherds of the flock of God, Christendom’s leaders, religious and secular, showed special hatred for anyone who tried to encourage Bible reading or anyone who exposed their unscriptural practices. John Hus and Bible translator William Tyndale were persecuted and martyred. During the bedarkened Middle Ages, apostate rule reached a peak in the diabolic Catholic Inquisition. Any who disputed the teachings or authority of the church were unmercifully suppressed, and countless thousands of so-called heretics were tortured to death or burned at the stake. Thus Satan endeavored to ensure that any true seed of God’s womanlike organization would be quickly crushed. When the Protestant rebellion, or Reformation, occurred (from 1517 onward), many Protestant churches manifested a similar intolerant spirit. They too became bloodguilty by martyring those who endeavored to be loyal to God and Christ. Truly, “the blood of holy ones” was freely poured out!​—Revelation 16:6; compare Matthew 23:33-36.

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Christendom’s religion incurred a heavy bloodguilt by persecuting and killing those who translated, read, or even owned the Bible