ANNE ASKEW – 18 JUNE 1546

On this day, the 18 June, in 1546, a good 480 years back, the recorded Church history notes that, Anne Askew, an English writer, poet, and Protestant preacher from the English nobility, is sentenced by the Judges, under King Henry VIII, to be burnt alive at Smithfield, in England. The reason for such a cruel and evil punishment is – Anne Askew denied the Doctrine of Transubstantiation – the idea that sacramental bread and wine turn into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. The sentence will be carried out the following month. 

Anne Askew is not a lady to be deterred from her faith. The cardinals, bishops, and priests try their best to make her recant. They were unsuccessful in all their threats. When asked by her accusers, “Sayest thou that priests cannot make the body of Christ?” she answered, “I have read that God made man; but that man can make God, I never yet read, nor, I suppose, shall ever read.”

Anne Askew was well read in her Scriptures, even though it was prohibited by the law for common people to possess a Bible. If they wanted to read the Bible, they had to use the one in the Church, according to the new law recently enacted by the King.  

Her husband was pressurised and manipulated into pressing Anne Askew to recant her stance on matters of faith. She holds on firmly to the Bible and its teachings. Giving up the pretence of “justice” and “fairness” the Judges “under the law” sentence Anne Askew to be burnt alive on 16 July 1546, at a young age of twenty five, and a mother of two young children.

Anne Askew and Margaret Cheyne are the only women on record known to have been both tortured in the Tower of London, and also burnt alive at the stake.

Anne Askew’s written accounts of her encounters with “christian” religious authorities and the torturous interrogations, known as “Examinations” illustrate her steadfast and resolute defiance against the ecclesiastical authority. She demonstrates by her assertion, that as a disciple of the LORD Jesus, she also had the right to interpret the Scriptures, and not necessarily follow blindly, the dictates of someone who is so obviously in error of the holy Scriptures.

Lessons we can draw by observing the facts of Anne Askew’s stand and the consequences of it, as as follows.
– Anne Askew took a bold and courageous stand for her times, disregarding her personal safety, and the price that she might have to pay, if she continued to hold on to her stand, and not recant.
– Thankfully she held on, even though it is painful and tragic to see the ending of it.
– Anne Askew’s stand is truly commendable, considering women had very little rights and power over many things in life, during those days.

– The “church” and the religious authorities were hand in glove with the ruling class…in some instance they were the ruling class themselves.
– Christianity was weaponised by the power structures of the day represented by the kings, laws, judiciary, to suit the political needs and necessities of the day.
– The notorious among all are the religious heads and priests, who were expected to mind God’s work and the PREACHING and the PRACTICE His WORD, rather than meddle in power structures of the kingdom and empire, and be a willing, active and eager  conduits of such cold, cruel, evil and demonic activities. Forgive me, if I am being too straightforward.
– Bible, the written Word of the Almighty God, became a tool and a pawn in the hands of religious leaders, to harass, hurt and harm anyone who differed in their views from the official version – both Roman Catholics and the Reformers…to the extent of cruelly killing them, and making them as an example for others, who may be thinking on same lines.
– People wanted to follow the LORD Jesus, as they saw fit, by their reading and understanding of the Scriptures.
– The dictate was – do what we tell you to do, if not, be prepared to face the consequences, as laid out in the law.
– Of course, the law was written down precisely to eliminate all the opponents of the official position. 
– Therefore, anyone who crosses the official line automatically become a person in conflict with the law of the land, thus a criminal who needs to “justly” and “fairly” punished for his or her criminal activity.

– Anne Askew’s life and testimony should be an inspiration for us to read our Bible and get to know what the LORD is wanting us to know about sin, salvation, sanctification and the related matters.
– Don’t leave it entirely to what the “learned” people of the church decide and say. The church had be wrong and found wanting in many many occasions in the past. We are all humans, and errors are possible. Therefore, it becomes all the more important that we study the Word of God in our own, and seek God to help us arrive at right conclusions.

What a tragedy. Such days are not gone away. They still exist. We still have them in different forms and shapes. There is a strong resurgence of such a way of conducting public life in the world today. May we be more like Anne Askew, who chose to read the Bible, come to correct conclusions and live for her convictions, even to the point of joyfully willing to pay the ultimate price for her faith with her life, rather than compromise our faith out of compulsion or coercion, and live like a “traitor” to the LORD Jesus. Even so, the LORD Jesus help us.