The History of the Church of England

More than 470 years ago, our beloved sovereign King Henry VIII received a vision from our Lord God, instructing him that he was our Lord's chosen on earth instead of the Pope (as was widely believed at the time).

Despite the terrible pain Henry knew would be brought to countless devotees of our Lord, he knew it was his duty to build a Church for his people as the good Lord intended. For although the people of England were trying to be faithful to the Almighty, Henry was now acutely aware that they would all burn in hellfire for eternity because they were doing it all wrong.

So with the stiff upper lip and firm resolve so prominent amongst Kings appointed by the Divine Being, he proceeded to drag his nation towards the truth, the light and the way.

One of the biggest mistakes the Catholic Church was making at the time was the amount of Gold and precious stones they were using to ornament their places of worship. Unknown to them, God was most displeased with these glittering temples, preferring a more humble celebration of His glory.

God told Henry He was also upset with the Catholic tradition of "Merry Gold Day" that was practised in the kingdom at that time. This act of worship (captured in such life-like detail by the 16th Century Italian artist Antonio Maratello in his painting "The Merriest Day of the Year" - pictured here) was carried out by the monks. On the 7th of June each year they would venture out from their monasteries into the towns and villages to strike the peasants with gold bars and jangle large bags of coins up and down in front of them, chanting "God has all your money and He doesn't even need it because in Heaven everything is free!"

Henry, who alone knew the Lord's mind, put a stop to "Merry Gold Day" with an ingenious system of beheadings and soon began the systematic 'cleaning' of the gold-encrusted churches, removing the offending materials and putting them to a use that God would approve of - the supply of weapons and other materials to the armed forces to help defend the realm.

This is without doubt the most momentous occasion in history, as it marks the first time that God finally had people worshipping Him in the correct way. It is a sobering thought indeed, when you consider the countless souls which were lost to the fires of Hell before this point. And indeed we can only give thanks to the Lord that He chose to reveal the truth to King Henry when He did, or no doubt we too would be bound for the inferno that never dies.

Some Historians imply that Henry's break from Rome involved other factors, such as Henry's desire to have his marriage annulled so that he might remarry and beget an heir, but these have been widely and soundly discounted as fabricated attempts made by Catholic scholars to slander the great man and indeed the creation of the Anglican Church.