Beyond the relationship between the FSLN and notable liberation theologians, liberation theology mobilized Nicaraguan Christians in support of the FSLN before, during, and after the Nicaraguan Revolution. Liberation theology initially spread across Nicaragua in the late-1960s and early-1970s from secular priests and lay Christians who adopted this theology after reading the works of liberation theologians like Gustavo Gutierrez and encountering the living conditions of the poor. Throughout the 1970s, the FSLN attracted increasing numbers of radical Christians to its cause through its emphases on revolutionary social action, armed struggle, and the extension of historical agency to the poor. These messages distinctly appealed to the Nicaraguan Christian masses who, after suffering under periods of martial law and economic exploitation under the Somoza regime, sought to bring about their own liberation through political and religious revolution.