NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
© June 2019, LD Wilson Consultants,
Inc.
Contents
The World
Situation When Jesus Was Born
- The Military Situation
- The Political Situation in Canaan
- The Hebrew Religious Situation
- Problems With The Gentile Religions
After The
Crucifixion
The Pauline
Branch Of Christianity
The Jerusalem
Branch Of Christianity
The Council Of
Nicaea
The Dark Ages
The Medieval
Period
The
Renaissance
The
Enlightenment
The Colonists
IV.
CHRISTIANITY IN THE EARLY USA
V.
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA TO THE PRESENT
Karl Marx
Communism And
The Russian Revolution
Socialism And
Secularism In The USA And Elsewhere
__________________________
THE
WORLD SITUATION WHEN JESUS WAS BORN
THE WORLD
MILITARY SITUATION. At the time of the birth of Jesus, the
dominant political and military power in the Middle East, all of Europe, and
Northern Africa was the Roman Empire. The
Roman Republic (509 – 27 BC) had just fallen apart and was replaced by a vicious socialist
government.
We believe that military historians would say that its cruelty,
brutality and success make Nazi GermanyÕs brutality and murder of about 12
million people look extremely tame!
The Roman horror lasted nearly 500 years. The Nazi horror lasted only about 10 years and affected a
much smaller area of the world.
Everything
the Romans did was extremely well-planned and
well-executed. At the time of the
birth of Jesus, they were an unstoppable and extremely wicked force on earth
like nothing anyone had ever seen.
THE POLITICAL SITUATION OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE. At
this time, the Romans were in firm control of the land of Canaan. This was the name of the land of the
Hebrews.
The Romans had an ÒarrangementÓ with the Jewish religious leaders that
they could remain in power, provided they carried out the will of Rome.
For example, the decision to crucify Jesus was not the decision of the
Jewish authorities, no matter what it seemed like. In secret, everything was dictated by the
Romans. The local leaders
were expected to carry out the orders of the Romans or they were promptly
murdered.
The
Romans, not the Jewish leaders, really feared anyone who stirred up the people
and gave them hopes of freedom or a better life. Jesus
was one of those whom the Romans decided had to be killed because he was
stirring up trouble.
We believe that
the mission of Jesus was, in part, a divine plan to counteract and stop the
devastation on earth caused by the Roman Empire. It
took a while, but the mission succeeded – and without requiring an
army. It was love against
brutality, and love triumphed! For
more details, read The Missions Of Abraham And Yeshua.
THE HEBREW RELIGION. The
Hebrew religion, which had started 4000 years before the birth of Jesus, had
deviated from its original form. For
example, Kings 1 explains that the Jewish people were told that God is their king. They were not to have a human or
earthly king!
However, they wanted an earthly or fleshy king because everyone else
had one! Finally, this wish was
granted, but it was an aberration.
The other problem was the growth in the complexity in the way the
Jewish people were organized, and the complexity of rituals and rules that had
grown up over the years.
Originally, the Hebrews were organized into
12 tribes, each with fairly clear responsibilities and roles. This is all spelled out in the Old
Testament of the Bible. But this
had been abandoned and in its place had grown up an authoritarian priesthood
called the Pharisees.
We believe that
another mission of Jesus was to correct this situation. He
wanted to return his own people to their original laws and rules, and get rid
of the incorrect newer priesthood that separated the people from contact with
their God.
THE ROMAN RELIGIONS.
Another world situation at the time Jesus was born was that the Roman
religions were a mixed up mess of Greek mythology, cults, orgies,
homosexuality, bestiality (sex with animals), and many cruel rituals including
some human sacrifice.
We believe that
another part of the mission of Jesus was to end all this horror. He wanted to teach the Bible and its
moral and ethical code to ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, which includes the non-Hebrew
people, also called the gentiles.
In addition to the moral principles of the Bible, we believe that
teaching the Hebrew Kosher food laws to the entire world was very important to
Jesus. Unfortunately, this has not
been done as yet, today. Also, the
kosher or cleanliness rules were changed somewhat and made too complex.
AFTER
THE CRUCIFIXION
The story of the life of Jesus is described in the New Testament of
the Bible. Let us skip ahead to
what occurred afterwards because this is less well known.
After the crucifixion, which occurred around the year 33 AD, the
followers of Jesus scattered. They
had to flee or live in secret to save their lives. The Roman conquerors who ruled the
land viewed them as a threat to their power.
Anyone they found who they thought was a follower of Jesus they
promptly killed. There were no
trials or inquiries of any kind.
It was very brutal and only the most careful of people were able to
conceal their true beliefs.
The followers of Jesus became split into two main groups. These were the Roman or Pauline group and the Jerusalem group.
In 1945, the Nag Hammadi scrolls or Dead Sea
scrolls were discovered in Egypt.
They document the fact that there were, in fact, two groups of early
Christians. Below are a few
details about the two groups.
THE
PAULINE BRANCH OF CHRISTIANITY
This became the main group of Christians that most people know
about. The group was centered in
Rome, capital of the Roman Empire at the time.
Their leader was the apostle, Paul. He lived in prison in Rome until his murder around 62 to 64
AD.
At first, this branch of the Christian church was not the dominant
one. This is most important to
know. In fact, the more recently
discovered Biblical texts say that Peter and Paul, the leaders of the Pauline
branch, were not as high-ranking members of the inner circle of the followers
of Jesus as was Yaakov or James, who headed the Jerusalem church. This is not well known or well-accepted.
THE
JERUSALEM CHURCH
This group had its headquarters in Jerusalem. Its first leader was James, the brother
of Jesus. This man is hardly
mentioned in the standard gospels, yet he was an important figure in the inner
circle that formed around Jesus.
This is not the same man as the two apostles whose names were also
James.
In 62 AD, James, the brother of Jesus, died. Symion, a cousin of Jesus, took over as leader of the
Jerusalem Church.
The literature of the time amply documents the existence of the
Jerusalem church. In some texts,
the group is referred to as the Naasenes, Nazoreans or Nazarenes. We do not think this has anything to do with the present-day
Church Of The Nazarenes.
This branch of the early Christian faith was mostly made up of people
of Hebrew descent. Some worshipped
at the Temple in Jerusalem and many of them followed the practices of the
Hebrew people of that time.
THE
COUNCIL OF NICAEA
Nicholaos of Myra. A very important man who
lived from about 290 AD until around 355 AD was Nicholaos
of Myra.
He was a Hebrew rabbi who converted to the teachings of Jesus. He became a member of the Jerusalem
Church of Jesus, as it was called at the time. He is important because he learned the teachings of both
groups of early Christians.
He is also important because he attended the First Council of Nicaea
in 325 AD. This was the conference
at which many decisions were made about the doctrines and rituals of the new
Christian religion. Nicholaos was among the very few members of the Jerusalem
group of followers invited to attend this very important conference. Also present were at least 30 members
of the Pauline branch of the church.
This meant the Pauline Christians always outvoted the Jerusalem group.
Nicholaos was upset that some of the original teachings of Jesus were left out
of the new Christian religion. In
their place, some of the rituals and myths of the old mithraistic
and other old Roman religions were inserted. Also, some completely new doctrines were inserted that were
not part of the original teachings of Jesus.
The council members said this was needed in order to attract as many
Roman people as possible to the new religion.
Nicholaos, however, believed that the real teachings must be there. The name of Saint Nicholaos
is purposely kept alive in the legend of Santa Claus, the German name for Saint
Nicholaos.
For more details, read, St. Nicholaos Of Myra.
The
period of time between the first century AD and the 18th century in
Europe is divided into the following periods:
The Dark Ages – about 1 AD to 400 AD
The Medieval
Period – about 400 AD to
about 1000 AD
The Renaissance – about 1000 AD to about 1500 AD
The
Enlightenment – about 1500
AD to about 1800 AD
Let
us briefly examine each period.
THE
DARK AGES
This
was the time of rule by the Roman Empire.
It was a very difficult and brutal period of time for the people of
Europe and indeed, throughout the Roman Empire.
At this time, the religion of the Roman empire
was Mithraism, which was similar to the Greek Mythology. There were many Gods who fooled around
with each other, murdered each other and it was a confused mess. All the people in the Roman Empire were
forced to believe in this religion.
Rome
had started out as a republic.
However, around the time of Jesus, it ceased to be a republic and became
a monstrous and brutal dictatorship ruled by the iron fist of an emperor.
CONVERSION
TO CHRISTIANITY
An amazing event occurred between 313 and 400 AD. The entire Roman Empire, which covered
most of Western and Eastern Europe, and Northern Africa, converted from a pagan
religion with many gods to the Christian religion with one God. This was quite amazing and was helped
along by the conversion of the Roman Emperors of the time.
Millions of people became Christians, essential by force. Earlier, Christians
were killed by the Romans.
Now, suddenly, anyone who did not worship Christ was
killed by the Romans. This is how religion was handled during the Roman
occupation of Europe.
The Christian religion of the time was still somewhat pagan, in that
it was more about the personality of Jesus than it was about Christian
doctrines. However, it was a much
more wholesome and loving religion than the religion that preceded it.
THE
MIDIEVAL PERIOD
By 400 AD, the entire Roman empire was
forcefully converted to Christianity.
This began the medieval period of the history of Europe. It was an improvement over the dark
ages, but not that much. People
were still treated brutally by the Roman occupiers. Women were routinely raped for minor crimes. Their husbands were instantly killed if
they tried to stop it. Children
were often killed if they screamed or cried and it was a terrible time for
people.
By 700 AD, the power of the Roman empire
declined. Rebellions broke out and
soon the formerly Roman-controlled territories of Western and Eastern Europe
broke apart into small kingdoms ruled by local warlords or kings and queens.
THE
RENAISSANCE
By the year 1000 AD or slightly earlier, most of Europe was freed from
Roman slavery! The rebirth, or renaissance in French, now began.
The people were hungry for inspiration and learning.
The most learned and literate people were the religious monks and nuns
who lived in monasteries and convents all over the European continent. Building monasteries and convents was
one of the ideas of the Pauline group of Christians and it worked well. People in monasteries had to follow a
lot of rules and had to learn Latin and read the new Christian Bible every
day. It was a very rigorous lifestyle.
When the Romans were driven out of Europe, the monks and nuns began to
tour the countryside. They taught
the people about faith, hope, love, cleanliness, and other doctrines that were
part of the new religion of Christianity.
They also taught the people how to build beautiful churches and
cathedrals, how to set up congregations, and all that
one needs to build a community of fellowship.
This is important because this knowledge was not allowed during Roman
times. The Romans feared that the
people would form armies that would rise up against their Roman rulers if they
were allowed to organize themselves into communities.
The monks also brought religious music to the people, which greatly
enriched their religious services.
To this day, some of the most beautiful religious music comes from this
time in history. It was a glorious
time for Christianity, which contributed greatly to the restoration and the
renaissance or rebirth of Europe.
The people developed local languages, all of which were based upon
Latin, the old language of Rome.
However, people did not want to speak Latin, a language of slavery, so
they invented new languages. We
know of these as Spanish, French, German, English, Portugese
and others. These are sometimes
called the romance
languages.
THE
ENLIGHTENMENT
This was the most glorious period of time in modern European
history. It was the time when the
writings of Adam Smith described a free market economy, for example. It was the time when John Locke wrote
about a free society in which the people governed themselves without kings and
queens around to oppress them and how this is the birthright of all human
beings. These men were persecuted
for their views, but they were not killed, as would have occurred in the
earlier periods of European history.
The church also thrived and fed the enlightenment. Most of the ideas of the enlightenment came from the Bible.
Even though the Romans were gone, most people in Europe were forced to
follow the religion of their new rulers, the kings and queens of each European
nation. Some were very unhappy
with this situation.
Many were killed for practicing Christianity improperly. The worst of these persecutions was the
Spanish Inquisition of 1492.
However, it happened that in that year the voyage of Christopher
Columbus discovered a new land to the west of Europe! They named the continent America in memory of another explorer, Americus
Vespucci. He was an Italian ship
captain who had landed his ship in America some years before.
America, they heard, was full of rich forests and lush plains full of
gold, animals and plants. The
kings of Europe soon started fighting over it because they all wanted the
riches it contained. As a result,
many ships left Europe filled with soldiers to conquer the land of
America. This included todayÕs
South, Central and North America.
Almost immediately, the persecuted groups of Christians, who were the
more devout ones, signed up to become colonists in order to get away from the
kings and queens of Europe who murdered them whenever they found them.
IV. CHRISTIANITY IN EARLY UNITED STATES
For the reasons stated above, the early colonists who came to what
would be the United States were mainly religious Christians. This was less true of those who came to
South America, Central America or Canada.
Those who came to what would become the United States looked to the
Bible as they set up their new governments in America. For example, the principle of three
separate branches of government – the executive, legislative and judicial
branches – came from the Book Of Isaiah, where it says that God makes the
laws, enforces and laws and judges the laws.
The religious faith of the early American colonists is evident in
hundreds of ways in the organization of the nation. Historian David Barton specializes in explaining the
religious origins of the United States.
For details, we suggest his website: http://www.wallbuilders.com.
THE
PROGRESSIVE ERA
At
the beginning of the twentieth century, the so-called progressive era saw
increasing attacks on Christian and Jewish beliefs throughout the world. These attacks have only grown stronger
and more vicious in the past 50 years.
World socialists and communists have infiltrated many church
congregations. It is a challenging
time for Christianity.
Church attendance declined in the twentieth century and this trend
continues in the twenty-first century.
Some Christian denominations have abandoned some of the key tenets of
the Bible. Some endorse homosexual
marriage, abortion on demand and other liberal and progressive ideas.
At the same time, there has been a growth in the evangelical Christian
denominations around the world, particularly in South America.
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