Grailhunter's Classroom

[Grailhunter]

Chapter 6 The Duties of Elders and Others
And let the presbyters be compassionate and merciful to all, bringing back those that wander, visiting all the sick, and not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor, but always “providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and man; “abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and unjust judgment; keeping far off from. all covetousness, not quickly crediting [an evil report] against any one, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin.

²If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and “we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and everyone must give an account of himself.”

Let us then serve Him in fear, and with all reverence, even as He Himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preached the Gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Lord [have alike taught us]. Let us be zealous in the pursuit of that which is good, keeping ourselves from causes of offence, from false brethren, and from those who in hypocrisy bear the name of the Lord, and draw away vain men into error.

Chapter 7 Avoid the Docetae, and Persevere in Fasting and Prayer
“For whoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;” and whoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan.

Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning; “watching unto prayer,” and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God to “not lead us into temptation.” As the Lord has said: “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Chapter 8 Persevere in Hope and Patience
¹ Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, “who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” “who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,” but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. 8:2. ² Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer for His name’s sake, let us glorify Him. For He has set us this example in Himself, and we have believed that such is the case.

Chapter 9 Patience Inculcated 9:1.
¹ I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as ye have seen [set] before your eyes, not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles. 9:2.

² [This do] in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this 11 present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead.

Chapter 10 Exhortation to the Practice of Virtue
¹ Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your interaction with one another, and despising no one. 10:2 Cum possitis benefacere, nolite differre, quia eleëmosyna de morte liberat. Omnes vobis invicem subiecti estote, conversationem vestram irreprensibilem habentes in gentibus, ut ex bonis operibus vestris et vos laudem accipiatis et dominus in vobis non blasphemetur. ² When you can do good, defer it not, because “alms delivers from death.” Be all of you subject one to another, having your conduct blameless among the Gentiles, that ye may both receive praise for your good works, and the Lord may not be blasphemed through you. 10:3. Vae autem per quem nomen domini blasphematur. Sobrietatem ergo docete omnes in qua et vos conversamini. ³ But woe to him by whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed! Teach, therefore, sobriety to all, and manifest it also in your own conduct.

Chapter 11 Exhortation of Grief on Account of Valens.
¹ I am greatly grieved for Valens, who was once a presbyter among you, because he so little understands the place that was given him [in the Church]. I exhort you, therefore, that ye abstain from covetousness, and that ye be chaste and truthful. “Abstain from every form of evil.”

² For if a man cannot govern himself in such matters, how shall he enjoin them on others? If a man does not keep himself from covetousness, he shall be defiled by idolatry, and shall be judged as one of the heathen. But who of us are ignorant of the judgment of the Lord? “Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world?” as Paul teaches.

³ But I have neither seen nor heard of any such thing among you, in the midst of whom the blessed Paul labored, and who are commended in the beginning of his Epistle. For he boasts of you in all those Churches which alone then knew the Lord; but we [of Smyrna] had not yet known Him.

I am deeply grieved, therefore, brethren, for him (Valens) and his wife; to whom may the Lord grant true repentance! ⁴ And be ye then moderate in regard to this matter, and “do not count such as enemies,” but call them back as suffering and straying members, that ye may save your whole body. For by so acting ye shall edify yourselves.

Chapter 12 no title
¹ For I trust that ye are well versed in the Sacred Scriptures, and that nothing is hidden from you; but to me this privilege is not yet granted. It is declared then in these Scriptures, “Be ye angry, and sin not,” and, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Happy is he who remembers this, which I believe to be the case with you.

² But may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Son of God, and our everlasting High Priest, build you up in faith and truth, and in all meekness, gentleness, patience, longsuffering, forbearance, and purity; and may He bestow on you a lot and portion among His saints, and on us with you, and on all who are under heaven, who shall believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His Father, who “raised Him from the dead.

³ Pray for all the saints. Pray also for kings, and potentates, and princes, and for those that persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be manifest to all, and that ye may be perfect in Him.

¹ Both you and Ignatius wrote to me, that if any one went [from this] into Syria, he should carry your letter with him; which request I will attend to if I find a fitting opportunity, either personally, or through some other acting for me, that your desire may be fulfilled.

² The Epistles of Ignatius written by him to us, and all the rest [of his Epistles] which we have by us, we have sent to you, as you requested. They are subjoined to this Epistle, and by them ye may be greatly profited; for they treat of faith and patience, and all things that tend to edification in our Lord. Any more certain information you may have obtained respecting both Ignatius himself, and those that were with him, have the goodness to make known to us.

No Chapter 13....another topic

Chapter 14
14:1 These things I have written to you by Crescens, whom up to the present time I have recommended unto you, and do now recommend. For he has acted blamelessly among us, and I believe also among you. Moreover, ye will hold his sister in esteem when she comes to you. Be ye safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with you all. Amen.

 

[Grailhunter]

Jewish-Christians and Gentile-Christians….We are Christians

Jewish Christians were the followers of the Christian religious sect that emerged in Judea in the early 1st century. The Twelve Apostles were the first and they still considered themselves Jewish and still observed various aspects of the Mosaic Law, circumcision, worshipped in the Jewish Temple, and observed the Saturday Jewish Sabbath, sacrifices, and Jewish dietary restrictions, but believed that Yeshua was a God, the Son of God, and the prophesied Messiah. Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:16-17 And….I am the way and the truth and the life….John 14:6

Eventually they called their sect “The Way” The way to Heaven, which was a new belief for the Jews. The orthodox belief among the Jews was that Heaven, with few exceptions was not a possible destination or reward for people and Hell and the Devil did not exist. Of course that is not true of all Jews. That is probably because of their exposure to Zoroastrianism during their time in Persia, which had similar beliefs. Maybe because of that they probably reassessed their interpretation of the Book of Daniel. Note the word probably, because no one knows for sure.
Zoroastrianism
https://www.ipl.org/essay/Zoroastrianism-And-Christianity-Similarities-F35NB5HE2DTT

Which is actually a study….because if Persia educated them on these topics, one would think that there would be writings on this, maybe something on there pottery. They had been out of Persia for centuries, so the question is; How did they maintain these beliefs? But it all was a small help to Yeshua because when He was talking about Heaven and Hell and the Devil and the Resurrection, not all of them were scratching their heads and wondering what He was talking about.

Strangely enough we do not know that much about most of the Jewish Apostles. That is the original Apostles chosen by Yeshua….1. Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter) 2. James son of Zebedee and his brother 3. John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”) 4. Andrew 5. Philip 6. Bartholomew 7. Matthew, 8. Thomas 9. James son of Alphaeus 10. Thaddaeus 11. Simon the Zealot 12.Judas Iscariot

Matthew and John wrote two of the Gospels and John and Peter’s writing appear in the New Testament outside of the Gospels. The death of John’s brother James is recorded in Acts, but then except for John and Peter and Philip, the rest of the twelve disappears from the biblical record. But for the rest of the Apostles, most of what we have are regional traditions of their ministries and deaths.

And I will say that you do not what to ignore traditions….They deserve a close study, not only the specifics of the traditions but how they developed, how they survived, and moved forward in history. It is actually a field of study and usually we can be confident that something like the event actually happened, it is the details that may be a little embellished or lost. For example the 2008 World Series….45,000 fans in the stadium watching, millions watching from home, professional observers watching, millions of dollars worth of video equipment recording it, but yet 2000 years from now exactly where that ball crossed the plate in the 9th inning that ended series ….may be lost in time. But with all that we will know for a fact that the 2008 World Series did in fact occur.

There is something about Peter…
What it seems like in the scriptures is that Yeshua made Peter the leader of the church…. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Matthew 16:18 But the scriptures do not specifically call him a “leader.” But in the first part of Acts he is the Apostle that is doing most of the talking.

But then as you read on in Acts it becomes clear that Yeshua’s brother James became the leader and there is no information on how that happened. Depending on the definition used for Apostle, James may or may not be considered an Apostle, not being among the twelve first chosen and no indication he participated in Christ’s ministry. For even his own brothers did not believe in him. John 7:5

So what happened to Peter’s leadership role? No one really knows but some people speculate that Peter left the Jerusalem area because Agrippa I (Grandson of Herod) was threatening to kill him. Acts 12 narrates how Peter, who was in Jerusalem, was put into prison by Agrippa I (AD 42–44) but was rescued by an angel. After his liberation Peter left Jerusalem to go to "another place" Acts 12:1–18. So Peter was scared for his life? I don’t buy that. I think Peter’s courage level was something that he determined. After denying Christ and the guilt that followed, I believe he was never going to show cowardice again.

Now it is true that Peter was a very significant Apostle that performed several miracles and in some way I think he was special to Christ. But what I do know is that Peter was very popular with Christians then and now. I think that Peter had the leadership role for while, in that he spoke for the Apostles, but I think he saw his calling as a missionary evangelist. I think he had an interest in knowing that the correct Gospel was preached. I think he saw something in James the brother of Christ that made him think that he would be a good leader and turned it over to him and went on his way to spread the Gospel. Notice I said “I think” on some of that….well speculation aside, certainly all the Apostles were leaders and James, Peter, and John were defined as the Pillars of the Church. But just as certain, as the story progressed, Peter was not “the” leader of the Apostles or the Church.

And to make things clear Peter was not a Pope either. There were no Popes, Bishops, Cardinals or Monks in that era. When you hear there is, that it is usually a Catholic trying to suggest that the Catholic Church existed in the 1st century, which is false. The organized church that could be called Catholic did not occur until the 4th century. They play on the fact that the term Catholic was used pretty early in Christian history, because Catholic means universal and the Gentiles were the world and Christianity was the universal religion.

The Greek word that is used in the scriptures to designate the leader of a local congregation is ἐπισκόποις or Ἐπίσκοπον in their language it meant Overseer or religious leader. The problem with using modern English words like Bishop or Pope is that it suggests a false and inaccurate meaning. Words like Pope or Bishop designate a more modern religious office or title that is part of a defined Church hierarchy. Bishops over see an area called dioceses and they have physical offices assistants and secretaries and stationary and all this is part of a more modern Church structure that is part of the Catholic Church. In other words there is a lot of meaning and imagery attached to these words and they are mostly Catholic and definitely not in this time period.

I say mostly Catholic, but today in some smaller Protestant denominations and independent churches, the term Bishop is used in the same way as pastor, to refer to the leader of the local congregation, that may be male or female. This usage is especially common in African-American churches in the US.

On the other side of the coin….Catholics say that the word Pope came from more or less a term of endearment like Papa that was used before the 4th century. I am not going to dispute that there were terms of endearment. If you read what the Early Church Fathers wrote they used pretty flowery words when referring to people like Peter or Paul. And a spot of perspective here; Not to be critical of the modern Catholic Church. Know something for sure and certain, the Catholic Church is better now than it ever has been. And in the realm of reality, there is no perfect Church, it is more accurate and beneficial to understand that we are Christians.

So getting back to the timeline…the Jewish-Christians were a pretty tight group and leaned toward only Jews being Christians, because they were still thinking that the Way/Christians was a Jewish religion and if Gentiles where to convert they had to convert to Judaism first, that is be circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law.

But then Saul-Paul, a Jew, was against all of that and was conducting a personal war against the Jewish-Christians ….How many deaths were attributed to him directly or indirectly, no one really knows. Acts 8:3 Acts 22:4-5 1st Timothy 1:15 and Acts 4:1-20 tells of the conflict between the Sanhedrin and the Jewish-Christians. And then the stoning of the disciple Stephen by the Jews is recorded in Acts 6:8-7:60. Which was nothing new, Jewish in fighting between the Pharisees and Sadducees the Samaritans had been going on for centuries, so it was just now that they included the Jewish-Christians.

Now there are scholars that believe that Yeshua was running an under ground ministry for Gentiles….but there is not a lot of proof of that, but it would make sense…since obviously that was the intent from the start. But still when Yeshua sent out the apostles on their first evangelistic mission, He said, Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. Matthew 10:5-6 And then Yeshua sent a Samaritan woman He had met at Jacob’s well to the Samaritans to preach the Gospel to them. John 4:5-30

Continued…..

 

[Grailhunter]

But then Christ chose Paul to be a champion for Him. (And this gets into the topic of the character of those that God chooses for champions....like Jacob, King David, King Solomon, and Emperor Constantine.) Paul is a Pharisee and a Roman citizen and he is intelligent and educated but Christ has to open his eyes to a few things ….but first He is going to close them. The scriptures referring to Paul’s conversion are in Acts 9:1-31. Paul indicates that Yeshua Himself instructed him. Galatians 1:11-12 There is an interesting part here where Paul is taken to the third level of Heaven for instruction.
2nd Corinthians 12:1-10

So the Apostle Paul starts out on his ministry. He considered himself an Apostle having received instruction and commission from Christ Himself. Romans 1:1, Romans 11:13, 1st Corinthians 1:1, 1st Corinthians 4:9, 1st Corinthians 9:1-2.

Taking a side bar for Luke and Mark
Luke….Luke is not one of the Twelve Apostles….He is a Gentile, a physician, educated, literarily talented and a disciple of Paul. He wrote the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. His work as a physician is not detailed in the Bible nor much of his activities with Paul. Most of what we know of Luke comes from tradition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_the_Evangelist

Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark, maybe the first Gospel written and establishes the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, 42 AD. Mark is not one of the twelve chosen Apostles but he is the focus of attention by the early Gentile-Christian writers. Mark was a disciple of Peter and seems to have a close connection to Paul’s ministry and with Barnabas…..And to make this clear…. John Mark is named as the assistant that accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journeys. And John Mark and Mark the Evangelist and Mark that wrote the Gospel of Mark are one and the same.
The scriptures do not refer to him as an Apostle but it is one of many titles bestowed upon him as Christianity moved along.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_the_Evangelist

Traditions attribute so many things to him and a few early Christian texts are attributed to him. We do not know if he was a Jew or a Gentile, but nothing attaches him to the Jewish culture, religion, or the Mosaic Law. His familiarity with Christ’s ministry does not seem so much as an eye witness, as in traveled with Christ, but rather a close association in the support of Christ’s ministry. It is very likely that Yeshua and the Apostles spent a considerable amount of time with Mark and his mother Mary….dinners and lodging. It is speculation that Mark heard the stories of Christ ministry straight from Yeshua and the Apostles while they were at his home.

Same thing goes for Mark’s mother Mary, as far as a close association with Yeshua and the Apostles. According to the Gospels and tradition she was a wealthy woman that lived in Jerusalem and was an active supporter of Christ and Christianity. (Funny as it is, that the so many of the women that were wealthy and supported Christ’s ministry were named “Mary” actually Miriam, even His mother. Scholars call it the “muddle of the Marys”) According to the Bible her home and properties were frequented by Christians and used for Christian gatherings like the Last Supper and Pentecost. This was a family that was very much a part of the early Christian ministry and her presence and activities in the scriptures add to the validity of the traditions associated with Mark. The scriptures stop mentioning her about the same time all the other “Marys” stopped appearing in the biblical narrative, including Christ’s mother.

So getting back to Paul, he was trying to preach Christ to the Jews with little success and quite a bit of Jewish hostility, so he decides or Christ tells him to change the focus of his ministry to the Gentiles. Acts 12:46-52. Romans 15:16 When theologians and historians talk of the explosion of the Christian faith, this is what they are talking about…the Gentile-Christians….Gentile-Christianity spread in all directions, the European coast and islands up north, Asia Minor and Mark had taken Christianity down south to North Africa and Egypt. The Jewish-Apostles are traveling also and spreading the Gospel to those Jews living in other regions. It is not that only Jews heard the Gospels from the Jewish-Apostles but those that wanted to join and were not Jewish had to be circumcised first and taught the Mosaic Law.
The 613 Mosaic Laws
https://www.jewfaq.org/613_commandments

In the meantime the Apostle Paul and the Gentile-Christians were the target of harassment by the Jews and Jewish-Christians who believed that to be a Christian, Gentiles had to be circumcised and abide by the Mosaic Laws. Acts 15:1 So Paul decides to go to Jerusalem to settle this. Acts 15:2-5 And they met with James, Peter, and John. James being their leader and they held what is called the first Christian Council. Acts 15:6-31 around 50 AD. The resolution was made and James wrote the letter that they would not trouble the Gentile-Christians and they only had to agree to 4 items that were compatible to the faith of the Gentile-Christians.

At this point the two Christians groups were defined and Paul was the Apostles to the Gentiles. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles….there is no biblical indication that the Jewish-Apostles were converting Gentiles.

In the beginning Paul worked with John but after his ministry turned to the Gentiles he was also working with Gentile disciples or deacons or whatever you want to call them….like Barnabas, and a lot of these people are in Romans chapter 16….Phoebe (Rom 16:1-2), Priscilla and Aquila (Rom 16:3-4), Andronicus and Junia (Romans 16-7), ,Urbanus (Rom 16:9), Amplias (Rom 16:8), Apelles Rom 16:10), Herodoin (Rom 16:11), the three women Tryphena and Tryphosa and Persis (Rom 16:12), Rufus (Rom 16:13), Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, and Hermes (Rom 16:14), Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas (Rom 16:15), Timotheus (the books addressed to Timothy), Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, (Rom 16:21), Tertius (Roman 16:22), Gaius and Erastus and Quartus (Roman 16:23), Titus (2 Cor 8:23), Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25 and 4:18), Clement (Phil 4:3), Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus (Col 4:10-11), Philemon (the Epistle to Philemon), Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke (Phlm 1:24), Titus (the letter to Titus), Tychicus is mentioned 5 times (Acts 20:4; Ephesians 6:21–22; Colossians 4:7; Titus 3:12; 2nd Timothy 4:12), and according to tradition Paul and Peter worked together to teach the Gospel. Eusebius cites Dionysius, the Overseer of Corinth as saying, "They taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time."

Now as far as the relationship between Peter and Paul. This is where we get into the terminology in scripture regarding Jewish-Christians and Gentile-Christians Galatians 2:7….On the contrary, they recognized that I (Paul) had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised….The reference to the circumcised pertained to the Jewish-Christians that observed the Mosaic Law and all that, with a strong focus on the Old Covenant. Which included dietary restrictions and circumcision being the Ritual of entering Judaism and that Jewish Covenant and Law. The uncircumcised pertaining to the Gentile-Christians and Baptism being the Ritual for entering Christianity and the New Covenant. Of course this may seem a little confusing because the Jewish-Christians were also baptizing Jews to be Jewish-Christians. But after the crucifixion and the New Covenant was ratified….they would be baptizing Jews to essentially be practicing a religion in both Covenants.

Even though Christ had warned them about this. Matthew 9:16-17 But still, history and reality is like that, there is always a transitional phase, there is no historical switch to throw that instantly changes everything. But as I said, was it always the intention to offer salvation to the Gentiles? God could not offer salvation to the Gentiles first, He had to sincerely offer it to the Jews first. It was always about doing what was right.

And in this process Peter was on the fence between the Jewish and Gentile Christians….He had already received the vision from Christ informing him that the Jewish dietary restrictions were not necessary. Acts 10:9-16 And as far as the relationship between Peter and Paul…people/scholars interpret it differently. I believe they were drawn to each other due to their own personal failures in the past and their personal connection to Yeshua in visions and their desire to serve Christ at all costs and to spread the Good News to all of Mankind. The reality of it is that good Christian friends do not always see eye to eye or believe exactly the same things. And likewise Paul and Peter did not always get along.

Continued.....

 

[Grailhunter]

A lot people feel that the Bible (the New Testament) has to be the story of one belief. But that was not what happened in the biblical era….or after the biblical era….and today, that cat is out of the bag and running wild. If you know a preacher well, you know that is the stress they have. Even if they are preaching a specific denominational belief they cannot even control the finer points of what their pastoral team believes, much less of those in the pews. Is that bad thing? Was this a surprise to Christ? The vast majority of our Christian denominations can lead people to salvation. Like I said in my essay on Salvation, the early Christians did not have Christian scriptures in Bibles to read. They had a very simple understanding of what to do for salvation, and that was told to them. The power of faith….that is another topic….And millions of Christians were saved before they had Bibles in their hands….Bibles became public in the 16th century and with type-set printers it took time to print a lot of Bibles and they were expensive, so it wasn’t until the 17th century that most people had the opportunity to have Bibles.

Again, keep in mind when you read the word church in the scriptures it means congregation. Church buildings would have made it too easy to round the Christians up. Christianity was more or less a renegade religion until the Edict of Milan. They were gathering and worshipping in homes, in catacombs, and the wilderness. We do not have any examples of Christian Church buildings before Edict of Milan. Now we can discuss the Dura-Europos church in Syria that some call the oldest Christian Church and there is a lot of information about it. But it is mostly like the other house churches that have been discovered. It started out as a home and had the interior modified to be church, but looked like a regular home on the outside. It was basically a church incognito. And that is point no churches that were openly defined as Christian Churches until the Edict of Milan….which makes sense.

Now as time went on the Jewish-Christians and Gentiles-Christians did not always get along and some of it was just the religious/social differences in their religions. Jewish-Christians did not worship or eat with the uncircumcised and socializing with the uncircumcised was frowned upon.

And as we move forward the Jews are building up for another revolt against the Romans. Jerusalem did not have a high concentration of resident Gentile-Christians ….no reason for a concentration, but at the time of the Roman siege in March of 70 AD, there may have been more Gentle-Christians in Jerusalem than usual, because Passover was just around the corner. So they were in for the ride and things turn into total violent chaos….that involves everybody. The Gentile-Christians and the Jewish-Christians and the Jews turn up the hostility towards each other and killed each other even before the Roman siege started. Once the siege starts the Zealot Jews who started the revolt were killing moderate Jews and Christians. It was a five month siege and during it the Zealots burnt the food storages thinking it would cause the moderates to fight. So during the siege inside the walls of Jerusalem there was internal fighting, fires, starvation, cannibalism, disease and other atrocities not to mention the atrocities at the hands of the Romans. I do not want to offend the ladies so just know it amounted to unimaginable horror.

Some of the other details of the siege and subsequent battles that come forward fail my confidence level tests either to the left or right. I am just going to say that it was a horror that left the Temple destroyed along with most of Jerusalem. The numbers for the death tolls and enslavements vary but it is enough to say that at the end of it all, there were probably more Romans in the Jerusalem and the surrounding area than Jews or Christians. Part of the reason for this was that some Christians went elsewhere like Pella and then some of the Jews escaped to regroup for other revolts, which of course failed.
The Siege of Jerusalem
https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...65CF01BB8B4D8D04F97D65CF01BB8B4D8D0&FORM=VIRE

The lose of the Temple and the city and most of the Jewish leadership threw the Jewish religion into disarray….I think that is the best word for it. They had to be asking themselves….Why did God allow this? Why didn’t God help us in our battle against the Pagans? What are we to do from here? Pella seems to be one of the places that the Jewish-Christians joined the Gentile-Christian after the battle. Pella already being a Gentile-Christian community.

So then the Roman persecutions gained momentum and it included the Jewish-Christians, the Gentile Christians, and the Jews. It takes decades for the Jews to reorganize even in a limited way and there was a lot of fingers pointing at the Jews for riling up the Romans causing the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem and the increased intensity of the persecutions. And this is going to get a lot worse because eventually the Gentile-Christians are going to blame the Jews for getting Christ crucified. They crucified God! Which is true and it is hard to recover from that. But the Gentile-Christians, that is….eventually the Catholic Church will take their distain for the Jews to a new level. During the witch-hunt and inquisitions they are going to torture and kill Jews like witches. And the Jews are not going to be welcome in most Christian countries. But first there are the Roman persecutions for all of them that lasted 243 years.

After the turn of the 1st century the Jewish-Apostles were dead, no more Temple and the Jewish synagogues were not that friendly to the Jewish- Christians and their relations with Gentile-Christian were worse. So in the end the Jewish-Christians did not have too many places go that was hospitable. So I say the number of Jewish-Christians dwindled pretty rapidly. Not everyone agrees….LOL….I have debated this with professors ….and I win. It is not that people cannot find faint remnants of Jewish-Christians after the early 2nd century, and I acknowledge that….things do not happen like flipping a light switch in history. It is what we do not have after the early 2nd century that proves that whatever their existence was….it was effectively irrelevant.

We do not have evidence of Jewish-Christian writings outside the Bible past the early 2nd century. If we did we would not be having this conversation.

We do not have any historical impact from the Jewish-Christians on Christianity after the 1st century.

So if there were Jewish-Christians, as far as history is concerned, they were silent and invisible.

When you are researching theology and history you have to be a detective and look at what is and what is not.

Now some people call the Ebonites Jewish-Christians, but they are not. Their biggest impact on Christianity was inspiring the Jehovah’s Witnesses because they denied the deity of Christ believing he was human and their focus was on the Old Testament. And not that they existed for long.

And this is point….Modern scholars are still looking for evidence of 2nd century Jewish-Christian settlements and writings. They focus on the Early Church Fathers that quoted from these supposedly Jewish-Christian writings like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusbious, Epiphanius, and Jerome, but some of these Church Fathers quoted them to dispute them. But none have survived intact, just small fragments and that is the overall point .....no Jewish-Christians were writing additional texts. It stopped in the early 2nd century.
The Gospel of the Hebrews
The Gospel of the Ebionites
The Gospel of the Nazarenes
Actually they are not sure if they were separate writings or if they all came from one text or gospels, it is not like the fragments came with titles.

So after the 1st century the Gentile-Christians are dominating Christianity. A lot of the times I refer to it as the Gentile-Christians taking the helm, but that would imply one tiller as in a rudder of a boat. What we have are the churches/congregations that Paul corresponded with because…....they were Gentile. The apostle Paul wrote to churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica. And there are other churches mentioned in Revelation…Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Yes Ephesus appears twice.

Continued….

 

[Grailhunter]

It is hard to say what New Testament texts/writings these churches/congregations had. Along with the Gospels and maybe copies of Paul’s writings, some of them may have had texts like the Shepherd of Hermas, Memoirs of the Apostles, and texts that were supposedly by Mark or about Mark etc. Either way their beliefs were not identical which was one of the reasons for the need of the Ecumenical Councils. From here we have already covered Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan so this is where we are at.

So what is the moral of the story? What is the point of this essay?

Well for 1.
There were in fact two different Christian sects in the biblical period.

For 2.
Now, we are Gentile-Christians and “our ways” are Gentile-Christian and our holidays are Gentile-Christian and “our way” to salvation is Gentile-Christian, but we have let the details split us up.

Then for 3.
To say that the journey that Christianity took was by way of a long rocky road, would be an understatement. But we are here together and there is a lot that is not new. Christianity is still surrounded by its enemies. They might as well be the Vistagoths and Astagoth and Magyar horsemen and the Attila the Huns but now its Moslems, communism, atheists, the cancel culture, coddling criminals, people that want to kill babies and a drug culture that is after our children. There are actually schools and colleges that are out there teaching a lot of these things to our children and young adults. (You have to be careful about where your children go to school and college.) We do not want to be like the Jews and have a bunch of infighting, instead of paying attention to what is coming over the wall. We need to focus on what is important.

Then we come to 4.
As I have mentioned before, the early Christians did not have all these scriptures to study and interpret and still millions were saved. And oddly enough it was actually the details that splintered the Church into all these denominations. Why? Because people formed their beliefs on these details and then people believed that their beliefs were right and then took exception to what others believed. But like the early Christians knew, it is not the details that save you….and ultimately….in the end, that is all that matters. Because like I keep saying Beliefs, Truths, Facts….as far as Facts, we are not going to know the ultimate facts that God knows ….we are only going to get so close and we are not even going to agree on that …..never have and never will. But the early Christians knew “the Way” to salvation and loved God and so do we. And that is the level playing field, a field that we are all in, we are Christians and that is enough.

And lastly 5.
They say if you do not know history, you are doomed to repeat it….because you will keep repeating the same mistakes. We are one in Christ and it benefits nothing to fight amongst ourselves. You can share the truth (which is my ministry) but you cannot control beliefs, that has never worked out. You can choose a denomination and when you go to that church, if you think everyone there believes as you do….you are wrong. When you consider all the scriptural details how many different arrangements and interpretations of those details can exist…. A million?….A billion? Christian beliefs that vary are the norm for Christianity, ya got to deal with the norm. People that are laying on couches talking to physiatrists are people that cannot accept or understand or deal with the norm. You do not want to be that person. It is not only important to accept the normative, but be able to apply it in a way that serves the Lord and benefits Christianity as a whole.

We are Christians and we know the Way to salvation, other than that, we are Christians that should love one another. That is the basics. Love God and love one another. We are Christians that live in a world full of enemies. No matter how many denominations there are, no matter how many different beliefs regarding the details there are, we should unite. It does not matter if we are Baptists, Catholics, or Pentecosts we should unite to stand with other Christians against evil, and also to help other Christians….Galatians 6:9-11 And maybe show people that are not Christians what people that know the love of God….do. Unite to take on our enemies.
Unite to take on our enemies, that comes in many forms…..

 

[Grailhunter]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! NO HOMEWORK!

 

[Grailhunter]

The Questions…..the Art of Christian research.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

Put on your thinking cap….
In the process of this ministry I call the Johnny Appleseed of Truth, I found myself often thinking on several topics that someone should have noticed this…...whether it be something that was wrong or a deception or something that had far reaching ramifications. But be prepared, the truth can be shocking, but in the long run empowering.

I am sure you all can understand why some have said to me that these truths shake people’s faith. And me being me I get serious and say, What good is faith in a lie? And a lot of it is serious, it is not just trivia. Some things I would not worry about. If there was a belief that it made God smile when you lick a blue raspberry popsicle….well no one going to Hell if you do or do not lick a blue raspberry popsicle, and I might even lick a blue raspberry popsicle. But if a belief can cause you are others to go to Hell….I am going to address that. Sure it can be shocking but if you check it out and find out for yourself....you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32 because the truth has power and the truth will give you more confidence and faith than you ever had because truth is unshakeable.

And false beliefs have power….obviously they have staying power. Sometimes they act like poison….In the scenario where a young couple are together without a wedding ceremony….they may not give Christianity a chance or go to church because they think they will be condemned or looked down upon….so they end up going to Hell….when they did nothing wrong, and no one had to say a word to them….it’s like the devil’s insurance policy that pays dividends. In this case Christian false beliefs have caused irrepable damage and have served the devil well.

I did not spend my life in search of truth to weaken faith but to provide Christians with the truth to make faith solid, so they can apply Christianity in a way that pleases the Lord. God made me for this from the very beginning …I followed His lead and He gave me everything I needed and lit my path ….Smarter than your average bear ….Brawn and intellect don’t usually come in the same package and my path was set by God from the very beginning….the Johnny Appleseed of Truth.

Looking for the lies…..
Mostly it does not take a high theological education or deep linguistical knowledge to find the false beliefs and the history thereof. But some of it you do have to research past the common resource material. The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance is a good example ….dollar for dollar it is a great source of information and easy to use. The last one I bought cost $19.95. (A funny, I collect them, finding them at yard sales to give to people for Bible study.) But nothing is perfect it does not matter if it is a 20 dollar book or a 400 dollar book. What you have to keep in mind about the Strong’s is that, it is very accurate….except on the topics of sex and women….and it inherits some of the errors of the King James Version of the Bible because they are directly connect by a numeral reference system. But still as a whole it is very good.

And as far as spotting irregularities and falsehoods a lot of it has to do with paying attention. Then there is the question of how a lot of these false beliefs came about. It's not like some guy plowing a field came up with these things. They originated from religious leaders or influencers in history expressing what they believed and or wanting others to believe. A lot of it was men pondering what it is, but not considering what it could not be.

This is where the study of reasoning comes in, a deeper understanding of how the mind works, the physical functions of the brain and the mind that it projects. Rational…the physical efficiency of the brain, the knowledge gathered from various sources and experiences and then the reasoning of all the types of information to a conclusion.

Not psychiatry or psychology or neuroscience it is a field of study regarding the process of the mind associated with reasoning. I was studying this before it was a field in the late 90’s. It has several elements but part of my theory was that the human brain functions within itself (thinks and manages the functions of the body) but it also in effect projects a virtual mind that various parts of the brain interact with. And this virtual mind is the go-between…. between the physical brain and the soul ….the soul being the spiritual reflection of oneself. And this also gets into the ID and explains how out of body experiences can happen because it is not physically attached to the brain….more theory.

Here is where reasoning and comprehension is formulated. And this here is a rough visual representation of what I am envisioning

https://external-content.duckduckgo...f0eb0a6a51726c815bed36e05eb56dc926&ipo=images

Now back around 2001 I was told by a retired neuroscience professor that my theory was interesting and a little sci-fi but it was not a field of study. Well around 2019 articles and papers started to appear about the hypothesis of the Hierarchically Mechanistic Mind (HMM). And this and its variables are very close to my theorems and hypothesizes. Which is basically a study of how the brain uses / functions with the virtual mind to reason all that is considered to a final conclusion. But the brain can toss things into this virtual mind that can corrupt the “calculations” Things like feelings, social/religious perceptions and opinions and beliefs that are not valid. The whole garbage in, garbage out thing. The only way to come to the correct conclusion is to deal with known truths.

I have been saying Beliefs, Truths, Facts, for a long time and this is part of this theorem. Truths are the parts of the equation that can be validated and understood and this is what the virtual mind considers and uses for calculating conclusions. Beliefs can be good and can be truths, but they can also be nearly anything and tend to be personal. We can dabble with facts and gets some things right, but we are moving into the realm of divine awareness on some things. For example; What is perceived when a tree falls in the forest? A person may believe that a tree falling in the forest makes a sound. But the truth is a tree cannot make a sound, the ear converts disturbances in the air to signals that the brain understands as sound. In other words there is no sound in the forest unless there is an ear present. But the facts of all this is that there are vibrations and frequencies and affects that are caused by the tree falling that cannot be perceived by an ear nor can we understand the effects of this on the nearby environment. But what God knows are the facts….all of them….everything about that tree and all it affected from the time it was a seed to the time it fell over….that be the facts.

So effective reasoning considers truths that can be best confirmed and validated within the limits of being human and considers and calculates them to a conclusion. Of course logic is important but pure logic is fatalistic. (Another topic) Logic and the Christian conscience has to be part of the equation….really….things can go south without them. Ergo genius serial killers. Including the Christian conscience in this calculational reasoning is the true definition of wisdom. I am not kidding, I am not just saying this because I am Christian. Without the Christian conscience in the equation, you could reason that polygamy and selling your daughter as a sex slave, as a concubine would be a correct rational conclusion….same thing goes for the conclusion that the social and religious status of women as 2nd class members in Christianity and subordinate to men is the correct thing to do. ….ergo the rational failures of the Jews and the Christian leaders of the past and present.

How this equates to theology and Christian history is that if you understand how this reasoning process works (which I cannot explain all of it here) you can understand how the Christians and Christian leaders of the past came to their understanding of Christian beliefs….for good or for bad. Bad, not that they were total failures in Christian understanding, just that some of their rational conclusions were reached without considering the Spirit of Christ in the equation, which resulted in their faulty conclusions on some topics. Ergo….Augustine’s beliefs of Original Sin, the various Catholic leader’s distain for sex, women, and marriage, and Calvin’s beliefs that we are all biological robots.

So reasoning is unique in that it functions separate from intelligence, meaning that a smart and educated person my not be good at reasoning. Ever hear of a person having a doctorate degree but does not have the common sense to pour “sand” out of a boot?

So let us review some of what we have learned so far and why we had to learn it now. What I have given you is a treasure….the Treasure of Truth. Some of it maybe just information but some of it is about how you may be judged on Judgment Day. And some of it is about turning the brain on and not being afraid of asking questions and also asking the right questions. And some of it is about realizing the ramification of the things stated in the scriptures. The next question being; Why are people not using their noggins and asking the right questions?

Continued......

 

[Grailhunter]

There was a time when I traveled in different states to attend church services and Sunday schools to answer that very question. Observation; Believe it or not, some are scared to ask questions. Not sure if it is disrespectful to ask questions or not. Mostly it is not because they are not smart enough, it is mostly because they think they are not smart enough, so they do not try. And some of it is an assumption or exaggerate perception of the Intelligence of some of these early Christian leaders. Then sometimes it is a lack of effort and sometimes not. There are people that put a lot of effort in memorizing scriptures but not enough effort to understand them. As you read the scriptures you need to consider the ramifications and the context in which they were written. Like I say, You cannot read the scriptures like they are the latest edition of the local Sunday Paper.

A lot of the men that started all these denominations knew the scriptures but apparently did not know the Spirit of Christ. Without knowing the Spirit of Christ it is like a Christmas train running around on the carpet….no telling which direction it is going to go. Free-lance Christian Gospels! Just exactly what was going on in their minds that lead them to believe that fracturing Christianity was the thing to do? The Apostle Paul address this in 1st Corinthians 1:10-13 Not that I am saying that a few denominations would be harmful.

Yes you need to read a good Bible from cover to cover, but then you need to do a deep study on Yeshua….Christology. What kind of person was He, is He, what kind of God is He? What was His concerns? What did He do and why did He do it? Then you re-read the New Testament again and know for sure and certain that the meaning of all the scriptures are in the shadow of His Spirit. The meaning of the words …the meaning of the scriptures cannot veer away from that Spirit. Considering what the scriptures mean, and what they cannot mean. For example: Yeshua does not believe you have to hate your father and mother to be a Christian. Luke 14:26 and then here…But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2nd Peter 3:8 And I say, do not forget this one thing, this scripture is not about God being too stupid to tell time. The answer to the riddle is that God is eternal and is present in every instant in time….past, present, and future, so past, present, and future are “like” each other.

You have to ask the questions even though the truth can be shocking, for example; The Book of Hebrews has it mysteries. Melchizedek is a mysterious character….And the storyline makes it clear that he is a significant person but there is not much information about him. When that happens people have a tendency to fill in the holes with garbage. But still the information we have suggest some incredible and even shocking truths…For one he started an Order that existed from about 2000 BC to at least to the time of Christ’s ministry and who knows how long after….and we have no further historical information about this Order....that would be defined as a secret organization and Yeshua was/is a High Priest in this Order. Hebrews chapters 7 through 10 but specifically 7:13-17 What are the ramifications of all this? Should we try to find out what this Order is about? Christians generally do not like secret organizations….But then again Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Yeshua…John 19:38

Then you have to ask the questions that are begging to be asked. Like…..
Is there a reason or even a possibility that Miriam would give her Son a Greek name? In this case a Greek word. Ἰησοῦς - Iēsous is a Greek word that means healer, it is not even a name.

Is there a reason that people would come up with a word out of thin air in the 17th century to call Christ....Jesus? When they knew His actual name! Jesus cannot be legitimately translated or phonically spelled from anything in the scriptures and no one knows who did it. Jesus was a new word in the 17th century. It fell in line with the “J” slam where they changed all the “Ys” to “Js” for persons, places, and things in the scriptures…which made no sense either. Errors like this can carry on for centuries and go worldwide….other languages translate the word Jesus into there language instead of looking for His actual name. So most do not know the name of Christ. No other name can be called upon for salvation ….ask anything in my name and I will do it…. Some believe any name will due….So do they believe Christ’s name is not important or does not have power or mean anything? Oh boy! Old habits die hard.

I don’t do bumper stickers but if I did it would be THINK BEFORE IT IS TO LATE!
Back in the day, why would Christians think that slavery was acceptable? Did they think that Yeshua would own a slave?
The case in point being that an evil notion can stand the test of time.
Granted that for Christianity to try to abolish slavery back in the biblical era would have caused a lot of problems, but after the 4th century they could have worked on it.

Women! For heaven sakes all these men had mothers! Oh my gosh! What were they thinking? The 2nd rate status of women in Christianity….why? This is a biggie because even the Apostle Paul got it wrong, or did he, he was no dummy and he seemed to come around towards the end because he is the one that wrote….there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28-29 Historically men like escape goats and women are their escape goats, to justify keeping them in subjugation. But the fact is, everything that has gone wrong with Christianity…the tortures, the deaths, the suffering and sorrows the false beliefs and the fracturing of the Church…. was all was due to men! I am not saying that a few denominations would be harmful.

And again I will say that understanding the precepts of Christianity is not just about being intelligent….it is the effectiveness of the mind to reason ….knowing the information and reasoning the conclusions are two different processes. The Christian Spirit has to be part of that equation, that process.

A process that a lot of the Christian leaders in the past had failed to master. Because the facts have to be interpreted in line with the Spirit of Christ to reach the correct conclusion. The Catholics came up with the concept of the Sacred Heart of Christ or the Bleeding Heart of Christ….a concept that the Protestants could stand to learn from. Christ understood the pit falls of having a hard heart….it has no place in Christianity.

Why was it prophesized/believed by Christians that a woman would deliver a God that would be the Savior of the world? Why didn’t Elijah come down riding a fiery chariot and introduce Him to the Jewish people? The Gospels mention this, and this was how the Jews believed the messianic age was to begin. (Not that the scriptures actually say this.) But a lot of Jews believed this and this is why it is mentioned in the gospels. And lot more Jews would have probably been saved if it happened like that. Why did He have to be delivered by a woman? Why did it have to be that woman? As they say “There is something about Mary” Even though the scenario was rather awkward, being that she was betrothed to Joseph, it had to be her. And besides the fact that a god impregnating a woman was a very common Pagan motif, God chose for it to happen that way.

Messiah….Anointed one…why was it that only women anointed Yeshua? If you look in the OT, anointing was done by someone of religious authority. Which begs the question, who were these women and why were they supporting Christ in different ways including financially and following Christ? Why was it that the women had the courage to be with Christ at the Cross when most of the Apostles were off hiding somewhere? Why did the resurrected Yeshua appear to the women first? Why was a woman given the privilege of announcing His resurrection? The significance of this announcement or proclamation cannot be understated.

Why has Christianity come up with so many man-made sins? Is it the nature of men? The Jewish leaders did it with the Mosaic Law to make it more difficult on the believers….and the men in Christianity have done the same thing. They have come up with all these man-made sins to have ammunition to condemn others while edifying themselves. So that as it is, as a Christian it is not as important to do good as it is to not do these man-made sins. Stick with the sins that are specifically listed in the NT.

When men make up man-made sins they are playing god and they are piling hot coals on top of their own heads. These man-made sins may have been created a long time ago but all those that have been offended or condemned by these false sins over the years and have turned away from Christianity and their souls lost to Hell will call for justice on Judgment Day. How many? Thousands….millions will be calling for justice? Be careful what you preach, it might come back to bite you.

Continued......

 

[Grailhunter]

And what do fake sins do? And I know that I have went over this before. Besides turning people away from Christianity and give opportunities to condemn others, it turns the Christian life into a minefield of real and fake sins where a person is likely to step on a real sin trying to avoid a fake sin. And as I have said, it distracts Christians from focusing on what they should be doing in their attempt to be “don’t doers” In all honesty Christ pressed the limits of the Mosaic Law to get things done and then sacrificed His life to save us….would all these don’t doers sacrifice their lives? A lot of them don’t even believe in the significance of Good Deeds.

Be a doer! Be good and do good. And along the way we will fail on occasion and Christ will pick us up, dust us off and send us on our way because if we are doers, what we do pleases Him.

Why and how is it that so many Christians think that the Jews and Christians were always doing wedding ceremonies all along? All the way back to Genesis. Why are Protestants shocked that it was the Protestants that made wedding ceremonies a requirement! That it was actually the Gentile-Christians that brought the custom of wedding ceremonies into Christianity. Well I can tell you why, it is because they do not believe it is important to know Christian history. Bible only….only tells part of the story because there was a lot going on in the biblical era that was not mentioned in the scriptures and the Christian story did not end at the end of the Bible. God’s interaction with us did not end at the end of the Bible.

I have to do this to remind people….It not like wedding ceremonies where not happening….

1. Wedding Ceremonies were occurring thousands of years ago, all the way back to Mesopotamia, but they were strictly Pagan.

2. There is no requirement for a wedding ceremony in the Bible, Old or New Testament. The word wedding does not occur in the scriptures beyond that the Hebrew language did not have words for wed or wedding. There is no description of a wedding in the Bible.

3. The event at Cana is actually called the Marriage at Cana and the storyline picks up at the reception with no description of what went on before that. The scriptures do not tell us who was getting married.

4. When Pagans-Gentiles started to convert to Christianity, they brought a lot of their customs into Christianity and wedding ceremonies were one of them. Even our modern Christian weddings have dozens of Pagan customs embedded them.

5. So even though history does not record a Christian wedding until the 9th century….for sure Gentile-Christian weddings were even occurring during the biblical era. But all this is voluntary, not required.

6. Most of my discussions regarding weddings are about when they became required in the 16th century along with the Protestant Reform.

The King is coming…..
How many scriptures could I copy here regarding the Apostles thinking they were living in the last days? A couple dozen? The lasts days….the last hour ….the time is short….the time has been shortened…..That they believed that Christ would return soon or that His return was at hand. Do you think that it was a surprise to Yeshua that they got it wrong? Beliefs, Truths, Facts, the fact is, He did not return soon and we are here in 2023. Christianity continued and we need to pay attention so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past and even correct some of the mistakes made in the past. But this answers the question; Why was there not a focus on the family in the NT? Because they believed the tribulations would happen soon and Christ would return soon and the end would follow so the priority was on saving souls. 1st Corinthians 7:26 So when did the focus on the family occur in Christianity? ….I will get to that shortly.

So consider this….God came to earth and walked among us to teach us the Way. God so loved the world….We do not want to let Him down, He went through the Passion and was nailed to a Cross, to provide salvation for us and to teach us these things and the fact is, that was just the beginning, over the last 2000 years God….the Holy Spirit has taught us many things and we need to carry on. He gave us the example of the Christian Spirit….Him. He gave us the wisdom and Holy Spirit gave us the Christian conscience….we need to apply that wisdom and conscience to all things and do what is right, even if it means change. The idea that Christianity is a static religion is wrong thinking, it never was static, not even in the Bible.

Do you think it was just a coincidence that the Gentiles were invited into Christianity?
Do you think it was just a coincidence that the Gentiles introduced wedding ceremonies to Christianity?
Do you think it was just a coincidence that the Protestants made wedding ceremonies a requirement to be married?

The exact circumstances and the name of the Protestant that first proposed that church wedding ceremonies be a requirement for marriages has been lost. We do not know if it was Martin Luther, or not, but we do know it happened around the middle of the 16th century, around the time of his death. But it does prove that the early Protestants were not entirely Bible only because there is no requirement in the scriptures for a wedding ceremony to be married. And I believe it proves that Christ is still teaching us thing because they certainly made the right decision.

And then the question; Why where wedding ceremonies so important? It is my personal belief that it was a divine event, and Yeshua was involved because suddenly all the Protestants and then the Catholics were on board. Normal for us now but back then it was a major change that occurred in a relatively short time. But could they have known the importance of it and the positive affects it would have on Christianity and the world?

I believe the focus on the family happened here and I submit that wedding ceremonies and marriage became the hallmark of Christianity and society. Why do I say that? There were a lot of changes in the 16th century, but of all the changes in Christian history this one was the most spectacular since the time that Gentiles were offered salvation. Between this and Protestant and Catholic reforms, it changed and improved Christianity tremendously.

The recognition of the importance of the Christian family within the body of Christ, the body of Christianity. Granted the 16th century saw a lot of improvements for Christianity…the Protestant reform, the de-fanging of the Catholic Church, the mass publication of the Bible for the average Christian, even the Catholics, it was around this time that Catholics were first allowed by the Church to have Bibles….And some do not realize just how drastic these change were. At one time the Catholic Church was down on women, sex, and marriage …even believing that marriage was adultery against God. (Old habits die hard!….The celibacy thing with the clergy is still biting them in the butt!) And as I have pointed out there was no focus on the family in the New Testament….celibacy was preferred and marriage was given up as a concession to prevent sin. (But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband and But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 1st Corinthians 7:2 and 9.)

Things changed but the change was slow, at the Council of Carthage in 398 A.D., there was an assumption of a priestly prayer or benediction of a marriage. Early Church Fathers Ignatius and Polycarp urged a blessing from parents and overseers over a pending marriage.

Although there was talk of marriage as a sacrament in the Catholic Church for a long time it was not until the Council of Trent in 1563 that marriage officially became one of the seven sacraments. Up to this point wedding ceremonies were not allowed in church buildings but instead would occur near a church or on the steps in front of a church. But shortly after making marriage a sacrament, weddings were required to happen inside the church.

In 1549 Thomas Cranmer a Catholic Archbishop wrote the marriage vows that are still popular today.

Continued…..

 

[Grailhunter]

So the big event occurred in the mid 16th century the Protestants made wedding ceremonies a requirement. There is no exact date for this but if Martin Luther was involved it had to happen before 1546, the year of his death. Then when the Catholic Church officially made marriage a sacrament in 1563 it was probably a little time after that, that weddings were required.

So again, here is where wedding ceremonies and marriage and Christian families became the hallmark of Christianity and society, and the focus on the family began….now in the interest of accuracy in the beginning the focus on the family was a Protestant thing but eventually very slowly the Catholic Church caught on to the importance of the family. And then they took the ball and ran with it. Back in the day a lot of Catholic Churches were sitting next to Catholic schools and there are still a lot of them today. The stabilizing affect of recognizing the importance of Christian families is like a star burst because it affected so many things. It is interesting to note that after this Catholic leaders stopped bashing women, sex, and marriage. And some say that the Catholic Reformation started at the same time they made marriage a sacrament, even at the same council, the Council of Trent in 1546.

The focus on the family stabilized Christianity and society. Public vows and a commitment made by a man and a woman. Men and a women and children became the anchor. What was important and what was right? Our values and ethics are based on this union. Husband and wife and their children in church worshipping the Lord. Husband and wife and children saying prayers at the dinner table. Husband and wife reading the Bible to their children and teaching them right from wrong and work ethics. In the early days talents and skills were handed down from father to son in apprenticeships and the schools were Christian based. Love of God, love of the family, and pride for our country and culture and history. And the Catholics were right along with them, in 1539 the Bible called the “Great Bible” was approved for Catholics to have.

As usual the significance of this was not fully realized in that time period but the influence carried on. From this point on a man and a woman were equal in the eyes of the Lord….Well the scriptures say it was before that, but us menz, we are a little slow in learning what is right. Galatians 3:28

But there was someone that did realize that the family had become the foundation of the Christian culture and that someone was Satan. Now if it is your intention to attack something like Christianity you know where to start….the children. The founders of the modern American education system were Benjamin Bloom, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, John Dewey, Edward Thorndike, and education was not their specialty, they were doctors and professors of behavioral modification, called brainwashing by us laymen folk, and most were atheists and or supported Marxism….setting up an education system for our children in America. The end result seems to be the same in Europe and other countries

So now it is no surprise that atheism, communism, LGBTQ, are part of the curriculum in our school system and the cancel culture of our history and the belittling of our morals are being pushed in our schools and colleges, not to mention the drug culture that exists in our schools and colleges. Pot stores for heaven sakes! With this and fact that most anything that is transmitted or printed in the media is in support of all this, it is an attempt to brainwash society as a whole with evil and this all constitutes a serious attack on God and Christianity.

In my area….Southeast Missouri….Christian separatists have become pretty common over the last 30 years. And recently separatists are forming groups so they can support each other in different ways like educating their children at home and even defense. Some say this is a prelude to a revolution or civil war….I don’t know. But either way at all cost we need to know what our children are being taught. Christian schools and colleges are the best way to go for our kids. And I know that everybody cannot afford that but you might look into home schooling groups in your area. I got involved with it with my grandson during the Covid thing and realized there were more of them than I knew.

For us….
It has always been about doing the right thing.
The details of the Bible aside, Christianity is one of the most simplest of religions. Just as the early Christians knew long before there were Bibles.
Acts 2:38 and the Bread and Wine Ritual…..Assemble and fellowship and worship the Lord together, the Word was taught to early Christians by word of mouth.
Love God and Love one another which is more than just lip service.
Show that love of God and show that love for one another.
Be good and do good.
The Johnny Appleseed of Truth

 

[hawkman]

We can dabble with facts and gets some things right, but we are moving into the realm of divine awareness on some things. For example; What is perceived when a tree falls in the forest? A person may believe that a tree falling in the forest makes a sound. But the truth is a tree cannot make a sound, the ear converts disturbances in the air to signals that the brain understands as sound. In other words there is no sound in the forest unless there is an ear present. But the facts of all this is that there are vibrations and frequencies and affects that are caused by the tree falling that cannot be perceived by an ear nor can we understand the effects of this on the nearby environment. But what God knows are the facts….all of them….everything about that tree and all it affected from the time it was a seed to the time it fell over….that be the facts.

The noise (vibration) the tree made was present even if no ear with a working brain was there to hear . The perception of the sound is in the brain and it can be felt by the skin in some cases .

 

[Grailhunter]

The noise (vibration) the tree made was present even if no ear with a working brain was there to hear . The perception of the sound is in the brain and it can be felt by the skin in some cases .

Sound is a function of the ear….and as they say….period.
Any vibration that occurred was not a noise or a sound....without an ear.

It is the ear that takes the vibrations and interprets them for the brain as something we understand as sound. But even then the ear converts those vibrations to signals to the brain because the skull does not have Alpine speakers inside….they are signals.
Without an ear they are just vibrations in the air.

And even though the vibrations maybe the same, one ear to the next may interpret them differently even though the source vibrations were vibrating at the same frequency.

Again, without an ear they are just vibrations.
What is needed for sound to happen? Well vibrations and air and an ear….in space were there is no air….there can be collisions and explosions, but even if there is an ear present it hears nothing because there is no air. So there are no sounds in space.

To put in a couple different contexts if you were to study the first phonographs and telephones and what they had to do to convert vibrations to electrical impulses and back again so the ear would recognize what was originally created, it would give you an idea what is happening.

And the inverse is true, if we put a sophisticated recorder in the forest and a tree falls, this recorder could give us a digital wave form that would be more accurate to the frequencies and vibrations of the tree falling. But if we want to hear it, it has to recreate the vibrations that the ear can understand.

The same thing with your local radio station. It transmits frequencies that our ears cannot detect. It takes receivers to receive those frequencies and convert them to vibrations that our ears can translate. Soooo radio signals are not sounds unless there is an ear…..a receiver.

 

[hawkman]

Sound is a function of the ear….and as they say….period.

Who is "they" ?

 

[Grailhunter]

Who is "they" ?

“They”Anybody that knows anything about sound. Sound is a function of any living thing that has the capacity to take vibrations and interpret simple vibrations to signals that it recognizes as sound. For example one tree is not going to hear another tree fall….unless it grows ears….Sound is the functions of ears. Without ears there is no sound….only vibrations and frequencies.

What convert vibrations to sounds
This motion SETS FLUID MOVING in the inner ear. Moving fluid bends thousands of delicate hair-like cells which convert the vibrations into NERVE IMPULSES. Nerve impulses are CARRIED to the brain by the auditory nerve. In the brain, these impulses are CONVERTED into what we "hear" as sound.

 

[hawkman]

“They”Anybody that knows anything about sound. Sound is a function of any living thing that has the capacity to take vibrations and interpret simple vibrations to signals that it recognizes as sound. For example one tree is not going to hear another tree fall….unless it grows ears….Sound is the functions of ears. Without ears there is no sound….only vibrations and frequencies.

What convert vibrations to sounds
This motion SETS FLUID MOVING in the inner ear. Moving fluid bends thousands of delicate hair-like cells which convert the vibrations into NERVE IMPULSES. Nerve impulses are CARRIED to the brain by the auditory nerve. In the brain, these impulses are CONVERTED into what we "hear" as sound.

Trees don't need ears to hear read the link to find out more .

Do Trees Talk to Each Other? A controversial German forester says yes, and his ideas are shaking up the scientific world

 

[Grailhunter]

Trees don't need ears to hear read the link to find out more .

Do Trees Talk to Each Other? A controversial German forester says yes, and his ideas are shaking up the scientific world

Ya that is interesting. Define communication? Define intelligence?

Years ago….I watched a documentary on the question of what is the difference between communication and intelligence.

They were filming a barracuda holding it mouth open while some small fish cleaned his gills and mouth and in between his teeth…..pretty neat…then the camera panned to the right and there was a line of barracuda waiting their turn.

I have seen alligators hold their mouths open while small birds do the same thing.
How do these creatures know they would not be eaten?
How did they know to get in line?

 

[hawkman]

Ya that is interesting. Define communication? Define intelligence?

Years ago….I watched a documentary on the question of what is the difference between communication and intelligence.

How little we know about God's design built into the world around us .

 

[Grailhunter]

Since I have mentioned Man-made sins….here is a list of Man-made sins but they do not apply to all denominations and it is not a conclusive list.

Sex….False beliefs regarding sex tops the list….I could write a book about this from several angles and levels….physical, physiological, and spiritual….Christianity is full of these false beliefs and most do not have any idea of the horrors, suffering, miseries, atrocities, and lost souls that they have caused
List of Man-made sins….
Sexual desire
Attraction to the opposite sex
Having sex for other reasons other than procreation
Enjoying sex
Having sex in any other position other than the missionary position and orifices
Kissing in public
Only have sex at night
Thinking about sex
Attraction to the opposite sex is defined as lust
Sex probation on certain days
Contraceptives
Masturbation
Nudity
Going to bed naked
Bathing naked
Breast feeding
Wet dreams
Divorce
Remarriage
Tobacco use
Drinking alcoholic beverages
Drinking in a bar
Drinking coffee…caffeine
Not tithing
Various types of music
Dancing
Music in church
Singing in church
Speaking in tongues in church
Eating pork or reptiles
Gambling
Cards and dice and board games
Women wearing pants
Women wearing shorts
Women wearing make-up
Women wearing dresses above the knees
Women wearing stockings
Women wearing high heels
Women shaving their legs
Women working outside the home
Men with long hair
Women with short hair
Having a profitable career or being rich
Tattoos
Body modifications such as nose jobs, lips, breast augmentation, repairing varicose veins and liposuction
Going to the swimming pool…swimming with mixed sexes…bikinis
Physical sports such as boxing and football
Carnivals
Military service
Service in Law enforcement
Self-defense or the defense of others
The use of any other bible other than the King James Version
The use of any other bible other than the Catholic Bible
Researching Christianity rather than believing what you have been told to believe
Not belonging to a prescribed denomination
Visiting or associating with other denominational churches
The belief you have to have a wedding ceremony to be married
Attending weddings of another denomination
Marrying someone from another denomination
Inter-racial marriages
Watching television
The use of vehicles
The use of technology in general
Blood transfusions
Receiving medical help
The Catholic set of man-made laws could add several dozen to this list of which most are a matter of physical control and belief control.
I am sure there are more….and some of these items if done in excess can be harmful or a sin, but that is pretty much true of anything. It is always more accurate and wiser to stick to the sins listed in the New Testament. Anything that is applicable from the Old Testament is listed in the New Testament. Christians are of the New Covenant.

For a lot of people these Man-made sins are the most important part of Christianity. Which is a red flag. Actual Christian sins are not that hard to know.....mostly 1st Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21. Epestions 5:1-5, and Revelation 21:8. But still the focus should be on applying Christianity to our lives and doing what Christ said to do….love one another. Fellowship and compassion for one another…..And for God’s sake go to church and get involved with a church. Back in the day people risked their lives to gather and fellowship and worship the Lord together ….And they did not have Bibles, they knew a lot less than what we do….But did they practice Christianity more correctly? Because now a days you almost have to beat people with a stick to get them to go to church.

Be good and do good
The Johnny Appleseed of Truth

 

[Anaphora]

False faith is actually dead works. It's Christian living life of false pretenses. Essentially speaking, these fake Christian people are not doers of the word. They only hear the word.

Matthew 7:22. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not do all these things in your name?. Christ says, I never you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.
These are play actors playing church. It's lip service. They have dead works.

James 1;22 . But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Works and faith go together. Even Abraham demonstrated both faith and works in genesis.

James 2:14. What does it profit , my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?

2:15. Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being alone.

Christian people should be teachers of God's word after 20 years. They are expected to produce fruit for God. It's planting seeds for God.
Those who produce fruit are profitable servants
Those who have dead works are unprofitable.
Get the picture.

Those playing church think thier going to Gods kingdom.
Reality check. False brethren go to sheol. It's holding place for the spirtualty dead or wicked until judgement day.
Documentation.
Psalm chapter 6
Luke chapter 16
Matthew chapter 7

 

[Grailhunter]

Keep preaching the Gospel.