Historically Speaking

Christians, beginnings and endings

By Dan Baxley

I hated History classes in school and I'm still not too keen on all those dates, names and confusing violent records of how horrible man can be.  I'm still not a student of history in the sense of knowing all of the dates and the names, places, events.  Liike many of you, I believe, since becoming a Believer in the Word of God my interest is greater than when going to school.  Not being in a structured learning invironement we are free to pick and chose -- You know, get to the meat of the subject. 

What follows is some things I have gleaned from the past, not as a quotable historical document but as a personal observationsin my own readings on the subject of the First Christian Believers then a quick pass-through the centuries ending with the Christians of today.  Remember, this is not a theme paper, nor an attempt at writing historical literature.  This is a view, my view, based on a limited knowledge of historical events culled from the writings of others and what our brothers and sisters in the Fatith delivered by YaHshua and carried on by His Apostles endured.  It is my hope you may see how the assualt on those called to the Christ, YaHshua, progressed and changed -- how thosed calling themselves Christians did themselves become the great tormentors of the Faithful.

Be aware, the Roman Catholic Church has a strong historical presence and is not one of beauty and splendor but of evil and darkness.  This is not meant to be an attack, in any way, upon the Catholic person.  I do believe, however, wether called of God or not that it is the personal responsibility of every individual to know whom they pay their taxes and to whom they follow into the future, be it poitical, or of a religious nature.  As thinking human beings it is you responsibility to know the answer to questionf of faith, belief in this or that system, or even disbelief.  If all you have is feelings and you wish to attribute those fellings to some kind of guide in your life then you should make sure it is the truth.  Remember, my friends, not all spirits in thei world are Holy, or clean -- as history proves.

The Satan Influence

The climate of today, compared to when our Savior walked this earth, has changed some, to say the least, and it is my belief Satan is the god of this world, the prince of this world and excercises power over the air of this plan et we call earth (2 Cor 4:4, Eph 2:2).  What possible meaning could we apply to the latter? We are told, right from the pages of your own bible that Satan has  "power over the air".  The "god of this world", to be sure, but "power over the air"?  This  is to suggest, his presence can be felt the world over and to make plain his domain is this earth, a planet with an atmosphere, a layer of air, wind, oxygen.  Another thing to consider, in these modern times, is how we get our news?The news and other events and progaming is delivered over "the air waves" -- just a thought.

So, there can be no mistake, biblically, Satan is the authority of this world and "blinds those that do not or will not believe", and Satan has his own apostles and decietful workers they are.   (Eph 2:2, 2 Cor 11:13)  But, "Wait", you say, "that isn't fair", and you would be right except for one small thing, he, Satan, can blind only those already having rejected our Creator.  There is no riding the fence.  Believe it or not, our Savior and our Heavenly Father are not so much concerned about the god haters, the willingly deceived but with those they have called, the saints, His children.  Satan influences the minds of men and women that refuse to believe and they unwittingly become his agents. 

  When you take a peak at the historical record surrounding the Christians of the First Century and follow them down through the ages you see this Satanic influence disproportionately following those true to the Christ, the Messiah of the bible, tormenting them, murdering them in every way imaginable -- ways only demons could dream up but being carried out by human beings.  The history of believers suffering in the name of the Messiah is unimaginable and the crowds calling for their blood, burning and dismemberment.

  No, this is not, "Satan made me do it" , not at all.  First for Satan to actively influence your thinking you have to accept the false tenets of his demonic doctrines, you personally ignore the plain teachings of the Scripture, choosing to ignore the word of truth and denying YaHshua as Savior.  We will see from this brief historical outline a change in his, Satan's, methods.  Hi first attempts failed, the harder he flailed those having given their lives to our Savior the greater number arose to replace them.  Those with blood of innocents on their hands are not mere government leaders, as you will see, but those claiming to be religious themselves.  Keep in mind, Satan, after the Crucified Christ, went out to destroy the people of the Living God, the Jews.  He then turned his anger on those people of the Living Christ, YaHshua. 

The Set Up

The first century which includes the birth of our Savior, His 33.5 year ministry, His crucification and ascension.  From this the apostles broke out to all of Israel, where ever on earth they might have been and preached YaHshua to them, the Good News of the Coming Kingdom and the Salvation of man.  From this outgrowth, the Gentiles, for the most part, being ignored, Paul was raised up.  Paul, known as Saul, an official tormentor of the Church, taking people by order of the Jewish leadership into prison and even death, is addressed personally by YaHshua.  Paul's conversion led to his disappearance for about 3.5 years being taught, face to face by YaHshua, for his mission (Gal 1:17-18), later, after three years he went to meet with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. 

 Paul received the same education under the Messiah as did the original thirteen.  Yes, thirteen, remember, Judas having hanged himself was replaced by the casting of lots (Acts 1:26) and Matthew was selected, then then would have been the thirteenth Apostle.  Now you have Paul, also an Apostle, by selection of YaHshua Himself making Paul the fourteenth Apostle, the thirteenth of the living Apostles.  Paul states he exhibited the same signs of an Apostle of the Messiah as the others (2Cor 2:12). 

Why is this important?  Reading Acts first chapter you will see the requirement for filling the office of Apostle, verse 22.  An apostle must have been a witness from the time of John , of that number only two qualified.  In other words, these two had been witnesses of YaHshua from the time of John the baptist, meaning they followed after the Messiah as did the original, hand picked twelve.  You might say these men. like many others, were Messiah groupies.  The office of Apostle ended with the death of the last of these and that would be, historically, the Apostle John.  This is important to understand as many after John, the Last Apostle, have stood up claiming this office for themselves. 

Yes, there is a a place in the New Testament that seems to suggest there is still an office of Apostle in the Church today (1 Cor 12:28-29) but with an open mind you will see the verses they quote to support their false position is speaking in real time, not future.  When the statements made to the Church at Corinth by the Apostle Paul we see the office of Apostle at work defined by the Apostles themselves still living.  Let me use some reasoning here -- Just because someone calls themselves an Apostle does not make it so, not even if others say so.  There is one Messiah, on Christ, one YaHshau, now, if many others stand up and claim to be Christs also does that make it so?  What if a groups says their leader is the Christ or is a Messiah?  I think you get the point.  An apostle is appointed by command of YaHshua and our Heavenly Father, not by men (1 Tim 1:1).

Paul bases His Apostleship on the very fact he had been given the same gifts and fore-most, He was personally taught by YaHshua.  The Apostles also had signs and wonder, like no others, following them. YaHshua said they, his disciples, soon to be Apostles of the Crucified Christ, would do things even great than the Messiah Himself had done (John 14:12).  Please note, the discourse recorded in John's Gospel, is addressed to his Disciples, soon to become His Apostles.  In the verses of John 14 we have the privilege of sitting in on a lesson for His Disciples, His pupils, to remember and call on later.  And, as the Book of Acts demonstrates, this did happen.  It is recorded Peter raised the dead (Acts 9:40) and the very act of Peter's shadow passing over the sick healed them.   

Read the following verse as proof that Paul was called to be an Apostle to the Gentiles while Peter was called to be an apostle to the Israelites, the Jews.  And this is important as there is a major religious organization claiming it is based upon the Rock of Peter.  The Roman Church claims Peter as its first Apostle, its first Pope.  With this false claim we have a Church, the Rome Church, claiming to be Jews (indirectly to be sure).  Some call this "Replacement Theology" where some claim to be Israel's replacement and this is the Roman Church's position even as it is with some of her daughter Churches found among the Protestant Churches.  Here is the warning first, followed by the Scriptures proving Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles and Peter to those of the "circumcision", the Israelites. 

(Rev 3:9)Behold, I will make them of the synagogue (Church) of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

This is exactly what the Roman Church does when it claims the Apostle Peter as their Pope.  They do lie as they are Gentiles by origin and not Israel.  By making this claim and literally basing the authority of the Pope-ship upon this error they do claim to be Jew, or the chosen of God over all others and in this they will reap the the title, among the spirit world, "Church of Satan".

Paul to the Gentiles: 1 Tim 2:7, 2 Tim 1:11, Rom 11:13

Peter to the Jew:  Gal 2:7-8, 1 Pet 1:1 ("strangers" is a term used of Israelites out in the world, away form their home land Israel)

Why is all this important?  When the Catholic Church appears on the scene, a creation of the pagan King Constantine, we see a Church claiming the supreme title of the only Church of Christ on earth. 

YaHshua Crucified

The church enjoyed great success in the beginning, the Apostles, like twelve Christs, healing the sick, raising the dead and other wonders only they could do.  At one point a magician, Simon, also a worker of miracle saw that his magic and slight of hand was nothing like what the Apostles were doing and offered a large sum of money to buy the secret.  Simon then disappears from the scene, or does he.  A man like Simon, a magician used to center stage, is baptized and accompanies Peter and observes what is happening and is rejected by Peter when Simon attempts to bribe him.  By this Simon exposes his true colors, he want this gift for himself so he could do a work greater than what he had before.  Simon asks Peter to pray for him and then fades into the background. 

Some report that Simon ended up in Rome and began a work of his own, using his magic and tricks to convince people to follow him.  He laid the ground work for a pagan Christianity.  It would only be natural that the followers of Simon and of Peter would become intertwined.  Listen, The Apostle Peter's real name is Cephas, but he had one thing in common with Simon the Magician, they both were called "Simon".

(John 1:42) And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. (KJV)  (also, 1 Cor 3:22, 1 Cor 9:5, 1 Cor 15:5 and Gal 2:9)

And you thought Simon Peter was his name?  Sorry, but YaHshua named him Cephas which meant "stone", not "rock".  A stone is like a pebble or small rock and when you understand this, and that Cephas was the Apostle to the Jews and not to the Gentiles then the context of what our Savior says to him  makes sense, and exposes the lie upon which the Roman Catholic Church is built.  We see another example of a name being hijacked for other purposes.  The Roman Church considered Simon Peter as their first Pope.  In the Latin Pope is a term meaning PaPa, or Father, or "pater", no "Peter".  The Roman church has falsely built its universal (Catholic) Church around this false premise that Simon Peter is the first Pops or Father, and the Pops that follow are in succession to Simon Peter.  There is a lot wrong with the teachings of the Catholic Church surrounding the Apostle Peter, who we no know was really called Cephas (the C is pronounced as a K) and, if you bothered to read the other verses I listed above, we see Cephas had a wife.  So, Peter, known as Cephas among the believers of the first century, was never called Pope, or Father (Matt 23:9), and he was the Apostle to the Jews scattered abroad, and he had a wife that went with him. 

The success of the Christian Church came to a halt as the anger of the Roman Kingdom and its people began to tire of being told they were worshiping demons and devils.  To the religions of the time the Christians appeared as "atheist", the concept of one god was like saying all of your gods were, in fact, dead and this angered many.  As the Gentile anger grew against the Christians defaming their gods they found an ally in the Jewish community.  Many of the voices screaming death to the Christians were Jewish.  The Jewish community, however, were could never warm up to Roman rule in Jerusalem, however, and caused a lot of problems for the Romans.  Within a generation of YaHshua having been crucified Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman Legions to bring the rebellious Jews under control, or to eliminate the Jewish problem.  That generation saw the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion  of most the Jewish population being sold into slavery.  This is when the Christians seemed to fade from historical record except for the continuing persecutions brought about by being blamed for every thing from bad weather to a rising crime rate.  Because of their disrespect of Roman Paganism and idol worship the Christian populations came under fire, literally, as atheistic god haters.  From this point, after the destruction of the Temple the Christians are not so obvious in historical record.  The travels of the Apostles is a guessing game, only the travels of Paul seem to be detailed and that is found in the Book of Acts, not much in secular history. 

But, along in the third century along comes a King that changes everything.  Constantine, as the legend goes, saw a vision of a cross and knew he was going to win a major battle, which he did, making him Emperor of the Roman Empire.  He then declare Christianity the religion of the Empire.  Christian finally are going to experience peace.  This is when the Roman Catholic Church is formed and claims supreme authority over all things Christian and eventually over all Kings and powers.  The Church of Rome models itself after the Babylonian Mystery religions using the Holy Bible as its authority to rule.  Twisting scripture this and and that but eventually hiding the Bible under the cloak of secrecy as too complex for the average man to understand they made it against the law for anyone outside of the clergy to possess a Bible.  The priest of this Christian Church would explain the Christian religion to the masses.  All the while the Roman Church adopted pagan festivals and renamed many pagan customs with Christian sounding titles.  They shaped the Babylonian system of religion into a religion popular with pagans and heathens alike. 

Once the power of the Roman Church was secure they set about converting the world.  The power of this Church grew to a point that no kind could sit on a throne without the blessing of the Pope.  Once they had absolute power they went after the Christ Killers, the Jews, and with them anyone calling themselves Christian but no loyal or baptized by a Roman priest.  In order to survive in life from around 400AD to 1600AD you had to be a roman Catholic.  Those going against the Church and its pagan teachings were burned at the stake, strangled, cut to pieces, or tortured into confessing IESUS as their god.  Once a tortured candidate of conversion caved in and confessed they would kill that new convert before he had a chance to recant.  These, of course were the hard cases, mostly new converts came into the fold willingly.  Many, as today, believed the Pope to be Vicar of Christ, that is Christ on earth. 

Eventually this demonic Church collapsed but did not die.  A rebellion sprang up and the Protestant movement was under way.  As time marched on England, as the first nation to deny the Pope as supreme, pulled away form the Roman Church and even authorized the printing of the Holy bible into English for all to read, but not before the Rome Church murdered many thousands of believer and of many a great man for wanting to give all men a chance to read the word of God.  The Roman Church was scrambling to cover themselves for as soon as everyone could read the Holy text for themselves they would see what Martin Luther saw, how the Roman Church was filled with lies and deceit, driven more by greed than conversion. 

Finally the powers of Europe had had enough and along came Napoleon, he reduced the Pope to a prisoner of Rome.  Essentially the Roman catholic terror came to and end with only a few stake burnings in far off lands where this evil Church could still practice its form of butcher in the name of God.  When the Pope once ruled all of Rome and Italy and ruled over all the Kings of the earth he was not limited to a small parcel of land.  Subdued but not dead.

Since the cruel treatment of Christians at the hands of Popes past and the Inquisitions giving power to unsavory men of the clothe the Christians a large have had it pretty good, with the establishment of the United States there was now a place to escape to.  The United States set out as a country to set itself apart from religious rule.  The founding father of the United States also saw the evil men in power can and will do if not kept in check.  The governing system of the United States was not only to grant freedom of religion, not just the Christian religions but all religions, so the Jews found a haven of safety as did the Christians trying to follow the words of our Savior and rejecting the false doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.  Many, however, under the banner of Protestant rebellion kept the customs and traditions learned from and inherited from their Mother Church.  There were others, though, such as the Separatist, that threw the Roman Church doctrines aside and refused to knuckle under to the rising influence of the Protestant daughters of the Roman Church. 

The separatist soon became known as the Puritans and as history proves over and over again, power does corrupt.  The Landing of the Separatist at Plymouth Rock and declaring the rebuilding of a New Jerusalem, free form Popery, and from Protestant pressures they began a kind of rule of their own.  Soon if you lived among them you either had to bow to their leadership as chosen master of God or get out and many did just that, leaving the Puritans to themselves.  After all, the new country, the new land to be come the United States of America was big and getting bigger all the time.  Ironically, south of the Puritan mini empire a ship landed with about 200 Roman Catholics and they set up a settlement of their own, also under the banner of freedom of religion.  It seems this group of hard souls also wanted a new start and wanted to be free to worship without the office of the Church baring down on them all the time.  They, in reality, were the first to practice true freedom of religion, allowing anyone into their community wishing to add to their number and growth and not having to be a Roman Catholic.  How ironic is that?  The freedom fighter of religion, the Separatist, become the Puritan suppressors while the suppressors and tormentors of the past become the true freedom fighters of free religious expression in the New World.

So, here we are, modern Christianity and hardly a soul knows anything about the Church that Christ built.  His Church is an invisible Church so far as it is not found in a building or buildings.  The flesh and blood body of the Church of YaHshua is scattered the world over (salt of the earth), it is not confined to a particular group, nor can it be.  For Satan to destroy the people of the Living God he would have to destroy the entire world and that, I believe is his plan.  He, however, does not have that power, he does not have permission, so to speak, so the alternate plan would be to get man to do it to himself.  There is more than one way to destroy the world.  Satan would be happy to save the earth if he could but destroy or eliminate those called to replace him and his demons angels.  The followers of the Messiah are and have been groomed through the ages to be kings and priests and to rule over all that Satan now possesses. 

Satan is the master deceiver and is so clever that he has even deceived himself and his demonic angelic force into believing they have a chance.  It is their only hope, to destroy the sons and daughters of God, the brethren of YaHshua.  He becomes the unwitting tool in the had of our Heavenly Father to help reveal those humans that are not fit for the Kingdom.  In the end YaHshua will divide the sheep form the goats but along the way Satan is causing the rebellious of God to be revealed and he then is allowed to further blind them for the purposes of our Father in refining and proving His Children. 

We are in a relative quiet time, not far removed from atrocities of Hitler and Stalin, not to mention Mao Tse Tung a mass murderer of millions of his own people.  Now, today, the threat to all Christians is the Muslim terrorist and the Muslim community in general.  Say what you want, think what you want, many place on this earth with a large Muslim population are known to make being a Cristian very difficult.  Imagine, if you can, the Muslim population, under the banner of Islam, over throwing the small nation Israel, how do you think the Jews and the Christians in that part of the world would fair?  Enough said.

We should all have a minimal understanding of what our brothers and sisters in the Faith had to endure and to see the threat of religion is to the Believer in YaHshua.  As our brethren of the first century our Freedom in the Messiah will be envied even hated and prosecution will follow.  A day will come when some will have to confess their salvation with their lives.  We should be prepared mentally, and spiritually for what may be ahead, if not for us for out future brothers and sisters in YaHshua.  Our prayers should include those coming after us that they be strong. 

Peace to you, from you servant in YaHshua, Dan