Modern Movements

 

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40

The Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery. But at the onset of the next century, African-Americans were still in a low status in society. An estimated 12 million African Americans live in the United States by 1900, with 75% living in the South. (BBC History). The total population of America rose to 75 million people of various nationalities. American innovation is on the rise with J.P Morgan founding U.S. Steel in competition with Carnegie Steel which was started in 1892. Harley Davidson is established in 1903. Ford opens his motor vehicle company with the Model T. The FBI is established in 1908. The RMS Titanic sinks with most of the USA’s wealthy and hundreds of Irish immigrants. The Panama canal is acquired for construction and broadcasting takes off with Columbia Broadcasting Network. Suffragettes won the right for women to vote in 1920, eight years later Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Before this, the U.S entered the First World War, which introduced machine guns which changed war fare and increased the loss of human life more than any war that came before it!

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Fredrick Douglas

In the 1900s, the thoughts of men and women had and were being influenced by the Theory of Evolution, the Communist Manifesto and Psychology. Humanism was another movement of thought taking hold, that helped fuel WWI due to the perceived superiority of the German Empire, as the German people believed, over other countries and races. The flame of prejudice was fanned! WWI began in 1914 and ended in 1918, with a total of 37 million military men, nurses, and civilian deaths! The spread of Evolution sparked the controversy of the Scopes Trial in 1925. The already heated conflict of prejudice and racism got hotter with the revival of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was created by William du Bois in 1909 and later the The Universal Negro Improvement Association was founded 1914 by Marcus Garvey to fight against prejudice and racism. When a human being is no longer viewed as a creation of God but instead an animal that came from a primordial pool of nothingness, than some people will take the extreme view that certain races and people are animals to be persecuted, mistreated, and destroyed! Many of these people who became known as white supremacists used the Bible to justify their racism, but some how forgot that Jesus Christ was born a Jew! Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jew of the Levant not white or black etc! Not only this, but Jesus never preached one race superiority! Israel was chosen to be light bearers to the world for Yahweh! The Old Testament tells us that salvation for all mankind would come from Israel, on purpose to make a distinction between truth (John 17:17) and error! None of the Apostles promoted prejudice or racism because many Jews had intermarried with other nationalities as they spread all over the world! The Apostles preached to the Gentiles and those who believed also received the Holy Spirit! We are all descendants of Noah, his wife and their sons and daughter-in-laws! 

“And [God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” Acts 17:26 & Galatians 3:28.

“And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?…” Mark 11:17; Isaiah 56 & 66; Jeremiah 7:11

Furthermore, the New Testament tells us that when Christ was on his way to be crucified, a man named Simon of Cyrene was chosen to carry His cross. Cyrene was an ancient Greek and later Roman city in what is now Shahhat, Libya. In Acts 8:26-40, the Apostle Philip was led by the Holy Spirit to the Ethiopian eunuch outside of Jerusalem near Gaza who he over hears reading the prophet Isaiah. Philip explained that Jesus was the Messiah that Isaiah prophesied about which led to the Ethiopian man being baptized as a Christian! Besides Africans, Samaritans, Greeks and many other races freely joined the Apostles by giving up traditions and paganism to follow Christ!

“Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.'” John 12:30-32

Resources:

Video: ‘Spirit Led: Phillip and the Ethiopian,’ Amazing Facts.

BBC History

The 1900s

‘Race and Ethnicity in the Bible: Misreading Scripture Through Western Eyes,’ by By E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, July 18, 2013.

 

Anti-Supernatural?

“The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

The Bible (John 1) is a guide for mankind to bring us into communication with our Creator! The Bible tells us of a war of good versus evil! We know that evil exists we’ve seen it! People blame God for the bad things that happen, which is understandable! But from a Biblical perspective of theodicy or the problem of evil makes sense, because God is accused of being unjust and his government unnecessary! So there’s a trial going on and the scientific method is being employed! Do we need God’s government or anarchy? Satan is the cause of all our woe! In a perfect world what are the odds of having evil come into existence? It’s probably as remote and just as inevitable as Jesus Christ who fulfilled over 100 Messianic Prophecies! Satan is just a real as Jesus Christ, he is the one who brought sin and suffering into the world with a lie – ‘you can be like God!’ That was Lucifer’s sin, he a created being, wanted to be worshiped like the Creator! Since the time of Cain, Satan has worked on the hearts and minds of men and women his accusation of God’s unfairness and built his own religion which points to himself! The Bible is the opposite of this religion! The religion I speak of is occultism, paganism and spiritualism! The ancient civilizations such as Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome, worshiped the devil in various male and female forms, copying some aspects of God’s religion, the Sanctuary service of Israel and Apostolic Christianity! They had the same deities with different names in each culture, worshiping the Sun and nature. This is not a slight to anyone of any religion, this is a summary of the history of religion! God has people who are good and just in all religions who will be saved! But God makes clear distinction in the Bible between how he wants to be worshiped versus paganism! From the time of Christ to the 1600s, the ancient religions of Babylon, Greece, Egypt and Rome were thought to have been eradicated, but were actually in hiding and were eventually incorporated into Roman Catholicism. The Reformation tore apart this system to bring people back to Bible Christianity. Well the Devil didn’t like that! So he sought to bring back paganism. This started with the Renaissance, then the Enlightenment Era with: Greek philosophy, skepticism, politics and science. The secret societies utilized pagan rituals in it’s societies which cunningly was anti-Rome. The Jesuit Order was dissolved in 1773 and went underground, which many Enlightenment Era men rejoiced to hear! Men, sadly lacking women, had freedom to believe or not to believe in God! After 1773, a series of Revolutions took place: the Boston Tea Party in 1773, the Declaration of Independence is signed in 1776, Treaty of Paris in 1783, The French Revolution in 1789, Napoleon rises to power in 1796. See ‘Revolutions, Tyrants and Wars.’

“The only people in the world, it seems, who believe in the conspiracy theory of history are those of us who have studied it.” Fredrick Tupper Saussy, Rulers of Evil: Useful Knowledge of Governing Bodies.

The 1700s brought major changes that further developed our modern world. The ideals and Greek philosophy of the Enlightenment thinkers were later adopted by the Founding Fathers and the founders of other republics. Rationalism replaced faith in the supernatural. Sir Isaac Newton’s work ‘Principia Mathematica,’ advanced science by exclaiming that nature can be studied and calculated to find answers through mathematics. The politics of the day gave more power to the people over divine rule. The Enlightenment thinkers also criticized the Bible and all forms of the supernatural, yet paganism and spiritualism secretly prospered which has everything to do with the supernatural. You cannot deny God’s existence without denying the existence of evil and Satan. Evil exists and so does God, those who deny this are: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were made…” Some don’t want God to exist so there is no law nor law giver and therefore no judgment. We have freedom of choice! God doesn’t force us to worship him! But as Blaise Pascal stated in his, ‘The Wager,’ there is a 50/50 chance God either exists or he doesn’t, and it’s wise to conduct oneself as though he does exist, because in doing so there is no risk involved, only the chance of a great reward!”

 

The Church in the Middle Ages

The Papacy began about 538 AD and with its inception came all the non-biblical traditions that the church fathers allowed into the Church. Christian missionaries spread the Gospel to the “barbarian” peoples: the Franks, Alamanni, Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, Britons and other celts. By 1054 the Great Schism caused by Pope Leo IX split the Church in Constantinople and Rome apart. The Western Church brings into the church the: rosary beads for prayer, canonization of dead saints, enforcement of celibacy, selling indulgences, transubstantiation, mass, confession and absolution, and baptism by sprinkling.

In 1079, celibate priests receive the tonsure when they are ordained. Nowhere in the Bible are we told that leaders should shave part of their heads. However, the tonsure is connected to Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, the first-century Gnostic Simon Magus, and, even before him, the Babylonian worship of Bacchus and Egyptian worship of Osiris.(Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Cosimo, Inc., 2007): 221.) Read more about the tonsure

In 1090 rosary beads were invented by Peter the Hermit. It is common knowledge that prayer beads were used by pagan Eastern Religions not by Ancient Israel nor by Jesus himself nor the Apostles. According to Wikipedia, knotted prayer ropes were used by monks and ascetics by the “Desert Fathers” in Egypt. Concerning prayer Jesus said,

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:6-8.

Next is the prayer to dead saints for extra merit to be saved. What does the Bible, which the Word of God that Jesus kept and quoted, say about death?

“For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:5

“The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor any who go down into silence.” Psalm 115:17.

“These things He said, and after that He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.’ Then His disciples said, ‘Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’ John 11:11-14.

In 1215 the Papacy invented transubstantiation, where the eucharist is magically changed into the real blood and flesh of Jesus. This is not what Jesus taught the disciples during the Passover, in the first Communion Service. Communion was to be a church activity that all participated in to remember what Christ did for us! In 1414 at the Council of Constance, the Papacy decreed that the Laity would no longer be offered the Lord’s cup at communion! In this same year, the Catholic Mass is invented which celebrates Christ’s death and sacrifice at every mass, instead of his resurrection and victory over death and sin! The Bible teaches that Christ offered His sacrifice on the cross once and for all!

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrew 10:10.

Also in 1215, at the Lateran Council, Pope Innocent III decreed that the laity must confession their sins to priests who gives absolution, whom they call “father.” Jesus said,

“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Matthew 23:9.

The Bible makes it clear that only Christ Jesus is our mediator and we are to confess our sins to Christ. We can choose to confess our sins to our fellow believers (James 5:16) so that we can pray for one another, but not to seek forgiveness from them!

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 see Psalm 32, Acts 3:19 & Isaiah 43:25.

In 1311 Baptism by sprinkling accepted instead of immersion, yet Jesus was baptized by immersion by John the Baptist, as were all the disciples including Paul and all the Early Christian Church members! Baptism is a spiritual cleansing or rebirth as Jesus told Nicodemus, in which the believer follows Christ in newness of life! It is also a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ!

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:19-20, see also Mark 16:15-16, John 3:5, Psalm 19:7-11, Galatians 5:5:17-25.

The Papacy turned to the selling of indulgences in 1190 which later sparked the Reformation in 1517! An indulgence according to the dictionary is “a grant by the pope of remission of the temporal punishment in purgatory still due for sins after absolution. The unrestricted sale of indulgences by pardoners was a widespread abuse during the later Middle Ages.” The Bible says nothing about purgatory since the Bible states that when a person dies they are dead! So selling an indulgence gives license to sin at a price, which is completely the opposite of what Christ and the Bible teaches!

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 20:14.

“Much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Romans 5:9, see also Acts 8:18-24, Isaiah 12:2, Ephesians 1:7, 1 John 1:9.

“Neither is their salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.

Love & Fellowship With God

The First Epistle of John

Scholars believe that The First Epistle of John was written by John the Apostle in Ephesus about 95 AD. John is the youngest apostle and the only apostle to not die a martyrs death and is also the writer of the Book of Revelation. John opens his letter by declaring that the Word of Life was manifested into human form in Jesus Christ. That the Christians are witnesses of Christ, His life and work. God is the light and there is no darkness in him, so if we want to fellowship with Christ we must walk in the light and not the darkness, for God has redeemed us from sin! To be followers of Christ, who is the Gospel, we are to keep the commandments. We believe in Christ through faith and by our faith our works and life will reflect that we love God by keeping His commandments. John tells us not to love the world or the things of the world. John makes it inevitably clear to the brethren that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah and that anyone who denies this is a liar, furthermore, anyone who denies the Father and Son is antichrist! This is important for the Church because Christ is the founder of Christianity and we follow what he says and Jesus himself declared “My Father and I are one and the same.” “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” John reminds us from Old Testament sources, that sin is lawlessness, but Christ came to redeem us and destroy evil. Just like Peter and Paul, John warns us of deceptions in the church, false prophets and fake Christians. We are to test them, whether they believe that Jesus is the Christ. John reminds us to love each other because God first loved us!

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

“And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

“And you have overcome the wicked one.”

Video: Important Themes In I John, The Fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control,

Books: Exploring the Epistles of John,

Articles: The Challenge of “Agape” Love, Christian Courier

Web: First John Outline

 

Freedom From Slavery

The Epistle of Paul to Philemon

In this one chapter letter from Paul to the disciple Philemon who opened his villa to be used as a church for the brethren in the city of Colosse. Paul is still in prison in Rome with other disciples at his side. A surviving fragment of the letter exists today and is called Papyrus 87 dated to 250 BC, though the original work would have been written around 66-67 AD. Philemon was a wealthy man who owned slaves, some of whom had been converted while slaves and servants of Philemon such as that of Onesimus, who risked his life to run away from Philemon to Paul in Rome! Paul personally writes this letter to Philemon seeking reconciliation between Onesimus and Philemon in Christ, even desiring his freedom. For we are all free in Christ Jesus who died to set us free from the shackles of sin and redeem us!

“We are all God’s Onesimus!” – Martin Luther, Theologian & Protestant Reformer

“All heaven beholds with indignation, human beings, the workmanship of God, reduced to the lowest depths of degradation, and placed on a level with the brute creation by their fellow men. And professed followers of that dear Saviour whose compassion was ever moved as he witnessed human woe, heartily engage in this enormous and grievous sin, and deal in slaves and souls of men. Angels have recorded it all. It is written in the book. The tears of the pious bond-men and bond-women, of fathers, mothers and children, brothers and sisters, are all bottled up in heaven. Agony, human agony, is carried from place to place, and bought and sold. God will restrain his anger but a little longer. His anger burns against this nation, and especially against the religious bodies who have sanctioned, and have themselves engaged in this terrible merchandise. Such injustice, such oppression, such sufferings, many professed followers of the meek and lowly Jesus can witness with heartless indifference. And many of them can inflict with hateful satisfaction, all this indescribable agony themselves, and yet dare to worship God.” —Ellen G White on the Civil War & Slavery, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 1, pp. 189-192. 

Film: Amazing Grace, Whistleblower

Video: The Story of William Wilberforce,  Human Trafficking Report, CNN, Saved to Serve

Audio: Justice Like A River

Books: Marin Luther’s Lectures on Titus, Philemon & Hebrews,  Philemon: An Exposition of the letter of Philemon, Colossians & Philemon,

Articles: Slavery in the Bible: Christianity Today, What the Bible really says about Slavery: Huffington Post, Does the Bible Condone Slavery RZIM 

Web: Cargo: Innocence Lost, The Bible verses on Personal Rights

The Four Gospels Part II

Matthew 3-5, Mark 2-4, Luke 4-6 & John 2-4

In the first part of The Four Gospels we read about Christ’s genealogy, his birth in Bethlehem as prophesied by Micah (5:2). The Star of Bethlehem which signaled to the Magi of the East to the arrival of the Messiah. We see the work of God in the birth of the Messiah’s messenger, John the Baptist who came in the ‘Spirit of Elijah.’ We read how when the Magi came to inquire about the Messiah from King Herod (a descendent of Esau) that Herod sent his men to kill the innocent infants hoping to kill the Messiah! At this same time the Roman Emperor Augustus commanded a census to be completed in Judea, Joseph, Mary and Jesus escape to Egypt with the gifts of the Magi! Joseph, Mary, and Jesus come back after the death of Herod and came to live in Nazareth.

Now we read about Christ growing up and becoming a man on a mission! John baptized people, preached repentance and the Kingdom of Heaven! Jesus comes to John for baptism before going into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil! Christ was thirty years of age when he began his ministry. Jesus The Christ is the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David. God had fulfilled his promise that he made to Adam and Eve in Eden to send One who would reconcile mankind to God and destroy evil, (Genesis 3:15). When Christ went into the wilderness to be tempted, he had to fast for forty days to weaken his Divine self so that he was as vulnerable as we are under temptation, only he who is sinless cannot sin; but Christ would have failed if he fell to the temptation to use his divine power to save himself from temptation. He was tempted in three areas where Eve and Adam fell, Appetite, Presumption and Selfishness.

Film: The Star of Bethlehem

Video: The Great Temptation, Water Baptism,

Audio: We Would See Jesus,

Books: Messiah: The 70 Week Prophecy,  Baptism: Is it necessary?,

The New Works of Josephus,

Articles: The Temptations of Christ, The Census of Quirinius,