Part 5 of 7
RENEGADE CHRISTIANITY
The
chiliasm of the first three centuries of Christianity (i.e., teaching that the
Messiah would return to reign over the nations from Israel), early scholars
abandoned for Augustine’s idealist doctrine ©. 354-430 AD), which teaches that
the Church superseded the natural nation of Israel and thus presently reigns as
the Messiah’s earthly throne- be it from Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity
in general. The Bishop of Hippo believed that saintly believers of Christianity
are the “City of God” now on Earth (serving as a title of one of his books),
reigning in the millennium with most of the Scriptures fulfilled until the
post-millennial destruction of the Antichrist. On Earth the Church is Israel
and Heaven is the spiritual reign; but natural Israel is left but a despised,
dispossessed, and mostly forsaken relic of God’s past works. Augustine’s view
of Revelation, interpreting the book by a largely faulty, allegorical method in
his view of Christian glory, as Origen did before him, helped solidify the
Roman Church’s claim of Christendom being new Israel and the City of God. Jews,
scholars from his time on taught, had lost their historical and Divine place,
and the Church was realized as a sort of heavenly Jerusalem already here and
presently triumphant, spreading throughout the pagan nations of the world- the
City of Satan. In other words, two distinct spiritual worlds are warring in our
long-present and figurative millennium. Christ is in control via His reigning
from the Right Hand of God in Heaven, and the Roman pontiffs or “vicars” (title
meaning “substitutes” given by wicked Pope Innocent III, c. 1198-1216 AD) on
Earth are His ruling spokespersons for the Church.
Although Augustine asserted the “whole Church” rather than only the Bishopric
of Rome, as having the power to “bind and loose sin” (see On the Gospel of
John, Tractate CXXIV.7), the principle of the so-called “Universal Church”
having all authority on Earth and over forsaken Israel was embraced over the
chiliastic promises given the chosen nation. Christ would not arrive to reign
during an appointed Great Sabbath according to amillennial (no millennium) and
postmillennial eschatology. For most Roman Catholics the messianic millennium
is not an actual period of time, but an age without timely bounds for their
glorious Catholicism- trials and triumphs. In other words, they chose the glory
of their church and religiosity over what the Word of God actually, plainly
discloses. What they could not ignore of the prophecies concerning Israel they
usurped or spiritualized away.
During the first three centuries of the new faith, chiliasm was universally
accepted by Christians who learned from the Jewish apostles, and some kept that
belief prominent for centuries thereafter despite Catholic purging. The coming
messianic millennium was rarely questioned and was believed by most in the
early centuries, evident via Papias, Justin Martyr, Apostle Barnabas,
Methodius, Nepos, Melito, Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Commodian, Coracion,
Lactantius, et al., and even by Augustine himself before falling from
scriptural truths. For many of them (e.g., Irenaeus), the millennium was
clearly part of the greater septa-millennial plan. The first popular Christian
to deny it of record- that I am aware of- was Marcion at the end of the 1st
cent. and into the 2nd cent. AD, and thus he was quickly and universally
branded a “gnostic” for claiming extra spiritual knowledge- a “heretic” against
the faith and traditions first received, having also denied that the God of the
Tanakh is the Father.
“I and others who are
right-minded Christians on all points are assured that there will be a
resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be
built…Isaiah spoke in that manner concerning this period of a thousand years.”
– Justyn Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Ch. 80
Although many early Gentile scholars and theologians had anti-Judaism
sentiments, along with warped new ideas via influences of Greek philosophy and
extra-biblical teachings, things which they foolishly brought into the original
Hebrew faith, they held on to this basic and important tenet of New Covenant
eschatology- the coming reign of the Christ King on Earth at Jerusalem. They
kept with the idea that God had laid out His historical plan and appointed
generations in His Word, and that plan was directly centered on the future of
Israel.
Who has performed and
done it [declared Israel’s history], calling generations from the beginning
[Genesis]? I, the LORD [YHVH], am the first; and with the last I am He. (Isa.
41:4) NKJV; intrpl. mine
Before this corruption of the Christian faith, most believers plainly
interpreted and understood the Scriptures that are yet to be fulfilled at
Jerusalem of Israel. They understood that God has not simply abandoned His
original plans and that He orchestrates the times. A great and dark, global
cataclysm would come against Jews and Christians at the hands of the Beast
nations and surrounding nations of the False Prophet, but after that the
faithful people of God would live in peace and glory:
And the LORD [YHVH]
shall be King over all the earth. And in that day it shall be- “the LORD is
one,” and His name one…The people shall dwell in it [the city]; and no longer
shall there be utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. And
this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people
[nations] who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they
stand on their feet [nuclear blast], their eyes shall dissolve in their
sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. It shall come to
pass in that day that a great panic from the LORD will be among them. Everyone
will seize the hand of his neighbor, and raise his hand against his neighbor’s
hand [civil war]. Judah [Jews] will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all
the surrounding nations shall be gathered together: gold, silver, and apparel
in great abundance. Such also shall be the plague [the flesh dissolving before
bones hit the ground] on the horse and the mule, on the camel and the donkey
and on all the cattle [all animals] that will be in those camps [military
encampments against Jews]. So shall this plague be. And it shall come to pass
that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall
go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the
Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the
earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on
them there will be no rain. (Zech. 14:9, 11-17) NKJV; intrpl. mine
Clearly none of this or other passages that are just as plain have come to
pass. So what happened to cause such a fall from these truths so evident at the
roots of Hebrew Christianity, seeing that we yet await the destruction beastly
nations and the false religion and false god which surrounds Israel? Why have
all the plain prophecies of bold things yet to come to this doubting world been
spiritualized away and mostly ignored? Many Muslims could be saved from God’s
wrath if Bible-believers revealed these things, and many nations of Europe
would know better than to transgress upon the Holy Land and Jews. Why are most
Christians not teaching the coming Kingdom and the signs of the times?
Logic provides a very simple answer to why plain things have not been perceived
for the coming Day of the Lord: When Christians were martyred and their
churches were being persecuted by pagan Romans and zealots of Rabbinical
Judaism, they rejoiced in hope of the coming King Messiah and His reign of
truth and justice from New Jerusalem, but when latter Christian bishops and
their Greek-influenced theologians began to share secular power with Rome and
became the decreeing persecutors, they no longer earnestly sought the coming of
Messiah and His glorious Kingdom. It was better to presently reign in glory
than to rejoice in humbling and cruel suffering, as Peter had thought while
attempting to forego the appointed sufferings of Christ, at least before he was
corrected and later filled with the Holy Spirit. Thus the Scriptures had to be reinterpreted
for the stately rise of Catholicism in a pagan world of biblical ignorance.
Scriptures relevant to the coming millennium were spiritualized for the
basilicas. Heaven was for the dead, and even salvation in death was
institutionalized under the rules of the straying Gentile religion. They
purposely confused the spiritual realm of Heaven with the Kingdom of Heaven
that is coming to Earth, and most non-clergy believers did not possess copies
of Scriptures to challenge them or even know better.
Bishop
Augustine, called “the Father of Amillennialism,” was the primary architect of
this complete about-face, and thus he is honored as a saint to this day among
Catholics. His faulty spiritualism justified the rise of a new sort of
Christianity- one that would now self-righteously rule over nations rather than
humbly await Christ and His earthly reign. A century earlier and his teachings
would have been rejected by the suffering Christians who waited for Christ, but
new times called for new teachings to justify the new Hellenized religion. “Thy
Kingdom come” was butchered to mean something more like “Thy kingdom is already
here.” Although Augustine may have been morally righteous or even saintly, he
no less distorted the Scriptures with ease and liberty, especially at Israel’s
expense.
And
this is not to say that all of Augustine’s works are incorrect, for obviously
he understood that a better comprehension of Scripture would someday turn back
Jewish hearts, whereas he and others wrote works that strengthened the division
of the two biblical faiths.
Of the Coming of Elias
[Eliyahu] Before the Judgment, that the Jews May Be Converted to Christ by His
Preaching and Explanation of Scripture: After admonishing them to give heed to
the law of Moses, as he foresaw that for a long time to come they would not
understand it spiritually and rightly…that in the last days before the judgment
the Jews shall believe in the true Christ, that is, our Christ, by means of
this great and admirable prophet Elias who shall expound the law to them. –
Augustine, City of God, Ch. 29
Those who know Scripture are able to understand why nations that do not send
their leaders or diplomats to pay homage to the Great King of Jerusalem during
the Great Sabbath will receive no annual rain. Elijah is to restore Jews and
call back the ancient tribes, gathering the faithful for a Feast of Tabernacles
(Sukkot). This will be during very difficult times, and without it is the
promise of “utter destruction.” As a reminder against those who will not heed
Elijah and Moses during the Apocalypse, there will be no rain for nations that
rebel during the Great Sabbath. The International Feast of Tabernacles will
commemorate those who answer the call for a gathering of the lost tribes to Israel,
which the nations will vehemently resist. The nations will rage in pitting
their secular will against God’s, and the harder their hearts become the more
they will endure. Just as they will resist the water of the Word of God from
Heaven to Earth which concerns his work, so must they receive physical droughts
of water that exemplify their obstinate rebellions. Moreover, as Augustine
explained, Israel will come to understand these things, even as the world
rebels, and their national atonement will be a great joy, but the heavens will
not render rain to nations that do not honor the international moed of Sukkot.
What Augustine failed to see is that Christianity needs restoration because he
and other early Christians led it astray with errant ideas of the millennium.
Elijah once said, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there
will be neither dew nor rain in these years, except by my word.” And so shall
the great shadows of old confess their fulfillments in our days for all Israel
and nations abroad. Muddied doctrines that are available on Earth will still be
shared by stubborn religionists, but the fresh waters of the Word will not come
from Heaven except by the true exegeses of Elijah’, and holy Prophet Moses
walks with him. Nations that resist them will be set rendered recompense during
the Apocalypse, and during the Great Sabbath they will receive no rain if they
do not keep the international feast that honors the restoration and gathering
unto Messiah.
Cherished teachings of a coming Sabbath millennium of Christ became subtly
rejected until ultimately despised, as evident via The Nicene Creed and The
Athanasian Creed. The Second Council of Constantinople rejected the millennium
c. 381 AD. Later, at the Council of Ephesus c. 410 AD, Catholics condemned the
original Hebrew faith of the first centuries of Christianity, branding it
superstitious. Pagan Roman emperors were no longer of the antichrist spirit,
but became state leaders of a growing faith, at least after the Edict of Milan
was signed by Emperor Constantine c. 313 AD. Bishops and critics who opposed
what was happening to Scripture-based Christianity were quickly and
intolerantly deemed heretics and Judaizers, even removed from their basilicas
and replaced. Their bishoprics were supplanted by cherry-picking biblical
theologians in compliance with the new eschatology of the glorious age of
Catholicism. The original Ekklesia or “called-out assembly” of Bible-believers,
as strangers and sojourners on Earth who faithfully awaited the glorious
Kingdom of God, began to reign over the Roman world. Gentile scholars and
errant priests became drunk on their new power to the point of senseless
blasphemy, to the extremities that Eusebius ©. 270-340 AD) counted the future
banquet of Messiah fulfilled via their feasting with Emperor Constantine, whom
they call “The Great” to this day. All prophecies were subjected to the erring
priesthood’s reinterpretation for the federation of parish churches, but the
liberty of interpretation did not extend to those who faithfully awaited the
restoration of Israel and the reign of Messiah.
To
this day a myth is repeated that the spread of the faith was saved by the
merger of pagan Rome and straying Christianity. This discounts how greatly the
faith had previously spread despite a plethora of Roman persecutions. So they
still resist truths and twist Scriptures in rejection of the coming reign of
Christ. Many still dishonor the Jewish roots of the faith for a religion. Still
they praise the ancient Roman world, though several of their emperors blamed
all sorts of trouble to Rome on Christians and murdered en mass. They still bow
before idols of saints crafted by human hands. We may never truly know how much
the Ekklesia could have grown had it stayed at odds with pagan religions and
the beastly empire, but we can be sure that its history would be more honorable
today had it remained humble and stayed true to the Word of God. And there
could have been a kinship between Christian and Jew, possibly even a bond of
fellowship. Indeed, much of the resentment for the faith is rooted in the Dark
Ages of a violent Catholic Church. Yet still they choose religion over truths.
Some Catholic theologians amazingly brag that the “Catholic Church never
changes,” although it did through the centuries, for the worse. It still
changes today with the priesthood coddling to homosexual activists and Marxist
ideology. It changed because it once ruled over Western nations, whereas now
popes appease before the U.N. as their worldly masters. The only thing they
have not changed in is distortion of the faith. They have never cleansed their
house, for to do so would be a further loss of power when their devout masses
realized how fallible they have always been as mere religious men. And if
anyone thinks that I am being too harsh on fellow Christians, let them first
learn the good and evil history of the Catholic Church, as well as Bible so
that they will discern how many practices of their religion conflict with the
will and commandments of God.
Whereas Eusebius embraced the new amillennial doctrine for the glory of dining
with the emperor, Augustine embraced it, with a post-millennial Apocalypse,
because banqueting with Christ on Earth was too carnal of an event for his mind
to permit, saying, “This opinion [future millennium of Christ at Jerusalem]
might be allowed, if it proposed only spiritual delight unto the saints during
this space (and we were once of the same opinion ourselves); but seeing the
avouchers thereof affirm that the saints after this resurrection shall do
nothing but revel in fleshly banquets, where the cheer shall exceed both
modesty and measure, this is gross and fit for none but carnal men to believe.
But they that are really and truly spiritual do call those of this opinion
Chiliasts [1000ers].” In other words, believers cannot “live and reign with
Christ for a thousand years” because none of us can be carnally trusted but to
partake in vain pleasures, even with Messiah leading the elect nation; so the
great day must therefore be spiritual. Donatists ruined the idea for him, so
Augustine concluded that Church theologians could not allow the cherished
beliefs of Jewish apostles’ to prevail. Chiliast became a dirty word for
Christians who were awaiting the messianic Kingdom, when Christ would come in
the flesh and usher in the Day of the Lord.
Although unwarranted, the early philosophers apparently thought it was a menial
thing that Catholic rhetoric might distort apostolic traditions and the
scriptural beliefs that they had received from faithful Hebrews. As Jerome,
another millennium-denier, said of Augustine, he “established anew the ancient
faith,” but “anew” does not necessarily mean restored when straying
philosophers take it upon themselves to trespass upon prophetic Scriptures that
they either never truly comprehended or simply rejected for their own lofty
ideas. Nevertheless, Augustine and other early philosophers were indeed saints
in comparison to many of the theologians and bishops and popes who came after
them, for once the coming Kingdom of God was denied, the gates of Hell were
opened for various diabolical practices and doctrinal distortions to creep in,
which I cannot here stray into the historical details thereof. The ancient
faith needed not to be “established anew,” for it was established by God, and
the new things that they brought in only led it into a world of darkness.
The
claim for a Christian hierarchy, with the pope being head of the Catholic
Church, which they consider the Church, is primarily based on their Primacy of
Peter doctrine which asserts that the commissioned, leading apostle passed down
his earthly mantle of authority over “spiritual Israel” to his papal
successors. Although there are no scriptural mentions of this mystical mantle
being passed down from Peter, they, from Linus onward, supposedly carried it
through history, along with the famous “Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” The
Universal Church, placing greater emphasis on Living Magisterium,
extra-biblical liturgical practices, and influences of pagan philosophical
sources’ than Scriptures, became an earthly throne for God’s judgments, issuing
bold decrees to structuralize spiritual Israel. Indeed there were times when
their extolled Roman bishops reigned as totalitarian kings in the kingdom-now
ages of Christendom. And thus the first centuries of Catholicism brought a
claim of equal authority with Divine Scriptures, which allowed them to produce
several volumes of haughty literature on their replacement of the Jewish people
and nation.
The
seat of Roman emperors moved with Constantine from Rome to keep security in
Constantinople (eastern empire), and the popes were left after warring
successors sitting as the new Pontifex Maximus of the West- an official
Christian empire. Progressively they gave their papal ideas and developing
traditions higher authority than Scriptures, allowing for this since the Roman
hierarchy claims to be the scriptural Wife of Christ. From there the heights of
papal grandeur ascended through the centuries beyond all reasonable
expectations of sensible authority, to the point that a claim of papal
infallibility (on morals and biblical doctrines) was popularized by evil
Innocent III. Only the popes and their agreeing cardinals could perfectly interpret
the mysteries of Scripture- the “dead letter” (as some of them called it) that
served them well as a license to tyranny. How many Catholic popes have been
saints throughout the long duration of Christian history, God only knows and
will judge, but the historical record left us reveals that in the corporeal
realm they often ruled quite madly, and the totalitarianism of the Church often
rivaled the cruelest of secular dictators and pagan warmongers.
Augustine’s published work, Tract against the Jews, along with an onslaught of
anti-Jewish works from the fathers of the Roman Church and other parish
bishops, coaxed the majority of early Christianity away from its original
Hebrew roots, and in doing so they have long-since distorted the plainest
prophecies of both Revelation and its supporting network of apocalyptic
literature in the Old Testament (Hebrew Tanakh and Greek Septuagint). Primarily
since Augustine’s time, all future glories coming to Israel were transferred to
the Catholic Church as a wholly and separately chosen people of God, and most
of the prophetic holy days of Scripture, which were only partially understood
by them, became despised and forgotten, even forbidden at times- all but
Shuvuot (Pentecost) and Pesach, which in appeasement to the pagan culture
became known as “Easter.” The prophetic judgments of Divine Scripture were left
to the accursed Jews of natural Israel, but all future glories and promises
were transferred to the Catholic Church. (See Hippolytus, Expository Treatise
Against the Jews; Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews; Cyprian, Three Books of
Testimonies Against the Jews; et al. for more early works against Jews, the
holy days, and Rabbinical Judaism.)
For
all the good done by the Catholic Church and their millions of martyrs at the
hands of Muslim hordes’, this departure from the Jewish roots of the faith was
indeed a darkening of scriptural truths. This was when truths fell from the
assemblies of Christianity, for within the holy days of Torah are Divine keys
that unlock all the doors for a prophetic understanding of the coming messianic
Kingdom. Without understanding Torah (Pentateuch in Greek), with the moedim
(appointed times to meet with God), only distorted doctrines can be
constructed. This is why complete confusion of Scriptures, leading to tens of
thousands of denominations, has long plagued divided Christianity. Genesis,
Revelation, and other books concerning end-times have been severely
misinterpreted at best, abandoned by many, and this in turn has left the Christian
faith with a complete lack of clarity on ancient biblical truths, which is
needed for spiritual unity of the faith. Thus, even when we see pontiffs (John
Paul, Benedict, Francis) acknowledge our Jewish roots, we cannot forget that
historical actions speak much louder than kind words, and returning to the
ancient truths of Moses and the prophets’ is far from papal minds. Thus, it
divides the hearts of those who want to honor such an ancient Church of the
faith, yet just as Scriptures called most of the kings of Judah and Israel
evil, and their sins against God could not be whitewashed, so too must we
realistically review Church history.
After the forced unity of Christianity in the Catholic Church was broken-up
during Europe’s turbulent Protestant Reformation, there emerged daughter
churches that retained many faulty traditions and beliefs of Catholicism. They
never returned to Sabbath worship or surrendered pagan influences, and
repenting to the early apostolic faith and doctrines sadly never came about.
The writings of Paul, who sought to show truths from witnessing shadows of the
Law to substantive truths in Christ- battling legalistic restrictions that some
Jewish Christians placed on Gentiles, who were not called under the
agricultural covenant of national Israel- were handily distorted by Protestants
to stigmatize the entire Torah as irrelevant and even evil if practiced. Thus
the treasures of ancient truths remained lost, but characteristics from the
mother church are still perceivable centuries later in her daughter
churches.
Much has been lost by Christianity so quickly abandoning the nation of Christ
and not learning of the holy feasts that Israelites were commanded to keep. The
Gentiles have Jesus, whom Jews collectively deny, but how many of the great
scriptural mysteries have Christians misunderstand via their creating new
traditions without understanding the original oracles and fundamentals within
Jewish culture? In fact, a ban on Jewish biblical interpretations was sent
throughout the Roman Empire, where the rabbis were forbidden to teach on the
Scriptures in their synagogues. They were allowed to read them, as per the
edict of Emperor Justinian, but they could not interpret them to the masses
with support from traditions. To assure this, the empire dispatched officials
to attend each synagogue and monitor their compliance:
The Holy Scripture may
be read in synagogue- the rabbis shall not be allowed to corrupt the Hebrew
text. We strictly forbid these rabbinic interpretations. This is our will to be
observed by officials who shall subject those who dare resist it or hinder it
in any way to corporeal punishment first [violent acts], then force them to
live in exile and confiscate their property, so they may not act
disrespectfully against God and the Emperor. – Byzantine Edict of 553 AD;
intrpl. mine
Zeal for the Scriptures and God is good, but how often has zeal been misplaced
to organize ignorance and excuse hate- to cover undue fears? The understanding
Bible student is correctible, teachable, and is subject first to God and His
Spirit for true understanding. He or she places little faith in an
institutional religion or traditions when they lack the validation of
inspiration and clearly trespass on the Word. We test all claims alongside the
Word of God and welcome that which brings enlightenment, but we must be allowed
to hear them in order to make those distinctions. Censorship of biblical ideas
is detrimental to all believers since it is done under the premise that the one
censoring party possesses all truths and others cannot be trusted to come to
truths for themselves. A smart move would have been to set aside the fact that
rabbis did not perceive Yeshua HaMashiach in Scriptures, for they yet had many
great things to teach, which could have helped Christians comprehend much of
their roots.
How
much could the world have been a better place for near two millenniums had the
two faiths learned together for better understanding of the Scriptures, rather
than both suffer the results of religious pride and misplaced zeal, leaving the
ancient world in a bloodbath? Truth prevails on His own merit if men and women
are given to reason and study rather than building walls. Christians were
purblind to the Kingdom and Jews to the King, and each took their versions of
the Book to go their separate ways, never trusting anything the other one had
to say. Little did they know that it would take both to unveil the Great
Mystery of God.
Twice a year rabbis were allowed to give sermons, which were the Sabbath before
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Sabbath before Passover (Pesach). And
since the rabbis took advantage of these special occasions to legally teach
long sermons- of course on non-controversial matters, such as the number of glasses
for the Passover Seder- the Great Sabbath that the ancients awaited was mostly
forgotten and modified for one that became known as the Great Sabbath (Shabbat
Hagadol) for the extra-long Sabbath services. And since the Jewish teachers
were monitored and could not be fervent in any of their disagreements, the
rabbis would say, “Till Elijah comes,” meaning he would come to resolve them.
This was a saying even over the issue of how many glasses of wine were to be
placed on the Seder table, and the phrase was carried down through the ages.
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