The Writings & Thoughts of Douglas Thomas Garrett
Judah’s Journey from Exile to Redemption
Title taken from Isaiah 40: 9
“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!”
By Douglas Garrett
Behold Thy God, Oh Jerusalem: Judah’s Journey from Exile to Redemption
In the days following the death of King Solomon (around 920 B.C.), Israel’s golden era ended and its people divided into two groups: The Northern Kingdom, also called Israel or the Kingdom of Ephraim (because that was the dominant tribe of those residing within its borders), and the Southern Kingdom, known as Judah.
In 722 B.C. the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians and the Ten Tribes of Israel (of which Ephraim was one) were scattered during this conquest and have remained, for the most part, lost to our knowledge.
From 722 B.C., while the Southern Kingdom remained independent, the remnants of Levi and most of Benjamin fled south as refugees and assimilated with the Tribe of Judah. When the Kingdom of Judah eventually fell in 587 B.C. these minor tribes were either killed or taken captives along with the others into Babylon.
The Old Testament picks up the stories of the survivors of the Kingdom of Judah, starting in Lamentations 1:1. “How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!”
Psalm 137
1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raise it, raise it, even to the foundation thereof.
8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
In the classic opera Nabucco, composed by Giuseppe Verdi, the words of the chorus of the Hebrew slaves captures the lament as follows (translated from the original):
Fly, though on wings of gold. Go settle upon the slopes and the hills,
Where soft and mild the sweet airs of our native soil smelt soft and mild.
Greet the banks of the River Jordon and Zion’s toppled towers
Oh my country, so lovely and beautiful and lost.
Oh, remembrance so dear and unhappy.
Golden harp of the prophetic seers,
Why dost thou hang so silently upon the willows?
Rekindle the memories of our hearts and speak to us of times gone by.
Remembering the fate of Jerusalem, play us a sad lament
Or may the Lord inspire you with a harmony of voices
To fortify us to endure our suffering.
Little did theIsraelites know how the Lord had already prepared for their return, using the good graces of King Cyrus of Persia, who would take over the Babylonian Empire.
In Isaiah Chapter 45: 1 & 4, the Lord speaks of Cyrus who has not even come to power yet.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him and I will loose the Loins of Kings to open before him the two leaved gates and the gates shall not be shut.
For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Cyrus was surprised, flattered and moved to assist the captives from Jerusalem. He financed a contingent of righteous Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (See Ezra 1: 1-5). His successor, Darius was made aware of Cyrus’ decree and sent further assistance to the faltering project. The Jews remained there, and the temple walls and interior were rebuilt despite the coming of the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the Maccabean revolt when they lost their bid to retain their religion and after they became part of the Roman Empire. They remained in Jerusalem and Palestine until after the birth and the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, about 70 AD.
At this time a sect of Jews known as Zealots rebelled against Roman rule. This was the final impetus for Roman to stamp out the remainder of the Jews, resulting in the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, the siege at Masada and the scattering of Judah once again.
The Jews remained a scattered and homeless people for about 2000 years or until they were granted the right to return to their homeland in 1947 by the United Nations.
Since her ancient scattering throughout all the nations of the earth and her present regathering, we have been witnessing the miracle that is Israel. It would be an incomplete story of the hand of God restoring his ancient Church from apostasy in the latter days if we did not also tell the story of what his other hand has been doing for his chosen people, the Jews.
Here are some of the many ancient prophecies regarding his redeeming love that show He will not and has not forsaken the covenant He made with Israel on Mount Zion:
Deuteronomy 4: 27-31 (Bible: Old Testament)
27 And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you.
28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Isaiah 11: 11-12 (Bible: Old Testament)
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Ezekiel 34: 11-16 (Bible: Old Testament)
11 For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.
16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
2 Nephi 29: 13-14 (Book of Mormon)
13 And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.
14 And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.
Articles of Faith (Joseph Smith)
10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
All of these prophecies are being fulfilled, even as you read them upon these pages.
Behold Thy God, Oh Jerusalem: Judah’s Journey from Exile to Redemption
When Christ ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9), there was a plethora of Jewish sects left behind besides Jewish Christians. All belonged to Israel and all thought of themselves as “the covenant people”. Here are just some of them:
Hellenistic Jews: Academics and scholars, they were heavily influenced by the Greek thinkers and philosophers of Alexandria.
Samaritans: Mixed tribal decedents of those who had escaped as refugees from the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 721 B.C. They were not accepted by Judah as pure-blooded Israelites.
Galilean Rabbis: Most religious of the Jews, later consolidated the teachings of the rabbis into one set of uniform rules, the Mishnah.
Pharisees: Middle class businessmen by trade. Agreed with Sadducee to the execution of Christ.
Sadducee: Aristocrats and members of the ruling class, from whom the members of the Sanhedrin were chosen.
Nazarene: Title given because of a person’s birthplace. Christ was labelled a Nazarene.
Nazarite: A consecrated man who took a vow to abstain from wine, from cutting his hair and from contact with any dead. Samson and Samuel were Nazarites.
Publicans: Tax collectors for Rome. They were despised by everyone.
Scribes: More than transcribing clerks, they were officially recognized as teachers, scholars, editors and interpreters of the scriptures. Many were also authors, writers and journalists.
Zealots: Ruffians, wild, prone to violence and unreasonable thinking. Saw force as the only means of throwing off Roman dominance. Became a political movement.
Jerusalem Jews: Isolated in the mountains, they were more concerned with the Temple and were influenced by the Temple Priests.
Priests: Responsible for the daily operations of the Temple. Most were corrupt and had made themselves rich through their Priesthood Positions. Hated by the majority of Jews.
Judean Jews: Influenced by Greek paganism. Apostate and unwilling to change.
Essenes: A community of devout Jews who had retreated into the desert near Qumran to remain pure from the corrupt influences of their fellow Jews living in the cities. Here they planned to purify themselves while they awaited the arrival of the Messiah and the end of times. Unfortunately, they were caught up in the wars of extermination by the Romans but not before they had sealed up their records and buried them in caves near the Dead Sea. They were annihilated but their scrolls remained hidden in caves until discovered in 1947.
Jewish Christians: Those Jews who accepted Christ as their Messiah.
Gnostic Christians: Those that believed they had secret knowledge that allowed them access to Heaven. Beliefs regarding God the Father, Christ, Holy Ghost and Satan were very different and inconsistent with Jewish or mainstream understanding of roles of the Godhead, the Messiah or Satan.
When we see the melting pot into which the new Christian movement was attempting to establish itself, we have some idea of the problems Paul later faced. Most of the epistles written by Paul, which are included in the New Testament, were written to correct errors that were creeping into the practices of those who claimed to be believers in Christ.
The first Christians were all Jews. Christianity was not a new religion as far as those first converts were concerned. It was in fact the extension and fulfillment of the Jewish religion’s hopes and aspirations. It was the culmination of almost 600 years of prayers since the fall of Jerusalem. They had hope that their Messiah would deliver them from their oppressors. But their short-sightedness had blinded them. Their problems did not start with Assyria, Babylon, Greece or Rome. It roots went back to the days of Samuel, when the Israelites, as a nation, had demanded to have a “…king to judge us like all the nations”, rather than have God rule over them.
1 Samuel 8: 4-5, 7
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
Could they not see that they already had the Lord as their King and that he had preserved them through battle after bloody battle? Samuel warned what would happen should they chose worldly kings instead, but they were deaf and blind to reason.
1 Samuel 8: 10-18
10 And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
As predicted, horrible results were heaped on their heads. Even now they are still reaping the whirlwinds of the foolish decision they had sown.
Also misunderstood was what oppressor their Messiah would deliver them from. The enemy their Messiah would confront was not their outward oppressors. Instead, his efforts would be directed at the war that rages within us and his offer of deliverance would be to all – not just the Jews.
And what battle was that? The one between good and evil. Then, as now, obedience to God is the only way to freedom. We can only rise above worldly kings, or thoughts, or temptations when we have the Lord as our king.Without the Lord, peace is not sustainable.
Unfortunately, the lessons from the past were not learned by Israel. In spite of all the evidence, the Jews of Christ’s day made the same wrong choice again. They chose The Law of Moses over the Law of the Gospel, they chose the sayings of the Rabbis over the saying of their Messiah, and they chose to stay in darkness of the past rather than to move into the light of the future.
It is difficult to understand how they had turned away from God in the first instance, but after having tasted the bitter results for so long, it is almost inconceivable how they could reject him again! What a lesson for all of us to recognize that unimaginable consequences often come from what we perceive as inconsequential decisions. The Jews’ relationship with God had just undergone a tectonic shift that would last until Christ’s second coming. Is this what Christ was referring to when he said:
Mark 10: 31
But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
To this day, the restored gospel has not been preached to the Jews. The new State of Israel was formed in 1948 and since then many have begun to gather back to their ancestral homeland. Yet, as a people they have not recognized Jesus as their Messiah. Perhaps that will not happen until the Saviour returns the second time.
The gospel of Jesus had been brought to his covenant people, the House of Israel, starting with Judah. But they (the first covenanted) refused him. Now it was to go instead through Paul, to the rest of the House of Israel, and those considered the last, the Gentiles.
D&C 45: 51-52
And then shall the Jews look upon me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet? Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God.
We can see how Christ’s rejection by the very people he came to save could pose a problem. How might that effect the status of these descendants of Abraham and their pervious covenant to support and obey God?
Here are some other questions to consider:
1/ What happens to the Jews now?
2/ Has the original covenant between God and Judah been repealed, severed or annulled?
3/ If Judah is to be last, who among the Christian gentiles is to be first?
4/ Where is Israel today? Does she recognize the rights and accept the responsibilities associated with the Abrahamic covenant?
5/ What is the Christian Church’s status with God now so far as the covenant is concerned?
To fully appreciate the answers to these questions, we must first understand what the covenant was, when it was first introduced and what it has since become in these last days. To do that we must go all the way back to the time of the Garden of Eden and the beginning of human history.
The part we need to look at specifically is when Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden because of their disobedience. The pair find themselves in an extremely hostile world. They have to learn how to protect themselves from heat and cold by making clothing from animal skins. Food must be grown or killed and prepared. Shelter must be found or built. They have to expend great amounts of energy and learn new skills just to survive. But they are obedient to all God’s other commandments even though they are no longer able to talk with him. After many days, meaning a long while, and having had their faith tested, they are visited by an angel who instructs them regarding their future relationship with God. The law of sacrifice is introduced in similitude of the sacrifice of the Saviour would make for them. The commandment to repent is given. Almost immediately following their willingness to repent, God himself begins to speak directly to Adam.
Moses 6: 51-52
And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh.
And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son … ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost…
Baptism is an ordinance involving a covenant. According to the account given by Moses:
Moses 5: 59
And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam, by an holy ordinance, and the Gospel preached, and a decree sent forth, that it should be in the world, until the end thereof…
Here we have the first indication of a covenant between man and God. This information was made known unto everyone, but we know that not everyone was willing to enter into the covenant with God. We hear of successive Priesthood leader making great attempts to teach people the gospel, the most successful being Enoch. According to Moses, Enoch heard a voice from Heaven saying:
Moses 6: 27-30
…Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people, and say unto them—Repent, for thus saith the Lord: I am angry with this people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them… ever since the day that I created them, have they gone astray… and have not kept the commandments, which I gave unto their father, Adam. Wherefore, they have foresworn themselves, and, by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not… And this is a decree, which I have sent forth in the beginning of the world, from my own mouth…
From this we learn that God considered the oath (covenant) to still be in effect during Enoch’s lifetime. It appears the people who had foresworn themselves had not been living their covenant. Enoch then called the inhabitants of the land to repent and to recommit to God by baptism. Eventually the whole City of Enoch become righteous and was removed from the Earth.
Still, there were many who did not repent or renew their covenant. Enoch was permitted to see what would happen to these people. He saw the great flood. Enoch also beheld the future of the whole Earth, including the days of Christ, and witnessed the Messiah lifted upon the cross. Despite the sorrow caused by this great wickedness, God promised to carry on the covenant by send righteous leaders. Thus, the covenant would remain intact for those obedient followers who chose to uphold it.
God explained, “This is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1: 39)
Adam and Eve understood:“Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good from evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.” (Moses 5: 10-11)
With the catastrophic end of the first period of the world by flood, a new beginning emerges for Noah’s children. It isn’t long before that individual who is to relight the covenant torch appears on the world stage. From the ninth descendant of Shem, Son of Noah, Abram is born.
Because of his faithfulness and willingness to sacrifice even his birthright son, Abram is called by God to start a new line of covenant priesthood holders willing to bring the Gospel and salvation to God’s sons and daughters. It is through this lineage, that Jacob is born. Each party who is brought into the covenant is given a new name. The new name given to Abram was Abraham. (It is to this Abraham, the Jews trace their lineage, uniqueness and authority.)
Genesis 17: 7
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
The promised blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) can be listed under three headings:
Accordingly, the covenant was passed on from Abraham to his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. When the covenant was renewed through Jacob, the new name given to him was Israel.
1/Priesthood
This is the authority to grant the blessings of the covenant to others, such as
the priesthood, temple ordinances and celestial marriage.
2/Posterity
The blessing of children, or eternal increase. The strength of the tribe was in its members. Without children you had nothing permanent. Without righteous children, your legacy was chaos.
3/ Promised Lands
A land of Inheritance, given from God, upon which they may live their
religion and raise their families in peace and comfort.
The names of Abraham and Israel have become synonymous with the covenant and the covenant people. Yet, as an aging Jacob prepared to die, disputes arose as to which of his twelve sons (known as the 12 Tribes of Israel) would inherit the priesthood and covenant.
Normally the firstborn son would be the heir to the birthright. To him would go the responsibility of caring for the family after the patriarch’s passing. This inheritance was not just about receiving more of the father’s wealth. It was also the responsibility to provide for everyone’s survival and economic wellbeing. This included the spiritual and physical care for his father’s widow, all other single women and dependants who could not maintain themselves in the tribe. And of course, this son would also have his own wife and children to support. To compensate him for this extra economic burden, he would be given an extra portion of inheritance. For instance, in the case of a family of 12 sons, the estate would be divided into 13 portions. The eldest son would receive 2 portions and all others 1 each. The son who received this double portion would be held accountable for using the second portion wisely and equitably. In the event the eldest son could not be trusted or would not agree to the terms of the birthright responsibilities, another son could be named in his place. This was often the case and many problems resulted because of jealousy and competition between sons who had the potential to be heirs. Such was the situation in the family of Israel.
Because unrighteousness disqualified the usual heirs, Joseph inherited the birthright blessing over of his brothers. In turn the birthright was passed onto Joseph’s sons (Israel’s grandsons) Ephraim and Manasseh. (To read more about the specific blessings of the remaining brothers of the house of Israel see Genesis 48 and 49.)
This “birthright” arrangement worked well within the Kingdom of Israel for many centuries, until the death of King Solomon. Although noted for his wisdom in governing, Solomon failed miserably in his family affairs. His sons were pampered and there was obvious favouritism. Rehoboam, the son expected to replace Solomon, enjoyed a lifestyle that needed a substantial income to sustain. When he succeeded to his father’s throne, the ten tribes located in the northern part of the country feared higher taxes, so they rebelled and separated. That left only two tribes remaining in Judah, or the Southern Kingdom. The divide weakened both groups immediately. Eventually, the Northern Kingdom was conquered and absorbed into Assyria. The Southern Kingdom remained viable for a couple additional hundred years before being destroyed by Babylon. That extra time was enough to proclaim Judah, by default, as the birthright heir of the House of Israel.
Judah remained in captivity to Babylon for seventy years. Then King Cyrus allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the remains of Solomon’s temple. Cyrus’ gracious permission returned the promises of the covenant to the children of Israel.
1/ They were in possession of and living in the land promised to them by the Lord.
2/ They had regained the temple and the priesthood to administrate the ordinances performed within it.
3/ They had plenty of posterity. Although the ten tribes had been lost, and what few refugees remaining from the Assyrian invasion (such as the Samaritans) were disqualified as pure Israelite because of inter-marrying with indigenous tribes, there was a distinct group of descendants from Judah. And they now had exclusive claim to the blessings of the covenant of Abraham.
That was the situation when Christ was born. Every Jew believed to the core, that they were the chosen people, the “Children of Abraham”. But not everyone agreed with each other about what they individually believed. Factions had formed within their religious community: Pharisees, Sadducees and other groups contended with one another. Even Christ denounced them for their corruption, apostate priesthood and obvious hypocrisy.
After the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, unsettling questions began to form in the troubled minds of both Jews and Christians. Was there still a birthright blessing? Who would God choose as the legitimate heir to the covenant? Must that person be a descendant of Abraham? During the first century after Christ’s departure the answers would continue to elude at the same time as Judah was destroyed as a nation and its people were disburses throughout the world.
Events affecting Palestine and the Jews
1st Century A.D.
6 A.D. Provence of Roman Judea created.
33 A.D. Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ carried out by Romans by insistence of Jewish Leaders: Annas , Caiaphas and the Chief Priests.
30 -70 A.D. Helena of Adiabene, vassal kingdom of Mesopotamia, coverts to Judaism. Significant numbers of her followers also join and supply support for Jewish Roman wars.
30 –70 A.D. Differences between Jews who accept or those who reject Christ causes a schism during Second Temple era.
66-70 A.D. First Jewish Wars / The Great Revolt between the Jews and Romans results in destruction of Second Temple and the fall of Jerusalem.
73 -74 A.D. Final wrap up of the Roman and Jewish wars. Fall of Masada.
70-200 A.D. Christianity formally splits from its Jewish roots, establishes its own texts and ideology to become its own religion.
2nd Century A.D.
115-117 A.D. Kitos War, revolt against Trajan involving communities of Cypress, Cyrene (Libya), Egypt, Mesopotamia (Syria and Iraq), against Emperor Hadrian. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed. Jewish rebels are defeated and totally exterminated in Cypress and Cyrene.
131 A.D. Emperor Hadrian renames Jerusalem “Aelia Capitolina” and the province of Judea “Syria Palaestina”. Most of the Jewish population (about 580,000) is annihilated.
138 A.D. Emperor Hadrian dies. Jewish persecution is eased, and Jews allowed to visit Jerusalem on Tusha B’av. The Jewish centre moves to Galilee. And thus ends the Kingdom of Judah.
Behold Thy God, Oh Jerusalem: Judah’s Journey from Exile to Redemption
The dispersal of Jews from their promised land was the result of two different circumstances.
1/ Failed armed resistance to the Roman occupation.
2/ Voluntary relocation for economic reasons.
The last armed resistance of the Jews against the Romans (known as the Bar-Kochba Revolt) took place in 132 A.D. The rebels were put down and wiped out. The Jewish population was reduced by 50%, most having been killed, deported as slaves or escaped into Egypt and Galilee. The countryside was laid to waste, towns flattened or abandoned. Of the 75 known towns none were left with a single soul to walk their empty streets. The Romans erased the name of Judah from its usage on maps and replaced it with the name “Aelia Capitolina”. In Jerusalem, all that was left standing was the retaining wall of the temple. Everything else was seeded with salt to prevent vegetation from growing. The intellectual and religious life of the community was gone. Any study of Jewish history or culture was punishable by death.
Fortunately, new, more lenient governments followed Hadrian’s rule and, over time, most anti-Jewish laws were repealed. A revival of Jewish spiritual life was begun and flourished. Many of the exiles returned.
Learning was the essence by which the Jews survived, and spiritual strength became the priority of generations to come. The centre of their activities shifted from Jerusalem to Galilee. The old institutes were replaced with an imbued loyalty to the past glories of Israel, the memory of the temple and to their core survival.
The Romans, in an attempt to pacify the country, collaborated with the Rabbis in their peaceful ambitions. Soon the cities began to transform into centres of study attracting teachers and students from all lands. The loss of the temple, as can be imagined, caused a major traumatic shifting of worship and focus. Rabbis introduced a custom of marking all events as they related to the day of the destruction of the temple. All Jews continued to pay tithing. Pilgrims to the temple were encouraged. Prayer became a substitute for service, and rituals were adopted to link the Synagogue to the temple. Migration from Palestine had reached such a level as to be a serious threat to the survival of the community. The Rabbis encouraged people to remain as a symbolic sign of their faith. Most of the people spoke Greek or Aramaic but Hebrew was revived to become the National language. Speaking Hebrew was put on the same spiritual level as residence in the Holy Land.
This centralizing of educators also made possible the forming a consolidation and codification of the Oral Laws. Alongside the Torah (or Written Law), Oral Laws had been handed down for centuries by memory to many generations in an accumulation of chaotic mass writings. They had no order whatsoever. A work began, which lasted over half a century and resulted in what was called the “Mishnah”, a great literary and legal document drawn from 13 collections of case histories from 150 scholars. After passing Biblical justification, the traditions were supplemented, scrutinized and rearranged into subject divisions. The whole was arranged into six orders, Seeds, Feasts, Women, Damages, Hallowed affairs, Cleanliness and Sacred things. Each of the divisions were further divided into Tractates, Chapters, and Clauses.
These factors led to a more cohesive and united community of Jewishness, its culture and its self confidence. The Romans had left them alone with no interference or religious persecution for just sufficient time for this restoration to firmly set before conditions once more began to change.
With the decline of the economic and social fabric of the Empire, coupled with the constant rise of taxation, the Jews began to realize they could not flourish as a segregated society. This was further exacerbated by the adoption of Christianity as the Religion of the Roman Empire. This expanded the Christian Church Fathers throughout the Empire. Now, there was no room for both the Jewish Patriarch in Palestine and the Christian Bishop in Jerusalem. Jewish communities had already expanded into Babylon, Syria, Persia and Armenia and as the situation deteriorated, the pressure mounted for the Palestinian Jews to migrate to those centres. The effect was that the influence of the Palestinian Rabbis declined while the influence of the Rabbis in Babylon grew in importance.
For some time, the two schools in Palestine and Babylon worked together on the Mishnah, but then a disharmony began to grow. The teachers came to the conclusion that the Mishnah as it was then constituted, did not include all the Laws or legal materials. Most certainly not the additional laws that had been implemented since the work had begun. They also felt that many of the explanations referred exclusively to the Palestinian traditions and too little consideration had been given to the Babylonian traditions. The Palestinian scholars continued to become enfeebled by the widespread adoption of Christianity, so the rift widened. Babylonian and Palestinian academics eventually chose their own ways. The additional legal entries and codified additions were combined with the original Mishnah thus forming the Talmud. But, as the two groups worked separately, it resulted in the creation of two Talmuds, the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.
The Palestinian Talmud also known as the Jerusalem Talmud was not finished until the middle of the fourth century because of very extremely adverse political conditions. It has some serious short comings. It was incomplete and lacked continuity. Its greatest contribution was to the history and as a source of information of Jewry in Palestine.
The Babylonian Talmud also has short comings. While it reflects 10 centuries of customs and history of Jewry in Palestine as well as Babylonia, it includes a plethora of fables, sagas, legends, tales, poems, allegories, ethical reflections and historical reflections. The Bible is its starting point, but somewhere in its 2 1/2 million words, more than a third became devoted to the nonlegal part of the Mishnah. Much of the teachings are reflections and personal opinions of the teachers and scholars who wrote them.
As the Bible became the core of Christian living, so did the Talmud become the daily companion of the Jewish culture including the very existence of the entity. As hostility and forced expulsion from society pressed in on them, the Jews became dependent on their traditions and customs honoured by their forefathers. The Talmud also provided an identity which gave them purpose and cohesion.
The next major force that impacted the life of Jewry occurred in the early fourth century. Constantine converted to Christianity and brought the religion to the Roman Empire by force. In an attempt to save his crumbling Empire, he shifted the Capital to Constantinople which was to become a new centre of power. No doubt his thinking for such a move was to leave the corruption and immorality of the old system behind. However, this scheme was stillborn. What was born in its place, was the Byzantine Empire. Just before the lights went out in the East, the Papacy was established. Arguments and contentions caused the world of the Roman Church to split in two parts, East and West. These shifting tectonic plates caused new waves of persecution and intolerance to come crashing down upon the Jews.
Constantine unleashed Christianity with Empirical edict and might. Singled out for degradation were the Jews because, as a whole, they would not submit to compulsory baptism. They suffered greatly under the Persian and Byzantium Empires.
Meanwhile, the new European states that were the outcome of the disintegrated Roman Empire, began to collate. Originally, the Edict of Caracalla in 212 A.D. had given Jews the right to citizenship. Now under the Theodosius Code of 438 A.D., an enforced, sustained policy of intolerance began to demand strict regulations regarding their freedoms. The Jews were not permitted to marry Christians, could not have Christian slaves, could build no synagogues, and were restricted in their occupation choices. For the next 1½ centuries, and the continuing during the rise of Islam, the Jews were harassed in and banished from one location after another. With the collapse of the Empire, the various states remaining were free to impose whatever conditions they wanted upon the nation-less Jews. All relics from the Christian period were removed from the Holy lands, as well as any evidences from Biblical prophets. Churches were built over original historical holy sites. Jews were banned from entering such places as Jerusalem.
When the Babylonians, Cyrus and Alexander the Great conquered the Holy Land, they were mostly tolerant of the Jews and allowed them to practice their religion. This was not the case when the Jews fell into the hands of the Christians. Now they were forced to be baptized as Christians or be deported as Jews.
These were desperate times. Thousands were baptized while the rest of the Jews migrated to Italy, Franco/ Germany, and Spain. The Jews who settled in Spain (who became known as Sephardic Jews) endured particularly harsh treatment because they were labelled “Christ Killers”. Regardless of where they sought shelter, they tended to live in urban communities, isolating themselves in Ghettos. Almost without exception, they remained as aliens in their new surroundings, permitted to work only in the humblest of occupations.
Like a football between competing teams, both the Jews in Europe and the Jews in Palestine were kicked back and forth between the East Orthodox Church, West Roman Catholics, the Christian Kings, the Persians, the Arabs and the Muslims. As a result, Jews were forced to abandon the pursuit of agriculture and relinquish any ties to the land. Excluded from the economy of all nations they resorted to trades where they eventually achieved a universal prominence. This unfortunately made them a natural target for all kinds of abuse as well.
Part 1
Part 1: From Apostles to Apostates
As long as Jesus Christ was alive, the Jewish Authorities hounded him without let up. Inciting, heckling, and disrupting him during his public teachings, the shouting and accusations soon escalated to physical violence and in the end, his death. His fellow Jews threatened civil unrest if Christ did not cease and desist. The local Roman authorities had already reached their limits of tolerance with these almost ungovernable, religious fanatical Jews.
Yet what they feared even more were reprisals from Rome if they took no action at all to squash this latest rebellion.
Pilot had already been threatened with retribution because of his mishandling of Roman/Jewish affairs in Jerusalem. He was more that eager to collaborate with the Jewish Sanhedrin to bring about a quick and final solution which culminated in the execution of Christ. There on a cross, among thieves at Golgotha, the place of the skull, he died like a common criminal.
This deed, accomplished in a very ordinary, unspectacular location, was intended to end the rise of this troublesome teacher. Instead it was his launching pad, literally when he rose from the dead three days later.
There was nothing ordinary about the life of Christ. Not the way he was born, not the way he lived and not the way he died. Certainly no one had risen from the dead before. Every effort was made then, and ever since, to make it appear that none of the supernatural events recorded ever happened. His death and the disappearance of his body from the tomb was explained away. The Roman guards were bribed to falsely report his friends came by night and stole the body. Unarmed rebel-rousers overpowering the experienced, battle hardened Roman soldiers? I hardly think so. The penalty for such dereliction of duty was death. Where were the dead bodies of at least some of the rabble the guards had managed to kill before submitting? Where were the dead bodies of the soldiers who had been overwhelmed? Surely, they would have fought to their death. Where was the evidence to suggest such a scenario? The shoddy attempt at a cover up was obvious. The Jews do admit Jesus was a good and wise teacher. In the end, they could eliminate the teacher, but they could not eliminate his teachings.
In the short three years Jesus taught, his teachings were filled with wisdom and life-changing concepts for those who believed Him. He turned the skeptic’s conception of heir God from one of oppression and punishment to one of Love, Compassion and Forgiveness. He redirected their hopelessness into service for others and hope for an eternal life for all. He organized a Church with Apostles, Pastors, Priests and Prophets. He commanded them to go into the world to preach His word to every nation, tongue and people.
After his appearance following his crucifixion they, being filled with the Holy Ghost, went forward to do this missionary work as they had been commanded. With the exception of John, each sealed his testimony with the shedding of their own blood.
In one of Christ’s last acts of encouragement, He stood outside Jerusalem reassuring these disciples of His love and promised he would return. Then He suddenly ascended in a light into the Heavens. He was gone. They were on their own. What great courage and conviction it must have taken for them to pull their hoods over their heads, wrap their cloaks tightly over their shoulders and walk into the winds of adversity and death. In a few short years, they too, would lay lifeless, having sacrificed their all to the cause.
The message of Christ, his atonement and his resurrection were immediately subjected to a deliberate conspiracy to falsify and distort. This conspiracy reached its pinnacle of madness in the third and fourth centuries, A.D. Roman and Greek scholars and philosophers reconstructed the teachings of Christ in a manner more acceptable to their limited logic and understanding. Had Christ’s ministry been an exercise of futility? Had He failed? Ask the millions of followers who have embraced his gospel since. Ask yourself the same question.
This written testimony is a brief summary of that period of history. It hopes to catch both the miraculous as well as the malicious events that occurred to the orphaned child, the Church of Jesus Christ.
Abandoned almost at birth in a wild and scheming world, the Church grew into an almost totally unrecognizable adulthood. The simple yet profound gospel, taught with so much hope by Jesus of Nazareth, became a sophisticated lady of the night. Powerful and unprincipled, she reigned with blood and horror. Miraculously, an ember of its former self still burned in her calloused heart. This ember is what fed the hopes of millions down through the dark centuries that followed.
I will be satisfied if even one soul, my own perhaps, will have been improved from better knowing the history of those colossal events and the persons that shaped the western Church for the next 1600 years. After all, it was this same Church that spawned the New Testament , the Bible. It became the only witness of Christ available to countless Christian Martyrs for over 1800 years. And it was that same Bible that sent a searching young boy into the woods, to his knees in prayer in 1820 after reading these words in James 1: 5.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him. “
The long dark night of spiritual ignorance, and famine of hearing the word of God would have to wait almost two millennium before that event.
Part 1: Apostles to Apostates
Peter, James and John were called as the first presidency of Christ’s church in the meridian of time. Evidence of them receiving the keys for such is recorded in Matt 16: 19. Following this event, we have several accounts of these same brethren accompanying Christ on His various special moments and miraculous events (Mark 5: 37-42, Matt 26: 37–39, John 20: 1-10). How did it happen that within a few short centuries the Church of Jesus Christ, laid with a foundation of Apostles, 70’s , Bishops, Elders, Teachers and Priests, had all but disappeared? While persecution from without was a ever deadly and constant danger, it was not the determining factor. The real threat was discord and contention and came from within.
As the center core of priesthood leaders began their solemn mandate to bring Christ’s message to the world, they immediately drew the attention of the political authorities, both Jewish and Roman.
The Romans generally were tolerant of diverse religions, but Palestinian Jews were in constant rebellion. Nero is rumored to have been responsible for the burning of Rome. He found it was convenient for his own future to blame the Christians. This started a new round of serious Christian persecution. The brutal attacks on these newly converted Jews brought imprisonment and execution of some of their leaders. James, brother of John, (both sons of Zebedee), was slain by the sword of Herod. Peter was imprisoned and later disappeared under the decree of Nero. He is believed to have been crucified in Rome, nailed to the cross, upside down. The first James was replaced by James the Brother of Jesus. It is his book (Epistle of James) we have in the New Testament. This James was brought up on the walls of the City by the Jews and commanded to deny Christ in front of the congregation. Instead he bore his testimony of Christ’s Messiahship. He was cast down off the walls and stoned to death. John the Beloved (the same John also known as the son of Zebedee) was promised to remain on Earth until the second coming of Christ, but we lose track of him for almost half a century. In his later years, John was banished to the Isle of Patmos where he received a vision which now forms the basis of the Book of Revelation. Meanwhile he wrote three other letters that we are aware of (1st, 2nd and 3rd John), then disappeared after 98 A.D. By that time, tradition records the deaths of the other Apostles as follows:
Judas Iscariot, Suicide 33. A D
Jude (Judas, brother of James), Martyred in Egypt
Simon the Zealot, Killed by sword in Persia
Thomas, Speared in India
Matthew, Martyred in Ethiopia
Bartholomew, Flayed and beheaded in Arabia for refusing to honour Pagan God
Phillip, Died in Phrygia by a Roman Proconsul
Andrew, Crucified in Greece
Paul, Beheaded by Nero in Rome
With no Prophets or Apostles to guide them,the Church lost its Priesthood channel to Christ, the source of revelation. The most senior Priesthood authority was that of a Bishop. But which one should lead and by what authority? There had been many called and set apart through-out the Middle East. However, it was not in the mandate of any Bishop to receive revelation and speak for the entire Church.
When Paul (formerly Saul) was converted and commenced his major missionary efforts,they extended far beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem, Syria or Palestine. His success resulted in a sudden wave of untrained members, most without any in-depth knowledge of their newly found religion. Many spoke foreign languages. Even more still clung to old beliefs and practices. As fast as they established branches and appointed local Bishops, the Jewish, the Gnostics, the Pagans and the Romans pressured the new converts to abandon their faith. Paul spent most of his time and energies correcting and decrying the false doctrines of the rebellious and floundering factions within the Church. Paul’s warnings were numerous, but in general they were ineffective as the swarms of opponents overwhelm the capabilities and resources of the new members. Paul specifically warns of the impending disintegration:
Acts
20:28 -29
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the
Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of
God, which he hath purchased with his own Blood. For I know this that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also
of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away
disciples after them.”
Paul’s words to Timothy were accurate and ominous:
2 Timothy 4: 3
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap themselves teachers having itching ears.”
After the death of Paul, his influence all but ceased and the hearts of the disbelievers and total membership began to shrivel. The Old Testament Prophet, Amos had cautioned this would happen.
Amos
8: 11-12
“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread nor of the thirst for water, but of hearing the
word of God. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the North even to
the East they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not
find it”.
Among the Bishops who wrote letters of concern were, Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna. These men however recognized they did not have the authority to receive revelation regarding the affairs of the overall Church as did the Apostles or Paul. They recorded their concerns regarding the apostate affairs of the various branches but could not do anything more to change them.
It was a period of extreme confusion of which we have the least amount of documentation in all of church history. Charismatic and popular members in some branches were appointed as Bishops, while other already appointed were dismissed. Where no authority existed, members contested for Priesthood positions. This led to competitions within branches for authority over other branches whose geographical boundaries and membership was smaller. Writings from other concerned Bishops indicate the level of chaos that existed from the early second to the early fourth centuries A.D.
Author, Location, Date, Concerns
Herman: Rome 150 AD
– Stresses righteousness in the face of apostasy.
– Emphasizes baptism for living and dead.
Justin Martyr: Rome 150 AD
– Presents Christ as second to God. It was He(Christ) who revealed early Christian doctrines and worship.
Irenaeus: Lyons 200 AD
– Against heresies.
– Opposes Gnostic views and the Rationalization of the teachings of Christ.
Clement: Alexandria 190- 215 AD
– Opposes paganism but is personally influenced Greek philosophers.
Tertullian: Carthage 195-220 AD
– Left Church to support a growing movement away from floundering Saints to the primitive purity thought only to exist in the breakaway sects in the Dessert
Origen: Alexandria 203-253 AD
– Most influential theologian of his day.
– Author of first systematic attempt in Christian theology.
– Heavily influenced by Greek philosophers
Cyprian: Carthage 249 AD
– Wrote 65 letters regarding doctrinal and administrative concerns.
– Insisted on his Bishopric being independent of Rome.
– Held strict views regarding lapsing Christians.
Eusebius: Caesarea 325 AD
– Attempted to show apostolic continuity, thereby preserving valuable quotations from early writings from the Pre-Nicene Christian beliefs.
As the Church spiraled downward, none of them could have imagined that they and their entire squabbling, disorganized, Church would be saved by a brutal, savage Warlord. He had already had his wife and son executed .His bloodied hands held the only power strong enough to force the contentious Church leaders together. He was to become the longest ruling Emperor of Rome. His titles would include, Augustus Constantine, Emperor Constantine, Constantine the Great and finally, Saint Constantine. All titles, he bestowed upon himself because there was no other that he, with power to do so.
The Head of the Church moves from being “Christ Directed” to “Roman Emperor Directed”
This is the defining moment in time when the Church, established by Christ Himself, lost all recognition and pretense of being “From God”. The Head of the Church, while clothed in the Bishop’s religious finery and augmented by scriptures, now was no more than a puppet, a tool under the of control of the firm hand of the most powerful, undisputed ruler of the Western Empire.
After securing this grip and bringing a brief, rare degree of stability to the Roman Empire, Constantine focused on halting the practice of persecuting Christians and the almost impossible task of bringing peace and order among the Bishops. Until then, these two problems had been the major threats both to the Church and to the Emperor.
Through the Edict of Milan, Constantine dealt with the first threat from the outside. Under the leadership of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the fiercest persecution ever launched against the Christians was resulting in the deaths of thousands. Constantine ordered that Christianity be legalized, their scriptures deemed sacrosanct and that their property returned. In 305 A.D. Constantine was victorious. Christianity was proclaimed as the State Religion.
The second threat was much more difficult. Not only was there major geographic, political and language differences between the Bishops, but the misunderstandings and the quarreling had now threatened to split the West and Eastern Empires. Their reasoning and differences, which had formerly been somewhat modified by the influence of the Holy Ghost, had produced a degree of moderation and cooperation. But with the power of the Holy Ghost long departed, everything of a spiritual nature was now resolved by theologians or philosophers over whom the Emperor exercised total and complete control. In contrast to the former Bishops and other spiritually minded Church leaders who still possessed a degree of conviction of the Gospel truths. Now in control of the Church were educators, philosophers, who required only that they were adequately and formally educated in he traditional schools of Rhetorical principles, available in Troy and Alexandria
Constantine’s main concern was to quell the religious dissent and turmoil that threatened the unity of his Empire. He already had total control of his subjects while they were alive. What more could he ask for than to gain complete power over men’s lives even after they were dead? Was not the Church, with its promise to grant men their salvation, just the means whereby he could achieve such a goal?
Constantine’s resolve to save the Church and grant himself the supreme and ultimate power that it alone held, could do just that. He did just that. Such a bold move gave him what previous Emperors could not even have dreamed of. He succeeded but the price to the Church of Jesus Christ was the total spiritual bankruptcy of Christianity. The Church was now effectively hijacked by the State through a merger of the two most powerful bodies in the Empire., the Church and the State.
In a first attempt to consolidate, Constantine convened a conference to be held in Nicaea in 325.A.D. Between 250 to 318 Bishops from all of the Christian world attended. Constantine presided over the council. His presence, while certainly intimidating, did not necessarily influence the outcome of the theological conclusions reached. But with the specific goals which he was determined to have resolved, he was resolute.
Here are some of the goals and topics on the agenda:
1/ To establish a common uniform doctrine and creed, acceptable to everyone and which would become compulsory for all citizens.
2/ To agree upon which books would be included as cannon (accepted scriptures and writings.)
3/ No council had been held since the one in Jerusalem (which had convened to set conditions so Gentiles could join the Church). This Council was to be recognize as the precedent for all future councils.
4/ The Council would resolve disagreements regarding the understanding of the nature of God, his Son and the Holy Ghost.
5/ To establish when holy celebrations, such as Easter and Christmas, would be held.
6/ To establish a system whereby consensus would be reached on issues, now and in the future.
7/ To find a solution to the Arian Controversy. (Arius led a group, deemed to be heretical, that believed the nature of Christ was different from that accepted by the other Bishops).
8/ To establish procedure to ordain future clergy.
9/ To agree upon a system for the construction of Church buildings.
10/ To establishing norms for public repentance and punishments.
11/ To agree upon how to admit repentant heretics.
12/ Find clarification for the role of Deacons.
Two of these agreements drastically reduced the authority previously held by the Church:
1/ The Bishop’s role became inferior to the Emperor’s and in some cases, no power existent beyond the Bishop’s own parish.
2/ It opened the door wide for the academics, (appointed by Rome), to tinker, revise, replace or otherwise transform the basic core doctrines of the Church as they pleased
Upon the death of Constantine in 337 A.D. the civilized Christian Church of the world waited to see how all that Constantine had wrought would work out. Waiting in the wings was the perfect candidate to take advantage of this transformation. His name was Aurelius Augustine.
St. Augustine.
Augustine was born 354 A D in Tagaste, North Africa. Not for better, but for worse, he took the lead to further complicate what Constantine had started.
He is a window to everything that was wrong with the Greek society of his day. Having spent his early youth in a wild orgy of living, Augustine reasoned that man had not the power by himself to change his own behavior from sinful to righteous. His father was a pagan and his mother a Christian. She deterred him from being baptized until, as she put it, “The irregularities and excesses of youth were passed”. Augustine expressed his attitude in his own words: “Give me chastity, but give it not yet.”
He rejected the religion of his mother (Christian) because he thought the Bible was “barbarous and incomprehensible”. He practiced the Manichean lifestyle, a Persian religion popular in his day that proposed that there were two opposing powers in the world: good and evil. Unfortunately, they were out of balance and nothing but living an ascetic lifestyle of complete self-discipline and denial would bring the two into a balanced position again. All these experiences and influences early in his life reflected themselves in Augustine’s prolific writings later. Naturally, these strong-held personal beliefs surfaced thereafter as the foundational principles of the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
The victory of the philosophical conclusions of the purpose of man’s existence over the recorded scriptures of Christ and the inspired Apostolic teachings, was completed by the hand and mind of Augustine. Tutored in the sciences, rhetoric, mathematics and philosophy, the antithesis of the simple soul-teachings of Christ, he was perfectly positioned to become the greatest influence on the thinking and doctrine of the Catholic Church since Paul.
Part 1: From Apostles to Apostates
While the Nicene Council’s intent was to put an end to the speculation and descent within the Church, it in fact served to do just the opposite. The church in the fourth Century had long ago dispensed with the theological teachings of the Biblical religion of Christ. Arguments based on erroneous conclusions only produced more philosophic speculation. Those who opposed these speculations, such as Arius who was a member of the council of Elders, were excommunicated. This however did not mean the end of the Arian movement or a wholesale unification of understanding. It simply broke the Church into smaller factions. These ranged from near-alignment to the Nicene model to all the way to radicalism. Fortunately Arius suddenly died in 336 A.D., and thereafter the movement slowly was absorbed into what was rapidly and systematically becoming the “Classic Theism” or “Acceptable Thinking”, as seen by the senior Bishop ( Augustine). This all-encompassing orthodoxy about the nature of the God Head is still embraced by the majority of Catholic and Protestant churches alike in the world today.
Two of the major figures in this philosophical quarrel at that time, were Pelagius and Augustine. Their opposing views mirrored their contrasting life experiences. If an understanding of how the early Greek philosophers came to this collection of nonsense called collective reasoning, then it is very important to first understand the thinking and background of the men who more than any others, brought it about. It is after all, this reasoning that influenced what the world wide Christian Church would believe for the next 1,500 years.
Starting first with the works of Augustine, these are some of the issues about which he wrote.
1/ The depravity of human man.
The two major influences regarding this point of view were his early immoral life style and the guilt of it that he felt for the rest of his life. Secondly was his 9 years as a Manichean. The latter’s views about man were that his nature was essentially evil and that he by himself could never become righteous. Righteousness was attained by suppressing everything to do with the physical body and its needs while devoting all one’s energies and thoughts to the perfecting of the spirit.
2/ The idea of Saving Grace
This concept came about as a result of his conversion to Christianity which he relates as follows.
Augustine had listened to the lectures of Ambrose because he was fascinated by his eloquence. This led him later to read the epistles of Paul which in turn caused him to feel he should give up his immoral habits. Being imbued with the teachings of the Manicheans that “man is evil and could not overcome evil”, he pleaded, “Give me chastity, but not yet!” The spirit was willing but the body was too, too out of balance to give up all that sin so soon. While in the midst of a battle between his beliefs and his guilt, he prayed to God and asked for help to end his life of immorality. Suddenly he heard the voice of a child singing from a house, “Take up and read. Take up and read.” He immediately got up and found a Book of scriptures. He read the first verse he had opened to. It was the story of a young man who asked Christ what he should do to be saved. Christ replied “Go and sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow me.” (Luke 18: 22) He returned to read again from the volume of the Apostles and there read, “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13: 12-14) That was sufficient for Augustine, he felt he had received direct revelation. Because of this experience, he concluded that evil-man could turn to God only if and when God wanted the change to take place. This gift of grace, he concluded, affected the will of man and was given free by God — not by any works or merit of man himself.
3/ Organizing of Monastic orders
Following his conversion and baptism, Augustine sold his property, gave up his chair in Milan, and with his friends, went to Africa where he set up a form of a Monastic community.
4/ The concept of an material GOD was incomprehensible.
Having struggled with his physical desires, he could not believe that such evil passions could have any place in the nature of a pure God.
5/ Attempting to harmonize the” Trinity” with the teachings of the Bible.
Because of his misunderstanding of the nature of God in the first place, he nor anyone else could come up with a logical relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
6/ The purpose of Evil.
Without the understanding of the purpose of this life and the plan of Man’s salvation, there is no logical answer for evil in this world. It is in the understanding of choice and opposites provided in this world by Satan, that we appreciate the need for evil.
7/ Original or “Inherited” sin.
The struggle of choosing good or evil portrayed in the garden drama resulting in the ultimate fall from grace of Adam and Eve, was understood to be the penalty of a displeased God imposed upon his disobedient Children. This conclusion demonstrates the complete ignorance on the part of the Church leaders in the 4th century of the purpose for man’s existence.
8/ The “Elect”.
The philosophers clearly thought of themselves as being the “elect” because of their superior education. Still there seemed to be no common reasoning as to the “ways of the Lord” and why he would favour or “respect” certain people over others.
9/ God alone is responsible for man’s salvation.
God selects only a few, the rest he abandons. There is nothing man can do on his own to change this arbitrary selection of God. This is a natural conclusion following the misunderstanding of the Nature of God as shown in item 8.
10/ All must be baptized to enter the Kingdom of God.
Another logical conclusion from an incorrect assumption and understanding of John 3: 3-5. Christ demonstrated by his own baptism and his gathering of little Children around himself what the qualifications were. Easily observable in little children, these qualities we must also have before our entry into the kingdom. Notice also the difference of qualifications in verse 3. Except a man be born again he cannot “see” the kingdom of Heaven or even conceive of the Kingdom of heaven, as opposed to verse 5 which states, “Except a man be born of water and the spirit” (in other words baptized and given the gift of the Holy Spirit), he cannot “enter” the Kingdom of God. The exception is the little children, who, before the years of accountability,“cannot sin for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children until they begin to become accountable unto me,” (D & C 29: 46-47) or age 8 years.
Another logical conclusion from an incorrect assumption and understanding of John 3: 3-5. Christ demonstrated by his own baptism and his gathering of little Children around himself what the qualifications were. Easily observable in little children, these qualities we must also have before our entry into the kingdom.
Notice also the difference of qualifications in verse 3. Except a man be born again he cannot “see” the kingdom of Heaven or even conceive of the Kingdom of heaven, as opposed to verse 5 which states, “Except a man be born of water and the spirit” (in other words baptized and given the gift of the Holy Spirit), he cannot “enter” the Kingdom of God. The exception is the little children, who, before the years of accountability,“cannot sin for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children until they begin to become accountable unto me,” (D&C 29: 46-47) or age 8 years.
Starting on the foundation of earlier false assumptions, all these thoughts were original and a result of Augustine’s creative thinking. He used scriptures out of context that supported his theories but ignored others that contradicted them. He relied upon Greek philosophy and personal experiences to arrive at his conclusions. Catholic and Protestant Churches of our day quote Augustine as their authority. He is the great Saint Augustine, and yet there has not ever been a greater contaminating influence than his personal religious philosophy was upon Christianity.
At first Augustine was tolerant of different religious ideas, but this was never the view of Roman Emperors. They had been the Supreme God of the Pagan religions in Rome prior to Christianity. They had tried to unify the Empire around Pagan worship. Constantine had made the Christian Church subject to Emperor’s will in the absence of any recognized christian church leader. Upon his death, this relationship did not change. Those who replaced Augustine continued to enforce Christian doctrine by political decree. They appointed Bishops, decided what was orthodox and what was not, and determined what punishment would be inflicted if disobeyed.
For the next 5 centuries, Augustine’s philosophies were deemed to be correct. Therefore, they were imposed by Imperial edict. Heresy was put on the same level as murder or treason, punishable by death. The Church had become the co-conspirator in the hands of the State to control opposition and heresy. The struggle for dominance between State and Church was inevitable. It was only a matter of time and opportunity until their roles would reverse.
Part 1: From Apostles to Apostates
The only other intellectual person of a caliber capable of challenging Augustine on a philosophical level, was Pelagius. He was an educated Monk from Britain whose temperament, lifestyle and personal experience was very different from that of Augustine.
His chief concern was the immorality of the Roman Empire. Augustine’s conclusions, as far as he was concerned, would have a very damaging effect on the faith of the people. More specifically, he concluded, it killed the incentive of those who might be inclined to think of themselves as elect or already saved. How could they repent? Why would they feel it necessary when there was nothing they could do, good or bad, which could alter their God given status. And what about those who were not elect? Would this not have a detrimental effect if they were doomed to rot in hell regardless of what good they might do? What incentive would they have to improve their lot both here and in the here-after? The idea of such an arrangement most appealed to those who wanted salvation but were not interested in living the gospel to acquire it.
Pelagius rejected the concepts of:
1/ Infant baptism.
2/ Inherited sin. (We inherited Sin of Adam and Eve’s partaking of the fruit of the tree.)
3/ Adam having been born mortal.
4/ Grace being for only select individuals.
His own Doctrine included:
1/ Confession of faults and responsibility for choices.
2/ 10 commandments were an obligation to personal, moral cleanliness.
3/ Free agency or the ability of man to choose salvation or reject it for himself.
4/ Salvation obtained through obedience to God’s commandments.
5/ Saving power of Good Works contributes to Salvation.
6/ Baptism and Redeeming Blood of Christ (atonement) was essential.
7/ Man was not inherently evil, but by his own volition, he could overcome evil by doing good without recourse to Grace.
8/ No original sin resulted from the fall of man.
9/ Man responsible for his own sins.
10/ God does not pre-destine man to Heaven or Hell. Man makes this choice though his own behaviour.
Pelagius began his teaching in Rome where he met no opposition. However, when he went to Africa the reaction to his teaching was violent. There he was brought before a council in Carthage and his teachings condemned. In Palestine he was attacked by Jerome, even though Pelagius had the support of Bishop John of Jerusalem. The source of his main opposition came from the influence of Augustine. In the Western world, Augustine’s word on things theological was considered to be the ultimate authority.
Pope Innocence I of Rome condemned Pelagius and his teachings. When he refused to acquiesce, Pelagius was excommunicated and banned from Rome. This effectively silenced him as he no longer had credentials or access to an audience.
Their differences however divided the Church. The timing was not in his favour. At the first opportunity, Pelagius would be labelled a heretic. With Augustine’s new powers, he achieved far more from connections than corrections. Pelagius was eliminated. We do not know if he was executed but history lost contact with him about 422.A.D. We cannot help but wonder how much better off the fledgling church might have been had this power struggle ended differently.
Part 1: From Apostles to Apostates
Over the centuries many councils in many locations were called. Some were considered to be without authority or legitimacy and others were of an insufficient nature so as not to affect the entire Christian World. Only the first 8 conferences have been accepted generally as they established orthodoxy.
The views express in these councils, instead of bringing unity of thought and purpose, caused a war that festered and never, ever healed. Dethroning, anathematizing, beatings and killings could not impose one side’s doctrine on the other. Nor could they ever come to a common solution acceptable to both deeply entrenched sides. Their bitterness and rivalry are exposed in raw reality through the minutes of the Councils.
After personally reading a summary of the minutes of those councils beginning in 325 AD, at the Council of Nicaea that stretched over 1,500 years to the First General Council of the Vatican 1870, I can only express a feeling of sadness, loss and betrayal by those who had been entrusted with the stewardship of the Church of Jesus Christ following the death of the Apostles and the loss to the church of the Apostles’ inspired leadership.
The following is a list of the first of those councils:
1st Nicea (325 AD)
– Resolve Christ’s divinity and Status
– Establish Common Creed, Settle Arien Controversy
1st Constantinople (381 AD)
– Refine Nicene creed
– Abolish Arianism
– Clarify Trinity (Three in One God Head)
– Define role of Holy Ghost
1st Ephesus (431 AD)
– Character and Nature of Christ
– Condemn Nestorians
2nd Ephesus (449 AD)
– Solve divisions over the 1 or 2 possible natures of Christ
– Flavian, supporter of two natures, was beaten and died.
-Pope Leo was anathematized along with most Eastern Bishops.
This entire Council was rejected and declared a “Robber Synod.”
Chalcedon (451 AD)
– To reverse the results of the 2nd Council of Ephesus
– Two natures of Christ accepted
2nd Constantinople (553 AD)
– Monophysite (One Nature of Christ) movement continued to split the Empire. Council condemned controversial writings which only resulted in a deeper split.
3rd Constantinople (680 AD)
– To settle arguments of Doctrine, ( I.E the nature of Christ.)
The Great Schism
– In 800 AD, Pope Leo 3rd is crowned Charlemagne, King of the Franks, as Emperor of Rome. This act cemented loyalty between Rome and the Franks, instead of the Byzantines. This split the Empire into two: the Roman Church (Franks) and the Church of Constantinople (Byzantines).
– The schism became formal by 1054 AD under Pope Leo 4th.
– Byzantine and Roman Church Popes excommunicate each other. Each declared the other heretics.
Now we have two Churches, Roman Catholic in Rome and Eastern Orthodox in Africa.
During the seventh century, the Byzantine Empire split violently over the argument of the natures of Christ. Both East and West were severely weakened by constant external wars and violent internal religious strife. Both sides deemed their stand as absolute and non-negotiable. These religious wars did as much, if not more, to destroy the Roman Empire than any other major threat it faced. The worst and the best minds of its academics, the dim witted as well as the most devious of leaders, all tried but could not provide the solution.
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the Kings horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.