Kings – Garrett's Polished Diamonds

Chapter 2: The Fall

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.

Chapter 9: Under the Control of Evil Families

Part 1: From Apostles to Apostates

With the loss of any superior Empirical power to check the aggressive aristocracy, the Papacy was totally without a protector. That exposed it to the forces and dictates of rich, corrupt and ruthless Italian, French and German families. For the next century (870 AD to 970 AD) unholy princes and princesses bought, sold and totally controlled the office of Pope.

The family of Counts of Tusculum and the Family of the Theophylact imposed the candidates of their choice upon clergy and people alike. These they elected only from the ranks of the nobility. Included are:
Pope John X, Pope John XI, Pope John XII, Benedict VIII, Benedict IX, Benedict X

Wars of conquest and retaliation were waged constantly between the rival warlords. Meanwhile Otto I had succeeded at getting himself crowned King of the German tribes. His ambition was to rebuild the Empire of Charlemagne. Pope John XII felt threatened by both the Romans and the Lombards (one of the powerful Italian families), so he called upon Otto of Germany to come to his rescue. Otto, assuming the crown of Italy, proudly marched into Rome on Feb 2, 962 AD. While he was at it, he also accepted for his pretentious services the title of “Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire”. It was definitely not holy, and it certainly was no longer Roman. Far from protecting the Church, Otto oppressed it.

Pope Leo XII realized too late that he had exchanged a terrible fate for a deadly one. After quarrelling, Otto I chose a new Pope, Leo VIII, and Pope John XII fled. Within a year John XII was dead.

The Roman Italian families elected another Pope, Benedict. Otto of Germany threatened to besiege Rome unless Benedict was delivered to him and Leo VIII reinstated. The Romans had no choice but to surrender. This showdown gave Otto total power over the Papal seat and brought a temporary end to the control and domination of the Italian families.

Otto I strengthened his Empire by strengthening his hold on the Church. He appointed Bishops and made them Princes of the Realm. They swore allegiance to him before they were invested as Bishops. The custom of conferring a ring and a crosier (ornamental staff) upon Bishops, as a sign of episcopal dignity, can be traced back to this very ceremony. This combined office of Bishop and Prince now became very lucrative to the incumbent, and the basest of practices of simony and corruption developed. The power of the offices was sold, bought, rented, given as dowries and even in some cases, included their entire parish. The clergy no longer even made an attempt to keep up the visible charade of trustworthiness or honesty.

After Otto’s death, Otto III, who was only four years old, became Emperor. Under the influence of the corrupt and ambitious Cresentius Family a number of Popes were killed while they plotted to install a grand total of three of their own family members in their place.

When Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, visited Rome in 1048 he found three rival Popes each claiming the coveted position: The Northern Italian city-states, divided by the Guelph and Ghibe lines had each appointed their own candidate because of the unprecedented, unbecoming behaviour of Benedict IX. Henry deposed all three and installed his own preference, Pope Clement II. The history of the Popes between 1048 and 1257 is replete with soiled and gangrenous incumbents followed by their tainted and corrupt replacements. The struggle for ultimate control for power between Emperor and Pope continued unabated.

Into this cesspool of infamy, Hildebrand, a monk from Cluny, appeared in Rome with an unbridled passion for reform. Fired up by the reform movement of the monasteries who were forced to return to the rules of St. Benedict and discontented with the complete corruption of everything to do with religion in Rome, he was imbued with a spirit for change. The manner of choosing Popes by the Emperor for instance, must cease. In 1059 a new Papal decree was issued demanding that the Pope must be chosen by the College of Cardinals, which consisted of Elders and Deacons of the Italian Churches in Rome. Hildebrand, was adviser to five succeeding Popes and eventually became Pope himself in 1073, taking the name of Gregory VII. More than everything else, he was obsessed with the idea of Papal World Supremacy. His conception of the Office was expressed in his own words:

“The Roman Church was founded by God alone. The Roman Pope alone can with right be called universal; he alone may use the Imperial Insignia, his feet only shall be kissed by all the Princes. He may depose the Emperors; he himself may be judged by no one, the Roman Church has never erred, nor will it ever err in all eternity.”

In 1075 Hildebrand, now Pope Gregory VII, issued a decree prohibiting Princes from ordaining Bishops. Still, the German King would not give up his right. The Germans had the bigger army, but the Pope held the more effective weapons. The Pope Gregory VII had five weapons at his command. Each were deadly. And they all hung on an incorrect principle of doctrine.

Weapon 1: That belief was that there was no salvation outside the Roman Church and of course, the Pope held all the keys to that door.
Weapon 2: The Pope could call Kings and release them.
Weapon 3: The Pope could excommunicate anyone he pleased. By a decree of excommunication, princes and all other such people, could not be provided with food or shelter as long as they lived, and a Christian burial would be denied to them when they died. Anybody helping an excommunicated person, would suffer the same fate.
Weapon 4: Sacrament was essential to Salvation. Excommunicated persons would be deprived of the sacrament. That meant they would be cut off from all rights provided by the Church. A Mass could not even be held in their presence. If it was a king, no services would be held in his kingdom. No funeral would be held. And no one would hear a prayer or a bell ring. Church buildings would be closed. Extreme unction applied.
Weapon 5: In the case of an errant king, the Pope could release the king’s subjects from their oath of allegiance to him. The king would then be without power, purse or pity. With this power, the Pope did not hesitate to both threaten and apply his total weight on all peoples, kings, rulers and subjects, with impunity. The horrors of facing hell had been taught since Augustine’s false interpretation of the teachings of Christ. Now, it successfully silenced all who would dare challenge the Pope. While Gregory did not see the fulfillment of his goal to raise the Papacy to ultimate superiority over all the Western World in his lifetime, it did reach that epitome under his successors, Urban II (1088 – 1099) and Innocent III (1179- 1180). This is also the point at which the Eastern and Western Ecclesiastical authorities, chose to excommunicate each other.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the Kings horses and all the Kings men,
Couldn’t put Humpty together again
-English Nursery Rhyme

Often, when we think things cannot get worse, it proves to be the very point at which they do. Pope Urban II, the consummate warlord of Europe, having obtained what other Popes could only dream of, possessed complete power to enforce anything he wanted or imagined, in the name of the God. Looking around from this most enviable position, he decided that what was most needed was something or some cause to unite his people.

There are those who think the motivation for Pope Urban II’s solution to this problem was much more sinister. Perhaps it was a diversion to involve, and even cull out, many young heirs to thrones who were thirsty to make their name known in battle. Restless for fame or notoriety, these youth left to their own devises might cause great harm to the realm. Whatever his real reason might have been, the answer he came up with for forging unity would have been absolutely brilliant if it were not for its total lack of foresight and planning. Maybe that was the appeal and beauty of it. The plan was not impeded by facts and its gross stupidity was rationalized by the equally gross ignorance of those who were called upon to participate in its fulfillment. There is almost no other explanation for what was to have faultlessly become the most mind boggling, colossal failure of the middle ages. We are referring to, of course, the Crusades.

At the Council of Clermont in 1095 AD, Pope Urban II issued his infamous first rally call. He asked for a mighty army to repossess the Holy Lands then in the hands of the infidels.

What instantly emerged from the streets, jails, asylums, convents and slums of Europe, were the desperate and the destitute, almost to a person. Over half-a-million naive, poorly informed and unprepared men, women and children, rushed headlong onto the roadways to begin walking to The Holy Land. With their wholehearted acceptance and approval, they chanted and sang as they threw what little sanity they possessed to the winds and rushed blindly into hell.

As mentioned, the Pope had become the highest-ranking position of power in the Western World. The Pope, not the Emperor was the great warlord of Europe. Now he had opened a new front in his campaign. The First Crusade’s initial goal was simply to move in a mass against the infidels in the Holy Land. To ensure sufficient manpower, he issued indulgences to all who would go, the most enticing being the forgiveness of sins past and sins not as yet committed. Next he opened the doors of the prisons in Europe for the worst of criminals to join under the same generous conditions. A monstrous hoard of hundreds of thousands of people, of all ages and stages, lacking health, wealth or wisdom, obliviously worked their way like a vast lava flow directly aimed to the most inhospitable and hostile place in the world.

Exempted from any spiritual consequence regarding their immoral actions, they were instructed to find their own food and lodgings along the way. Can you imagine what those in the path of this hoard must have thought as they learned of its impending arrival in their community? It would be a worse fear than of a descending plague of the entire forces of Atilla the Hun. Pestilence, famine, destruction of crops and loss of property would have followed every footstep of the way. There would be nothing left to eat, drink or sleep under for those who survived after the “Pilgrims” had passed through. By the time they arrived to liberate Jerusalem, there were only 40,000 pilgrims left. The Islam forces, of course, attacked and killed most of those that were still alive. It was a total and complete annihilation, serving only to embolden the infidels.

There were ten crusades in all, each ending in failure like the first.

The second crusade had over a million, two hundred thousand soldiers. Sickness, heat, contaminated water and lack of food constantly reduced their force to impotency.

The third crusade involved Richard the Lion-Hearted of England. He fought, lost and left ignobly.

The fourth crusade of roughly the same proportions and objectives were terribly massacred.

The fifth crusade was aimed at Constantinople but achieved no military advantage. It only served to create a further alienation between the Eastern and Western Churches.

The six, seventh, eighth and ninth crusade were repeats.

The Children’s Crusade was led by a boy who vanished. Thousands were captured and sold into slavery.

All failed miserably. Most of the pilgrims carried no weapons of defense against Arab armies or other hostile forces, such as the many robbers, pirates, thieves and scoundrels who lay waiting in great anticipation of their arrival. All they brought was enthusiasm, and that, as everyone discovered, was woefully inadequate.

Hoping to reverse their failures, the next Pope, Innocent II started a crusade against heretics and Jews in France instead. But the Bishops of France did not participate with enough enthusiasm against their own people. The Crusade began to falter. Sensing another fiasco, Innocent II turned the episcopal inquiry over to the Mendicant orders and the Dominican and Franciscan Monks who had sworn allegiance to only the Pope himself. This action was called the Papal Inquisition. The efficiency and barbarity of the methods used against even the innocent, who were tortured to obtain confessions, and the despotic actions of the Pope, eventually led to a call for reform.

Pope Boniface VIII, an arrogant, delusional man, attempted to enforce his edicts by quelling the rebellious German King Phillip who had initiated the reform. But the time when those bullying tactics worked had passed. Phillip cut off vast resources which were generating tremendous revenue to the Pope by disallowing their removal to Italy. Included in King Phillip’s reforms were a call to cease:

1/ The shedding of blood.
2/ The widespread simony (or money charged for ecclesiastical services).
3/ Nepotism (or favouring relatives).
4/ Unethical means of securing money, such as the selling of priesthood offices to the highest bidder.
5/ Selling indulgences.
6/ The immoral and luxurious lifestyles of Pope and Papal staff.
7/ The uncontrolled tyranny of the Popes.

The Pope issued a Bull or edict which made extravagant claims regarding the authority of the Pope.

“The gospel informs us that there are in the Church and in the power of the Church, two swords, the spiritual and the temporal. Both swords, therefore the spiritual and the temporal are in the power of the Church, but the latter must be drawn for the Church and the former by the Church.
The first by the hand of the Priest and the second by the hand of Kings and Soldiers, but always with the consent and the will of the Priest.
As a consequence, we state, declare and define that all creatures must be subject to the sovereign Pontiff in order to be saved.”

Phillip reacted by calling together the heads of states of the realm, including the ecclesiastical leaders, and accused Boniface of crimes. Phillip’s accusations were brought before the General Council.

Following Phillip’s lead, Germany, England and Bohemia revolted from Papal authority. These countries were followed by the Italian Provinces under Austrian control. In 1849, an assembly elected by the people, striped the Pope of his temporal power and confiscated all his Ecclesiastical property. Under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel and military support from Garibaldi, all Italy was brought under one single government. Rome was made its capital. Thus, the career of Pius IX saw the grasp of temporal world power ripped from him. Since 1866, all that was left was the Vatican, which the Pope was allowed to occupy, as a virtual prisoner, until the end of his life.

We see through a review of historical evidence that the office of Pope never did have a continual link from Peter to itself. Peter was never a Bishop anywhere, let alone in Rome, where he died. The office was foreign and in complete contrast to the nature of the Bishops in the first and second centuries. If there is a continual link of any description that binds the Pope of the Roman church to its past, it has to be the link of continual fighting and quarreling about doctrine (with its bloody enforcement by torture and excommunications) and the continual destructive warring between Church and State for control over people, subjects, dominions and principalities.

Rome, as a center for the church, came to prominence through intrigue, fraud, manipulation, self-assertion and the process of elimination.

After the fall of the Eastern Church in Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch, Rome in the West was the only Patriarch left standing. There was no one else left to challenge what the Roman Patriarch did or said, so he ruled by default. The original church doctrines and scriptural messages were so completely missing and misunderstood by the Greek philosophers and apologists that all understanding of the nature of God and our relationship to him was completely skewed and lost by the fourth Century.

The long slow evolution of the church from apostles to apostates was complete by the end of the first millennium, transforming the Church of Jesus Christ into a politically powerful Empire, with absolute control over the spiritual and temporal affairs of all its subjects. It was enforced with blood, sweat and tears upon the entire Western civilized world until the middle of the nineteenth century, when its power was finally wrestled to the ground.

The “Times of the Gentiles” was coming to its inevitable end.