2010: The New Decade & the New Era Part 4

Historical Notes on Religion

The story of Christianity begins with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The time frame was exactly in the time of Augustus. It's tied up with the Roman Empire from the start. Jesus was a prophetfrom Galilee, which is the Northern province of the Roman called area of Palestine (or exactly Israel). The Romans ruled their Empire over lands, but they usually didn't interfere with the local governments. Israel was difficult to rule since the people to the Romans were stiffnecked and found them strange, etc. Some Jewish people talked about how God was more powerful than their false gods, which is true. The Roman Empire didn't concern themselves with the religious mores of the people unless when it caused trouble for them. Jesus wasn't encouraging Jewish people to overthrow the Roman Empire by violence, but change their lives and be worthy of his support. God the Father, who could be firm to help his people (of Jews and Gentiles) showed his love by sending his Son to the world. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God wasn't of this world. Jesus Christ focues more so on the spiritual kingdom and he formed the New Covenant. The New covenant wanted people to love one another and promoted the belief that all men are your brothers and sisters. The poor and the downtrodden loved this message. Most of the wealth back then was amogn the aristocracy. This was frustrating the rabbis (of the Pharisee sect, primarily the educated but not aristocratic rulers of Israel), because Jesus Christ's followers were calling him the Messiah and restorer of the Jewish people. The Pharisees refused to call him the Messiah and believed that he was a false prophet. The Pharisees had to convince the Sanhedrin (or the Judges) that Jesus was a threat. The Sanhedrin acted like they were conservative and criticized Jesus. The Romans via Pontius Pilate were convinced to kill Jesus Christ as an insurrectionist when he wasn't. Jesus was innocent of the charges and was mocked as the "King of the Jews." After Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, Christianity spread like wildfire. The reason is that the resurrection was a cornerstone of the faith and many witness in the 1st century saw Jesus after his resurrection and before his ascenion into Heaven to be with God the Father. Paul of Tarsus was a Jewish person of the Benjamin tribe. He persecuted Christians until he had a religious visions from Jesus Christ asking why is he persecuting him (and his believers). Paul was blinded and became the Apostle Paul. He converted to Christianity and was on route to Damascus. Easily, Paul was one of the greatest missionaries in religious history. Paul is the common figure in quoting Christian doctrine. He believed that the Messiah came to Earth for the benefit of all people. He led converts in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and other places. Peter and Paul died at the hands of the Romans under the Emperor Nero.

Religious History is something to learn. Christianity in Britain existed for a long time. Christians spread as far as Britain as early as the 2nd century A.D. It was about A.D. 200 that Tertullian wrote thus: "Parts of Britain were inaccessible to the Romans but have yielded to Christ." Christianity spread fast from Israel into Alexandria, Greece, Asi, North Africa, Gaul, and England. Christians in the UK converted the Druids. The Druids were pagans worshipping idols and Nature with human sacrifices even. Diocletian had his savage Christian persecution in the 3rd century A.D. Some martyrs under the region of Emperor Diocletian include At. Albans, Aaron, and Julius of Caerloen. Later, apostate Christianity from Rome came into the UK by the 500's A.D. in a serious level. In the Middle Ages, Christians believed in God and faced persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Reformation had an interesting history in it of itself. The Reformation tried to do the right thing, but some Protestants in the Reformation were infiltrated by Rosicrucians and they didn't totally separate themselves from the Papacy. That's a historical fact. The Protestant Reformation certainly made great contributions in our society, yet even all of the Protestants weren't perfect. I don't believe in one extreme saying that all of the Protestants were influenced by the Rosicurians (having little benefit for the human race) or the other extreme saying that the Protestants were all loving and all tolerant of differing religious points of view. The truth is in between those 2 extremes. You have to acknowledge much of the political and religious liberty we enjoy in America proceeded in great measure from the Reformation. Although, many Protestants have made contributions in history that I do respect from taking religious plus political liberties to another level, etc.. A desire for reform in the Catholic Church came from within that apostate church. Indulgences, ignorance by priests, the banning of the common man to read or write the Bible in his or her own tongue, and other abuses came about. Erasmus in his work taught was Jesus was the role model in which Christians should act like. Catholicism breaks with Martin Luther later. Luther was a very serious professing CHirstian that tried to lead Christian reforms. Luther was apart of Germany. He was brillant as a young scholar and he was already teaching at Wittenburg in his mid 20's. He taught theology to monks. He was an Augustinian monk of the Strict Observance in a Germany monastery. The Strict Observance is the name given by Baron von Hund, which is apart of Freemasonry. When Martin Luther had a religious experience in finding out that salvation was by grace through faith not by works. Pope Leo X's indulgences (or people paying taxes to the Roman Catholic Church for salvation or elimination from purgatory, which is a heresy) caused Luther extreme angry. The reason is that indulgences was a form of bribery to benefit the Papacy in order to create building projects, etc. Luther rejected the Pope being the Vicar of Christ. According to a report written by Philipp Melanchthon, Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. The Prince of Wittenberg agreed with Luther. Pope Leo X responded by excommunicating Martin Luther and the Prince. From then now, Luther's life was in danger and Catholics wanted to kill him. This caused Lutheranism to be formed. John Calvin was another reformer. He fled from France into Switzerland. He denied the real presence physically in communion (disagreeing with Luther and the Pope on this issue). He was once apart of the University of Paris. In Geneva, Calvin formed his government. John Calvin promoted many biblical truths and made errors especially inside of his theocracy of Geneva. John Calvin believed in Augustine's version of predestination. Anabaptists were persecuted by both Protestants and Catholics, because they believe that all men are equals, that only believing adults recieve baptism (as the Bible says), there is no complex heirachy in the church, and that church & state should be seperated. Scholars believe that Anabaptists lead into the development of the Quakers, Memmonites, etc. Anabaptists influenced the Baptists, but the Baptists came from the English Separtatism Movement. Roger Williams and John Clarke formed early Baptists churches. Each man desired to promote religious freedom. Baptists reject infant baptism as I do.

Rome responded to the Reformation by forming the Counter-Reformation, which was evil. The Catholic Church wanted to respond to the challenges of the teachings. The One of the earliest responses in the Counter Reformation was the Council of Trent, which was supported by the Jesuits. The Jesuits were leaders in the Counter-Reformation. They are group of priests that acted as a military group of people to promote Catholicism and attempted to destroy Protestantism. The Jesuits was created by the soldier named Ignatius Loyola in 1540 A.D. He was from Spain and got injured in battle. Later, he claimed that a vision via a trance came unto him to fight for his faith. Loyola came to the Emperor and the Pope sanctions his order. The Jesuit trained for battle physically and through other means. The Jesuits would send agents into universities, religious schools, government, etc. all over Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia in order to promote the Vatican's agenda of global domination (which trying to crush the influence of Protestants & Baptists in the world stage). The following is a recorded, bloody Jesuit order, which is similar to Freemasonry's bloody oaths:

"...The Jesuit Oath mentions the following:

(The Superior speaks:)

My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a Reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant; and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope. You have been taught to plant insidiously the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and to incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace; to take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means. You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope's sake, whose servants we are unto death. You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated his labours with the blood of the heretic; for "without the shedding of blood no man can be saved"..." (Journals of the 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, of the United States Congressional Record (House Calendar No. 397, Report No. 1523, 15 February, 1913, pp. 3215-3216) (European Institute of Protestant Studies)

There has been evil, illegitimate attacks against the Reformation (like saying everyone in it were wrong or Rosicrucians) and legitimate critiques of it. These legitimate critiques deal with the reality that some in the Reformation movement (not all of it) could of been infiltrated by the Rosicurians. The Rosicurcians were hated by the Roman Catholic Church, but believed in the heresies of spiritual alchemy, spiritual contact, and other forms of occultism. Barbara Aho has written on this even though she is wrong to believe that the Priory de Sion still exists today and her constant Jewish baiting rhetoric. The truth is that Secret Societies , New Agers, etc. have used apostate Christianity to promote an evolutionary and global religious system as admitted by Anne Besant in her own words: "...If these teachings be regained, their influence will soon be seen in wider and deeper views of truth; dogmas, which now seem like mere shells and fetters, shall again be seen to partial presentments of fundamental realities. First, Esoteric Christianity will reappear in the ‘Holy Place’, in the Temple so that all who are capable of receiving it may follow its lines of published thought; and secondly, Occult Christianity will again descend into the adytum, dwelling behind the veil which guards the ‘Holy of Holies’, into which only the Initiate may enter…” (Annie Besant, Esoteric Christianity, pp. 26-7).

Debate rages whether Martin Luther was a Rosicrucian or not. Some believe this and some don't. People say that his coat of arms has the Rosicurcian emblems on them with the Rose, cross, and a circle around it. The truth is that the seal was designed for Luther at the behest of Prince John Frederick in 1530. Luther wrote of the seal as representative of his theology and faith. You shouldn't compare God to a seal, but many other seals relate to German locations not just Rosicrucianism. There is no doubt that this seal has occult symbolism (the rose looks like the feminine principle or the Pentagram. The Pentagram in the occult represents Isis, Venus, or the perfected man). Some believe that Martin Luther praised alchemy. If he did do that, he was wrong of course. Johann Valentin Andreae, a Lutheran pastor and mystic, worked at Tubingen University. Andreae's personal coat-of-arms, like Martin Luther's includes the ROSE and CROSS motif. There has been no conclusive evidence that Martin Luther was a Rosicrucian or a member of any Secret Society though. What is true is that many Freemasons infiltrated Lutherans, Southern Baptists, and other apostate Protestants (as opposed to real Bible believing Protestants and Baptists), but real Christians have rejected Secret Societies strongly for many years. Aho promotes the lie that John Calvin was completely Jewish (as citing words form the words form the Masonic B'nai B'rith Lodge meeting). He wasn't Jewish, but was a Frenchmen. Calvin's father was a French man named Gérard Cauvin, and his mother was named Jeanne le Franc. Aho is right to point out the John Calvin made political and theological errors though. So, Aho is slick with her deceptions.

Troy and others certainly inspired me to take a second look at the great Geneva Bible. After much research, the Geneva Bible should be given much more respect than it is presently in 2010. The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant Bibles in history. It was the main Bible for the 16th and part of the 17th centuries of the Protestant Movement. It has been used by Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, John Knox, John Bunyan, and others. John Bunyan wrote the famous book of "Pilgrim's Progress." The Geneva was the first English Bible with a study guide, adis, and other verse citations to make the reader understand the Bible in an efficient manner. Also, you can cross refence verses with commentaries as well. THe language of the Geneva Bible was clear cut. It was favored over the Bishops's Bible. William Whittingham supervised the plan to create the Geneva Bible from Geneva, Switzerland. They weren't in England at that time, because the reign of Queen Mary I of England(who regin from 1553 to 1558) prosecuted anyone who wasn't a Catholic. She was called bloody Mary. Other translators were Myles Coverdale, Christoperher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and Willian Cole. Whittingham was directly responsible for the New Testament while Gilby oversaw the Old Testament. The full edition of the Bible with a revised NT came about in 1560. It was printed in whole in 1576. The first Bible printed in Scotland was the Geneva Bible in 1579. The Geneva Bible was translated from the Greek Textus Receptus manuscripts and the Hebrew texts. There is the 1599 modern edition of the Geneva Bible as well. Most of the New Testament in the Geneva Bible came from translations from William Tyndale as well. The Geneva Bible was innnovative in being the first Bible to have verse numbers, which were based on the work of Stephanus or Robert Estienne of Paris. Pilgrims coming into Plymouth used the Geneva version of the Bible. King James didn't like the Geneva Bible since it had Calvinistic leanings. He also frowned on what he considered to be seditious marginal notes on key political texts. A marginal note for Exodus 1:9 indicated that the Hebrew midwives were correct in disobeying the Egyptian king's orders, and a note for 2 Chronicles 15:16 said that King Asa should have had his mother executed and not merely deposed for the crime of worshipping an idol. The King James Version of the Bible grew out of the king's distaste for these brief but potent doctrinal commentaries. He considered the marginal notes to be a political threat to his kingdom. Rome especially didn't like it since it was very much outspokenly anti-Roman Catholic doctrine, which it ought to be. Rome was still persecuting Protestants in the sixteenth century. Keep in mind that the English translators were exiles from a nation that was returning to the Catholic faith under a queen who was burning Protestants at the stake. I respect the King James version of the Bible and I respect the Geneva Bible, but it's very clear that the KJV-Only philosophy (which I define as believing that we should use only KJV for studying religion in the Bible without studying the original languages, etc.) is a Jesuitical tool of Counter Reformation in order to bash the Textus Receptus script (and distract from the real history of Bible along with the promotion of the fraudulent Alexandrian texts). This is precisely why the Geneva Bible is hated by many quarters today. The Geneva Bible was very popular in the 1500's and the 1600's. The UK was the base of the Textus Receptus English translation of the Holy Bible from the Tyndale Bible to the King James Version of the Bible in 1611. Even bloody Mary murdered numerous Christians because they rejected transubtantiaton and other false doctrines.

The most famous House of Stuart King was King James I of England. His mother was the controversial Mary, Queen of Scotland. King James was the King of England, and Ireland from 1603 to 1625. King James I wasn't perfect, but peace and low taxation existed in his reign. King James lived in the peak of the Jacobean Era. He authorized the existed of the King James Version of the Bible, which is a very accurate Bible to this day. It was published in 1611. There was a draft to create a new version of the Bible during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (who reigned from 1558 to 1603). The draft begins by saying that: “…An act for the reducinge of diversities of Bibles now extant in the Englishe tongue to one setled vulgar translated from the originall." After the Hampton Conference of January of 1604, the idea for the KJV was created. In the 2nd day of the Conference, Puritan Dr. John Rainolds (1549-1607) called for a new translation of the Bible. The creators of the KJV were extremely scholarly men. Dr. Lancelot Andrews help create the King James Bible. Dr. Andrews mastered 15 languages. Dr. William Bedwell was another translator of the KJV. He new Arabic manuscripts, he studied in Cambridge, and other things. He also began a Persian dictionary which is among Archbishop Laud's manuscripts, still preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford today. Dr. Miles Smith was an expert in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. Dr. Smith went through the Greek and Latin early church leaders and made annotations on them all. Even John Bois was an expert in Hebrew and Greek. He studied at his father's knee, and at the age of 5, he read the whole Bible in Hebrew. He could write Hebrew in a clear and elegant style by age of six. Dr. William Goode was a translator at the translator committee. Goode was a scholar and knew German, French, Hebrew, and Greek. Mr. Goode in his sermon on the Last Supper (which was published by the Westiminster Reformed Press) said that “liquor is the devil’s drink of deception…” The KJV has also been called the Authorized version.

Today in 2010, the Counter Reformation never stopped among the Vatican elite. This movement still transpires it. Evidence of this is how the Roman Catholic Church supports the Ecumenical Movement, the European Union, and the Emergent Movement. The Emergent Movement is placing experiences and other mystical devices above faith in God in trying to permit a real spiritual connection with God. It's common among the new generation. The European Union or an unified European political, economic entity have been a brainchild of the Vatican for centuries. One example is how the Vatican's Holy Roman Empire desired an unified Europe under the authority of the Pope. Even today, the recent Catholic convert Tony Blair supports Interfaith dialogue and Ecumenicalism.

By Timothy