527 lines
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527 lines
31 KiB
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<td valign="top" ><span>For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel. (Ezra 7:10.)</span></td>
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<p><a href="/Audio/music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
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<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/justjesus0ece-20">Just Jesus: His Living Words (2011)</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jesusonchurchstructure-20">Jesus' Words on Church Structure</a> by S. Rives</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.jesusfocusedpublishers.com/"></a></p>
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<h2><strong>Constantine's Changes Damaged Christianity</strong></h2>
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<p>In the year 312 AD, the floodgates opened wide, and a fundamental transformation of the Church took place. It now refashioned itself from top to bottom into a full-blown State religion of the Empire.</p>
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<p>And while not a single record exists of Christians being in the Roman army prior to 180 AD, less than a century after Constantine, every Roman soldier was required by law to be a Christian. The Church had indeed undergone a profound and fundamental change.</p>
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<p>Constantine’s dream took the Jesus of the New Testament, the One who said “Love your enemies,” and “My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my followers would fight;” the One who refused to be made King by the people; the One who told Peter to put away his sword and warned that “All who take up the sword will die by the sword” and then healed the servant’s ear; the One who rebuked James and John for wanting to call down fire on the Samaritans; the One who commanded non-resistance to evil, turning the other cheek, and a host of other<strong><em> non-violent love-centred admonitions</em></strong> toward enemies and adversaries; the One whose followers understood and obeyed these commands to the letter for almost three centuries — in short, Constantine’s dream took this Jesus of the New Testament and<strong><em> transformed Him into a violent, military god of war, and made Him the official god and supreme king of the Roman Empire.</em></strong></p>
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<p>The Church for its part, tired of being powerless and persecuted, tied its fortunes to the State and happily accepted it. But if this really was the real Jesus who appeared to Constantine as a military god of war, promising victory in battle and offering His Cross as a symbol of conquest and the killing of enemies, then we should have no difficulty picturing Jesus Himself marching at the head of Constantine’s victory parade into Rome holding up Maxentius’ head on a lance! Yet, who can even begin to imagine such a thing?</p>
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<p>****</p>
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<p>Professor Michael Grant formerly of Cambridge University, as well as reading other works on Constantine, concluded that Constantine did have some kind of authentic spiritual dream-like experience, and that he was completely convinced that it was Jesus Christ who had appeared to him in that dream. One author comments:</p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Like Grant<strong><em>, I do not believe that Constantine was a liar, a charlatan, or simply a political opportunist who exploited the Church solely for his own ends, although there seems to have been some of that going on</em></strong>. Rather, I believe that Constantine was a man who was genuinely and thoroughly<strong><em> deceived by our ancient foe, Satan, who presented him with a false image of Jesus in that dream.</em></strong> As the Scripture says, “Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).” Then, after deceiving Constantine, Satan used him and the prevailing circumstances to deceive the Church, which has largely remained so ever since.</p>
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<p>Thus, in a very real sense, when the Church accepted, worshipped and served this false image of Jesus — an idol promising the Church power and authority over nations and peoples through its partnership with Rome — it was actually worshipping and serving Satan without ever even knowing it. And so, through Constantine, Satan presented the Church with a temptation to accept a Jesus found in private visions and dreams -- where Jesus said He would not be found, and thereby she failed the test again whereby Christian Nationalism was born.</p>
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<h2>Study Notes on Constantine</h2>
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<h3>1. Eusebius Records Constantine Claimed Inspiration</h3>
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<p>In the <em>Oration of Eusebius</em>, XVIII, Eusebius relates how Constantine made the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to be deemed the place of Jesus' burial. Either Eusebius is using faint praise or sly coded words (likely the latter) to reveal to the reader not to trust Constantine because he claimed inspiration. Either way, it tells us something of Constantine's mindset:</p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>"THESE words of ours, however, [gracious] Sovereign, may well appear superfluous in your ears, convinced as <strong>you are, by frequent and personal experience, of our Saviour's Deity</strong>; yourself also, in actions still more than words, a herald of the truth to all mankind. Yourself, it may be, will vouchsafe at a time of leisure to relate to us the<strong><em> abundant manifestations which your Saviour has accorded you of his presence, and the loft-repeated visions of himself which have attended you in the hours of sleep</em></strong>. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I speak not of those secret suggestions which to us are unrevealed: but of those principles which he has instilled into your own mind, and which are fraught with general interest and benefit to the human race</span><span>. You will yourself relate in worthy terms the visible protection which your Divine shield and guardian has extended in the hour of battle ; the ruin of your open and secret foes ; and his ready aid in time of peril. To him you will ascribe relief in the midst of perplexity; defence in solitude; expedients in extremity; foreknowledge of events yet future ; your forethought for the general weal ; your power to investigate uncertain questions ; your conduct of most important enterprises ; your administration of civil affairs;' your military arrangements, and correction of abuses in all departments; your ordinances respecting public right ; and, lastly, your legislation for the common benefit of all. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">You will, it may be, also detail to us those particulars of his favor which are secret to us, but known to you alone, and treasured in your royal memory as in secret storehouses.</span><span> Such, doubtless, are the reasons, and such the convincing proofs of your Saviour's power, which caused you to raise that sacred edifice [<em>i.e.</em>, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem] which presents to all, believers and unbelievers alike, a trophy of his victory over death, a holy temple of the holy God : to consecrate those noble and splendid monuments of immortal life and his heavenly kingdom : to offer memorials of our Almighty Saviour's conquest which well become the imperial dignity of him by whom they are bestowed. With such memorials have you adorned that edifice which witnesses of eternal life: thus, as it were in imperial characters, ascribing victory and triumph to the heavenly Word of God : thus proclaiming to all nations, with clear and unmistakable voice, in deed and word, your own devout and pious confession of his name</span></p>
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||
<p><em>Oration of Eusebius Pamphilus in praise of The Emperor Constantine Pronounced on the 30th Anniversary of his reign</em>. AD 337 Ch. XVII,<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=taagmnUcsD8C&lpg=PT1934&ots=kzmbNizFM_&dq=%22treasured%20in%20your%20royal%20memory%22&pg=PT1934#v=onepage&q=%22treasured%20in%20your%20royal%20memory%22&f=false"> legible version</a>, or at Schaff, <em>Nicene & Post Fathers</em> (2007) Vol. 1 at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=18ikU69I-TwC&lpg=PA610&ots=JYiUYlv-dv&dq=%22treasured%20in%20your%20royal%20memory%22&pg=PA610#v=onepage&q=%22treasured%20in%20your%20royal%20memory%22&f=false"> 610</a>.</p>
|
||
<p>Eusebius actually was bravely writing in veiled saracasm so his writings would survive, and we would know the truth, as will become more evident as we proceed.</p>
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||
<p>Ernest L. Martin in <em>Secrets of Golgatha</em> (1996) at 215 comments on this passage:</p>
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||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"He [Constantine] claimed to possess divine knowledge, just like the apostles, and those visionary experiences gave him the essential teachings which he thought to have as their source His Savior and which he considered necessary for all the Christian Church (including the bishops) to follow."</p>
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||
<p>Martin goes on to explain that as a result of Constantine's assuming sole emperorship in 324 AD, he transformed the Christian fellowship toward a paganized form of Christianity. Martin at 217 remarks:</p>
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||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Before the end of the fourth century a new kind of Christianity had emerged that was quite different from that described by Eusebius in the first part of the century. It was a Christianity where visions, dreams and signs took center stage, and where pagan customs and philosophies began to permeate the whole of society. A brand new civilization had come on the scene."</p>
|
||
<p>The importance of the subtle mockery of Eusebius, is Eusebius knew this Sepulchre is in the wrong place. To fulfill prophecy, Jesus had to be executed outside the city. Eusebius had himself recorded the correct place years earlier -- at the Mount of Olives -- which is outside the city.</p>
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||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>“Believers in Jesus all congregate from all parts of the world….that they may worship at the MOUNT OF OLIVES opposite the city….TO THE CAVE that is shown there” (Eusebius, Proof of the Gospel, Bk. VI. ch. 18).</span></p>
|
||
<p>But here, in this oration, Eusebius has to appear to approve the holy sepulchre inside Jerusalem. And shockingly, it was placed on the Temple to Venus which the Romans built in 135 AD to desecrate the city. The background on this is as follows:</p>
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||
<p><span>In the year 326, Constantine sent his mother Helena to Jerusalem to discover the spot that he had foreseen in a vision as the place of Jesus’ Resurrection. This was the site of the temple of Venus on the western side of Jerusalem. He ordered the temple torn down and a church constructed on the site. This is called the church of the “Holy” Sepulchre to this day.</span></p>
|
||
<p><span>What had been this Temple of Venus? When the Romans finally conquered Jerusalem in 135 A.D., as an insult to the Jews, they built a Temple of Venus over a monument to a Jewish freedom fighter named John Hyrcanus.</span></p>
|
||
<h3>2. Danger of Following Signs & Wonders As Confirmation</h3>
|
||
<p>Speaking of so-called "St John of the Cross" of the 16th Century, Ernest Martin in <em>Secrets of Golgatha</em> (1996) at 218-19 writes -- concerned as Martin is about Constantine's choice of Christ's burial place as the Temple of Venus at Jerusalem -- now the Temple of the Holy Sepulchre:</p>
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||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"No one in early times has given a better appraisal of how dangerous and foolish it is to trust in visions, dreams and signs than the appraisal of St. John of the Cross. His classic evaluation [<em>Ascent of Mount Carmel</em> ] should be read by all people today who rely upon such<em><strong> manifestations as visions, dreams, and miracles as a means for establishing doctrines or religious principles</strong></em>. Such procedures are some of the<em><strong> most dangerous imaginable in their ability to produce falsehood and deception amongst the unwary</strong></em>. Had there been a 'St John of the Cross' at the time of Constantine (with the warnings he so able presented to the theological world of the 16th century), and had he been believed, then the Christian church would not have been saddled with the supposedly 'divine' teachings of Constantine and his advisors about the need to accept the place of the Temple of Venus as the place of Jesus' passion. It would have been understood that <strong><em>visions, dreams, and miracles are the most unreliable 'proofs' for demonstrating historical, geographical and theological truth</em></strong>."</p>
|
||
<h3>3. Constantine's Elimination of all Sects of Christianity But The One He Approved</h3>
|
||
<p>Edward Gibbon in Rise and Fall of Rome wrote:</p>
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||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #800080;">Constantine easily believed that the heretics, who presumed to dispute his opinions or to oppose his commands, were guilty of the most absurd and criminal obstinancy... Not a moment was lost in excluding the ministers and teachers of the separated congregations from any share of the rewards and immunities which the emperor had so liberally bestowed on the orthodox clergy. But as the sectaries might still exist under the cloud of royal disgrace, the conquest of the East was immediately followed by an edict which announced their total destruction”</span></span></span></p>
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<p>3/12/2012</p>
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