Basic HTML Version
ply healed the sick wherever He
carne to them or they carne to Him.
But of course the miracles attracted
enormous crowas.
~ány
dl!gmf
ttr
believe on Him. This alarmed the
chief priests and the ruling Phari–
sees. l t stirred them to violent
persecution. They totaHy misunder–
stood Jesus'
message!
His news an–
nouncement was that of the
yet-to–
come Kingdom of God, not- as they
supposed-of the overthrow of the
Roman government of
their
day.
The Romans, then ruling the
Westem world, avoided most of the
details of govemment administra–
tion in Judea by causing the Jews to
rule themselves at the lower levels.
The Pharisaic rulers loved their po–
sitian of authority. They viewed
Jesus as an anti-Roman agitator
proposing to overthrow the Roman
rule. They feared being imprisoned
as seditionists if they sided in any
way with Jesus. They plotted to kill
Him, and at God's set time Jesus
was crucified, making possible
man's reconciliation with God.
God miraculously raised Jesus
from the dead, making possible
eterna! life for humanity. On the
fiftieth day (called Pentecost) after
His resurrection, the 120 converts of
Jesus, including the apostles, re–
ceived the POWER of the Holy Spirit
of God. In that power they pro–
claimed the good news of the King–
dom of God. In the same divine
power from God by which Christ
healed, they healed the sick wher-
ever they went.
·
But, as with Jesus, so now with
the apostles: The miracles drew tre–
mendous crowds. Without any pres–
sured solicitations, thousands were
converted and baptized. But soon
the persecution against them mult i–
plied. Two years after Jesus' resur–
rection, A.D. 33, Simon the Sorcerer
(Acts 8), the Pater (father or Peter)
of the Babylonian mystery religion
in Samaria, after being rejected by
Pe ter, appropriated the
name
of
Christ and applied it to his Babylo–
nian mystery religion, caUing it
"Christianity." Simon and his fol–
lowers began systematic opposition
and persecution against the true
Church of God, founded in
A.
D. 31
by Jesus Christ. (How the Babylo-
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1977
nian mystery religion was moved
into Samaria in 7 18 B.C. is ex–
plained in 11 Kings 17:18-24.)
Gentile and Jewlsh Opposltlon
The earl ies t opposition against
Christ's Church was Jewish, oppos–
ing the acceptance of Jesus as the
Messiah. Judaizers insisted on ob–
serviog the temporary rituals of Mo–
saic 1aw. For this reason the early
ministry of the apostles put prime
emphasis on the replacement of rit–
uals by the Holy Spirit, and on the
resurrection, infallible proof of
Christ's messiahship. The apostles
were personaUy with Jesus for three
and a half years befare His crucifix–
ion, and for forty days after His res–
urrection-so they were eyewitnesses
to the resurrection.
After
A.
D. 33, as the work of this
Simon the Sorcerer spread, the op–
position to the true Church became
Gentile. The writings of Paul, as
weU as
l
and 11 Pe ter, of James, of 1,
II and III John, and Jude show the
Gentile opposition was primarily
aimed against the 1aw of God.
Simon appropriated the doctrine of
grace from the teaching of the
apostles, but it was grace turned
into license to disobey (Jude 4).
They preached a false Jesus who,
they said, did away with the basic
spiritual law of God. Simon and his
followers preached a totally d iffer–
ent gospel than the apostles- pri–
marily that of their own Babylonian
mystery religion, with grace and
Christ's name added. Of course they
got it to the Galatians.
To the Galatians, Paul wrote: "I
marve1 that ye are so soon removed
from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto
another gospel"
(Gal. 1:6). To the Corinthians, Paul
wrote: "For if he that cometh
preacheth
another Jesus ...
or
an–
other gospel ... "
(JI
Cor. 11:4). Of
these Simon Magus-type preachers,
Paul wrote: "For such are false
apostles, deceitful workers, trans–
forming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marve1; for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel
of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if
his ministers
a lso be trans–
formed as the ministers of righ–
teousness" (verses 13-15).
It was Satan- the former cherub
Lucifer (Isa. 14: 12- 15; Ezek. 28: 12-
17)- who originally rebelled against
l \1"\::'
úlNI:HO-oM-.m·,- VY
~
.onr
caused its removal from the earth.
Satan is the god of this world
(JI
Cor. 4:4). He has his churches
and his ministers.
They oppose the
law of God.
Therefore they oppose
the KINGDOM of God, since it is
governed by the laws of God. These
apostles of Satan offered the world
an easier religion. Obedience was
unnecessary.
Dark Age Beglns
The opposition of Sirnon's false
church finally snuffed out the pro–
clairning Of the MESSAGE Of the
KINGDOMOF Goo. Befare the end
of the first century, the curtain was
systematically rung down on
al/ rec–
ords
of true Church history.
When the curtain lifts, late in the
secood century, we behold a "Chris–
tianity" uuerly unlike that of Christ
and His original apostles. Jts doc–
trines, sacraments and customs were
those of the Babylonian mystery re–
ligion.
lt
persecuted and martyred
those true Christians still holding to
the teachings and customs of Christ
and His apostles. Christ's doctrines
and customs were branded as "Jew–
ish." The term "Jewish" became a
dirty word-an epithet.
The message God sent
to
man–
kind by Jesus Christ- the true gos–
pel Christ preached ,
rhe
announcement
of the coming KING–
DOM OF Goo- was done away by
expediently caJiing THE CHURCH
(Simon's) "the kingdom of God."
Sorne, 1ater, reduced the KINGDOM
OF Goo toan e thereal indescribable
something "set up in men's hearts."
Thus, through manipulations of
"the god of this world," Satan, by
whom ALL NATIONS
HAVE
BEEN DE–
CEIVED (Rev. 12:9), the true GOSPEL
MESSAGE CHRIST BROUGHT was sup–
pressed and not proclaimed to the
world after the first century!
And
hea/ing the sick as a regular practice
had ceased a/so.
Thus the DUAL ministry of Christ
and the apostles was no part ofwhat
the world has accepted as tradi–
tional Christianity.
(Continued on page 41)
S