The History of Christianity and the Catholic Church... Part 2

In 202 AD, about the time that the Mishnah was recorded, emperor Septimius Severus banned any Roman citizen from converting to Christianity or Judaism. Those who refused to obey the emperor were often tortured by soldiers or subjected to wild animals at sporting events (The Great Roman Coliseum). Despite this brutal persecution, Christianity persevered and continued to grow in numbers. This became inherently frustrating for the Roman ruling class.

In 303 AD, the pagan Roman Empire under emperor Diocletian, made one last great attempt to exterminate Christianity. Diocletian despised the Christians. His main target was the New Testament and the documented histories of Christ. Many great publications were systematically destroyed as a result. There were thousands and thousands of Christians at the time and many of them had copies of the New Testament. Only about 5,000 manuscripts have survived and the oldest is dated some time around 350 AD.

In 306 AD, the Roman throne was seized by Constantine. Four years later, the new emperor Constantine made the practice of Christianity legal along with every other religious practice. Constantine supported Christianity, but he himself continued to worship the pagan Roman gods.

In 324 AD, Licinius ruler of Byzantine was killed by Constantine. The capital Byzantium was renamed Constantinople and became the center of the entire Roman empire. Ultimatley, this split the empire into two parts consisting of "New" Rome and "Old" Rome.

In 325 AD, consisting of 318 bishops, the Nicene Council was developed. During the bishops tenure in Nicaea, the Nicene Creed was formed and many fundamental basics of Christian doctrine were established... (such as the affirmation of Jesus Christ's divinity.)

In 337 AD, Constantine, on his death bed, called for a bishop so that he could be baptized into the church. He was the first emperor to accept Christianity and is considered as the first pope of the Catholic church. Ceasar Julius I then assumed the throne as emperor.

Prior to the time of Constantine's "conversion", Christians had been persecuted not so much for their faith in Christ, but because they refused to include pagan deities in their religious observances. With Constantine's emphasis on making his new-found Christianity palatable to the heathen in the Empire, the "Christianization" of these pagan deities and the practices therein, were facilitated. For example, pagan rituals and idols gradually took on Christian meanings and names and were incorporated into "Christian" worship (e.g., " the saints" replaced the cult of pagan gods in both worship and as patrons of cities; mother/son statues were renamed Mary and Jesus etc.). Pagan holidays were reestablished as Christian holy days (e.g., the Roman Lupercalia and the feast of purification of Isis became the Feast of the Nativity. The Saturnalia celebrations were replaced by Christmas celebrations. This is where we get December 25th as a date of celebration for Christ's birthday. (No one knows when exactly Christ was born. It is projected that Jesus was born somewhere between 6 BC and 2 AD, but due to Diocletians attempt to exterminate Christianity and its history, alot of information was lost as a result.)The ancient festival of the dead was replaced by All Souls Day and was rededicated to Christian heroes which is now called and observed as Halloween.

(Also worth noting...the supposid statue of St. Peter in the Vatican is actually not a statue of Saint Peter..but a statue of the pagan god Jupiter!)

From 375 - 383 AD, the empire was ruled by Emperor Gratian. The highest office held in the pagan pantheon was that of Pontifex Maximus or Supreme Pontiff. This position was held by the Roman Caesars. The last Caesar to hold that title was Emperor Gratian who conferred the position upon Pope Damascus. This shows the seemless transition from pagan Rome to papal Rome.

In 381 AD,(interesting that this council conferred during the transfer of title "Pontifex Maximus" to Pope Damascus) The council of Constantinople was formed. It consisted of 150 bishops... further establishing church doctrine fundamentals as dictated by the early Catholic church. Several additions and changes were made to the existing Nicene creed. It is here that the trinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and The Holy Spirit was established and where the Virgin Mary is parralled with the Holy Ghost. And I quote: "and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost OF THE Virgin Mary". (The Holy Ghost is defined as one with God within the creed, therefore, to parallel Mary with the Holy Ghost is to give Mary the affirmation as a deity. This is blasphemy, and the reverance of the Virgin Mary is most certainly apparent in modern day Catholic practices.) This however, is no coincidence. Just as noted previously, the worship of a mother/son deity was prominent in pagan worship well before the establishment of Christianity.
Adherance and reverance of this creed is viewed among Catholics and several other churches as necessary for salvation. This in itself is self-defeating... as stated in Romans 10:8-10...

("8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.")

No case is made biblically for an ,over-ruling, authoritarian creed that you MUST align yourself and your beliefs with to sustain salvation... but only to confess with your mouth and believe with your heart... rediculous... this spirals right back into the legalism that Jesus spoke out against concerning the Sadducees and Pharisees.

The persecution of Christians never actually ceased after its inception. During this time, only the way that Rome persecuted Christians changed. Instead of being persecuted for failure to worship pagan Roman deities, the Christians who did not agree with the particular orthodoxy backed by the Emperor were now persecuted in the name of Christ! "Christianized" Rome had become the legitimate successor of pagan Rome! This is the true origin of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 387 AD, Emperor Theodosius I deemed Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

In 392 AD, pagan worship within the Roman empire is officially outlawed.

To avoid legal prosecution, many Romans continued to practice pagan rituals under the projection that they were in fact "Christian". As noted above, many traditions and practices that we observe presently are a result of pagan rituals renamed and repackaged as Christian practices. Not to mention that this in some ways was intentionally done to make Christianity appealing to the masses. Just like I discussed in the last series, this is just like the "Hellenization" of Judaism. Christian and Jewish practices alike, are full of pagan influence because of the Greeks and Romans. But, this is no coincidence. Just like everything else we have covered, this is a well orchestrated plan....tactics imposed by Lucifer to disrupt God's truth and to deceive his people.

In 431 AD, another council converged. Deemed The Council of Ephesus, the councilmen reaffirmed the original Nicene creed established by the council of 325 AD. The Council of Ephesus also declared that "it is unlawful for any man to bring forward, or to write, or to compose a different faith as a rival to that established by the holy Fathers assembled with the Holy Ghost in Nicaea." Over the centuries, much controversy has risen reguarding this declaration. For instance, the addition of the Latin phrase Philioque (or "and the Son") to the procession of the Holy Spirit that is established in this creedo, has rattled the Catholic and subsequent churches since its inception in the late 5th century. To the "letter of the law"... just like the Sadducces and Pharisees.

Only a legalist who applies their own desires upon doctrine instead of applying doctrine to their desires, could possibly split the church over 3 words... Jesus certainly addressed the consequence of legalism in Matthew 15:8...

(Matthew 15:1-9 "1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

About 12 emperors ruled from the time of Pope Damascus being appointed Supreme Pontiff to when Romulus Augustulus, the final emperor of Rome, abdicated in 476 AD. These "Emperors" were only puppets who answered to the Papal dynasty. There were several barbarian invasions of Rome during this time and it were these invasions which are blamed for the supposid fall of Rome. This of course never happened.

Rome never fell...it became the Catholic church!

To Be Continued...

The History of Christianity and the Catholic Church

The history of Christianity in comparison to Judaism, is of course, rather short. However, it is imperative to understand Christianity and its progress through the last 1700 years. Many traditions that we practice as well as some symbols that we use today within the established Christian religion, are in fact pagan in their origin.

Again, if we are to stand a chance against Satan and his legions, we must understand his tactics. These rituals and incorporated practices that exist within our religion, just might be what is holding us back from achieving our full power in Jesus Christ. Remember that it is not the intentions of the Christian but the mere action that causes
manifestations in the spiritual. This is certainly the belief of the NAer's and is in fact the entire premise of their ambitions in deceiving me and you into reciting "The Great Invocation". This
recognition of action/consequence is supported in scripture as well. Despite Christ's sacrifice for our sins, it certainly does not nullify our freewill to act as we choose. Your actions most certainly have spiritual ramifications whether your intent is good or not, and the question that I raise here is...do some of the traditions that we observe as Christians have a negative spiritual impact. This is a question certainly worth exploring if our intent as a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ...

To die for Christ and his truth is something I am prepared to do...and it may be something that we as believers must do in the near future. However, we are not alone in this. Below are several accounts of Christian martyr's who died for their faith in Jesus Christ. It breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes to read them. But I fear that as indicated by Jesus and many prophets and apostles, that we have seen nothing that will compare to what is to come in these last days. (These scriptures I will cover and more in the next series "In the days of Noah".)

The early Christians, including eleven of the twelve apostles and many of the other early disciples, faced horrible persecution and ultimately death. They were martyrs.. those who died by the hands of those who hated them for their faith in Christ Jesus. Approximately 2,000 Christians suffered martyrdom in Jerusalem during the early Christian period. Jesus Christ himself was the first martyr for God's truth and he certainly wasn't, nor is, the last. And this, as horrific as it may be,is where our history as Christians begins...

Around 34 AD, about one year after Christ's death and ressurection, Stephen was basically the outreach minister in the early church. He was in charge of the daily distribution of food. He was known as a man inspired by the spirit of God who was"full of grace and power". The Jews brought false witnesses against him, and accused him of speaking against Jewish law. Stephen stood trial before the Jewish Council. When he accused them of betraying and murdering the Messiah, Jesus Christ, he was thrown out of Jerusalem and they stoned him to death. The community of believers scattered after his death.

In 44 AD, when Herod Agrippa was appointed governor of Judea, James, the son of Zebedee and the brother to John, Andrew and Simon Peter was killed. Agrippa hated the Christian sect of Jews, and many early disciples were martyred during his rule, including Timon and Parmenas.

In 54 AD, Philip, who was a disciple from Bethsaida, the same town the sons of Zebedee were from (John, James, Andrew, and Simon Peter), was martyred at Hierapolis, in Phrygia. It is said that he went to the city of Hierapolis along with his sister Mariamme and Bartolomew preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through a miraculous healing and through his preaching of the truth, he converted the wife of the proconsul of the city. The proconsul was enraged by this and Phillip was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards was crucified. Mariamme, his sister, met the same fate.

Bartholomew, went on to preach in many countries and translated the Gospel of Matthew into the language of India. Later on in 73 AD, he was brutally beaten and crucified by pagans there.

Matthew, the Jewish tax-collector from Nazareth, who is believed to have written the gospel of Matthew, was hated by the Jewish scribes and Pharisees for his allegiance to Rome. Where most of the general population were illiterate, as a tax collector, Matthew was very well educated and could read and write effectively. While preaching in Ethiopia, he was murdered and impaled by a sword.

James, the brother of Jesus, was an administer of the early church in Jerusalem and authored the Epistle James. When he was 94 years old, he was beat and stoned, and had his head crushed with a fuller's club.

Matthias the apostle, was chosen by the remaining eleven desciples to replace Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot was the man that betrayed Jesus and handed him over to the Jews that were conspiring against him. Judas eventually commited suicide out of guilt. Ultimately, Matthias the
twelfth disciple, was stoned in Jerusalem and then beheaded.

Simon Peter, who is according to the Roman Catholics, the very first pope of the Roman Catholic church (this certainly is not historically sound) was a fisherman by trade. His brother was Andrew and they both were sons of Zebedee, as were James and John. They ran a fishing buisness out of Bethsaida. When Jesus came to them as they were fishing, this is where he told them in Matthew 4:18 that he would make them "fishers of men" and from then on they followed Jesus as his first disciples. Peter's fate was eventually met and he was crucified upside down on a cross at his request. He did so because he did not feel worthy enough to be crucified in the same manner that his Lord Jesus Christ had been.

Andrew, the brother of Peter and a friend of John the Baptist, preached the gospel throughout Asia. He was arrested in Edessa and crucified on a cross, the two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground. (To the Catholics this is considered St. Andrew's Cross)

Mark, who was converted to Christianity by Peter, transcribed Peter’s account of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Mark evangelized with Paul and his brother Barnabas throughout their ministry. When Barnabas seperated from Paul over a dispute about Jews and Gentiles, Mark went with him. Paul later called on Mark's services again and Mark became Paul's fellow worker. Mark was literally ripped to pieces by the people of Alexandria in front of their pagan idol Serapis.

Paul of Tarsus, who is called "Blessed Paul" and known as Saint Paul to the Catholics, was responsible for much of The New Testament which is comprised of Paul's letters or epistles written to many communities he helped establish thoughout the region. Early on in his life, Paul helped in persecuting the Christians, but one day traveling to Damascus, he had a vision in which Jesus spoke to him and asked Paul why he was persecuting him...Paul saw the truth and he converted and began helping Jesus Christ's cause. Three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem where he met James and he stayed with Simon Peter for 15 days. After his departure, He did not return from his travels to Jerusalem for another 14 years. Paul spent the rest of his life thinking and writing about Christianity and converted many to the faith. Around 60 AD, 14 years after leaving, Paul returned to Jerusalem bringing money, which he had acquired, to help the congregation there. Blessed Paul was arrested and detained for two years. Facing his martyrdom, Paul’s faith was so dramatic that the authorities took him to a private location to be executed by the sword.

Most of these great men died during the reign of the evil Emperor Nero.

Jude, who was of course the author of the epistle Jude, was known as "the brother of James" and was commonly called Thaddeus. As noted, Jude is sometimes mistaken as the brother of James, but this is a doing all his own. Jude was actually a brother of Jesus. He acknowledged his sin and did not feel worthy enough to be called the brother of the only Son of God, so in his own epistle Jude, he humbly names himself the Brother of James. In 72 AD, Jude was crucified in Edessa, a large christian community at the time.

Thomas, who was called Didymus, preached the Gospel in Parthia and India. His activity enraged the pagan priests and he was martyred by being thrust through with a spear.

Luke, who was the author of the Gospel of Luke, also traveled with Paul through various countries preaching the gospel of our Lord. He was eventually hung on an olive tree by idolatrous priests in Greece.

Simon, who was called Zelotes, preached the Gospel in Mauritania, Africa and Britain...where in 74 AD, he was crucified.

John, the brother of James, who was considered the "beloved disciple", was ordered out of Ephesus to go to Rome. It is here that he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. By the power and grace of God, he escaped without injury. He was later banished to the Isle of Patmos by Domitian, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. This was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.

This is just a small list of those who were killed for Jesus' sake....most of which were crucified on a cross. This is where I get uneasy about the use of a cross as a spiritual symbol for us as Christians. Do you think the early Christians would have paraded around a Roman crucifix as a symbol for faith in Jesus when they had seen their friends and savior painfully die by that same cross? I believe it would have been considered heresy by the early Christians. Keep in mind it was the Catholics, or "Christianized" pagan Romans, that introduced the cross as a Christian symbol. Visualize a Catholic procession with the symbol of the cross being carried by an acolyte, leading the priest into the sanctuary. The Romans martyred most Christians on the cross, and when I see a procession, it says to me "here comes Rome and its heirarchy guided by a cross which has ruled you and your Messiah!!" Its almost a slap in the face to Christians everywhere. To me this symbolizes Rome's power and rule over the Christian faith and its practices. As I will talk about later in the series... Rome never actually fell.... it became the Catholic church!

(I do have a cross and I know alot of people use a cross as a representation for Jesus' sacrifice for our salvation... but I want people to have an understanding that the symbology of many things we see and use today, finds its roots in paganism, occultism and ultimately the progressive New Age. More on this later as well.)

The Roman empire was seemingly successful in attempting to "purge" the empire of Christians and Jews. It was around this time also that the 2nd Temple was ransacked and demolished by the Romans. Many Jews and Christians died and continued to die at the hands of the Romans during this period. Despite this however, the Jews continued to persecute and kill the Christians for the same reason that they were being killed and persecuted........ for their faith.

To Be Continued...

The History of Judaism and its Modern Day Implications... Part 3

As history shows, Judaism has fallen victim to influence from many pagan cultures and beliefs on numerous accounts. The real problem lies in the fact that much of these practices have in some form or another been incorporated into Judaism over time. As I left off with the Mishnah and Talmud in Part 2 of the series, I will begin this section discussing the controversy shrouding the Kabbalah and its invasion of the Jewish faith with the birth of "Jewish Mysticism". There is a significant gap in the timeline here, but I will cover Judaism during the span of 300 AD to the 13th century in the next series that will explain the history of Christianity and the Catholic church. The Catholic church most certainly finds its roots in paganism/occultism. More on that later...

The Kabbalah's orgins are as mysterious as are the reasons that it is even practiced within Judaism. It is considered to be part of the Oral Law (the Mishnah) and is somewhat of a commentary of the Torah (First 5 books of the Old Testament) just as the Talmud is commentary of the Mishnah. The Kabbalah stresses reasons for an understanding of the events found in the Torah using mystical interpretations. It concerns topics such as the understanding of the spiritual spheres in creation and the ways in which God's universe works.
There are various legends concerning the origin of the Kabbalah. Most practitioners of the Kabbalah maintain it came from God. Some say God gave it directly to Adam, while others claim God taught it to a select angelic group. These angels later were kicked out of heaven in Lucifer's rebellion and became known as the "fallen angels". Afterwards the fallen angels taught it to Adam, the disobedient child on earth in order to furnish humankind with the means to return to their nobility and felicity. Really?? by FALLEN angels?? (I would like to point out that this is the belief that will lay the ground work for my explaination of how it was "in the days of Noah". Note that they claim it was the "fallen angels" that divulged this information to man and was passed on through the generations. But I will get into that topic later.) It then passed to Noah, to Abraham and Moses. Moses included the first four books of the Pentateuch, leaving out Deuteronomy, in the Kabbalah before he initiated seventy Elders into it. The Elders initiated others into it. Some even claim that David and Solomon were Kabbalistic adepts.
Supposidly, legend has it that when Abraham immigrated to Egypt and leaked some of the sacred teaching, that the Egyptians learned a portion of the knowledge. It was from Egypt that other Eastern cultures acquired the knowledge and adopted it into their philosophical systems. Moses, being privy to all Egyptian wisdom was first initiated into the Kabbalah in the land of his birth and later became more proficient in it during his wondering in the desert wilderness. It is also claimed by some that alot of this mystical wisdom was learned when Moses recieved the written and oral laws from God during his 40 days atop Mt. Sinai.

As can be seen, the Kabbalah is very much akin to Gnosticism (or knowledge of God. This of course is the foundation of Freemasonry).(Interestingly enough, some Freemasons claim that Solomon along with the 1st temple's architect Hiram, were the first Freemasons. And as noted previously, he was supposidly a student of Kabbalah as well. Funny how both of these practices seemingly parrallel one another. As you will see though, every pagan religion that exists, parrallels the ancient traditions that were supposidly imparted to man by "God" or by "fallen angels" in one form or another.) In both, sacred knowledge which God withheld from man was given to him by his adversary; the serpent in the Garden who tempted Eve, and the fallen angels who gave humankind the Kabbalah. The Freemasons (Gnostics) declare that it was Lucifer, the light-bearer, who gifted mankind with this wisdom in order that man find his inner godhood and as stated in Genesis 3, "be as gods". ( Note: it is this belief that is the core of the New Age Doctrine and almost every other occultic faith. Again, much more on that later.) The Kabbalah's mystical content is based on wisdom that was imparted by the "fallen angels" and passed down, yet it is argued by those who practice it that it came from God. (In fact, some believe that as part of the oral law found in the Mishnah, the Kabbalah consists of the mystical interpretations of such laws.) There is nothing biblical about mysticism. But, just like the Freemasons seek a "knowledge of God", of what "God" do they truly speak of?

During Christ's time around 30 AD and there after,both Gnosticism and the teachings of the Kabbalah were popular in the countries of the eastern Mediterranean. Those holding to either teaching believed they were the "elect" because they were enlightened by possessing the knowledge of the divine; those possessing such knowledge were transformed-to know God is to be God. Hello pantheism and New Age dogma...

Claiming "God" as the source of this wisdom is certainly a deception perpetrated by the enemy. This has decieved many people into accepting these practices and incorporating them into their own faith simply based on the principle that it originated from "God". Paul warned us to "test the spirits" as stated in 1 John 4:1"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Also, Jesus told us that it is by the fruits (deeds) of others that you will know the source of those deeds. (Matthew 7:20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.") We must be wise and use the Holy Spirit, which Jesus sent to us after he accended to heaven, to decern from what is of creator God and what is not. In these last days, we are warned of a mass deception that blankets the earth and how we are to refrain from it and be prepared for his return. (Matthew 24:4-8 "4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows.")

Before Jesus accended, of every question he could ask his disciples, he asked if he would find FAITH upon his return as stated in Luke 18:8 "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Hebrews 11:1 defines faith for us... "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." According to this scripture our hope IS our proof. This would indicate that the faith you have, is planted by God. The more you seek him, the more faith that you will be granted. SEEK HIM. Our wisdom comes from God. Those who seek godhood are on a never ending track for god-knowledge, using texts like the Kabbalah in an attempt to harness this god wisdom. We as children of God must search HIM for our wisdom... not some mystical text.

Throughout its history, Kabbalists have chosen to keep their esoteric interpretations of the Torah hidden from the general populace and religious leaders. Many Kabbalists were persecuted and many others knew that their teachings contradicted accepted Jewish and Christian theologies. So, they practiced a self-imposed silence. Kabbalah however, continued to be passed down through the centuries.

Supposidly, the earliest documented Kabbalistic writing is called the "Sepher Yetzirah", or "the book of creation". One tradition claims that Abraham wrote the book and placed it within a cave. It was later discovered and published as the Sepher Yetzirah.

The Sefer Yetzirah claims that God created the world by the means of thirty-two secret paths of knowledge which are the ten Sephirah and the twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. ( Also worth noting...The Hebrew alphabet and their relationship to numbers is how "the bible codes" have been deciphered in scripture.) It is believed that the ten Sephirah forming the Sephiroth were originally thought as referring to numbers but later representing emanations from which the cosmos was formed. This worldview presented is currently found in the modern interpretation of the Kabbalah.

In the 13th century, what is known as the "ecstatic" or "prophetic" Kabbalah appeared which emphasized a visionary and experiential aspect relying on novel approaches to the Hebrew alphabet and numbers as sources of the divine truth. These conceptions were mainly those of Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, a mystic , and represent the mystic tendencies among the Kabbalists instead of theosophical and traditional speculations.

In the 14th century, Moses De Leon, a spanish Kabbalist and student of Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, constructed the Zohar. This publication is extremely influential in modern Kabbalistic philosophy. Moses claimed that he had found the scrolls that the Zohar was comprised of and that they had been written more than a thousand years earlier. However recent scholars suggest that it was Moses ,that in fact, wrote the Zohar.

By the 16th century, the culmination of the modern Kabbalah had influences from Kabbalists such as John Dee, a mathematician and geographer, and Isaac Luria who is revered as the greatest Kabbalist of modern times. It was during this time that the Hasidic movement emerged, making the Kabbalah accessible to the masses. The Hasidims were considered Jewish Mystics. This Jewish Mysticism is very much alive and being practiced today.

By the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, many more Kabbalists had influenced the Kabbalah's development such as Gaon of Vilna in the 1800's and Rabbi Ashlag well into the 1900's.

Today the Kabbalah has been popularized and has gained tremendous popularity even with some celebrities. For instance, Britney Spears and Madonna both practice Kabbalah traditions. This popularization is condemned by traditional Jewish Kabbalists and they claim it is a misrepresentation of authemtic Kabbalah philosophy. Despite this, the modern Kabbalah IS a work in New Age philosophy. The Zohar is at the heart of Kabbalah practices and it explores New Age philosophy such as reincarnation, inner divinity, and pantheism. The bottomline is that the modern Kabbalah has inevitably evolved from one heresy deeper into another and its mysticism is certainly not biblical. I believe there may be some ancient truths of the Jewish Oral traditions within the Kabbalah, after all the Kabbalah is as much a commentary as the Talmud. However, the current Kabbalah and its implementation and promotion of Mysticism is nothing more than a collection of paganistic evil. This is a prime example of how the New Agers have infultrated Judaism and distorted God's truth.

The History of Judaism and its Modern Day Implications... Part 2

The unfortunate events that have happened to the Jewish people throughout history are indeed heart-wrenching. In most all the occasions of these traumatic events, the reason for such occurances rested on the fact that the Jews had turned their back on God, entertaining pagan practices and in doing so, lost God's blessing and protection. Even so, I feel such grief in my spirit seeing the seemingly endless fighting, death, separation, and exclusion of God's chosen people. My heart goes out to them even though most of what was true orthodox Judaism is gone. The enemy has wrought destruction and pillaged these people over many, many centuries and in doing so has destroyed much of the original Jewish religion. However, we are assured that before God's final judgement, that he will stay true to his covenant despite many Jews not honoring that promise. Jesus will ultimately be revealed to them and the Jewish people will accept Jesus as their prophesied Messiah. Zechariah 12:10 ("And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.")

The Roman Era:

In 63 BCE, the civil war between the two Jewish factions ended with the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. There was much unrest amongst the Jews following the Roman general Pompey's defilement of the Temple, to which the Pharisees attributed to Sadducee misrule. Pompey was beseeched by the Pharisees and named Hyrcanus High Priest.

In 40 BCE, Antigonus, Aristobulus's son, overthrew him and decreed himself king and High Priest. After this Herod (military governor of Galilee) fled to Rome. In Rome, Herod sought the support of Mark Antony and Octavian which secured his recognition by the Roman senate as king. Over the years, Herod was heavily disliked as a ruler, but treated the Pharisees more favorably than the Sadducees partially because of Antigonus defiance. The Pharisees ultimately opposed Herod because the family of Boethus, who Herod appointed to the priesthood, revived the spirit of the Sadducees and conflict continued.

In 4 BCE, Herod died. In response, several Jewish elements began a 2 year revolt. The Syrian legate Publius Quinctilius Varus took control of Judea and immediatly crushed the revolt killing thousands of Jews and selling many into slavery. Rome quickly re-established control and divided Herod's kingdom amongst his sons: Archelaus received the southern part of the territory (Judea and Samaria), Herod Antipas (King Herod, who sent the Jews that sought to have Jesus killed, back to Pontius Pilate despite Pilate initially sending the Jews to him.) became tetrarch of the Galilee and the southern Transjordan (Peraea), and Philip received the northern Transjordan (Batanaea).

In 6 AD, Archelaus (ruler over Judea and Samaria) was antagonistic towards the Jews just as his father was. The emperor Augustus placed Judea and Samaria under the indirect rule of a Roman procurator and the direct rule of a Roman-appointed high priest instead. At the time the primary tasks of the appointed High Priest was to collect tribute to the Roman emperor, convince the Romans not to interfere with the Temple, and ensure that the Jews not rebel.
It should be noted that the sanhedrin was primarily influenced by the Sadducees. But during the Roman period, the power of the sanhedrin was severly limited. The pharisees however, never really were a political influence, but were very popular as teachers and interpreters of Jewish law. Their power resided in their ability to persuade.

By 66 AD, Jewish discontent with Roman rule had escalated. At first, the priests (Saduccees) tried to suppress rebellion, even calling upon the Pharisees for help. After the desecration of a Jewish synagogue in Caesarea by Hellenists, the high priest suspended tribute to the emperor and what is known as the Great Jewish revolt, began. During this time a sect of Jews emerged known as the revolutionaries and it encompassed what were known as "the Zealots" and "the Sicarri". These sects developed specifically to fight Rome.

In 70 AD, the Romans crushed the revolt and rendered the 2nd Temple to rubble, utterly destroying it. The Zealots, of the revolutionaries, had been wiped out completely by 73 AD.
This was a devistating event for the Jews. The Sadducees whos teaching were so closely connected to the Temple, dissolved out of existance. The Essenes too disappeared, as the Romans eventually sacked their settlement in Qumran. (Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a local shepard boy in a cave near Qumran. It is believed that the Essenes put the scrolls in caves in the area around Qumran to save them from Roman destruction.) Eventually all that remained were the Pharisees, and it was out of the Pharisees that Rabbinic

Judaism emerged and centuries later, turned into normative Judaism.

To show just how traumatic this event was, below is an account of the 2nd temple's destruction... Rabbi Spiro of aish.com has done an incredibly in depth study of Judaisms history. He gives the accounts of the Roman historian Deo Cassius and the controversial historian Josephus...

"A horrific slaughter ensues with the Romans taking the city, literally house-by-house. One of the excavations that gives testimony to the destruction is the famous "Burnt House" which is open to visitors in Old City Jerusalem today. Here the skeletal remains of a woman's arm were found where she died on the doorstep of her house, with a spear still lying nearby.
Despite the determined resistance of the Jewish defenders Titus slowly works his way to the Temple Mount. Now a duel to the death ensues, and finally, five months after the Romans had begun this attack Titus orders the Second Temple razed to the ground. The day is the 9th of Av, the very same day on which the First Temple was destroyed."

A roman by the Name of Deo Cassius states,

"The populace was stationed below in the court and the elders on the steps and the priests in the Sanctuary itself. And though they were but a handful fighting against a far superior force, they were not conquered until part of the Temple was set on fire. Then they met their death willingly, some throwing themselves on the swords of the Romans, some slaying one another, others taking their own lives and still others leaping into the flames. And it seemed to everybody and especially to them that so far from being destruction, it was victory and salvation and happiness to them that they perished along with the Temple." All of the neighboring countryside is denuded of whatever trees remained from the siege to create the giant bonfire to burn the buildings of the Temple to the ground. The intense heat from the fire causes the moisture in the limestone to expand and it exploded like popcorn, producing a chain reaction of destruction. In a day's time, the magnificent Temple is nothing but rubble. "

Josephus describes the destruction of the Temple:

"While the holy house (The Temple) was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age...but children and old men...and priests, were all slain in the same manner....The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the groans of those who were slain...one would have thought the whole city would have been on fire. Nor can one imagine anything greater and more terrible than this noise.""

For years to come, dispair and defeat hung over the Jews.

In 132 AD, Emperor Hadrian threatened to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city dedicated to Jupiter and leading sages of the Sanhedrin backed a rebellion led by Simon Bar Koziba. A short-lived independant state was established that lasted for only 3 years.

In 135 AD, the Romans conquered the independant state and brutally executed Simon and ten leading members of the Sanhedrin. Romans then forbade Jews to enter Jerusalem and forbade any plan to rebuild the Temple. Directly taking over Judea, Rome renamed Jerusalem.. Aelia Capitolina. Under the leadership of Judah haNasi, Romans reconstitued the Sanhedrin and Judah's sons served as heads within the Sanhedrin.

In 200 AD, due to the fear that the Oral Law would be lost (Jews were still being persecuted by the Romans, and not many experts on the interpretation of Oral Law remained.) Judah and a group of sages, for the first time in history, documented the Oral Law into a book known to Jews as the Mishnah. Not unlike the Pharisees, the sages and scribes debated on interpretation and application of the Mishnah as time progressed.

In 400 AD, these debates, stories, and commentaries from various Rabbi on the Mishnah were culminated into a publication known as the Talmud. There were 2 seperate Talmuds from 2 seperate regions. During this time, the Palestinian Talmud emerged and a century later the Babylonian Talmud was created, touting further commentary on the Mishnah. Ever since, the Misnah has continued to be debated and studied for its applications. The belief in the Oral Law being evolutionary, in that its wisdom continues to build on itself through continual revelation and application, traces back to the Pharisees and was a prominent part of Jewish life then, through the centuries, and still is today in Orthodox Judaism.

To Be Continued...

The History of Judaism and its Modern Day Implications...

In order to fully understand what has been discussed in "the deception brought to light" series, which covered the book "The Rainbow Swastika", I feel it is also necessary to cover briefly the history of Judaism. It is of great consequence to our current way of life as Christians and how the ideas and thoughts which gave birth to our faith, evolved over time. It is for this reason, that I have exhaustively researched this and now divulge that information to you. It is also important to understand how all of this connects with the New Age's attempt to destroy the foundations of Orthodox Judaism and in turn the foundations of Christianity. It is alarmingly apparent, certainly considering Hannah Newman's research in the Rainbow Swastika, that the NAM is dramatically threatened by God and his chosen and will decieve and ultimately kill to destroy these foundations.

The Kabbalah is one such Jewish text that I have been researching, and in essense, is a work resulting from the infultration of mysticism into Orthodox Judaism and its ancient texts. Mysticism throughout history has encompassed many forms, through many cultures...teachings which, in colaboration with many other pagan rituals and practices, later culminate into beliefs such as pantheism (belief that we as individuals are god in and of ourselves),and ultimatley New Age Theosophy. It is this information that is critical when understanding that what is going
on now in our world has been going on in one form or another since the time of Nimrod and Babylon. Much of what the world was before the Great Flood... the practices at the time, in which were a complete abomination to God... certainly were the cause of it and is where every established ancient religion post-dating the Flood derived their mystic practices and beliefs... A knowledge which was passed down through the generations of man from the serpent's declaration to man that is stated in Genesis 3:1-6 ("1 Now the serpent was more subtil than
any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and [YE SHALL BE AS GODS], knowing good and evil." )That is why I stress the importance of Matthew 24:37 ("But as the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.") But, to understand what it was like in "the Days of Noah", I feel that a brief explaination of our Jewish brethren's history is needed.

As I will reveal in this series, an astounding history precedes the Jewish people. However, I will only be tracing back to the era of the 2nd temple which follows the events of the Old Testament. The occurances during the 1st temple era can of course be found there...

The Persian Era:

In 539 BCE, the Persians conquered Babylon. (The Jews of course were in exile in Babylon at the time and it was the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar that conquered the region previously and destroyed Solomon's Temple in 586 BCE. The Ark of the Covenant disappeared after the destruction of the 1st Temple and to this day it is a mystery as to its whereabouts.)

In 537 BCE, Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to Judea and rebuild the Temple but did not allow the re-establishment of a Jewish monarchy such as one finds with King David or King Solomon. This left the preists as the dominant authority of the Jewish people. It was
around this time that the Sadduccee party emerged as the party of priests and the elites. Much debate occured however, over the legitimacy of the 2nd temple due to it being construted under the auspices of a foreign empire. This began to pave the way for separate ideologies and the development of different sects within the Jewish faith as we will see.Also established during this time out of the scribes and sages (later known as the Rabbi), who were considered the experts on Jewish law and its interpretations, was the party of the Pharisees.

The Hellenistic Era:

*It should be noted that it was during this era that the separation between the priests (Sadducee's) and the scribes and sages (Pharisee's) became much more apparent. The Pharisee's upheld the Oral Tradition of Judaism which was taught by word of mouth, passed down through the generations from the time of Moses. It is held that the Oral law was given to Moses at the same time that the Written law was given to him. The main difference being that the Sadducees did not revere the Oral Law and took the Torah very literal in translation. For Instance, as justification of "an eye for an eye" it would be translated by a Pharisee as something of relative value in retribution for the plucking out of someone's eye... where as a Sadducee would require that the assailant have one of his/her own eyes removed.

In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire. When he died in 323 BCE, the empire was divided amongst his generals. At the time, Judea was ruled by the Egyptian-Hellenic Ptolemies.

In 198 BCE, the Syrian-Hellenic Seleucid Empire, which was ruled by Antiocus III, seized control of Judea. Understand that during this time the region was very diverse. Several languages and beliefs existed in the area. These pagan influences worked their way into the Jewish faith and this is where alot of mysticism polluted Judaism. This type of Judaism is refered to as "Hellenistic Judaism". (Hellenization is the indoctrination of Greecian culture and religious beliefs). Some sects of Judaism were affected more than others, but all sects of Judaism were affected in some way during this period. There was a dividing line however, between those that supported hellenization of Judaism (those in favor of the Seleucids) and those that defied it (those who supported the Ptomelies).

In 175 BCE, the High Priest of the time Simon II died and conflict developed between the supporters of his son Onias III (who oposed Hellenization, and favored the Ptolemies) and his son Jason (who favored hellenization of Judaism and the Seleucids). The result of
which brought about a brief civil war. Huge numbers of the Jewish population flocked to Jason's side.

In 167 BCE, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV invaded Judea, desecrated the Temple and forcefully imposed hellenism, requiring Jews to abandon their laws and customs. In response, Mattathias and his 5 sons, a family of priests at the time, began a bloody revolt against the
Seleucid empire.

In 165 BCE, Jerusalem was liberated and the Temple was restored. Fighting continued however and two of Mattathias sons, Judah and Johnathan, were killed. It was also at this time that the Great Sanhedrin was established.The Sanhedrin was a court of 71 members that met on fixed occasions in the Temple of Jerusalem, acting as a religious legislative body, trial court, and administrator of rituals. Members included the High Priest and former High Priests; members of the priestly line; community elders and heads of tribes and families, all being knowledgeable and experienced in the Jewish Law.

In 141 BCE, an assembly of priest made Simon, one of Mattathia's sons, High Priest and leader.This was to begin what is known as the Hasmonean dynasty.

In 135 BCE, Simon was killed and his son John inherited the position.

By 152 BCE, the Seleucids had been defeated and a type of monarchy was once again formed under the Hasmonean dynasty.The gap between the Pharisees and Sadducees during the Hellenization period widened substantially. It was out of this period that the Essenes (the community responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls) evolved which consisted of dissident priests that rejected the ideologies of the other sects even claiming that the second temple was illegitimate due the fact that the Ark of the Covenant was not present. They believed that their community represented the new Temple and that their obedience to the law was a new type of sacrifice. Sometime During the Hasmonean period, a Pharisee suggested to the Hasmonean king at the time, Alexander Jannaeus, that he should choose between being king or High Priest. In response he openly sided with the Sadducees by adopting their rites. This caused a riot in the Temple and caused a brief civil war that repressed the Pharisees. On his deathbed, king Alexander called for reconcilliation between both parties. At his death, his wife, Salome Alexander succeeded him. Salome's brother Shimon was a leading Pharisee and during this time the Pharisees gained tremendous political power, especially in the Sanhedrin institution. When she died, her son Hyrcanus sought support from the Pharisees and the younger son, Aristobulus, sought support from the Sadducees. This conflict culminated into yet another civil war.

To be continued...