And I saw an angel come down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great
chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years, and cast him
into the bottomless pit, and shut him up,
and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive
the nations no more, till the thousand years
should be fulfilled: and after that he must be
loosed a little season.
Revelation 20:1-3
We have come to the last three chapters of the Bible and the last three chapters of the Book of Revelation. All Scripture is important but some have a meaning that reaches deep into the heart of God and we have revealed to us the will and purpose of God. These chapters in a great way sum up the entire Bible. We are brought to the conclusion of this world and introduced to the new heavens and the new earth, and what that will mean for God's children. Before I begin this study, and I will return to these opening verses, at least in some way in this blog, but more so in the upcoming blogs to address what we have learned so far and how what has been revealed affects Christians today. We need to have a deep understanding of the history of the Church. No, I am not going into a intense study of Church history but to that which speaks to the events that are in our day and in the days to come. The beast, the false prophets have been addressed and we need to understand why they are false and are as a beast.
I will begin with a man of God who lived 205-265 A.D., Gregory Thaumaturgus. In our world today there are two major religious groups, the Mormons, and the Jehovah Witnesses who have make Jesus to be a lower in rank or grade making Him to be a created being. One of the arguments is that the early Church did not believe in a Trinity even when men such as Tertullian who first coined the word Trinity somewhere in the year 200 A.D. and never introduce their followers to others who also taught the Trinity. The Trinity teaching is to be found with Gregory Thaumaturgus in his Declaration of Faith. In fact, the creeds that Churches follow today were given by this early follower of Christ, and others, but for him we have his words. "There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is His subsistent Wisdom and Power and Eternal Image: perfect Begetter of he perfect Begotten, Father of he only-begotten Son. There is one Lord, Only of the Only, God of God, Image and likeness of Deity, Efficient Word, Wisdom comprehensive of the constitution of all things, and Power formative of the whole creation, true Son of true Father, Invisible of Invisible, and incorruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal and eternal of Eternal. And there is One Holy Spirit, having His subsistence from God, and being made manifest by the Son, to wit to men. Image of the Son, Perfect Image of the Perfect, Life, the Cause of the living, Holy Fount; Sanctity, the Supplier, or Leader, of Sanctification: in whom is manifested God the Father, who is above all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all. There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged. Wherefore there is nothing either created or inservitude in the Trinity, nor anything superinduced, as if at some former period it was non-existent, and at some later period it was introduced. And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father,nor the Spirit to the Son, but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abideth ever." (Italics and bold are from me).
Is God divided so that He would give another version of Himself and of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit? NO! God is the same today, tomorrow, and forever. He must be if He is God. So, those who give another gospel version and a theological bent on God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are false teachers and are acting as beasts bringing unwarranted fear to those who will hear them. The men of early Christianity have the one thing that we do not have: The lived near to the time, and some in the time, of the apostles that were followers of Jesus Christ, literally, they walked and talked with Jesus and were instructed by Jesus. Let us look at two apostolic Church fathers: Ignatius (30-107 A.D.): A student of Polycarp who was a student of John the apostle,so we have as it is said from the "horses mouth" the words from a disciple of Jesus Christ. Here are some of his words: "For some are in the habit of carrying about the name [of Jesus Christ] in wicked guile, while yet they practice things unworthy of God, whom ye must flee as ye would wild beasts. For they are ravening dogs,w ho bite secretly, against whom ye must be on your guard, inasmuch as they are men who can scarcely be cured.....They practice things unworthy of God, and hold opinions contrary to the doctrine of Christ, to their own destruction, and that of those who give credit to them, whom you must avoid as wild beasts. for the righteous man who avoids them is saved for ever; but the destruction of the ungodly is sudden, and a subject of rejoicing." (bold and italics mine).
The practices and beliefs of those who have developed another doctrine, another gospel, and those who believe in a restorational theology saying that the early Church fathers, even the apostles, are now to be outdone with a new restoration of Christianity. The early Church fathers did not promote, speak about, or encourage gibberish utterings, or for Christians to go about and pray for healing, or to lay on tombs to get the spirit of the dead into their bodies (This was a practice by some in the mid 300's and was condemned by the early Church fathers. There is nothing new under the sun as the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote and this is certainly true when it comes to false teaching. False teaching has not changed over the years, but has put on new clothing, a new veil, but false teachers are teaching the same heresy that these early Church fathers had to contend with along with the persecution that came from local governments and in time by Rome.
John now sees and angel come down out of heaven ho has the key to the bottomless pit and has a great chain in his hand. We further learn that that serpent that Eve spoke with was Satan, that old dragon who is the Devil. In the next blog I will address the opening verses in more detail. Until then I hope that you will remember: we must know history and if not then we will repeat history, both good and bad. If you want more to read of the history of those who have gone before us, go to CCEL.org and press browse and pick a name, a time to read. Start with the earliest of men and then go forward into time. You will find that some have held to the faith and others in time did not hold as fast to the faith, but as a whole, the doctrine of Christ never changed. We are encouraged to study to show ourselves a workman of God. This is one was to study along with reading the Bible and praying to God for guidance. You do have the Holy Spirit within you as an Authentic Christian, so what is holding you back?
Thy testimonies are wonderful:
therefore doth my soul keep them.
the entrance of Thy words giveth light;
it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psalm 119:129-130
Flee from those outrageous false teachings
Richard L. Crumb
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