The Things She Learned (Essay)

Scriptures picture the Jewish Faith as a young woman who will one day mature and marry her Messiah (Hos 2:19-20:;Dan 7:13,14,18, 22), ruling the world and the cosmos with Him. Ezekiel 16 describes her as an orphaned newborn whom God rescues so she can mature to grown adult. The Christian faith also accepts this picture (2Cor 11:2) and sees itself as the second, Gentile step in this long, often painful, process (Rom 11: 11-24; 2Tim 2:12; Rev 3:21). For now, this “woman” is learning lessons about faith, courage, patience, wisdom, and justice that she will need in the age to come when pain, suffering and evil have ended (Isa 51:11, Rev 21:4).

So, what does this woman need to learn now as she prepares to lead the world with her devine husband (1 Th 3:13, 2 Th 1:10, Rev 17:14), a world described in the “Revelation” as pummeled with devine judgements? These would be disease (16:2), the oceans devoid of life (vs 3), polluted water (vs 4), scorching heat (vs 8), world-wide darkness (vs10), the gathering of the corrupt leaders (vs 12), a great earthquake with hailstorms (17-21), the corrupt finance system destroyed (Ch 18), the corrupt world leaders all slain (19:17-21), and the Devil in chains (20:1-3). How does what she is learning now help restore this broken world during the thousand year reign of Christ and beyond?

What She Has Learned So Far:

• The first, long term answer to a sinful, broken, evil world was the call of one man, Abram, four thousand years ago, to leave his pagan country and wander in the land promised to him and his children (Gen 12:1-3). The lesson of small beginnings (Zech 4:10).

• Abram and Sarai’s tragic use of Sarai’s servant Hagar, (Gen 16-15) forming the first of two ancient blood lines through Ishmael and Isaac, and a centuries-old conflict between Judaism and Islam and between the West and Islam. The immense and tragic downstream effects of sin.

• God’s demand of Abraham to love Him above all else, even his own long-desired son (Gen 22:2). The rise of the twelve sons of Jacob (Gen 35:23-26) into the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen 49:1-29). The brothers selling Joseph as a slave who then became great in the kingdom of Egypt and saving his clan from famine (Gen 37-50).The years of Israel’s cruel slavery under Pharaoh until the coming of Moses (Exod 1-14) and his triumph over the gods of Egypt.The conquest of the promised land, the judges, the golden era of the kingdom of David and Solomon and their victory over the brutal, depraved idol worship (Lev 18) around them (1 Kings 5:42; 1 Chron 20:30). The greater downstream effects of faith.

• The entrance of Israel into the promised land was not only a conflict of faiths but also a clash of ethics. The depraved, often sexual acts of the Canaanites, exposed in Leviticus 18, 20, and Deuteronomy 9:4-5 and 8:9-14, lists the darkest evils that can destroy whole nations (Lev 18:28). These insights remain vital to any debate today. Of note, the Hebrew term for sorcery, “kashaph” and the Greek term “pharmakeia” as described in the both scriptures implies the “use of potions or drugs in magical practices.”

• King Solomon (960 BC) was the first to picture the subject of “Wisdom” as a romance in his Book of Proverbs in the Bible (Prov 4:6). The Western term “philosophy,” or the “love of being wise,” most likely drew from that Jewish source, when it began much later with Ionian Greek colonies of Asia Minor with Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BC) who inspired the later writers known as the Pre-Socratic philosophers. Socrates was the greek thinker who inspired Plato, the founder of Western thought.

• The decline of Israel into sin, the loss of the ten tribes and the final conquest of Judah, the remnant enslaved for 70 years (2 Chron 36:14-21). The turning of Israel from idol worship back to the worship of Yahweh and their return to the promised land (Ezra, Nehemiah). The high standards of right and wrong do not change for His people.

• During this time, the prophet Elijah demands of Israel to choose between God and Baal, saying “How long will you waver between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:17-46). His name is linked to the coming of Messiah (Malachi 4:5).

• God’s testing of His people with five hundred years of silence while Israel, once freed, was again conquered by the Greeks and then the Romans. God reserves the right to demand much of His own.

• The brutal attack on Israel by the Greek emperor of the Seleucid Empire, the monster, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, in 168 BC, and the temple profaned. Israel revolts under Judas Maccabeus, defeats the Greek army and the temple is cleansed as foreseen by the prophet Daniel (Dan 8:9-14,11:21-35). Per their custom, the Jews refuse to rejoice over the defeat of their foes. Instead, they honor the lighting of the oil lamps in the restored temple with the yearly feast of Hanukkah. The smallest lights outshine the greatest darkness.

• The coming of the Messiah, the cruel failure of His embittered people who wanted their promised kingdom (Acts 1:6) and God’s fierce anger against them, driving them again from their homeland (Luke 21:24). Knowing they would fail, Messiah allows His death at their hands (Joh 10:18), forgives them (Luke 23:34), and bears the sins of the world, so as to offer salvation to all (John 3:16, Acts 14:12). Messiah then turns His call to the Gentiles (Rom 15:7-13). Salvation, freedom from sin and eternal life for the whole world is now based on trust and belief in Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth c 30 AD. Failure is part of the process to create a holy people. It is not final.

• Messiah would at times shield His people from the truth (Matt 13:10-13) so that at His death, He could say to the Father, “They don’t know . . . (Luke 23:34).” Thus, their guilt was less and though punished, they were preserved. Judas, who betrayed Him, knew Him full well. His guilt was complete, so he was “lost” (John 17:12, Matt 26:24) in the worst sense of that term. The greatest danger to a corrupt human race is not war, famine or plague, but when all know full well who He is.

• When Jesus was martyred, the sun stopped shining for three hours (Luke 23:45) and the earth quaked (Matt 27:51). Heaven and earth groaned as described in Rom 8:21-23 and Rev 6:12-17. The goal of Messiah is not just to save souls to go to Heaven, but to redeem the world and the cosmos (Gen 3:17-19, Matt 24:35, Rom 8:20-22). His faithful people are part of that mission (Dan 7:27, 1Cor 6:2, Eph2:6, Rev 22:5).

• Messiah, risen from the dead, commissions His twelve apostles to “go into all the world,” (Mar 16:15) c 30 AD.

• Mathias is chosen to replace Judas (Acts 1:15-26).

• The Holy Spirit directs the new Church to accept its first non-Jewish convert, a Centurion in the hated Roman army, with his family (Acts 10). As with the Jew, God demands much of His own.

• Paul converts to the new faith (Acts 9:1-19) c 37 AD and begins his first journey (Acts 13:4) 47-49 AD, the first Apostle called by Christ after the twelve (Eph 4:11, 1Tim 2:7, 2Tim 1:11). He meets with the other Apostles at the council of Jerusalem (Acts 21:18) in 49 AD. Given the timeline of these events he could not have replaced the traitor Judas as some have argued.

• The Apostle Paul describes the new Christian Church as a young woman, espoused to Christ. She will someday be married and rule His creation with Him (2 Cor 11:2).

• The Apostle Paul declares “All Israel will be saved” in the Christian view of that term (Rom 11:26). No other nation has received this promise.

• These are the “apostles” noted in scripture after the twelve and after He had ascended (Eph 4:11). James, the brother of Jesus (Gal 1:19), Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Apollos (1Cor 4:6-9), Andronicus and Junia (Rom 16:7), Timothy and Silvanus (I Thes 1:1 and 2:6), Erastus-(Act 15:23), Tychicus (2 Tim 4:12), and Judas (Acts 15:23, 1Thes 2:6). The three who were “sent,” the greek word is “apostoli,” are Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25), two unnamed (2 Cor 8:23), and Titus (2 Cor 8:23). The office of the “Apostle” was meant to remain in the new church, after the twelve.

• These are the New Testament prophets; John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3), Anna (Luke 2:36-38), Agabus (Acts 11:27-28), Barnabas, Simeon that was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, (Acts 31:1, called prophets and teachers), Judas and Silas (Acts 15:32), and Philip’s four daughters (Acts 21:9, they prophesied). The office of the prophet was meant to remain in the new church.

• The woman Junia is praised by Paul as “foremost among the apostles (Rom 16:7).” Church leader John Chrysostom, writing around the fourth century, invokes Junia as an apostle for the women of Constantinople to emulate. She among other women, were leaders in the new church.

• The rise of the gentile, Christian Church over a thousand years, as the teachings of Jesus and His apostles expands on Jewish beliefs and ethics, going from small Jewish sect to state religion, its triumph over Rome without force of arms, then guiding Europe through the “dark ages” until the rise of the modern nation states. The new faith is a nation building faith. Whole cultures with customs, values, mores and manners can be founded on it.

• The early Christians martyred while the new Church is torn by racial strife, mystic beliefs, and the debate over the law of Moses versus the new, higher law of grace (John 1:17; Rom 13:8-10); the young Church choosing the scriptures and ideals it will die for. Great beliefs often come at great cost.

• The early church condemns abortion in the Didache, a Christian text written in the first or second century.

• One of the reasons Rome fell was a lack of women and a falling birth rate. Roman preference for male children often meant infant female deaths by “exposure.” Abortions were common, deadly, and sometimes forced. With time, “barbarians,” less loyal to Rome, made up the lack of soldiers in the army. The Christian Faith appealed to women and Christians retained the Jewish ethic against infant murder. Thus Christians women were often found in the short supply of young females, leading to many pagan-christian marriages (ICor 7:13,14). Also, they often married several years later in age than the common, Roman child-brides.

• The books of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible are compiled around 200 AD, the Jewish Faith also choosing the scriptures it will die for. This book shines as the only history of an ancient people written without bias and therefore worthy of study in all school rooms.

• Tertullian explains the one true God as “Triune” around 215. Great truth expands and deepens with time.

• In Rome, during the great Decian plague of 250 AD, Christians did not “spare themselves” in the care for the ill and the dying, no matter the background, in contrast to the common idea of care only for the “worthy.” These actions were later praised by Emperor Julian. Rome faces a new enemy armed only with better ethics.

• Constantine, emperor of Rome, grants the oppressed Christian Faith freedom of worship by the edict of Milan in 313 AD. It becomes the most favored state religion.

• The Christian Faith, now an arm of the royal courts begins to create its own noble class of priests with a prince-like Pope. The faithful must transcend the culture around them, not borrow from it.

• The failure of the Christian Faith, often based in the Middle East and Europe, in its constant, cruel treatment of Jews after the fourth century. As with the Jew, the Christian Faith must learn from its mistakes.

• The city of Rome is sacked by the Visigoths on August 24, 410 AD, marking the end of the western Roman Empire.

• St Augustine, writing in 413 AD condemns the worship of the Roman gods for their “obscenities” in their “shameful rites” used to incite the “burning poison of lust” rather than promote virtue, leading to Rome’s fall and the rise of the Christian Faith.

• One of the reasons for the fall of Rome was the lack of women and a falling birth rate. Female infant deaths by “exposure” were common, as were the dangers of death and loss of fertility due to abortion, some of which were forced. With time, “barbarians” were employed in the army who were not as loyal to Rome. The Christian faith drew in many women and maintained the Jewish ethic that infant murder was wrong. Thus, in that short supply, many were Christian. Pagan-christian marriages were common.

• As Rome falls, its huge tax burden lifts, the massive slave holdings vanish, its fickle, random, skittish gods are disposed of as Europe splits into many, small kingdoms. The new Christian world view inspires labor saving ideas, such as the water mill (for grinding wheat and weaving cloth), wind mills (for reclaiming flood plains), bridge building, damns, crop rotation and plant breeding (to improve yield), the heavy plow, the horse harness (allowing two horses to pull a plow), the chimney (as opposed to holes in the roof), eyeglasses, the saddle with stirrups (allowing knights to charge without being unhorsed), the cannon, improved sailing ships, the rise of capitalism and free markets, and progress in music, arts, literature, education and science. While many ancient cultures pursued alchemy and astrology, only in Christian Europe does the sciences of chemistry and astronomy emerge. This new belief in one God who was “rational” allows its converts to invent and science to flourish. The blessings of a Judo-Christian culture are great.

• Saint Patrick, fifth century bishop of Ireland and former slave, decries the taking of slaves in his “Letter to Coroticus,” calling it an offense against the Christian Faith. The Judo-Christian ethic starts to disrupt the larger culture.

• The rapid Rise of Muhammad and Islam, starting in 610 AD, hoping to unite all people, including Christians and Jews in to one, new supreme faith. Islam claimed Ishmael as a founder, and drew much from Jewish and Christian ideas and ethics, as it spread through conquest. Of note, Islam did not always force other faiths to convert once conquered, and lifted women above the status of property, but it did seek to combine faith and state in a Caliphate, much like church and state were combined in Europe. A lesser Judo-Christian ethic, mixed with seventh century ethics, still retains much of its power.

• Angered that local Jews would not accept his new faith, Muhammad attacks them in Mecca and Medina. He forces the last six to nine hundred male members of the last Jewish clan in Medina to dig their own mass grave, then beheads them and sells their wives and children into slavery. While the founders of both the Christian and Islamic Faiths began in brutal times, the contrast between the two could not be greater. The long term effect of this savage action remains to this day..

• Islam goes on to cleanse the Middle East and northern Africa of the Christian Faith, often with the sword but sometimes through tax and trade.

• Rabbeinu Gershom, a renowned French talmudist declares a ban on Jewish polygamy around 1000 AD.

• The schism between the western and eastern Christian state churches in 1054 over issues such as the Lord’s Supper, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and whether priests could wear beards. Pope Leo IX then damned Michael Cerularius the Patriarch of Constantinople and all his followers. The Patriarch returned the favor to the Pope and all his followers, laying bare the weakness of the idea of priest and Pope. The Second Vatican Council withdrew the papal decree in 1964. Bad ideas falter over time.

• The zenith of papal power as king maker under Pope Gregory IV in 1073 and its decline in power under Boniface VII in 1294. The decline of the corrupt church clergy from 1309 to 1439. The new, gentile faith was not immune from the faults of the ancient Jew.

• The first Crusade is launched 1096 to combat 450 years of the spread of Islam.

• The phrase "Dark Ages" was first coined by Francesco Petrarch, an Italian scholar and poet, in the 1330s. Petrarch viewed the time after the fall of the Western Roman Empire as a time when culture and learning declined. While the term is still used, many modern historians now prefer the term "Early Middle Ages.”

• The Protestant Reformation, begun in 1517 by Martin Luther, defies the Catholic Church, puts scripture in the hands of the common people, promotes the belief that salvation is by “faith alone,” his greatest achievement, in “Christ alone and that“scripture alone” has the final say in all matters of faith.” Salvation by “faith alone” is the one doctrine upon which the entire Christian Faith stands or falls. Great truth can come from deep discord.

• While Luther was the mover of the Reformation, his fellow scholar Malanchthon was its thinker and theologian. Righteous fervor must be balanced with sound doctrine.

• The Reformation ideal of “every peasant . . . being equal to any Lord” questioned the entire feudal system, leading to the “Peasant’s War” of 1524 and their slaughter in 1525 by both Catholic and Protestant forces. This foresaw the system’s slow demise. It can take years of conflict to kill bad ideas.

• Despite his anger at the noble class, Luther alines with the nobles in the conflict. in part because when he had defied Pope Leo X and Emperor Charles V, he had been hidden from both by Prince Frederick of Saxony. Luther also fails to join forces with Zwingli, another leading reformer. Called to discuss fifteen points of doctrine, they agreed on fourteen, but not on the practice of the communion and then parted ways. It is hard to see past the limits of what we “know” (ICor 13:12).

• Luther furthers Europe’s contempt for Jews.

• The assault by both church and state on the Swiss Anabaptists who opposed infant baptism because there was no informed consent. They also opposed the very concept of a “state religion.” Christian faith, “unequally yoked”with the state, is a major error (2Cor 16:14).

• The Reformation period, ending around the 1640’s, that left the western Christian Faith fractured into Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Anabaptist factions, an end none wanted nor foresaw. Europe’s brutal wars of state religion had destroyed much and caused millions of deaths, pushing the Christian Faith to the margin and giving secular reason center stage in Western Culture. This caused the rival christian factions to seek converts around the world, turning a local Christian Faith into to a global one. As with the Jew, God uses Christian failure for His larger purpose (Mark 16:15-16).

• The Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), often used to mark the end of the Reformation period, was a conflict in which most of the nation states of Europe fought and about eight million people died. The wars were in part linked to the struggle between Roman Catholics, Calvinists, and Lutherans, although often over rival land claims. It allowed unpaid armies on both sides to plunder cities, towns, villages and farmlands, mostly in Germany. It ended the idea of a Catholic controlled Holy Roman Empire and gave us the modern, self-governed nation states we have today.

• The large, brutal, lazy, Catholic monopoly was now faced with brutal Protestant monopolies. Thus Catholics could burn Protestants, the Protestant King Henry the VIII of England could burn Lollards and Lutherans, and his successors could hunt down Catholic priests. Luther could persecute Anabaptists and Catholics. Calvin could exclude all others.

• The Enlightenment taught human reason (alone) could discover truths about the world, faith, and politics. Knowledge was to be tested and proved and people should not be coerced in matters of faith and conscience. This last idea mirrored back to the Christian Church a truth she had missed. Jesus said when the Gospel is preached and refused, leave. God’s anger against them was in His hands alone (Matt 10:14).

• The Counter Reformation bringing much needed reform to the Catholic Church. Deep discord did much good on both sides of the conflict.

• The Spanish Inquisition, begun under Pope Sixtus IV from 1478 to 1834, one of the darkest eras in Church History. While some have guessed the deaths totaled in the “millions,” recent estimates of 3000 death sentences are more likely. Faith in Christ does not always keep His people from doing evil.

• Of note, in 1995 the Vatican allowed scholars full access to the records kept during this time. They revealed far less abuse than what its anti-Catholic critics have claimed over the centuries. The inquisition also saved many from death by setting a high bar for guilt in the witch trials that swept Europe.

• Most Reformed Churches now conclude the basic tenants of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches are sound or orthodox, but having “errors.” They remain “in Christ” with Protestants, so this schism is not complete. The common ground for a “one” church remains among the three groups.

• The slow, centuries-long discard of many ancient ideas, such as the feudal system, slavery, plural marriage, state churches and royal rule, replaced by monogamy, human rights, church apart from state and government by consent of the governed. These better ideas, often based on Scripture’s deeper ethics and world view, achieved much good over time.

• The rise of John Wesley and the Methodist Movement in 1738, its strong message of “Holiness” and Gospel-inspired social change. Wesley denounced England’s slave trade, child labor and its cruel prison system. He called for schools for children, started an orphanage, and opened the first free medical dispensary. Wesley traveled much. His “open air preaching” and circuit riding did much to keep the French Revolution from coming to England. Wesley also ordained women.

• Speaking at the funeral of his Calvinist rival, George Whitefield, Wesley stated “We agree to disagree,” a watershed comment in church history.

• The Methodist Church breaks from the state Church of England.

• George Washington visits and welcomes the Touro synagogue to the colonies in Newport, Rhode Island in August 17, 1790. They retain his letter of welcome to this day. The long term Christian contempt for the Jew begins to wain as Christian thought matures.

• The rise of the broader “Holiness Movement,” in the 19th century, inspired by John Wesley’s call to “perfection” after one converts to Christ. This term implied that “God who is good enough to forgive sin is obviously great enough to transform the sinners into saints” and to “attain to a measure of holiness.”

• The looting of the Paris cathedral, Notre Dame in 1793, changing it to the “Temple of Reason.” Worship returned in 1802, a picture of the larger conflict between Judo-Christian and secular thought.

• Israel Jacobson, a Jewish layman, opens a school in Seesen, Brunswick, in 1801, creating “Reform Judaism.” Reformed Jews were no longer required to cover their heads or wear the prayer shawl (ṭallit). Daily public worship was not required. Work was allowed on the Sabbath and diet laws (kashrut) were declared out of date. Many of their ideas were foreseen by the Apostle Paul (Rom 14:2-6, Col 2:16-17).

• Thomas Chalmers, “Scotland's greatest nineteenth-century churchman” called for Scotland to grant equal rights for Catholics, achieved in 1829, and Jews, achieved in 1858.

• In the 19th century, the field of archeology emerged as a science and much of its efforts were centered in Mesopotamia, the land along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers or modern Iraq and later to include lands in Syria, Turkey, and Iran. Ancient records, often written in cuneiform on clay tablets were unearthed. Some contained rival creation and flood stories much like the Genesis accounts.

• The Enuma Elish (also known as The Seven Tablets of Creation) is discovered in 1849 and translated in 1876 and is the Babylonian creation myth. It tells the story of the great god Marduk's victory over the forces of chaos and his founding of order at the creation of the world. Written by an unknown poet at an undetermined date—possibly in the 14th century BCE. Marduk kills his grandmother Tiamat and cuts her body in two, using one half to create earth and the other half to create heaven. Mankind was created from the blood of Kingu, the cohort of Tiamat, and Babylon was established as Marduk’s city.

• The Epic of Atra-Hasis were first discovered in 1876 AD at Sippar. In it, the elder gods force the younger gods to dig out the land of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The younger gods complained and humans were then made to do the work of the gods for them. We-Ilu offers himself and is killed. The goddess Nintu then adds his flesh, blood and intelligence to clay and creates seven male and seven female human beings. One can hear in this text the implied nod towards slavery.

• The oldest and most important of these ancient Near Eastern creation stories come from Mesopotamia. The Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia, who composed the oldest written records of any civilization yet found, also wrote extensively about the origins of the heavens and earth. In particular, a Sumerian tablet from Girsu, now in modern Iraq, written during the 3rd millennium BC, perhaps as early as 2900 BC, recounted a time at the beginning of creation in which the daylight and moonlight did not shine because the sun and moon did not yet exist, when the “lesser gods” (angels) had not yet been created, and when the fields and vegetation were still merely dust. The text also states that the earth was filled with water as part of this process, similar to what is found in Genesis, prior to the creation of the sun and moon (Genesis 1:1-12).

• Often the earlier the creation text, the closer they are to the Genesis account. This suggests that as time passed, views on creation diverged while new theologies were infused into the stories.

• While archaeology cannot prove the creation event, ancient texts recovered through archaeology can at least show us what Moses recorded in Genesis was believed as fact and not just a fairy tale he invented, nor did he copy the creation stories of the Mesopotamian or Egyptians.

• The birth of the Pentecostal movement in the1901, but centered around the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, America in 1906, that mirrored the events described in the Bible’s book of Acts. Unique from prior “revivals” in being led by a black preacher and a white writer, with speaking in “tongues,”both the “tongues” of worship (1Cor 14:17) and speaking in a foreign language without prior such skill, its eye-witness accounts of many, daily, stunning, faith healings over three and a half years, with tongues of fire seen on the rooftop and the Shekhinah glory in the building.

• Less constrained by rigid church mores, Pentecostals were inspired to restore (Acts 3:21) long ignored practices of the early Church, such as speaking in tongues, Christian prophecy and the full embrace of the nine gifts of the spirit (1Cor 12:4-11). The Christian Faith restores itself.

• Lacking the depth of Luther or Calvin. Pentecostals had to re-debate the Trinity in the 1920’s, an idea settled at the council of Nicaea in 325. It took decades after Azusa Street to found the new movement on the larger themes of scripture, remove errors and correct moral failings. The movement grows and matures.

• The rise of mega-death in the 20th century with atheists Mao Tse-dong (est 45 million), Joseph Stalin (6-20 million), and Adolf Hitler (11 million, besides those killed in war). Hitler aligned with some German Christians early in his rise to power but despised their values. As with the good, evil also grows and matures.

• The return of the Jew to the promised land after Shoah and the birth of the modern state of Israel, foreseen long ago by the prophets (Isa 11:11-12, Jer 23:3-8, Zec 10:9,10). Evangelicals, among others, see this as a return of God’s favor. The Jews replied they have always had His favor. The two faiths find more common ground.

• The smaller, 1948 Latter Rain movement within Pentecost that returned to the idea of the five fold-ministry of Ephesians 4:11; Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher as a template for the larger, restored Christian Church.

• The term “Pentecost,” first applied to the summer feast in ancient Israel, the fourth on a list of seven, then to an event in the birth of the Christian Church (Acts 2), then pictured as a part of common Christian growth (Acts 2:16-18;37-39, 1Cor 6:19; 12:4-7, Gal 5:16, Eph 3:16) and now attached to a major, modern movement. In 1948, the “Latter Rain Movement” saw Israel’s fifth feast, the Feast of Trumpets that gathered Israel for the Fall harvests, as a picture of the coming, global Christian oneness Christ prayed for in the garden (John 17:21). One could also link this Feast with the return of the ministry of the Christian prophet (1Cor 14:8) and the trumpet judgements found in the Revelation (Rev 8:7).

• The second and third waves of the Pentecost movement, less focused on “speaking in tongues” as the only sign of the Holy Spirit.” The rise of the “Charismatic Movement” world wide, now compared with the early Church and the Reformation in scope.

• The error of the “Prosperity Gospel,” coming from this movement.

• The slow, cautious, modern alliance between conservative Jews, and faithful Protestants and Catholics, who differ on doctrine but share common ethics.

• China’s “One Child Policy” begun in 1979, results in 338 million “prevented pregnancies,” by “forced abortions and sterilizations,” a depth of evil never before seen in human history. Of note, Chinese data are seldom trust worthy. Some peg the number of births “prevented” to range from 100 to 200 million.

• The logic of western, secular thought, less and less constrained by Judo-Christian ethics, now reaching dark, sordid, pagan endpoints which include homo-sex and the abuse and murder of children, drawing in even some liberal Christian groups. Jesus described this process in his parable of the “Wheat and the Tares” (Matt 13:24-30).

• The Catholic Church agrees to “bless” same-sex couples. In an interview, Pope Francis refers to homo-sex with “Who am I to judge?” He later amends his comments by saying this sin is “not a crime,” but any sex outside of marriage is a sin. After the death of Francis, Pope Leo affirms the Church’s basic belief that homo-sex is a sin.

• The modern debate on whether women can be church leaders as a major issue.

• In 1965, the Catholic Church issues the Nostra Aetate saying, “Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures.” Also, “Over time, many Protestant churches rewrote their statements of faith to remove anti-Jewish language.”

• Activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali calls for Islam to reform in her book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.

• In a 2024 survey on Christian beliefs about Judaism in the US by Motti InBari and Kirill Bumin, they conclude “. . . it is also encouraging that after almost 2,000 years of hostilities, these old views (the Jewish People are no longer an inheritor or God’s promises) that once dominated the Christian mindset have so quickly been reduced to a minority.”

• The Pew Research Center counts thirteen major Protestant Christian denominations world wide. The total number is thought to be around 45,000.

• “The most persecuted population in the world continues to be those of the Christian faith, where more than 380 million followers of Jesus Christ face intense levels of hostility.” Of the top 50 sources of persecution, 31 are Islamic.

• In October of 2025 the world-wide Anglican Church fractures over issues of women leaders and homo-sex.

• While the Center for the Study of Global Christianity’s 2020 report notes the Catholic Church remains the largest segment of the Christian Faith, 26% of all Christians worldwide are now Pentecostal/Charismatic. They are the most recent and fastest growing Christian movement, leading the Christian Faith in conversions with a unique appeal to the world’s poor.

• Pentecostal/Charismatics number 663,863,000 as of 2025, up from 981,000 in 1900, a 67 fold increase in a century and a quarter. Compare that to the 4.7 fold increase in Catholics and 4.6 fold increase in Protestants in the same era. The total number of Christians in 2025 is 2,645,317,000.

The Things She’s Learned So Far:

• The downstream effects of a single act of evil or good can be profound.

• Right and wrong do not change for His chosen people.

• God reserves the right to demand much of His people.

• Even small acts of faith will, in the end, triumph over great darkness.

• Salvation, freedom from sin and eternal life are now based on belief and trust in Christ, in Jesus of Nazareth who died as the Passover Lamb in Jerusalem c 30 AD and rose from the dead three days later.

• When the Gospel is preached and then refused, leave.

• Jesus came, not just to save souls to go to Heaven, but to redeem the world and the cosmos. His faithful people are part of that process.

• As with the Jew, Christ has the right to demand much of His own.

• The Judo-Christian ethic does great good and allows humans to flourish.

• The Christian Faith grows and matures over time.

• The Christian Faith is a nation building faith.

• The offices of the apostles and prophets were meant to remain in the Christian Church.

• Deep discord among the faithful can still produce great good.

• The actions of the those who either accept or reject the Judo-Christian ethic compound and grow over the centuries, causing both great good and great harm.

• Insights into good and evil, right and wrong, are sometimes purchased at great cost.

• The Christian Faith must transcend the culture, not borrow from it.

• God turns the failures of His people for His glory. Their failure is not final.

• As with the Jew, the Christian Faith must learn from its mistakes.

• Faith in Christ does not always keep His people from doing evil.

• Bad ideas falter over time. Killing bad ideas can take centuries.

• It is hard to see past what we “know.”

• Sacred scripture can be fathomed in an instant, but its depth, over centuries.

• The union of church and state is a major error.

• Righteous fervor must be balanced with sound doctrine.

• Since the Reformation, the Christian Faith, both Catholic and Protestant, has restored itself (Acts 3:21) having returned to basic beliefs it lost when it became a state church.

• The fracture of the one, grand, Christian Church into factions that must compete with each other for converts has furthered the Christian Faith worldwide. This fracture must be resolved so that in the end, His people are “one.”

• The Christian Faith, mostly centered in America, has found more common ground with the Jew in the 20th and 21st Centuries. During this time of accord, Christians must keep in mind the long history of harm done to Jews in the name of Christ.

• The return of the modern Christian Faith to the offices of the Apostle and Prophet is sound.

• The Christian Faith remains an “adolescent” Faith, much like a young girl espoused to her husband to be. She is destined to one day marry and rule with Christ, but has not yet matured enough to do so.

• The greatest threat to the human race is when all know full well who Jesus is and then either embrace or oppose Him. The rise of the final, mature, Christian Church will remove the grey zone of non-belief that exists between those who believe and those who refuse to. It will repeat the age old demand of the prophet Elijah, and the leader Joshua, “How long will you struggle between two choices? Choose this day whom you will serve.” (1Kings 18:21, Josh 24:15,) on a world wide scale (Mal 4:5). 

Where She Stands Now:

The goals of the Christian Reformation were achieved only in part. She is now better and bigger but she is not “one” (Joh 17:21).

The Christian Church has journeyed from a single, central figure, to twelve apostles, to a diverse world-wide religion.The path has been long, complex and painful, the lessons often costly and, because Messiah has not yet come, there is more to learn.

History tells us each step towards a greater Christian Church is opposed by fellow Christians content with their current beliefs.

Righteousness endures forever (Psa 111:3). Therefore evil is finite. In the end it will run out of ideas, and all of its twisted, sordid, violent ways will be exposed.

Islam is best described as schizophrenic, or being of two minds (James 1:8) having very bad ideas mixed in with very good ones. In part, the Koran displays good ethics; concern for the poor and moral restraint in war, but then allows the taking of “war brides,” commands the Jew and the Christian be harmed and/or killed and calls for the death of all Muslims who leave the faith. Its followers number 1.5 billion.

Christ’s better world can only arrive when He and His people see, expose, endure and battle against all evil, both within and without, so that in the world to come they can say, “See, that was done before. This is the result.”

In each new era, the Christian Church must ask itself, “What must I learn now to better prepare for my Lord’s coming?”

Ending the union of church and state in many countries of Europe forced rival christian factions to compete for the hearts of their people. This freed both Protestants and Catholics to advance the cause of Christ and the good of Western Culture. Contrast this with Eastern Orthodox, that exists as controlled state churches of countries like Russia and Ukraine but not able to promote the freedoms and values enjoyed in the West.

Judo-Christian ethics, often found in the Bible’s wisdom books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job) plus the basic ethics of Moses and Jesus, offers neutral grounds for the faithful and the skeptic to agree on, without a demand to convert.

In the Bible’s book of Proverbs, a young man is advised to “love lady wisdom” and pursue her the way he would pursue and marry a young woman (Prov 4:6). This gave mankind’s the term “philosophy,” or the “love” of being “wise,” from the Greek words “philos" meaning "love" and "Sophia" meaning “wisdom.” A philosophy governs our thinking on how to obtain a good life. Western thought has many philosophies, but the Judo-Christian faith has the best one (1Kings 3:12). It must be offered as such.

For any Christian to embrace “reprobate” or “depraved” ideas (Rom 1:28) is an immense error.

The current Evangelical belief in an any minute “Rapture” is foolish. It implies we have now reached our zenith and is the best we can do. It keeps us from seeing greater goals to aspire to.

If it does happen I will say “sorry” on the way up.

Of concern to this student of scripture is this most recent Pentecostal movement with its many miracles and its now world-wide influence. Jesus said His miracles were a sign. A sign points to something greater.

Consider:

The term “Pentecostal” points back to the birth of the Christian Church (Acts 2:1-4) on the “day of Pentecost”with tongues of fire on their heads. It then goes further back to the yearly feast of ancient Israel of the same name (Exo 34:22, Deut 16:9-10). But its first mention occurs with God’s descent on Mt Sinai with fire and smoke (Exodus 19:8). There He gives the Ten Commandments to His people (Exo 20:1-17) just released from Pharaoh’s whips.

Israel had seven proscribed yearly feasts, three of which were grouped into one festival in spring, the single feast of Pentecost in mid summer and the three final ones grouped into one in the fall.

Lets assign the first feast, the Feast of Passover to Martin Luther (1517) as he declares a Catholic priest cannot remit sins. This returns the Christian Faith to its most basic belief in salvation by faith alone (Eph 2:8), a concept that was lost for a while.

“Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God.” Martin Luther

Passover had begun with the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, but its larger meaning was revealed centuries later with Jesus dying as the “Passover Lamb” (John 1:29, 1Cor 5:7). His death offered to free mankind from being slaves to sin the way Moses freed his people from being slaves to Egypt (Rom 6:6-7). Martin Luther, and the Reformation that swept Europe (1517), returned the Christian Faith to that basic idea.

Then we can align the next springtime feast of Unleavened Bread with the Anabaptist movement (1527) that also arose in the Reformation. They refused to baptize infants, but required a person’s conscious choice for that rite to be valid (Rom 6:4). Most Christian groups now accept this idea.

When Israel made its hasty, unleavened bread to leave Egypt (Exod 12:8) and then crossed the Red Sea (Exod 14), Paul said they were “baptized into Moses” (1Cor 10:2). Jesus fulfilled the symbols of this feast when he was removed from the cross as the sin offering (Hebrews 10:4-10) and buried outside the city (Heb 13:12, Matt 27:57-60) just as the yearly Jewish feast removes and buries leaven (Exo 12:15) a picture of sin, from the household.

After the Anabaptists, we note scripture links the third Feast of First Fruits to Christ rising from the dead, because He was “the first fruits of them that slept” (1Cor 15:20). This conforms to the Methodist/Holiness movement (1738), because while we were “. . . buried with Him through baptism into death” we can now “. . . walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways]” (Rom 6:4 Amplified). This means after we accept Christ as our savior, and are baptized, we need to live a holy life.

At last comes the Pentecostal Movement (1906).

This allows us to search for a coming event based on the next feast, the Feast of Trumpets and to guess, given the march of these ideas over five centuries, as to when this next event would occur, perhaps even in this century. The most cogent link would be found in the seven Trumpet Judgements in the Book of the Revelation, the first of these being fire mixed with blood hurled from the sky, burning a third of the land (Rev 8:7). These seven partial judgements are the opening salvo of Heaven’s siege against a rebel human race that will refuse to bend the knee to its rightful Lord (Rev 9:21).

If this be so, the recent Pentecostal Movement would indeed be a sign worth noting.

She Foresees:

A faithful Christian Church, worldwide, that will expand further in numbers and deeper in insight. She will learn to rule herself well.

She will fulfill the Great Commission. The Gospel will be preached to all nations, tribes, tongues and peoples, drawing out a remnant from each (Mark 16:15-17).

Wycliffe Bible Translators note in their 2024 report that of the of the seven thousand, three hundred languages spoken in the world, only nine hundred and eighty now remain without the scriptures, or a project to translate them into their language. Technology has speeded up this process.

A central Christian Church with diverse ideas but founded on Christ alone, scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone. These Protestant beliefs were basic to the early church and align best with the core ideals of the ancient Jew. She must remain on this bedrock to complete Christ’s faithful, last days Church.

The faithful Christian Church in America must see herself as able to win the current culture war and return whole nations back to their Christian roots. Not that all will convert, but that most will agree, on reason alone, the Judo-Christian ethic is the best path to a prospered, free, and just culture. She is used to living out her faith in the margins. She needs plans for what to do when taking center stage. She must avoid all support from the state.

The Catholic ideas of priests and popes, praying to “saints” for help rather than to God and church teaching being equal to scripture, are errors that can’t be sustained over time. The recent comments by Pope Francis hinting that homo-sex may be somehow okay foresees a major fracture in the Catholic Church. It would align a large portion with leftist thinking and left wing Protestants, leaving its faithful members to align with faithful Protestants.

It is doubtful Islam can reform the same way Christian and Jewish faiths have done. This means it will remain more a foe than friend in the pursuit of any broad and prospered effect on human culture.

The error of Muhammad who believed God had spoken to him in the writing of the Koran will not stand the test of time and be proved false.

A return of the Christian Church to the offices of the “Apostle” and the “Prophet,” (Eph 4:11). Apostles travel, plant churches, raise up leaders, and preside over a region of churches. Modern apostles could form councils as in the Book of Acts (Act 1:13-26), find ideas to agree on, respect beliefs and customs of lesser weight (Matt 23:23) and allow diverse but orthodox church groups to pool their common strengths. Thus, she can create the “one” Church Christ foresaw and act as the world leader she was meant to be.

The return of Christian “Prophets” who differ from their Jewish forebears by working in groups with checks and balances (1Cor 14:29). This term allows local churches, both charismatic and traditional, to note those gifted in this area so a church body can hear from Heaven.

Women can be leaders in the Christian Church.

The complete return of the nine gifts of the spirit (1Cor 12:4-11) working in concert with church leaders to create diverse, high function, local churches.

The rise of a savvy, informed, faithful, Christian Church as a world leader, able to align with those outside the Reformation ideals by sharing common ethics but without being “yoked” to them (2Cor 6:14-15).

A pure Christian Church. Just as Jesus exposed Judas, the “Son of Destruction” (John 17:12), one of His own who betrayed Him, so will His Bride face the same traitor just prior to His coming (Psa 55:12-14, 2Thess 2:1-9; Rev 11:7).

A matured, Christian Faith, at one with itself and with the Jew, able to take center stage during Heaven’s judgments on the earth. Then, in the spirit of Elijah, they will demand of the human race, “You see, now choose” (Deut 30:19, Josh 24:15, 1Kings 18:21, Rev 11:1-6).

A married Christian Faith; the perfect Son of God, who suffered, yet without sin, in union with a Bride cleansed from sin, thus making the perfect couple, to rule a coming, perfect world.

And when the world sees a strong, pure, mature, diverse, holy people, who are now “one,” their lessons learned and ready to rule the world, Jesus is coming.

Updated Friday, December 12, 2025

Major sources of study:

Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries (Zondervan Publishing House, 1976)

Brad S. Gregory, The History of Christianity in the Reformation Era, Course Guidebook (The Teaching Company, 2001)

Jack W. Hayford, S. David Moore, The Charismatic Century:The Enduring Impact of the Azusa Street Revival (Warner Faith, Time Warner Book Group, 2006)

John Thomas Nichol, Pentecostalism, The Story of the Growth and Development of a Vital New Force in American Protestantism, (Harper and Rowe Publishers, 1966)

Tommy Welchel, Michelle P Griffith, True Stories of the Miracles of Azusa Street and Beyond (Destiny Image, Publishers, Inc, 2013)

Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity, How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion (Harper Collins Publishing, 2011)

Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life

Global Christianity, December 2011

Michael McDowell and Nathan Robert Brown, World Religions At Your Fingertips (Alpha Books, 2009)

Robert Spencer, Antisemitism: History and Myth (Bombardier Books, 2025)

Motti InBari and Kirill Bumin, Do Christians Still Harbor Antisemitic Beliefs? (The Hill: Opinion Piece 6/2/24) https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/4697300-do-christians-harbor-antisemitic-beliefs/ (Accessed Mar 19 2025)

Erin O’Connell interview with Prof Donald Miller, The New Face of Global Christianity: The Emergence of ’Progressive Pentecostalism’ (Pew Research Center April 12, 2006) https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2006/04/12/the-new-face-of-global-christianity-the-emergence-of-progressive-pentecostalism/ (Accessed Monday, April 21, 2025)

Re: The Spanish Inquisition.

Kirsch, Jonathan. 2004. God Against the Gods. New York: Viking.

2008 The Grand Inquisitor’s Manuel: A History of Terror in the Name of God.

Ellerbe, Helen. 1995. The Dark Side of Christian History. Windermere, FL; Morningstar and Lark.

Re: Early Christian Response to Plagues:

Becker, Sarah E. “Awaking to Mutual, Reciprocal Need in Plague and Epidemic Disease: The Origins of Early Christian Health Care.” The Linacre quarterly vol. 88,2 (2021)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8033497/ (Accessed Monday, September 29, 2025) 163-174.

Further ideas to consider:

Thomas Jefferson argues against the new nation having a “Noble Class” to govern it. He describes this as “artificial” and labels Europe’s noble class as without “virtue or talents.”

“Men who look upon themselves (as) born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind, their minds are early poisoned by importance.”

But there is a “natural” noble class, based on both “virtue and talents” that

What is the Great Awakening in America?

Islam pivots back to its darker roots in the 21st century.

The series “The Chosen” now being shown in Islamic countries.

SAT-7 is a Christian satellite television network broadcasting in Arabic, Persian and Turkish across 25 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, along with about 50 countries in Europe. SAT-7 was founded as a nonprofit organization in 1995 with support from Middle Eastern churches.

Describe the flaws of the Canaanite and other pagan religions s.a. transgenderism, drugs and infant sacrifice.

What are the seven partial “trumpet” judgements.

This essay is extensively footnoted. The complete document is found in my "Books and Notes" section in both MSW and PDF formats.