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8/3/2019 Timeline History of False Doctrine
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Timeline History of False Doctrine
INTRODUCTION
The city of Ephesus was much mentioned in the Bible as the Apostle Paul
received a lot of opposition there by the practitioners of false
doctrine, i.e., pagan beliefs, but let's examine how these beliefs got
carried over into so called Christianity. Let's start with the early
false religious practices of the City of Ephesus.
EARLY PAGAN PRACTICES OF EPHESUS:
The city of Ephesus was situated on what is now the west coast of
Turkey. However in ancient times during the 11th century B.C.E, that
the Ionian Greeks set out to colonize the west coast of Asia Minor.
Those early settlers came in contact with people known for their
worship of a mother-goddess, a deity that would later be known as the
Ephesian Artemis mentioned in the Bible. In the mid-seventh century
B.C.E., nomadic Cimmerians came from the Black Sea in the north to
plunder Asia Minor.
And with the expansion of the Persian Empire, King Cyrus subjugated the
Ionian cities, including Ephesus. In 334 B.C. E., Alexander of
Macedonia commenced his campaign against Persia, thus becoming the new
ruler of Ephesus. After Alexander's untimely death in 323 B.C.E.,
Ephesus became involved in a power struggle among his generals. In 133
B.C.E., Attalus III, the childless king of Pergamum, bequeathed Ephesus
to the Romans, making it part of the Roman province of Asia.
TRUE CHRISTIANITY CLASHES WITH PAGANISM:
When the apostle Paul came to Ephesus toward the end of his second
missionary tour in the first century C.E., he found a city of some
300,000 residents as recorded at Acts 18:19-21, " And Paul, having
tarried after this yet many days, took his leave of the brethren, and
sailed thence for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila: having
shorn his head in Cenchreae; for he had a vow. 19 And they came to
Ephesus, and he left them there: but he himself entered into the
synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. 20 And when they asked him to
abide a longer time, he consented not; 21 but taking his leave of them,
and saying, I will return again unto you if God will, he set sail from
Ephesus" (American Standard Version; ASV).
During his third missionary tour, Paul returned to Ephesus and with
great boldness spoke in the synagogue concerning the Kingdom of God.
After three months, however, opposition from the Jews intensified, and
Paul chose to give his daily talks in the school auditorium of Tyrannus
as testified to as Acts 19:1-9, "And it came to pass, that, whileApollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country
came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples: 2 and he said unto them,
Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they [said] unto
him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was
[given]. 3 And he said, Into what then were ye baptized? And they said,
Into John's baptism. 4 And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of
repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him that
should come after him, that is, on Jesus. 5 And when they heard this,
they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had
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laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spake
with tongues, and prophesied. 7 And they were in all about twelve men.
8 And he entered into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of
three months, reasoning and persuading [as to] the things concerning
the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and disobedient,
speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them,
and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus"
(ASV)..
His preaching activity went on for two years, accompanied by
extraordinary works of power, such as miraculous healings and the
casting out of demons as recorded at Acts 19:10-17, "And this continued
for the space of two years; so that all they that dwelt in Asia heard
the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. 11 And God wrought special
miracles by the hands of Paul: 12 insomuch that unto the sick were
carried away from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, and the evil
spirits went out. 13 But certain also of the strolling Jews,
exorcists, took upon them to name over them that had the evil spirits
the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul
preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief
priest, who did this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said unto
them, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? 16 And the man inwhom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and mastered both of them, and
prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and
wounded. 17 And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, that
dwelt at Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord
Jesus was magnified." (ASV).
It is no wonder many became believers! Yes,God's (YHWH's) word
prevailed, so that a great number of former practitioners of magical
arts willingly burned their valuable books as recorded at Acts 19: 18,
20," Many also of them that had believed came, confessing, and
declaring their deeds. 19 And not a few of them that practised magical
arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all;
and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces
of silver. 20 So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed"
(ASV). Paul's successful preaching not only moved many to give up the
worship of the goddess Artemis but also aroused the ire of those
promoting such pagan worship. The making of silver shrines of Artemis
was a profitable business. With their trade threatened, a certain
Demetrius incited the silversmiths to riot.see Acts 19:23-32, "And
about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way. 24 For a
certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of
Diana, brought no little business unto the craftsmen; 25 whom he
gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs,
ye know that by this business we have our wealth. 26 And ye see and
hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this
Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they are
no gods, that are made with hands: 27 and not only is there danger thatthis our trade come into disrepute; but also that the temple of the
great goddess Diana be made of no account, and that she should even be
deposed from her magnificence whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
28 And when they heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out,
saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesus. 29 And the city was filled with
the confusion: and they rushed with one accord into the theatre, having
seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in
travel. 30 And when Paul was minded to enter in unto the people, the
disciples suffered him not. 31 And certain also of the Asiarchs, being
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his friends, sent unto him and besought him not to adventure himself
into the theatre. 32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another:
for the assembly was in confusion; and the more part knew not wherefore
they were come together." (ASV).
The confrontation climaxed with the crowd shouting hysterically for two
hours per Acts 19:34, " But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all
with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana
of the Ephesians." (ASV). After the uproar subsided, Paul encouraged
his fellow Christians once more and then moved on as testified to at
Acts 20:1, "And after the uproar ceased, Paul having sent for the
disciples and exhorted them, took leave of them, and departed to go
into Macedonia.' (ASV).
ENTRENCHMENT OF PAGAN DOCTRINE AT EPHESUS:
The cult of Artemis was deeply entrenched in Ephesus. Before the time
of King Croesus, the mother-goddess Cybele was the central character of
religious life in that area. By setting up a mythical genealogical link
from Cybele to the Hellenic pantheon, Croesus hoped to establish a
religious figure acceptable to both Greeks and non-Greeks. With hissupport, in the mid-sixth century B.CE., work began on the temple of
Cybele's successor, Artemis. The temple was a milestone in Greek
architecture. Never before had such large blocks of marble been used to
create a building of this kind and size. That temple was destroyed by
fire in 356 B.CE. The equally magnificent rebuilt. However, not all
were happy with it. For example, The philosopher Heracleitus of
Ephesus likened the dark approach to the altar to the darkness of
vileness, and he considered temple morals worse than those of beasts.
To most, however, the sanctuary of Artemis in Ephesus appeared as if it
would never fall into decline.
Of course history proved otherwise. The book Ephesos-Der neue
Fuhrer[German] (Ephesus-The New Guide) states: "By the second century,
the worship of Artemis and of other established deities of the pantheon
plummeted." [source - Ephesos-Der neue Fuhrer]
SO CALLED CHRISTIANITY GOES APOSTATE FOR THE SECOND TIME
So called Christianity first went apostate at the Council of Nicea of
325 A.D. when the pagan Emperor Constantine, a worshiper of the
Unconquered Sun, called a council of Christian bishops and forced them
to adopt certain canons so as to fuse paganism with Christianity in
order to unite his empire religiously as it was starting to fall apart
in disunity. These were such pagan things as accepting Sunday the day
of worship of the pagans of the Unconquered Sun as the Sabbath;
whereas, God (YHWH) had declared Sunday was, the pagan doctrine of the
Trinity, etc. [sources - Payne, Robert, "The Holy Fire: The Story ofthe Early Centuries of the Christian Churches in the Near East" (1957);
BETHUNE-BAKER, J,F. "An Introduction to the Early History of Christian
Doctrine". Methuen; 5th Ed., 1933 and ENCYLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, 11th
Edition, Vol. 3, (page 366); David, Francis and Blandrata, Georgio, "De
falsa et vera unius Dei Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti cognitone"
[Latin](The False and True Knowledge of the Unity of God the Father,
Son, and Holy spirit), 1566 A.D.; Eklof, Todd F., "David's Francis
Tower, Strength through Peace," (06-16-02); The New Encyclopedia
Britannica: " Micropdia, Vol. X, p. 126. (1976); Parkes, James, "The
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Foundation of Judaism and Christianity," 1960; Durant, Will. "Caesar
and Christ." New York: Simon. 1944. Vol. 3 of The Story of
Civilization. 11 vols. 1935-75.]
Finally, toward the end of the fourth century C.E., Emperor Theodosius
I confirmed Christianity" as the State religion for political purposes.
Soon the stonework of the once prestigious temple Artemis became a
quarry for building material. Also The worship of Artemis sank into
insignificance. But unfortunately the pagan worship of was
transformed and became a part of so called Christian doctrine. This
was warned about at Acts 20:17-30 by the Apostle Paul, "And from
Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church.
18 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye yourselves
know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I
was with you all the time, 19 serving the Lord with all lowliness of
mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of
the Jews; 20 how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was
profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, 21
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I go bound in the
spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall methere: 23 save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. 24 But I hold not my life
of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course,
and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that ye all,
among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, shall see my face no
more. 26 Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the
blood of all men. 27 For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole
counsel of God. 28 Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in
which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the
Lord which he purchased with his own blood. 29 I know that after my
departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the
flock; 30 and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." (ASV).
And that is exactly what happened. Events reveal that false worship
prevailed in Ephesus in the form of apostate Christianity. In 431
C.E., Ephesus was the site of the third ecumenical council, where the
isspe of the nature of Christ was discussed. Ephesos -Der neue Fuhrer
explains: "The victQry of I the Alexandrians, who held that Christ was
only of one nature, namely the divine,... was complete." [source -
Ephesos-Der neue Fuhrer]
The consequences were far reaching. "The decision reached at Ep,hesus,
by means of which Mary was elevated from" the status of Christ-bearer
to that of God bearer, not only provided the basis for the cult of Mary
but also produced the first great' schism within the church. . . . Thedebate
persists to this day." [source - Ephesos-Der neue Fuhrer]
Thus, the worship of Cybele and Artemis' was replaced by the worship of
Mary the "God-bearer" or the "mother of god." As the book states, "the
Cult of Mary in Ephesus. . . remains to this date a living tradition,
which could not be explained apart from the Cult of Artemis." [source
- Ephesos-Der neue Fuhrer]
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CONCLUSION:
This is but one example of how false doctrine entered the so called
Christian church when individuals and so called Bishops did NOT stay in
accord with sound doctrine as required by Titus 2:1, "But speak thou
the things which befit the sound doctrine:" (ASV) when they failed to
give heed to the warning given by the Apostle Paul at Acts 20:29-30, "
I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among
you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves shall men
arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after
them." (ASV).
Now to know the truth, go to:
1) http://religioustruths.yuku.com/
2) http://www.network54.com/Forum/403209/
3) http://religioustruths.lefora.com/
If you wish more information and/or wish to ask a question or whatever, contact me by leaving a PM (personal message) at
http://religioustruths.yuku.com/
Your Friend in Christ Iris89
Francis David said it long ago, "Neither the sword of popes...nor the
image of death will halt the march of truth."Francis David, 1579,
written on the wall of his prison cell." Read the book, "What Does
The Bible Really Teach" and the Bible today!