God set the early church in the true direction it should go and how it was seduced and upsurped by the Roman Emperor, paganism and false leaders......
The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the Roman papal power. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in.
Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. Compromise and conformity to paganism was held back for a time by the fierce persecutions by the Roman Emperors. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted and entered the courts and palaces of the Emperors and Kings, the true church laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the truth from God, she substituted human theories and traditions.
It started with Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the Bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished by the church, became the conqueror. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.
This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God.
In the early church, the bishop of Rome (along with Alexandria and Antioch) was regarded as a Patriarchate, i.e. an autonomous diocese. To this group was added the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" (e.g. the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome) the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; the church was forced to yield allegiance to the the bishop of Rome.
Many pre-christian Europeans worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun
gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter
solstice and regained life again at the spring
equinox......
Note what it says in Judges:
"Judges 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth."
Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth / Ishtar / Astarte is the queen of heaven. This is why there are so many sunburst images in Catholicism and why Mary is called the Queen of heaven. It is the apostasy of idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that started to come into the church.
Long before Isis, and long before Mary or Demeter, pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines.Many believe that with the rise of Christianity and papal power, the Goddess would slowly disappear from western culture and fade into the Mists of Avalon . .
But they didnt, the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, but the location
of these shrines, and the wide devotion to them has
spred.She is known as Isis, Gaia, Kali, Diana, Sheela Na Gig, and the Ancient Primal Earth-Mother Goddess.
For many European Christians, the blending of their ancient Goddesses with the Virgin Mary was a major part of what allowed them to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.
The Bible would have quickly shown they had turned away into false beliefs so its truths had to be concealed and suppressed. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited by the papacy. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.
The Bible having been removed, the papacy moved quickly. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. To hide what they had done, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment in their writings, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.
Then they went after the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the Sabbath, and put in the festival day observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." With great subtlety the papacy worked to bring about this change. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.
In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine as part his merging of paganism with the church had issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment. Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be heretics.
The papacy resolved to gather the Christian world under its banner and to exercise power through Bishop of Rome or pontiff who now claimed to be the representative of Christ. The Pope had succeeded in exalting himself above God. By the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse], or the headsman's ax.
Persecution once again was opened upon the true Christians but this time by the Roman Pope himself, and the world became a vast battlefield as true believers were killed for hundreds of years. The accession of the Papacy and the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to man or the pope of Rome.
The people were taught not only to look to the pope as their mediator, but to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics, the erection of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of large sums to the church were the price to secure His favor; as if God were like men, to be pacified by gifts or acts of penance!
Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, corruptible men who claimed to lead the church, and the Pope who came to regard himself as supreme, with the elevation of false laws and corrupt traditions that always results from setting aside the law of God.
We must read the Bible and cleanse ourselves from any of the paganism and false worship especially the pagan festivals or "Holy Days" that have been spread into many churches beliefs. The Protestant churches that split from and began the Reformation because they saw the truth and fought so hard against the pagan Papal Roman church are now falling one by one to even worse beliefs in secularism and paganism. Slowly but surely they are giving up the true beliefs that were their foundation untlil they become nothing but secular social clubs with pagan traditions and festivals.
The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the Roman papal power. He declared that before the return of Christ would, "come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who exalteth himself above all that is called God;" Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors in belief that would prepare the way for the false teachings to come in.
Little by little, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of believers, paganism and idol worship came into the church. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. Compromise and conformity to paganism was held back for a time by the fierce persecutions by the Roman Emperors. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity was accepted and entered the courts and palaces of the Emperors and Kings, the true church laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the truth from God, she substituted human theories and traditions.
It started with Emperor Constantine, who tried to politically not to leave out or alienate those who practiced paganism after he claim to convert to Christianity. He declared the Bishop of Rome as the enforcer of truth and forced the merger of paganism into the church, and the heathen religion now cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished by the church, became the conqueror. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.
This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God.
In the early church, the bishop of Rome (along with Alexandria and Antioch) was regarded as a Patriarchate, i.e. an autonomous diocese. To this group was added the patriachates of Constantinople and Jerusalem in the fifth century. This group of five was regarded as leading the church as a whole. However, gaining political influence and claiming "historical events" (e.g. the tradition that Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome) the Bishop of Rome made himself first among equals. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; the church was forced to yield allegiance to the the bishop of Rome.
Many pre-christian Europeans worshiped the sun and other pagan gods as they thought that their sun
gods and fertility goddesses died at the winter
solstice and regained life again at the spring
equinox......
Note what it says in Judges:
"Judges 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth."
Baal worship is sun worship, and Ashtoreth / Ishtar / Astarte is the queen of heaven. This is why there are so many sunburst images in Catholicism and why Mary is called the Queen of heaven. It is the apostasy of idol worship of Baal and Ashtaroth that started to come into the church.
Long before Isis, and long before Mary or Demeter, pagans fashioned Madonna and child icons and placed them in sacred shrines.Many believe that with the rise of Christianity and papal power, the Goddess would slowly disappear from western culture and fade into the Mists of Avalon . .
But they didnt, the names and the images of the Madonna and child have changed, but the location
of these shrines, and the wide devotion to them has
spred.She is known as Isis, Gaia, Kali, Diana, Sheela Na Gig, and the Ancient Primal Earth-Mother Goddess.
For many European Christians, the blending of their ancient Goddesses with the Virgin Mary was a major part of what allowed them to keep their pagan gods but get in the church.
The Bible would have quickly shown they had turned away into false beliefs so its truths had to be concealed and suppressed. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited by the papacy. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.
The Bible having been removed, the papacy moved quickly. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. To hide what they had done, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment in their writings, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.
Then they went after the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the Sabbath, and put in the festival day observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." With great subtlety the papacy worked to bring about this change. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.
In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine as part his merging of paganism with the church had issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment. Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be heretics.
The papacy resolved to gather the Christian world under its banner and to exercise power through Bishop of Rome or pontiff who now claimed to be the representative of Christ. The Pope had succeeded in exalting himself above God. By the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse], or the headsman's ax.
Persecution once again was opened upon the true Christians but this time by the Roman Pope himself, and the world became a vast battlefield as true believers were killed for hundreds of years. The accession of the Papacy and the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to man or the pope of Rome.
The people were taught not only to look to the pope as their mediator, but to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics, the erection of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of large sums to the church were the price to secure His favor; as if God were like men, to be pacified by gifts or acts of penance!
Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, corruptible men who claimed to lead the church, and the Pope who came to regard himself as supreme, with the elevation of false laws and corrupt traditions that always results from setting aside the law of God.
We must read the Bible and cleanse ourselves from any of the paganism and false worship especially the pagan festivals or "Holy Days" that have been spread into many churches beliefs. The Protestant churches that split from and began the Reformation because they saw the truth and fought so hard against the pagan Papal Roman church are now falling one by one to even worse beliefs in secularism and paganism. Slowly but surely they are giving up the true beliefs that were their foundation untlil they become nothing but secular social clubs with pagan traditions and festivals.
Last edited:
