Church History - Ephesus vs. Rome

We're going to have a PowerPoint sermon, so you'll be able to see the maps of the history of the original church. And actually, this is the second part of maps that we have. The first sermon I'm going to change to an introduction. So then, we had part one last week, and now we have part two as we're going through church history. And we're doing it through maps, which is much better because it's graphic. And you can go ahead and see what is going on. So I just would like to highlight again, real quickly, the previous slides that we have.

So we have reviewed how two main and opposing churches developed in the first three centuries. So we are going to continue with this series now. So one started in Jerusalem and ended up in Ephesus, and the other one in that area of Israel. Not necessarily in Jerusalem, more like Samaria, but from Samaria it went to Rome. Next slide.

The main churches of the Genoaian faith were in Jerusalem, as it tells us in Acts. That's where they received the Holy Spirit. At Antioch, which is north of there, you have many scriptures mentioning how important that place was. That was sort of like the home office where Paul would get together. And Ephesus, where Paul spent two years, and eventually the Apostle John, who was the last surviving Apostle, settled there. Continuing on, we have then that most early church historians consider Simon Magus as the originator of false churches.

And in Acts 8, you have the history of this Simon Magus, Simon the Magician. He was actually baptized into the church, but then he was rejected because he wanted to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, one thing if you notice, where I have the Acts 8 quote, at the very end I have the first footnote. So, this has evolved now into a series where I'm not just going to have maps, but then I'm going to have the resources where you can go and see the actual documents that back this up. So, what is happening is that I'm going to develop a booklet on the history of God's original church.

Now, this is more of a local production. It's not to go out and it's just like a Bible study tool that you will have. But it will comprise of two parts, which are the maps at the beginning, all the maps we're going to go through, and then the footnotes goes into in-depth into the sources.

So that if you ever want to explain it, you have all the sources there. That's very important to provide the background and the resources behind it. Let's continue the next slide. Here is where we get a false church guided by Satan. He would plant his counterfeit system, primarily in Rome. It says, according to numerous early church historians, Simon Magus went to Rome in AD 45. He began a false Christianity there, a mixture of Samaritan and Christian beliefs, including immortality of the soul and Sunday keeping, the octet. So again, that would be footnote number two.

Now I'm going to go and provide you with all the information. So you want to know what the octet is or something? Where it originated? I'm going to bring that to the fore. You're going to have available. And then, the second number from church records, it is likely Simon Magus started the quote, mystery of lawlessness. He spawned what would become moderate and extreme Gnostics. The Catholic Church is an example of a moderate Gnostic Church.

And so I have another footnote that you can go and have all the background information and resources you need. Okay, let's go to the next one. Now what happened while Simon Magus goes to Rome, sets up shop there? The church, of course, was headed from Jerusalem, but in 69 AD, the church, after being miraculously warned, fled to Pella. These were thousands of Jewish Christians. These were all the people of the original church in Jerusalem that still survived.

And of course, their families as they grew. And they fled to Pella in AD 69. And it's interesting that the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70 AD. But they didn't only destroy Jerusalem. They wiped out just about every town and city in Israel. Because all of the Judeans, all of the Israelites, they rose up. And all the towns were fortified. And so look how God prepared.

Because if the church would have fled to another town in Israel, which would have been west of the Jordan River, they would have been caught in the trap as well of the Romans. So they fled to this area, to the east of the Jordan River, where they had the Decapolis, which were ten Gentile cities that were planted there by the Romans. And those were not touched by the Romans.

And so just about the only group that survived that first war of the Jews were the Jewish Christians that were taken to a place of safety by God. So as you can notice, I'm going to footnote that as well. The flight to Pella, what happened there? And then when they came back to Jerusalem, what happened?

So the next slide says around AD 80, both Peter and Paul were dead. And the church in Jerusalem, when they returned from Pella, was very restricted. So the Romans, of course, still identified them as Jews. They didn't care whether you were a Jewish Christian or not. And so everything was controlled by the Romans. The Apostle John, who was the last surviving Apostle, realized he couldn't do his job from Jerusalem.

And there were all of these other churches outside of Israel that had to be taken care of. And so he chose Ephesus to go to take care of the churches there and make it the center of freer activities. Antioch was another secondary place as well. That church continued to thrive. So then we go to the next slide. This was the area around where the Apostle John had established, with the number one being Ephesus. That was the main city of the Gospel spreading in that area, which Paul had of course established before.

So it wasn't Rome. We don't see John consulting with Rome or going to Rome. That was the chief pagan city. Whereas Ephesus had already been well established by the Apostle Paul. And it had thriving communities there. Many of the Jewish Christians from Pella also went with the Apostle John. We know Philip, one of the Apostles as well, went with them. And just like in Revelation 1, it tells us that when John sees the Ennivision, who is Jesus Christ, he has in his hands the seven churches. It doesn't talk about Rome and other places, but these are the ones that Christ is in the midst of guiding and developing. And it's not just that local congregation there. They would be the eras where Christ was going to still be in the middle of them until he returned. These seven churches would faithfully describe the history of the main events of the church from the time of Pentecost, AD 31, to Christ's return. That is the best we understand, what we have taught consistently over decades. Continuing the next slide, by AD 150, the Roman church had strayed so much from the truth that Polycarp, John's successor, and living in nearby Smyrna, went to Rome to correct the wrong way to keep the Passover. The bishop of Rome, Anasidas, did not obey Polycarp or give up Easter, which is Easter Sunday, but went along out of respect for him. So he yielded to Polycarp, and he celebrated the Passover on the 14th with Polycarp.

He kept it, but as soon as Polycarp left, he went back to his old ways. I have a footnote there, so I'll give you the background history of all of that. The next slide.

This is the second big clash between Rome and Ephesus, around 190 AD. Around 8190, Victor, the bishop in Rome, sent a letter excommunicating the churches with Ephesus at its center. Polycarp's successor rode back, refusing to change the date of the Passover. In other words, refusing to keep Easter Sunday. Victor relented under the pressure of the other churches, and lifted excommunication. Excommunication is you are barred from communicating with the church everywhere else. It's the closing of the doors to all of the churches that were in the east. Number two, here on the map, I read that excerpt from the letter of Polycarpus, Bishop of Ephesus, to Victor, Bishop of Rome. It shows he was truly converted. The Polycarpites answered him so perfectly, going back to all this historical record from Jesus Christ to the apostles, and then to Polycarp, and finally to him. So this is recognized as a truth. Church historians know that. I have one of the church histories, which is called the Early Church, by Henry Chadwick. He says there, when he's discussing this, he says, well, the ones who were right were not supported, and they eventually became the persecuted ones. So he says, the church that kept the Passover, they were the ones that were left behind because they weren't going to conform to these new teachings. He says it very clearly. Let's go to the next slide.

So there is a clash of doctrinal differences in the first three centuries. Doctrinal differences between Rome and Ephesus had to do with Rome keeping Sunday Easter, immortality of the soul, no biblical food laws, and a primitive version of the Trinity. So they already had all of their new teachings, not based on the Bible, based on the mixture of Bible and Greek and Babylonian philosophy. So I have a footnote. I'm going to give you all that information as well. During this time, the most common name for them, talking about the church, was Nazarene. The same name used in Acts 24.5. Let me read to you Acts 24.5, because that's another name of the church.

Acts 24. Now, it was not used by them, the church itself, but used by others. 24.5, it says, for we have found this man, talking about Paul, a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. So this is where you see the names of those that didn't go along with Rome.

So I'll give you background information there as well. Let's go to the next slide. We consider the tenth and final Roman persecution that lasted ten years, especially around the region of Ephesus, to be a fulfillment of Revelation 2.10. The ten days Christ told them they would suffer, applying the day for a year prophetic principle in Numbers 14.34 and Ezekiel 4.6. So let me look at Revelation 2.10. See again, these different churches that were local congregations, he says they were going to go through this big persecution, but it had to do with, in the future, Notice in Revelation 2.10, it says, Do not fear, talking to the church in the Smyrna era, do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. It's important that it's not the Romans. The devil is using the Romans to carry out things, but he's behind these orders to throw you into prison that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Again, instead of, well, ten days is just a week and a half, virtually. This was talking about ten years. Do we find in church history a terrible persecution, especially in that area of Ephesus? You bet we do.

Emperor Diocletian was the one that ordered the persecution from 303 to 313 AD. Ten years. It was the worst of all. The churches were taken over, documents were destroyed. If you had a book, if you had a Bible, that was a criminal offense. Let's go to the next. I've got a couple of footnotes there as well. The worst persecutions took place in Asia Minor. Here we go. We're still in the second era because the Apostolic Era ended with the death of the Apostle John, around 95 or 100 AD. With that, the original apostles were all dead. You start with an era with the successors, those who were taught by the apostles. Polycarp is one of them, Polycrates. So now we're in the Smyrna Era, the second one. That's where there would be a ten-year persecution that would take place. It says, the apostasy was growing, the falling away. Now Emperor Constantine sided with the Catholic Church. Sunday worship was officially decreed in AD 321. Then in AD 325, the Council of Nicaea began the great persecution against the true Church. We consider this begins the 1260 years, again a day for a year of prophecy, in Revelation 12.6. The time of the Dark Ages for the Church, 325 to 1585. So you have 1260 years, which is the period of the Middle Ages, also called the Dark Ages, where basically the Catholic Church is able to control historic events in Europe and the Middle East. It was only after 1585 that Sabbath keepers emerged again because they were no longer being hounded by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church in 1585 backed the King of Spain, Philip II, and with a war against England. How many have seen that movie Elizabeth I? If you see that, where they're facing that Spanish armada is that period of time of the English-Spanish War. And the Spanish were defeated, and it broke the back not only of the Spanish Empire, but of the Catholic papal power. He no longer could use the Spanish, which were their spearhead, into conquest. And with that, it broke. And now England was free. You could have religious toleration. You weren't going to be thrown into the Inquisition or a crusade against you. And so Sabbath keepers have existed, but they had to go underground until this time. So in 325 AD, with intense persecution around Ephesus, the church flees to Armenia and northern Europe. This is the beginning of the Pergamos era, 325 AD. It's a period of time when the woman flees into the wilderness. I also have footnoted that, so you'll have background information. Let's go to the next one. So now the church is in the area that is fleeing into Armenia and, like you said, some northwestern part of Europe. Around AD 650, Constantine of Mananali headed what were called the Paulicians, who kept the same teachings as the original church. Let me read to you from just some of the sources. You can look up the Paulicians. The primitive Baptist library has this on the Paulicians. About the year 653 AD, a body of religious dissenters, that means those that weren't going along with the Catholic church, came into notice in Armenia, came to the notice of the Catholic church. Under the name of Paulicians, a man by the name of Constantine resided in the city of Mananali in Armenia. And then it says here, the distinctive character of the doctrine of the Paulicians was the rejection of the worship of the Virgin Mary, the saints, and the cross, the denial of the material presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In other words, the thought that bread doesn't turn into literally the body of Christ as the Catholic church teaches.

So the denial of the material, it doesn't change. That bread doesn't change. And the assertion of a right freely to search the Scriptures. That's from Chambers Encyclopedia. So we trace Constantine the Manali as one of those that was in the area and became one of the chief leaders. Only one of their books survives to this day. It's called The Key of Truth, written around 800 AD when the Paulicians thrived. And it teaches, it has mentioning their beliefs and practices. By the way, this is a free PDF file online if you want to just download that Key of Truth and go over it. Because it's the only one that survived all the books that were written during those hundreds of years. Let's continue. So here we have the way the church from Armenia with the Paulicians, they were in that area far from the power of the Roman Empire. Remember that the Muslims took over this area in the 600s as well and sort of protected the church from the Catholic persecutions. But of course, the Muslims also were trying to get them to be converted to Muslims, so that was a big pressure. After centuries of persecutions, most Paulicians were deported from 752 to the 860s. A Byzantine empress, Theodora, reportedly had 100,000 of them killed. So all the writings, all the brethren. So the church has always been small. Anytime it's grown very much, some things happen to whittle it down. The rest were sent to the area of Thrace, which is northern Greece, and Bulgaria. So you see there how they're going now westward, slowly into Europe. I'll also provide background information there. And then, let me... Yes. Once they are in the area of Bulgaria, this group of Paulicians is given another name. Let's go to... This is the last slide we have. From Bulgaria, the Paulicians now named Boglemils. So in church history, they are called Boglemils, which means Friends of God. Are we friends of God? Yes, we are. That's not our name, but certainly we consider God as a friend. They were pushed up in the 1800s, mainly to the area of northern Italy and southern France. So you see how they're all coming? Different names. They're sometimes called Waldens or Cathars. Cathars comes from the word pure. They have a pure Christianity. And so the Pergamos era, we consider from 325 AD, goes all the way to 1100, which begins the new era. The era that would have a great work in the Middle Ages with Peter Waldo and the Waldensians are about to emerge from the Paulicians, the Boglemils. Now it's the next church leader that God raises up, around 1100 AD. They're all using rosaries, the cross, images, and they keep the Sabbath. Notice what I got this source from the book Sabbath in the Eastern Church from Andrews University, 2007. This is what it says. Like the Paulicians, the Boglemils also stressed the law of Moses with the exception of sacrifices. They didn't have to keep sacrifices. And accordingly, these are the Boglemils. If you were to bet them back in the 900s or 1000 AD, they abstained from the unclean meats and observed the Sabbath as a day of rest. They disbelieved, or not believed, in the Trinity, but accepted Christ as divine. That's a description of us, too.

But this is a thousand years ago that you saw the church still going forward with the truth. So I'd like to end with two scriptures. One is 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 9 and 10. Second Thessalonians 2, verse 9 and 10, it says, The coming of the lawless one. He's the one that's coming from all the way from Simon Magus to our present time. They also have had successors from the time of Simon Magus. The lawless one is according to the workings of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So what does this church have? It doesn't have great money, doesn't have great power, it's not influential. It has the love of the truth in them. That is something that's vital, and it is important, and it is a priority in their lives. Not to compromise with the love of truth. And what is truth? Some people don't know what you're to love. John 17, verse 17, thy word is truth. The Scriptures are truth. That's what separates us from the world. So with those two Scriptures, you can see and trace the history of God's original church.

So we're going to have others speak next week, but I plan afterwards to continue with what is part three, where we're now in Central Europe, and what the work of the Waldensians do at that time, which was the most powerful work since the time of the apostles.