Christian Development.
Christian development under the name of Catholicism developed slowly taking a step at a time towards the completion of the basic Christian foundation with its importance placed on predestination, original sin, the trinity, the incarnation, the sacrifice by God of a Son for the sins of mankind, and the resurrection. The new resurrection cult rapidly divided into quarreling sects- numbered nearly ninety by Augustine’s time, every step of the way was marked by disunity, double-crossing, and even bloodshed. These activities were so ferocious that the emperor Julian was moved to describe Christian theologians divided by dogma or opinions as being worse than savage beasts. As a result he tried to restore paganism. (Roman Emperor Julian ruled 361-363. Tried to restore paganism after the adoption of Christianity by Constantine. Julian proceeded to Constantinople now Istanbul and Antioch where he reinstated the Greco-Roman gods, organising it on the pattern of the Christian Church. His reign was cut short when he was killed in fighting the Persians in Mesopotamia on June 26th 363.)
For hundreds of years to follow, the Catholics continued to rework, expand and fine tune the results of their labour, in addition to arguing over dogmatic new ideas such as purgatory, indulgences, limbo (the abode after death of unbaptised infants), the immaculate conception, the bodily ascent of the virgin Mary unto heaven and the method of operation to be employed by inquisitors during the questioning and torturing of witches, heretics, and heathens.
Catholicism began with the conviction that "all the kingdoms of the world" were under the possession and control of Satan but when the Emperor Constantine marched triumphantly into Rome, the hierarchy quickly came to realise that the Roman idea of the State-government and religion should be one, was not such an evil idea after all. As the popular story goes Constantine saw the Cross-of Jesus and he heard his voice, just like Saul had supposedly heard on the road to Damascus. This well known message among Christian historians " In this sign you will conquer." On the following day October 28th 312 common era, Constantine triumphed, and according to legend, the power of Jesus had carried him to victory. From that moment on Rome would be Christianised.
Fifteen months later Silvester, crowned by Constantine, became Pope. The first secular Pope, Silvester was wise enough to know that a bond forged between Church and Empire that would allow Christianity to be cherished as sacred in every corner of Rome’s vast domain would lead to the establishment of the first worldwide Church. With the power of Rome behind him, the supposed Jesus Christ could reign throughout the world, even before the supposed Second Coming. Christianity was a struggling religion up until this time. Constantine embraced Christianity for the sole purpose of enhancing his own power, and it didn’t take him long to realise that additional benefits could be gained from his comfortable relationship with this new theocracy. He and his successors were made divine by the Senate; and with the Emperor Gratian the custom ceased, the Christian emperors were for some time afterwards still spoken of as gods. The "apostolic faith" that came to be known as Christianity was not the religion of Philo and his students, nor that of Stephen and Saul and their disciples. Instead everything that had been achieved during the first century was swallowed up by the mysteries of Catholicism- the Christ of the Apostle’s Creed, ‘the only Son of God the Father Almighty’… the ‘Christ of the Nicene Creed,’ ‘Very God of Very God, being of one substance with the Father.’… and the Christ of the Athanasian Creed, ‘at once perfect God and perfect man’- with the long dead prophet of the first century having been transformed into the Alexandrian Christ. What was achieved was not the gathering of the Gentile world into religious dogma of Jewish Greek Hellenism but an overthrow of the very basis of that Gospel, with the word "faith" coming to be transferred from a simple trust in one good and loving god to the acceptance of a series of complex propositions. Once their saviour god had been created, the Catholic Christians recognised him as the divine head of their mystery cult, and themselves as his originators, as well as God’s chosen people, and they declared that their faith was nothing less than a continuation and fulfillment of the covenant history portrayed in the scriptures. The Word of God is a single, cumulative stream of revelation… The supreme revelation of God in the Christ…We know God in Christ and through Christ…All wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and in all wisdom there is fulfillment of the law. The descriptive word "Christ" was then turned into a proper name, with Jesus the Christ becoming Jesus Christ. Many minds working under an obsessive religious impulse created the legend of the preexistent god who descended from heaven in order to become a sacrificial goat for humanity. All of this was achieved with "baggage brought from the pagan cults and mysteries."
During the 16th century Roman Catholic Europe underwent several drastic changes as Protestant reform movements swept throughout the continents amid much bloodshed. The Roman Catholic Church and its ruling papacy could not withstand the onslaught of reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. Though the Catholic Church launched a strong Counter Reformation, it never regained the territories it lost during the 16th and 17th centuries. Today many Protestant Churches look upon the initiators of Christianity (Roman Catholic Church) as the antichrist. Today we still have Catholicism, Protestantism that consists of many denominations, Pentecostalism, also of many factions, plus many various sects and cults who can not agree with the supposed word of God. (The bible) With so much confusion emanating from all of these Churches, I believe that believers should stop and ask themselves why?
Jim Lee. 2001