timeline history of false doctrine

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!

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