How The Church Began - A Christian's Handbook, #1 - E-book - ePub

This is book 1 of a 3 book series. It answers questions many Christians have but not known where to look. Chapter 1 is "Our Responsibility To God." The question here is how can I be sure that I'll end up in Heaven? People hope that good works will get them there. Yet the Bible says, "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6 NIV). Your good works are important to God. But only the ones His Spirit leads you to do! "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).
Chapter 2 is "Passing The Buck." It deals with the excuses people use to escape taking responsibility for their mistakes. They pass the blame along to someone else. This won't work with God. If someone else does wrong, they will answer to God for it. If you sin against Him, you will answer to Him for it! Chapter 3 is "God Deals With Nations." It discusses the degeneration of the human race from the time of Adam.
And how his descendants formed tribes that sinned against God and spread all over the earth. True enlightenment didn't come until missionaries began to travel throughout the world spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, God did bless some pagan nations because He had a purpose in it. Chapter 4 is "Church History." If you have wondered why there are so many denominations and different doctrines, this chapter explains it.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV). And He has only one opinion on each issue. That leads us into Chapter 5, "Churchianity." That's the reason for the discrepancy in doctrine! Paul told the church, "Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:30 NIV). Too many ministers want glory for themselves.
And they use the pulpit to achieve it. Chapter 6 is "Catholic Missionaries Worldwide." It explains how the Roman Empire, which had originally been persecuting the church, reversed its strategy. Under Emperor Constantine, the church became politicized. Mixing the teachings of Christ and the Apostles with pagan beliefs was found to be a good way of influencing other nations. And it worked! The Roman Empire began to spread over much of Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Chapter 7 is "God's Global Strategy." It explains why certain cultures have been blessed by the Lord even when they were not serving Him. It discusses prophecy that the angel Gabriel gave to Daniel which has already come true. And how angels and demons influence people and help them achieve greatness or destruction. This theme leads right into chapter 8, "To Give God Glory." It gives specific examples of nations that were greatly blessed so that God could achieve His ultimate goal.
That is to bring as many people as possible to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord wants to show us how much He wants to raise us up to greatness when we are willing to love Him and put Him first. The British Empire is given as an example. It discusses how England was once a pagan nation greatly influenced by the Druid religion which involved witchcraft and human sacrifice. Yet through Christian theologians like Wesley and Tyndale it became great.
It eventually became so powerful that it was said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Yet today England has begun to revert to its past with witchcraft and pagan doctrines. Consequently, it has lost much of the land and prestige it once had when it gave glory to God.