| "...The
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18). These
words were spoken by none other than our Lord Jesus Christ after His apostle,
Simon Peter, had correctly identified who Jesus really was, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God." In response to that answer as to who
Simon recognized Jesus to be, Jesus had told him he was blessed and that
upon the rock of truth that Jesus is indeed Christ, the Son of the Living
God, He, Jesus, would build His church and that even the very gates of
hell would not be able to withstand that truth. For the first 150
years of the new Church of Jesus Christ, the original Apostles' doctrine
remained fairly consistent and unchanged. However, as the original Apostled
died or were martyred, other beliefs which had been somewhat bothersome
in the Apostle Paul's day (necessitating exhortations like Galatians
1:8,9; 2 Timothy 4:3 and otherrs) began to prevail.
But ever since Athanatius of Alexandria
in Egypt became a power in the Fourth Century church, it may seem that
the gates of hell have indeed prevailed. As a young man, Athanatius studied
at the University in Alexandria where he learned the pagan Babylonish trinity
religion of Nimrod, Samaramis and Tamus[z]. Still searching, not satisfied,
he studied the Egyptian trinity of Osiris and the Greek and Roman religions
of many gods with a trinity at the top which included the Greek Zeus and
the Roman Jupiter. Last, he tried to join the Christian church in
Alexandria, but after a brief time of acceptance as a new believer, his
efforts to interject the pagan religions he was already familiar with into
the church doctrine brought eviction.
But whatever else he was, Athanatius
was a politician. He got the ear of first one and then another of the newer
believers and convinced them that his way was right. (I am reminded of
"The
Testimony of Joseph Smith", pamphlet of the Mormons in which
that Smith admits setting out to found a religion that met his own beliefs).
Athanatius then built up a following until he was able not only to rejoin
the Church in Alexandria, but had the votes to become a leader in it.
His famed silver-tongued oratory soon pushed his trinitarian ideas until
they gradually overwhelmed the original Apostolic beliefs.
In 325 A.D., Emperor Constantine,
who had joined the Roman Church then made himself its head, realizing that
the Christian churches were becoming fragmented with various of what the
Apostle Paul had earlier described as "winds of doctrine" ordered church
leaders to meet in what became known as the Council of Nicæa. There
with his head, Bishop Alexander, Athanatius pushed his trinitarian doctrines
so persuasively and with others who had already become his followers and
a reputed fist fight with Arius outside at one point in the deliberations,
that the council ended by making his trinitarian heresy the official church
doctrine. |
Later, as Modalism,
a doctrine similar to, but not fully accepted today as identical to the
original Apostles' doctrine began to regain some acceptance, so the Council
of Constantinople was convened in 381 A. D. There, the Cappadocian Fathers
were able to reinforce Athanatius' teachings and clearly, the gates of
hell did prevail, but against what? Not the original Apostles' doctrine,
but a watered-down version of it. Thereafter, Modalists and those
who insisted upon original Apostolic teaching practices and power were
banned from the official "ChristianÆ church, which in reality was
no more Christian but Athanatian. The "Roman Catholic Church" really
has no right to call itself Christian, but is in fact, Athanatian. Nor
do other break-offs from the Catholic church, the so-called Protestant,
fundamental, evangelical and trinity Pentecostal churches who follow the
doctrine of Athanatius rather than of the original Apostles.
But I am not bringing this message
to denounce the followers of Athanatius masquerading as Bible-believing
Christians, but rather to point out that many are seeing the truth independently
in their own Bible studies and are casting off the trinity heresy. The
gates of hell cannot prevail if those of us who know and have received
the truthfulness of the Bible as the divinely inspired word of God will
boldly declare it. I know of a missionary who was in Africa under
an old-line trinitariaan denominational sponsorship who just by studying
the Bible with a sincere desire to know and obey it exactly came to the
realization that God is One great Holy Spirit who robed Himself in the
flesh of man to become the person who could pay the price and ransom all
humanity from sin. He is now ministering in the NorthWestern United states
and has ministered in the Philippines and I believe, in Colombia or Ecuador,
South America. Since I began this internet ministry in May 1999,
I have had correspondence with an Episcopalian pastor in the MidWest and
a professor of Theology on the East Coast who also have come to understand
the original Apostolic doctrines primarily through prayer and Bible reading
and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
No, if those of us who see the original
Apostolic doctrines, those preached by Peter, Paul, James, described as
the Lord's brother and John, who wrote the Gospel of John, the three
Epistles of John and Revelation and, if literary style is taken into consideration,
probably also the Epistle to the Hebrews, will be BOLD, be STRONG, for
the Lord our God is with thee, then we can and will crush the gates of
hell that are entrapping the trinitarians, setting them free and bringing
them out of mystery, a doctrine they must learn "apologetics" for, and
giving them new power and authority in their preaching and teaching, because
they now know who Jesus is!
Please see: Questions
Trinitarians Cannot Answer.
— S. M. S.
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