What started as a movement in 35 AD with a dozen ragtag Galilean fishers who grew it into an empire-wide operation within a few centuries.
WHO STARTED THE MOVEMENT?
A Jew named Jesus kicked it off. He said that everybody could become a Christian, regardless of class, race, or gender. Forgiveness of sins and life after death was the offer on the table. This offer took the Greco-Roman world by storm. This was followed by converting the entire Roman empire itself (with a few bumps in the road along the way).
Before they got started, their leader checked out by dying, got buried, and checked back in, all over a weekend. He left a few weeks later, with the promise that He’d be back, one more time again. He instructed them to spread the word far and wide. They made no small plans and got to work.
They were selling a compassionate God who had provided forgiveness of sins pathway so that you could get back to where you once belonged. They called their story “GOOD NEWS” has just come to town. People liked what they heard.
They then rolled it out to most of the Eastern hemisphere within the first thousand years. They had to wait for the Western hemisphere to be discovered before they annexed that real estate also. They made no small plans. Christianity was the name, and conquest was the game. There were some trials and tribulations along the way,
CHRISTIANITY FIRST 500 YEARS:
coming soon
They were selling a compassionate God who had provided forgiveness of sins pathway so that you could get back to where you once belonged. They called their story “GOOD NEWS” has just come to town. People liked what they heard. Help showed up after Saul became Paul on the road to Damascus, out on highway 61.
Saul, the Pharisee, started killing their initial converts big time. Saul was on his way to Damascus, out on Highway 61, when God showed up. Damascus was a target-rich city because many Christians had fled to Syria beyond the Roman and Jewish reach.
What started as a movement in 35 AD with a dozen ragtag Galilean fishers who grew it into an empire-wide operation within a few centuries.
They were selling a compassionate God who had provided forgiveness of sins pathway so that you could get back to where you once belonged. They called their story “GOOD NEWS” has just come to town. People liked what they heard. Help showed up after Saul became Paul on the road to Damascus, out on highway 61.
THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY BY 1050 AD:
2000 YEARS LATER: SOME OF THE ORIGINAL COUNTRIES HAVE CONVERTED TO ISLAM OR JUST SLIPPED AWAY.
ISLAM STARTED 600 YEARS AFTER CHRISTIANITY:
COMING SOON:
After the divine intervention, Saul decided to stop the killing and become a Christian named Paul. Paul was a highly educated Jew. He was a Roman citizen who wrote and spoke Greek. The disciples were suspicious of Saul’s conversion to become Paul. This was significant because it caused Paul to evangelize throughout the eastern Mediterranean. ..
Paul’s first missionary trip had mixed results. He discovered that many Jewish communities were resistant to his Jesus saves message. However, many Gentiles were receptive. Paul welcomed Gentile recruits without requiring them to adopt the 613 Jewish commandments.
On Paul’s second journey, Barnabas returned to Cyprus, and Paul returned to Asia Minor, visiting the churches that he had established and opening others. Paul then crossed the Aegean Sea to start churches in Greece. Luke joined Paul’s group; they then found churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Athens.
Jesus’ teachings continued to spread like wildfire throughout the area. He liked to write. He converted some Jews along the way, but his focus was to convert all gentiles. With its ten commandments, the Jewish Old Testament was still in, but the Jewish 613 commandments from the Torah and circumcision were out. Paul was off and running.
Paul started crafting a New Testament with a Good News message baked in it. Sixty-six books became the Christian bible. (Vague beginning, weird ending, with a strong statement in the middle). He started out establishing seven churches in what is Turkey today. He wrote letters (epistles) to them to help them along. Each letter became a book in the New Testament.
THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANITY:
The period of early Christianity during the lifetime of the apostles is called the Apostolic Age.
During the first century AD, the apostles were established throughout the territories of the Roman Empire. Additionally, churches throughout the Middle East, Africa, and India.
Jesus initially sends the apostles out in pairs.
Their initial instructions were to heal the sick and to drive out demons.
Later, they were commissioned to preach the gospel to all nations, both Jew and Gentile.
The original material on Paul can be found in the Book of Acts and the Pauline epistles.
Paul went on three great mission campaigns. (see the maps below).
The household of God was built on apostles and prophets, with Jesus being the cornerstone.
Paul accomplished the conversion of the Gentile world.
Simon, Andrew, James, and John were recruited by Jesus shortly after Jesus returned from being tempted by the devil.
Peter (Simon) and Andrew had been disciples of John the Baptist.
Jesus also recruited the two brothers
James and John. Both were fishermen.
He then added Matthew, Mark, and Judas, son of James.
Followed by Bartholomew, Thomas, and Judas Iscariot. (who became a traitor.)
Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot.
Matthias was chosen, by rolling the dice, between the ascension of Christ and Pentecost.
Christ commissioned Paul ( a Jew named Saul of Tarsus) on the road to Damascus. He was called by the resurrected Jesus, who converted Saul on the spot.
Along with his mentor Barnabas and his doctor Luke, Paul set out to convert the Gentiles, along with any Jews.
Christian tradition, handed down, states that all by John were martyred.
However, the early church believed that only Paul, Peter, and James were the only martyred ones.
The seventy disciples in Eastern Christian traditions were the early emissaries of Jesus. They were mentioned in Luke.
THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY BY 1050 AD:
2000 YEARS LATER: SOME OF THE ORIGINAL COUNTRIES HAVE CONVERTED TO ISLAM OR JUST SLIPPED AWAY.
Then morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot.
A modern-day Apostle in the tradition of the Apostolic-Prophetic movement is “called and sent by Christ to have the spiritual authority, character, gifts, and abilities to successfully reach and establish people in Kingdom truth and order, especially through founding and overseeing local churches.”
While a disciple is a student who learns from a teacher, an apostle is sent to deliver those teachings to others. “Apostle” means messenger, he who is sent. An apostle is sent to provide or spread those teachings to others. … We can say that all apostles were disciples, but all disciples are not apostles.
TRAVELS OF PAUL AND THE APOSTLES.
The canonized books of the New Testament are 27 books written by 14 or 15 authors. All were written between 40 AD to 100 AD. All books were written in Greek. Jews living in Palestine spoke Aramaic. There are four groupings of books in the New Testament: The four Gospels, Acts, 21 Epistles, and Revelations. 25 to 35 other books were not canonized. The Gospel of John is different; the other three are synoptic. The four Gospels are the GOOD NEWS saga. The Gospels are passionate (to suffer) narratives with a point of view (good news). The Good News is the message of Jesus, the Christ or Messiah — God’s ruler promised by the Scriptures — specifically, the coming Kingdom of God, his death on the cross and resurrection to restore people’s relationship with God, the descent of the Holy Spirit on believers as the helper.
All four gospels were written in the third person. The authors of the gospels were highly educated, Greek-speaking Christians of a later generation. (This would exclude the apostles, who were peasants from Galilee who spoke Aramaic and couldn’t read or write). The Gospels were written from oral traditions. All of the miracles are in the gospel of John. The other three do not contain miracles. Study each of the gospels on their own. They are different accounts of Jesus, with different perspectives.
Good News missionaries converted a family or two, then that family converted others, decade after decade. The good news message sold well, with a word of the mouth marketing plan.
Repent, and belief were the requirements. The Word was God. I am that I am.
Pauline epistles: Most scholars agree that Paul wrote seven of the Pauline epistles, but four of the epistles in Paul’s name are pseudepigraphy (Ephesians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus) and that two other epistles are of questionable authorship (Second Thessalonians and Colossians).
