Christian Religions in America

Christian Religions

In

America

J H Ellison

Copyright © 2015 J H Ellison

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Forward

Chapter 1

Religious History

Chapter 2

Catholic Church

Pope

Patriarchs

Cardinals

The Apostle's Creed

The Our Father

The Doxology

The Hail Mary

Chapter 3

Methodism

Methodist splinter churches

Methodist Protestant Church

Wesleyan Church

Free Methodist Church

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Chapter 4

Protestant Episcopal Church USA

Salvation Army

Chapter 5

Lutheran Church

Chapter 6

Calvinism

Presbyterian Church

Chapter 7

Anabaptist

Mennonites

Amish

Hutterite

Chapter 8

Church of the Brethren

Quakers

Chapter 9

Baptist Church

Free Will Baptist

Chapter 10

Pentecostalism

Pentecostal [Holy Rollers]

Pentecostal [Snake Handling]

Chapter 11

Assemblies of God

Nazarene Church

Church of the Foursquare Gospel

Chapter 12

Churches of Christ

Discipleship

Sermon on the Plain

Chapter 13

Congregational Church

Unitarian Church

Jehovah's Witnesses

Chapter 14

Advent Christian Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

Davidian Seventh-day Adventist

Branch Davidians

Chapter 15

Evangelicalism

Evangelical Church

Evangelical Free Church of America

Megachurches

Chapter 16

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Chapter 17

Historical Views

Discussion of Old Testament Books

New Testament

Intriguing Bible Verses Reviewed

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Forward

The goal of this book is to allow all Christians to understand the beliefs of other Christian faiths, not to justify a certain faith, but to understand how and why they came about.

Those that claim to be Christians indicate they accept Christ as the Messiah. Various faiths come about by those that try to understand the Will of God by interpreting the meanings written in the bible. The King James Version is the most widely accepted version of the Bible.

All Christian faiths need to work together for the common goal of Christianity, a stalwart front against those that would destroy all those that profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. Christian faiths need to follow Jesus' advice given in the Bible in Mark 9: 38-40 and in Luke 9:49-50, "and John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us; we forbad him, because he followeth not us.

But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.

For he that is not against us is on our part.

This indicates that the various faiths trying to understand God's Will are on a good path, whether they choose scripture from Christ's Sermon on the Mount, Acts of the Apostles, Four gospels or from His many parables.

Many are unaware that each individual has the promise of self-revelation from God. This promise is found in James 1: 5-7 which states, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the seas driven with the wind and tossed.

For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."

Sincere prayer in seeking truth, willing to give up all to have an answer, will be answered. God knows when a person is sincere. He wants humans to use their intelligence to make a decision, and then ask for conformation.

The War in Heaven was a battle between those that followed Christ and those that followed Satan. Today Christians are being killed, innocent men, women and children, because they are followers of Christ. It is a war between good and evil. Only one's faith may sustain them during these trying times.

Knowledge of Bible scriptures, following the wisdom given therein, has helped many over the ages to get through difficult times.

Chapter 1

Religious History

Major motivations for immigrating to America are: freedom to put creative minds at work and achieve a higher standard of living, religious freedom to worship what they believe, and land ownership.

The basis for Christian religion is the belief that the accounts given in the bible are true. The Bible is a compilation of several books [accounts given by men of God--His spokesmen]. Some dispute the Bible as a work of fiction. However archeological digs, following descriptions in the Bible, are locating proofs of biblical accounts from ancient writings.

Finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, meticulously copied accounts by previous Hebrew Holy Men, hidden from the Roman conquerors by the Essenes around 68 AD, is the basis from which the Bible was written. There are several Bibles and differing canons that have been written over time. Canons are rules.

There were three Jewish religions in the first Century: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. The Pharisees were flexible in their scriptural interpretations, and willing to adapt the law to changing circumstances. They believed oral as well as written law as being divine. It came to represent the Jewish majority by the first century.

The Sadducees were priestly and aristocratic families who interpreted the law more literally than the Pharisees. They dominated Temple worship and its rites. The Essenes were a separate group that were more monastic, sharing material possessions, occupied themselves with disciplined study, worship and work, practiced ritual immersion and ate their meals communally.

It is believed the Essenes, in writing the Dead Sea Scrolls, faithfully copied earlier written works, word by word, believing that to err was sinful. With the Roman and Jewish war, called the Great Jewish Revolt, the Essenes hid the scrolls called the Essenes' library, in a series of caves to keep the pagan Roman army from finding and destroying them.

In cave five at Qumran, scholars were amazed to find an immense library of biblical manuscripts that contained every single copy of the Old Testament, with the exception being the Book of Esther.

There were multiple copies of Genesis, Deuteronomy and Isaiah found in cave four. Scholars discovered that the Hebrew manuscript copies of the most authoritative Hebrew text, Textus Recepticus, used by the King James translators in 1611, were virtually identical to the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 1991, the world was astonished to hear that one of the unpublished scrolls included references to a Messiah who suffered crucifixion for the sins of men. This scroll was translated by Dr. Robert Eisenman, Professor of Middle East Religions at California State University. Only a small percentage of the scrolls have been translated, since their pieces have to be assembled like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

From the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible gets the Hebrew written Old Testament. The first human author is believed to be Moses around 1400 BCE. He's considered to be the author of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, recorded in his native ancient Hebrew.

In 586 BC, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and the Jews taken into captivity. During their captivity they learned to speak Aramaic. Parts of the Book of Daniel, in mid-to late 500 BC, is written in Aramaic. The last book in the Old Testament, Malachi, was written around 425 BC in Hebrew.

Other writers of the Old Testament also wrote in Hebrew, later translated into Greek. In the time of Jesus, Aramaic was widely spoken. With the conquest of Alexander the Great, Greek became the widely spoken language throughout Alexander's empire, which included the area of the Jews. Some Jews had trouble understanding their ancient Hebrew language.

The Septuagint, meaning seventy, was the effort of Hebrew scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Koine Greek, a language widely used at the time by both Jews and middle-east nations. The Jewish scholars of seventy or seventy-two were asked by the Greek King of Egypt, Ptolemy II, to translate the Torah from biblical Hebrew into Greek, for inclusion in the Library of Alexandria. This was around the 3rd century BCE.

The birth of Jesus raises an interesting paradox in chronology. The Romans used a dating system based upon the mythical foundation of Rome. There is much controversy as to when Jesus was born. Many centuries after the life of Jesus. Dionysius Exiguus, a Greek Monk and theologian who lived in Rome came to the conclusion that Jesus was born in 753 AUC [from the founding of the city—Rome]. The old Roman system was replaced by a new system, Anno Domini. This became the year given of Jesus' birth. None of the gospels show interest in dating accurately the birth of Jesus.

After a series of civil wars and political conflicts, Julius Caesar was appointed as perpetual dictator of Rome. He was later assassinated in 44 BC, at the age of 56. The story of the Roman Empire is a series of intrigues and assassinations.

Tiberius was Emperor from 14-37 AD, the time of Jesus. He was an experienced but unpopular ruler who spent his last eleven years of life of debauchery on the island of Capri. He appointed Pontius Pilate Prefect [Governor] of Judea. When Jesus Christ was crucified, Pontius Plate was recalled to Rome in disgrace.

With the ministry of Jesus, many people converted to Christianity. By the time of Nero's rein as Roman emperor, Christianity had become wide-spread, even to some in Rome. Romans were divided as to following their old pagan gods or Christianity. This became intense under Nero.

Under the reign of Nero, 54-68 AD, Christian persecution by 64 AD had reached unprecedented levels. Nero was an insane egotistical psychopath. Anyone that he felt threatening or he didn't like, even his wife and own mother, he either poisoned them or had them executed.

He had grandiose views of himself as a poet, actor and musician; no one dare, under possible penalty of death, to leave his performances. Women were known to give birth during his performances, too afraid of Nero's wrath to leave. Men would faint death and be carried out to leave his performances. He was known to have frequent sexual orgies and to be bisexual. To question his decisions could bring death.

When Roman was almost destroyed by fire [64 AD], suspected to have been set by Nero's command, he blamed it on those of the Christian faith and many Christians were killed. Some were fed to wild beasts for his amusement and that of Roman spectators. Tradition has it that Nero martyred Peter and Paul in Rome.

Some Christians he would use as human torches to light up his gardens at night. Nero learned that the Senate had declared him public enemy, condemned to death in absentia, and had sent men on the way to bring him back to be beaten to death.

He forced his private secretary, Epaphroditos, to kill him. When the horsemen sent for him by the senate arrived, they found him near death and tried to stop the bleeding. He final words were, Too late! This is fidelity! He died on 9 June 68. He was 30 years old.

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine [307-337 AD], a strong Christian faith had been developing in the Roman controlled empire. On 28 October 312, the two Roman emperors, Constantine I [Eastern Emperor] and Maxentius [Western emperor] fought the Battle of Milvian Bridge.

The night before the battle, Constantine had a vision to fight under the Christian God. Constantine had his men paint a cross on their shields. He won the battle and Maxentius drowned in the Tiber River during the battle. Constantine became the sole emperor of all the Roman Empire.

He adopted the idea of Christ and the Cross, and signed the Edict of Milan that decriminalized Christian worship. It was the beginning of rituals, ceremonies and doctrines that developed into a state church—Roman Catholic. He still held to his pagan beliefs of the gods celebrated by Romans, while also electing to become a Christian near the end of his life, at 65 years of age.

Due to his illness, too sick to be baptized by immersion per the Christian ordinance brought about by John the Baptist, he was sprinkled as a form of baptism. Several other churches also use this today as a form of baptism.

With the Nicene Creed in 325, a profession of faith used widely in Christian liturgy, religion began to be developed. The purpose of the creed is to provide a doctrinal statement of correct belief, or Orthodoxy. The creeds of Christianity have been drawn up at times of conflict about doctrine: acceptance or rejection of a creed to distinguish between believers and deniers, of a particular doctrine or set of doctrines.

The Nicene Creed was adopted due to an Arian controversy. Arius, a Libyan presbyter in Alexandria, had declared that although the Son [Jesus] was divine, he was a created being and therefore not co-essential with the Father. This made Jesus less than the Father, which posed soteriological [religious doctrines of salvation] challenges for the nascent doctrine of the Trinity. Arius's teaching provoked a serious crisis.

The Nicene Creed of 381 speaks of the Holy Spirit as worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Son. The Athanasian Creed describes in greater detail the relationship between Father and Son and Holy Spirit. The Apostles' Creed makes no explicit statements about the divinity of the Son and Holy Spirit.

The Protestant Reformation was an attempt to bring Christian worship in line with what the Bible teaches. This splintered Western Europe which was Roman Catholic.

One of the earliest voice for reform in the Catholic Church was John Wycliffe, in the 14th century. He was an English Scholastic, philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, reformer and university teacher at Oxford in England. His followers were known as Lollards.

Wycliffe was one of the earliest opponents of papal authority over secular power. First was his emphasis upon an individual's interpretation of the Bible as the best guide to a moral life, as opposed to the Church's emphasis on receiving its sacraments as the only way to salvation.

Second he insisted holiness of an individual was more important than official office, a pious person was morally superior to a wicked ordained cleric. Wycliffe challenged the exorbitant luxury and pomp of the churches and their ceremonies. He was also an early advocate for translation of the Bible into the common language. Wycliffe's Bible came out around 1384 A.D.

John Hus, was a Czech priest, philosopher, early Christian reformer and Master at Charles University in Prague. After John Wycliffe, the theorist of ecclesiastical Reformation, Hus is considered the first Church reformer, since he lived before Luther, Calvin and Zwingli.

He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the 16th century. His teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe. He was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology, the Eucharist and other theological topics. Followers of his religious teaching were known as Hussites.

Much credit for the Protestant Reformation in 1517 is attributed to Martin Luther, a German friar, priest and professor of theology. However scholars point to the other early reformers who were questioning Roman Catholic practices. Real reform began around 1517, with Marin Luther's 95 theses.

Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his 95 theses. He refused to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms [formal deliberative assembly] in 1521. He was excommunicated and condemned as an outlaw.

The Church of England is the officially-established Christian Church in England, and the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church dates back to the 6th century Gregorian mission in Kent led by St. Augustine.

The church renounced papal authority when King Henry VIII broke with Rome to secure an annulment from Catherine of Aragon in the 1530s. Catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain, a very devoted Catholic.

Catherine was 7, at the waning of the Spanish Inquisition. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdom and to replace the Medieval Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition is often cited in literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression. Although records are incomplete, it's estimated that the number of persons charged with crimes, such as heresy, by the Inquisition range up to 150,000, with 2,000 to 5,000 people executed. Catherine was a very devote Catholic. Catherine had born a daughter, Mary, and Henry was seeking a male heir for the throne upon his death. Pope Clement VII denied Henry's request for annulment. This was not a matter of principle but due to the Pope's fear of the Emperor of Rome Charles V, Catherine's nephew.

Much turmoil was going on in 16th century Europe. The Roman Catholic Church, in the beginning, severely punished those that were for translation of the Bible from Latin to English. Several were burned at the stake as heretics.

King Henry VIII ushered in Protestant religion when he appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, although he never renounced his Catholic faith, breaking away from the church's authority of the Pope. When Henry died, his only son Edward VI became king.

Before Edward died, possibly of tuberculosis when he was only 15, he attempted to remove both half sisters, Mary I and Elizabeth I, from the right to succession of the English throne. Edward VI feared that if Mary I became queen, she would restore Catholicism and undo his reforms, as well as those of his father King Henry VIII.

He willed that Lady Jane Grey, their first cousin, become queen. Mary I assembled a force and deposed Jane, who was ultimately beheaded. Mary I became the first queen regnant of England in 1554.

Queen Mary I of England, as a devoted Catholic, was determined to stamp out in England those that were Protestants. She became referred to as Bloody Mary.

In the month after her accession to the throne, Mary imprisoned leading Protestant churchmen, Including John Bradford, John Rogers, John Hooper, Hugh Latimer and archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer.

In Mary's first Parliament, assembled in early October 1553, she abolished Edward's religious laws. Church doctrine was restored to what it had been in the 1539 Six Articles, which re-affirmed clerical celibacy. Married priests were deprived of their benefices.

Mary's husband Philip persuaded England's Parliament to repeal Henry's religious laws, thus returning the English church to Roman jurisdiction. The Heresy Acts were revived.

Thomas Cranmer, the imprisoned archbishop of Canterbury, was forced to watch Bishops Ridley and Latimer being burned alive at the stake for heresy, a most horrible death. Cranmer would also be burned at the stake later on.

In what is called the Marian Persecutions, many Protestants were executed. A reported 288 were burned alive at the stake. About 50 were burned at Smithfield in London. Whenever these executions took place the air is reported to have been so thick with the smell of burning flesh that most people could not go outside.

A series of these executions were scheduled to take place 17 November 1558, but were canceled due to Queen Mary's death, possible from ovarian cysts or cancer. Elizabeth I became Queen and Protestantism was reinstated. Catholics were not to be persecuted in her reign.

The reformation process still continues to this day. It forms the basis of over 48 religious beliefs in America. Some search for what is God's will; others to try and conform what they believe is God's will to suit their beliefs.

The Chapter of James 1:5-6 gives everyone a means to determine what is the truth, for their personal revelation. To find the truth one has to be seriously willing to give up whatever it takes to get the true answer.

Some believe that Jesus and the Father are one. This poses a question. To whom did Jesus pray to in the garden of Gethsemane? When Jesus was baptized whose voice spoke out of heaven? Many believe that the last days are close and there has been no apostasy in the church. Was Paul incorrect in his letter to the Thessalonians [2 Thessalonians 2:3]? Where is the book of Joseph mentioned in Ezekiel 37:16?