The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2019 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 68

The Reach of Roman Authority

How does a religious authority get it?

Their authority, that is.

Where does their authority come from?

A previous chapter titled “Who Has Authority Straight from God?” discussed the only religious authority that comes straight from God.

“Christ was sent from God, by God, and is God. There is no other religious authority like that.

Is a religious authority right when it’s wrong, because it’s the religious authority? Or is a religious authority right only because it teaches what is right? Should a religious authority add to and change what God said? Or should a religious authority just teach and practice what God said?

Over and over, religious authorities go from teaching what is right to teaching who is right. And, of course, that’s them.

Christ has authority directly from God the Father. No one else does. No others should act as if they do. Religious leaders can obey God’s laws. Religious leaders can teach God’s laws. But no religious authority can change God’s laws.”

Why is a religious authority accepted as an authority?

Maybe they teach right things, to some degree. When someone teaches things that you can see are right, then you begin to accept other things they say. Some of those things may not be so right. They say, ‘We taught this truth,” so that makes us givers of truth. And then they often go on to say they’re the only givers of truth.

Religious authorities may simply proclaim themselves to be religious authorities. That seems to be the major claim to fame of Diotrophes in 3 John. If someone keeps yelling, “I am the end time Elijah,” and a lot do yell that, then some people are bound to believe him.

Religious authorities may claim a supernatural event sets them apart. Constantine’s various visions were used to say that either Christ or Apollo were working through him. At the time of the end, religious authority will be gained by having real supernatural events, using “the power of Satan” with “miraculous signs” and “lying wonders,” 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

Once accepted as a religious authority, as with rabbis or popes, that authority then moves from teaching what is right to teaching who is right. And that’s them. You have to be under them to get to God, because they’re the religious authority. Constantine and Roman Christianity said you had to accept their creed to be a Christian and you had to agree to break God’s Commandments. If you didn’t accept that, or them, they would anathematize you. Later, If you didn’t accept them, they would traumatize you.

Rome claims that the Roman Church had authority to make the Nicean decisions, which changed God’s laws about the Sabbath and Feasts, among other things. Their changes, under the Roman emperor Constantine, copied what Roman emperor Hadrian had done two centuries earlier. They outlawed those things which were “Jewish.” However, to disallow those things that are “Jewish” ultimately leads to abandoning the “Jewish” Hebrew scriptures themselves — the “Old” Testament;, and forsaking the Jewish Ten Commandments; and rejecting the Jewish Messiah for a sanitized, non-Jewish version.

An end time figure will also presume to change laws and times. Those “times” are seasons or appointed occasions.

Dan 7:25
25) He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.

Likewise, Rome changed the times and the law. Those changes were based on the authority of Rome, they were not based on the word of God or Christ’s teachings, but based only on the authority of Rome. So just where did Rome get their authority to make those changes?

The Roman Church says that authority came from Peter, the first pope in Rome.

There are a few problems with that.

First, there were no popes for centuries after Christ. The position of pope, or worldwide ecclesiastical emperor, developed after the Roman Church merged with the Roman Empire. So Peter could not have been the first pope when there was no such position.

As discussed earlier, Paul corrected Peter, and Peter feared James, so Peter was no pope. Nor was anyone else considered pope for several centuries, even in the Roman Church.

Second, the New Testament gives no indication that Peter was ever in Rome. Rome was a Gentile city and Gentiles were Paul’s responsibility. Paul, not Peter, wrote a letter to the Romans that’s included in the New Testament. Jews and Jewish Christians were in Rome but were expelled by Rome, as Aquila and Priscilla were, Acts 18:2. Peter was the apostle to the Jews and since the Jews were kicked out of Rome, he had no business there.

It is said when Peter wrote “She who is in Babylon…greets you,” 1 Peter 5:13, that he figuratively referred to Rome. But Peter wrote a personal letter to brethren, not like John’s mystical book of Revelation which also mentions Babylon. So when Peter said Babylon, he was talking about Babylon – not Rome. If saying Babylon didn’t mean Babylon, then how could he say Babylon? Babylon means Babylon.

Peter wrote his letter to the chosen ones living as foreigners in the Dispersion — the Jews — in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 1 Peter 1:1. When Peter named all those places, he meant all those places, just as he meant Babylon when he named it. And notice that Peter didn’t mention Rome at all.

Third, Peter was supposedly given authority by Christ to change God’s laws in Matthew 16. That authority was then transferred from Peter to all other succeeding popes.

No person or institution has authority to change God’s law, as stated in Deuteronomy.

Deut 4:2
2) You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.

Deut 12:32
32) Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Prov 30:5-6
5) “Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6) Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

Whoever can add to or take away from what God says is then equal to God. That would be like editing a book; God writes, then you edit and correct His mistakes.

Can anyone correct God?

Moses couldn’t.

Exod 32:31-33
31) Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.
32) Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”

Moses kinda gave God some instruction there: blot me out of your book.

What Yahweh did was just blot out Moses’ suggestion.

33) Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book,” thank you very much, Moshe.

God didn’t really say that last part, but He could have, because it seems to fit.

You can’t correct God. You can obey Him or disobey Him but you can’t correct what He does.

But the Roman Church maintains from Matthew 16 that —

1) Christ gave such authority to Peter.
2) Christ subsequently gave that authority to Rome.

Matt 16 World English Bible
18) I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
19) I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

In verse 18, in the Greek there are two rocks, a little rock – petros — and a big rock – petra. Peter is the petros and Christ is the petra.

The Bible makes clear that Christ alone is the foundation stone – the big rock.

Ps 118:22
22) The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.

Peter himself quoted that verse.

1Pet 2
6) Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”
7) For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,”
8) and, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

The Greek word for ‘rock’ there in verse 8 is again petra.

So in Matthew 16:18 Yeshua said to Peter, ‘You’re the little rock, but on this big rock I will build my crowd.’ If He had meant Peter as the foundation rock, He would not have used two distinct words.

Verse 19 of Matthew 16 is translated two different ways. First, as quoted above in the World English Bible.

19) I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

The ISV renders it basically the same way.

Matt 16:19 International Standard Version
19) I will give you the keys to the kingdom from heaven. Whatever you prohibit on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven.”

Those translations have Peter only affirming what has already been done. Bullinger’s Companion Bible explains, “Binding and loosing is a Hebrew idiom for exercising authority. To bind = to declare what shall be binding (e.g. laws and precepts) and what shall be not binding.”

However, Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation from the late 300’s renders the verse differently, and many English translations follow that approach, seeming to grant greater authority to Peter.

English translation of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate,

And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
http://vulgate.org/nt/gospel/matthew_16.htm

That makes it sound as if Peter has authority to do things not yet done in heaven. However, Christ gave that same instruction not just to Peter, but also to the other disciples.

Matt 18 World English Bible, to the disciples:

18) Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.
19) Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
20) For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst.”

So Yeshua did not give some papal authority solely to Peter. If He did give such authority, then He gave it to all the disciples. But that’s not papal then, is it? You can’t have twelve popes at once.

Ironically, shortly after instructing Peter in Matthew 16, Christ sharply corrected him.

Matt 16
21) From that time on, Yeshua began to show his disciples that he would have to go to Jerusalem and suffer a great deal because of the elders, the high priests, and the scribes. Then he would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised.
22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God be merciful to you, Lord! This must never happen to you!”
23) But Yeshua turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, because you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts!”

Now that did not sound like a would-be pope.

And in Peter’s own writings, he does not sound like a pope.

1Pet 5
1) I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.
2) Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;
3) neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.

Peter was a fellow elder, not lording it over anyone. He was not popey. Nobody kissed his ring.

Peter did the speaking in Acts 2 on Pentecost, and Peter was used in Acts 10 to introduce Cornelius, the first Gentile, into the Faith. But Christ did not give Peter a unique papal authority, as Rome maintains. Peter was not the first pope.

Further, Rome presumes that Peter’s (nonexistent) papal authority then transfers to them.

Why Rome?

Rome’s authority makes sense only if God uses the Roman Empire as the model for His government. Rome had an emperor, with all authority. At his passing, another emperor took his place, who received all the authority of his predecessors. So saying Peter was the first pope, and then other popes followed him one by one, makes sense only if Christ’s flock looks like the Roman Empire.

The Roman Church does look like the Roman Empire, with an emperor – the pope — who is pontifex maximus, and whose authority passes down from pope to pope. But Christ began his flock not with a pope but with twelve disciples who became the twelve apostles. When Judas fell away, Matthias was chosen by God to take his place, to keep the number at twelve. In addition, Paul was chosen personally by Christ and James was an apostle at Jerusalem, and others are said to have been apostles. Nobody is ever called chief apostle or anything like a pope, and there are no instructions for succession.

So when Rome claims Peter’s (nonexistent) papal authority, the Bible does not give them authority to claim that authority.

Again, why would God use the capital of Satan’s world, the seat of Satan’s kingdom, as headquarters for His assembly, the founding location of Christ’s flock? Wouldn’t Rome be the last such location?

Yes.

But human authority is often granted by other humans to those who most loudly claim it.

This cannot be overstated.

People who arrogantly assume they are great and repeatedly proclaim themselves to be great sometimes get other people to believe they are great. However, those who most loudly proclaim their own authority are their own authority. And that’s the only authority they have.

The Roman Church proclaims its own authority. No place does the Bible say that God wants His people ruled from Rome. And nobody paid much attention to Rome’s claims until Constantine merged the Roman Church with the Roman Empire. Then the seat of the Empire and the seat of the Church were in the same place, working together —

Now that’s authority!

But that authority is still just human authority. And that human authority is what changed the Sabbath and Feasts.

Remember that the first flock — the first Christians, including all the apostles, kept the Sabbath and Feasts. Yet notice the enormous effect of Rome’s human authority.

https://www.learnreligions.com/christianity-statistics-700533

“In 2015, Christians still comprised the largest religious group in the world (with 2.3 billion adherents), representing nearly a third (31%) of the total global population.

Roman Catholic – The Roman Catholic Church denomination is the largest Christian group in the world today with more than a billion followers constituting about half of the world’s Christian population. Brazil has the largest number of Catholics (134 million), more than in Italy, France, and Spain combined.

Protestant – There are approximately 800 million Protestants in the world, comprising 37% of the global Christian population. The United States has more Protestants than any other country (160 million), which is about 20% of the worldwide total number of Christians.

Orthodox – Approximately 260 million people worldwide are Orthodox Christians, comprising 12% of the global Christian population. Nearly 40% of Orthodox Christians worldwide live in Russia.

About 28 million Christians worldwide (1%) do not belong to one of these three largest Christian traditions.”

Of those billions of Christians alive now, almost all defer to Constantine as their spiritual authority, even if they don’t realize it. The number of Christians who visit with God on both the Sabbath and Feasts, as the apostles and Paul and the first flock did, is incredibly tiny. The number of those who follow the authority of Rome and keep the very same days as pagan Rome is –

Billions.

Many of those Christians do not realize their practices are based on the authority of Rome and not the authority of Christ. Yet they don’t carefully search the Bible to see how to live, but live only as they are told to by religious authorities.

So how about those few — that tiny number — who do try to keep the Bible holy days, the Sabbath and Feasts?

Do they follow a human authority, too?

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2019 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 67

Constantine Conquers Nicea

Constantine the conqueror!

He did not get to be emperor by being a mild mannered, slow moving guy. He had outmaneuvered, outfoxed, and outkilled all other would-be emperors.

So if he wanted to unify his empire under Christianity and sun worship, what would Constantine do with the Christians? How would he get them to be part of the unified religion that all Roman emperors wanted?

The Encyclopedia Britannica, as cited before, explains the timing of Constantine’s seizing power.

In 305 Constantine assisted his father, the newly appointed Western emperor, with a campaign in Britain. Their army proclaimed Constantine emperor after his father’s death the next year. A multisided civil war ensued between Constantine and the several other factions vying for the throne. Constantine defeated his main rival for the Western emperorship in 312 and defeated the Eastern emperor in 324 after years of strained relations, thus making Constantine sole ruler of the Roman Empire.

After Constantine became emperor of the west in 312, in 313 he and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, bringing Christianity up to the level of sun worship and other pagan religions. Then in 314, Constantine summoned the western Christian bishops to the Council of Arles, to end divisions among Christians.

In the same way, as soon as Constantine became sole ruler of the Empire in 324, what did he do?

He called the Council of Nicea in 325.

Why?

Wikipedia
This ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom.

To attain consensus in all Christendom.

All Christendom united, under the Roman Empire.

Constantine, the no-nonsense conqueror, didn’t defeat all other armies by beating around the bush, so when he heard of Christian division, he attacked it. First, he wrote a letter to Alexandrian Christians taking them to task for their differences on the date of Pascha. When his letter did not end their differences, Constantine went to war.

Eusebius
For as soon as he was made acquainted with the facts which I have described, and perceived that his letter to the Alexandrian Christians had failed to produce its due effect, he at once aroused the energies of his mind, and declared that he must prosecute to the utmost this war also against the secret adversary who was disturbing the peace of the Church.

The Nicean Council was part of that war.

Constantine sent out 1800 invitations to bishops and offered to pay their way to come to his council. Forward, march!

However, you might say those Christian bishops acted Christian by saving Constantine a lot of money. They didn’t go to his council. 1500 of them did not go. Only about 300 of the 1800 invited actually attended.

So much for the assembly representing all Christendom!

Why would Christian bishops go to Rome, the seat of Satan’s world government, to seek the will of God?

They didn’t.

What about those 300 or so bishops who did attend Constantine’s council?

Whoever calls a council is ultimately in charge of the council. Those who accepted Constantine’s money also accepted him overseeing the Christians. Imagine that. The flock of Christ being overseen by the emperor of Rome!

How did Constantine feel when 1500 bishops did not accept his invitation to unify them?

Probably not real good.

How could he achieve unity when the bishops won’t even talk about being unified? Not a great start to his unity campaign!

Elders are to “reprove, rebuke and exhort,” 2 Timothy 4:2. Constantine was an unbaptized, unrepentant sinner, personally involved in sun worship and the killing of thousands of people, yet not one of those ~300 bishops reproved or rebuked the unrepentant, unbaptized emperor.

“Repent and turn to him to have your sins blotted out!” Acts 3:19, ISV.

Nobody said that, to the emperor.

Wonder why?

All those men, there to argue about Christian doctrine, ignored the most fundamental part of Christian doctrine — to be covered by the blood of the Lamb. Humans — even hoity-toity emperors — have to be redeemed by the blood and spirit of their Creator. What good does it do to dispute the date of Passover when the guy running the whole show hasn’t even accepted the Passover Lamb?

What a farce!

Notice that it was Constantine — not the Christians and not the bishops and not even the pope — who summoned the councils. Those Christian councils were called by Constantine and overseen by Constantine for the purpose of ending dissension in Constantine’s Empire —

Or to get people to agree with other people.

Not to get people to agree with God.

He did what people usually do; they put unity with each other ahead of unity with God. The absentee bishops, at least some of them, focused on agreeing with God more than agreeing with Constantine. And they didn’t need to go to a council to do that.

For those ~300 who did take the bait, though, Constantine really put on a show!

Eusebius, Life of Constantine, Book 3, Chapter 10:
Now when the appointed day arrived on which the council met for the final solution of the questions in dispute, each member was present for this in the central building of the palace, which appeared to exceed the rest in magnitude.

Notice that Eusebius said that the bishops met in the showiest part of the palace, “which appeared to exceed the rest in magnitude.”

These are guys who 15 years earlier were at risk of being slaughtered by Roman emperors. There they were meeting with the emperor in the most magnificent room available. What does that remind us of?

Matt 4
8) Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.
9) He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Constantine was the most powerful king in the world, with all the glory thereof. He obviously went to some effort to remind those bishops of that, starting with meeting in the most magnificent room in the palace.

Eusebius goes on:
On each side of the interior of this were many seats disposed in order, which were occupied by those who had been invited to attend, according to their rank.

You will recall that when Christ traveled with the twelve disciples, He always had them sit according to rank.

Well, maybe not.

No, Yeshua and the early flock did not do things that way. The rabbis did and Rome did. So the Christian bishops were seated not the way Christ wanted but the way the emperor wanted, according to rank.

That is pretty rank.

And if everyone was seated according to rank, then who ranked highest of all?

King Constantine. And as brought out elsewhere, he sat in a gold chair.

Eusebius
As soon, then, as the whole assembly had seated themselves with becoming orderliness, a general silence prevailed, in expectation of the emperor’s arrival. And first of all, three of his immediate family entered in succession, then others also preceded his approach, not of the soldiers or guards who usually accompanied him, but only friends in the faith.

Shhh!

The great emperor is about to enter, in the usual manner of kings, preceded by members of his royal family and then his personal entourage.

Members of his family?

Here’s a representation of them from the cover of the centuries later Ada Gospels.

By Palauenc05 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38781275

In that work you see a wife (Fausta), a husband (Constantine), an older son (Crispus by Constantine’s first wife), and two younger children of Fausta by Constantine, including Constantine II.

At Nicea, Constantine’s family strolled in just before his majestic appearance. How heartwarming that must have been for those Romish bishops, to see the emperor’s sweet young family joining the Christian conference on unity.

Unfortunately the very next year after that conference on unity, Constantine experienced extreme disunity in his family. He had his wife Fausta and son Crispus killed.

Crispus had been a major asset in helping Constantine win his emperor wars. Fausta had borne Constantine 3 other children. Yet Constantine had killed the son who had risked his life in battle for him, and he made his little kids motherless.

What did he say to them on the evening of killing their mother? “Hey, kids — I have a little surprise for you…”

“What, Daddy?”

…

And after that, he still did not get baptized!

But at Nicea, the emperor’s family strolled in.

Then his entourage.

And then —

Eusebius
And now, all rising at the signal which indicated the emperor’s entrance, at last he himself proceeded through the midst of the assembly, like some heavenly messenger of God, clothed in raiment which glittered as it were with rays of light, reflecting the glowing radiance of a purple robe, and adorned with the brilliant splendor of gold and precious stones.

People love to go by appearances. Constantine, in his glittering raiment, radiant purple robe, with gold and precious stones — he had the appearance!

By contrast, we recall a king who did not have that majestic appearance —

Isa 53
2) For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3) He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.

Celebrities are known by their entrances and exits, and Constantine made some entrance. Was he trying to make an impression on those guys?

Jas 2
1) My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.
2) For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;
3) and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool;”
4) haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

When Constantine emperor of Rome entered the most magnificent room in the palace, wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, a purple robe and precious stones — surely the bishops did pay special attention to him who ‘wore the fine clothing!’

Then Constantine oversaw his Christian council. He who did not seek baptism, he who did not have the spirit of Christ, and he who simply was not a Christian was the overseer of all those Christian bishops, to make sure they achieved unity.

In both councils of Arles and Nicea, the emperor went to war to quell dissension among Christians to achieve unity in his Empire. And as with his struggles against Maximian, Maxentius, and Licinius, Constantine won. He did get those bishops who attended — except for two — to agree to all speak the same thing. Then they all agreed to cast out those two, who were exiled and anathematized.

As the Britannica article said:
He made one of his largest contributions to the faith by summoning the Councils of Arles (314) and Nicaea (325), which guided church doctrine for centuries afterward.

Guided church doctrine for centuries afterward?

17 centuries!

Till when?

Till now!

Constantine’s Councils set doctrine for the Romish Church, much of which continues to this day, in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches.

What doctrine?

There were a number of points discussed at Nicea. One of the most important carried through what Hadrian began in 135.

You recall that Hadrian, in his new Jerusalem dedicated to Jupiter, forbid anything “Jewish.” This included Sabbath and Feasts, and even teaching the Hebrew scriptures themselves. Since the original flock followed the Hebrew scriptures, the only Bible at that time, and they kept the Sabbath and Feasts taught in that Bible, the early flock could not go into Hadrian’s new Jerusalem.

Not that they’d want to.

But some Gentile Christians did want to, and Jerebombed the Sabbath and Feasts so they could enter Jupiter’s city.

Later Polycarp and Polycrates contended with Rome over Passover, whether to keep it as instructed by the Bible and Christ and the apostles, or to keep it like Rome on the day of the sun. Then in 321 Constantine issued his Venerable Day of the Sun Decree when he ordered the Roman Empire to observe Sunday as a holy rest day.

Following that, in 325, the Council of Nicea finished what Hadrian began.

They ecclesiastically established that Passover was not to be observed when the Bible said, as Israel had done for centuries, and as the original flock and all the apostles had done, on the 14^th of the first month, on whatever day of the week. Nicea decided that Pascha was to be observed on the weekly day of the sun.

So Constantine decreed that Sunday was the weekly day of rest and his Council determined that Passover would also be on Sunday — all of which was acceptable to Roman Christians and sun worshipers.

That led to Rome keeping more Roman pagan days, by the same process. That process was to take part of sun worship or other pagan religions and recast it as Christian. This included the pagan festivals of Saturnalia/Christmas, Lupercalia/Valentine’s Day, and Feralia/Halloween. The same practice led to adopting many Roman pagan doctrines, such as Mary worship and having the pope be called pontifex maximus, like the Roman emperor.

Such huge changes, for Christians to go from Bible teachings to pagan practices — but with “Christian” names!

Renaming!

Have we seen this renaming technique more recently?

Remember when pro-abortion became pro-choice?

How about when sodomite transgendered into homosexual?

And living together in adultery became the acceptable practice of cohabiting with your partner.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, Shakespeare wrote. Likewise a skunk spray still stinks the same, even if it’s called kitty cologne.

So the seventh day Sabbath, begun at creation to remember the Creator, morphed into the venerable day of the sun. And Passover and the Bible Feasts, God’s prophetic time plan, morphed into the old Roman festivals.

There is no Bible command having anything to do with the venerable day of the sun. To change the Sabbath destroys the Ten Commandments. To change a festival is the sin of Jeroboam.

Big changes.

So who is the authority for these great changes?

The Church. The Church had the authority to do that.

Who said that?

The Church.

The authority for those changes was not the Bible, not the apostles, not Christ Himself. The authority was the Church, which was a small minority of bishops under the thumb of a Roman emperor who was still the companion of Sol Invictus. They decided what all Christians must believe to be Christian

Unity!

Further, they made a writing, the Nicene Creed, that all Christians must accept — in the same way that earlier Roman emperors had made proclamations commanding religious unity. Since they say that salvation depends on accepting that writing, that puts the Nicene Creed on a par with the Bible itself as holy writ.

Do you see what happened there?

It wasn’t just the points that were changed. It changed who people were pointed to — the spiritual authority in life. Someone got in front of Christ the King, and declared what days were holy, what writ was holy, and who was holy.

So who then was holy?

The holy father and his Church that everyone had to go through to get to Christ.

Not really.

Rev 4
8) The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!”

The Roman Church had just merged with the old Roman Empire and then positioned itself between the people and their Creator. The Romish Christians did just as Israel had done in the time of Balaam. They mixed with Moab.

Num 25
1) Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab:
2) for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.

Instead of the King of the Jews, the Jews chose Caesar as their king. Three centuries later the Romish Christians also chose Caesar as their king, instead of the King of Kings.

After the council, their king sent the bishops home, mission accomplished.

The business of the Council having been finished Constantine celebrated the twentieth anniversary of his accession to the empire, and invited the bishops to a splendid repast, at the end of which each of them received rich presents. Several days later the emperor commanded that a final session should be held, at which he assisted in order to exhort the bishops to work for the maintenance of peace; he commended himself to their prayers, and authorized the fathers to return to their dioceses, newadvent.org, The First Council of Nicea, 11/2/19

People always want to put somebody between them and their King. Will they ever learn?

Not yet.