Information About the Noahide Nazarene Way!

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The Seven Periods of the Church Continued

The Church of Philadelphia: The Church in Revival: The Great Awakening through World War One

Early on in this period, in fledgling America the First Great Awakening occurred. This Awakening began in the Dutch Reformed Churches of New Jersey circa 1726. It soon spread to the Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches. This spiritual Awakening finally reached its zenith in New England in the 1740's. It produced thinkers such as Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) -- inspired by people like John Locke (1632-1704) -- John Wesley (1703-1791) and George Whitfield (1714-1770), scholarly Christians who opposed the high level of emotionalism that was typical of the Enlightenment and who demanded a return to biblical religion and faith. Itinerant preachers such as the Reverends Gilbert Tennent, Samuel Davies, Eleazar Wheelock, Samuel Finley etc. traveled throughout the thirteen colonies expounding emotionally charged "American Protestantism," said to be a new breed of religion that was born of American experiences. The Awakening fires spread to Virginia and elsewhere in the 1750's, but soon ended under the onslaught of Humanist certainties and the growing embrace of Secular Science and Darwinism. The impact of this Awakening was essential for the colonies as it created a bond between them ("e pluribus unum") and established a sense of national identity and social destiny as a distinct people. Protestant Americans began to hail the United States as the "New Zion," a virtual Protestant Promised Land. Jonathan Edwards considered the Awakening to be a "surprising work of God" and boldly proclaimed that Jesus had "flung the door of mercy open so that all could enter"... a clear and at-the-time bold rejection of Calvinism!

During this period, the fatherhood aspect of the Nicene Christian Triune God was emphasized (during the Third Great Awakening it was the Son aspect that was stressed), and the Colonists regarded themselves as His special children with a Manifest Destiny to fulfill. This "Manifest Destiny" of course also had a dark side, especially for those who did not fit into it. For the Colonists and American Protestantism however, it appeared to be a divine empowerment! These American children of God fully expected their God to lead them as a nation and to punish them for any sins they allowed, even as He did the children of Israel. This was a strict and disciplined form of Christianity and was arguably just what the dead church period of Smyrna needed! As a result of these beliefs "submission of the stubborn human will" became an important concept and the religious life of the day and the fiery sermons of the evangelists reflected this. Holiness in all things came to typify this Puritan revival.

According to E.S. Gaustad:

"...the founding of the Separates and the Separate Baptists was the most conspicuous institutional effect of the [first] Great Awakening in New England." It was by no means the only one however. By 1755, there were over 125 Separate (or Strict Congregationalist) churches in New England. By 1776 over 70 Separate Baptist Churches existed. Later came the Universalists, the Unitarians, Free Will Baptists, Shakers and Quakers, the New Light Theologies (later organized as Edwardsianism, Hopkinsianism, and Consistent Calvinism), etc. The general-consensus of these movements was fundamentally Calvinistic, but this view was gradually changing.

John Calvin was one of the primary 16th century Reformers and a gifted debater and theologian. His teachings had a profound influence on the Reformed Christian Movement. The distinctive teaching of Calvinism is the doctrine of predestination. This belief holds that before the foundations of the heavens were set in place, God had already chosen those people who would be saved. The teaching is not that God, in His foreknowledge knew which people would choose to accept Him, but rather that God chose who He would save. Those He did not choose are damned to suffer eternal torment in Hell no matter what they might do or desire to the contrary, even before entering their mother's womb! People have no choice in the matter of their salvation. This doctrine is not as popular as it once was, but many Christians still accept it as true. Most Christians do not really understand the Christian doctrine of predestination nor its dark implications.

The American-wrought emphasis on individuality

The First Great Awakening promoted the notion that God was willing to save anyone who truly repented and placed their faith in him. This was a harsh blow to then popular Calvinism! To do otherwise, it was argued, would be un-American because in America a person was only limited by his own choices! If an American wanted to be saved then he could get saved!

The ministers of the Awakening viewed America as God's tool for the establishment of "the millennial reign of Christ" and themselves as his veritable ministers to that end. American Christians were sending out missionaries to the ends of the earth promoting not only Nicean Christianity but Americanism as well! It was America's destiny to lead to world to Jesus!

And so despite the work of the Secular Humanists this period of Church and American history gradually flowered into the Second and Third Great Awakenings that abruptly ended with the onset of World War One in 1914 -- as Master Y'shua had foretold:

Matt 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren't troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.
24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.
24:8 But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

The King James Version has verse 8 as "...All these are the beginning of sorrows" however "the beginning of birth pains" is more accurate and more telling. The word odin specifically means "birth pangs" rather than "sorrows."

The "Last Days" began either in 1948 (when Israel declared its independence) or 1967 (when the Jews retook Jerusalem) as the "Tree of Israel" began putting forth its leaves (Matt 24:32 etc). There is support for either date (I lean toward the former). The two world wars were literally the "birth pangs" of the Elite fascist empire known as the New World Order! The same people who orchestrated and financed the world wars are now hard at work financing and implementing the Global Union over which Rex Mundi will soon take control of the world as we will see as our study continues.

As the sixth church period was dawning Calvinism was waning fast and new religious forms and doctrines were being developed (or realized) by diverse Protestant and heterodox thinkers. Among the new Christian groups that arose during this shift away from Calvinism were the Missouri Synod, the Norwegian Evangelical Synod, the Church of the United Brethren, the Disciples of Christ, the diverse Millerite sects, and Mormonism (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). Also appearing was Swedenborgianism, Taylorism (or Beecherism), Mesmerism, Owenism, Fourierism, the Oneida Society, the Mennonites, the Moravians, the Seventh Day Baptists, the Six Principle Baptists and Dunker Baptists, the Free Will Baptists, the YMCA, etc. This enlivening Americana feeling of divinely inspired individual responsibility and worth began again among the New England Congregationalists. The renewed revival fires soon spread throughout the United States -- being found in all major denominations to some degree including among the Roman Catholics. By the mid 19th century however this movement likewise was absorbed into the greater religious structures and stagnation of traditional dogma and began to wane.

It should be remembered that these flowerings of intellectual and spiritual awakening did not and do not occur in a vacuum. Each appearance of spiritual renewal is directly tied to the experiences (for good or ill) of its predecessors. Such was again the case between the years 1875 and 1914 when the Third Great Awakening occurred.

Note that some authorities do not see a break between the Second and Third Awakening as I list them here. Its semantics really.

I discuss these awakenings and share a lot of information about the Third Great Awaking in particular Here. During this Awakening the modern religious landscape was established.

Revelation 3:7 "To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write:

"He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:

3:8 "I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn't deny my name.
3:9 Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
3:10 Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 3:11 I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.
3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.
3:13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

The Third Great Awakening

Powerful words indeed! During this period of Revival congregational elements within all branches of the Nicean Church were rising and reclaiming some of their spiritual potential. They were studying the Bible as never before and seeking Truth rather than Church tradition. The teachings of many of these new emerging assemblies as well as the reforms taking place in several of the more established church communities were asking tough questions and demanding answers!

As the Seventh Day Baptists had done previously, now more groups reclaimed the biblical Sabbath. Others began stressing the doctrine of the priesthood of all Believers and rejecting the hierarchical divides between the worshipers and God. Yet others were exploring the depths of what they called "the Baptism of fire," the "Latter Day Rains," or "Holy Spirit Baptism." Chief among this Pentecostal Revival was the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the little Azuza Street assembly.

Fundamental long established Nicean doctrines were now being challenged and in some cases even rejected for more biblical doctrine. For the first time since Constantine several of the Christian sects began using the name of God (Yahweh, Jehovah) rather than using the traditional "Lord God." Some also began using the onoma or name of Y'shua rather than the Roman Catholic pseudonym "Jesus."

As a result of this sincere questing for Truth a "door was opened" for these Christians (remember this door analogy as we look at the final church period next). The Believers were now given the opportunity to restore the Noahide Nazarene Way and reclaim the teachings of Y'shua the Anointed! They were still woefully divided but there was among many a sincere desire to restore Christian unity. These Believers were given "a little power" and with it they almost did a wondrous deed!

Almost.

But the Nicolaitanes were still in control of most of the structures of the Church and they resisted this move toward Revival. The integrity of the Bible and even the historicity of Y'shua was being called into question now and faith in God was quietly being discouraged unless it fell into the confines of established doctrine. "Beware the cults! A cry that would return with a vengeance in the 1960's and 70's. As we just read: "Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie...." These false Believers who claimed to follow the Way of the Master but did not were not to be ignored!

We know from earlier verses (2:9 for instance) that these Nicolaitane forces were always working within the Universal Church to dis-empower the Way Movement and promote the error of Balaam. Their purpose has never been the spreading of the Good News of Y'shua but the Bad News of "that woman Jezebel" (2:19)! She who will become the Mother of Harlots, Babylon the Great.

This budding renewal of Way Consciousness had to be stopped! For a while however even this element had to hold its peace before this Movement of Ruach ha Kodesh (The Spirit of God).

Master Y'shua acknowledged that even he didn't know when the Last Days would begin (Mark 13:32) but clearly the time was drawing closer. Yet due to the faithfulness of these Believers HaShem 'kept them from the hour of testing.'

And Lucifer was livid!

Unwilling to allow the restoration of the Way his Elite forces (the Bavarian Illuminati etc) took drastic measures!

They began World War One!

And, as our Master foretold:

Matt 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren't troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.
24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...

As the period of the Great Awakenings was ending, the first major signs that the End of the Times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) had arrived was clear to see for everyone who knew the prophecies!

The doctrinal debates were interesting but the Dawn of the Final Church Period was now at hand and both Heaven and Earth shuttered at the realization.

The First World War was the beginning of the birth pangs of the End of the Age.

Next:

The Church of the Laodiceans: