Bible Matrix ⑦_180_REV 2:18~29–(2) Church in Thyatira: Christian Historical

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Bible Matrix ⑦_180_REV 2:18~29 – (2) Church in Thyatira: Christian Historical Perspective(AD 538~1517)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIHgMHm4EWQ

Bible Matrix ⑦: Historical & Scientific Views on Daniel and Revelation

Part 2. Revelation

Revelation 2:18~29 - To the Church in Thyatira, adhered to the truth, but where false prophetess was active

Revelation 2:18~29 – (2) Background and Meaning of Christian Historical Perspectives (AD 538~1,517, The age of Roman Catholic persecution of Churches of Christ, The Dark Age of Religion/The churches that fled into the wilderness)

○ From the point of view of Christian history, Roman Catholic, which had enjoyed privileges with the approval of the Roman emperor in the era of the church of Pergamum(AD 313~538), increased its power and authority in the era of the church of Thyatira(AD 538~1517). Roman Catholic was intoxicated with power, and in the process of becoming corrupted, Roman Catholic adopted (or tolerated or permitted) many pagan doctrines, customs, and rituals through political compromise with the Roman Empire. A typical changes of the times and the laws by Roman Catholic are follows:

(1) Deleted the second commandment of Ten - As I already mentioned in <Bible Matrix ⑦_24>, which explained “Roman Catholic changed the set times and the laws” in <Daniel> 7:25, as controversy arose over idolatry such as temple worship, shrine worship, and emperor worship, and over the worship of Mary's icon and painting, between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholic, St. Augustine and Catholic Fathers deleted the second commandment, that is, 'Do not make and worship idols’, of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2~17, Deuteronomy 5:6~21).

(2) Jesus Christ lost mediator - By this, during the religious darkness of the Middle Ages, even though Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the mediator between God and all mankind (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24), but his position as the mediator was taken away by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. With the advent of the Virgin Mary and the priest called the Father as the intercessor as human mediator, people began to be taught to look to Mary and the Father instead of going directly to Jesus Christ. Thus, the simple gospel given by Christ, the simplicity of faith and truth, had been replaced by formal and complex religious ceremonies.

(3) Sunday of the Sun god became Sabbath and Easter - The change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and the establishment of Easter as the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal (or spring) equinox are also the result of the acceptance of paganism as Apollo, the Sun god of the Roman Empire.

☞ Constantine I (Reigned AD 306~337) converted to Christianity in AD 312, but he did not abandon his position as Pontifex Maximus, the high priest for the Sun god, until his death. From this point on, the doctrine of Apollo began to come into the churches one by one. In AD 321, Constantine I (reigned AD 306~337) decided to name the days by combining the Christian seven-day week system based on the Jewish calendar with the names of the Roman seven planetary gods.

☞ And Sunday of the Sun god was set as the first day of the week and declared a holiday. Through this, Constantine I attempted an ambitious religious policy to unite the two major religions of the Roman Empire, namely, the Sun god and Christians, into a single religion. After that, in 325, the religious council of Nicaea (currently Iznik in Turkey) was convened to abolish the Passover and decided that Sunday, the day of the Sun, should be the Easter of Jesus, and Constantine I made the churches hold services on Sunday. * Passover = The evening of the 14th day of the month of Nisan (January) in the Jewish calendar, currently corresponding to March-April in the Gregorian calendar.

(4) Birthday of the Sun god on 25 December to Christmas - The word 'Christmas' is a combination of 'Christ=Messiah' and 'mass', and it means a day to celebrate and worship the birth of Christ.

☞ Christmas is not a day listed in the Christian liturgical calendar which records the anniversaries and holidays of Christ. Moreover, December 25th is not mentioned in the Bible either.

☞ Christmas does not appear in the list of festivals provided by Irenaeus (c.AD 140~c.202), the first father of the Catholic Church and the father of theology and ecclesiology. However, in the ‘Chronograph of 354 or Calendar of 354’, it is recorded that the Christmas celebrations were held in Rome eight days before January 1st, but this part was written in AD 336, during the brief pontificate of Pope Mark(Reigned, 18 Jan to 7 Oct 336).

☞ Therefore, the first Christmas festival was  December 25, AD 336. However, it is said that Pope Julius I (reigned, AD 337~352), who succeeded Pope Mark, set December 25 as the birthday of Jesus as part of adding a Christian color to Saturnalia around the year 350.

☞ The actual date of Jesus's birth is unknown. So why did Pope Julius I choose December 25th? The following are the opinions of experts, which have not been historically proven or verified, but which are thought to be the reasons why Pope Julius I chose December 25 as the birthday of Jesus. (1) The festival day of Saturn, the god of agriculture in the Roman Empire, was December 23rd as Saturnalia, so Pope Julius I thought it was better to set another day, December 25th. (2) In AD 274, the Roman emperor Aurelian (reigned, 270~275) declared December 25 as the birthday of Helios, the Sun god, so Pope Julius I thought that the birth of Jesus could be celebrated on the same day, assuming that it could attract and allow more people to be converted to Christianity.

☞ In any case, Christmas became the birthday of Jesus as the Roman Catholic Church tolerated and permitted the Roman religion and customs, which were initially called “the festival of the birth of Saturn or the Sun god.”

(5) Sale of indulgence - The meaning of Thyatira is 'a grievous sacrifice'. This was a truly traumatic time or deep wound time for the Christian Churches. The Roman Catholic Church abandoned the faith of repentance that comes from the heart and made dead works and rituals as the foundation of the faith.

☞ One representative example was indulgence, which was sold for money. The Roman Catholic Church says that the way to salvation lies in the Sacrament of Repentance, in particular, they saw the sacrament of repentance (or confession) as the starting point that leads humans to atonement. The atonement is obtained by good works, and in order to make it easy, indulgences have been devised.

☞ The sale of indulgences, which first began around AD 800 under Pope Leo III(Ruled 795~826), increased significantly in the 15th century, and in 1515, under Pope Leo X(Ruled 1513~1521), they sold indulgences for the construction of Peter's Basilica.