We do agree that the majority of Christendom has gone far away from the teachings of Jeshua or Yahush(u)a, the Nazarene who is know better known as Christ Jesus, and of his Jewish beliefs and the first apostles their beliefs. There are even Christians who do not want to recognise that Jesus was a Jew.
Though at first the Jesus movement was a restricted Jewish cult. After the death and resurrection of Christ on Pentecost many new Jews entered the community. Later were there discussions about non-Jews wanting to join the community, if they had to become Jews and have to be circumcised or not. The apostles tried to keep to the teachings of their master rabbi Jeshua (Jesus), but soon other teachers mixed the teachings of the 'new hype' with traditional teachings of other groups or philosophies. It became so bad the apostles warned their community to be careful for the false teachers. Like any new movement it had real followers and copycats.
The Natsarim were identified as the original followers of Yahusha or Jeshua at Acts 24:5, and with all those who wanted to join the Christ movement 'The Way', were persecuted, despised, and suppressed by the early Christian "church fathers", who were quite different.
Soon there were people who did find some interesting things in those teachings, but did not like to loose the popularity of the folks. So to keep it interesting and agreeable for everyone they did not want to go against the attitudes and traditions of the people they did want to win for them. Therefore those teachers mixed together practices and beliefs of other systems and not to go against the men in power took on lots of heathen Roman and Greek teachings. They created a system of syncretism. These heresies began through the teachings of Simon Magus, and eventually became the institution known as Roman Catholicism.
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| Holy Trinity by Fridolin Leiber (1853–1912) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
With Constantine the Holy Trinity was the solution for many teachers to be able to assure their power and to create their own rich empires of a so called Christian belief. The balance of power brought several schisms, like the Eastern Orthodox Catholicism, and later the Reformation in the 16th century further fragmented the movement; but much error remained from the adherence to the early "church fathers" and their writings.
These "church fathers" persecuted and despised the first followers of Jeshua or Yahusha, the Natsarim or the sect which was called 'The Way'. They considered the Natsarim or real followers of Christ "heretics" because they obeyed the Torah.
Throughout the ages Natsarin continued their teachings and where the witnesses came new members found truth in the Torah teachings.Disciples from the talmidim educated new teachers who continued to go out in the world to proclaim the Good News. More and more people became baptised by the different 'Christian' groups. Though the trinitarians won ground and conquered many regions, small communities tried to keep the proper teachings of the apostles clean.
When bookprinting brought the possibility to bring the Holy Scriptures in the language of the people to many, several Christians their eyes became opened when they saw what was written in those Holy books and what the Church had told them what was in Scriptures. The Church could not hide the truth any more and more people became to see and understand what was really written in the Sacred Books.
All through Europe small communities of people studying the Bible made that many movements came into existence which had their first priority to follow the teachings of the Word of God, the Holy Bible and not any more the teachings of a indoctrinating Church.
Many believers became aware what was the importance of been properly baptised and formed in the tradition of the first century Christians. Anabaptists and Baptists who worshipped only One God tried to get more people to the Word of God by witnessing all over the world. But also the Baptist movement got burdened by the American Baptist Church Unions who wanted the Trinitarian teaching their main belief. In the 80ies and 90ies of the previous century many Baptists did not want to adhere the trinitarian teachings and looked for refuge by other non-trinitarian denominations.
One of the many small groups, may be a very tiny denomination, but that does not mean they are afraid to be lost in oblivion. As brethren and sisters in Christ they keep following the teachings of the Master Rabbi Jeshua, and take the Word of God as the most important teacher of all. For them every answer can be found in the Holy Scripture and it is God who pulls people into His World. Under the guidance of the teachings of Christ and in the faith that God accepted the ransom of this Nazarene man, the Christadelphians love Jesus, love their family and love their neighbours, believing or not believing people, respecting them as part of God His Creation.
Having celebrated the death of Christ, those brethren in Christ want to share with others the Good News of the Kingdom of God and look forward with other people all over the world to the return of the resurrected son of God.
In case you want to know more of those very small communities, which can be found all over the world, and who not want to commit themselves to human traditions, but prefer to live according to the Law of God, you are welcome to contact them in your region, or if you do not know where to find them, you may contact us so that we can bring you in contact with a Christadelphian community nearby.
We advise you to take up the Bible and read the words of it like they come to you, stripped from all the denominational and doctrinal teachings, remembering that God wanted everybody to hear and understand His Word. He did not create a difficult Zigzaw puzzle too difficult for uneducated people to decipher. No Gods Word is simple and can be understood by every one, when they are willing to open their ears and eyes.
Dare to start the quest and find others who are wiling to study the Bible with you.
We are here to help you if you want.
Good luck.
In the small communities you might find loving people who are concerned about others and who are prepared to jump in for somebody else. The good works we do are not installed in media adverts or made known with a loud voice. The actions we undertake do not instantly produce large crowds, but the effect we might hope, shall lasts longer and in the end there will be coming more people. But naturally everything begins small. We are like a mustard seed, which you are able to plant in your own garden.
In our churches you probably would not see many miracles happening. But you might hear particular stories and also hear about miracles. Miracles done all the time lose their drawing power. Do know that love done all the time increases its drawing power.
We do hope you shall come to find out that the Brethren in Christ, or Christadelphians are people who do love the truth of the Bible and feel blessed by the blessing of God which they want to share with others in love. The Christadelphian community is not concerned about figures, quantity, and the ego, but about quality and care about others.
Please do find also to read:
- Bible Word of God, inspired and infallible
- Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures
- Christadelphian People
Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
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Prof. Buzzard schreef een prachtig e-boekje over een van de
kernwaarheden van ons allerheiligst geloof: de Eenheid van God.Hij doet
dit vanuit het Hebreeuwse denken.
