Why didn't you go straight to Hippolytus' "Refutation of All Heresies (Book IX)" One was a Pope from 217 to 222 the other an 'anti-Pope' (the first) from 217 to 236 A.D. One was for forgiveness the other wanted punishment. The Church all the while under the cloud of the great persecution and would remain so for more than 100 years.
B.H. Cooper's prejudices are quite evident.
JoeT
I believe in the seven churches as ages and the church at that time was ready to change...
Ephesus - Messianic - Beginning with the Apostle to the Circumcision, Peter
Smyrna - Martyr - Beginning with the Apostle to the Un-Circumcision, Paul
Pergamos - Orthodoxy formed in this time... Pergos is a tower... Needed in the dark ages
Thyatira - Catholicism formed in this time - The spirit of Jezebel is to control and to dominate.
Sardis - Protestantism formed in this time- A sardius is a gem - elegant yet hard and rigid
Philadelphia - Wesleyism formed in this time - To be sanctioned is to acquire it with love.
Laodicea - Charismatic movement formed in this time - Beginning with DL Moody, the first to make money off of ministry
In which... The Apostle Paul was the Apostle to the second age, the Smyrnaen. Even in Paul's day the church was a handful...
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. -
2 Corinthians 11:28
“Love will not be constrain'd by mastery.
When mast'ry comes, the god of love anon
Beateth his wings, and, farewell! He is gone. Love is a thing as any spirit free.” - Chaucer
Whenever someone thought they came upon the mastery of the Christian faith it seemed that the Spirit of love would depart and trouble would set in.
The Persecuted church - The Second Church - The Apostle Paul
Ye Shall Have Tribulation Ten Days…
Time
Persecutor Description
67 AD
Nero The Smyrna Church Age begins with Nero setting fire to Rome, and then blaming the Christians
81 AD
Domitian Declaration that no Christian should be exempt from punishment, Paul’s Timothy died in 97 AD.
108 AD
Trajan and Adrian Severe persecution against Christians from 108 to 138 AD during the time of the Bishop Ignatius
162 AD
Marcos Aurelius Marcos Aurelius, commendable in study of philosophy, sharp and fierce towards Christians.
192 AD
Severus This persecution was carried out by the will and prejudice of the people and extended into Africa.
235 AD
Maximus Numberless Christians were slain without trial and burned indiscriminately in heaps
249 AD
Decius Began because of the amazing increase in Christianity, and with the heathen temples forsaken.
257 AD
Valerian The martyrs that fell during this persecution were innumerable, their tortures and deaths painful.
274 AD
Aurelian A brief persecution that ended with the emperor’s assassination.
303 AD
Diocletian The last persecution ended with Constantine’s triumph against Rome in 313 AD
In studying this I found that in-between persecutions the church would often go wrong. on Petilian’s discussions with St. Augustine they seem to look back upon the martyrs in remembrance of a much purer faith...
"Therefore I say, He ordained that we should undergo death for the faith, which each man should do for the communion of the Church. For Christianity makes progress by the deaths of its followers. For if death were feared by the faithful, no man would be found to live with perfect faith. For the Lord Christ says, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.'" (
John 12:24) –Petilian’s discussions with St. Augustine. Note: “even in the days of wherein Antipas
was my faithful martyr” refers to the previous church age. As the Bishop Pelitian and Augustine were hashing away at what direction the church should go, Pelitian made the comment that we should not fear dying as Christians, knowing that the state of the seed is better in the afterlife than in the former. A star in Pergamos was the good old St. Nicholas, who would ride into town with a switch and presents for the children, depending on how good they were.
