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believe that we are at present living in shadow that is cast by the seven year count down, which is still lying ahead. Daniel said a covenant is necessary to establish the signals that indicate the beginning of seventieth week. Then only one can say there are eye witnesses to the events that take place during the final seven years leading up to the lords touch down on the earth. If we look into the basic rules of interpretation for studying the Bible, two important concepts are contexual and grammatical” interpretations, For example, the verse 24 clearly connected to the people of Israel and their holy city, and then the seventy weeks refer to the Jews and to their capital city Jerusalem.
It is a miracle beyond doubt only with the mercy of God. The Jewish state of Israel is still in existence, even though most of the Jews were driven out and scattered into many places by the Roman rulers at the time of war between the Jews and Romans in 66-73 A.D. The result of the war was that many army men (the Jews) were killed and most of the remaining were deported to many countries by force. Since that time, Israel’s land was separated from her people for about 19 hundred years, till their independence was declared on
th May 8 1948.
During the long period different dynasties ruled Israel. They looted, and destroyed both city and the Temple. They killed many people and many more were taken as captives Because of that the sacrificial system introduced by Moses was almost forgotten. The Temple was totally destroyed and only a wall called western wall or wailing wall is there. And there was no more priesthood also. Even the Hebrew language was forgotten by them.
Inspite of all these calamities Almighty God was merciful enough and guarded the nation. He means what He says and says what He means. Israel underwent many hurdles for centuries. Yet remained in tact. It remained as it was at the time of its forefathers and the people allowed by God to live peaceful life. Now they are in a position to speak their own language and continue to celebrate their festivals introduced by Moses during the wilderness wanderings about 3,500 years ago. Now they are living peacefully.
Daniels Seventy Weeks
They were forced to take part in many battles for about fifty eight years. Yet they were not disturbed because God’s blessings were with them. As a result of the blessings there was a rapid growth in every aspect. So, Israel is able to stand equally with other Middle East countries. God informed Daniel through the angel that time would put Israel in a condition of apprehension and termoil and it appeared to be in that position as it entered the nationhood. A thorough study of the seventieth week would determine upon Israel in both the Testaments which reveal unequal terms of the past, present and future. But God declared through prophet Jeremaiah. For this says the Lord, we have heard a voice of trembling of fear and not of peace. Ask ye know and see whether a man is ever labour with child? So, why do I see every man with his hands on his lions as a woman in labour and all faces turned pale? Alas! for that day is great so that none is like that, it is the time of Jacobs troubles, but he shall be saved out of it.” (Jeremaiah 30:5-7)
If we observe the present day events we can understand them as shadows cast by the seven year period which indicate the return of Christ. In addition to that this period can be imagined as the time of peril to Israel with our knowledge with the sense of logic and national thinking, we can conclude that it appears impossible to Israel to remain calm and peaceful in the midst of the affairs of the Middle East.
In recent times there has been a continuous flow of some sophisticated weapons into the hands of terrorists. In addition to that the unrest caused in Israel was in connection with the freezing of money from the U.S.A. and European- / ‘ countries or Union (E.U) above all we should remember palestenian terrorists awaiting the chance to attack Israel. The terrorists were active with more sophisticated weapons, rockets and missiles to send them into the most sensitive land of Israel. Those latest arms were made by Russians and supplied to the terrorists by Syria and Iron.” On the other hand Israel was tired of wars and anxiously looking for peace and good relationship with the surrounding nations. Israel is whole heartedly willing to invite a third nuetral
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country to come forward and negotiate permanent solution for peace and tranquility between Israel and all other Arab Countries.
“And people of the prince that come shall destroy the city and sanctuary” (Daniel 9.27). If we want a covenant or agreement, there must be at least two parties on the negotiating table. If it is possible for one party to enter directly into a covenant with the other party then it is called unconditional covenant. God entered into many covenants with Hebrews as we find in the Bible and most of them were unconditional. God made His promises to his chosen people. He obligated Himself to do with the exception of one, the Mosaic covenant. That means He made constructional promises to His people.
The God Almighty wants to carry on what He promised to His people. The Mosaic covenant carried the parties like “If you do this I will do this”, and soon God laid down the law and the Jewish people agreed to abide by it. But in the 9th text of Daniel we find the covenant begins with the worst time in the history of Israel nation. It is a two party agreement that ‘he’ the representative on one side of the party or table and many on the other side of the table.
As far as we have understood, Israel was treated as one party. The other party to this covenant is the present day twenty seven member (E.U.) European union. The main character called the prince is identified with the people who was really responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. The main point in connection with the covenant of making the prince is directly involved in creating confusion among Jews in 70 A.D. There is no doubt, the devastation brought upon Jerusalem was the major work done by the Roman authorities. There is also historical evidence for this havoc. Every Bible reader knows how the Roamn army caused total destruction of Jerusalem city and the Temple. They took away all the costly items from the Temple including the seven lamps stand called Menorah.
Daniels Seventy Weeks
If we probe into the affair it may provide, enough clue on the subject. Let us refer to the previous chapter of Daniel and find out the necessary support for the identification “Daniel” in the second chapter of his book conveyed and correctly interpreted about the king Nebuchadnezar’s dream. In the real sense of God’s message embedied in his dream really lays the foundation for seventy weeks of Daniel’s 9th chapter. The colossal picture and major point in this dream was that God with his sovereign authority put Israel nation into the hands of four Gentile super powers and kingdoms during the final period in order to make them realize and repent for their adamant behavior. God had chosen these people and helped them at every stage, since He brought them out of Egypt from bondage of king pharoah to His promised land.
He loved them so much and told them they will be His people, and He will be their God”. But these people became ungrateful to the God of their forefathers and began to worship the heathen gods. This behaviour of His people prompted God to punish them by handing them over to heathen powers with the hope they would respent. The four powerful pagan rulers were 1) Babyloneon king Nebuchadnezar 2) Persians 3) Greeks and 4) Romans Under these pagan rulers control and ill - treatment, God must have felt and said at some stage, “Enough is enough” Then after some period of time God would close down the era of Gentiles supremacy and replace that with His kingdom which would come to the earth. As described in the dream the Gentile empires were depicted by an impressive statue of a man which was designed in four parts. According to historical facts the Gentile rule began in 605 BC with Nebuchadnezar of Babylon as the head of the statue that represented.
Then he was followed by the Mead’s, the Persians, After them the Greeks, with Alexander the Great in 333 B.C. This Greek emperor introduced his language and culture in all the countries he conquered. Then in 163 BC, there arose the strongest and fiercest and inhuman pagan rulers called Romans came into power. It seemed their main aim was to suppress the sons and daughters of Abraham, Israac and Jacob. These Romans were represented by
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the two legs and feet along with their toes. The dream finally ended with the destruction of the statue that represented the time of the four Gentile rulers.
“Then he shall confirm the covenant with many or one week in the middle of the week and in the middle of the week. He shall cause sacrifice and obtain to curse for our spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9.27)
The third part, is not another nation but another individual person who must have reached the top most position of (E.U) and he must be a representative of the unified body of the nations with power and authority. He must be a reputed one and to be agreed by Israel. Then only he would be accepted as prince, who will come to people that are mentioned in chapter2. He is the person who will treat the covenant the seven year agreement with Israel in the midst of seventieth week. Seventy seven years are set out by God for Israel to set aside their relations, attitude and humbly repent, then embrace God on His terms to enter the kingdom age. “For, I say unto you ye shall not seem hence forth till shall say Blessed is He that commeth in the name of the Lord.”o people that are mentioned in chapter2. He is the person who will treat the covenant the seven year agreement with Israel in the midst of seventieth week. Seventy seven years are set out by God for Israel to set aside their relations, attitude and humbly repent, then embrace God on His terms to enter the kingdom age. “For, I say unto you ye shall not see hence forth till shall say Blessed is He that commeth in the name of the Lord.”
Daniels Seventy Weeks
Rapid Changes In Christian Faith
Our Christian faith is a splintered movement in Jerusalem. The founders and leaders of this faith were Jews themselves. When it was spread in the Roman world outside Palestine, first nobody accepted this religion. They dismissed it with contempt especially by sophisticated people as a new superstitious religion. They thought about it as a religion of slaves or women and irrational people. With that impression, they worshipped a Jewish leader who was executed as a rebel against Rome, who claimed to be a duplicate holy man and who had the life again. He went to heaven and would come back again at any time. He would be moving on the celestial clouds of glory to find out a heavenly kingdom on earth.
The oldest picture of the crucifiction was found on the scroll hanging to the wall in a house in Rome showing a ‘Christian’ worshipping a donkey. The faith that was once despised by the people has a wonderful follow up as a religion with a close examination. It is estimated that from 1,000 million Christians ,it is said about fifty eight percent are Roman Catholics and thirty five percent protestants. The remaining Christians are of different denominations. One of the reasons for the success of Christians is the goodness and strength of the New Testament with the picture of Jesus Christ. His living on the earth as a human being, His death on the cross and His resurrection are all strange things to other religions. Being God and savior of the world, His human life ends in rejection torture and execution.
The broken body of Christ on the cross was an extraordinary and mysterious symbol of God head salvation and that is deeply preserved in the precious hearts of millions. According to Biblical history ,Christianity has taken its name from Christ. This word “Christ” is the Greek translation of Hebrew word “Messiah” and the title Christianity was given by them that Christ was the founder of this religion, who was believed to be both God and man. He was the son of God who lived ,taught and died on the earth, as Jesus
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of Nazareth. He did everything for us because of his compassion and love towards human kind. He lived the life of a humble human being. By that memorable act he bridged the gulf between God and man.
Christianity is also inherited the principle of monotheism from Judaism. The concepts of God as devine. father who loves, protects and disciplines human children. Christianity accepted the Old Testament and also some books added to the New Testament like the four Gospels, “The book of Acts” the thirteen Epistles of apostle paul, a the book of revelation” “which was the vision of the future life of man as apostle John saw and the end of the world. Nobody can deny to accept Jesus as a moral teacher. Some learned people tried to write the biography of Jesus but they could not get the full and detailed information about Him. He taught people only by a word of mouth, which was not recorded. So the authentic information about Him was only the four Gospels.
Jesus is the Greek form of common Hebrew “yeshua” or “Joshua” which means “Yahweh helps”. He was brought up in a Jewish family of Nazareth in Northern Palestine with a good number of brothers and some sisters. His mother was Miriam (Mary) and father Joseph, a carpenter, But later some Jewish opponents of Christianity said that Jesus was the bastard son of a Roman soldier. As his father was a carpenter. Jesus continued His fathers business for some time. Then at the age of thirty, He took baptism and emerged from obscurity in Nazareth into lime light as a teacher and healer of all kinds of diseases.
Jesus spent most of his time around Galilee and sometime in country side by preaching in synagogues and outside. He gathered some disciples who always walked with him. Many people were attracted by his extraordinary intelligence and mysterious personality. Added to that, whatever the spoke, He spoke with authority as if it came from heaven. He went to Jerusalem for the “Passover” feast and happened to assault, some jews who were transacting,
Rapid Changes in Christan Faith
some business in the temple of God. This kind of frequent attacks made Jews to develop a kind of prejudice against Jesus, and they had been planning to get him arrested and killed. According to their plan on the “Passover” night, He was caught somehow and handed over to the Roman authorities for punishment. Then with false allegations, He was proved guilty and finally crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem.
The next memorable incident in the story is resurrection which was the real foundation for Christian faith. The truth behind is that if there was no resurrection, there was no Christianity today. He suffered agony on the cross, died and buried. He rose on the third day from his grave. Then he met the people and his disciples in his forty days time and finally went to his father.
So, rising from the dead was the main difference between our God and other heathen gods. The disciples also identified him as the true messiah before he was crucified and confirmed that when he arose from the dead. His sayings were wonderful and mysterious. His disciples and others found him most fascinating and puzzling. His sayings were pregnant with wisdom like, “I and the father are one” and “I am the truth, the way and life”. These marvelous sayings might not be porperly understood by the people. Jesus,as the Messiah ,was the son of man, but the feeling of jews was that the Messiah must be a divine origin.
The message Jesus proclaimed again and again was that the kingdom of God was near at hand and the people must prepare themselves to become the citizens of that kingdom by repentance and with devotion to God. Jesus before he went to his father instructed. the disciples to remain in Jerusalem under any circumstances. Accordingly they remained and used to meet in a private home for eating together This was the origin of the early Christians “Agape” or “love feast” or meal that commemorated the last supper which Christ had eaten with his disciples, before He was arrested by the Roman soldiers. He told them to break the bread and drink wine in His memory.
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Apostle paul came to Jerusalem to meet the disciples who were hiding and living secretly. This Paul was a remarkable figure after Jesus Christ in the history of Christianity and the architect of the religion as we see today. He was a man of valcanic energy and with hot blooded enthusiasm. He was a man brought up in a prosperous Jewish family out side Palestine in a Greek city of “Tarsus” in Asia minor but spoke Greek and fully equipped intellectually. He used to think that he was a messenger or aposle of Jesus as he revealed to him as the divine saviour of the whole world. Since then he decided to teach the special message of Jesus to the Gentiles and non Jews. Paul did not care any untoward happenings in his mission of preaching the word of God .He travelled into many places like Syria, Cyprus, AsiaMinor and Greece with a message. He preached in Gentile Christian communities also in cities.
Paul seemed to be the first person to formulate in his preachings a special doctrine of Christianity for proclaiming that Jesus was not the Messaiah of jews but as God who came to this world as a son to die for the salvation of the whole world. This kind of preaching of Paul was not at all acceptable to Jews, who remained in Jerusalem. The point, Jesus, the Messiah and second God hurt them more which was against their monotherstic doctrine. They condemned Paul bitterly for his sayings and that was still lingering in their minds. Christians are now the true Israel and Jewishness is no more required. Christ in his death and resurrection is an astonishing act of divine savior and grace reeseed, His people from evil and death. So, Christians became victorious over evil and death as Christ Himself has done what was required. So the main reason for the rapid growth of Christianity was naturally the convection of Supreme love and self sacrifice of God and the offer of immortality to every one, whether he is rich or poor, educated or uneducated, male ‘or female, master or slave. He lived among the human beings and died two thousand years ago.
Identification with Christ means faith in Him and personal commitment to Him which Paul had considered more important than “good works”. Good moral behaviour is the most requisite qualification for a true Christian and
Rapid Changes in Christan Faith
Christ also felt the same as part and parcel of Christian life. Paul was of the opinion that Jesus would come this time to earth not in a home like Nazareth but in glory on celestial clouds. Then he will destroy every power and authority. The second coming of the Lord is unJewish concept but we can expect it at any time.
The most important Christian ritual is exactly the” Lord’s Supper”. It has been observed by Christians with bread and wine since the death of Jesus. Later it became part of love feast or common meal. But it became disagreement to some Christians and yet part of their remembrance in the devotion. And with in a short time there was a radical change. It was decided by the devotees that only baptized Christians are eligible for taking the communion (with good standing) or Lord’s Supper. This time heathens came to practice and began to accuse Christians by saying that they were doing cannibalism by feasting on the body and blood of some body.
In such a critical situation apostle Paul came and clarified the position by saying that he considered the Lord’s Supper ceremony as an identification with the Lord in His death and resurrection a communion with the body and blood of Christ. Then in about 58 AD, Paul returned to Jerusalem but he was arrested by the Roman authorities on the pretext that he was a trouble maker. He was originally a Roman citizen, so he appealed to Caesar for justice and on that cause he was sent to Rome and remained there for two years in house arrest. It is said apostle Peter was also there at that time and both of them were martyred during fierce persecution initiated by the Roman crudest Emperor, “Nero”.
He was called by the biblical historians as the most inhuman and barbarious among all Roman kings. It is said in his rule some Christians were torn to pieces by dogs, some were crucified and some were tied to the cross and burned like living torches to illuminate an entertainment in Nero’s garden. That kind of brutal treatment Christians experienced during the reign of the Roman kings. It is believed Peter was burned to death and buried beneath the
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high altar of St.Peter’s in Rome and Paul at the site of St.paul outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Christian leaders and community of Jerusalem retained great prestige and influence at that time but suddenly seized and sacked by the Roman authorities. So, the Jewish Christianity in the city lost its headquarters and source of power. Eventually it was Paul’s Christianity that survived. It was believed by many educated people that it was only through Paul Christianity became popular and spread into the world apart from the four Gospels. It was finally concluded that with out Paul and his thirteen epistles there is no New Testament; and without Paul we could have scarcely heard of Jesus Christ. So we conclude by saying, of all the apostles and disciples, it was apostle Paul totally responsible for the spreading of Christianity.
After the death of Paul, his contemporaries did not give any importance for the progress of Christian religion. Yet the trend of people had changed”. In 200AD there were Christians in every province in the Roman Empire and faith spread out side also .As a result during 300 AD there were more Christians than Jews. And 325AD, the Eastern part of Roman Empire called Byzantine empire for which Constantine became the king. He was quite opposite to Emperor Nero. Constantine and his mother Helena embraced Christianity and did a lot for the spreading of faith. She was guided to find out the true cross on which Christ died. Constantine seemed to have blended the Christian faith with pagan belief in a way which was probably common at that time He insisted more on official tolerance of the religion and built Churches in his new Eastern capital constantnople which is now called modern Turkey.
In addition to this , he built a church in Nazareth called “the Church of Annunciation” in Bethlehem “the Church of Nativity” in the Christian! quarters of Jerusalem city.” The church of Holy sepulcher” and on the mount of Olives” The Church of Helena, in memory of his mother. Above all it was he who changed Saturday Subbath day to Sunday. It was he who abolished cross punishment and many more for the progress of Christian religion. Earlier than
Rapid Changes in Christan Faith
all these things, he happened to call the Council of Bishops to know who the christ was. They told him He was the son of God and the son of man. He again called for a meeting of the Bishops in (Necaea) in Asia Minor in order to solve the Arian Controversy regarding the faith of Christians that they approved to have three Gods in Oneness; the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; as they considered themselves monotheistic in worshipping the three persons in One God. The Eastern part of the empire became great particularly in politics and religion and Constantine ruled that part.
The church in that Eastern part also became popular, and so the church authorities wished to honour that place. As the emperor showed more interest in the church matters, he became the effective head of Eastern churches and the senior Bishop became the patriarch of Constantinople. Then the monastries played important role for the spreading of faith and principles among people. First they followed and then they preached to the people. They cared for the sick, they helped the sick and poor. They taught the children and provided lodgings to the travellers. They showed the people all kinds of goodness to all people and remained as an example to others. So in the reign of emperor Constantine both Jews and Christians enjoyed the most comfortable life.
The early centers in Rome in Eastern Mediterranean area, at Alexandria, Antioch in Asia Minor and at Carthege in Africa were considered full fledged places for Christian faith and Christianity became the religion of cities. But this wonderful progress was short lived. Some Roman powers came forward and introduced the Emperor as a Devine force and so he must be worshipped like god. As a result some Christians obeyed the order and those who did not honour the proclamation, were persecuted and killed. In course of time Christianity became a disputable religion in the hands of some opposition members who later called them selves Gnostic Christians.
This Gnostic Christianity gradually developed into “Gnosticism” which came from the Greek word “Gnosis”. Its meaning is “knowledge”. Their
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blind belief was that human body and world are evil and the prison of immotal soul. These Gnostic Christians denounced the God of Old Testament and treated him as the creator of prison. They did not believe also Christ as the son of God lived with human body and His suffering on the cross was only illusory. The belief of these Gnostics eclipsed the main doctrine that the Father sent His son to redeem the humanity by becoming a human being.
The true believers rebelled against them for their heathen way of thinking. The early dispute implanted in the Christian movement is a living conviction of the dangers of unstrained individuals. In addition to that the expected coming Jesus Christ is not yet materialized and Christians might have to wait for some more years, or even some more generations. Regaring His second coming Christians were being harassed by the out siders. The authentic ideas and institutions of Christianity took shape in response to the need for order must be the church. The word ‘church’ came from the Greek term “kyriapom” which means belonging to God or “to the Lord”. This word church used for buildings that (Christians maintain for the purpose of gathering themselves on Sundays to worship God.
It can be also used the by the community of orthodox Christians forming the body of Christ on earth. Then regarding the term Catholic Church means both universal and orthodox even during the second century, and if any body who remained outside the church was in danger of spirited and physical separation. But for the Gnostics, the statement of fundamental belief worked out which was commonly called “Apostlecreed”. Many books have been written and circulated among people. They must have been composed either by an apostle or any body, but there are mixed with ‘agnosticism’. A canon of ‘orthodox Scripture’ and in about 250 A.D, the new treatment in the present form was widely accepted. And to this holy book, Christians, Jews and Muslims showed reference andshared the belief. They also accepted that those who wrote the scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Rapid Changes in Christan Faith
At the same time in response to the need for authority began to develop a hierarchical structure which is unparallel in other religions. The Bishop (in Greek it is called “episcops” which means superintendent) is a leader and a spiritual ruler of a group of local congrigation. This system was approved and improved gradually. The apostles appointed bishops as their successors. They were succeeded by the appointment of others like a chain of apostolic authority. The bishops used to meet frequently in the Synods or councils to regulate the affairs of the church. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Rome became the capital of Roman Empire and Christians also made Rome as their main center for all church activities. The Bishop of Rome claim himself as the head of all bishops and of the church of st.Peter.
The Sabbath day was not Saturday like Jews, but Sunday was made Sabbath day at the time of Emperor Constantine. And Christiams have only two important festivals- Christmas in memory of Christ’s birth and “Easter” in memory of his death and resurrection. But for Jews, there are seven festivals nominated by God Himself and the most important one was “Passover”. They have also another prominent festival called “purem”which established during the time of Queen Esther” The Northern European people the “Norse” and the English were converted to Christianity by the Roman church. The Eastern Orthodox Church carried its faith to the people of “Balteamos” and “Russia” where a large number of people were converted.
One of the most significant conversions was the “Prince vladimir”of Keev and his moving with a Byzantine Princess. Just at that time the Eastern Front was taken over by the Turks who also acquired Palestine and Syria. These conditions made the pilgrims impossible to visit the holy places in Jerusalem. This unpleasant situation prompted the emperor of Byzantine to appeal to “Pope Urban”, and in response to the appeal, the Pope declared holy war in 1094AD against Islam. So against Muslims, a great campaign continued under the emblam of “white cross” to recover the holy land from the infedle.
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The appeal of the Pope found an emotional enthusiastic response from European fighting squad. They wanted to exhibit their talents for the service of God. There was a promise in the church that whoever was killed in the church service would have direct passport to heaven. Muslims were also encouraged by the same promise. So the first crusade was fought in 1099to storm Jerusalem across Syria and Palestine. A number of crusades had to take place and in the fourth crusade of 1204, the Muslims could not find the way of attack the holy land, but they attacked Constantinople and plundered the city heavily. Again the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem, and the Greeks on the other hand recovered their empire.
In course of time the papacy planned for the reunion of the western and eastern churches, but their suspicious and misunderstanding went very deep. And they could not find any scope for their unity. They remained separated on various points of doctrine. In addition to the question of supremacy over the leadership in Rome. The Eastern Church ,for example did not believe in Purgatory and also rejected that the priests need not be baptized through complete immersion in water, but simply pouring of water is enough.
The fact is that the west wanted to give more emphasis on man’s sinfulness, where as the East on man’s potential goodness. The west saw Jesus as tortured victim sacrificed Himself for man’s sin and crucifixion was the final symbol. But the Eastern churches saw Jesus, as triumphantly victorious over evil and death. The west saw man’s redemption (motive) through Christ. The West orthodox motive was the correct worship. In the western churches the papecy reached the summit of its temporal power of pope innocent lllrd who styled himself Vicar of Christ (God’s deputy on earth); and all bishops were kept under control.
The church was bound up with the establishment of order, on the society and according to them that order was imposed by the Almighty God under these conditions a new kind of monotheistic order came into existence called
Rapid Changes in Christan Faith
“Friars” who followed the patron of communal monastic life, with the ideals of poverty, chastity and service .to God. They used to go out for preaching to all kinds of people primarily in the cites. They lived by begging and they were called missionaries to normal Christians in western Europe. The two orders of ‘Friars’ were founded by St.Franas of “Assisi” and St.Dominie.
St.Francis gentleness and delight made him an attractive figure and finally prompted him to become a missionary by hearing the voice of Christ. He felt he was commissioned by Jesus Christ to do His service as Christ Himself commanded. His disciples were first to go and preach about repentance and the kingdom of God which is at hand. The Friars of St. Franciscan and St.Domenican became famous for their learning and skill in argument. As clearly explained in Judaism the philosophers set out, to demonstrate that the religion was right not only as a matter of faith, but also as a matter of reason. The greatest of such philosophers was “Thomas Aquinos” whose systematic Christian philosophy was made basis for Roman Catholic theology.
The full majority of Christians were seeking salvation through church but not through a solitary communion of mystics. The medival Christians had three main departments which were called in theology spirited conditions but popularly known as Christians of exceptional goodness would go to heaven. Unbelievers and Christians of exceptional wickedness would go to hell. And great majority of sinful but redeemable Christians would go to purgatory and in that place their sins had to be cleansed and puritied only after the purification of their sinfulness then they would be fit to enter heaven and prayers have to be conducted on earth by the faithful people because these prayers would help the dead though the pumishment in purgatory. Then at the end of time Christ would pome as judge and savoir. The dead would be resurrected and from them some had to be sent to heaven and the rest to hell, depending upon judgment.