I was introduced to this phrase recently and, as I began to ponder this concept, a very important understanding emerged with regard to man’s relationship to God.
When Yahshua became flesh and dwelt among us, one of his purposes was to introduce us to the father and teach us of his ways. Following his death, his disciples continued his ministry and carried his message to the known world at that time. However, from the beginning there were those who began to corrupt the message and teach heresies. The Apostle Paul often warned the believers in his letters to be aware of these false prophets. Unfortunately the early church fathers were never completely successful in eradicating the errors that crept into the fellowship of the saints.
Fast forward to 325 A.D. Constantine was emperor of the Roman Empire. He found himself with a dilemma. The empire had become bitterly divided between pagans and the rapidly growing number of Christians. He was, himself, a worshipper of the sun-god, but due to a supposed vision he had while going to battle one day, he suddenly converted to Christianity. Many believe he never fully embraced this new faith, but it was a brilliant strategic move on his part to use for his advantage.
He convened the famous Council of Nicea in which all the bishops of the empire were assembled to lay the foundational doctrines of this new religion. It was indeed a brilliant move, but I contend it was birthed in the very heart and mind of Satan, the adversary.
Constantine established Christianity the official religion of the empire and, with one bold move, merged Christianity with paganism. Suddenly it was popular to be Christian and the pagans were baptized in great numbers. Unfortunately their conversion was not born of true faith in Messiah and they were unwilling to part with their pagan ways. They brought with them all of the customs and traditions of their previous sun-god worship and these things slowly replaced the teachings of the early church fathers and of Yahshua himself. Leaven had entered the lump and so it has remained, resulting in hundreds of differingt denominations and factions, dividing the body and making it ineffectual.
The symbols of ancient sun-god worship were given different names to make them more palatable to true believers. December 25th, the birthday of the sun-god, suddenly became the birthday of the Son of God. The Sabbath was discarded for Sunday, named in honor of the sun-god. Easter, the ancient festival of the fertility goddess Ishtar, replaced the observance of Passover. And so it went! They changed the language and changed the culture. Today we are so far removed from that time that we don’t realize where our popular customs and traditions come from.
It’s past time for true believers to return to the mountaintop, to our source, to the beginning, to the garden and see if we can, once again, earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.
