Institution builders are no different than those who build financial empires today. Gentile Christianity had become the beginnings of Corporatism where sects were absorbed or removed as the institution grew, eventually reaching power status when it merged with the Roman Empire as a power and went on to be an empire of it's own, a king maker much in the same way Corporatism sets up governments today. A perfect tool of the Adversary.
That is the reality of human nature. That is the way man has always acted and why Jesus came to give us an alternative, to give those blinded by the ways of this world new sight. It is certainly not beyond those men to take what Jesus brought (using it, not living it) and turn it into something they could use for gain and power. Even the Sanhedrin had done the same. It's a human thing. Certainly there were pious men and women from the beginning who became classified as true saints (not the politically advantageous ones) or monks who separated themselves from the institutions. But they were of the Kingdom, not the world of man like these institution builders who sought gain at the expense of others. God knew this would happen because man is so predictable and He uses these types for His own purpose. The scriptures have remained relatively intact and forwarded by these rogue elements, even if the church fell to the wayside and back into the world. His truth is with us in scripture, not the doctrines and rituals of man.
© ...timothyu
That is the reality of human nature. That is the way man has always acted and why Jesus came to give us an alternative, to give those blinded by the ways of this world new sight. It is certainly not beyond those men to take what Jesus brought (using it, not living it) and turn it into something they could use for gain and power. Even the Sanhedrin had done the same. It's a human thing. Certainly there were pious men and women from the beginning who became classified as true saints (not the politically advantageous ones) or monks who separated themselves from the institutions. But they were of the Kingdom, not the world of man like these institution builders who sought gain at the expense of others. God knew this would happen because man is so predictable and He uses these types for His own purpose. The scriptures have remained relatively intact and forwarded by these rogue elements, even if the church fell to the wayside and back into the world. His truth is with us in scripture, not the doctrines and rituals of man.
© ...timothyu
