Eric W. King ~ TSW, "The Shepherds Way": "Early Johannites." ~ TSW

Ancient Antiochene

Mysteries

Part Eighteen

“Early Johannites.”

By presbyter Eric William King (August 24th 2024)

The Ancient Antiochene Church records show that the Gospel of John was written and re-written. Its last version comes to us latter than the other gospels. St. John' gospel contains the deeper ‘spiritual meat’ regarding the deity of Jesus Christ and a much deeper understanding of the Sacrament of Communion.

Our records show that the first Christian Church, long before we were called "Christians", was mostly Jewish in membership. As a matter of fact, the Apostle John established a close friendship with many synagogue attending Jews. The early Christian message was shared amongst those who attended the synagogues. A small Jewish community came to believe that Jesus was in fact the Messiah.

A deeper understanding of the Prophets began to develop, especially regarding the death of the Messiah. For the most part, these early Christians were known as "Followers of the Way", this title based on Scriptures found in the prophets. They stayed mostly Jewish in their lifestyles up until the Apostle Paul. It was during the apostle Paul's life that we became known as “Christian” (Acts 11:26).

We understand that it was St. James, literal brother of our Messiah, who became the first Bishop of the early Jerusalem Church – predominantly all Jewish in membership.

Matthew's gospel was used much amongst this early group, the first Matthew account was written in Aramaic and came from the "Q" documentation which later on in Church history was protected in Ancient Antioch by Bishop Evodius. Many of these first believers lived in Palestine and spoke Aramaic. The earliest version of the Gospel of John also became a favorite book within Jewish communities. Apostle John became known as "the Beloved Disciple" within these early communities.

When these converted Jews started to more aggressively proselytize other Jews, they became marked as dangerous. Persecution slowly began to develop – much more strongly among the early Jewish Jesus communities. Eventually the Jews who accepted Jesus as the true Messiah were excluded from the synagogues. Many Jews continued to worship and study in their synagogues but openly remained silent about their beliefs, in this sense early Christianity became somewhat of a Secret Society. They used secret symbols to make themselves known to other Christians such as the fish symbol – the word “fish” in Greek was an acronym for Jesus Christ. They also used “the all-seeing eye” to represent the presence of God. These images are found painted on early caves that some Christians use to hide in and worship in.

The Ancient Antiochene Church of God has found itself having to do the same thing in modern times, when it comes to secrecy, due to the rejection of our ancient truths becoming more public. We have no official "church building" and we attend many different protestant churches today. We share with others and where the Holy Spirit guides us to do so. We have Christians now all over who worship in numerous Protestant denominations. There are no fines, fees, or forms to fill out and it costs nothing to become a true Christian - thus, we move forward.

If you have been baptized and believe you are one of us.

These early Jewish Christians became known as a Johannine community due to their close connection with Apostle John, the Beloved. Non-Christian Jews began to get angry and called those who "followed the Way" a sort of "new religion" – a cult. Eventually many Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah had to leave their communities. The Jews got very angry over the Christians regarding their understanding of the Sabbath days. To the true convert of Jesus, it was understood that Jesus became the true "spiritual rest" and not a mere day anymore. Many Jewish converts struggled with literal Sabbath observance and other old Jewish laws as time went on. Apostle Paul had to rebuke these groups which latter on became known as the Judaizers.

Today, we are experiencing something very similar to that which the Johannites experienced. We encourage you to not give up, we are ambassadors of a Greater Kingdom. We are in the Seventh Church Epoch and it is now time to proclaim the last great call – we have the True Gospel of Jesus Christ. Won’t you join us?

We are the remnant of the true Johannites.

This is most certainly true.

Eric William King (August 24^th 2024)

The All Seeing eye of providence, representing God's omnipotence, His all seeing of everything. It was used as such for many centuries in the First Christian Church before it became superstitiously associated with pagans and other strange groups.

READ: Hostility towards Christians increases