The
early Johannite Christian Mystery
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. It was addressed more towards the
Gentiles.
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 was 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. The so called "Q" documentation
was a series of handwritten scrolls by the apostles and early disciples of
Christ that had been collected and used in ministry. Among these was the
"Apostles Creed" and the "Didache".
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 who were trying to reach Gentiles.
Apostle John became known as "the Beloved Disciple" within these
early communities.
When these converted Jews started to more
aggressively proselytize other Jews along with Gentiles, they became marked as
dangerous. Persecution slowly began to develop – much more strongly among the
early Jewish Jesus communities because of their ability to convert Gentiles. 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 used to hide in and worship in.
At first, Rome considered Christianity as a mere
Jewish offshoot group. When the Roman officials saw that Gentiles and Roman
Gentiles were accepting the "Gospel of Jesus Christ", then
Christianity truly became a new threat for them.
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. (Romans ch.14; and all of
Galatians)
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. We urge
you to stay with us here at "The Shepherds Way & Nugget of Truth"
and keep your Bible's with you at all times
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
AACG (August 24th 2024)
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