christianity In China Churches
Israel - The Birth Place Of Christianity
Christianity is one of the major religions in the world today. It’s very interesting to learn the history of how Christianity began. Present day Israel was once called Judea and Christianity began there about 2,000 years ago. Israel at this time was a melting pot with many businesses, cities and farms. rome had control over Israel at this time and the Jewish people hated it. The Jews refused to the pagan ways of the roman people. The one hope that the Jews had was that their Messiah would come and deliver them from Roman rule.
It was during this tempestuous time that Jesus of Nazareth was born. He was a well-taught Jew who observed the Jewish faith. He also knew Jewish law very well. When Jesus was in his early thirties, he began going to various villages, teaching and healing people along the way. His teaching began to revolutionize the world. Jesus was not afraid of the religious teachers of the day and told them that they were sinful men who needed to repent of their self-righteousness. The whole community was in an uproar and people began to question the religious leaders.
Not long after Jesus began teaching, there were some men who believed and followed him everywhere he went. These men became known as the twelve disciples. Jesus spoke of a 'new covenant' to his disciples, teaching that it was no longer necessary to obey all of the levitical laws of the Old Testament. He taught them about a loving, faithful god who wanted to have a relationship of grace with his people.
The new covenant that Jesus spoke of was a result of Jesus himself dying on a Roman cross, judged unjustly, for the sins of all humanity. He promised to rise again three days after being crucified, proving that he ws their promised Messiah. The disciples became excited and began to teach Jesus' ways to everyone they met.
To make things even more interesting, the life of Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the coming of their Messiah. Jesus himself spoke of the words of the prophets and his uncanny ability to quote and understand the law was most unsettling to the religious scholars and leaders of the day. They decided that the only way that Jesus could be silenced was for him to be put to death.
Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' own disciples, betrayed him and Jesus was then taken before the Roman ruler, Pilate. The people demanded that he be killed, even though Pilate could not find any reason to judge him. In fact, they requested that a thief and murderer, Barabbas, be released instead. Pilate ultimately decided to allow Jesus to be crucified, consenting to the demands of the Jewish people.
On the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion, some ladies came to place spices on the body of Jesus. To their amazement, he was gone. When Jesus' disciples heard that his body was missing, they remembered his promise to rise from the dead on the third day. Word of Jesus coming back to life again spread quickly through the community, much to the frustration of the religious leaders.
Soon after this, Jesus visited his disciples and told them what they needed to do. They were to return to Jerusalem where they would receive the gift of the Holy spirit on the Day of Pentecost. He taught them about the supernatural power that they would have after this event. They left, excited and ready to build churches for the kingdom of God.
If you visit Israel on one of the many Holy Land tours, you will be privileged to see where many of these events took place. You will see where Jesus was born, lived, taught in the temple and eventually crucified. An Israel trip will also take you to the Upper Room, where the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost. Walking where Jesus walked and imagining all that happened there so many years ago is truly the dream of a lifetime.
FULL: China Cry, The Nora Lam Story, Christianity during China's Cultural Revolution
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