Chapter 9 Temples and Churches

Part 3 One Father

The right of the Father, or as the Romans called him, the Pater Famillias, was absolute and beyond the government’s jurisdiction. The Greeks had brought in different ideas, which were now filtering into Judea with the introduction of a Hellenistic philosophy.

In Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, it was preached that the children were not the property of their parents, but rather the property of the State.¹ It also called for the collection of all gold and silver so that iron could be used as money, and also preached a common system of welfare and food distribution, financed by compulsory taxes collected into a common government-controlled treasury. Land was to belong to the State² and everyone was required to pay a use, or property tax, on the land or that property would be taken from them and given to another. Was this the way of God’s righteousness which we were to seek?

Youngsters were removed from the family at an early age and trained up to follow the directions and teachings of the State. Pietas was the “Sense of Duty” that each child owed his natural Father. When he was born, the child was traditionally laid at the feet of his Father. If the Father picked him up, it was an act of acknowledgment. Birth registration was the official laying of a child at the feet or footstool of the Patronus of the State, the Pater Patriae.

In the original government of Israel, the authority to govern remained in the hands of the People through the family unit, represented by the eldest member. The Elders or Patriarchs held the power of government, called by the Romans, Patria Potestas. Men like Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, and Caesar assumed the office of Father.³ It is from this jurisdiction that the State derives much of its power and authority.

Persecution of Christians was more often the result of provincial regulations, called mandata, rather than Empirical decrees, decreta; but it is clear that public policy and the structure of the Roman system came into conflict with Christian practices and beliefs. Persecution of Christians, under Emperors like Antoninus Pius, was uncommon and ill-advised under Trajan and Hadrian.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus had been a priest at the sacrificial altars of Roman service and was an eager patriot. He had a logical mind, but his stoic philosophy was tempered with gentleness and benevolence by making it subordinate to a love of mankind.

His ‘Meditations’ was still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty, has been praised for its “exquisite accent and its infinite tenderness” and “saintliness” being called the “gospel of his life”, and they have been compared by J. S. Mill, in his Utility of Religion, to the Sermon on the Mount. Like many of the emperors of Rome, he was loved by the people. Yet, with all his benevolence, administered justice, and reforms, he often mistrusted the Christians to whom was subjected to systematic persecution.

What was wrong with Christians? Religious freedom was guaranteed in the Roman Constitution. No Christian was persecuted for singing in Church, praising the Lord, or believing in Jesus. It is what that belief changed in the Christian outlook and activities that brought them under suspicion, if not outright conflict, with Roman policy.

Their independence and success could make Emperors nervous, if not ashamed or jealous. When Christians appeared to question Marcus’ desire to be the benevolent Father of the people, conflict was sure to follow. The record of persecution of Christians under this loving, tender, and dutiful public servant was greater than any other period of Roman history.

Christians were bound together in a system of unity, strength, and efficiency that often frightened those governing a central power bound by pride, pomp and pricey beneficence. Focus in the Christian community was not upon the benefits of the State. Independent responsibility, a duty to love their neighbor, and a trust in God took all their service.

When Christians had needs, they went to Christians and their living stone altars like Stephen, Philip, and Prochorus and the men who contributed to them.⁴ They did not pray at the altars of Rome or Herod. They knew the Lord hated the Nicolatians⁵ and would not apply to the Father of Rome and Jerusalem nor their systems of Qurban and Corban.

And call no [man] your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Matthew 23:9

It has always been an option for the people to apply to a State for an enfranchised citizenship. Fathers registered their children in a threefold process of abdication and manumission through Novation, Tutor, and Korban⁶ ,releasing their custodial rights, but gaining the State, first, as a Patron, and, eventually, the Benefactor of the citizen, invested with his Toga.⁷ This had always been a voluntary process, but eventually some form of membership in the Roman Family became required.

Marcus Aurelius required everyone to register the birth of their children with the Secretary of Treasury or Provincial Registrars within 30 days or suffer the penalty of law. The Roman system was in debt and decline and it needed more collateral and contributing investors to the corporation of the State. Human resources were in demand.

Christians could not apply to the Father of the Roman state without denying Christ’s command. The gratuities and benefits of that gentile government were the result of the people's sacrifice to the god of the Roman State, the Apo Theos. You had to accept Caesar as your Father to pray for and receive his beneficence.

In Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he praised “the union and discipline of the Christian republic.” He also pointed out that “it gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman Empire.”⁸ The early Christian community was a republic that was recognized by Rome through the proclamation nailed to the cross by order of the Proconsul of Rome, Pontius Pilate.

Fear, duty, and respect for the State became more important than love of family. The ‘ruling elite’ worked their influence unknown to the distracted general public. This philosophy required entertainment, distraction, and a system of education, social welfare, and old-age pensions, which was ministered by the corporate temples of the state.

Augustus Caesar had incorporated many such temples as a part of government services and Judea was no different establishing its own system of Corban. All this was diametrically opposed to what Moses had taught and Jesus did not fail to point it out.⁹

“Tyranny is not a matter of minor theft and violence, but of wholesale plunder, sacred and profane, private or public. If you are caught committing such crimes in detail you are punished and disgraced; sacrilege, kidnapping, burglary, fraud, theft are the names we give to such petty forms of wrongdoing. But when a man succeeds in robbing the whole body of citizens and reducing them to slavery, they forget these ugly names and call him happy and fortunate, as do all others who hear of his unmitigated wrongdoing.”¹⁰

 

Footnotes:

Table of Contents

Peace be to this house,

The Prologue
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCa1-0Prologue.html

1. The Kingdom of God

     Is Righteousness
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCa1-1IsRighteousness.html

     A Man as King
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCa1-2AManasKing.html

 

2. Abraham Uncivilized

     The City State
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCb2-1TheCityState.html

     Two kingdoms/ The Merchants of Men
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCb2-2MerchantsofMen.html

      The Hindu Connection
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCb2-3HinduConnection.html

     Abraham and the Legend, The Prodigal Son
     Our king and our god?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCb2-4Legend.html

     The Code of Abraham
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCb2-5code.html

     Abraham and the Family
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCb2-6Family.html

 

3. The Altar of Abraham

     Moses and the Altars
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCc3-1AltarsofClay.html

     The Altar of Sin
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCc3-2Sin.html

     Sacrifice
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCc3-3Sophistry.html

 

4. Moses, Moses

     The Civil State
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCd4-1CivilState.html

     Gods Many
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCd4-2godsmany.html

     No Kings
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCd4-3NoKings.html

     Servant Priests of a Nation
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCd4-4Servants.html

 

5. Joshua’s Altar

    White Altars of Joshua
     King over us
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCe5-1WhiteAltars.html

     Adultery of a Nation
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCe5-2Adultery.html

     Fear, Faith and Foolishness
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCe5-3RearFaith.html

 

6. The World

    Of Rome and Judea
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCf6-1Rome.html

     The Remarkable History of Israel
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCf6-2Israel.html

     Rome the Believer
     The Commander in chiefs
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCf6-3RomeBeliever.html

     A Father’s offer
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCf6-4TheOffer.html

     The Hasmonean Appeal
     Socialization of Rome
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCf6-5SocialAppeal.html

     The Love of kings
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCf6-6LovingKings.html

 

7. Factions at the Altar

     The Pharisees and The Sadducees
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCg7-1Factions.html

     The Essenes
     The Healers of a Nation
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCg7-2Essene.html

 

8. A King is Born

     A King is Born
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCh8-1KingBorn.html

     What is redemption?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCh8-2Redemption.html

     Kingdom in Turmoil
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCh8-3Turmoil.html

     The New Deal
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCh8-4NewDeal.html

 

9. Temples and Churches

     The Church
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCi9-1TemplesandChurches.php

     Investing in Diana
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCi9-2InvestinDiana.php

     One Father
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCi9-3OurFather.php

     Arts of the Temples
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCi9-4TempleArts.php

     The Temple of Satan
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCi9-5SatansTemple.php

     The Royal Treasury
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCi9-6RoyalTreasury.php

10. Two Paths

     God’s dominion from the Beginning
     The revenue of the wicked
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCj10-1Paths.html

     Beams in our eyes
     Removing the Beam
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCj10-2Beams.html

     These two Kingdoms
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCj10-3TwoKingdoms.html

    Faith is actions
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCj10-4Action.html

     The kingdom appointed to Liberty
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCj10-5AppointedLiberty.html

 

11. Where is the kingdom

    The kingdom comes
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCk11-1Kingdom.html

    Eating in the kingdom
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCk11-2Eating.html

    Washing in the kingdom
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCk11-3Washing.html

     Where is the Church?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCk11-4Where.html

     We are all kings
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCk11-5AllKings.html

 

12. Apostasy

     The Ship of State
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCl12-1Ship.html

     The Allurement of Wolves
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCl12-2Wolves.html

     The Church
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCl12-3Church.html

     The Separate Church
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCl12-4Separate.html

13. The Kingdom of Heaven

    The State of the Nation
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCm13-1Heaven.html

    Seeking the kingdom, The Law of God
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCm13-2SeekLaw.html

    What does the Kingdom look like?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCm13-3looks.html

    Assembling a congregation
    Where to start seeking the kingdom of God
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCm13-4Start.html

Appendix

    Appendix 1. Kingdom of Heaven and God
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCn-1Appendix.php

    Appendix 2. The things He says
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCn-2AppenSaid.php

     Appendix 3. What is Worship?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCn-3AppenWorship.php

     Appendix 4. Who are the Nicolaitans?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCn-4AppenNicolaitan.php

     Appendix 5. Who is a god?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCn-5Appengods.php

     Appendix 6. Oaths and Swearing
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/TKCn-6AppenOaths.php

    The Cover of the book,
The Elixir of Love.
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/tkczzwa.html

     About the Author
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/books/TKC/tkczzwb.html

 

Other publications:
The Covenants of the gods
The Free Church Report