Turning points in Christian Church History

Jeremiah 6:17 I have set watchmen over you, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet.

View Gallery — Notable characters in Christian History

Historic Preview of the Gospel Age — Bob Gray
Early and later reformers with promises and admonitions to the seven churches

Timeline of Church Unity and Divisions — Through the centuries
A tabulation of dates and notable crossroads in Christian history.

The Church — Renaissance, Reformation and teachers 1374 - 1916

Irenaeus and Tertullian — Prophetic Faith of our Fathers
Le Roy Edwin Froom Irenaeus of Gaul and Tertullian of Africa were early Church bishops and teachers in the first and second centuries. Though living before the establishment of Papacy, these two were keenly aware of the prophecies of the Man of Sin and Antichrist. Their writings on prophecy became the foundation for subsequent generations. Froom recounts their views on the first and second advents, resurrection, the New Jerusalem, chronology, the Millennium and prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.


We highly recommend:
When Jesus Became God by Richard E. Rubenstein, 1999, Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN: 0-15-10368-8 and 0-15-601315-0

ARIUS, A Christian priest from Alexandria Egypt in the early fourth century whose teachings were considered heretical by the main body of the Christian Church. In about the year 318, he was involved in a dispute with his bishop, Alexander of Alexandria, maintaining against him that the Son of God was not coeternal or consubstantial with God the Father, but that there was once a time, before he was the "only begotten son", that he did not exist. See: The Docrine of Christ

A few extracts from: Arius the Libyan (a historical novel) - Nathan Kouns 1914:
       Constantine — His Most Catholic Majesty
      The Politics of Religion — An insight to a notorious emperor. A turning point for the trinity doctrine.

Emergence of Papal Power — Prophetic Faith of our Fathers, Le Roy Edwin Froom, Volume 1, page 492
This chapter traces the gradual emergence of Papal Power to 539. Here is historical evidence for the transfer of legal, political and religious authority by Justinian to the Bishop of Rome. The factors of Eastern and Western Capitals, the Vandal wars and central religious authority are particularly documented for the years 536-539. This confirms the same evidence in Studies in the Scriptures, Volume 2 pages 293-299 and Volume 3 pages 70-90. This turning point is seen to begin the prophetic days of Daniel 12.


Peter Waldo — 1140-1218 Prophetic Faith of our Fathers, Le Roy Edwin Froom
Waldo also began to preach and teach on the streets, based on his ideas of simplicity and poverty, notably that "No man can serve two masters, God and mammon." The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty and sticking to the "Word of God", the Bible. Peter Waldo commissioned a cleric from Lyons around 1180 to translate the Bible, or parts of it, into vernacular, the provençal language. Driven away from Lyon, Waldo and his followers settled in the high valleys of Piedmont, and in France, in the Luberon. Finally, Waldo was excommunicated by Pope Lucius III during the synod held at Verona in 1184, and the doctrine of the Poor of Lyon was again condemned by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, and regarded as heresy. The Roman church began to persecute the Waldensians, and many were tried and sentenced to death in various European countries during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.



Wycliffe — 1320-1384, Morning Star of the Reformation
by John Trzyna

William Tyndale — 1494-1536
A 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, translated the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day. Tyndale's was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print, which allowed for its wide distribution. In 1535, Tyndale was arrested, jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year, tried for heresy and burned at the stake. He was strangled then his body was burnt.


Martin Luther — 1483-1546
"Father of the Reformation"
Here is his view on Immortality of the soul.


Michael Servetus — 1511-1553
A Spanish Protestant Reformer.

Author of:
The Restoration of Christianity,
refuting Calvin's Institutes.
Renounced doctrines of trinity,
immortality of the soul and hell
fire. Burned at the stake for his
"heresy".

We highly recommend:
Out of the Flames by Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone, 2001
Broadway Books. ISBN: 0-7679-0836-8

William Miller — 1782-1849. The Midnight Cry. Biography and the movement. Francis Nichol, 1945
This documents the history but is not used here to validate his teachings. His views explored the tools of prophetic interpretation.
He looked for literal fulfillment which overlooked the object and manner of the second advent. Yet the movement was purifying and testing for the true watchers looking for the right understanding of Daniel's visions (C84-90).