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Constantine was not a Christian by any stretch of anyone's imagination. He committed horrible acts of atrocity against members of his own family and on his opponents. He used the Christian religion as a vehicle to unify his empire and in so doing corrupted it in the process. He held off being baptized until his dying hour. Kind of like covering your bets if you are a gambler. His whole life he worshipped the sun god and payed homage to other pagan religions. From the time that he presided over the Council of Nicea the christian religion ceased to be broadcast the message that God gave to His son Jesus to give to the world through his disciples, etc. Christianity became a mixture of Greek philosophical ideas and pagan influence, i.e. which we experience to-day in keeping Christmas - Christ's Mass on December 25 a day that was kept by pagan religions in worship of the sun, etc. Easter - Ishtar was substituted for Passover as the time to observe the lord's death and resurrection - if one wants to recognize the proper day to keep the time of the resurrection of Jesus is falls on the first day following the Sabbath that occurs after Passover. Any Jewish calendar will give you the proper first day of the week to recognize Jesus resurrection! After Constantine the Jewish origins of Christianity were ignored or put on the back burner, replaced by Greek philosophic influences. So for the most part except for a few faithful believers most of Christendom fell under this false influence and became corrupt. Those who remained faithful were persecuted and had to go into hiding to save themselves. Not long after the Council of Nicea anyone who didn't follow what was given in the creed sanctioned by the Christian Church that developed; were under the penalty of death. Imagine, a church supposedly founded on the teaching of the lord Jesus persecuting people and forcing them to believe a certain creed on the penalty of death for refusing to do so. This is diametrically opposite of everything that Jesus represented to his apostles and to us. There is no way that Jesus would sanction putting someone to death for refusing to follow his teachings and commands. Indeed, by their fruits you shall know them. God will judge those who refuse him and his message when they are resurrected to the White Throne Judgment. To sanction the death of anyone by a so-called Christian Church is really to deny the lord Jesus Christ and commit an act that if not repented of will guarantee those who do so to come under the penalty of the second death - to be caste into the lake of fire and be destroyed.
Am afraid my answer may not be very popular, but I will still go ahead and put my thoughts down anyway based on the history of God's people through the wilderness and the history of the Church. It will be recalled that Constantine introduced a lot of pagan practices into the early Church in order to Babylonise the early Church. And God says I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The materials for the building of Gods temple must be gotten from the mountain, in other words by waiting upon The Lord and not by the ideas of men like we see even today. The ideas introduced by Constantine was purely mans idea, and this was exactly the same reason that God confused the language of man at the Tower of Babel, Genesis Ch 11 refers, and am afraid this is why there's a lot of confused language in the present day Church, as portrayed in the thousands of denominations, each of which has different Bye laws and by extension a different language. God has a divine order which man considers disorder, and this order is waiting upon The Lord for direction like David used to do, and even the early Church. Plural leadership is what the New Testament church is all about, for in the multitude of counsellors there's wisdom. But what we see in display is mainly one man acting as a tyrant over God s flock, most of them are completely out of control and most of them keep saying 'my church'. We are talking about God's Church here for goodness sake. No wonder God says as can be found in the book of revelations in the Bible,Come out of her my people and be not a partaker of her iniquities... To obey is better than to sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams. This is a generation that God promised the sign of Jonah in the belly of the fish. This is a church that has gone astray. And is no longer working in the Spirit, I submit that Constantine affected the early Church negatively and this was a fulfillment of Mathew Ch 13, a corruption that came in when men slept. And there must be a sorting out in this last hour in Jesus name.
Revelation 12:3 and 4 [3] And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. [4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. From this scripture, the dragon can use both the head in persecution or the tail in a milder form of deception through social manipulations or religious tolerance so to say. Whichever way,it is all aimed at leading the Church astray. We must always watch and pray. Constantine employed the later tactics and sent the Church to sleep, The Church was even better awake in persecution than the so called peace that Constantine brought about through compromise with heathen practices.
There is a wonderful book written in the mid 19th century covering this topic in great detail. "The Two Babylon's" - by Rev. Alexander Hilsop The writer has much passion and zeal for the topic, and the drive to study and footnote all his work quite well. I speak as if he is alive, for our Father is not God of the dead but of the living. This book is a monumental work, but one must read carefully and remember the teachings of our One and only King: "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when [thine eye] is evil, thy body also [is] full of darkness.Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore [be] full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light." - Luke 11:34-36 (KJV) "Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him." - John 11:9-10 (KJV) "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." - John 12:46 (KJV) Basically, don't get so caught up looking at what's wrong that you corrupt your walk. Keep your focus on Christ, gathering with the body, on good doctrine (of which this book will shed some light) and exhortation. You see, the writer's overall point is that Satan is the 'GREAT DECEIVER.' And no matter how hard you look in the darkness, you will never find the Truth. The Truth is Christ, in Him and by Him. "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." - Hebrews 10:24-25 (KJV) "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." - 1 John 1:5-10 This is how we walk straightly, keep your focus Christ centered, and study hard. Christ lives!
The feeding of Christians to the lions stopped when Constantine came into power. Because of this, a lot of Christians at that time were very thankful, obviously. Sadly, a lot of Christians today overlook this. He developed the Edict of Milan, which stated that Christians should be allowed to follow their faith without oppression. This removed penalties for professing Christianity (which is death) and returned confiscated Church property. He made Sunday an official holiday across the empire, which favored the Christians greatly, who were already worshiping on Sundays. He disliked religious disputes, which he believe will lead to societal instability. Constantine used his influence to help the early Church establish a consensus regarding the nature of God and stamp out the Arian heresy.
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