People continue to bear the weight of sin and try to rid themselves from it by various  rituals all depending on what God they worship for there are many gods, men have even corrupted the Cristian faith and put burdens on people burdens that Jesus Christ delivers completely and forever those that accept Him as their Saviour. Roman Catholics are taught to confess their sins constantly and never go any further and deal with priests, men that love to be in that position of power, thus they get to know all they can about their flock, and can subdue them to fear and uncertainty, no man on earth can forgive sins and wash away their stains! It is written: ‘In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of His (God’s). These man-made ordinances add to the confusion that increased from generation to generation, and because this brought men to despair, so that now most of them have left believing in anything and have rejected Christ as a myth, and yet He really came down from heaven to free men from fear and wash their sins away! ‘The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ purifies us from all sins’ (1 John 1: 7) It is stills time to change your mind and repent from your sins and ask Jesus to save you from a hopeless eternity!

So, to rescue man from the pit of sin, sent by God, came the Lord Jesus. When the Jews were at their worst, spiritually bankrupt! politically, conquered by the Romans, Christ came, to offer them free pardon , justification by faith. God gave the Ten Commandments, which proved that no man could keep as it is written: ‘For this reason it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect (or just) those that draw near to worship! (Hebrews 10: 1) The fact that these rituals and sacrifices were repeatedly offered year after year without justifying anyone, was a living proof that man needed help for perfection could not be got by endless sacrifices; for it is written: ‘Those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins! (Hebrews 10: 3-4)

Yet, after their utter failure, it was to the Jews that God sent His Son Jesus Christ, who began to preach a new way to God. But the Jews hated Him, and despised Him, because He told them that they were sinners, like every Gentile whom they despised! John the apostle says that: ‘Jesus was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognise Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own (the Jews) did not receive Him.’ (John 1:10-11) the Israelites, His own people, rejected Jesus, the Son of God, yet many believed in Him, and in the end, it is to those that believed in Him, His disciples, that Jesus showed himself alive, risen from the dead! These believers became a nucleus of a new people! Hence not all Jews despised Him, many, as I quoted above believed in Him. The twelve disciples and many other, were Jews and Jesus chose twelve Jews, which he called apostles, they followed Him wherever He went preaching the Good News of the Kingdom!

This went on for three years, so, they heard Him preach the Gospel, listening to Him, they learned that what He was teaching was a completely new way to God. They were religious men, Peter, Andrew, James and John, and others, were disciples of John the Baptist, part of a considerable bunch of people, Jews that waited for the Messiah; but still! Nevertheless, they were Jews, bound to the law, and ignorant of anything else! They heard John the Baptist, who said that the Messiah had come and was alive among them. The Holy Spirit anointed John’s preaching, so they believed that the messiah had come! As good Jews, they attended the synagogues, as did Jesus in Nazareth, until He left it to start His public ministry! But as later they continued to walk with Jesus, they realised that the Gospel He preached, was a completely different way of life, and the Holy Spirit convinced them that the Gospel was really ‘good news’, liberating them from endless fears; they were the beginning of many that realised that obedience to the law could never give them what God in Christ gives freely. ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Romans 6: 23) Although the mainstream of the clergy, the elders of the people, the scribes classified Jesus as an empty-headed Galilean, without any degree or education, and began to organise themselves to stand up to Him. Hence,herever He went they were there, and never stopped questioning Him; they hoped that He would say something that would incriminate Him, they sought to apprehend Him and do away with Him. There were times that they wanted to take Him, but they feared the crowd that believed that He was a prophet! Yet one of them called Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, came to Jesus as it is written: ‘Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. (The Sanhedrin) He came to Jesus at night and said: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing il God were not with him,” (John 3: 1-2) Now these few words say a lot about the man.

A Pharisee was a member of a staunch religious group. Another group was called: Sadducees, they were more political than the Pharisees, these were the two main religious sects, in the days of Christ. The Pharisees were more important, they saw themselves as the defenders of the Torah, which is the Old Testament! Saul of Tarsus, was a young man who rose rapidly in their ranks, he was first mentioned at the martyrdom of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. It is written that: ‘Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death! (Acts 8: 1) This happened after the ascension of Christ. Tarsus was a city in Cilicia, a roman province. Saul of Tarsus was of Jewish stock, born a Roman citizen.

This Saul of Tarsus became a very dedicated critic of Christ and a hater of His disciples. I do not think that he met the Lord or heard Him, if he had, I think that he would have mentioned it later. The Church grew so rapidly by the preaching of Peter, that the Jews decided to eliminate it and do so rapidly and started a great persecution. It is at that time that Saul appeared on the scene and made a name for himself. This persecution followed the stoning of Stephen, a deacon of the Church in Jerusalem; his was the first martyrdom, but sadly it was followed by many others. Through two thousand years of history, millions of Christians have been martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ. Satan thought that he finished with Jesus when he died on the cross, but he got a big surprise, for God raised Him from the dead, and Jesus is alive forever more! Satan hates God, Jesus and all that belong to Him; but it is only a matter of time, for he is destined to the Lake of fire! (Revelation 20: 10)

The preaching of Stephen displeased the clergy and the elders of the people so much so that they organised a mob to testify and lie against him. It is written: ‘Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, (North Africa) as well as Cilicia and Asia. These men begun to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke! So, they secretly persuaded some men to say: We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God. So, they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. (The highest court in the land) If you can or want to read all about him, Stephen’s court case is written in Acts 7. It was so important to Luc that he dedicated a whole chapter to tell his story! When we consider the importance of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we come to the conclusion, that as they wrote it many years after the facts, that they could only be compiled by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. To have a true understanding of all that Jesus taught and did only when we consider them together. They did not sit together. Each wrote his gospel a separately and at different times, and yet everything proves that, years after Jesus’s ascension, every word of the Gospel of Luke was needed to make their harmony complete, and their words make Jesus alive and precious to all Christ’s disciples throughout all generations.

Stephen, fearless, ended up his defence by upsetting greatly his accusers and all that listened to Him so much so that: ‘When they heard him, they gnashed their teeth at Him; But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look’ he said: ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, and drugged him out and began to stone him!’ (Acts 7:54 -57) There is not a more merciless and brutal man on the face of the earth than a religious maniac. Church history is not pretty, it is bloody, and shows how far the Jewish clergy went to force people to accept their ways. Not that any other religious groups are any different. I have quoted what I did concerning Saul, because much is written about Him. We shall understand later the importance of Luke being led of the Holy Spirit to write what he did about Saul of Tarsus in the book of the Acts of the Apostles!

Following this martyrdom, and the way Saul got his promotion in the eyes of the leaders of both sects means, that following the death of Stephen, Saul of Tarsus was able to organised a mob to resist by every means possible and resist the amazing growth of the Church, thus: ‘A great persecution broke out against the Church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen (meaning some of the disciples) But Saul began to destroy the Church. Going from house to house, he drugged off men and women and put them in prison. (Acts 8: 1-3) Until then the number of the disciples grew astonishingly fast, Following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost it is written that: ‘Those that accepted his message (in other words they believed in the message of the Gospel that Peter preached on that day) were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day! (Acts 2: 41)

Therefore, this amazing growth of Christ’s disciples started on the day of Pentecost and a great addition of converts to the believers continued few days later, when Peter and John, full of the Holy Spirit, healed a man crippled from birth! A poor man well-known of many, for he was brought daily and put by the temple gate called ‘Beautiful’. It is written: ‘One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called ‘Beautiful’, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When He saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money… then Peter said: Silver or Gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk! Taking him by the right hand he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk? (Acts 3: 1-8) This was such a stirring miracle, I never tire to get excited about the whole story, miracles right through the whole book of Acts, that stir me to the depth of my soul. May the Lord, so fill His disciples with the Holy Spirit, that a stirring visitation from God does it again through his disciples in every nation of the world!

I am not surprised that the authorities started a persecution, after all, they were the same lot that through lies and deceit forced Pilate’s hand to crucify the Lord. The healing of the lame man, which I mentioned, stirred the whole crowd gathered there for he went into the temple, walking, and jumping and praising God. Now I understand the whole thrill of it, but it did not please the authorities for they put Peter and John in prison. I will not dwell on it, but if you have a Bible read about it and other thrilling things in the book of Acts. Nevertheless, in spite of all the persecution the group of the disciples grew to five thousand (Acts 4: 4) It is not surprising that Satan and his lot did not like it a little bit.