How The Church Began

By Anne Kaestner

This is book 1 of a 3 book series. It answers questions many Christians have but not known where to look. Chapter 1 is “Our Responsibility To God.” The question here is how can I be sure that I’ll end up in Heaven? People hope that good works will get them there. Yet the Bible says, “...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NIV). Your good works are important to God. But only the ones His Spirit leads you to do! “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).

Chapter 2 is “Passing The Buck.” It deals with the excuses people use to escape taking responsibility for their mistakes. They pass the blame along to someone else. This won’t work with God. If someone else does wrong, they will answer to God for it. If you sin against Him, you will answer to Him for it! Chapter 3 is “God Deals With Nations.” It discusses the degeneration of the human race from the time of Adam. And how his descendants formed tribes that sinned against God and spread all over the earth. True enlightenment didn’t come until missionaries began to travel throughout the world spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, God did bless some pagan nations because He had a purpose in it.

Chapter 4 is “Church History.” If you have wondered why there are so many denominations and different doctrines, this chapter explains it. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV). And He has only one opinion on each issue. That leads us into Chapter 5, “Churchianity.” That’s the reason for the discrepancy in doctrine! Paul told the church, “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30 NIV). Too many ministers want glory for themselves. And they use the pulpit to achieve it.

Chapter 6 is “Catholic Missionaries Worldwide.” It explains how the Roman Empire, which had originally been persecuting the church, reversed its strategy. Under Emperor Constantine, the church became politicized. Mixing the teachings of Christ and the Apostles with pagan beliefs was found to be a good way of influencing other nations. And it worked! The Roman Empire began to spread over much of Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Chapter 7 is “God’s Global Strategy.” It explains why certain cultures have been blessed by the Lord even when they were not serving Him. It discusses prophecy that the angel Gabriel gave to Daniel which has already come true. And how angels and demons influence people and help them achieve greatness or destruction. This theme leads right into chapter 8, “To Give God Glory.” It gives specific examples of nations that were greatly blessed so that God could achieve His ultimate goal. That is to bring as many people as possible to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord wants to show us how much He wants to raise us up to greatness when we are willing to love Him and put Him first.

The British Empire is given as an example. It discusses how England was once a pagan nation greatly influenced by the Druid religion which involved witchcraft and human sacrifice. Yet through Christian theologians like Wesley and Tyndale it became great. It eventually became so powerful that it was said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Yet today England has begun to revert to its past with witchcraft and pagan doctrines. Consequently, it has lost much of the land and prestige it once had when it gave glory to God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anne Kaestner
• Release date: Aug 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310455506

Anne Kaestner

Anne Kaestner is co-founder of Bible Believers Fellowship, Inc. with her husband Eric. She is the Vice President and Executive Director. Anne also functions as Secretary of the Corporation, and is involved in all major Executive decisions. She attends all Board of Directors meetings, as well as any initial and/or important meetings with professionals hired by the Corporation, including legal, banking, and accounting services. Anne runs the office and is also in charge of personnel. Aside from all of this, she has pioneered our efforts to purchase, at a drastically reduced price, the numerous Christian role model books that we distribute free of charge in correctional facilities nationwide. Anne is in charge of spiritual and doctrinal matters, as well as most written communication. Except for an occasional inmate testimony, she does all of the writing for our publication “The Good News Letter,” most of our mass produced literature, and most of our ebooks. She is in charge of all counseling, the majority of which she handles personally. She is actively involved in researching information that will assist us with our newsletter articles and similar literature, including our “Answers To Your Questions” series. Besides this, she personally reads any and all books and screens all videos that we purchase for distribution. And she was the original liaison between the video suppliers and this ministry. She arranged for the BBFI imprint in our role model books and worked to ensure that we receive copyright clearance on all the Christian videos that we distribute to prisons and jails.

Book preview

How The Church Began

Book One of A Christian’s Handbook Series

By Anne Kaestner

Co-Founder of Bible Believers Fellowship, Inc.

Copyright Page

Copyright 2015 by Anne Kaestner.

Published by Bible Believers Fellowship, Inc. at Smashwords.

Cover design by Eric Kaestner with suggestions from Anne Kaestner.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this ebook and did not purchase it, please go to www.smashwords.com or your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Bible.

EPUB ISBN – 9781310455506

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Introduction

1 - Our Responsibility To God

2 - Passing The Buck

3 - God Deals With Nations

4 - Church History

5 – Churchianity

6 - Catholic Missionaries Worldwide

7 - God’s Global Strategy

8 - To Give God Glory

About Anne Kaestner

Other ebooks by Anne Kaestner

Connect with Anne Kaestner

Dedication

All books are dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in so many ways.

Introduction

This is book 1 of a 3 book series. It answers questions many Christians have but not known where to look. Chapter 1 is Our Responsibility To God. The question here is how can I be sure that I’ll end up in Heaven? People hope that good works will get them there. Yet the Bible says, ...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6 NIV). Your good works are important to God. But only the ones His Spirit leads you to do! For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).

Chapter 2 is Passing The Buck. It deals with the excuses people use to escape taking responsibility for their mistakes. They pass the blame along to someone else. This won’t work with God. If someone else does wrong, they will answer to God for it. If you sin against Him, you will answer to Him for it! Chapter 3 is God Deals With Nations. It discusses the degeneration of the human race from the time of Adam. And how his descendants formed tribes that sinned against God and spread all over the earth. True enlightenment didn’t come until missionaries began to travel throughout the world spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, God did bless some pagan nations because He had a purpose in it.

Chapter 4 is Church History. If you have wondered why there are so many denominations and different doctrines, this chapter explains it. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV). And He has only one opinion on each issue. That leads us into Chapter 5, Churchianity. That’s the reason for the discrepancy in doctrine! Paul told the church, Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:30 NIV). Too many ministers want glory for themselves. And they use the pulpit to achieve it.

Chapter 6 is Catholic Missionaries Worldwide. It explains how the Roman Empire, which had originally been persecuting the church, reversed its strategy. Under Emperor Constantine, the church became politicized. Mixing the teachings of Christ and the Apostles with pagan beliefs was found to be a good way of influencing other nations. And it worked! The Roman Empire began to spread over much of Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Chapter 7 is God’s Global Strategy. It explains why certain cultures have