A History of Churches: The Survival of New Testament Christianity Against Overwhelming Odds

A History of Churches: The Survival of New Testament Christianity Against Overwhelming Odds traces New Testament Christianity from Jesus Christ to the present. This book shows how this line of Christianity grew in spite of the Roman government, the state-church, the Crusades, Islam and the Protestant Reformation. You will be introduced to the various groups of New Testament Christians in different centuries who survived extreme persecution. These true Christians held firm to the doctrine from Jesus Christ and multiplied, even though they faced overwhelming odds.

This 31 chapter book starts with the initial exponential spread of Christianity and the Jewish and Roman responses to it. The doctrinal corruptions that quickly entered the picture are catalogued along with the steady drift of many churches away from the original doctrine and practices taught in the New Testament. The Roman government did its best to eradicate Christianity; but when these efforts failed, Rome made Christianity (with the corrupt doctrine) the state church. This move spelled agony beyond words. It caused persecution and death for millions who refused to become a part of the state church. It chronicles the rise of the papacy and the Catholic Church, the birth of Islam, the Crusades, the origins of nationalism in Europe and the Protestant Reformation. It also explains why the New Testament consists of 27 books and tells the remarkable story of how the Bible made it into the English language. A History of Churches: The Survival of New Testament Christianity Against Overwhelming Odds documents the fact that people embracing New Testament Christianity have continuously existed from Jesus Christ to the present. From Jesus forward there have always been Christian people and churches which were never a part of a state church. This book will tell you who they were, where they lived and how large numbers of them made it to America. They are the chief people who brought about liberty of conscience in America and in much of the world.

A History of Churches: The Survival of New Testament Christianity Against Overwhelming Odds will stand scholarly inspection. It is well documented with over 800 endnotes and an extensive bibliography, but it is written for the common man. The language is straightforward. The book includes over 70 pages of charts and maps.