There are many Church history resources, but I picked out a few that may be helpful to readers. If nothing else is ever read, I’d say start with The Three Ecumenical Creeds, the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, which sums up the Christian faith over the many years of Christ’s followers fighting for the faith to be kept pure.
I found one of the most interesting, yet difficult-to-wrap-my-mind-around stories in Eusebius’s writings: This story from Eusebius on the famine gives a good understanding of famine and what man will do during one. Eusebius quotes Josephus in the links. It’s one of the most awesome and horrifying accounts I’ve ever come across in history. You may read the text. Or, if preferred, there is an archive of the audio of Eusebius's History of the Christian Church. I bring this story of the famine first to help readers understand that though we live in very tough times in the 21st century, life has always been difficult since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. Jesus was good to tell us, as recorded in John 16: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” If Church history has taught us one thing, it is that men and women of faith suffer just as much as those who are not believers, yet we have the hope and assurance that Christ is with us and died for us that we may go to live with Him eternally. This life is passing by so quickly, though it may feel like it’s going by slowly. There are children of God in places such as North Korea who are not even allowed to hear the Word of God. If they do something “wrong” according to their government, there is the law of punishment for three generations. In other words, if one person, say a woman was caught reading the Bible, she and her immediate family, plus three generations down, will be put into a concentration camp, which is a work camp. They are worked to death, starving the whole time. This is current day happenings. There are defectors of North Korea, but if caught, they are punished or killed. When we look at the horrible things going on around us, we are able to put our lives in perspective, and even praise God that we have the life that we do, along with praying for those who have it much worse off that we do. There are modern day famines happening as I type this right now. Women and children starving to death. Some children sick and needing medicine and vaccines, but are unable to obtain them, so they just die. In all of this, we ought suffer with them, grieving the sin that has caused all of this, yet rejoicing that it will all come to an end One Day. As God promises, we read from Revelation 21: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” The site with Eusebius’s writings is: “Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace.” You may also get “Eusebius: the Church History” book on Amazon HERE. The free resources are wonderful of the audio and text, but some may prefer the actual book. I have it myself and find it to be helpful as I love to read about our mothers and fathers who came before us. A book my priest and I are going over is a great one: "The Fathers of the Church" by Mike Aquilina. There are anywhere between two and ten pages per Church Father. Easy to read. I recommend Philip Shaff’s eight volumes: “History of the Christian Church” in hard back on Amazon. It is also on Kindle for a much, much more affordable price. Another resource is of the Church Fathers. If you are interested in the Church Fathers, you will find a gold mine HERE. At the same link, the site gives the Church Councils, from Carthage under Cyprian to Nicaea II. More on the Church Fathers is found at The Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL). Forgiven much, Tamara Jack Check out my 90 lb. Weight Loss Journey with Weight Watchers HERE! To contact me, email: [email protected] (You can contact me for prayer, too.) Where to find me: Facebook: AssisiRosaries Page HERE YouTube: AssisiRosaries Channel HERE YouTube: Tamara Wigs Out Channel HERE Instagram: AssisiRosaries HERE Instagram: TamaraWigsOut HERE
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