9 - The Middle Ages

The Thread - traced in the 'Middle Ages'

Image credit - Immo Wegmann - Unsplash.com

This timeline highlights a thread of truth which runs throughout human history from creation, through every time period illustrated on this timeline, right through to the end times as recorded in the book of Revelation.

That thread is this:

God is Alpha and Omega; as creator, he has revealed himself to mankind as the only true and supreme God for all nations.

He communicates with us and desires to participate in our lives in order to have a relationship with us. His ultimate goal is to prepare us to spend eternity with him in perfect holiness and happiness through salvation.

This thread starts in Genesis chapter one and continues through all of human history as recorded in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

There are two opposing forces which can also be traced from Genesis to Revelation.

First - is the unrelenting sinful nature and stubborn rebellion of mankind refusing to submit to God's laws.

Second - is the constant stalking and harassment of that ancient serpent, the devil. He never gives up in his vain attempts to thwart the will of God in his dealings with mankind.

All through human history, God reigns supreme and in the closing chapters of Revelation, Satan finally meets his eternal doom while the saved of earth enter an eternity of bliss and happiness with God.

The Thread

Period 9: The middle ages

In the ‘Middle Ages’ we see this thread developing throughout the various dispensations when the church comes under attack, first in the form of public and physical persecution and later in the more subtle form of pollution from within.

The simple leadership and structure of the church would evolve into a complex hierarchy through Clericalism and Ecclesiasticism.

The straightforward doctrines of the New Testament Epistles would be distorted beyond recognition. The authority of the person of Christ and the person of the Holy Spirit would be usurped by the hierarchy.

Clericalism is the undue influence of the clergy; the application of the formal, church-based, leadership or opinion of ordained clergy in matters of either the church or broader political and sociocultural import.

Ecclesiasticism is the excessive reverence for religious form and tradition.