The Trial of Jesus of Nazareth by the Sanhedrin. [Image is from Chapter 1: ‘Madman or God’ of Volume 1: ‘The Veil is Torn’ of ‘The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years’ history book series.]
Following the cruel execution of their teacher a small band of followers set forth in motion a new way of living and loving that has rocked the entire world. They call themselves the ‘Christians’ and this is the story of what they have accomplished over the last two thousand years.
Battle of Milvian Bridge (AD 312) where soldiers first fought with shields emblazoned with the Christian ‘Chi-Rho’ symbol and won. [Image is from Chapter 5 of Volume 3: ‘By This Sign’ of ‘The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years’ history book series.]
Those who call themselves Christian have since ventured into every nation and every role of man from lowly to high. ‘The Christians’ history series invites you to journey with them. Experience their triumphs, but note also the tragedies. Future generations learn from both.
‘The Christians’ carries you to every major continent and hundreds of countries. Our first voyages are with Apostles Peter and Paul. By journey’s end Christendom’s reach spans the entire globe and into the heavens. However, even in the ‘New World’ man’s inhumanity to man plays out eternally.
Though the story of Christendom lives on, the books conclude with 9/11. The 20th Century heralded death and destruction on an unsurpassed scale, but Christians take solace that the Church is not only surviving, but thriving — just not in our backyard. Now massive Spirit-filled revivals are most often taking place throughout Asia, Africa and the lands that western missionaries just one century prior went to bring into the family of Christ.
Hundreds of thousands of people attend an all-night Pentecostal service held by the Redeemed Church of Christ on a highway in Lagos, Nigeria in October 2003. Because the congregations are so large, the services are often held outdoors in airplane hangars, although more recently megachurches, such as the fifty-thousand-seat Faith Tabernacle built by Bishop David Oyedepo have been built to accomodate the throngs. [Image is from Chapter 20 of Volume 12: ‘The High Tide and the Turn’ of ‘The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years’ history book series.]
Over the past two millennia medical and other scientific discoveries by Christians — along with a desire to defend human dignity — have yielded better health and prosperity for all. Nevertheless, the Bible warns that our past repeats itself [Ecclesiastes 1:9]. Vigilantly remembering our Christian heritage serves to protect these benefits.
From a late 19th-century edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, young Eva is shown reading the Bible to slave Tom. Beecher Stowe’s book was the second-best-selling book in the nineteenth century, after the Bible. [Image is from Chapter 5 of Volume 11: ‘Unto the Ends of the Earth’ of ‘The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years’ history book series.]