Disciples, Acts and Councils -- Part 2: Acts -- Christianity Simplified.

This thread will focus on the book of Acts in the Bible, the equal acceptance of gentile believers just as those hailing from Jewish background, the seven deacons and St. Paul's missionary journeys.

It's a remarkable book not just spiritually for Christians, but also a valuable historical resource into how the Roman Empire functioned and seamanship was demonstrated, during the shipwreck at Malta.

As always, I have focused this for our Christian brothers and sisters. So whether you're a Catholic, Protestant of any denomination or Orthodox, please read the thread. It gives the foundation for how the apostles spread their faith under persecution, as St. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28,

"Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. 

Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I received a stoning.

Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys,

in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 

in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty,

often without food, cold and naked.

And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches."

Remember, Christianity wasn't spread easily during those times. It didn't spread by the sword. The apostles faced tough times and newly converted Christians were martyred for their faith in God.

The Holy Spirit constantly guided them to share faith. Yet despite troubles, they relentlessly pushed forward to spread the Word to the "ends of earth". This is how the Church started and we should stay united.

Others are also welcome to read.

So with this, let's start.

🧵 The Prerequisites for Acts is covered here. Do read this before going into this thread.

https://x.com/clingycube/status/1980303591404613659

Disciples, Acts and Councils -- Part 1: #Disciples -- #Christianity Simplified.

(Acts and Councils will be published in separate threads).

This thread will focus on the twelve disciples of Christ -- what did it mean being a disciple and their missionary journeys.

I have researched into multiple books, early Church fathers' traditions and books and scholarly references for this thread, as the fate of some disciples were not clear. Some may conflict with others. Yet the point is not to highlight the differences, rather it is to inculcate awareness about their ordeals and how Christianity spread.

As always, I have focused this for our Christian brothers and sisters. So whether you're a Catholic, Protestant of any denomination or Orthodox, please read the thread. It gives the foundation for how Christianity spread and that's what we should remember, and apply this to our missionaries when dealing with the people who moved out of the faith.

Remember, Christianity wasn't spread easily during those times. It didn't spread by the sword. The apostles faced tough times and newly converted Christians were martyred for their faith in God. The Holy Spirit constantly guided them to share faith. Yet despite troubles, they relentlessly pushed forward to spread the Word to the "ends of earth". This is how the Church started and we should stay united.

This has to be a perennial reminder for us, Christians, that their hard work and tireless efforts made us get to know and love God.

Others are also welcome to read.

So with this, let's start.

🧵 Introduction.

4th Thread of #Christianity Simplified -- Cults (Part 2: Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventism)

Welcome everybody. In this thread, we will discuss about the cults. For brevity and simplicity of the vast discussion of various cults, I have decided to focus on #JW (#Jehovah's #Witnesses) and #SDA (#Seventh-Day #Adventism) for this current thread. I will discuss about other cults in subsequent upcoming threads.

Why is it important to be aware of the #cult? Cults have certain characteristics and they deviate from the #Biblical doctrine. They don't share the same principles as the rest of #Christendom does. Hence, they are non-#Christians.

To my dear #Jehovah's #Witnesses and #Seventh-Day #Adventists, (as I have focused on these faiths for my thread), I am not here to ridicule or insult you. The thread is solely designed to expose the dangers of this faith and how it has deviated away from basic #Christian doctrines. We love you all and will pray for you to come out of this cult. Some of you may be thinking, "Jehovah's Witnesses or Seventh-Day Adventists isn't a cult".

But in fact, it is not.

Read on, as we explore. This thread is also intended for Christians around the globe to be aware about such cults. As this thread focuses on Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists, it's important to know about these cults and be aware of their dangers. With this, let's start.

🧵 2. Jehovah's Witnesses:

Jehovah's Witnesses, a #cult organization, was founded by Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) and later by Joseph F. Rutherford (1869-1942). Founded in 1879 in Pennsylvania, it is headquartered in #Brooklyn, New York.

It is also known as the #Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. Currently, it has over 20 million followers. They publish magazines, books and other materials in over 300 languages.

4th Thread of Christianity Simplified -- Cults (Part 1: Mormonism)

Welcome everybody. In this thread, we will discuss about the cults. For brevity and simplicity of the vast discussion of various cults, I have decided to focus on #Mormonism for this current thread. I will discuss about other cults in subsequent upcoming threads.

Why is it important to be aware of the #cult? Cults have certain characteristics and they deviate from the #Biblical doctrine. They don't share the same principles as the rest of #Christendom does. Hence, they are non-#Christians.

To my dear #Mormons (as I have focused on this faith for my thread), I am not here to ridicule or insult you. The thread is solely designed to expose the dangers of this faith and how it has deviated away from basic #Christian doctrines. We love you all and will pray for you to come out of this cult. Some of you may be thinking, "Mormonism isn't a cult". Many posts lately have stated that Mormons are Christians.

But in fact, it is not.

Read on, as we explore.

This thread is also intended for Christians around the globe to be aware about such cults. As this thread solely focuses on #Mormonism, it's important to know about this cult and be aware of its dangers.

With this, let's start.

🧵 Introduction.

(other cults will be covered in later threads).

Welcome to the third thread on #Christianity Simplified.

Hell and Eternal Punishments.

The thread will discuss about the nature of #Hell and eternal #punishments. I have geared this thread for the #Christians around the world, those who are nominal Christians, those raised in the Christian heritage but moved out into #atheism or #false #religions and for those who reject #Christ as their savior.

Whether you're an #Anglican, #Catholic, #Episcopal, #Presbyterian, #Orthodox, #Methodist, #Baptist, #Reformed, #Lutheran or otherwise, I have ensured content clarity and views so that the concept of Hell is clear. The views might differ especially for those who believe in universalism, but respecting such intra-Christian differences, let's not use that to dilute the substance of the topic, I will be discussing. I also urge Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists and JWs to go through it and note that the Biblical and early Christianity's interpretations of Hell are different from the ones you heard about.

These slides have been painstakingly referenced with authoritative figures, early Church fathers, a Doctor of the #Catholic Church (St. Alphonsus Liguori), some #Orthodox saints such as St. Seraphim of Sarov and a widely respected #Protestant theologian, Jonathan Edwards.

An apocryphal text regarding the nature of hell has been added for the thread, but mind you, it is not doctrinally binding. They are rather given to give nuances and an illustrative view of #Hell.

With this, let's start. 🧵 Introduction.

Let's start with debunking #occultism, part 2.

This part will deal with humanistic, syncretic, mystical and postmodern #occultism. As said before, the purpose of my thread is not to arouse an unhealthy curiosity into occultism rather an awareness to the #Christian people around the world so that they could discern what is of God and what is evil.

Let me reiterate before moving forwards into the thread. The #Christian faith teaches us that there is an ongoing spiritual warfare. #Occultism is one way by which the devil (Satan) takes unsuspecting people (and even the satanists) to his side.

Keeping this in mind, let me start.

🧵 Other than #Wicca, there are other neopagan faiths such as:
1⃣ Druidry/Neo-druidry - Druidry is a neopaganist faith, more inspired by the idea of #druids (basically those inspired by #Celtic mysticism and #nature worship).
2⃣ Heathenry/Asatru - Heathenry is #Germanic/#Norse neopaganism.
3⃣ Hellenism - #Greek neopaganism.
4⃣ Rodnovery, Romuva, Dievturiba - Rodnovery is #Slavic neopaganism. The latter two represent the #Baltic neopaganist faiths.
5⃣ Roman revivalism - Revivals of #Roman paganism such as Nova Roma, Religio Romana.
6⃣ Celtic reconstructionism - #Celtic reconstructionism is a neopaganist faith, with a focus on #Celtic mythology.

Let's start with the second thread.

#Occultism - #Part 1. Due to the long list of occult groups and movements, I felt it necessary to divide this into two parts.

The purpose of this thread would be to give awareness and sensitize #Christians around the world to the spiritual dangers of occult. It's also intended for #occultists who could read through my thread and make a decision to come out of it, and also those contemplating to practice or experience it. Why am I doing this?

As St. Paul clearly states in Ephesians 5:8-12, “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly.”

Remember in the first part, the Lord's prayer, I did mention that the devil primarily attacks the mankind via this route (occult). Hence, let's start.

🧵 #Introduction.

Hello everyone.

Let me start with the detailed discussion of the #Lord's #prayer, the #sections and #petitions and the subtopics of #God's will, #evil/#spiritual battle and the armor of #God.

Some images and snippets of text have been taken from Rose Publishing, for better media representation, credits to them. I will be making a video about this later, but don't know when.

This will be in the form of a thread, so it would be easy to share and spread to others. I have cross-referenced this with #Biblical references (New Revised Standard Version, abbreviated as #NRSV) and made it for every #Christian.

Whether you're a #Protestant (#Anglican, #Baptist, #Calvinist, #Lutheran, #Methodist, #Presbyterian or otherwise), a #Catholic, an #Orthodox (whether you're from the #Greek, #Russian, #Serbian, #Ukrainian, #Bulgarian) or from the other denominations such as a Mormon, a Jehovah Witness, a Seventh-Day Adventist or those who I forgot to mention, this is for you all primarily.

Even for those who are non-denominational or non-religious Christian, please read through the thread.

I have ensured that this will be common for every Christian and won't deal with any scriptural differences whatsoever.

Others such as #atheists and non-Christians can also read through, though the content is primarily geared for the #Christian communities.

DISCLAIMER: There may be some real-world examples and they are not used here to judge anyone; rather it highlights the practical aspect of the violation of the petition and what could be done about it (because everyone is a sinner, who needs God, regardless of our state).

🧵 Introduction.