About "The Cenacle"
In the search for me, I discovered truth.
In the search for truth, I discovered love.
In the search for love, I discovered God.
And in God, I have found everything.
"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house which he enters, and tell the householder, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; there make ready.” And they went, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover." Luke 22:7-13
The Cenacle (from Latin cenaculum), also known as the "Upper Room", is the term used for the site of The Last Supper. The word is a derivative of the Latin word cena, which means dinner. Based on Acts 1:13, the "Upper Room" was not only the site of the Last Supper, but it was the usual place where the Apostles stayed in Jerusalem. And the Cenacle is the site where many other events described in the New Testament took place, such as:
- the Washing of the Feet
- some resurrection appearances of Jesus
- the gathering of the disciples after the Ascension of Jesus
- the election of Matthias as apostle
- the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost
When Titus took Jerusalem ( A.D. 70) he ordered his soldiers to destroy the city (Josephus, "De bello Jud.", VI, ix). They spared only the three great towers at the north of Herod's palace and the western wall. Few Jews remained. The Roman Tenth Legion held the upper town and Herod's castle as a fortress; Josephus says that Titus handed the fields around to his soldiers ("Vita", 76). The presence of these heathens would naturally repel Jews.
Yahshua (Jesus) had warned the Apostles and all who will follow Him, to flee to another city when persecuted (Mat.10:24). God never intended Jerusalem to be the headquarters for His Ecclesia (Heb.13:14).
The Christian community fled to Pella in Paraea (Asia Minor), east of the Jordan (southeast of Jenin), before the beginning of the siege. The Ecclesia in Jerusalem migrated (according to tradition and historical documents) shortly before the 70AD destruction. Historian Eusibius wrote that James (the brother of Jesus and now the Church leader) was commanded in a vision to flee Jerusalem with the Ecclesia and to go to Pella. Other renown Historians such as Josephus also intimate and confirm this exodus from Jerusalem to Pella in their writings.
These Christians were still almost entirely converts from Judaism (Eusebius, Church History IV.5). The Ecclesia, made up of believers who fled to Pella prior to the 70AD destruction, were called Nazarenes (nothing to do with the ‘Church of the Nazarenes’). The Nazarenes consisted of the believers and they were known to be direct descendents from the original Apostles, including the Apostle Paul who was called the "Nazarene ringleader" (Act 24.5).
Many of the Nazarenes who fled to Pella returned to Jerusalem to live there again. After the destruction they came back and congregated in the house of John Mark and his mother Mary, where they had met before (Acts 12:12). It was apparently in this house that was the Upper Room, the scene of the Last Supper and of the assembly on Pentecost.
Those true believers who returned to Jerusalem after the 70AD destruction, through war and politics where once again forced to leave. Jerusalem was totally destroyed by Hadrian between 120-135AD and a new town was built, Aelia Capitolina, and erected on its site. The city was without walls and was protected by a light garrison of the Roman Tenth Legion. The detachment at Jerusalem, which apparently encamped all over the city’s western hill, was responsible for preventing the Nazarenes returning to the city from gathering in groups or holding church meetings.
After Aelia Capitolina was built, a perverted Latin bishop was inaugurated in Jerusalem over the “Church”, but the majority of the faithful Ecclesia who had managed to return refused to accept this Roman bishop and were thus persecuted for their refusal, and hence their departure back to Asia Minor. From this time on the records of the true Apostolic succession ended in Jerusalem.
It is written that James, Peter, and John were the first Pillars of the Ecclesia after the death of Jesus (Gal.2:9). After the martyrdom death of James and Peter, we are left with John, the last remaining Pillar, and the last of the original Apostles to die. John was reported and documented to have lived in Ephesus, which is in Asia Minor, then he was exiled to Patmos, and after exile he returned to Ephesus, and as the only remaining Apostolic leader guided the Ecclesia from that province.
During the late reign of Emperor Nero, a man by the name of Polycarp was born; he is recorded to have become a Nazarene. Polycarp was later appointed by the Apostle John as the overseer of the Ecclesia. There is much recorded about Polycarp. He had the reputation that “he always taught things he learned directly from the Apostles he had met, and things which John handed down to him. It is also recorded that about a year before his death (155AD), he made a journey to Rome to denounce the heresies and Roman heretics; as the Church deception and false teachings was solidifying and beginning to permeate into the Roman Ecclesia. According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp he died bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him.
Most historians tell us that Polycarp never appointed a successor and that there were now at least five "centers" of the church for which he had approved.
After Polycarp of Smyrna, Papyrius succeeded him as overseer of the Smynaean Ecclesia. Papias was overseer of the Ecclesia in Hierapolis, a city in Phrygia also in Asia Minor. He was recorded to be “a hearer of Apostle John, and friend and companion to Polycarp (Iranaeus-circa 170AD). So it is apparent that John taught and discipled Papias also as he did Polycarp according to records. After Papias of Hierapolis, Apollinaris succeeded him as overseer of the Ecclesia in Hierapolis, which was the city of his birth. Apollinaris was also known by Polycarp of Smyrna, and died as a martyr about 163AD.
During this time there was also Melito, overseer of the Ecclesia in Sardis, also in Asia Minor, who wrote a fantastic homily (commentary from Scripture) on the Passover. Around the same time we also have other overseers such as Thraseas of Eumenia and Sargaris of Laodicea, all in Asia Minor.
So the true succession list goes up to the mid 3rd century. Then, in 249-253AD Roman Emperors Decius and Gallus persecuted the Ecclesia, killing of many of their leaders and forcing others to submit to the dictates of the Roman Church. Subsequently, after this there is no more recorded ‘succession lists’ contained. However, there is evidence that after this time none the Ecclesia remained true to the Apostolic teachings, but rather were infected with the disease of the Roman church.
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Jesus said, "Show me the stone which the builders have rejected. That stone is the cornerstone." In other words, the rejected or unseen truth is the actual truth.
Jesus also said, "The seeker should not stop until he finds. When he does find, he will be disturbed. After having been disturbed, he will be astonished. " This means that we should always personally be seeking the truth in our interpretation of Bible passages and not simply accept with "blind faith" the "traditional" teachings that our preachers and Sunday school teachers tell us is correct the way way it should be interpreted. That's why Jesus went on to say, “That which is hidden from the wise and educated has been revealed unto babes.” Those of us who have never studied at a seminary or received formal church training are the "babes" Jesus was referring to.
And Jesus clearly explained that the reason that many people derive incorrect doctrine from his teaching is because it is intentionally delivered in a way that would only allow it to be correctly interpreted by those who are honestly seeking the truth with an open mind. "You have been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others have not. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge." (Matthew 13:11-12) Jesus went on to say, "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." (1 Corinthians 2:14) Since people without the Spirit cannot understand things from the Spirit, the Bible can only be reliably interpreted by people with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The numerous conflicting interpretations of the Bible is because most of the "religionists" are operating without the gift of the Holy Spirit even though they claim otherwise.
The information provided by 'The Cenacle' is not intended to cause any controversy or to change the faith of anyone who reads it; it is simply a means to provide "Food for Thought" to get Christians searching for the "truth". "Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister." (Romans 14:13)
We do not claim that the information herein is the only way that the biblical passages and stories can be interpreted, or that anyone else's interpretations are incorrect. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16) At the time this verse was written, the New Testament as we have it today was not even put together yet! "All Scripture" could easily and logically have referred to the Old Testament and the apocrypha because Jesus used the word scripture many times to refer to the Old Testament and other ancient writings. The Biblical apocrypha (from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφος, apókruphos, meaning "hidden") denotes the collection of ancient books found, in some ancient editions of the Bible, in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments. Many of these ancient books are believed to be a part of what's known today as the Lost Gospels.
And there is evidence within the Bible itself that it has both human and divine origins. Luke attributed his Gospel to his own research: Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (NIV, Luke 1:1-4)
Paul's letters (Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, etc.) were originally written as letters to churches he had founded, not as part of Scripture. They dealt not only with divine revelation but also with many mundane matters like disputes among church factions. Paul sometimes stated his own personal opinions: To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. (NIV, 1 Corinthians 7:12)
There is also evidence within the Bible that portions of it are intended to be interpreted figuratively rather than literally (John 16:25, Galatians 4:24, Revelation 1:20, 17:18, etc.)
The fact that the Bible lends itself to competing interpretations should be cause for celebration rather than dismay, for these competing interpretations among people of faith who love and value Scripture help bring us into relationship with one another and with God. They bring us into conversation. They remind us that faith isn't simply about believing something in isolation, but about being part of a community.
The information contained within The Cenacle was discovered while researching Biblical topics and we felt it would be interesting to discuss it with other Christians, most of whom are probably more educated than we are. It has been a learning experience for us and hopefully will be so for you too.
Romans 14:1-12 speaks about accepting Christians of differing opinions and to not judge them because, "To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind...But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God,"(Rom. 14:4-5,10).
Cenacle Christian Ministry is a lay ministry. None of us have been formally trained as ministers and have never attended a seminary. Although this ministry qualifies as a 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry under I.R.S. and state laws, we are not asking for you to send us any money (offerings, donations, etc.) or for you to buy any products (books, CD's, etc.). We are firm believers in Proverbs 22:16 and in the Biblical passage, "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8). We have chosen to use a free website for our ministry and we use a free email service, therefore, your money will better serve God elsewhere.
What is a Ministry?
“I shall pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, let me do it now; Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” –Grellet
The Greek term typically translated as “servant” or “minister” (dikonos) is found extensively throughout the New Testament. It can be used both subjectively and objectively to describe a person functioning in an intermediary capacity or to describe an act itself (i.e., “a servant” or “a service”). It is also used as a verb to express the act of ministering or serving. A survey of these uses of “ministry” and “service” (dikonos) in the New Testament reveals several aspects of the biblical nature of ministry.
First, ministry is personal. That is to say, ministry does not exist detached and independent of the person (or people) ministering and receiving the ministry. Luke describes how, at around the age of 30, Jesus began “his ministry.” Paul speaks of how he himself received a ministry from Christ (Acts 20:24). Beyond this, Ephesians 4:12 describes how all the members of the Body of Christ are equipped for service or ministry for the sake of the children of God. Thus, we cannot escape the fact that ministry is personal and, in some sense, conferred upon people by God.
Second, ministry is interpersonal. Ministry does not flow uniformly from subject to object; Paul does not only minister to the churches of the New Testament, but receives ministry from them as well (Romans 1:12). Scripture consistently relates the notion that ministry involves interaction. This is emphasized by the simple fact that “ministry” and “service” are translations of the same Greek term. To minister is to serve another, as evidenced in Matthew 23:11: “… but the greatest among you shall be your servant.”
Third, while ministry involves people, the content or purpose of ministry is the communication (in word and deed) of the gospel (2 Corinthians 9:13, Colossians 1:23, 1 Peter 4:10). Just as Christ has reconciled us to himself, we also have the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18), where God uses us to reconcile the world to himself through Christ. Naturally this may include a host of different ministries, but the point to emphasize, as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 12:5, is that “there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord.” Therefore, amid the diversity of people ministering, the content of ministry centers upon the gospel of Jesus Christ and everything that message entails.
Fourth, ministry is hard work. We know Christ’s ministry was not warmly received by everyone, and neither was Paul’s, for that matter (2 Corinthians 11:23). This is why Paul implores Timothy to fulfill his ministry even in the face of hardships (2 Timothy 4:5). If the ministries of Christ, Paul, and others were demanding, why should we expect anything different in our ministries? To be sure, ministry can be joyful, but we should not mistake this joy for the absence of hardship (2 Corinthians 4:1).
Drawing these aspects together, a biblical definition of “ministry” might be defined as: a personal commission from God that labors toward the reconciliation of others to Christ through the gospel.
Why an internet ministry?
Remember when the minister rode a horse, church members came in horse drawn wagons, and the minister's study was truly a study -- no phones, no electric lights, no fax machines, no secretary, no church records? Probably not. Then came the Model T car, the radio, and commercial airlines. After World War II came television and mobile phones. Ministers adopted these methods of travel and communication to spread God's Word. . At the end of the 20th Century came the Internet, which is a faster form of communication, an inexpensive way to get the message across, instantaneous delivery of communication, and content changeable like an hourly newspaper.
Because the Internet is revolutionizing mass communications for virtually every facet of society, and has become a world-wide gathering place for the global community... including vast numbers of Christians and clergyman, it behooves a ministry to bring its presence there.
A ministry must bring its message to the Internet for the following reasons:
1. A Great Need - There are literally millions that are searching the internet for answers to their questions. The peoples of all nations are converging, with open hearts seeking the knowledge of truth. There are also millions of Christians traveling the internet highway, seeking friendship and discipleship. There is also evil there, which Christians must counter with the light of God's truth and presence.
2. A Great Mandate - The Lord's great commission to Christians is to evangelize by proclaiming the Gospel to the World. As it was Christ's purpose in coming to seek to save those who were lost, so must a ministry seek every way possible to follow Christ's command and bring souls to Christ.
3. A Great Opportunity - Never has there been such availability and ease with such a form of mass communication. Web pages, which can contain any message of our choosing, cost almost nothing to create, and can be launched from anyone's bedroom.
As we shall see, the Internet may very well be the greatest communication medium that has ever been made available to the world, and it is up to Christians to make use of this remarkable invention, and take the spotlight away from Satan who would like to dominate this fabulous technology with peddlers of rubbish and lies.
Meade McGuire wrote:
“Where shall I serve today?” I said.
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed out a little spot and said,
“There, tend that for me.”
I said, “Oh no, not that.
Why no one would ever see,
No matter how well my work was done.
Not that little spot for me.”
And the words He spoke, they were not stern,
He answered me tenderly,
“Little one, search that heart of thine.
Art thou serving them or me?
Nazareth was just a little spot
And so was Galilee.”
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About the Bible
The contents of our four Gospels are intimately connected with more primitive accounts of Christ's life, which may be described, in a general way, as an Oral Gospel. They are well aware that Jesus Himself did not consign to writing His own teachings, and directed His Apostles not to write, but to preach, the Gospel to their fellow-men. These first disciples of the Master, faithful to the mission which He had entrusted to them, began, from the day of Pentecost on, boldly to declare by word of mouth what they had seen and heard (cf. Acts 4:2 ), considering as a special duty of theirs "the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4 ). It is plain, too, that those whom the Apostles immediately selected to help them in the discharge of this most important mission had to be, like the Apostles themselves, able to bear witness to the life and teachings of Christ (cf. Acts 1:21 sq. ). The substance of the Evangelical narratives would thus be repeated viva voice by the early teachers of Christianity, before any one of them thought to set it down in writing many years later.
All of us have been told that the Holy Scriptures are absolutely infallible and inerrant, but this would only apply to the original writings (or autograph). Today we do not have the original autographs with us. What we have are copies which have come to us through centuries of hand-copying. Any type of copying is bound to introduce errors of spelling, repetition, omission,and others; the problem is compounded when this process of hand-copying is repeated for hundreds or thousands of years without the help of modern writing aids. In fact many of the ancient non-biblical books have been altered so much in this process that in some cases up to 90% of the extant text of a book is corrupted.
However, those men who copied the books of the Bible knew that they were not handling an ordinary book, so they took exceptional care during hand-copying. As a result, the number of errors that have crept into the biblical manuscripts is minimal compared to many other ancient manuscripts. This process resulted in some errors of translation in the King James Version that most people use in English. Some of these errors have crept into other languages also because of the same influence. However, the tens of thousands of ancient biblical manuscripts available today have helped Bible scholars to restore the original text with great certainty.
Another difficulty of the original text is the language. The ancient Hebrews did not write like the modern man. Their language had only capital letters. Further, they wrote words without vowels and, to compound the problem even more, these words were not separated from each other. Thus the original writings of Genesis 1:1 might have looked something like: NTHBGGNNNGGDCRTD... and 1 John 1:9 might have looked like: FWCNFSSRSNSHSFTHFL. These examples are given in English, but are sufficient to explain what the biblical text might have looked like in original Hebrew.
The words were finally separated, and vowels inserted, by modern scribes. Even a single wrong division or insertion of vowel done by them could drastically change the meaning of the original, though the original text is still intact. Further, instead of numerals, the ancient Hebrews used alphabets for expressing numbers. Thus many a times names and words could be numbers and vice versa, adding to the potential problems. Interestingly most copyist' errors are of such a nature that they do not affect the essential nature of the message of the Bible. Nor do any such errors affect any major doctrine of the Bible. This is because most of the errors are related to spelling and numbers (such as some ages mentioned in the chronologies) which do not affect the Bible's message. A good proportion of the alleged difficulties are based upon the King James Version of the Bible which was translated about four hundred years ago. But after this translation was done, archaeologists have discovered thousands of ancient biblical manuscripts, some of which are more than two thousand years old. The science of recovering the original text by comparison of these manuscripts has developed to a high degree of precision, and many scholars have painstakingly worked out what they believe to be the original text with great certainty. All of this has helped scholars to make the newer translations like the New American Standard Bible more accurate even in trivial matters like numbers and ages mentioned in genealogies.
Once a difficulty arises in the Bible, the human mind tries to solve the problem by substituting a possible interpretation for the intended meaning. Obviously all interpretations will have a human prejudice in them and therefore the number of such interpretations might increase. One such Bible interpretation is the King James Version and the book from which it was interpreted...the Latin Vulgate.
Difficulties Arising Out Of Our Incomplete Knowledge Of The Customs, History, Geography And The Society Of Bible Times:Though archaeologists have amassed a vast wealth of knowledge about Bible times,our understanding of the past is not complete yet in any way. Because of this,many expressions and events mentioned in the Bible pose some difficulty to readers. The tremendous amount of archaeological information that has been coming up in recent times, however, have been solving many of these difficulties.
Difficulties Which Arise When The Precise Nature Of A Statement Is Not Understood: Every language contains several types of statements. Some are very general in nature, while others are highly restrictive.Some are affirmative, subjunctive, speculative, or figurative. Sometimes it is difficult to translate the precise sense from the originals into other languages, while at other times even experienced translators overlook this peculiarity. At still other times one statement in the original languages might admit or contain more than one sense while the translator is restricted to conveying one single sense. While this type of difficulty usually does not hinder a seeker from discerning the possible meaning, which is sufficient for his edification, a person who reads the Bible with the express intent of discrediting it will surely find a problem here. Also,most expositors point out these possibilities during the course of their expository messages and therefore people who are given to serious study usually overcome these difficulties in the course of their Bible study. To clarify the matter, let us consider the common English word "can". It is a word which most of us use commonly in our everyday conversation. Interestingly, this common and simple word can be used in a number of different ways. Depending on the construction of the sentence and the mood and tone of the speaker it can express potential, permission, or even a stern order ! Hence it is the nature of the sentence which dictates the precise meaning that is to be attached with this word. If this word under consideration has been used by someone to express a possibility,but if someone else interprets it as permission, then strange interpretations can come out of it which will be completely opposite in meaning to what the speaker intended. Consider the following : "You can sin". When it is used to express a possibility, it might mean "You can (fall into) sin (if you are careless)". But a careless interpretation can distort it to mean "(You have permission so that now)you can sin" ! This is enough to demonstrate why one should be careful to discern the nature of a sentence before it is labeled as a problem passage.
CONCLUSION: There are plenty of people all around us who would like to discredit the Bible somehow or other. One standard tactic of such people is to bring up a lot of' difficulties' in the Bible. They argue that if the Bible is the Word of God then there should not be any difficulties. The first thing that we should note about these people is that they are being naive ! In fact whenever there is any persons-to-person communication of substantial length, difficulties are bound to arise. This is more so when the finite man tries to understand the infinite God. The second thing to understand is that most of the difficulties advanced by the critics fall into certain definite categories. Knowing these categories of difficulties will help us to understand the reason for the difficulty and to solve it. We face difficulties even in simple books written by human beings. Therefore it is to be understood that the Book that has been written by God, and which tries to capture that acts of the infinite God in the finite language of man, will give some difficulties to its readers. These difficulties do not discredit the Bible in any way, and they do not hinder the communication of the main message of the Bible.