Division of Jewish
Kingdom
Although King Solomon succeeded in
erecting the temple, the Jewish people did not uphold faith
in it and the nation of Israel became contaminated with
heathen practices. Because of this invasion of Satan, God
divided the Jewishy Kingdom into the Northern Kingdom of
Israel (centering on 10 tribes in the position of Cain)
and into the Southern Kingdom of Judah (centering on 2 tribes
in the positon of Abel). Here we find God separating relative
good from the invasion of evil influences, until the relative
good portion can become purified and revitalized enough
to return to the other portion and bring it closer to God
(check page __ for a study of this process). Now following
God's restoration pattern, after the Southern Kingdom gained
some revitalized spiritual strength, they sent many Minor
Prophets (Elijah, Jonah, Hosea, Amos) to the Northern Kingdom
to awaken them from their evil ways and urge them to repent.
Regretfully they refused to give up their fallen ways and
even proceeded to invade the isolated Souther Kingdom with
their evilness. Consequently God decided to destroy the
Northern Kingdom with the Assyrain people rather than have
the Abel positon corrupted.
Division of Christian
Kingdom
Similar to the Jewish Kingdom, the Christian Kingdom
was also divided into 2 major divisions: East Franks and
West Franks. This took place because of political disputes
of Emperor Charlemagne's grandsons. Also at this time the
Christian Church became divided into - the Eastern Orthodox
Church and The Roman Catholic Church. This took place because
of disputes over the application of Jesus' teachings and
the method of worship. The Roman Catholic Church worked
closely with the East Frankish Empire (later to become Germany)
during this time. The Roman Catholic Church (papcy) was
in the position of Abel at this point.
With the papcy holding such
power, it was an opportune time for Christianity to spread
it's ideals and ethics. If the papcy had remained righteous
and acted according to the Will of God during it's zenith
of power, Christendom would have been very close to a tangible
realization of God's ideal kingdom at that time. However
often the papcy abused it's power for personal, political
and economic gain. This caused Christianity and the papcy
to wander far from being the true channels of God's Will
and thus as fast as the papcy had ascended, it now began
to descend. As when the Jewish people became corrupted during
the United Jewish Kingdom and God sent prophets into their
midst as means of awakening them from their sinful ways,
God also tried to persuade the papcy to leave their corrupted
ways through warning s from holy men (monks) like Saint
Francis of Assisi. However, the papcy turned a deaf ear
to the cries of these holy reformers and continued their
evil ways. God thereafter used military defeats by Moslem
armies to punish the papcy and reveal to the common people
that God was no longer working through the papcy and the
corrupted church leadership.
Division of the United
Islamic Kingdom
A similar pattern fefell the United Islamic Kingdom. In
747 A.D. the Abbasids, who claimed descent from an uncle
of Mohammad (al-Abbas), openly revolted against their cousins
the Umayyad Caliphs, which consequently divided the Islamic
Kingdom.
The Umayyad rulers had been
widely criticized for their luxurious life-style, their
Epicurean Morality (gross sensualism) and their merely nominal
piety. Gollowing the pattern of Jerobeam (the disaffected
court official) and Abijah (the prophet that led the opposition
to Solomon's son), ambitious Arab generals and critical
Moslem religious spokesmen mounted opposition to the Umayyads.
The Abbasid rebels were resourceful, cunning and often ruthless
in getting what they wanted. Civil war broke out in many
places and blood was shed profusely. The Abbasids won the
throne with a sword and remained in power because of the
beheadings carried out by their executioners. For 500 years
(747-1258) the Abbasid Caliphs ruled the Middle East.
During the time the Abbasids
were attacking the Umayyads, a member of the Umayyad royal
family escaped to Spain and established a new caliphate
there which lasted until 1492 A.D. During this time both
the Abbasid dynasty and the Umayyad dynasty flourished economically,
ikntellectually and politically, but the both declined spiritually.
God thereupon sent many holy Islamic Men (sufis) to urge
them to repent and leave their materialistic, selfish ways
for face divine retribution. Unfortunately they didn't listen
and God eventually punished and destroyed the caliphs and
the Islamic Kingdom through attacking armies.
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