Book details

  • Genre:religion
  • Sub-genre:Biblical Studies / General
  • Language:English
  • Series Title:The Iron Kingdom
  • Series Number:6
  • Pages:160
  • eBook ISBN:9781934782286

Montanus

Prophet to an Apostate Body of Christ

By John D. Clark Sr.

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Overview

So powerfully and effectively did Montanus denounce the Christian religion that Christians' hatred and fear of him did not die when he did. His memory has haunted Christians for almost two thousand years. They have cursed it, labeled it, ridiculed it, and run from it, but they have never been able to escape its relentless cry. Mountains of dirt have been heaped upon the memory of Montanus, yet Christians have never been able to silence him. The echo of Montanus' powerful voice not only dogged Christians of his day, but it has also continued to dog them for two millennia, and it will dog them until the end of the age. This book presents a perspective on Montanus that is long overdue, for it confronts believers with questions which have never effectively been answered: What if Montanus was right? What if Montanus was a messenger sent from God and his critics were the heretics?
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Description

As a seminary student studying Church history, Montanus intrigued me. As little as is actually known about him, and as castigated as he was, and still is, by Churchmen, he struck me as an important figure, even a true man of God. I said at the time that he was the one figure in Church history I would most like to meet and talk to. Four decades later, now as an aging pastor, I revisited the subject of Montanus, and once again, felt that he was a significant figure, one that must be considered if the truth about the development of Christianity is to be found. What if Montanus was indeed sent by God to warn the body of Christ that they were headed in the wrong direction? What if he was not a heretic, but was exposing as false the deceivers that Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John all said would come and lead many believers astray? And what if leaders of Christianity had allowed the writings of Montanus and those with him to remain? Were those writings so convincing that Church leaders could not allow them to survive? Because almost nothing directly from Montanus remains, we are left with more questions than answers about him and the believers with him. Nevertheless, I am convinced that he had something from God that would have benefitted believers, had it been received. Accordingly, this book about Montanus differs from any other I have found, for it assumes that he was sent by God to a body of Christ which had fallen into apostasy.
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About The Author

My wife and I married in 1975. We have four children and nine grandchildren. I have ministered for five decades now in a home fellowship setting. Among the books I have written are Suffering and the Saints, Marriage and Divorce: What does the Bible really say?, Is the Bible the Word of God, Revelation, Tithes and Offerings, and After Jesus Died. I have also written about 100 songs that you can find online at songsofrest.com. And you can hear some of my sermons and bible teachings on our YouTube channel: TheSpiritisthewitness.com. The home of my youth was devoted to Jesus; at the same time, our lives were unconnected with church religion. Without my realizing it, that setting made me an alien to the religious world that most believers know. Twice a month, on Sunday afternoons, my parents would gather in a home to worship with a few others, while we children played outside or sat with the adults in the prayer meeting, as we chose. Beyond that, every Sunday morning, my father read the Bible with the family, sang a song or two, and finally, knelt with us to pray. That was the extent of my boyhood corporate worship experience. In daily life, faith in Jesus sustained and preserved us, and godliness was the expected standard. So foreign to me was the Christian religious system that after I graduated from college, when my father suggested that I attend a seminary, I had no idea what a seminary was. Being "led into all truth" by the Spirit was the only education in spiritual matters that I was aware of, but my father felt the seminary experience would benefit me. And it did. Still, my elders' way of living and of worship taught me to look to Jesus to guide my heart and shape my thoughts. How well I learned that lesson, I leave to the judgment of others.
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