It is certainly clear to every believer the distinction between the early church and our contemporary church. Spiritually speaking, it seems we are serving a different God or Christ. For example, the early church evangelized extensively; but now, especially the western churches, are sleeping excessively. They healed the sick, but now the church folks are sick with all kinds of diseases without cure. They cast out evil Spirits, but now there are evil Spirit possessors in the church more than ever before. They were sufficient in every spectrum of life, but now the church members are deficient in every spectrum of life. They shared everything with each other, but now Christians are keeping everything for themselves, even tithes. They were selfless with the attitude of putting others first, but now the church folks are selfish with the attitude of me, I, and myself first. They were willing to die for Christ at any cost, but now Christians want Christ to die for them again for no cost. Finally, they turned their world upside down, but now the world is turning the church upside down. The church needs to wake up; otherwise, our next generation will suffer the defeat of apostasy as the children of Israel suffered after the death of Joshua. This book is meant to assure you that you have all that it takes, by the grace God has given to you through Jesus Christ, to do exactly what the apostles did. aEURoeAll things are possible.aEUR Absolutely nothing is impossible to you if you put your faith in Christ Jesus into action as others did. This is your moment while everyone is sleeping or ignoring authentic, supernatural power since challenges produce champions.

Examines the origins and development of the episcopacy in the early church with an eye toward its implications for current ecumenical issues relating to the episcopacy and apostolic succession.

On the first anniversary of his election to the papacy, Leo the Great stood before the assembly of bishops convening in Rome and forcefully asserted his privileged position as the heir of Peter the Apostle. This declaration marked the beginning of a powerful tradition: the Bishop of Rome would henceforth leverage the cult of St. Peter, and the popular association of St. Peter with the city itself, to his advantage. In The Invention of Peter, George E. Demacopoulos examines this Petrine discourse, revealing how the link between the historic Peter and the Roman Church strengthened, shifted, and evolved during the papacies of two of the most creative and dynamic popes of late antiquity, ultimately shaping medieval Christianity as we now know it. By emphasizing the ways in which this rhetoric of apostolic privilege was employed, extended, transformed, or resisted between the reigns of Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, Demacopoulos offers an alternate account of papal history that challenges the dominant narrative of an inevitable and unbroken rise in papal power from late antiquity through the Middle Ages. He unpacks escalating claims to ecclesiastical authority, demonstrating how this rhetoric, which almost always invokes a link to St. Peter, does not necessarily represent actual power or prestige but instead reflects moments of papal anxiety and weakness. Through its nuanced examination of an array of episcopal activity—diplomatic, pastoral, political, and administrative—The Invention of Peter offers a new perspective on the emergence of papal authority and illuminates the influence that Petrine discourse exerted on the survival and exceptional status of the Bishop of Rome.