xile into Babylon). Great prophets among the Jews speaking to the people on behalf of God, prophesied that God Himself would send a Deliverer, or "Holy, Anointed One" to deliver the people. In Hebrew, the language of the ancient Jews, the word for this Deliverer is "Messiah". Because of the historical conquests of the ancient Middle East, it should come as no surprise that the Jews expected this Messiah to be a military type of leader, in the image of their greatest king, David.
             Jesus was born as a direct historical descendant of David. (Luke 2: 23-38.). As Jesus grew, he became a mighty teacher and Rabbi. He was well schooled in the ancient Law of Moses. However, His claim to be the Son of God, the very Messiah that the Jews were waiting for was greeted with much hostility by His own people, because they were waiting for this "King" type of Messiah. Because He was born into poverty, they could not accept the fact that he in fact, could be the Messiah. Jesus also proclaimed that the spirit of God's covenant with the Jews was more important than the letter of the law. He also promised resurrection, or the ability to be raised from death back to life, in return for following this "spirit of God's laws". Jesus also forgave sins, or violations of God's laws. He claimed that this covenant was the "New Covenant", which provided the redemption of man through the forgiveness of sin. This made Him an enemy of a majority of the Jewish priests and elders, and they formed a conspiracy that ended with His death by crucifixion at the hand of the new, empirical rulers of Israel, the Roman Empire. Jesus even predicted his own death, and said that this death would be the ultimate example of how much God, his Father, loves mankind, and desires the redemption of all humanity. Now ordinarily, this should be the end of Jesus and His story. But it is only the beginning. This story is also the story of the Roman Catholic Church.
             The Catholic Church is ...