Caiphas ( Kayafas )

Yosef Bar Kayafa (Hebrew יוסף בַּר קַיָּפָא, joˑsef bar qayːɔfɔʔ) (which translates as Joseph, son of Caiaphas), also known simply as Caiaphas (Greek Καϊάφας) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest between 18 and 37 CE (AD). In the New Testament, Caiaphas is involved in the trial of Jesus after his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane.


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Because he was the high priest, Caiaphas was also chairman of the high court. Jesus of Nazareth was arrested by the Temple guard and a hearing was organized by Caiaphas and others in which Jesus was accused of blasphemy. Jesus was handed over to Roman authorities who, under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, eventually found him guilty of treason for claiming to be the Messiah (King of the Jews).

The Gospels of Matthew and John (though not those of Mark and Luke) mention Caiaphas in connection with the crucifixion of Jesus.

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Samson

Samson, Shimshon (Hebrew: שִׁמְשׁוֹן, Standard Šimšon Tiberian Šimšôn; meaning "of the sun" – perhaps proclaiming he was radiant and mighty, or "[One who] Serves [God]") or Shamshoum (Arabic) is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Children of Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, and the Talmud. He is described in the Book of Judges chapters 13 to 16. He is believed to be buried in Tel Tzora in Israel overlooking the Sorek valley. There reside two large gravestones of Samson and his father Manoah. Nearby stands Manoach’s altar (Judges 13:19-24). It is located between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson is a Herculean figure, who uses tremendous strength to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats unachievable by ordinary men: wrestling a lion, slaying an entire army with nothing more than a donkey's jawbone, and tearing down an entire building.

Joan Comay, co-author of Who's Who in the Bible:The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament, believes that the biblical story of Samson is so specific concerning time and place that Samson was undoubtedly a real person, who pitted his great strength against the oppressors of Israel.

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Assemblies Of GOD

The General Council of the Assemblies of God, or Assemblies of God for short, is the world's largest Pentecostal denomination, with over 283,413 churches and outstations in over 200 countries (including 12,311 churches in the U.S.) and approximately 57 million adherents worldwide. It prefers to be referred to as a cooperative fellowship instead of a denomination.

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The Assemblies of God has aggressive missions programs that are designed to establish self-supporting and self-propagating national church bodies in every country. As of late 2006, the Assemblies of God World Missions Research Office reported constituencies in 212 countries and territories, with over 5,000 adherents added per day. As of 2005, the fellowship operated 859 Bible schools, 1,131 extension programs and 39 seminaries outside of the United States.

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Roman Catholic

The Roman Catholic Church, commonly referred to as the Catholic Church, is the Christian church led by the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. Catholic doctrine asserts that the origins of the Catholic church can be traced, via apostolic succession, to the original Christian community founded by Jesus in his act of consecration of Saint Peter, considered by the church and many historians to have been the first pope. Alongside its primary mission to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments, the church also operates numerous social programs, institutions and ministries throughout the world. These include schools, universities, hospitals, and shelters, as well as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities that help the poor, families, the elderly, the sick and the marginalized.

As with the Eastern Orthodox and mainstream Protestants, the Roman Catholic faith is summarized in the Nicene Creed. Claiming to be preserved from error by the Holy Spirit in doctrinal matters, the church established or affirmed other doctrines through ecumenical councils following the example of the first Apostles. Catholic belief is detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Formal Catholic worship is ordered by means of the liturgy regulated by church authority. The celebration of the Eucharist, one of seven church sacraments, is considered the center of Catholic worship. However, there are numerous additional forms of personal prayer and devotion including the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, and Eucharistic adoration.

The Catholic Church is the world's largest Christian church, made up of one Western or Latin and 22 Eastern Catholic autonomous particular churches. It is divided into 2,782 jurisdictional areas around the world. The church community consists of an ordained ministry of priests and deacons, as well as the ordinary laity, and those like monks and nuns who live a consecrated life under a rule. Representing over half of all Christians and one sixth of the world's population, these churches look to the Pope, either alone or together with the College of Bishops, as their highest visible authority in matters of faith, morals, and church governance.

Church history is intricately intertwined with the history of Western civilization. The church has affected and shaped the lives and beliefs of Christians and non-Christians alike for almost two thousand years. When the Roman Empire fell, the church endeavoured to preserve Western civilization. The 11th century saw the Eastern Church split definitively with the Roman Catholic Church. Subsequent reunification of some of the Eastern churches with Rome created the Roman Catholic Church's Eastern Rite. In the 16th century, the Church underwent substantial reforms in response to the Protestant Reformation. Although the Catholic Church believes that it is the true church founded by Jesus Christ, in an apostolic constitution the church acknowledges that the Holy Spirit is active in Christian churches and communities separated from itself, and that Catholics are called by the Holy Spirit to work for unity amongst all Christian.

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Cathedral

A cathedral ( Lat. cathedra, "seat" ) is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a religious building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox and some Lutheran churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a diocese.

There are certain variations on the use of the term "cathedral"; for example, some pre-Reformation cathedrals in Scotland now within the Church of Scotland still retain the term cathedral, despite the Church's Presbyterian polity which does not have bishops. As cathedrals are often particularly impressive edifices, the term is often used incorrectly as a designation for any large important church.

The term "cathedral" is not officially used in Eastern Orthodoxy, the church of a bishop being known as "the great church", though cathedral is commonly used in English translations. The Oriental Orthodox Churches similarly do not have cathedrals as such, however some major churches like Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo are called cathedrals.

Several cathedrals in Europe, such as Strasbourg, and in England at York, Lincoln and Southwell, are referred to as Minster (German: Münster) churches, from Latin monasterium, because the establishments were served by canons living in community or may have been an abbey, prior to the Reformation. The other kind of great church in Western Europe is the abbey.

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Protestant

Protestantism encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Reformation. Protestant doctrine, in contradistinction to that of Roman Catholicism, rejects papal authority and doctrine. It holds that biblical scripture (rather than tradition or ecclesiastic interpretation of scripture) is the only source of revealed biblical truth, and also that salvation can be achieved through God's grace alone. The key tenets of Protestantism are outlined in the Five Solas.

The word Protestant is derived from the Latin protestatio meaning declaration which refers to the letter of protestation by Lutheran princes against the decision of the Diet of Speyer in 1529, which reaffirmed the edict of the Diet of Worms against the Reformation. Since that time, the term Protestantism has been used in many different senses, often as a general term to refer to Western Christianity that is not subject to Papal authority.

While the faiths and churches born directly or indirectly of the Protestant Reformation constitute Protestantism, in common usage, the term is often used in contradistinction to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This usage is imprecise. There are many non-Roman Catholic, non-Eastern Orthodox communions that long predate the Reformation (notably Oriental Orthodoxy). The Anglican Church, although born of the Protestant reformation, differs from the reformation principles of most other Protestants and is referred to as a middle path—a via media—between Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrines. Other groups, such as the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, reject Protestantism as a deviation from true Christianity, while perceiving themselves to be restorationists.

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