Pre-Catholic Christianity

We can see from history that the pre-eminence of establishment churches is only really a recent development, and prior to the last thousand years, there was much more variety in the types of Christianity than existed between 1000AD and 1900AD.

In Scotland, for example, a 6^th century monastic system was established at Iona, wholly independent of the papal authority for much of its existence. It had been formed by some of the earliest missionaries from Ireland, the followers of Saint Patrick, who converted large numbers of Irish tribes while the papal religion was still struggling to gain support amongst the more urbanised peoples of southern Europe. 

Once druidism ended in Ireland, Christianity took hold and was even invited by many of the local rulers. This led to a strong monastic system developing, with the gospel being preached and new priests being ordained even as the remains of the old Roman Empire slowly died. 

This branch of Christianity eventually emigrated to Scotland, where the Iona Abbey was built. Eventually,  other Abbeys were even constructed in France and western Europe, once Viking raids became too destructive for many of the monks. 

This independent Church even called the Viking invaders “gentiles” which though inaccurate, demonstrates their belief in the cause of Israelite separatism. It has long been the belief of many in Ireland that they are descendants of the tribe of Dan. However, this freedom did not last forever. The Papal church in Rome had regained much of the old Roman power, but now increased its influence under the threat of damnation, it bastardised the biblical doctrines into a form that tricked the peoples of Europe into following its authority.

This influence reached the Celtic churches, and after much deliberation, it was sadly decided that they would join with the Catholic Church and make themselves subservient to Rome. 

But the subconscious need for independence had taken root, and the Church of England and Church of Scotland freed themselves from Papal tyranny in 1534 and in 1560. While these churches were still very distant from the truth, they gave rise to Puritanism and similar creeds, which in a long history that carried over into North America, eventually gave rise to the true form of Christianity espoused in the New Testament by Jesus and his followers. Despite the long interlude of universalist false Christianity, those early Christians would be vindicated in the modern day, when the establishment churches no longer hold total control over our faith.