In 325 AD, the Nicean Council was convened at the behest of the Roman Emperor Constantine. He saw Christianity as one way to reunite the empire. Constantine felt that "Roman" Christianity best suited his purposes. A brilliant politician, Constantine was aware of the pervasive influence of the old families in Rome and their use of the traditional Roman Gods to further their aims. Over 200 years earlier in 70CE, the Jerusalem rebellion had been crushed resulting in the diaspora of Jews and the spread of "cult" of Christianity throughout the empire.

At this time, members of "the faith" had many "schools" and the name "christian" was considered an insult.
Believers would say: "I follow 'The Way'" adding their particular teacher or leader, such as "I follow The Way, as taught by the disciple Mary" or "I follow The Way as taught by the disciple John". Some were even known to draw a curved line and add a dot, this being completed by another who would say "Fish swim in schools." Then the first would declare his particular school: "I belong to Scola Maria."

Early Christians, adherents to a particular disciple or a disciples "school" were not a cohesive group but rather highly factionalized with different Gospels and viewpoints. Buddhism had been around for over 500 years at the birth of Christ and caravans to and from the Far East brought both goods and ideas.

Constantine was well educated and keenly aware of the challenges that faced the now divided empire. The Diocletianic Persecution had demonstrated clearly that Christianity was emerging as the most potent new "cult' in the modern empire. Christianity shared certain similarities with other powerful cults in the empire, including Mithraism and the cult of Isis. Constantine understood the tides of time and that life is a river in which the swimmer must move with the stream or surely drown. He saw a need to fuse these cults into a new Super-Christianity that would serve the empire with a new unified belief system that would support and perpetuate the empire.

Prior to 325AD, the School of Mary Magdelene had the largest following, but the Nicean Council changed the face of Christianity forever.

Constantine had observed Diocletians maniacal persecution of the Christians with an underlying intent to bring unity to the empire through reverence of the old pagan Gods. Constantine was at first favored by Diocletian but when Diocletian felt that Constantine was too soft, he was shut out from the counsel of the emperor. Hostage for many years, Constantine took his first opportunity to flee and return to his father in the far away far Western empire.

Upon his father's death, Constantine was declared emperor of the far western sector. He proved an able military leader who inherited a judicial tolerance from his father. Following his father's lead, Constantine shows tolerance to Christians. He also recognizes that Christianiy could serve as a better vehicle for Roman Unity than attempting a forced return to the "old ways".

Constantine understood people and became known as both tolerant of the common folk while ruthless when it came to protecting his turn and expanding his influence. History mythologizes his use of the symbol of the cross during his battle for Rome with Maximus.

This website explores The Gospels from a metaphysical perpective seeking to restore the original intent of early Christians who would most likely be shocked to be called by that name. The goal is to give us a deeper insight into these wonderful works.

Serving New Thought was given this site by a New Thought Minister who wanted to create a New Thought Bible gateway online. She was dismayed by the lack of interest of her colleagues and was about to let the project go, when she heard about ServingNewThought.org

She contacted us and we have been hosting this site ever since under the name TheGospels.org. It has undergone many changes over the years and gets a large amount of traffic from people looking for various links.

Because of the massive traffic that this site gets. We are working efficiently to insure that, in addition to the links you have come to appreciate. You will begin to find more and more metaphysical insights into bible texts.

Why are the resources of Serving New Thought so popular?

1. All of our resources are provided on a tithing/donation basis. This means we rely on you, the visitor to send in donations when you find our resources useful to your Spiritual Journey. This stands in contrast to the resources behind firewalls with hefty charges for access. You can even observe that in contrast to Charles Fillmore's practice of placing books and resources in the Public Domain, the majority of New Thought Denominations are no longer following this important cornerstone of his work. We do!

2. We work hard on our resources to insure they are comprehensive and useful listening to your feedback.

3. We care about you, the seeker of Wisdom and we work with those New Thought Sharers who are compassionate and want to assist you on your journey.