The Fall of Jerusalem (c. 68-70 AD)

The First Century House Churches Saga (Book 12)

By: David Michael Curtis

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The Temple is a smoldering ruin. The holy city runs with blood. In the tumultuous aftermath of Jerusalem’s fall in AD 70, the Old Covenant world has vanished in fire and smoke, leaving the fledgling church in a world remade by Roman steel. But the end of the war with Rome is only the beginning of a new, more insidious conflict—a battle for the very soul of the faith.

From the ashes of the old world, two distinct churches rise in the heart of the empire:

In the catacombs and hidden workshops of Rome, Rufus, son of the man who carried the cross, shepherds a fugitive remnant. They are the poor, the scattered, and the steadfast, clinging to the simple, decentralized pattern of the apostles and armed with nothing but the completed scriptures. They believe their only head is Christ.

Meanwhile, the respected and pragmatic Clement, traumatized by the Neronian persecution, seeks to build a new order for a new age. Arguing for safety and stability, he forges a visible, unified institution with a single ruling overseer—a bishop—to govern the believers. He believes a human head is necessary for the church’s survival.

As these two visions clash, other fronts in the war for the faith erupt across the empire. In Antioch, the zealous John, son of Caius, oversees a scriptorium, multiplying the Word of God to arm the churches against a rising tide of heresy. In the mountains of Pella, the aged Simeon, kinsman of the Lord, guides the exiled church of Jerusalem, interpreting the horrific events as the final, terrible fulfillment of prophecy. And from the shadows of Alexandria, the Gnostic philosopher Simon Magus prepares to unleash his own seductive, spiritualized counterfeit of the truth upon a fractured world.

The Fall of Jerusalem is Book 12 in the 1st Century House Churches series, a gripping narrative of the turbulent days when the future of the faith was decided not by the sword of Titus, but by the conviction of those who contended for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Built exclusively upon the King James Version, this series brings the world of the early church to life, examining the great conflict between the simple, scripture-based faith of the apostolic era and the rise of the institutional church.