Could somebody tell me, how many Christhians heresies were faced by the early Church?

Question

In fact, it would be useful if you could explain or give details of every one of them.

Answer 1

The main Christian heresies are against God the Father, the Spirit, Jesus, Virgin Mary, man himself, the Church, the Bible...
- Against God the Father: Marcion, Cerinthians
- Against the Holy Spirit: Montanism, Manes proclaiming himself "the Paraclite"
- Against Jesus: Marcion, Arians, Ebionites, Cerintians, Docetism, Monophysites, Origen, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses
- Against the Trinity: Monarchians, Adoptionism, Modalism, Tritheism
- Against Virgin Mary: Arians, Jovinians, some Protestants, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses
- Against Man himself: Pelagians
- Against the Church and the Bible: Montanism, Protestant Reformation

Heresies of the First Century:
- Simonians of Acts 8, Simon wanted to buy with money the power of the Spirit, believed in the transmigration of souls, and denied the humanity of Jesus Christ.
- Cerintheians, denied that God was the creator of the world and denied the divinity of Jesus Christ.. Reputed by St. John in the Gospel and the Epistles (watch! Jehovah's Witnesses)
- Judaizers, who wanted to make Christianity a branch of Judaism:
- Circumcisers, the heresy may be summed up in the words of Acts 15:1: "But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’" Condemned in the First Council of the Church in Jerusalem, in Acts 21:15-26.
- Nicolaitans of Rev.2:6 and 2:15 - The Synagogue of Satan of Rev.2:9- The "Throne of Satan" (Rev. 2:13)- The "doctrine of Balaam" (Rev.2:14) - The Nazareans or "Jewish-Christians"
- Docetism Jesus only appeared to have a body, but he was not really incarnate, (Greek, "dokeo" = "to seem"), refuted by the Apostle John in the Gospel and Letters
- Gnosticism, "to know", pre-Christian but adapted after Christ, they say "secret knowledge is what saves". Dualism of good and bad. Neo-Gnosticism is Gnosticism apply to Jesus.
- Agnosticism, "not to know", also pre-Christian, deny the existence of God, like modern atheists, Communism

Heresies of the Second Century:
- Marcionites: Against God the Father: Marcion in 110 taught the existence of two gods, the evil one of the Old Testament and the good one taught by Jesus; Jesus is not the Messiah and denied the Incarnation of Christ
- Ebionites: Denied the divinity of Christ, like the Jehovah's Witnesses.
- Montanism: Montanus, a priest of Cybele, in 156 had revelation of the Spirit and his teachings were above those of the Church (beware Pentecostals, Charismatics...)
- Monarchians, 190, denied the Mystery of the Trinity, and held that God the Father and God the Son were one and the same person.
- Adoptionism, in the eight century, claims that Christ was born a human only, and was not divine until his baptism, at which point he was adopted as the Son by God the Father.
- Tritheism: Proclaims there are three Gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, against the Trinity. Present day Mormonism is tritheistic
- Modalism: Denial of the Trinity. God is a single person who first manifested himself in the mode of the Father in Old Testament times. At the incarnation, the mode was the Son. After Jesus' ascension, the mode is the Holy Spirit.

Third Century:
- Tertullianists: From Tertulian, a great Christian writer priest who became a Montanist, claimed the Church could not absolve adulterers, and that it was not lawful to fly from persecution. A sect that flourished in Carthage for 200 years after the death of Tertullian.
- Origenists: From Origen, another great Christian and writer, taught that by a second crucifixion of Christ, all, even the damned in hell, would be pure spirits; and believed that the blessed in heaven could be expelled from that abode for faults committed there. The errors were condemned by Second Council of Constantinople in 553.
- Manicheans, Manes born in 216, proclaimed himself as the "promised Paraclete", "Messenger of the True God", the title was later applied to Muhammad. S. Augustine was a Manichean, repented, and fought it very hardly. The Manicheans believed in a plurality of gods; believed in the transmigration of souls, and held that each man had two souls.
- Millenarians: Believe in the return of Christ to establish a kingdom on earth for 1000 years. Nipos (Nepos), Bishop, in defending the doctrines of this sect nearly brought about a schism in the Church, but unity was preserved by the Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria.
- Novatians: The Novatians held that idolatry was an unpardonable sin, that mortal sins committed after baptism could not be forgiven

Fourth Century: Donatists, Arians, Macedonians, Appollinarists, Jovinians, Vigilantians
- Donatists: Donatus the Great, a Bishop, considered the Church was not the Church because it was always wrong, they held that the true Church consisted only of the elect, themselves, and declared baptism to be invalid unless conferred by a Donatist... Validity of sacraments depends on character of the minister. St. Augustine fought them hard... there are some of those today, like the followers of Archbishop Lefevre and others.
- Arians:The strongest heretical sect in the early Church. Arius, an Alexandrian priest denied the divinity of Christ and consequently Virgin Mary was not the Mother of God. The first ecumenical council, that of Nicea, was convened to condemn the heresy... St. Athanasius, was his chief opponent. Mary the Mother of God, the first Dogma on Virgin Mary
- Macedonians: Macedonius, a bishop, denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost.
- Appollinarists: Apollinaris was a great Bishop, but taught that Jesus was divine but not human. Condemned in the Council of Constantinople in 381
- Jovinians: Jovinianus, a monk, denied the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Condemned by Pope Siricius in a Council held at Rome in the year 390, and soon after in another Council held by St. Ambrose in Milan. Mary Ever-Virgin, the Second Dogma of Virgin Mary
- Vigilantians: Vigilantius, a priest, condemned the veneration of images and relics, the invocation of the Saints and held it useless to pray for the dead.

Fifth Century:
- Pelagians: Pelagius, a "saintly" man according to St. Augustine, claimed that children are born as pure as Adam was before he fell; men neither die because Adam fell, nor rise again in consequence of Christ’s resurrection; un-baptized as well as baptized infants are saved; the Mosaic Law is as good a guide to heaven as the Gospel. Condemned at the Council of Ephesus, 431.
- Semipelagians: Some are predestined to heaven, other to hell, the beginning faith depends on man’s free-will. Traced to John Cassianus, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Victor, venerated as a Saint in the Greek Calendar. Condemned in the year 432 by Pope Celestine I
- Nestorians: Nestorius, a good monk, taught that there were two separate persons in Christ, one divine and the other human; and claimed that Mary was the mother of the human person only, not of the divine, not the Mother of God. Condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431.
- Predestinarians: Lucile, a priest, taught that God absolutely and positively predestined some to eternal death and others to eternal life, in such a manner that the latter have not to do anything in order to secure salvation; that Christ did not die for the non-elect, since they are destined for hell. Condemned in 475 in the Council of Lyons. Taught later by Calvin, Universalists, Arminians and others
- Monophysites: Eutyches, an abbot of 300 monks, proclaimed the Jesus had only one nature: divine. Condemned in the Council of Constantinople in the year 680.

Seventh Century:
- Monothelites: Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, taught that there were two natures, but only a divine will in Christ, was condemned by the Council of Constantinople in the year 680. Please, look at Monophysites of the Fifth Century
- Paulicians: Mannalis, a teacher of the New Testament, believed in a plurality of gods; denied the Incarnation; Christ had not been crucified; believed in the transmigration of souls.

Eighth Century:
- Iconoclasts: Leo de Isaurian held that the veneration of sacred images was idolatry. This error was condemned by thee Second Council of Nicea in the year 787. This issue prepared the way for the schism of Photius in 858 and the Great Schism of the 11th century.
- Adoptionists: Elipandus, Archbishop of Toledo, Spain, claimed that Christ was born a human only, and was not divine until his baptism, at which point he was adopted as the Son by God the Father.

Ninth Century:
- Greek Schism: Its origin dates from the time of Photius, 858. The Greek Orthodox Church or, more correctly, the Orthodox Eastern Church, Greek-Russian, denies the supremacy of the Pope. A council at Rome deposed and excommunicated Photius

Eleven Century:
- The Great Schism: Orthodox-Roman Catholic: The immediate issue was the "filioque clause", that "the Holy Ghost proceeds "from the Father and the Son" ("filioque"), says the Catholics, and the Orthodox claim "from the Father alone". But the key issue was that the Orthodox denied the supremacy of the Pope: The Roman Catholic Church maintains that the Pope was the successor of Peter, the head of the entire Church before the split and after the Schism.
The "official" schism in 1054 was the excommunication of Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople, followed by his excommunication of the pope's representative.
The personal excommunications were mutually rescinded by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople in the 1960s, although the schism is not at all healed.

Twelfth Century:
- Petrobrosians: Peter de Bruis, a monk, rejected the baptism of infants; condemned altars and churches; prohibited the veneration of the Cross; rejected the Mass and Holy Eucharist; and denied the utility of prayers for the dead. These errors were all condemned by the Second Council of the Lateran in 1139.
- Henricians: Henry of Lausanne, a cluniac monk, rejects the rites and authority of the Church.
- Waldenses: Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons. Their errors were: the Catholic Church erred in accepting temporal property; they condemned tithes; believed in only two sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist; held that layman could absolve from sin, but that a sinful priest could not; rejected indulgences, fasts and all the ceremonies of the Church; made no distinction between mortal and venial sins; claimed the veneration of sacred images to be idolatry, and condemned all oaths to be unlawful. Condemned by the Third Council of the Lateran in 1179.

Thirteenth Century:
- Albiguenses: Constantine of Samosata in the city of Albi, France. They believed in tow Gods, one good another evel; held only the New Testament to be inspired; reject infant baptism; declared marriage sinful; that it was wrong to obey and support the clergy; held that everyone has the power to forgive sins; denied the Trinity, Incarnation, Redemption and the Sacraments; declared all penance useless, and held that an unworthy priest lost the power of consecrating the Holy Eucharist. St. Dominic fought them with the Rosary. Condemned in the Third Council of the Lateran in 1179.
- Fraticelli: Gherardo Segarelli, a laboring man Parma. Held that there were tow churches, one carnal, the other spiritual; that only the spiritual church has the true Scriptures and divine power, and that in them alone was the Gospel of Jesus Christ fulfilled. They were condemned in 1318 by a Bull of Pope John XXII.
- Flagellants: They advocated excessive self-flagellation; confessed sins to laymen; believed that penance helped the damned; denied the Sacraments, and taught that one month’s penance was necessary for the forgiveness of sins. They were formally condemned as heretics by Pope Clement VI (1342-1352).

Fourteenth Century:
Lollards of John Wycliffe: Rejected the episcopacy of the Church; denied the authority of the Pope; the universe and God are one; that creation was an emanation of God; believed in predestination; denied the Real Presence; held the veneration of sacred images to be unlawful. A preparation for the Protestant Reformation. Declared a heretic by the Council of Constance (1414-1418).

Fifteenth Century:
- Hussites: The followers of John Huss, the Rector at the University of Prague. He publicly condemned many practices of the Catholic Church. These included the sale of Indulgences and the riches controlled by the Church. Although it ultimately failed, the Hussite movement is of permanent historical significance, it helped pave the way for both the Protestant Reformation and the rise of modern nationalism. Huss was burned in 1415.
- Moravians, "Church of the Brotherhood", United Brethren, after Huss: The English priest "Wycliff", denied the authority of the Pope 200 years before Luther. "John Huss", a Bohemian priest (now western Czechoslovakia), followed his ideas... In 1457, some followers of Huss founded the "Church of the Brotherhood", considered the pioneer and the earliest independent Protestant body, even before Luther... Later, in 1727, it became the "United Brethren, or Moravian Church". There are now 70,000 in Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Lititz (Pennsylvania, USA), a small number, but their influence has been enormous, the first to light the torch of Protestant missionary zeal.

Sixteenth Century:
- Protestant Reformation: Since Martin Luther in 1517. It holds the free interpretation of the Bible, salvation by faith alone in Christ, rejects the authority of the Pope, the only authority is the Bible, the same Bible used before. Condemned by the Council of Trent, the longest in the history of the Church, 1545-1563. The Counter-Reform in the church was lead by the friars Jesuits, Franciscans, Carmelites, Dominicans...
Catholic and Protestant "Similarities" many "misunderstandings", because the key terms are used in different senses.
- Lutherans: 1517- Martin Luther, an Augustinian priest in Germany. He retained the sacraments of baptism, penance and Holy Communion and great honor and affection to Virgin Mary. He held that in the Holy Communion the consecrated bread and wine are the Body and Blood of Christ ("consubstantiation", instead of the Catholic "transubstantiation"). He rejected purgatory, indulgences, invocation of the Saints, and prayers for the dead. Jesus Christ our Righteousness, Luther based the entire work of the Reformation on the reality of an imputed righteousness.
- Zwinglians: Ulric Zwingli, 1484-1524, a parish priest in Glarus, Zurich, Switzerland, the second great reformer. Added to Luther that the Eucharist was only a memorial, a symbol, and the physical presence of Christ was a myth, and proposed that the government of the church should be placed in the hands of the congregation rather than under the control of the clergy... and for both ideas he had strong discussions with Luther... both agree that the church should be under the control of the civil government, a state-church. He denied the authority of the Pope, free-will, the Sacraments including Confession of sins, good works, purgatory.
- Anabaptists: 1519 - Grebel (after Ulrich Zwingli).
"Anabaptists", are many groups who adopted many of the beliefs of Zwingli, but later would fight him, and adopt many of the Calvin's theories.
Nicholas Stork, a weaver, and Thomas Munzer, a Lutheran preacher and priest, made, at the time of the reformation, the first attacks on infant baptism, and thus launched the Anabaptist movement. The "born-again" experience, is one distinguishing mark. A complete separation of church and state to protect the liberty of the church. Anabaptists are of the "congregational" type, where each local church is autonomous... there is no Pope!... but now each congregation has its own self-named "Pope", not the successor of Peter, but more demanding. Protestant Denominations
- Church of England: 1534- Henry VIII, because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry: With the "Act of Supremacy" in 1534, the King was declared the supreme head of the Church of England, with fullness of authority and jurisdiction. Bishops and priests still have their jobs but under the King of England.
The "Episcopalians", founded by S. Seabury 1620 in the American colonies, is part of the Anglican Communion, regards the Archbishop of Canterbury as the "First among Equals"
- Calvinism: 1536 - John Calvin, the third great leader of the Reformation. Born in France and worked in Geneva. Calvin held the doctrine of predestination. Bishops are out, only priests left (presbyters). Later on, the priests will be gone, with the Pentecostals, for example
In 1536 he established a theocratic government in Geneva in which the religious and social and political affairs of the city were controlled by Calvin's new church. Geneva became a model of Puritan sobriety in which the lives of all citizens were closely policed and all offenses punished severely... all people were expected to live the life of a monk, with no alcohol, no dancing or singing, no fun..
Calvin opened the way for more radical forms of Protestantism which exist today as worldwide churches: "Presbyterians" of Scotland, "Separatists" and "Puritans" of England, "Congregational", "Dutch Reformed Churches", The Huguenots in France...
- Mennonites: Menno Simons, at Witmarsum in Friesland, Catholic pries. He became an Anabaptist 1536. Condemned infant baptism; the bearing of arms; the Sacraments; and held a doctrine of non-resistance to violence.
- Presbyterians: 1560 - John Knox founded the Scotch Presbyterian Church, basically Calvinistic, and it is called "Presbyterian" because church policy centers around assemblies of presbyters or elders. However the governing board of the church, the synod or presbytery, is subject to the civil government.
- Puritans: 1570 - T. Cartwright. The "Puritans" or "Precisians", thought the Anglicans were too Catholic, and the Church should be "purified" of the old leaven of Catholicism, and reformed along Calvinist lines in severe simplicity, the ministers should be chosen by the people, and the office of the bishop abolished
- Congregationalism: 1582 - R. Brown in Holland . They separated from the Church of England, and they were called Separatists, Dissenters, Independents, and Congregationalists, because they believe that each congregation should be independent, autonomous, a complete church in itself. They were Calvinists.
Those American colonists who established the Plymouth Colony in 1620 were "Separatists", and were called Pilgrims. Those who came 9 years later and established the Massachusetts Colony were "Puritans".
- Huguenots: The French Protestants. William Farel a friend of Calvin. Basically Calvinists, held the doctrine of predestination; denied the supremacy of the Pope; free-will; good works; purgatory; the Sacraments and forgiveness of sin.
- Reformed Ducth: 1561 - Guido de Bres, a Dutch reformer of Brabant. Again, basically Calvinist
- Unitarians: Martin Cellarius, deny the divinity of Christ; accept or reject the Bible according to private judgment.
- Socinians: 1550- Laelius and Faustus Socinus. Laelius was a priest of Sienna and intimate friend of Calvin. They insisted on private judgment and the free use of reason; discarded mysteries, rejected authority, and some went so far as to reject all natural religion. Luther tried to destroy the roofs of Catholicism; Calvin its wall; and the Socinus its foundation.

Seventeenth Century:
- Baptists: 1605 - John Smith in England. In America, Roger Williams founded the first Baptist church in Providence in 1639 (see Anabaptists, 16th century). (Zwingli). Comprise the largest of all American Protestant denominations, with 37 million members, in 30 bodies. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist, as well as Billy Graham and Jessy Jackson. They are called "Baptists" because of their doctrine concerning "Baptism": Called an "ordinance", they reject "infant baptism", consider only baptism by immersion as valid, to persons who can decide to receive it, and can feel the personal experience of being "born again". "Separation of church and state".
- Rosicrucians: 1610 - traces its roots to the Egypt before Christ... and all the groups claim to be founded by "Christian Rosenkreutz" who is a character of the "Fama Fraternitatis" novel written by the German Lutheran Johann V. Andreae in 1610... but he never existed!... in 1617, Andreae published an article stating that the "Fama" was a novel, a satire, without any basis in real life, affirmation he sustained until the moment of his death... and he believed that the teachings of Rosicrucianism were false and that the history of the movement was dotted with legends and fabrications...
Rosicrucianism is the religion "by correspondence"... and of lies!... claiming to be "dedicated to the investigation, study, and practice of natural and spiritual laws", anchored in "Egypt", with many occult and Hindu practices, and the basic beliefs of pantheism and reincarnation, with some Masonic rituals.
About the Bible, all is lies!: They say "the Bible is the regulator of life, the end of all true study, the compendium of the Universal World"... but to say that the God of the Bible does not exist, he is the "Supreme Intelligence", a form of "pure energy", but "not a person", just "a number endowed with motion"... they don't distinguish between God and creation, everything is God!...
- Episcopalians: 1620- S. Seabury (Henry VIII), founded in the American colonies, is part of the Anglican Communion, regards the Archbishop of Canterbury as the "First among Equals"
- Quakers, Society of Friends: 1654- George Fox, a shoemaker, in England. He believed every man to have an "inner light" which was his only guide. They are called "Quakers", because in the first days of enthusiasm they "trembled" in their assemblies, but they resent that name... their organization is not called a church but the "Society of Friends". In their "meetings", there is no pulpit nor songs, they just sit down and wait in silence for the Spirit to move them.
- Universalists: Samuel Gorton, a New England mystic, who aired his views as early as 1636. The belief did not receive definite organization, however until 1750, when James Relly organized a Universalist church in London. They deny the divinity of Christ; believe in the universal salvation of all; deny the Sacraments; free-will; good works, and the doctrine of the Trinity.
- Jansenists: Jansenism was probably the single most divisive issue within the Roman Catholic church between the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution. Founded by Cornelius Jansenius, Holland, Bishop of Ypres. He lived and died a member of the Catholic Church, but it was from his writings, published after his death, that Jansenism took its rise. Predestination was accepted in an extreme form and was so essential to Jansenism that its adherents were even referred to as Calvinists by their opponents. It came into conflict with the church for its predestination doctrines and for its discouragement of frequent communion for the faithful. Jansenism took root in France, especially among the clergy.

Eighteenth Century:
- Freemasonry, born in 1717 when 4 Craft Lodges gathered at the Apple Tree Tavern in London. A secret fraternal order of Free and Accepted Masons, spread by the British Empire, with actually 5 million members; 3 million in the USA, with 250,00 on the black "Prince Hall" Masonry. Some Masons define it as "a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols"... also as "the realization of God by the practice of Brotherhood": To reach God by doing good works to your neighbor...
It has been described as "the biggest, richest, most secret and most powerful private force in the world"... and certainly, "the most deceptive", both for the general public, and for the first 3 degrees of "initiates": Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason (the basic "Blue Lodge")...
You can't be a Mason and a Christian or a Muslim: Most Christian and Muslim leaders forbid Freemasonry... because it is a most deceptive secret society. Freemasons have been excommunicated from the Catholic Church by 8 Popes, and condemned by Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Russian Orthodox Church...
- Shakers, Union Society: 1741- Ann Lee- Jane Wardley, with the help of her brother James, organized this sect in England in the year 1747. Later they were joined by Ann Lee, of Manchester, who claimed to be Christ in His second reincarnation. She came to America in 1774. They are called "Shakers" because in their meeting they had emotional movements of the body, sometimes so strong as to cause convulsive rolling on the floor. They live isolated from the world in "communes", with very strict abstinence life. The few remaining Shakers live in a community in Maine. They deny Christ in worship and substitute in His place "The Highest Good, wherever it may be found."
- Methodists, "Holy Club": 1744- Founded by John and Charles Wesley in England. It is now the second largest Protestant denomination in the USA, with 15.5 million members; 29 million worldwide. The "Pentecostals" are their "children".
Two distinctive features:
1- A "mystical experience", is the best way to know God: The "witness of the Spirit" to the individual, with personal assurance of salvation, the "heartwarming experience". This "born-again" experience is the first of the four ways to know God; the other 3 are: Scripture, reason, and tradition.
2- It was the "social conscience" of England, preaching to the "poor" a new message of hope and care: They devoted much time to create private welfare agencies to help the poor, social reforms, improvement of the daily life of workers, legalize labor unions, abolish slavery, protect woman and children; they started schools for children, old folk' homes, orphanages, dispensaries for the sick, agencies for the unemployed and homeless... and they were among the foremost champions of a democratic free United States.
They hold Scripture to be the sole and sufficient rule of belief and practice; teach justification by faith alone, although the practice of good works is commended... and done!
- Moravians, Church of the Brotherhood, United Brethren, after Huss, 1727: The English priest "Wycliff", denied the authority of the Pope 200 years before Luther. "John Huss", a Bohemian priest (now western Czechoslovakia), followed his ideas... In 1457, some followers of Huss founded the "Church of the Brotherhood", considered the pioneer and the earliest independent Protestant body, even before Luther. Later, in 1727, it became the "United Brethren, or Moravian Church". There are now 70,000 in Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Lititz (Pennsylvania, USA), a small number, but their influence has been enormous, the first to light the torch of Protestant missionary zeal.
- Unitarians: 1774- Theophilus Lindsay. In 1774 in England on the basis of "Socinianism" of the 16th Century, denying the Trinity, and proclaiming that Jesus was not God; the atonement of Jesus is invalid, and salvation is only by works.
- Universalism, is also a product of the eighteenth century enlightenment, including rationalism and anti-supernaturalism... it holds that all living beings attain complete salvation, against all teaching of the Bible... and still they call themselves Christians... and with the Unitarians they carry on this schizophrenic torch.
- Unitarian-Universalist Association, in 1959.

Nineteenth Century:
- Christians without Christ:
This is a group of churches that call themselves Christians, use the Bible as their Sacred Scripture or one of them, and may even have the name of Christ in the title of their church... but they say that "Jesus is not God", or that Jesus Christ is God as much as you and I are God, like the Mormons. Christians without Christ
- Mormons: 1830- Joseph Smith. He claimed to have received a new revelation in 1827, which resulted in the "Book of Mormon", published at Palmyra, N.Y. Smith was killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill., in 1844, and Brigham Young succeeded him as leader of the sect. There are three gods, the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Spirit... all of them were created, and you cn become God like Jesus or the Father. Adam’s sin was one of lust; believe the bond of marriage to be eternal; and believe in a happy Millennium on this earth.
It is the Church of "contradictions", and of "deception"
- Adventists: 1844- William Miller, known initially as Millerites, stress the doctrine of the imminent second coming of Christ. Several specific dates were set as the Coming since 1844, but Christ never came.
Seventh-Day-Adventists are the larger group and started also about 1844 adding a very special issue: The Seventh Day, Saturday, is the Day of the Lord, and Sunday is the Day of the Antichrist; if you celebrate the Day of the Lord on Sunday, you are of the Antichrist, about 2,000 million Christians!. They were lead by Joseph Bates and James and Ellen White since 1844 but was not formally organized until 1863.
- Jehovah's Witnesses: 1852- Charles T. Russel: They are the children od the Adventists officially announced the Second Coming of Christ and the Armageddon for 6 dates: 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, and 1975... and never came!... They deny the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the Immortality of the Human Soul, and the blood transfusions. They expect to be one of the 144,000 minister of Jesus when He comes... or one of the multitude in Heaven of Revelation 7.
Their official name, is not "Jehovah's Witnesses", but an Incorporated Society, the "Wathtower Bible and Tract Society" ... in this Society, the leaders are elected by the number of "stocks" they have; the "President of the Society" is the one who has more stocks, the actual President is Milton G. Henschel, since 1993.
- Spiritualistic Churches: 1848, 1843 - They may have started with Kate Fox in New York, Andrew Jackson Davis founded one in 1843.
The services, resemble the church gatherings of small Christian denominations and usually mimic Christian services. "Jesus Christ", is a total different person for a Christian and a Spiritualist: For a Spiritualist Jesus is God, but as much as you and I are God, as much as every human being is a divine child of God, just a part of the Infinite Intelligence. A great deception of Satan is the claim of the Spiritualists that the Bible is Spiritualist: They claim that "Jesus Christ was the master medium of all time"; they point to the Transfiguration as an example of spirit materialization, and Pentecost as the greatest séance in history... in fact, they make the Bible endorse what its writers emphatically oppose!...
You can't be a Spiritualist and a Christian. The Bible and the Church, condemn all kinds of Spiritism and mediums with the strongest terms: It is "prostitution against God", "stone them to death" (The Occult). "Child of the Devil", reprimands St. Paul to the medium Bar Jesus in Acts 13.
- Salvation Army: 1865- Founded in England by William Booth. It is familiar to outsiders through its work among the homeless and the poor and its fund-raising on the streets, especially before Christmas... they do good work, it is evangelic in doctrine, and aims to harmonize with all churches.
- Ku-Klux-Klan: 1866 - founded in Polaski, Tennessee, by 6 Confederate officers. One of them, and the first Imperial Wizard of the KKK, was a former Confederate general and Freemason, Nathan Bedford Forrest. They are well known the disguised hooded Klansmen, in their white sheets, posing as ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers, with their blazing torches burning large wooden crosses in a "circle", to terrorize and kill Blacks, just for the sake of being Blacks...and they are Christians!
- Christian Science Church: 1879- Mary Baker Eddy. The "science of healing", is "Anti-Christian", "Anti-Science", with Hindu doctrine, and it is not a Church. "Jesus Christ" is not God, he was not the Christ. "God", is not the Christian God, but a "Hindu one". "Salvation", is by recognizing that each person is as much a Son of God as Jesus is. There is no evil, no devil, no sin, no poverty, and no old age. A person is reincarnated until he learns these truths and becomes "perfect".
- Old Catholics: 1871- Organized in German speaking countries to combat the dogma of Papal Infallibility. Its rise may be traced from the excommunication of Ignatz von Dollinger, historian, priest and theologian, on Apr. 18, 1871, for refusing to accept the dogma of Infallibility.
- Modernists: An heretical movement that attempted to explain the faith by rationalizing it. The system of the Modernists embraces most of the errors of all preceding heresies. Condemned by Pope Pius X.
- Reformed Churches: In general are those that began with the doctrine of Luther, then embraced those of Zwingli, and finally swerved towards Calvinism. As a result they are infected with the errors of all these false teachers. German Reformed, True Reformed Dutch, United Church of Christ in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Church in USA, Reformed Church in America, the "Christian Reformed Church... some of them do also good deeds.
- The Old Catholic Churches, had their origin in Europe after 1870, after the First Vatican Council. They reject the authority of the Pope, and their priests are married.
The Polish Church, was established in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the 1890s, also after Vatican I with the same spirit that the Old Catholic Churches.
- Holiness Churches: The National Holiness Movement came into being shortly after the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Originally a protest movement within Methodism, it opposed the Methodist falling away from the emphasis on sanctification that John Wesley had developed. He had stressed original sin and justification by faith and added that the individual may be assured of forgiveness by a direct experience of the spirit, called sanctification, which he regarded as the step leading to Christian perfection. The major representatives of the Holiness movement are Pentecostal denominations, the Church of the Nazarene and the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.).
- Church of God: 1880- Name of more than 200 independent religious bodies in the U.S. The majority of them are Adventist, Holiness, or Pentecostal denominations. Originated about 1880 as a movement within existing churches to promote Christian unity. The founders were interested in relieving the church at large of what they believed was over-ecclesiasticism and restrictive organization and in reaffirming the New Testament as the true standard of faith and life.
- Church of Christ: 1886 with Spurling and Bryant in the Great Smoky Mountains (northwest Georgia and eastern Tennessee). A Pentecostal church based on a belief that a second rain of the gifts of the Holy Spirit would occur similar to that of the first Christian Pentecost. They regard the state of holiness as a work of grace subsequent to conversion or justification, and practice speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. Members of the revival were organized into the Christian Union, changed their name to the Holiness Church (1902) and later to the Church of God (1907). No Pope, no bishops, no ordained priests.
- Church of God in Christ: 1895, 1897, Jones and Mason in Arkansas. Another Pentecostal church. Like other Holiness and Pentecostal groups, the church emphasizes sanctification, or holiness, which is deemed essential to salvation. The theology of the church is Trinitarian; the Bible is the chief religious authority and is interpreted literally. Ordinances include baptism by immersion, the Lord’s Supper, and foot washing. Speaking in tongues is considered the sign of baptism by the Holy Ghost. No Pope, no bishops, no ordained priests.

Twentieth Century:
1- The "Classical Pentecostal Movement" made in USA, started in 1901 by Parham and Seymour has now over 11,000 Pentecostal denominations throughout the world.
- In 1901 in the city of Topeka, Kansas, with a handful of students conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist Pastor, started a church movement which he called the "Apostolic Faith".
- It was not until 1906, however, that pentecostalism achieved worldwide attention through the "Azusa Street Revival" in Los Angeles, California, by the African-American preacher William Joseph Seymour who conducted three services a day, seven days a week, where thousands of seekers received the tongues baptism. At that time of color segregation in the United States, the phenomenon of Blacks and Whites worshiping together under a Black pastor seemed incredible to many observers. Indeed, the color line was washed away in the Blood of Christ, in Los Angeles, "the American Jerusalem", as it called by Frank Bartleman, where the people from all ethnic minorities were represented at Azusa Street.
A problem: If the Spirit talks and touches me, I don't have to listen to the Church. No Pope, no bishops, no ordained priests. In each Assembly the leader is it all!
This birth of Pentecostalism was preceded by the Holiness Churches, the Church of God and the church of Christ of the nineteenth century, and all of them prepared by the Methodists of the eighteenth century.
2- The "Neo-Pentecostal" movement started in 1960 in Van Nuys, California, under Dennis Bennett, Rector of St Marks Episcopal (Anglican) Church. In ten years it spread to all major Protestant families of the world, reaching a total of 55 million people by 1990.
3- The Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1967 among students and faculty of DuQuesne University, and by 1993 it has touched the lives of over 70 million Catholics in over 120 nations.
4- The Evangelical Charismatics started in 1981 at Fuller Theological Seminary with John Wimber. By 1990, 33 millions in the world were moving in signs and wonders, though they disdain labels such as "pentecostal" and "charismatic".
- Snake Handlers: 1909- Founded in Tennessee, USA, by George Hensley who died of a snakebite in 1955. Their "ceremonies", last for hours, with music and rhythmic clapping to hypnotize the dozens of poisonous snakes all over the hall... "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matt.4:7).
- Worldwide Church of God (WCG): 1934, USA- Founded in Eugene, Oregon, USA, by Herbert W. Armstrong, a child of the Adventists, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, proclaims the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ, who was announced for 1936, 1943, 1972, 1975... Jesus never came, but it was a good source of income!. influential with its TV programs. The strange doctrine of "Anglo-Israelism" is a special feature.
- United Christian Evangelistic Association, Christ United Church: 1925, USA- Rev. Frederick Eikerenkoetter, known as Rev. Ike, promotes in New York a "Christianity for earth"... Heaven is replaced by the "now"... you become now successful, rich, and healthy in the name of Jesus... Jesus rode an ***, Rev. Ike prefers to ride a Rolls Royce, and he boasts to have 16!. He does not want a "pie in the sky", he wants a "pie on earth"!. It has been labeled as a "prostitution of Christianity".
- Moonies, The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity: 1954- Sun M. Moon in South Korea. The "Moonies" is the Church of heavenly Communism, of mockery of the Bible, of big business... and of stupidity. The "sacred Scriptures" are the "Divine Principle" of Moon, the "Outline of the Principle", and the "Bible"... But the "Bible" is used to make a mockery out of it!: Jesus Christ was a perfect man, but "he is not God"; he was the bastard offspring of Zechariah and Mary. Moon is the third Adam, the second Christ to unite all religions, and bring to earth a perfect social system, a perfect family life... earth will be the new Paradise of Eden, with perfect love to God, and brotherhood of all people living in communes, sharing their wealth...
"Salvation", comes in one of three ways:
1- Having actual sex with Moon, for the girls.
2- Having sex with a girl who had sex with Moon, if you are a man.
3- Working full time for Moon... the most usual way!, and drinking at the wedding ceremony the blood of Moon (2 drops of his blood in 100 gallons of a mixture of 21 ingredients).
Watch out for the "recruiting"... the "Weekend" and the "Communes", "the Heavenly Communism".
- National Association of Evangelicals (NAE): 1942- A coordinating agency facilitating Christian unity, public witness, and cooperative ministry among evangelical denominations, congregations, educational institutions, and service agencies in the United States. The Association traces its beginnings to April 7-9, 1942, when a modest group of 147 people met in St. Louis with the hopes of reviving the fortunes of evangelical Christianity in America.
- Wicca: 1949 - "Modern Witchcraft", commonly called "Wicca", started in England with Gerald Gardener. A Problem for a Christian: You can't be a Wiccan and a Christian, the Bible and the Church condemn Wicca very strongly, and all the wonders of nature can't erase a single sin, and, if you die in sin, you go to Hell... for the same reason you can't be a Christian and a Spiritistu, of a Santero,
Wicca indeed is modern witchcraft coming "out of the broom closet"... removed the stereotypical image of witches as ugly old hags with warts on their noses, decked out in black capes and cone-shaped hats, riding their favorite broomstick on a moonlit night... the modern Wiccan may be an attractive female witch dressed in a fashionable, well-tailored business suit or a professional businessmen.
Most Wiccans do not believe in Hell nor Satan... but it is the usual deception of Satan, who is the source of most Wiccans "experiences"... yes, Hell and Satan do exist... like Paris and Moscow exist, it is a fact!... like it or not... believe it or not... would you dare to to live on earth thinking they do not exist to find out after death that they do exist?... are you "sure" they do not exist?... would you risk eternal Hell on something you are not sure of?.
- The Church of Satan: 1966 - Founded, by Anton S. LaVey in San Francisco, California. The Black Mass is usually celebrated by a fake priest, but sometimes by a real blasphemous priest, in which case the Mass is valid but sacrilegious. Usually it is blasphemous fake Mass, where the altar is a nude woman, and the vagina is the tabernacle. If possible, a real Host stolen from a Catholic Church is placed in the vagina in the midst of reciting distorted psalms with hot music and all kind of obscenities, coursing Jesus and honoring Satan. The fake priest ends up having real sex, with the Host still in the vagina. Condemned by all Christians and the Bible in the strongest terms
- Church of Scientology: 1954, USA- Lafayette Ronald Hubbard in California after writing "Dianetics". It is a Hindu interplanetary fiction novel, with a kind of "Catholic Confession", called "auditing" ... a bad place to spend lots of money.
- The Way International: 1957, USA- Victor Paul Wierwille in 1957, in Ohio. His book "Jesus Christ is not God" says it all... to practice "glossolalia" 30 minutes per day is a part of salvation. "Power of Abundant Living" courses
- Church universal and Triumphal, Summit Lighthouse: 1958, USA- Founded, in Montana by Mark L. Prophet, it is now lead by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, after the death of her husband in 1973. It is a Hindu religion, with biblical connotations, specially the "I Am" of Ex.3:14. Jesus is not God. He was only the "mediator" between God and men, the role now Mrs. Prophet has. Salvation is by doing good Karma (deeds), to reincarnate in a better form.
It is not so "triumphant" on earth, rather they are so afraid that they have built huge underground shelters, able to accommodate 100,000 people, stocked with food for protection from an impending nuclear holocaust... And it is not that "universal", because most of their members live in Montana, nearby the Shelters.
- United Unitarian Universalist Association: Formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Unitarian Universalist Church of America to speak as one on social and political questions. They unite the Unitarians and Universalists of the 18th Century and the Socinians ot the 16th century.
It has been labeled as the "schizophrenia" of Christianity, trying to unite the Christians, by denying the Trinity, the deity of Jesus, and proclaiming universal complete salvation of all living beings. Luther tried to destroy the roofs of Catholicism; Calvin its wall; and Socinus its foundation.
- Fraternity of St. Pius X: Founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of France, after the Vatican II, 1965 He consecrated 200 priests against the authority of the Pope.
They celebrate the Mass only in Latin, with the old order of St. Pius X. Their main "objection" is the change in the Consecration of the word "many", by the word "all"... St. Paul uses both words talking about the same issue in successive verses, Romans 5:18,19: Jesus died "for all" human beings, but only "many" will appropriate his redemption. The Fraternity is excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
- Church of "Palmar de Troya", or "Carmelites of the Holy Face": Founded by Clemente Dominguez, in 1969 in "Palmar de Troya", 40 Kilometers from Seville, Spain. Condemned by the Church. Clemente proclaimed himself "the Pope", with the name of Gregory XVII, there are only a few hundreds, but with lots of money, building a great Basilica, behind tall walls.
- Churches for Homosexuals, Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC): 1968, USA- by Troy Perry who claims that he and other homosexuals experienced on "coming out of the closed". It has very good intentions, however, the worst attitude about any vice, including homosexuality, is "to boast" about it, and "to applause others who practice it", as it says in Rom.1:32... no one should be proud or boast to be a murderer, or an alcoholic, or a thief, or a liar, or a prostitute, or a divorcee, or a homosexual... the reason why God chastised so severely Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 is because they were proud of their immoral sexual activities, and they applauded those who openly did them or boasted about them.
- Children of God (COG), Family of Love, Heaven's Magic: 1969, USA- David Berg, who changed his name to Moses Berg, and is called "MO", The "COG" is the literal "prostitution of Christianity"; "Sex for Jesus" is their logo... they will offer you the "MO letters", saying "Jesus loves you"... in the "Communes" and outside encourage and practiced homosexuality, incest, adultery, fornication, adult-child sex, polygamy... "MO" is violently Anti-Semitic.
- New Age: 1980s - The term "New Age", was coined by the spirit medium "Alice Bailey" of the Theosophical Society of America, who died in 1949, but it became common parlance after the musical "Hair" launched the concept of the Age of Aquarius on a popular and international scale. This "utopia" is the greatest menace to Christianity, more than any other cult... New age has been catalogued as the AIDS of all heresies.
The "New Age" of Aquarius is an Astrology doctrine of the 1980s, proclaiming the human race is at the verge of a "gigantic quantum leap", to realize that every human is God... and when that happens, it will be the "New Age", a glorious time with only one nation on earth, one language, one government, one religion, one monetary system... with only love on earth, the "golden age"!, without hate, violence, wars, crime, racism, and without sickness nor death!... it the mold lie of Satan of Genesis 3:4-5... you will be like God!
- Peoples Temple: Jim Jones... "Guayana, Jonestown": "Guayana" was the scene of the Jonestown mass suicide in 1978 where 913 members of the "People's Temple" died after drinking cyanide-laced Kool Aid. Some, according to survivors, were shot down trying to escape.
- Branch Davidians, WACO: 1986- "Vernon Howell", changed his name to "David Koresh"... They are no longer in existence since the 82 death in the fire at WACO, Texas, in 1993, after the tragic 50-day siege.

Philosophies and Religion, the Pillars of Unbelief:
Just as we have pillars of Christian faith, the Apostles, so are there individuals who have become Pillars of Unbelief:
- Machiavelli, 1496-1527, the inventor of “the new morality”
- French Revolution: 1789-1799: The guillotine of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", democracy in France.
- Kant, 1724-1804, the subjectivizer of Truth.
- Marx, 1818-1883, the false Moses for the masses, brain of Atheistic Communism.
- Nietzsche, 1844-1900, the self-proclaimed “Anti-Christ”. “God is dead,”.
- Freud, 1856-1939, the founder of the “sexual revolution”.
- Sartre, 1905-1980, the existentialist apostle of absurdity.

Answer 2

Hundreds. No.

A better question is, how do we know that what emerged is the real Christianity and not just a heresy? Maybe the resurrection signaled the start of the Apocalypse and the current Christian churches are agents of Satan.

Answer 3

You're wrong about Jesus part...

Jehovah's Witnesses do love and respect and honor Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses follow Jesus' word and do what he says.

Answer 4

Dr. Boettner then gives us "Some Roman Catholic Heresies And Inventions" and the dates that these alleged "Apostolic" traditions were added to Roman Catholic theology &endash;
* Prayers for the dead, began about A.D. 300
* Making the sign of the cross 300
* Veneration of angels and dead saints, and use of images 375
* The Mass, as a daily celebration 394
* Beginning of the exaltation of Mary, the term "Mother of God" first applied to her by the Council of Ephesus 431
* Priests began to dress differently from laymen 500
* Extreme Unction 526
* The doctrine of Purgatory, established by Gregory I 593
* Latin used in prayer and worship, imposed by Gregory I 600
* Prayer directed to Mary, dead saints and angels, about 600
* Title of pope, or universal bishop, given to Boniface III 607
* Kissing the pope's foot, began with pope Constantine 709
* Worship of the cross, images and relics, authorized in 786
* Holy water, mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by a priest 850
* Canonization of dead saints, first by pope John XV 995
* The Mass, developed gradually as a sacrifice, attendance made obligatory in the 11th century
* Celibacy of the priesthood, decreed by pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand) 1079
* The Rosary, mechanical praying with beads, invented by Peter the Hermit 1090
* Sale of Indulgences 1190
* Transubstantiation, proclaimed by pope Innocent III 1215
* Auricular Confession of sins to a priest instead of to
God, instituted by pope Innocent III, in Lateran Council 1215
* Bible forbidden to laymen, placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Council of Valencia 1229
* Purgatory proclaimed a dogma by Council of Florence 1439
* The doctrine of Seven Sacraments affirmed 1439
* Tradition declared of equal authority with the Bible by the Council of Trent 1545
* Apocryphal books added to the Bible by the Council of Trent 1546
* Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed by pope Pius IX 1854
* Syllabus of Errors, proclaimed by pope Pitts IX, and ratified by the Vatican Council; condemned freedom of religion,conscience, speech, press, and scientific discoveries which are disapproved by the Roman Church; asserted the pope's temporal authority over all civil rulers 1864
* Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals, proclaimed by the Vatican Council 1870
* Public Schools condemned by pope Pius XI 1930
* Assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death), proclaimed by pope Pius XII 1950
* Mary proclaimed Mother of the Church, by pope Paul VI 1965

And then Dr. Boettner concludes:
Add to these many others: monks - nuns -monasteries - convents - forty days Lent - holy week - Palm Sunday - Ash Wednesday - All Saints day - Candlemas day - fish day - meat days - incense - holy oil - holy palms - Christopher medals - charms - novenas - and still others.
There you have it - the melancholy evidence of Rome's steadily increasing departure from the simplicity of the Gospel, a departure so radical and far-reaching at the present time (1965) that it has produced a drastically anti-evangelical church. It is clear beyond possibility of doubt that the Roman Catholic religion as now practiced is the outgrowth of centuries of error. Human inventions have been substituted for Bible truth and practice. Intolerance and arrogance have replaced the love and kindness and tolerance that were the distinguishing qualities of the first century Christians, so that now in Roman Catholic countries Protestants and others who are sincere believers in Christ but who do not acknowledge the authority of the pope are subject to all kinds of restrictions and in some cases even forbidden to practice their religion. The distinctive attitude of the present day Roman Church was fixed largely by the Council of Trent (1545-1563), with its more than 100 anathemas or curses pronounced against all who then or in the future would dare to differ with its decisions.