Rapid Growth of the Early Church
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It is important to note that the message was preached, not in a remote location where no
one could verify the account, but it was preached in Jerusalem where all of these events
took place and where the story could have easily been falsified or verified.
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<p>
It is from this location that the church grew. The movement grew very quickly. Acts
records three thousand people being baptized in one day (Acts 2:41). On another occasion
five thousand people came to believe (Acts 4:4). This corresponds to what we know of the
growth of the early church and it is one of the reasons historians do not suspect that
Jesus was a legend. Legends take many years to accumulate and gain acceptance.
Christianity spread immediately. The Jewish authorities were unable to contain its growth
because it was so rapid.
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