What Happened to the Church, Simon an
"Another Gospel", The Church in Transition,
A Theology of "New Truth"? Truth
Abandoned in Favor of Unity and Tradition
A Dramatic Transition, Anti-Jewish
Sentiment, Another Gospel, The
Immortal Soul, The Trinity, Religious
Art In Worship, The Imperial Church, Where Was The Church Jesus Built?
The Church in the Wilderness, The
Church Flees to the Wilderness, The
"Paulicians," Appear in Armenia, Rise of the
Bogomils, The Cathars and Waldenes, Compromising
Once More
Taking Root in a New World, The Story of
the "Anabaptists," The Church in Early America,
The Adventist Movement
Schisms, Splits and a New Start, The First
Quarter of the Twentieth Century, Open
Doors and Dramatic Growth, The Final Phase of Church
History
Jesus Christ
said, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell [Gk. hades, "the
grave"] shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18 KJV). What was the
Church that Jesus built, and what happened to it?
When the Bible
speaks of the Church, it is never speaking of a building or of a human
organization incorporated under secular authority. The word in the Greek
language which is translated "church" in English is ekklesia.
It is derived from two root words in Greek and literally means "called
out" or "called from." In secular usage, it referred to an
assembly of citizens who were "called out" from the inhabitants of
the city to consider some matter of importance. It was often used in the Greek
translation of the Old Testament to refer to the congregation of Israel or to
the assembly of God's people. "Congregation" or "assembly"
expresses the meaning in New Testament usage as well.
However, the
called out aspect of ekklesia is fundamental to understanding the
Church. In Genesis 12 we read that Abraham was called out by God from Ur of the
Chaldees. In Exodus 12 we read of Abraham's descendants, the children of
Israel, being "called out" by God from Eygyt. They then became the
congregation of Israel or the "Church in the Wilderness" (Acts 7:38
KJV).
One of God's
final warnings to His people consists of a call to "come out" of
Babylon (Rev. 18:4). The saints of God are not to participate in that corrupt,
end-time culture's sins so that they will not partake of the divine punishments
that "Babylon" shall receive.
Jesus makes it
plain that the only way someone can come to Him and be part of His Church is
for the Father to call him (John 6:44). Only those who respond to the Father's
call by repentance and baptism will receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), and it
is only through the Holy Spirit of God that we become part of the Church that
Jesus built (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13).
What happened
to the Church that Jesus Christ proposed to build? Did it adapt and change with
the times through progressive revelation? Did it get off the track and have to
undergo a reformation at the hands of such men as Martin Luther and John
Calvin? Or, has there been a body of believers down through the centuries that
have continued to believe and practice the same doctrines Jesus Christ and the
first-century apostles taught? When we look at the story of the mainstream, professing
Christian church throughout the centuries, it appears to be a vastly different
church from the one described in the pages of your New Testament. In the book
of Acts we find that God's Church celebrated "Jewish" holy days (Acts
2:1; 13:14, 42, 44; 18:21), talked about the return of Jesus Christ to judge
the world (Acts 3:20-21; 17:31) and believed in the literal establishment of
the Kingdom of God on earth (Acts 1:3, 6; 28:23).
Yet, less than
three hundred years later, we find a church claiming apostolic
origination, but observing the "venerable day of the Sun" instead of
the seventh-day Sabbath. When that church assembled its bishops to discuss
doctrinal matters at the Council of Nicea, the meeting was presided over by, of
all people, a Roman Emperor--Constantine! How could such an amazing
transformation have taken place? What happened?
Protestant
author Jesse Lyman Hurlbut acknowledged the dramatic change that took place in
his book, The Story of the Christian Church. He wrote, For 50 years after
St. Paul's life a curtain hangs over the church, through which we strive vainly
to look; and when at last it rises about 120 A.D. with the writings of the
earliest church fathers, we find a church in many aspects very different
from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul (p. 33).
The story of
the Christian church between Pentecost of 31 A.D. and the Council of Nicea in
325 A.D., almost 300 years later, is an amazing story. It is the story of how
yesterday's orthodoxy became today's heresy and how old heresies came to be
considered orthodox Christian doctrine. It is the story of how church tradition
and the teaching of the bishops came to supersede the Word of God as a source
of doctrine. It is a story that is stranger than fiction, yet is very much historically
verifiable.
Acts 2:1
states: Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they [the disciples] were
all with one accord in one place. God's Holy Spirit was poured upon them in
power, just as Christ had predicted (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5-8).
In the
aftermath of that dramatic day, 3,000 people were baptized (Acts 2:41)! Within
a matter of months, this number had multiplied several times over (Acts 6:1).
It was a time of dramatic miracles and of incredible growth. It was also a time
of doctrinal unity. The entire Church was composed of Jews who observed God's
law. They kept the law (Acts 21:20) and anticipated the literal establishment
of the Kingdom of God on this earth.
However, when
the sons of God gather together, Satan soon comes in among them as we can
easily infer from Job 1. In Acts 8, we are introduced to a man who was greatly
used of Satan to infiltrate and subvert God's Church. This man was Simon, the
sorcerer from Samaria, better known in secular history as Simon Magus. Simon
was considered by the Samaritans to be God's divinely chosen representative
(Acts 8:9-10). Eduard Lohse, writing in The New Testament Environment,
states that the expression, "the great power of God," represents
Simon's "claim to be the bearer of divine revelation" (p. 269). Simon
was baptized and became a nominal Christian, along with the rest of the
Samaritans. However, the Apostle Peter recognized Simon's real motives. In Acts
8:22-23 Peter rebuked him in the strongest terms as being "in the gall of
bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (KJV). Who were the Samaritans?
The book of Second Kings tells us that when the northern ten tribes of Israel
were deported by the King of Assyria, Babylonians were settled in their place.
These Babylonian Samaritans continued to practice their old Babylonian
paganism, but with the added infusion of biblical terminology to obscure what
they were doing (2 Kings 17:33, 41). Though they professed adherence to the God
of Israel, they didn't really obey God's law (v. 34). In fact, as is made plain
in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, they became enemies of the true Work of God.
The Samaritans,
just as the Jews, had become dispersed throughout the known world in the
aftermath of Alexander the Great's conquests. There were Samaritan colonies in
several major centers of the Roman Empire, including Alexandria, Egypt and
Rome. Simon had admirers and adherents among these people.
Samaritanism,
with its foundation of Babylonian paganism and lip service to the God of Israel,
was also heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. Now to this, Simon Magus added
an acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of mankind. However, as Jesus
explained, "Not every one who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven"
(Matt. 7:21). Simon used the name of Jesus, but substituted a different
message, a message that did away with the need to really obey God and keep His
commandments!
Eerdman's Handbook
to the History of Christianity notes, "Early Christian writers
regarded Simon as the fount of all heresies" (p. 100). The Encyclopedia
Britannica (11th ed.) in its article on Simon Magus identifies him as the
"founder of a school of Gnostics and as a father of heresy." Noted historian
Edward Gibbon says the Gnostics "blended with the faith of Christ many
sublime but obscure tenets which they derived from oriental philosophy" (The
Triumph of Christendom in the Roman Empire, p. 15).
Gnosticism (the term is derived from the Greek word for
knowledge) was a highly intellectual way of life. It represented a blending of
Babylonian mystery religion, Greek philosophical speculation and an overlay of
biblical terminology. Among the Gnostics, biblical accounts weren't taken
literally but were treated as allegories used to teach deeper
"truths." "The Mosaic account of the creation...was treated
with profound derision by the Gnostics" (Gibbon, p. 13). Gnosticism
stressed pagan dualism with its emphasis on the immortality of the soul and the
inherent evil of matter. It also introduced much vain speculation on the nature
of God and the spirit realm. Several New Testament books, including Colossians,
the Gospel of John and First John, spend much time refuting the Gnostic
heresies that Simon Magus and many others began to spread.
Hellenistic
culture, which pervaded the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, was an
alternative world-view--a competitor to the perspective and values of the
Bible. It stressed the supremacy of reason and logic rather than divine
revelation. The later Greeks, embarrassed by the ribald antics of their ancient
gods and heroes in the writings of Homer and Hesiod, sought to explain them
away as profound "allegories." This approach to their
"inspired" writings was picked up by Hellenistic Jews, such as Philo
of Alexandria, and applied to the Bible. This treatment of the Old Testament as
an allegory was a handy tool for Gnostics and others who wanted to evade
obedience to plain commands.
Since this was
the scholarly approach of the day, it was thought necessary to use
"allegory" in order to gain approval from the trendsetters of
"educated" opinion in the first and second centuries.
About 15 years
after the baptism of Simon Magus, the Apostle Paul found it necessary to warn the
Church in Thessalonica, "The mystery of iniquity [lawlessness] doth
already work" (2 Thess. 2:7 KJV). About five years later Paul warned the
Corinthians that they were in danger of being corrupted by false apostles
teaching "another Jesus" and "another gospel." Simon and
his followers were, in reality, ministers of Satan masquerading as ministers of
Christ (2 Cor. 11:3-4, 13-15).
By the mid-60s
A.D., the Apostle Jude, brother to James and Jesus Christ, exhorted Christians
of the necessity to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for
all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). He went on to warn that there
were certain men who had stealthily crept into the church organization, trying
to turn grace into lawlessness by teaching that God's law was no longer
necessary (v. 4). By Jude's time the true faith had already been once and
for all delivered. Modern scholars who claim that it remained for second
and third century theologians to begin to formulate an accurate understanding
of God's nature would do well to reread Jude 3. It is clear that Jude does not
allow for progressive revelation!
Writing at the
close of the first century, almost 30 years after the rest of the New Testament
was completed, the aged Apostle John had to contend with heresies that were far
more widespread than those of the days of Paul and Jude. John repeatedly
emphasized the necessity of keeping God's commandments (1 John 2:3; 3:4, 22;
5:3). He stressed in 2 John 7, "Many deceivers have gone out into the
world." In 3 John 9-10, a leader by the name of Diotrephes had gained
control of some congregations in Asia Minor and was actually putting out of the
Church true Christians that remained loyal to the aged Apostle John and his
teachings.
An event of
far-reaching implications for the New Testament Church had occurred about 25
years prior to John's writing. This event was the destruction of Jerusalem by
the Roman legions under Titus in 70 A.D. The Jerusalem Church of God, under the
leadership of James' successor, Simeon (first cousin of James and Christ), fled
Jerusalem shortly before 70 A.D. and went to Pella, a remote desert community.
After the Roman conquest of Masada in 73 A.D., Simeon returned the exiled
Jerusalem Church to Jerusalem. But, just as the war had turned the magnificent
Temple into heaps of rubble, so it also destroyed most of Jerusalem's prestige,
status and wealth. The reestablished Church in Jerusalem languished in poverty
and relative isolation. It never regained uncontested authority to influence
and lead the Christian movement. Simeon lived to the age of 120 and was
martyred under the Emperor Trajan in about 107 A.D. Following Simeon's death,
the Jerusalem Church of God experienced great instability, having 13 leaders in
the next 28 years.
Many previously
promulgated heresies now emerged in full bloom. In addition, many in the Church
were discouraged and confused. Events had not gone as had been generally
expected. The Church was increasingly becoming a mix of new Gentile
converts and second or even third generation members.
During the last
part of the first century and the beginning of the second, the Roman world
became increasingly hostile to the Jews. Extremely oppressive laws and heavy
taxes were directed against them by the Roman Empire as punishment. Between the
first (66-73 A.D.) and second (132-135 A.D.) Jewish revolts, there were many
violent anti-Jewish pogroms in places such as Alexandria and Antioch. Reacting
to this, the Jews rioted in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt.
Frequently,
Christians suffered as victims of these outbursts because they were regarded by
the authorities as a Jewish sect. However, they were considered by the Jewish
"freedom fighters" to be traitors to Judaism and to Jewish political
aspirations because they would not fight alongside the rest of
"Israel." During these
times, hundreds of thousands of synagogue and church members--those who
worshipped on Sabbath days and studied the Scriptures--perished at Roman hands
or by mobs.
During this
dangerous era, the Roman church under its Bishop Sixtus (c. 116-126 A.D.) began
holding Sunday worship services and ceased observing the annual Passover,
substituting Easter Sunday and "Eucharist" in its place. This is the
clear record preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea, a late third and early fourth
century A.D. scholar, who became known as the "father of church
history." Eusebius quoted his information from a letter of Irenaeus,
bishop of Lyons (c. 130-202 A.D.) to Bishop Victor of Rome. Dr. Samuele
Bacchiocchi, in his book, From Sabbath to Sunday, acknowledges:
"There is a wide consensus of opinion among scholars that Rome is indeed
the birthplace of Easter-Sunday. Some, in fact, rightly label it as
'Roman-Easter'" (p. 201). Of course, what is not generally realized by the
speakers of non-Latin languages is that the Romans didn't use the name
"Easter" for their new celebration; they continued to call it by the
Latin word for Passover, paschalis.
This official
break from the law of God was the natural outgrowth of the "mystery of
iniquity," which confused grace with lawlessness and taught
that obedience to the law was unnecessary. When a practice is not deemed
necessary, it is only a matter of time until convenience will dictate either
its modification or its abolition. As the conflict between Judaism and the
Empire heightened, many "Christians" in Rome, under the leadership of
Bishop Sixtus, took steps to avoid any possibility of being considered Jews and
thereby suffer persecution with them.
In 135 A.D., at
the end of the Second Jewish Revolt, the Roman Emperor Hadrian (Publius Aelius
Hadrianus) took drastic steps against the Jews. He modestly renamed Jerusalem
after himself and the "god" Jupiter Capitolinus--Aelia Capitolina
and imposed the death penalty on anyone called a Jew who would dare enter the
city.
At this point
Marcus, an Italian, became bishop of Jerusalem, as Edward Gibbon records in the
fifteenth chapter of his famous Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:
"At his [Marcus'] persuasion, the most considerable part of the
congregation renounced the Mosaic law, in the practice of which they had
persevered above a century. By this sacrifice of their habits and prejudices
they purchased free admission into the colony of Hadrian, and more firmly
cemented their union with the Catholic church" (vol. 1, p. 390).
What of those
who continued to regard the law of God as binding for Christians? Gibbon
writes, "The crimes of heresy and schism were imputed to the obscure
remnant of the Nazarenes which refused to accompany their Latin bishop.... In a
few years after the return of the church of Jerusalem, it became a matter of
doubt and controversy whether a man who sincerely acknowledged Jesus as the
Messiah, but who still continued to observe the law of Moses, could possibly
hope for salvation" (p. 390).
It was only a
matter of time until professing Christians who had ceased observing the Sabbath
"excluded their Judaizing brethren from the hope of salvation...[and]
declined any intercourse with them in the common offices of friendship,
hospitality, and social life."
Incredible!
This happened when, just a few years earlier, they were all observing God's
Festivals together. Yet after Bishop Marcus brought in "new truth,"
the majority criticized those who remained loyal to what they had all formerly
practiced as being a source of division and wanted nothing to do with them.
The writings
that have been preserved from the second century onward evidence a totally
different theology from the writings of the Apostle John, written only 10 or 20
years earlier. Dr. Bacchiocci asserts, "Ignatius, Barnabus, and Justin,
whose writings constitute our major source of information for the first half of
the second century, witnessed and participated in the process of separation
from Judaism which led the majority of the Christians to abandon the Sabbath
and adopt Sunday as the new day of worship" (p.213). Ignatius of Antioch,
in about 110 A.D., wrote, It is "monstrous to talk of Jesus Christ and to
practice Judaism" (Magnesians, 10). He also talked of "no
longer observing Sabbaths." Yet John, writing his gospel scarcely 15 years
earlier, emphasized that Jesus kept the same Festivals the Jewish community
kept (John 7:2; 11:55).
Barnabus of
Alexandria, not to be confused with the Apostle Barnabus, in his epistle
written about 130 A.D., alleges that the Old Testament is an allegory and not
intended to be understood literally. He regards the prohibitions of the law
against eating unclean meats as an allegory of the type of people that
Christians should avoid (Epistle of Barnabus, 10). He also seeks to
allegorize the Sabbath and states, "We keep the eighth day for rejoicing
in the which also Jesus rose from the dead..." (Epistle of Barnabus,
15).
Two prominent
second century theologians who played an important transitional role in the
change from biblical theology to Roman Catholic theology were men who were both
baptized in churches under faithful Polycarp's leadership. Polycarp (c. 69-155
A.D.) had been a personal disciple of the Apostle John and was one of the few
church leaders of his day to hold fast to the Truth. These two men, Justin
Martyr (c. 95-167 A.D.) and Irenaeus (c.130-202 A.D.), while maintaining some
truths they had learned under Polycarp, also sought to accommodate themselves
to the new direction of Roman theology in the name of "church unity."
Irenaeus, though he departed from much of Polycarp's teaching, maintained a
lifelong admiration for Polycarp as a great man of God.
Justin was a
Greek from Samaria who became a Platonist philosopher and then, under the
influence of Polycarp and his disciples, was baptized as a Christian at Ephesus
in about 130 A.D. He came to Rome in 151 A.D., founded a school and was
subsequently martyred in 167 A.D. After arriving in Rome, Justin sought to
steer a middle course on the subject of the law. Henry Chadwick writes:
Justin believed
that a Jewish Christian was quite free to keep the Mosaic law without in any
way compromising his Christian faith, and even that a Gentile Christian might
keep Jewish customs if a Jewish Christian had influenced him to do so; only it
must be held that such observances were matters of indifference and of
individual conscience. But Justin had to admit that other Gentile Christians
did not take so liberal a view and believed that those who observed the Mosaic
law would not be saved [The Early Church, pp. 22-23].
Irenaeus grew
up in Asia Minor and, when a teenager, heard Polycarp preach. He came to Rome
as a young man and later became bishop of Lyons in France in 179 A.D. Irenaeus
is considered the first great Catholic theologian and seems to have gone to
great lengths to promote peace and a conciliatory spirit. His desire for peace
was so great, however, that he was willing to compromise with the Truth
to maintain church unity. The churches in Asia Minor under Polycarp's
leadership observed the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Yet, when Irenaeus came to
Rome, he readily adapted to the Roman practices of observing Sunday and Easter.
In Lyons there were some who kept Passover on Abib 14 and some who kept Easter.
Irenaeus kept Easter but sought to be tolerant of those who still observed
Passover.
Let's look more
carefully at the theological revolution that was taking place in the Church of
the second century. "Justin Martyr occupies a central position in the
history of Christian thought of the second century.... Justin also molded the
thinking of Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons" (Chadwick, p. 79). Though Justin
became a professing Christian in Ephesus, "he did not understand this to
mean the abandonment of his philosophical inquiries, nor even the renunciation
of all that he had learnt from Platonism" (p. 75). He believed that the
God of Plato was also the God of the Bible. "Justin does not make rigid
and exclusive claims for divine revelation to the Hebrews so as to invalidate
the value of other sources of wisdom. Abraham and Socrates are alike Christians
before Christ" (p. 76). This approach set the stage for a reshaping of
Christian theology to embrace much of Greek philosophical thought concerning
the nature of God.
In spite of all
this, Justin acknowledged the authority of the book of Revelation and believed "Christ
would return to a rebuilt Jerusalem to reign with his saints for a thousand
years" (p. 78).
Irenaeus,
heavily influenced by Justin, also preserved bits and pieces of the Truth in
spite of conforming to Roman practices. He rightly taught, "The purpose
of our existence is the making of character by the mastery of difficulties and temptations
(p. 81). He also adhered to the literal hope of an earthly millennium,
during which Christ would reign on earth, and taught against interpreting the
millennial hope as symbolic of heaven, though he toned down his insistence on
this point in his later works.
There were two
fundamental errors that separated professing Christians from those who
truly represented the continuation of the Church that Jesus built. These
errors involved whether or not God's law was still obligatory for Christians,
and who and what God is. Errors on these two points led to an ever-widening
divergence between the professing Christian church and the true Church of God.
The importance
of the law was the major area of controversy from about 50 A.D. until 200 A.D.
It was not finally resolved until the Councils of Nicea (325 A.D.) and Laodicea
(363 A.D.) when the Roman state became involved. The substance of the conflict
is preserved in the confrontation between Polycrates of Asia Minor and Victor,
bishop of Rome, about 190 A.D. Polycrates was the successor of Polycarp who
was himself a disciple of the Apostle John. Irenaeus records that Polycarp
had traveled to Rome in the mid-second century to try and persuade Anicetus,
bishop of Rome, of the true time of the Passover. Anicetus claimed to have been
bound by the tradition of his predecessors since Bishop Sixtus, while Polycarp
declared, "He had always observed it [Passover] with John the disciple of
our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated..."
(Eusebius, xxiv).
About 50 years
after Polycarp+s journey, Victor of Rome sought to intimidate the churches of
Asia Minor into conforming to the Roman Easter practice. Polycrates wrote
Victor:
We therefore
observe the genuine day [Passover]; neither adding thereto nor taking
therefrom. For in Asia great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again
in the day of the Lord's appearing, in which he will come with glory from
heaven, and will raise up all the saints; Philip, one of the twelve apostles,
who sleeps in Hierapolis... John, who rested upon the bosom of our Lord...
Polycarp of Smyrna... All these observed the fourteenth day of the Passover
according to the gospel deviating in no respect, but following the rule of
faith...and my relatives always observed the day when the people threw away
the leaven [Abib 14]. I, therefore, brethren, am now 65 years in the Lord,
who having conferred with the brethren throughout the world, and having studied
the whole of the sacred Scriptures, am not at all alarmed at those things with
which I am threatened, to intimidate me. For they who are greater than I, have
said, "We ought to obey God rather than men" [Eusebius, xxiv].
As various
controversies raged during the second century, a new approach to church
government was to have consequences of monumental proportions. This approach
was an emphasis on what was termed Apostolic Succession.
In the first
century, Paul had praised the Bereans for their approach in "checking up
on him" by searching the Scriptures daily to see if he was teaching truth
(Acts 17:11). He exhorted the Thessalonians to, "Prove all things; hold
fast that which is good" (1 Thess. 5:21 KJV). Constantly, throughout the
first century, we see an appeal being made to the Scriptures.
But, beginning
with the writings of Clement, bishop of Rome, we find a new emphasis.
Clement wrote a letter to the church in Corinth about 100 A.D., probably very
shortly after John's death. The editors of Masterpieces of Christian Literature
summarize Clement's principal ideas as: "The way to peace and concord is
through obedience to established authorities, the elders. Christ rules the
churches through the apostles, the bishops appointed by them, and the approved
successors of the bishops."
About ten years
later Ignatius stressed the same point: "Unity and peace in the church and
the validity of the church are acquired through faithful adherence to the
bishop..." (Masterpieces).
By the middle
of the next century the claims had grown so forcefully that Cyprian of North
Africa stated, "The focus of unity is the bishop. To forsake him is to
forsake the Church, and he cannot have God for his Father who has not the
Church for his mother" (Chadwick, p. 119).
These claims
were being made to hold brethren in an organization that was rapidly developing
into what we know today as the Roman Catholic Church. How different these
appeals are to those of Paul and the other New Testament leaders who pointed to
the Scriptures and to the fruits of their ministries for authentication (cf. 1
Cor. 11:1; Acts 17:2). No longer able to rely on a clear appeal to
Scripture, second and third century church leaders increasingly based their
claim to the loyalty of the brethren upon their assertion of being duly ordained
successors of the apostles and the bishops that succeeded them. While they increasingly
abandoned what the apostles taught, these deceivers sought to hold brethren
together by appeals to unity and to the memory of the apostles.
In the next
chapter we will examine how the Trinity, the immortality of the soul and the
use of images in worship crept into the professing Christian church. We will
also see what was happening to those who refused to follow the lead of Rome.
How did so many
move so far so quickly? This is the question that simply leaps out at us as we
examine the history of the early Church.
At the time of
the Apostle John’s death near the dawn of the second century A.D., the
Christian movement, though obviously beset by many problems and false teachers,
bore at least a recognizable resemblance to the Church of God of the book of
Acts. But, by the beginning of the third century A.D., most of those same
congregations, though still at that time calling themselves Church of God, bore
far more resemblance in doctrine to the Catholic Church of the medieval age
than to the "Church of God" during the days of the apostles Peter,
James, Paul and John.
During the
second century a number of gradual shifts occurred in both the doctrine and
practice of the vast majority of church congregations. The stage was set for
those shifts by some of the very ideas which began to be promulgated only a few
years after Christ's resurrection and ascension into heaven. Ideas always produce
consequences!
One attitude
that increasingly took hold on the Roman world during the latter first and
early second century was a strong anti-Jewish sentiment. The Jewish revolts in
Palestine were a definite factor in this sentiment. In addition, the Roman
emperors needed to find scapegoats on whom to blame the worsening economic and
political problems of the empire. We have already taken note of the fact that
increasing confusion on the subject of law and grace had been engendered within
the Church since the middle of the first century. Even prior to the Apostle
John's death, certain "leaders" were denying that it was necessary
for Christians to keep the commandments. For them, holding worship services on
the Sabbath was regarded as simply a custom from the Jewish origin of the
Christian church. Dr. Samuele Bacchiocci writes of the role that contemporary
political events had in shaping the teachings of three second-century
"church fathers" mentioned in the last chapter. He states:
This brief
analysis of the texts of Ignatius, Barnabas and Justin has confirmed the
presence in their respective communities [Antioch, Alexandria, Rome] of strong
anti-Judaic feelings which, augmented by social tensions and theological
convictions, created the necessity of avoiding any semblance of Judaism.
Ignatius at
Antioch condemns the "judaizing" of some Christians and particularly
their sabbatizing [that is, the observance of the Sabbath according to the
manner of the Jews], enjoining Christians to live according to the "life
of the Lord." Although, according to our evaluation, the text of
Magnesians 9, 1 refers to "the Lord's life" rather than "the
Lord's day," this does not minimize the fact that the condemnation of sabbatizing
and the invitation to live not according to "Judaism," indicate that
a separation from Judaism was being urged. These conditions undoubtedly
encouraged the adoption of Sunday worship in order to force a clearer
distinction from the Jews.
Barnabas in
Alexandria, in his effort to neutralize the influence of Jewish customs,
assumes a radical position, repudiating, with his allegorical method, the
historic validity of Jewish practices and beliefs and "denying
purely" and simply that the literal practice of the Sabbath had ever been the
object of a commandment of God. He empties the Sabbath of its significance and
obligation for the present age in order to present the eighth day as its
legitimate continuation and replacement.
Finally, the
testimony of Justin, coming from Rome, confirms what we have already gathered
from other sources, namely the existence, particularly in the capital city, of
deep anti-Judaic feelings. These apparently influenced Justin in reducing the
Sabbath to the very sign of the "reprobation of the Jewish people."
The adoption of a new day of worship appears to have been motivated by the
necessity to evidence a clear dissociation from the Jews.... The primary causes
that contributed to the forsaking of the Sabbath and to the adoption of Sunday
are to a large degree social and political in nature. The social tension that
existed between Jews and Christians as well as the Roman anti-Jewish policy
greatly conditioned Christians in their negative evaluation of significant Old
Testament institutions like the Sabbath [From Sabbath to Sunday, The Pontifical
Gregorian University Press, Rome, 1977, pp. 223-235].
Throughout
Jesus Christ's ministry, He expounded a message of the coming establishment of
the government of God on this earth. "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God" (Mark 1:14 KJV). This message included
repentance and faith: "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15
KJV). Jesus' Gospel insisted that our faith is perfected by our perseverance in
righteousness: "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be
saved" (Matt. 24:13 KJV).
If we truly
repent of sin, believe the Gospel and remain faithful until the end, then we
will inherit the Kingdom of God as spirit-born Sons of God. "When the Son
of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory... Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:31, 34 KJV). Christ also
taught, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:5-6 KJV; cf. also Paul's
teaching in 1 Cor. 15:44, 50, 54).
Christ spent
His ministry preaching the "Good News" of a coming divine government
that would replace the oppressive human governments Jesus' listeners knew all
too well. The disciples asked Him for signs showing when that time would be
near (Matt. 24:3). The last question they asked as He was preparing to ascend
into heaven concerned whether it was yet time for that Kingdom to be
established (Acts 1:6). In the last stage of Paul's ministry of which we have
any record, we find that Paul was still "preaching the kingdom of God, and
teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence,
no man forbidding him" (Acts 28:31 KJV)! Even in the last inspired book of
the New Testament canon, Jesus Christ inspired the Apostle John with visions
about the literal establishment of the Kingdom of God on this earth (Rev.
19:11-21; 20:4-6; 21).
With this clear
record, however, we read in 2 Corinthians 11:3-15 that, within less than 25
years of the founding of the NT Church, false ministers had crept in and were
preaching "another gospel." By the second century the true Gospel
that Jesus Himself taught was being labeled as a "doubtful opinion"
by the leaders of the budding "Orthodox" Christian church and, by the
third century, it was being regarded as rank heresy. During the second
and third centuries, the "gospel" that was being preached focused
almost exclusively on the person of Jesus. Also, at that same time,
pagan concepts about the immortality of the soul, as well as heaven and hell,
gained acceptance.
The correct
understanding about the Kingdom of God was maintained well into the second
century, even by men such as Justin Martyr and Iraeneus. Of course, they were
seriously off-track in other areas, such as their teaching concerning God's
law. Edward Gibbon writes of this period:
The
assurance of such a Millennium was carefully inculcated by...[those] who
conversed with the immediate disciples of the apostles.... But when the edifice
of the church was almost completed, the temporary support was laid aside. The
doctrine of Christ's reign upon earth was at first treated as a profound
allegory, was considered by degrees as a doubtful and useless opinion, and was
at length rejected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism [Decline
and Fall, vol. 1, ch. 15].
Much of this
progression was the result of Origen's influential doctrines. Origen was, as we
shall shortly see, one of the least sound-minded individuals ever to be
accepted as a Christian theologian. He played a major role in formulating
Catholic teaching on the Trinity, the immortality of the soul and the Kingdom
of God. As the foundational understanding of the true nature of the Gospel and
the Kingdom of God was abandoned, there were many disastrous consequences. One
was the participation of church members in politics and in the military.
Historians are virtually unanimous in acknowledging that early Christians
avoided such involvement: "But, while they inculcated the maxims of
passive obedience, they refused to take any active part in the civil
administration or the military defense of the empire" (Gibbon, The
Triumph of Christendom in the Roman Empire, p. 41). By the end of the third
century, however, there were "Christian" legions in the Roman army.
Professing Christians were told that political involvement was acceptable.
The doctrine of
the immortality of the soul, virtually universal in paganism, is not taught in
either the Old or the New Testaments. Notice the admission of the Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible in this regard:
In the KJV
of the OT [the clue is partly obliterated in modern translations] soul
represents almost exclusively the Hebrew [nephesh]. The word "soul"
in English...frequently carries with it overtones, ultimately coming from
philosophical Greek (Platonism) and from Orphism and Gnosticism, which are
absent in [nephesh]. In the OT it never means the immortal soul, but is
essentially the life principle, or the living being...[psyche] in the NT
corresponds to [nephesh] in the OT... [vol. 4, p. 428].
How did the
concept of an immortal soul enter into Christianity? As early as 200 B.C. some
Jewish sects were beginning to absorb this idea due to Greek influence and were
attempting to meld it with the biblical teaching of the resurrection. This is
evidenced by such intertestamental apocryphal writings as the Book of Jubilees
and Fourth Maccabees, as well as by both Philo and Josephus. The Gnostics, with
their emphasis on pagan dualism, stressed the immortality of the soul in
contrast to the resurrection of the body. The International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia states: "There is a distinction between a Platonic belief
in the immortality of the soul alone and biblical teaching regarding the
resurrection of the dead" (vol. 2, p. 810)."
Late second and
early third century writers such as Tertullian and Origen played a major part
in shaping future Catholic doctrine regarding heaven, hell and the immortality
of the soul. The ISB Encyclopedia goes on to reveal, "Early
Christians were often influenced by Greek as well as Jewish thought. For
example, many were influenced by Pythagoras' teachings about the soul's
division into several parts and its transmigration: "Platonic and
Neoplatonic [especially Plotinus] understandings lay behind Origen's view of
the soul.... Tertullian followed Stoic thought..." (vol. 4, p. 588). The
Encyclopedia of Religion brings out that many later influential Catholic
theologians "all interpreted the biblical concepts of the soul along
Platonic lines and in the general tradition of Origen and his school."
There
wasn't simply one heresy regarding the nature of God, but many different
contradictory ones. There seems to have been almost as many different ideas as
there were philosophical schools and teachers. Mainstream Catholic thought,
from which orthodox Protestant teaching on the subject sprang, merely
represents the particular brand of heresy that won out over its competitors.
Since it is this teaching that has survived, with some modification, until our
time, it is the one that we will examine most closely. The background of third
century orthodoxy on the subject of the Trinity is to be found not in the
biblical text, but in Greek philosophical writings. The Roman Catholic New
Theological Dictionary makes a number of frank admissions in this regard.
Concerning the Scriptural teaching on the nature of the Holy Spirit, in its
article, "Trinity," it acknowledges, "As such, the Spirit is
never the explicit object of NT worship, nor is the Spirit ever represented in
NT discourse as interacting in an interpersonal way with the Father and the
Son."
Later in the
same article, modern Catholic scholars, discussing the background of orthodox
teaching on the Trinity, confess pagan influences upon their theology:
Christians...conversant
with the then dominant philosophy of middle Platonism seized the opportunity to
proclaim and elucidate the Christian message in a thought form which was
meaningful to the educated classes of the widespread Hellenistic society. This
movement, which Catholic theology has generally evaluated positively, will have
an enormous impact on the development of Christian theology.... Confident that
the God they [pagan Greek philosophers] preached was the Father of Jesus Christ
and the salvation they proclaimed was that of Jesus, the apologists adapted
much of the Hellenic worldview... [Tertullian made] the first known use of the
term trinity.
Origen
appropriated the philosophy of middle Platonism more systematically than the
apologists and Tertullian had. In fact, his concept of eternal generation was
an adaptation of the middle-Platonic doctrine that the whole world of spiritual
beings was eternal. The Son is eternally derived (or generated) from the very
being of God and hence is of the Father's essence, but second to the Father....
Origen, like Tertullian coined a generic term for the three of the divine
triad. The Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit are three hypostases.... Origen's
major contribution to the formulation of the trinitarian doctrine is the notion
of eternal generation. His generic term for the three (hypostases) will be
adopted and refined in the fourth century [p. 1054].
As we look at
the development of "Christian" theology in the late second and early
third centuries, the names of Tertullian and Origen keep coming up. Tertullian
(c. 150-225 A.D.), called the father of Latin theology, was "one of the
most powerful writers of the time and almost as influential as Augustine in the
development of theology in the West" (Eerdman, Handbook to the History
of Christianity, p. 77).
Tertullian
lived in Carthage and was one of the first to teach that a fiery hell began at
death. In his later years he broke with Rome and became a Montanist. This meant
that he accepted the claims of two demon-possessed women who many considered
prophetesses. They went into ecstatic frenzies and "spoke in
tongues," claimed to be the Paraclete" (a term for the Holy Spirit in
John's Gospel), and taught a message termed the New Prophecy." Origen (c.
185-254 A.D.) "was the greatest scholar and most prolific author of the
early church" (Eerdman, p. 104). About 203 A.D., Origen succeeded Clement
of Alexandria as leader of a famous school which purported to prepare
Christians for baptism and offered courses in philosophy and natural science
for the general populace. For all his reputation as a great scholar and teacher
of theology, how much did Origen really understand? According to fourth century
church historian Eusebius, not too long after he took over the school at
Alexandria, Origen castrated himself! This act was based upon his understanding
(or rather, misunderstanding!) of Christ's words in Matthew 5:29-30.
This utter lack
of sound-minded understanding of the real meaning and intent of Scripture is
poignantly evidenced in much of his theological writing. "Origen
introduced the possibility of a remedial hell [purgatory]" (International
Bible Encyclopedia, art. "Hell"). He also played an important
part in what later developed into Catholic Mary-worship by first proposing the
idea that Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus.
One
of the most drastic changes that came about in the church since the first
century was the introduction of religious art into worship. This
innovation so obviously smacked of the idolatry prohibited by the second
commandment that it was slow to catch on.
Both
Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria regarded this prohibition as absolute and
binding on Christians. Images and cultic statues belonged to the demonic world
of paganism. In fact, the only second-century Christians known to have had
images of Christ were radical Gnostics.... Yet before the end of the second
century Christians were freely expressing their faith in artistic terms [Henry
Chadwick, The Pelican History of the Church, p. 277].
The earliest
example of a church that had pictures on the wall was a third-century building
in Dura on the Euphrates. Even then, it was primarily Old Testament scenes.
With the
conversion of Constantine, the Church no longer had to be reticent in
expressing its faith. Churches became public buildings. In architecture,
sculpture, mosaic decoration, and in paintings the symbols of Christianity and
the themes of the gospel provided a rich material for artistic expression...
[p. 280].
Even as late as
the Emperor Constantine, many leaders of the professing Christian church were
still shocked at the idea of having pictures or images of Christ.
About 327
[A.D.] the learned historian Eusebius of Caesarea received a letter from the
emperor's sister Constantia asking him for a picture of Christ.... Eusebius
wrote her a very stern reply. He was well aware that one could find pictures of
Christ and of the apostles. They were for sale in the bazaars of Palestine, and
he had himself seen them. But Eusebius did not think the painters and
shopkeepers selling these mementos to pilgrims were Christians at all...[he]
takes it for granted that only pagan artists would dream of making such
representations [pp. 280-281].
Epiphanius of
Salamis, a fourth-century church leader, was horrified to find a curtain in a
church-porch in Palestine with a purported picture of Christ. He not only
lodged a vehement protest with the bishop of Jerusalem, but personally tore
down the curtain and destroyed it. By the time of his death in 403 A.D.,
however, portrayals of Christ and the saints were becoming very widespread.
This was accompanied by the veneration of Mary which, by 400 A.D., was
occupying an ever-increasing place in private devotions.
After
almost three centuries of on-again, off-again persecution by the Roman
government, the Edict of Toleration was issued at Milan in 313 A.D. Soon after,
Christianity went from simply being officially tolerated by the Roman Empire to
actually becoming the official state religion of the empire. Did this
represent a success story for the Church that Jesus Christ built? Had true,
biblical Christianity triumphed in the Roman Empire?
Far from it!
What we have actually seen is a politically correct, Gentile-influenced
religion which appropriated Christian terminology while retaining pagan
traditions-all enforced by the Roman emperor, Constantine. It was vastly
different from the persecuted, Judeo-Christian Church established by Jesus
Christ Himself in the first century. Constantine recognized the important role
that religion could play in uniting his empire and giving his populace a common
identity. Motivated primarily by these political concerns, Constantine forged
an alliance with the bishop of Rome and began the process of creating a
"standard brand" of "Christianity" throughout his empire.
He was instrumental in calling the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and actually
presided over it himself. Keep in mind that Constantine was not even baptized
yet! In fact he put off baptism until he was on his deathbed, at which point he
was too ill to be immersed. His personal example of being sprinkled contributed
much to an abandonment of immersion in favor of sprinkling.
The Council of
Nicea primarily sought to resolve two thorny issues which had never been fully
settled earlier. These involved controversies about the nature of God as
well as the Easter/Passover question. Backed up by imperial muscle, the
views of the Roman church prevailed at the council. All opposition was
squelched.
Constantine was
also responsible for making the "venerable day of the Sun" a state
holiday when the courts were to be closed and most businesses were to shut
their doors. This Roman emperor had previously been a devotee of Sol
Invictus ("the Unconquered Sun") and with his
"conversion," many motifs of sun worship, such as the use of the
cross and the halo in art, entered "Christianity." Also at this time,
there began to be mass conversions of the populace. To facilitate this, popular
holidays such as Saturnalia and Lupercalia were recycled into new Christian
observances, now called Christmas and St. Valentine's Day. The leaders of
the church at Rome claimed that they were merely broadening the way, making
Christianity more accessible to the masses and certainly much less
"Jewish." Anti-Semitism was a motivating force in Roman Christianity.
What had
happened to the Church that was established through an outpouring of God's Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D.? Where was the Church which followed
the teachings and practices of Jesus Christ, its living Head? Did the fourth
century Catholic Church, dominant throughout the Roman Empire, represent an
advanced stage in the growth and development of that first century Church?
Where were the truly converted Christians? Were they still sitting in the
church congregations of Rome and Alexandria, accepting the authority of the
bishop of Rome and waiting for Christ to straighten things out? Were they
excitedly accepting the pronouncements of the Council of Nicea as new truth?
Where was Christ and what was He doing during this time?
In the first
three chapters of the book of Revelation, we find messages which Jesus Christ
recorded for the seven churches of Asia Minor. In chapter one, the Apostle John
saw a vision of the glorified Christ standing in the midst of seven golden
lampstands. These seven lampstands represent the Church of God in its entirety
throughout time (Rev. 1:12-20). The seven cities of Asia Minor mentioned in
Revelation were physically situated as successive stops on a Roman mail route.
What is the significance of these seven oracles? Clearly there is a historical
application of the message to seven literal congregations in the first century.
Some have considered that these congregations can possibly exemplify attitudes
and problems that might characterize individual Christians at any time period. When
we look at the whole context of the book of Revelation, however, we must
recognize that it is primarily intended as a prophecy. Revelation 1:1 shows
that the whole purpose of the book is to show to God's servants things that
would soon begin to happen. We must also recognize that certain different
circumstances present in the seven churches could not have been contemporaneous.
For instance, Smyra, in Revelation 2:10, could not have been enduring "ten
days" (i.e. ten years, cf. Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6) of terrible Roman
persecutions while, just a few miles away in the same province, Philadelphia
had freedom to preach the Gospel (Rev. 3:7-8). Notice also that
Philadelphia is to be protected from the Great Tribulation which occurs just
prior to Christ's return (Rev. 3:10; cf. Matt. 24:21-22). Thus the seven
churches should primarily be understood as representing the entire history of
God's Church in seven successive church eras.
The first
church to be addressed in Revelation 2 is the Church at Ephesus. This church
characterized the Apostolic Era. In verse 2, we read that the great test of
that first era lay in determining who were the true apostles of Christ and who
were liars (cf. 2 Cor. 11:3-15). This was an era that labored long and hard to
do the Work of God and endured much difficulty and persecution in the process.
The true Christians of the Ephesian Era were those who rejected and hated the
practices of the Nicolaitans (followers of Simon Magus). However, after the
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., discouragement and spiritual
lethargy set in. The brethren had expected Christ to return shortly after Roman
armies had surrounded Jerusalem. But now most of Judea and Galilee lay in ruins
occupied by Roman legions. The Jewish Christians were considered traitors by
their fellow countrymen, and probable troublemakers by the Roman authorities.
Life was hard and dangerous.
This era had
left its first love, that early zeal for doing the Work. The membership began
losing focus on those things which gave them their true identity and purpose.
The living Christ's message to that era was that if they did not repent and
return to their first works of zealous proclamation of the Gospel, He would
remove their lampstand. The apostasy of the overwhelming majority of the
Jerusalem Church in 135 A.D. (when the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome was
totally crushed) is taken by some to mark the ending of the Ephesian Era. Those
who remained faithful during these trying final days were labeled as
"Nazarenes" (cf. Acts 24:5) and "Ebionites" (poor ones) by
the larger church. As is also the case today, coexisting with the Church was a
variety of independent groups holding a wide assortment of ideas, mixing truth
and error. These groups were sometimes lumped in as fellow "heretics"
with the "Nazarenes" or "Ebionites" by the Roman church.
The Church at
Smyrna is the second of the seven Revelation churches to be addressed. The
Apostle John died in Ephesus at the end of the first century. The next faithful
leader in Asia Minor, as noted in the previous chapter, was Polycarp, bishop of
Smyrna. As a young man, Polycarp had been a personal disciple of John and had
observed the Passover with him on several occasions. Polycarp became prominent
during the first couple of decades of the second century. The churches under
his leadership remained almost the only area where God's Festivals continued to
be observed throughout the remainder of the second century. In his old age, Polycarp
even made a journey to Rome seeking to convince the Bishop of Rome, Anicetus,
of his errors in not celebrating the biblical Passover date and in observing,
in its place, an annual Sunday Paschal observance (Easter) and a weekly
celebration of "Eucharist."
As we have also
seen, in the closing decades of the second century, a new faithful church
leader arose named Polycrates, who had been personally trained by Polycarp. He
alone remained as the only Christian leader of prominence who was faithful to
the example of the apostles of the Jerusalem Church of God. Polycrates taught
the true Gospel of the literal establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth,
the unconscious state of the dead awaiting the resurrection, the importance of
keeping God's law and the observance of the biblical Festivals.
Towards the end
of the second century, Victor, bishop of Rome, was labeling Polycrates and
those who followed his teachings as heretics and sources of discord and schism
in the church. Polycrates remained faithful despite increasing pressure and
isolation from supposed "fellow Christians," as well as persecution
and hostility from the surrounding pagan society. After his death, however, we
don+t know of any other strong, prominent leader among those faithful churches
in Asia Minor.
In the public's
perception, true Christians lost ground to the much more popular and
accommodating Roman church. Their numbers shrank and they became increasingly
isolated. Despised and labeled "Ebionites" by the mainstream church,
individuals and groups of families who remained faithful had to relocate into
more remote areas of Asia Minor. Even as early as the end of the first century,
there were true Christians being put out of congregations headed by apostate
leaders (3 John 9-10). By the second century, others, such as the faithful
remnant who refused to accept "new truth" from Bishop Marcus of
Jerusalem, were being forced to withdraw themselves from congregations of which
they had been members. This occurred as unfaithful leaders led the visible
church further and further astray.
The great
test of the Smyrna Era lay in two areas. One was their ability to distinguish
between the continuation of the true Church of God and what was, in reality,
the emerging Synagogue of Satan.
The other lay in their willingness to endure persecution and even death in order
to remain faithful to God (Rev. 2:9-10).
Physically, the
Christians of this era were impoverished and persecuted. They were rejected as
heretics by the rapidly growing "Orthodox" movement, labeled as
apostates from the synagogue by the Jews and looked upon with contempt and
suspicion by the surrounding pagan Roman society. In God's estimation, however,
those who remained faithful during this horrible time were accounted as having
spiritual wealth of great value and will ultimately receive a crown of life
(Rev. 2:9-10).
Many true
Christians were martyred during those years. In addition, many Jews and
followers of the church at Rome also suffered during some of the persecutions
because of their refusal to worship the Roman emperor.
After
Constantine began the systematic enforcement of compliance with Roman theology
in 325 A.D., the remnants of the true Church were in large part forced to flee
the bounds of the Roman Empire into the mountains of Armenia, and later into
the Balkan areas of Europe. They were few in number, utterly lacking in
prestige or wealth and labeled as enemies of the state by a supposedly
"Christian" Roman Empire.
In God's sight,
however, they were precious. It wasn't God's purpose that His true Church grow
into a great, powerful organization that would "Christianize" the
world. His true Church was to remain a "little flock" (Luke 12:32).
Its continuity would be measured, not by a succession of proud, powerful,
presiding bishops in a particular city (cf. Heb. 13:14), but by a succession of
faithful, converted people who, though scattered and persecuted, continued to
worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).
There would be
times when God would raise up faithful leaders to revitalize His people and do
some sort of Work that had public visibility, at least in localized areas.
There were other times when God's Church continued to exist in such scattered
obscurity that it was visible only to God. Nevertheless, it never died out.
And, regardless
of their circumstances, the people who have remained a part of the true Church
of God down through the ages have been those who have had a deep, abiding
loyalty and commitment to God and to the practice of His Truth. They have kept
His commandments (Rev. 12:17) and have been willing to be faithful to their
calling, even unto death!
In the
aftermath of the Council of Nicea, Emperor Constantine and his successors
sought to stamp out all non-conforming brands of Christianity. Groups which
refused to conform to the teachings and practices of the
"established" church, which now called itself the Catholic
(universal) Church of God, were viewed not merely as heretics, but as
subversive enemies of the Roman state.
The true
Church, symbolized by a woman in Revelation 12, was forced to flee into the
wilderness for 1,260 "days." In Bible prophecy, a "day"
often represents a year (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6). Thus, the true Church would
have to remain in hiding for 1,260 years following the Nicene Council.
Historically, that is what happened. In this chapter of Church history, we are
going to examine the story of God's people from the Late Antiquity period into
the Middle Ages. Though these were truly dark ages, there was a light which
continued to burn. Its flame sometimes flickered, but it was never
extinguished.
Several
problems confront any church scholar or historian who wishes to trace the
wanderings of the true Church during this 1,260-year period. This is because
the true Church's history is not about one continuous human
organization. The preserved history of the Sabbath-keeping Church of God
has been almost entirely written by its enemies who viewed it as heretical. We
read of groups labeled by hostile outsiders with such names as Paulicians, Bogomils
and Waldenses--of whom smaller or larger segments of these groups, at different
times, appear to have been true Christians in the mold of the Jerusalem Church
of God in the first century A.D. Another difficulty is that the teachings of
each of these groups changed over a period of time, generally becoming more
like those of their Catholic and Protestant neighbors.
Also we find
that writers often lumped together various groups of heretics, including the
true Church, under the same name, not truly distinguishing the differences in
their teachings. As Dean Blackwell succinctly put it in his 1973 thesis, A
Handbook of Church History, "The big problem in church history is
to find out when the church ceased being the true church and when God removed
that church to another place, which we'll see that He did" (p. 7).
During
the first three centuries of its existence, the Church of God faced
intermittent periods of harsh persecution. However, during those times, they
were not singled out, but were generally lumped in with the Jews and a wide
range of Christ-professing sects. Those persecutions were of limited duration
and local in scope. The Roman Emperor Diocletian, from 303 to 313 A.D.,
unleashed the worst of these pre-Council of Nicea persecutions. These are the
"ten days" referred to in Revelation 2:10.
When
Constantine consolidated his power in the Empire, things changed significantly.
Gibbon tells us that Constantine's religious devotion was "peculiarly
directed toward the genius of the Sun...and he was pleased to be represented
with the symbols of the God of Light and Poetry. The unerring shafts of that
deity, the brightness of his eyes...seem to point him out as the patron of a
young hero. The altars of Apollo were crowned with the votive offerings of
Constantine; and the credulous multitude were taught to believe that the
emperor was permitted to behold with mortal eyes the visible majesty of their
tutelar deity.... The Sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide
and protector of Constantine" (The Triumph of Christendom, p. 309).
Four years
prior to the Council of Nicea, Constantine proclaimed a law for the Roman
Empire that was to have far-reaching implications for God's people. The
"earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a
constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice,
inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabilis
die solis, i.e., venerable day of the Sun).... This was the first of a long
series of imperial constitutions, most of which are incorporated in the Code of
Justinian" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., art.
"Sunday"). About forty years later, the Catholic Church followed up
on this imperial edict in "canon [29] of the Council of Laodicea [363
A.D.], which forbids Christians from Judaizing and resting on the Sabbath
day, and actually enjoins them to work on that day"
("Sunday").
The very fact
that, in the latter fourth century, the Roman Church felt the need to legislate
against Sabbath observance shows that faithful remnants, particularly in Asia
Minor, persevered in the Truth. This increasingly powerful church insisted that
all must now accept the "Christianized" brand of Roman Sun worship.
Those who refused were easily identified and could no longer function if they
remained in the urban areas of the Roman Empire. Consequently, in the fourth
century, those Christians labeled as Nazarenes disappeared from the populous
areas of Asia Minor. For three centuries the remnants of the true Church had
sojourned there, but with the enactment of this Sunday law by Constantine, they
were forced to flee.
In
the fifth century, the Church appeared in remote areas of eastern Asia Minor near
the Euphrates River and in the mountains of Armenia. These people were labeled
by their contemporaries as "Paulicians." Who were they?
According to
Armenian scholar Nina Garsoian in The Paulician Heresy, "It would,
then, appear that the Paulicians are to be taken as the survival of the earlier
form of Christianity in Armenia" (p. 227). The author also states that the
Paulicians were accused of being worse than other sects because of adding
Judaism" (p. 213).
The accusation
of "adding Judaism" has been a common charge against the remnants of
God's true Church down through the centuries. As was detailed in the preceding
chapter, this line of attack had its origins with the second century Catholic
Church fathers, especially Ignatius, Barnabas of Alexandria and Justin Martyr.
To this day, the world does not discern the genuine differences between
"Judaism" and the religion practiced by the Jerusalem Church of God
in the first century A.D. Their common practices in observing the Sabbath and
Holy Days made them indistinguishable to most outside observers. Christ's
message to this third stage of God's Church (Paulicians) is characterized by
the Church at Pergamos (Rev. 2:12-17). The word Pergamos means
"fortified," and the Church members of this era were noted for
dwelling in remote, mountainous areas. In Revelation 2:13, Christ said of the
Pergamos Church that they dwell where Satan's seat is. Pergamum was a center of
the ancient Babylonian mystery religion. In 133 B.C., Attalus III, the last
"god-king" of Pergamum, died and in his will bequeathed his kingdom
and his title, Pontifex Maximus ("Supreme Bridge-builder"
between man and God), to the Romans. The Roman rulers took the title and held
it until Emperor Gratian bestowed it on Pope Damascus in 378 A.D. The Catholic
popes continue to use that title to this day. Also, historically, the term
"Satan's seat" alludes back to Nimrod's ancient kingdom which, in
distant antiquity, included Armenia and the upper Euphrates (Gen. 10). The
Pergamos Church-the Paulicians-geographically relocated to that same area after
Constantine enforced Sunday keeping on the Roman Empire.
As far back as
the fifth century, we find the Paulicians condemned as heretics in
Catholic documents. However, the first prominent leader among them with whose
name we are familiar is Constantine of Mananali (c. 620-681 A.D.). Constantine
of Mananali was a well-educated man who was given a copy of the Scriptures.
When he began to study them, he was amazed at what he found. About 654 A.D. he
began to preach, helping to revitalize the Church. Prior to Constantine of
Mananali's ministry, most of the Church membership consisted of descendants of
Christians who had fled Greece and Asia Minor over two centuries earlier. They
preserved the names of their original congregations and continued to refer to
themselves as the "church of Ephesus" or the "church of
Macedonia" though they were located hundreds of miles from the original
sites.
Constantine of
Mananali was executed by Byzantine (Eastern Roman) soldiers commanded by an
officer known as Simeon in 681 A.D. Simeon was so overwhelmed by the example
and teachings of Constantine that, in 684 A.D., he returned, not as a Roman
soldier, but as a convert. Simeon became a zealous Paulician preacher and he,
in turn, was martyred three years later in 687 A.D.
In 1828 the
manuscript of an ancient book entitled The Key of Truth was discovered
in Armenia. Portions of the book date to 800 A.D. and it provides us with the
greatest detail of the teachings of the Paulicians. Translated into English by
Fred Coneybeare around the beginning of this century, we learn from it that the
Paulicians assailed the use of the cross in worship and religious art, calling
it a cursed implement. They condemned warfare and observed the Passover on the
fourteenth day of the first month. The Paulicians rejected the claims of the
Catholic Church to be the Church of God along with papal claims of
"apostolic succession" and other pretensions. They regarded the
Trinity, purgatory and intercession of the saints as unscriptural.
In the
introduction that he wrote for the English translation of The Key of Truth,
Dr. Coneybeare provides invaluable historical background on the practices of
the early Paulicians. "We also know from a notice preserved in Ananias of
Shirak that the Pauliani, who were the same people at an earlier date, were
Quartodecimans, and kept Easter in the primitive manner at the Jewish date.
John of Otzun's language perhaps implies that the old believers in Armenia
during the seventh century were Quartodecimans, as we should expect them to
be" (Coneybeare, intro., clii). Dr. Coneybeare further states, "The
Sabbath was perhaps kept and there were no special Sunday observances"
(p., cxiii). He goes on to say of the Paulicians that "...they were
probably the remnant of an old Judeo-Christian Church, which had spread up
through Edessa into Siuniq and Albania" (p., clxii).
At some
point in their history, however, many Paulicians succumbed to a fatal error.
They reasoned that they could outwardly conform with many of the practices of
the Catholic Church in order to avoid persecution as long as in their heart
they knew better. This road of
compromise led many to have their children christened and others to attend
mass.
Christ
prophesied of this, admonishing the Church at Pergamos about those who held to
pagan, immoral doctrines (Rev. 2:14-15). The result of their compromising was
that Christ allowed severe persecution to come upon them. When persecution
came, some of the beleaguered Paulicians decided that the solution to their
trouble lay in entering into an alliance with the Moslem Arabs who were then
making serious incursions into the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire.
Controversies among the Paulicians during these years created various splits in
the group.
Prior to 800
A.D., a leading Church personality, a man named Baanes, came to the leadership
of the Paulicians in Armenia and promulgated a doctrine of military
retaliation. Shortly thereafter, another church minister named Sergius became
prominent within the Paulicians. Because Sergius' condemned warfare,
disagreeing with the position taken by Baanes, he was accused of causing a
schism within the group. But, in spite of difficulties, Sergius ministry lasted
over 30 years. After his death, however, most of his followers began to take
part in warfare as well.
In
the eighth and ninth centuries, many Armenian Paulicians were forcibly
resettled in the Balkans by Byzantine emperors. They were placed there as a
bulwark against the invading Bulgar tribes. Relocated to the Balkans, the
Paulicians came to be called Bogomils.
The origin
of the name has been usually found in the frequent use by them of the two
Slavic words Bog milui, "Lord, have mercy." A more likely
explanation derives it from Bogumil, "Beloved of God,"... But
not less probable is its derivation from a personal name. Two early Bulgarian
MSS [manuscripts] have been discovered which are confirmatory of each other in
the common point that a "pope" [leader] Bogomile was the first to
promulgate the "heresy" in the vulgar [common] tongue under Bulgarian
Tsar Peter, who ruled from 927 [A.D.] to 968 [A.D.] [James Hastings, Encyclopaedia
of Religion and Ethics, vol. 2, p. 784].
What did these
Bogomils teach? "Baptism was only to be practiced on grown men and
women...images and crosses were idols..." (Encyc. Britannica, 11th
ed., art. "Bogomils"). They also taught that prayer should be done at
home, not in separate buildings such as churches. They taught that the
congregation consisted of the "elect" and that each individual should
seek to attain the perfection of Christ. Their ministry is said to have gone
about healing the sick and casting out demons. In the tenth and eleventh
centuries many Bogomils spread westward and settled in Serbia. Later, large
numbers took refuge in Bosnia by the end of the twelfth century. These Bogomils
were "only one version of a group of related heretical sects that
flourished across Asia Minor and southern Europe during the Middle Ages under a
variety of names, the best-known being the Patarenes, Cathars and
Albigensians" (Encyc. Britannica, 15th ed., vol. 29, p. 1,098).
They were condemned as heretics due to their belief that "the world is
governed by two principles, good and evil, and human affairs are shaped by the
conflict between them; the whole visible world is given over to Satan" (Encyc.
Britannica, p. 1,098). From their Balkan base, the Bogomils influence,
initially fostered by a merchant's trading network, extended into Piedmont in
Italy and also southern France.
What were these
Bogomil "colonies" in the Piedmont and Lombard areas of Italy and
southern France teaching? "First, they thought that the law of Moses ought
to be observed under the New Testament with the exception of sacrifices and
accordingly, they practiced circumcision and believed they should abstain from
the meats prohibited by Moses. They observed the Sabbath of the Jews and the
like. Secondly, they corrupted [i.e. rejected] the doctrine of three persons in
the divine nature" (John von Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical
History, Ancient and Modern, vol. 2, pp. 463-465, 477-478). But the Bogomil
position in Bosnia was tenuous due to their challenges to the authority of the
established church. "Both Roman Catholic and Orthodox powers had conducted
sustained campaigns of persecution against the Bogomils, and [Ottoman] Turkish
promises of freedom found a responsive hearing among them.... Large numbers of
Bogomils accepted Islam, however, and they were followed by a significant
proportion of the aristocracy, who saw in conversion the opportunity to retain
their lands and titles" (Encyc. Britannica, 15th ed., p. 1,100). In
1463 Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan, conquered Bosnia with the help of
compromising Bogomils. One of the surprising facts of history is that some of
the Bosnian Muslims under siege today in ex-Yugoslavia are the descendants of
apostate Bogomils!
By the time the
Ottoman Turks assumed power in Bosnia, the seeds of the Truth had spread to the
Piedmont, Provencal and Alpine areas of Europe. When God's people next appear
in history, they are labeled by outsiders as Cathars, Albigenses and Waldenses.
In
the beginning of the twelfth century, there was a revitalization of the Truth
with the raising up of the next phase of the Church under the leadership of
Peter de Bruys in southeastern France. This stage in church history is
characterized by the Church at Thyatira in Revelation 2. The Piedmont valleys
of southeastern France were described by Pope Urban II, in 1096, as being
"infested with heresy." It was from one of these valleys, the Valley
Louise, that Peter de Bruys arose in 1104 and began to preach repentance. He
gained many followers among the Cathars, initially, and later among the general
public. The Cathars (meaning "puritans"), among whom de Bruys
originally preached, were remnants of earlier Bogomil settlements. However, by
this time, most had accepted a variety of new and strange doctrines and were
quite divided among themselves. His preaching, and that of his successors,
brought about a revitalized Church during the first half of the twelfth century
in the valleys of southeastern France. De Bruys professed to restore
Christianity to its original purity. At the end of a ministry of about 20
years, he was burned at the stake. In rapid succession after him, there arose
two other strong ministers, Arnold and Henri.
After the death
of Henri in 1149, the Church languished and seemed to go into eclipse. A few
years later a wealthy merchant in Lyons, Peter Waldo, was struck down by an
unusual circumstance and began preaching the Gospel in 1161. After being
shocked into contemplating the real meaning of life as a result of the sudden
death of a close friend, Waldo obtained a copy of the Scriptures and began
studying God's Word. He was soon shocked to find that the Scriptures taught the
very opposite of much of what he had learned during his Catholic upbringing.
Historian Peter
Allix, quoting from an old Waldensian document, The Noble Lesson, tells
us: "The author upon supposal that the world was drawing to an end,
exhorts his brethren to prayer, to watchfulness.... He repeats the several
articles of the law, not forgetting that which respects idols" (Ecclesiastical
History of Ancient Churches of Piedmont, pp. 231, 236-237).
Elsewhere Dr.
Allix writes that the Waldensian leaders "declare themselves to be the
apostles' successors, to have apostolic authority, and the keys of binding and
loosing. They hold the church of Rome to be the whore of Babylon" (Ecclesiastical
History, p. 175). Peter Waldo made Lyons, France, the center of his
preaching from 1161 until 1180. Then, because of persecution, he relocated to
northern Italy. From about 1210 until his death seven years later, Waldo spent
his time preaching in Bohemia and Germany. "Like St. Francis [of Assisi],
Waldo adopted a life of poverty that he might be free to preach, but with
this difference that the Waldenses preached the doctrine of Christ while the
Franciscans preached the person of Christ" (Encyc. Britannica,
11th ed.).
What were some
of the other doctrines taught by the Waldenses? Is there evidence that the
early Waldenses were Sabbath-keepers? One of the names by which they
were most anciently known was that of Sabbatati! In his 1873 work, History
of the Sabbath, historian J. N. Andrews quotes from an earlier work by
Swiss-Calvinist historian Goldastus written about 1600. Speaking of the
Waldenses, Goldastus wrote, "Insabbatati [they were called] not because
they were circumcised, but because they kept the Jewish Sabbath"
(Andrews, p. 410). Dr. Andrews further refers to the testimony of Archbishop
Ussher (1581-1656) who acknowledged "that many understood that they [the
names Sabbatati or Insabbatati] were given to them [Waldenses] because they
worshipped on the Jewish Sabbath" (p. 410). Clearly even noted
Protestant scholars at the end of the Middle Ages were willing to acknowledge
that many Waldenses had observed the seventh-day Sabbath.
In his 1845
work, The History of the Christian Church, William Jones wrote:
Investigators
made a report to Louis XII [reigned 1498-1516], king of France, that they had
visited all the parishes where the Waldenses dwelt. They had inspected all
their places of worship...but they found no images, no sign of the ordinances
belonging to the mass, nor any of the sacraments of the Roman church.... They
kept the Sabbath day, they observed the ordinance of baptism according to the
primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian
faith and the commandments of God....
The
Waldenses could say a great part of the Old and New Testaments by heart. They
despise the sayings and expositions of holy men [Roman Catholic Church
fathers], and they only plead for the test of Scripture.... The traditions of
the [Roman] church are no better than the traditions of the Pharisees, and that
greater stress is laid [by Rome] on the observance of human tradition than on
the keeping of the law of God. They despise the Feast of Easter, and all other
Roman festivals of Christ and the saints... [A Handbook of Church History,
pp. 234, 236-237].
There
was, however, a serious problem that dogged most of the Waldensian groups
through the latter Middle Ages just as it had dogged the Paulicians. This was
the tendency of many to allow Catholic priests to christen their children as
well as their willingness to attend mass. Knowing that such ceremonies were
useless in gaining salvation, many felt that outward conformity with Rome
would avoid persecution and allow them to privately practice the Truth.
This tendency was prophesied of the Church in Thyatira in Revelation 2:20-24.
From God's standpoint, what they were doing amounted to spiritual fornication
and partaking of Catholic communion was "eating things sacrificed to
idols."
What happened
to the Waldenses? "Waldenses slowly disappeared from the chief centers of
population and took refuge in the retired valleys of the Alps. There, in the
recesses of Piedmont...a settlement of the Waldensians was made who gave their
name to these valleys of Vaudois.... At times attempts were made to suppress
the sect of the Vaudois, but the nature of the country which they inhabited,
their obscurity and their isolation made the difficulties of their suppression
greater than the advantages to be gained from it" (Encyc. Britannica,
11th ed., art. Waldenses).
In 1487 Pope
Innocent VIII issued a bull calling for their extermination and a serious
attack was made on their stronghold. A fog settling over and encircling the
Catholic armies saved the Waldenses from total destruction. However, most were
simply worn out and had lapsed into a spirit of compromise. When the
Reformation began a few years later, the Waldensian leadership sent emissaries
to the Lutheran church. "Thus," as the Encyclopaedia Britannica
writes, "the Vaudois ceased to be relics of the past, and became absorbed
in the general movement of Protestantism."
As total
apostasy swallowed up most remnants of the Waldenses by the end of 1500s, God
preserved a faithful remnant. Individuals who were the fruit of the last seven
years of Waldo's ministry had been converted in Bohemia and Germany in the
thirteenth century. In remote areas of the Carpathian Mountain area of central
and eastern Europe, individuals and small groups survived--in fact a faithful
remnant has survived in isolation in those areas down to modern times (cf. Rev.
2:24-25).
As the
seventeenth century approached, the next era of God's Church was ready to
emerge on the stage. Remnants of German Waldensians, sometimes labeled Lollards
by outsiders, had penetrated into Holland and England as early as the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. However, it was only in the final decades
of the sixteenth century that the Church could begin to emerge openly in
Germany and Britain. In the next chapter, we will examine these
"Anabaptists" and see how Sabbath-keeping congregations emerged,
seemingly out of nowhere, and spread across the Atlantic Ocean from England to
Rhode Island. What happened to the Church that Jesus built? It endured and it
survived against incredible odds! The men and women who were the spiritual
ancestors of God's people today exemplified faith and courage. Time after time
through the centuries they had to relocate in order to remove themselves
from either outside persecution or internal apostasy and compromise. At
those times, when it seemed that the flame of God's Truth flickered most dimly,
Christ always raised up another faithful leader to rally His people and
revitalize the Work of God.
God's people
during the Middle Ages, like the prophets of old, "wandered in deserts,
and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." They were among
those of whom Christ testified that "the world was not worthy" (Heb.
11:38). They constitute part of that great cloud of faithful witnesses whose
lives should encourage us to "run with endurance the race that is set
before us" (Heb. 12:1).
The sixteenth century saw a world in transition from medieval to modern. In the years just preceding 1500, two events occurred which changed the world forever. Gutenberg's successful use of movable metal type in 1454 opened the way for the increase of knowledge spoken of by the Prophet Daniel: "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase" (Dan. 12:4). The first book printed by the new process was a Bible. With Columbus voyage to America 38 years later, the history of the New World became inexorably linked to that of the Old. These two remarkable events, printing and the opening of the New World for European settlement, set the stage for a new period in the history of the Church of God.
By the end of
the 1500s, congregations that the world labeled -"Sabbatarian
Anabaptists" had appeared and were growing in Central Europe, Germany and
England. They were termed Sabbatarian because they taught and observed the
seventh-day Sabbath. They were called Anabaptists, meaning re-baptizers, because
they refused to accept as Christians those who had merely been sprinkled as
babies. They taught that baptism was only for adults who had come to believe
the Gospel and had repented of their sins (cf. Acts 2:38). As the world
underwent the transformation from medieval to modern, what about the Church
that Jesus Christ had built? What was it doing? The fascinating story that
traces the history of the people of God from Europe to America sets the stage
for the emergence of the end-time Work of God in the twentieth century.
In
the early sixteenth century, a group of people labeled by outsiders as
"Anabaptists" emerged from remnants of the Waldenses in Central
Europe. Among them were some remarkable men, Oswald Glaidt, Andreas Fischer and
Andreas Eossi. Their area of ministry was primarily in Germany, Poland, Hungary
and parts of what later became known as Czechoslovakia and Romania. They all
taught obedience to the Sabbath and Holy Days as well as a rejection of infant
baptism and the Trinity. God used them to strengthen the faithful remnant and
to provide a witness of the Truth as the turbulent Protestant Reformation was
sweeping the same area.
Oswald Glaidt
and Andreas Fischer met during a trip up the Danube River in 1527. They both
wrote books in defense of the Sabbath. In response to those who accused him of
trying to earn salvation because he taught that obedience to the Ten
Commandments was necessary, Oswald Glaidt responded, "The moral law says,
'Do not murder,' yet nobody would argue seriously that this is no longer in
effect, nor would anyone argue that simply to refrain from murder is an attempt
to achieve salvation on the basis of works'" (Daniel Liechty, Sabbatarianism
in the Sixteenth Century, p. 31). Glaidt was executed in Vienna in 1546.
Shortly prior to his death he told his accusers, "Even if you drown me, I
will not deny God and His Truth. Christ died for me and I will continue to
follow Him and would die for His Truth before I would give it up" (p. 35).
Books and
tracts on the Sabbath and other related subjects were published in the
"late" 1500s by Andreas Eossi, a Hungarian of noble birth. Eossi, who
got his theology straight from the Bible, was also a critic of the methods of
teaching theology in the seminaries of his day. Much emphasis was placed by the
"scholastics," who governed the seminaries, on the study of ancient
Greek philosophy and logic. Eossi said of the respected Catholic and Protestant
theologians who were his critics, "They ask me in vain where I discovered
the true way of salvation, since I sojourned neither at Padua nor at Paris. As
if salvation consisted of knowing many heathen writings and many heathen
languages" (Prof. W. Bacher, The Sabbatarians of Hungary, quoted in
Dean Blackwell's A Handbook of Church History, p. 253).
By the
mid-1600s remnants of the Church in Central Europe were being increasingly
persecuted by a resurgent Catholic Church which was regaining control there
after the turbulence of the Reformation. True Christians were faced with either
severe persecution or emigration to an area that offered greater freedom to
practice their beliefs. The remote Trans-Carpathian mountain area, which was
already home to Waldensian remnants, became a sanctuary for many. In the
eighteenth century most of the few remaining German Sabbath-keepers migrated to
Pennsylvania. There were also a number of people who were associated with the
"Anabaptist movement," but who accepted other Protestant
teachings of the Reformation. From those descend such modern-day groups as the
Baptists, Mennonites and Amish.
In the
meantime, remnants of the true Church had come into England. The scene was set
for the fifth stage in the history of the Church of God, characterized by the
Church at Sardis. Our first clear records of Sabbath-keeping church
congregations in England date from the 1580s. By the early 1600s a public
debate was being waged over whether the biblical Sabbath was still in effect.
Quite a few books were written on the subject of the law of God and the Sabbath
during this period, many of which still survive.
John Traske was
one of the first to publish a book in England dealing with the Sabbath. Writing
around 1618, he was imprisoned for his efforts. Some credit him with raising up
the Mill Yard Church in London, the oldest known Sabbath-keeping church still
functioning and parent of later Sabbatarian churches in America. Though some
other historians date the founding of Mill Yard to the 1580s, well before
Traske's time, he certainly pastored the church in the early seventeenth
century. John Traske was later arrested and put in prison. While there, he
seems to have recanted his teachings in order to gain release. His wife,
however, refused to do so, remained faithful to the Truth and spent the rest of
her life, about 15 years, in prison.
In 1661 John
James, another Church of God minister in the London area, was arrested for
preaching the Truth.
In his final
words to the court he simply asked them to read the following scriptures:
Jeremiah 26:14-15 and Psalm 116:15...after his execution his heart was taken
out and burned, the four quarters of his body fixed to the gates of the city
and his head set up on a pole in Whitechapel opposite to the alley in which his
meeting-house stood. Such was the horrible price that some were prepared to pay
for obedience to God in seventeenth century England [Ivor Fletcher, The
Incredible History of God's True Church, Giving and Sharing PO Box 100,
Neck City, MO, p. 176].
Another
remarkable leader was Francis Bampfield, a copy of whose autobiography, The
Life of Shem Acher, has been preserved in the British Museum Library. From
1662 until his death in 1683, he spent most of his time either in prison or on
the run from the English authorities. Even when he was detained at Dorchester
Prison, people flocked there to hear him preach. It was at this time of
persecution that an event of far-reaching implications happened: Stephen
Mumford and his wife, members of the Church, left England for the New World and
came to Rhode Island in 1664. By the early 1700s the Church of God in England
was virtually dead. Most of the ministers at that time, in addition to
preaching on the Sabbath, were now pastoring churches on Sunday to make extra
money. Compromise took its toll.
Upon
arriving in Rhode Island, the only American colony founded upon the principle
of religious liberty, the Mumfords began to fellowship with Baptists in
Newport. They weren't quiet, however, about their belief in the Sabbath. In
1665, within the first year of the Mumfords arrival, Tracy Hubbard started
keeping the Sabbath with them, becoming the first convert in America. Shortly
afterward, her husband Samuel joined her. In 1671 the first Sabbath-keeping
church in America officially began with seven members. William Hiscox was the
first pastor of the church, serving from 1671 until his death in 1704.
In 1708 a
second church was officially organized in Westerly, Rhode Island (later renamed
Hopkinton). Throughout the eighteenth century, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey seem to have been the main areas of Sabbath-keeping churches. During
this time, German Sabbath keepers immigrated to Pennsylvania. Peter Miller was
the best known minister of the German Sabbath-keepers in Pennsylvania and was a
friend of Benjamin Franklin.
The time of the
American Revolution was a difficult period for many of God's people. The
history of that era also demonstrates how spiritually dead many of the
ministers and members were. Several congregations were greatly divided on the
issue of warfare and political involvement. Jacob Davis, pastor of the
Shrewsbury, New Jersey, Church of God, joined the Continental Army as a
chaplain. Many of the members followed his example and enlisted also. One
member, Simeon Maxson, boldly objected and labeled any church members who
supported carnal warfare as children of the devil (Richard Nickels, Six
Papers on the History of the Church of God, p. 60). He was put out of the
congregation because of his stand.
Sabbath-keepers
in the Shrewsbury area were impoverished and divided by the War. Many relocated
to Pennsylvania after the Revolution and, prior to 1800, most of those moved to
Salem, Virginia (later West Virginia). The area around Salem became one of the
major centers of God's people from about 1800 on into the twentieth century.
The history of God's people in this area is not, however, the story of unity
and of a great work being done. It is the story of division, apostasy and
spiritual lethargy on the part of the majority. Much of this was furthered by
the influence of the prominent Davis family which produced many of the leading
ministers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The vast majority of the
brethren appear to have been so spiritually dead that they blindly followed
apostate ministers into Protestantism.
Much false
doctrine came into the Church in America at an early time through the influence
of William Davis. Born in Wales in 1663, he went from the Church of England to
the Quakers and then became a Baptist. In 1706 he accepted the Sabbath and
applied for membership in the Newport church. He was initially rejected for
membership because he held wrong doctrines. Finally, in 1710, he was accepted
for membership and, in 1713, was authorized to preach and to baptize. Yet, he
believed in the Trinity, the immortality of the soul and in going to heaven,
totally contrary to the doctrines taught by the Church at that time! For the
rest of his life, Davis was "in" and "out" of fellowship
with the Church. "Davis played a powerful role in shaping the future of
Sabbatarian Baptists. It has been stated that William Davis has never lacked a
direct descendant as a Seventh-Day Baptist minister" (Nickels, p. 55).
In the earliest
days no special thought was given to an official church name. The congregations
in their correspondence with one another referred to themselves as "the
Church of Christ which is at Newport" or "the Church of God living in
Piscataway." Most members simply called it "the Church."
Outsiders referred to them as Sabbatarians or Sabbatarian Baptists. When the
church in Newport received an official state charter in 1819 (it had been
established in 1671, but legal requirements were changing), it was registered
under the name "Seventh-Day Baptist Church of Christ."
In 1803 a
general conference was organized by eight Sabbath-keeping congregations in the
Northeast in order to coordinate their evangelistic efforts and cooperate in
the publication of literature. In 1805 they adopted the name "The
Sabbatarian General Conference." By 1818 the name was changed to
Seventh-Day Baptist General Conference and the organization had grown to
include Sabbath-keeping congregations outside the Northeast.
The Church was
undergoing many changes during this time. We can note their progression from
non-Trinitarianism to the Trinitarian position championed by the Davis family
and others. A statement written in 1811 upheld the traditional teaching of the
Church noting "that Sabbatarian Baptists believed the Holy Ghost to be the
operative power or spirit of God...there are few...who believe that the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, are three absolute distinct persons, coequal...and yet one
God" (Nickels, p. 91). Just 22 years later, in the 1833 Expose of
Sentiments, however, the official position was, "We believe that there
is a union existing between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that
they are equally divine and equally entitled to our adoration" (Nickels,
p. 91). Even as late as 1866, it was acknowledged that some of the ministers
still possessed a strong aversion to using the word "Trinity."
During this
time many ministers and members had gotten so far from the Truth that they were
now merely Protestants who met on Saturday. The November 18, 1983, edition of The
Westerly Sun newspaper described the anniversary celebration of the oldest
Sabbath-keeping church in the United States with this headline: "Church
Will Celebrate 275 Years Marked with Change." The article in the newspaper
said the "church will celebrate its 275th anniversary this weekend--an
experience which has been marked by change from societal pressures, despite its
Sabbath-keeping custom."
The changes
that have occurred have been marked by a steady erosion of the Truth and a move
into mainstream Protestantism. In fact, the Seventh-Day Baptist churches in
Rhode Island have long since ceased housing the living Church of God. They are
merely old buildings, museums of where the Truth was once taught and the Work
of God was once carried on. The congregations that now meet there believe in
the Trinity, observe Christmas and Easter, and have even gone back and built
steeples--definite pagan symbols--onto some of the old buildings. They simply
followed their leaders and stayed in the church [buildings]!
While the bulk
of Sabbath-keepers were getting further and further from the Truth, there were
individual members and congregations which remained faithful. We find records
of the South Fork, West Virginia, Church which observed the Passover and
avoided unclean meats in the early 1800s. This little group was forced to
withdraw "fellowship from the General Conference and all other Seventh-Day
Baptist organizations, because of doctrinal differences" (Nickels, p. 68).
By the 1870s another generation was on the scene and, eventually, most of the
South Fork Church accepted the Seventh-Day Baptist organization. By 1885 they
had even ordained a woman minister, totally contrary to God's instructions in 1
Timothy 2:12!
Another group,
calling itself the Church of God at Wilbur, was organized in 1859 by Elder J.
W. Niles from Pennsylvania. It was still functioning in the 1930s and was
called by Andrew Dugger, in his book, A History of the True Religion,
the oldest true Church of God now functioning in the state of West Virginia (p.
311).
In
the 1830s a movement arose among Protestant churches in western New York that
focused on the return of Jesus Christ to this earth and the establishment of a
literal Kingdom. This message, which first began to be forcefully proclaimed by
William Miller, was totally different from accepted Protestant doctrine. His
teachings on prophecy attracted much interest and stirred increasing attention
as his predicted 1844 date for the return of Christ drew near. After what was
termed "the great disappointment," confusion set in among these
Protestant Adventists. Ridiculed by mainline Protestants, some became
disillusioned and gave up religion altogether. Others continued to search the
Scriptures to see where they had gone wrong. The stage was being set for a
strengthening of the Truth. Around the beginning of 1844, Mrs. Rachel Oakes, a
widow and member of a Seventh-Day Baptist Church in Verona, New York, came to
Washington, New Hampshire, to visit her daughter. Her daughter attended a church
pastored by Frederick Wheeler, a Methodist who had accepted the Adventist
message (Second Coming of Christ and the literal establishment of His Kingdom).
Hearing Mr. Wheeler call upon his congregation to obey God and keep His
commandments in all things, Mrs. Oakes confronted him following the service
with the truth that Sabbath-keeping played a vital part in obeying God's
commandments. Taken aback, he promised to study the subject. Within weeks he
was convinced of the truth of the Sabbath and began to proclaim it. The truth
of the Sabbath spread like wildfire among disillusioned Adventists. Many
hundreds of others responded as well to the simple truth of the real Gospel and
of obedience to all of God's commandments.
Into the
fellowship of these zealous Sabbatarian Adventists came Roswell Cottrell, a
long-time minister and Sabbath-keeper.
His family had
been among the earliest members of the Church of God in Rhode Island, but the
Cottrell family withdrew from the fellowship of what was then being called the Seventh-Day
Baptist Church over doctrine. This was the time when such changes as the
Trinity and the immortality of the soul were being adopted as official
Seventh-Day Baptist doctrine. About 15 years after coming into the fellowship
of the Sabbatarian Adventists, he found himself once again embroiled in
controversy. Elder James White, who had emerged as the main leader among the Sabbath-keeping,
Adventist Churches of God, was pushing for an organizational conference and
an official name, Seventh-Day Adventist Church. There were those who
opposed this change as unscriptural and also opposed giving credence to the
visions of Elder White's wife, Ellen G. White. Roswell Cottrell opposed Mr.
White's organizational moves. He wrote, in the May 3, 1860, Review and Herald,
"I do not believe in popery; neither do I believe in anarchy; but in Bible
order, discipline, and government in the Church of God" (Nickels, p. 162).
In October
1860, at a conference in Battle Creek, Michigan, the overwhelming majority of
those present rejected the name "Church of God" and adopted the name
Seventh-Day Adventist as a name descriptive of their beliefs. This was the name
being pushed by the Whites. Mrs. White's visions were increasingly being
advanced as "new truth" for the Church.
Throughout the
1860s, the split between the majority who followed the Whites and the scattered
remnant who didn't became more and more decisive. During the War Between the
States (American Civil War), Church of God members took a firm stand as
conscientious objectors, in contrast to the Seventh-Day Adventists under the
Whites leadership. A delegation from the Church of God met with President
Abraham Lincoln in 1863 in order to establish conscientious objector status for
young men in the Church. A quotation from a circular letter from brethren in
Marion, Iowa, published in the September 7, 1864, issue of The Hope of
Israel, the Church's publication, gives a flavor of what was happening at
the time:
On the 10th
of June, 1860, something over 50 of us adopted a form of a church covenant,
drawn up by [M. E. Cornell].... Nearly a year and a half afterward, the same
messenger held up, publicly, some other volumes by the side of the Bible...and
urged us to adopt their teaching also, as a rule of faith and discipline. A
portion of us were unwilling to accept these new planks in the platform of our
Church.... The result was, about one half of the Church decided to receive
these volumes as a valid Scripture, and drew off from us, or rather repelled us
from them, denouncing us as rebels.... As it regards us being rebels, we boldly
assert that we are not rebels. We have not rebelled against the constitution
which we adopted, for we stand firm on it yet...so the charge of rebellion
reflects with shame on them, who have made it, they being the ones who have
departed from their first position and have adopted a new one [Robert
Coulter, The Story of the Church of God Seventh Day, p. 16].
In August 1863,
the small church paper called The Hope of Israel began to be printed in
Michigan. It started with less than forty subscribers. In 1866 it was relocated
to Marion, Iowa, and in 1888 moved again to Stanberry, Missouri. Over the years
the paper underwent several name changes, ultimately being called The Bible
Advocate. One of the most prominent figures in the Church of God during
this time was Jacob Brinkerhoff. He edited the paper from 1871 until 1887 and
again from 1907 until 1914. In 1874 A. F. Dugger Sr. of Nebraska entered the
full-time ministry of the Church of God. From the 1870s until the years just
prior to World War I, Elders Brinkerhoff and Dugger contributed many of the
articles that helped to clarify and solidify doctrine in the Church. Articles
on prophecy, clean and unclean meats, tithing, proper observance of the Passover
and what it means to be born again filled the pages of The Bible Advocate
during those years.
As early as
1866 articles on prophecy taught that the Jews would be restored to a homeland
in Palestine. There was some truth restored and taught but, all in all, the
efforts of the Church were weak and only reached small numbers of people,
primarily in rural parts of the Midwest.
The phase of
Church history we have focused on in this chapter is best described by Christ's
message to the Church at Sardis recorded in Revelation 3:1-6. This Church was
told that while it had a name that it was alive, it was really spiritually
dead. "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready
to die" (Rev. 3:2). While this Church as a whole is spiritually lethargic
or even dead, there are a few among them who Christ says "have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy"
(v. 4).
During these
four turbulent centuries, there were men and women who remained faithful to God
despite what was happening around them. While many people who claimed to be the
people of God ("You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead"
Rev. 3:1) simply drifted along, there were those who heeded Christ's warning to
hold fast, and will be in the first resurrection (v. 3).
There are many
lessons that God's people today can learn from the experiences of this stage of
the Church. Let's make sure we heed Christ's admonition at the end of His
message to Sardis: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says
to the churches" (Rev. 3:6).
The twentieth century is clearly the time of the most rapid change in human history. The century opened with the horse and buggy as the primary means of transportation, yet within the first 70 years, men had traveled to the moon and back.
This incredible
multiplication of knowledge coupled with the rapid increase of travel was
prophesied by the Prophet Daniel as a characteristic of the end time (Dan.
12:4). This century has seen two great world wars and the introduction of
weapons of mass destruction. Now, for the first time in human history, it is
possible to annihilate all life from this planet, just as Jesus Christ foretold
(Matt. 24:22).
Another
prophecy which uniquely characterizes this end time is that the true Gospel of
the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world for a witness and then the
end will come (v. 14).
Let's examine
the story of the people of God in this end time and seek for lessons we might
learn. Satan's tactics of seeking to scatter, confuse and discourage God's
people aren't unique to our day. God's people have always had to contend with
false teachers within, and the pressures of the world without, in order to
maintain their faithfulness to the Truth.
At
the beginning of the twentieth century, the Church of God was small and
scattered with less than 1,000 members, who lived mostly in the American
Midwest. The General Conference of the Church of God legally incorporated in
1900 in the state of Missouri. The Church's newspaper underwent a name change
that same year to become, as the last chapter showed, The Bible Advocate.
In 1903 Gilbert
Cranmer, a minister since the 1850s and one of the chief builders of the Church
in the aftermath of the Seventh-Day Adventist/Church of God split in the 1860s,
died at age 89. In 1910, Alexander Dugger, who had served as a leader of the
General Conference since its inception, as well as having served as editor of The
Bible Advocate, also died. A third faithful pioneer, Jacob Brinkerhoff,
died in 1916. He had served as editor of the Advocate on and off from
1871 to 1914. Mr. Brinkerhoff was considered by many to be the most outstanding
leader of the Church in his time. "Jacob Brinkerhoff had served the Church
of God for over 40 years.... Instead of buying a home in 1874, Brinkerhoff used
the money instead to buy the press equipment for the Advent and Sabbath
Advocate.... Single-handedly, it seems, he had prevented the total collapse
of the Work" (Richard Nickels, History of the Seventh Day Church of
God, p. 85).
In 1905 the
Church underwent a serious rupture. William Long was dismissed by the Church as
Business Manager (and later from the ministry as well) because of allegations
of mismanaging of funds. This event, as well as "a drive to enforce
tithing and make the General Conference stronger...appear to be the key issues
which precipitated the 1905 division" (Nichols, p. 75). The results were
that the General Conference in Stanberry retained a little more than half of
the membership while the rest withdrew as "independent Churches of
God." These independents seem to have either come back into the General
Conference or just drifted apart by 1916.
"In this
period of tumult, Andrew N. Dugger [son of Alexander Dugger] began his ministry
with the Church of God in 1906. When Jacob Brinkerhoff retired from the
editorship of The Bible Advocate in 1914, Dugger became both president
of the General Conference and editor. During his tenure as president and
editor, Dugger exerted much influence upon the Church. Throughout the early
period of Dugger's leadership, the Church of God experienced some of its most
rapid and greatest growth" (Robert Coulter, The Story of the Church of
God Seventh Day, pp. 41-42). Andrew Dugger retained leadership from June of
1914 until 1932.
Shortly after
Andrew Dugger took over the editorship of The Bible Advocate in 1914,
World War I erupted on the world scene. The way was soon opened for the Jews to
return to part of the Promised Land of Israel in accordance with prophecies
taught by the Church of God since the 1860s. "This seems to have been an
impetus for the year 1914 marking `a decided awakening in the Church.' It marked
the beginning of an explosion of `missionary work' performed by the Church of
God in the years after the Great War and in the Roaring Twenties" (Nickels,
p. 88).
The issue of
organization and government had long been a source of controversy within the
Church of God. Recognizing that no Work of any consequence could be done with
the meager amount of monies coming into the headquarters in Stanberry, Missouri
(less than $1,000 in 1917), Andrew Dugger took steps to correct the situation.
He sent a survey to the membership in 1922 to find out how much tithe they had
paid over the previous year and to whom it was paid. It became apparent that
most of the tithes were being collected by individual ministers and that one
particular minister who "worked little" had collected the lion's
share. Soon, a policy was enacted that all tithes were to be paid into the
State Conferences and that a tithe of that tithe was to be sent to the General
Conference. In 1923 the income of the General Conference in Stanberry jumped to
over $18,000. In about 1904 a remarkable man, G. G. Rupert, entered the
ministry of the Church of God. Mr. Rupert had previously been in the ministry
of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and had raised up congregations for them in
South America. After several years of growing doctrinal disagreement, he left
the Adventists in 1902. Among other things, Mr. Rupert had come to understand
that both the Sabbath and the annual Holy Days were binding upon the New
Testament Church. In 1913 Jacob Brinkerhoff published a series of articles by
G. G. Rupert in The Bible Advocate discussing the subject of the law of
God and arguing that the Holy Days of Leviticus 23 were binding upon the New
Testament Church. Though the Church in the United States paid little heed to
this teaching, many of the South American congregations Mr. Rupert had
established not only followed his example in leaving the fellowship of the
Adventists, but also accepted God's Holy Days. Because of disagreement between
Mr. Dugger and Mr. Rupert over some issues of doctrine, and particularly over
the issue of church organization and government, Mr. Rupert continued as an
"independent" Church of God minister, publishing his own magazine, The
Remnant of Israel, until his death in 1922.
The late twenties and early thirties saw the Church
of God become virtually paralyzed by political infighting as well as doctrinal
strife. The Church's Conference in 1929 was marked by considerable confusion
and dissension. Issues of controversy revolved around "born" again,
clean and unclean meats, the use of tobacco, the date of the Passover (Nisan 14
or 15), and the work of the Holy Spirit (Pentecostalism). The number of
conversions dwindled and the Work of the Church was virtually at a standstill.
It was at this
point, in the autumn of 1926, that the life of Herbert W. Armstrong became
intertwined with the story of the Church of God. Recognized even by those
outside the Church of God as one of the most influential and noteworthy
religious figures of the twentieth century, Herbert Armstrong's ministry very
likely had greater impact on more people than any Church of God minister since
the first century. Challenged by his wife over which day was the Christian
Sabbath, as well as by a sister-in-law over the question of evolution, Mr.
Armstrong began a six-month period of intensive study. By the spring of 1927 he
had come to understand that much of what he had grown up believing wasn't
biblical Truth. He learned that both the seventh-day Sabbath as well as God's
annual Holy Days are to be kept by Christians today!
In the
aftermath of this intensive study, Mr. Armstrong struggled with the question of
"Where is the true Church?" He eventually entered the fellowship of
Church of God brethren in the Willamette Valley of Oregon because he saw them
as retaining more Truth than any other group.
By 1928 Mr.
Armstrong began submitting articles for publication in The Bible Advocate.
As there was no minister in Oregon at that time, the brethren in Eugene
frequently asked him to speak to the congregation. In June of 1931, Mr.
Armstrong was ordained to the ministry by the Oregon Conference of the Church
of God, thus beginning a ministry that lasted almost 55 years!
In the
meantime, trouble was building for the Church of God as a whole. At the General
Conference, held in August 1933, Andrew Dugger, the primary church leader for
the past 20 years, lost his position by one vote. This precipitated a crisis
that split the Church down the middle. "On the one side, Andrew N. Dugger
and others held to `reorganization' of church government, clean meats, no
tobacco, and Passover on Nisan 14. On the other hand, Burt F. Marrs led a group
of `independents' who were pro-pork and tobacco, and felt Passover should be on
Nisan 15. The issue of when to observe the Passover was debated for three days
during the time of the division" (Nichols, p. 151). Andrew Dugger withdrew
from the General Conference of the Church of God headquartered at Stanberry and
held a meeting to reorganize the Church in Salem, West Virginia, in November
1933. A new organizational structure was instituted with "Twelve
Apostles," "Seventy Elders" and "Seven" set over the
finances.
Offices were
chosen by lot rather than by vote. Herbert Armstrong of Oregon was chosen as
one of "The Seventy." He and most of the Oregon brethren switched
their affiliation from the Stanberry organization to the new organization
headquartered in Salem. Though Mr. Armstrong didn't receive a salary from
Salem, he accepted their ministerial credentials and submitted monthly
ministerial reports.
The division of
the Church of God (Seventh Day) caused the membership and leadership much
grief. Many members and prospects were discouraged by the frequent attacks one
church launched on the other. In some instances, ministers switched
organizations, bewildering their membership. In other cases, the membership
became pawns in the struggle between ministers who were vying for their loyalty
and support. The membership growth of the 1920s was not realized or even
approached in the decades of the 1930s and 1940s (Coulter, p. 55). Actually
membership decreased during this period.
At the time all
this was occurring, the foundation was being laid for a Work of God that would
have unprecedented worldwide impact. Rather than waste his energies on
political infighting within the Church, Herbert Armstrong began making a
regular weekly radio broadcast aimed at preaching the Gospel to the world. The
program was entitled "Radio Church of God," and first aired on KORE,
a 100-watt station in Eugene. The radio program was launched on the first
Sunday in January 1934 and, in February, Mr. Armstrong began publication of a
mimeographed "magazine" entitled The Plain Truth which was
sent to about 200 people.
In addition to
the weekly radio broadcast, Mr. Armstrong conducted evangelistic campaigns
throughout the area. Though several churches were raised up as a result of his
efforts, these new congregations usually fell apart or went astray because of a
lack of faithful, dedicated ministers to shepherd the flock. During this
period, Mr. Armstrong came into increasing conflict with the Church
headquarters in Salem because of his teachings about the identity of Israel and
the annual Sabbath days. Although Mr. Dugger had admitted in a private letter
to Mr. Armstrong that Mr. Armstrong's teachings on the "lost Ten
Tribes" were correct, Mr. Dugger refused to publish an article on the
subject in The Bible Advocate.
Finally, the
issue of the Holy Days came to a head in 1937. The following is quoted from the
minutes of the business meeting held in Detroit, Michigan, May 5-10, 1937, by
the Board of Twelve Apostles of the Church of God (Seventh Day), Salem, West
Virginia, Headquarters: "May 7, at 1:00 p.m. Reading of Elder Armstrong's
letter to the Twelve. Reading in periods of 20 minutes each of Elder
Armstrong's articles on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Passover, Pentecost,
Feast of Tabernacles, etc., followed each time by discussion pro and con by the
Elders.... A decision was made as given in the following resolution: `Inasmuch
as some have troubled the Churches, teaching them they should observe the Feast
of Unleavened Bread and yearly Sabbaths...we reaffirm the teachings of the
Church of God on this point...that we observe no such custom'" (John
Kiesz, History of the Church of God, p. 180). According to the official
records provided by Virginia Royer, bookkeeper of the Church of God Publishing
House in Salem, "It was in 1938 that he [Mr. Armstrong] was asked to turn
in his credentials for continuing to preach contrary to Church doctrine"
(p. 180).
Although Mr.
Armstrong no longer carried ministerial credentials from the Church of God
(Seventh Day) after 1938, he continued to teach and preach more forcefully than
ever. As reported in the April 1939 Good News, the weekly Radio Church
of God broadcast was reaching 100,000 listeners in the Pacific Northwest. That
also was the year that the first, full eight-day Feast of Tabernacles was held
in Eugene, attended by 42 people. From 1933 to 1938, services were held only on
the Holy Days. In addition to Mr. Armstrong, other Church of God elders such as
John Kiesz were guest speakers at the Feast until about 1945.
By mid-1942 the
name of the radio program changed from "Radio Church of God" to The
World Tomorrow, and there was an experimental period of daily broadcasts
begun in the Los Angeles area. In the late summer of 1942, over 1,700 people
attended an evangelistic campaign Mr. Armstrong held at the Biltmore Theater in
Los Angeles. The Work that God was accomplishing through Herbert W. Armstrong
was growing and bearing fruit. In August 1942 The World Tomorrow went
nationwide, with a Sunday broadcast from WHO in Des Moines and, in 1943, WOAI
in San Antonio was added. By 1944 The Plain Truth's circulation reached
35,000.
As the impact
of the Work God was doing through Herbert W. Armstrong grew, the Church of God
(Seventh Day) continued to split and splinter with more and more independent
churches and ministers. There were efforts toward unity that resulted in the
merger of the Salem and the Stanberry groups in 1949. However, the merger
itself spawned additional splits and, 20 years later in 1969, that Church's primary
publication, The Bible Advocate, had a circulation of only slightly over
2,000. The Church of God (Seventh Day) represented the final phase of what is
described in Revelation 3 as the Church at Sardis. Remember, it is described as
being spiritually dead, though there would be a few who walked with Christ in
white.
In
1946 God started positioning the Work being done through Herbert Armstrong and
the Radio Church of God for dramatic growth. Faced with the pressures of daily
radio broadcasting (for which Hollywood was well-equipped to provide technical
support) and the need for a college to train an educated and faithful ministry,
Mr. Armstrong looked into moving to Southern California. He located an
appropriate property in Pasadena and entered into negotiations to purchase it.
At this time,
Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong took a trip to Europe to see about also creating a
European branch of the college to prepare ministers for a worldwide Work. No
one can accuse Herbert Armstrong of thinking small! Yet, most people would have
viewed that idea as totally unrealistic. After all, only 50 people attended the
Feast of Tabernacles in Belknap Springs in 1946! There wasn't even an American
college up and running--only great dreams and a rundown estate with two
buildings that Mr. Armstrong was trying to purchase. Others, both within and
without the Church of God, were talking about when this thing folds up.
However, the possession of vision and the ability to think big were qualities
Herbert Armstrong had in far greater measure than any other Church of God
leader of whom we have record. Ambassador College opened its doors in the fall
of 1947 with four students and eight instructors. Expansion with a European
branch college would have to wait--for a little while.
In 1949 the
first nationwide baptismal tour was conducted by Raymond Cole and Raymond
McNair, both young Ambassador College students. Much of the fruit of those
early, student-led baptismal tours was reflected in the jump in Feast
attendance from 150 in 1951 to 450 in 1952. In December of 1952, the first
evangelists of this phase of the Church of God were ordained by Mr. Armstrong:
Richard Armstrong, Raymond Cole, Herman Hoeh, C. Paul Meredith and Roderick
Meredith. In February 1953, two more evangelists were ordained, Raymond and
Marion McNair, bringing the total to seven. This began a period of rapid growth
and development in the Work.
After the first
two classes of Ambassador College students graduated, a Graduate School of
Theology was established. Mr. Armstrong used this as a springboard to delve
more deeply into a number of subjects, the most important of which involved the
nature of God and the destiny of man.
The Church of
God has, throughout its history, been non-Trinitarian, never accepting the
formulations of the early Catholic councils as a valid guide for Christians.
However, in modern times, it wasn't until the spring of 1953 that Mr. Armstrong
and the other ministers began to develop a clear understanding of the biblical
teaching that God is a divine Family into which converted human beings may be
born at the resurrection. They attempted, at first, to prove it false from the
Bible but, instead, found it reaffirmed throughout God's Word. Though this
understanding was the clear implication of much that had been taught
previously, it was hard for Mr. Armstrong and the others to accept this simple
yet profoundly important and overwhelming truth. The clear understanding that
we can be born into the Family of God is perhaps the single greatest truth that
God used Mr. Armstrong to restore to the doctrine of the Church of God.
Two giant leaps
forward in the preaching of the Gospel happened in 1953. Mr. Armstrong obtained
time for a daily broadcast carried over the entire ABC Radio Network. The year
began, however, with the opening of one of the greatest single doors in the
history of the Work. It was on January 1 that the most powerful radio station
on earth, Radio Luxembourg, began broadcasting The World Tomorrow to Europe.
In February
1953 Dick Armstrong (Herbert Armstrong's oldest son who died in an automobile
accident in 1958) opened a mailing office in London. And, in 1954, Mr.
Armstrong, accompanied by his wife, Loma, Dick Armstrong and Roderick Meredith,
conducted evangelistic campaigns in Britain. In 1957 Mr. Meredith returned for
more campaigns and, in 1958, Raymond McNair arrived to take charge of the Work
in Britain. That summer Mr. McNair and Mr. George Meeker conducted a baptizing
tour throughout the British Isles.
The June 1960 Plain
Truth magazine carried a special announcement from Mr. Armstrong to the
British readership, announcing a series of campaigns by Mr. Rod Meredith in
Britain. Mr. Armstrong wrote, "Mr. Meredith is fully consecrated, utterly
sincere.... He is going to tell you things you can't hear from any other
source...you'll be shocked, surprised you'll hear more real truth in one night
of these meetings than most people learn in years of the preaching of our
day!" (Ivor Fletcher, The Incredible History of God's True Church,
p. 256). By October 1960, the second Ambassador College opened its doors in
Brickett Wood, England, with Raymond McNair as deputy chancellor.
As the number
of ministers available to conduct baptizing tours and pastor churches
increased, so did the harvest that was being reaped from the Work. Feast
attendance skyrocketed from 750 in 1953 to over 2,000 in 1957. By 1961 the
numbers were almost 10,000 and, by 1967, over 40,000. The Plain Truth's
circulation topped the half-million mark in 1964 and hit one million by 1967.
By the late 1960s The World Tomorrow was broadcast daily and heard by
tens of millions of people around the world.
Throughout the
soaring 1960s, Garner Ted Armstrong (Herbert Armstrong's youngest son) served
as the main speaker on The World Tomorrow and as vice president of the
Church, while Roderick Meredith was second vice president and director of the
ministry. In 1967 Mrs. Loma Armstrong died at age 75 and, by the end of the
1960s, signs of future problems for the Work were already surfacing. As has
happened time and again, when the sons of God are gathered together, the devil
always seeks to come among them (cf. Job 1).
In January 1972
the Church was shaken by the removal of Garner Ted Armstrong from his
responsibilities. Four months later he was reinstated. The 1970s saw in the
Church, as in America as a whole, the emergence of an increasingly liberal,
permissive spirit. A number of ministers and members left the Church in 1974;
and increasing doctrinal confusion, coupled with accusations of scandal,
assaulted the Work. After beginning recovery from massive heart failure in
1977, Herbert Armstrong finally removed Garner Ted from his responsibilities in
the spring of 1978 and disfellowshipped him from the Church in June. In January
1979 the Church was temporarily hit by a receivership imposed by the State of
California. Herbert Armstrong, still recovering from heart trouble in Tucson,
Arizona, named Roderick Meredith to his old job as director of the ministry,
and he, along with Raymond McNair, who was appointed by Mr. Armstrong to be
over the College, sought to restore stability to the Church and the ministry
during this troubled time. At the same time, Mr. Armstrong set about trying to
"set the Church back on the track" doctrinally from the liberal,
watered-down 1970s.
In the midst of
a church atmosphere that was highly charged and politicized, Joseph Tkach was
named to replace Roderick Meredith in August 1979. Nevertheless, by the final
two or three years of Mr. Armstrong's life, stability and growth seemed to be
restored to the Church. By the time of his death in January 1986, The Plain
Truth had a circulation of over eight million copies printed in seven
languages. Attendance at the Feast of Tabernacles approached 140,000 worldwide.
When Joseph
Tkach took the helm of the Worldwide Church of God upon the death of Mr.
Armstrong in January 1986, the Church was a seemingly unified body. It appeared
focused on the Work of God that lay ahead and committed to the Truth. There
were problems beneath the surface, however. They became increasingly obvious,
at first faintly and then more clearly.
In
Revelation 3, we read of the two final phases of the history of the Church of
God. The Church of Philadelphia was to be characterized by a zeal to do the
Work. God promised to set before them an "open door" to preach the
Gospel (v. 8) as well as to protect them from the future Great Tribulation (v.
10). However, there is a final, seventh stage of the Church described, the
Church at Laodicea. This Church was to be characterized by spiritual
lukewarmness and lethargy (vv. 15-17). It is described as a worldly church, and
certainly one which fit in with the spirit of these permissive, modern times.
Though Mr. Armstrong put things "back on track" during the last seven
years of his life, it became increasingly apparent from the very early 1970s
on, that two different "spirits" were co-existing within one
organization. The personality of a very dominant and powerful leader served as
the glue to hold things together (for the most part) until his death.
Starting about
a year after Mr. Armstrong’s death, there began a gradual trend back toward the
permissive, liberal approach of the 1970s. Within a few years, however, changes
moved far beyond the 1970s into total apostasy from the Truth, even to
the point of teaching the Trinity and that obedience to God's law (including
the Sabbath, Holy Days, tithing and unclean meats) was unnecessary. In December
1992, 40 years after his original ordination, Evangelist Roderick Meredith was
forced out of the Worldwide Church of God organization because of his refusal
to compromise with the prevailing forces of apostasy. This marked the beginning
of the Global Church of God. Soon joined by thousands of faithful brethren and
scores of faithful ministers, Mr. Meredith and those with him have moved
forward to revive the Work of God.
Again in 1998
history repeated itself. Mr. Meredith was forced out of the Global Church of
God by men who had a lust for power, and wished to minimize the preaching of
the Gospel. Mr. Meredith founded the Living Church of God and the Work of the
Living Christ is again being done.
Once again the
people of God find themselves at a crossroads. Satan seeks to sow confusion and
discouragement. Some of God's people have been overwhelmed by the cares of this
life or by personal problems and have dropped by the wayside. Others have been
deceived by false prophets and have gone into apostasy. Still others have
become so lethargic and softened by comfort that they have lost their vision
and merely wish to maintain local churches, no longer caring about doing the
Work.
However, there
is an ever-growing band that is zealous for the full Truth and zealous to
finish God's Work. They are being regathered as a part of this end-time Work.
Just as God's people have had to do from the first century onward, so His
people today must "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all
delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). God states clearly, "He will
finish the work and cut it short in righteousness" (Rom. 9:28). Who will
He use to do it? According to Daniel 11:32 it is "the people who know
their God [that] shall be strong, and carry out great exploits."
Where is the
Church that Jesus built? It has not died out. Rather, it has defied the gates
of hell and is miraculously defying them still. The true Church of God
continues to do the Work of God, including the proclamation of the true Gospel
to a world spiraling toward destruction.
Will you be one
whom God uses to finish His end-time Work? Do you have the true Philadelphian
spirit that reaches out to the whole world in genuine love and concern to share
God's message of Truth and hope? Do you consider it important that the House of
Israel be warned of the impending time of Jacob's trouble? Is the Work of God
more important to you than your own personal comfort?
Satan seeks
today, as he has sought again and again, to scatter the power of the
holy people. During these turbulent times will you focus on personalities
rather than principles? Will you turn inward and become self-focused? Or will
you join with those who are going forward to finish the Work? Truly, we must
work the works of the Father who has sent us while it is yet day, for the night
indeed comes when no man can work! (cf. John 9:4).
John Ogwyn was an elder (deceased) in the Living
Church of God. For
more information on this Church, see the Living
Church of God website.