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A Quick Trip Through the Bible and into the Future

(Page 3)

-get clear practical Biblical understanding, Church history, future predictions, life solutions

17. God is Not Mocked	21. The First Century Church
18. Old Testament Overview	22. Apostolic Succession vs. . the Priesthood of the Believer
19. The World Prepared for the Messiah	23. Protestant Reformation
20. History's Climax	24. Multiple Denominations

God is not Mocked

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." Gal 6:7

This is a law of God that applies to both "good" and "evil". It sometimes takes some time, but we can depend on it. There in the sowing, it might seem small. Seed is small. But seed multiplies and becomes a crop and then comes the harvest.

In king David's case what seemed small at the start resulted in a crop and harvest that was impressive. He called for the murder of one of his trusted men as a result of his affair (the small seed), with Bathsheba.

Nathan succeeded in calling David to repentance, but the crop and harvest came even though he was forgiven.

1. The child of the affair died after birth and David was heartbroken. II Sam.12:23

2. David's son, Amnon violates a sister, Tamar. II Sam.13

3. David's son Absalom broods on this for two years and finally kills Amnon. II Sam.13:28-29

4. Absalom fears the consequences and flees David. II Sam.13:37-38 David mourns Absalom for three years and orders him returned to Jerusalem, but David won't see him for another 2 years. II Sam.14:24-28

5. Absalom conspires against David for the throne. II Sam.15:13 6. David has to flee Jerusalem. II Sam.15:14

7. David's men defeat Absalom and Absalom dies. IISam. 18

8. David can't contain his sorrow for Absalom, finally, Joab, his general reproves him, II Sam.19:5-9, and he recovers to complete his reign.

The contrast between the way David sorrowed for the death of Bathsheba's baby and the death of Absalom, is an important clue to the "safety" of children, too young to be accountable for their sin. David mourned the illness and potential death of the baby up to the time of it's passing and then he expressed;

"But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." II Sam.12:23

When Absalom died David was distraught, knowing that he would see him no more.

9. Solomon grew up in these sad family times. It no doubt contributed to his failures in later life, setting the stage for a divided kingdom and downhill plunge for both kingdoms.

10. Both kingdoms were taken into captivity, never to return to real power until the Lord returns in the last days.

A huge harvest for what to David, seemed a small sin!

"The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations." Ex.34:6-7

King Solomon

King David near death selects his son Solomon to follow him on the throne.

Another son Adonijah tried to claim the throne. I Kings 1:30. Solomon initially spares Adonijah, IKings 1:53. Adonijah again tries to trick Solomon into losing the kingdom by requesting one of David's wives. Solomon sees through this and has Adonijah killed. II Kings 2:13-25

Solomon, makes a great start. When God asks what he desires for himself, he asks for wisdom to rule properly. 3:5- 10.

He builds and dedicates the temple from materials his father, David had gathered. chapters 5-8.

God makes a conditional covenant with him 9:2-9, promising blessings for obedience and judgment for disobedience.

Solomon in his old age, having taken many foreign wives, begins to worship their gods, building high places of worship to them. 11:1-8

God, angered, tells him he will tear the kingdom from him and give it to Solomon's servant. He did qualify this that a small kingdom would remain for his son. 11:9-31.

This established the Northern Kingdom of ten tribes, called Israel, also known as Samaria, and the Southern Kingdom, Judah. The actual division occurred after Solomon's death.

The servant king, Jeroboam, fled to Egypt until Solomon's death, when Solomon's son, Rehoboam, temporarily claimed the whole kingdom. He proposed heavy taxes upon the people, much heavier than Solomon had and set the stage for the successful campaign of Jeroboam to split the kingdom. 12:14-19

Jeroboam promptly initiates idol worship with two golden calves. 12:26-33

Both kingdoms sin heavily. 14:22-24

They war against each other. 14:30

Numerous kings follow, most are grossly evil.

Elijah the prophet warns of impending doom. Chapters 17-19

Elisha, an understudy of Elijah the prophet, succeeds Elijah when he is taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot. II Kings 2:11-14

The Northern Kingdom, Israel falls to Assyria in 722 B.C. II Kings 17

The Southern Kingdom continues on until 606 B.C. when Babylon takes the first captives, II Kings 24:13-14, and then finishes by taking the rest of the captives in 586 B.C. II Kings 25:11-12. The captivity in Babylon continues for 70 years until 536 B.C.

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Old Testament Overview

The last session discussed briefly the fall of Israel and then Judah following the successes under David and Solomon. This session will give more detail and a chronological outline of the books of the Old Testament.

The nation Assyria had become a strong power and Israel, the Northern Kingdom fell captive to them in 722 B.C. When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went against Jerusalem, then ruled by the rare good king, Hezekiah, God intervened and 185,000 Assyrians died overnight! II Kings 19.

However after Hezekiah, Judah was ruled by evil kings and in 606 B.C., God used Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to punish Judah. The first captives were taken to Babylon then and later in 586 B.C., the rest of Judah was taken captive.

Next, Babylon, the first world power was overcome by Medo-Persia under Cyrus II. Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in 536 B.C. The Northern Kingdom, Israel, never recovered.

Throughout these times since Solomon, God used prophets to warn Judah and Israel of the impending judgment. There were four Major prophets and twelve Minor prophets. Major only in the sense that the books were large. Both Major and Minor were of equal importance.

Medo-Persia was followed by Greece under Alexander the Great and then the Roman Empire.

The following layout should be helpful in seeing how the various books of the Old Testament fit into this history.

Scripture Books Arranged Chronologically

The Old Testament prophets' current assignment was to warn of the pending judgment for the nation's disobedience.

In addition, they told of the coming Messiah, of the nation's rejection of Him, and of the future of the nation when they would finally accept Him.

Jonah and Nahum's messages were directed against Nineveh the capital city of Assyria.

Daniel is one of the most interesting books as it tells of some of the history during the Babylonian captivity. Daniel, like Joseph was rare and of high character. Both served in high office in a pagan government, with the respect and trust of the king.

His detailed prophecies told of the downfall of Babylon, the rise and fall of Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome in such accurate detail that modern day skeptics do their best to place the writing later in time to about 185 B.C.

This attempt to make his prophecies into history written after the fact would, if true, only remove the supernatural from 2/3 of his forecasts regarding those ancient world powers.

It still leaves the skeptic unable to deal with the remaining 1/3 regarding Rome which surfaced after 185 B.C.! We of course easily choose to place Daniel and the writings back where they belong in the 6th century B.C.

These prophets tell much of "The Day of the Lord", those last days of Judgment upon the entire world before He ushers in the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ, that is mentioned in Rev. 19 and 20. Much detail of this reign is found in Isaiah.

Ezra and Nehemiah give history of the return from Babylon to Jerusalem, the rebuilding of the city and the walls.

Later, shortly before the time of Christ, Herod the Great, built a new, extravagant temple. Christ, in Matt 24, foretold it's total destruction, which occurred under Titus of Rome in 70 AD.

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The World Prepared for the Messiah

The four world powers mentioned in the last session, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, each played a significant role in preparing the world for the coming of the Messiah.

Babylon carried the influential Jews into captivity, moving them from the pastoral life, toward the more sophisticated areas of finance and merchandising etc.

When Medo-Persia allowed the captives to return to to rebuild Jerusalem, most of them chose to stay in Babylon. Later under Greek rule, these finance/merchant types moved out into all the major cities of the world.

These Jews built synagogues in many of these cities. The Jewish religion began to be influenced by the religions and philosophy of these world powers.

Jewish religion and practice began to fall into two camps; The Pharisees, or orthodox, who tried to protect from outside change building "hedges" around the Mosaic Law.

The the more liberal element, the Sadducees tried to recognize and to assimilate what was considered "good" in the culture and religion of other peoples.

Both had strayed away from the Mosaic Law, adding layers of tradition that Christ later challenged.

The Jews had a good educational system in place in all areas where there were substantial numbers of their people.

Under these various world powers, trade was stimulated and trade routes developed that facilitated communication and travel. This reached a peak under Rome.

Greek became the language of the entire world giving a common language for the spreading the gospel of the Messiah.

There was a desire to have the Old Testament in the Greek language and such a translation resulted in about 221 B.C., called the Septuagint.

Under Greek rule, they began to attribute a moral value to the individual. However it was left to the Romans to unite civilization into a political whole. Before, the nations had lived and labored apart. Rome fused them into one mass of humanity, with one emperor, one government, one military organization, a common body of laws and practices, a common language, a common coinage, a central mail and transportation system, a common alphabet and one culture.

Rome treated her subjects as friends, not as conquered peoples. Rome ruled for 500 years, from 31 B.C. to 476 AD.

The Jews, however, probably more than any of the other conquered peoples had a dream of being independent, ruled by their own king, not by a "puppet" king.

They could not make the distinction between the Old Testament prophecies of the suffering, rejected Messiah and the later conquering, ruling Messiah. They were looking for one that would throw off the Roman rule now.

After the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, this discontent climaxed in a rebellion, in 70 A.D. when the Roman General, Titus, captured the city after a 134 day siege which cost the lives of an estimated quarter million Jews!

It was Passover time with many visitors and also many who were fleeing from the advancing Roman army.

This terrible loss of life is thought to be God's response to the cry of the Jews at the death of Jesus when they said, "His blood be on us and on our children!", Matt. 27:25.

The temple was entirely destroyed just as Jesus prophesied it would be in Matt. 24:1-2.

"And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down."

Most of the city was also destroyed, to be re-built in stages over the centuries.

So, the Messiah came to a world that had experienced unusual preparation for the great event. The Apostle Paul described this later in his letter to the Galations 4:4-5:

"But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

We've seen throughout the Old Testament how ineffective mankind was in trying to solve the problem of sin, brought on by the fall in the Garden of Eden. How under a variety of conditions, things go from bad to worse. Through it all, God has been patient with His chosen people, the Jews, trying to get them ready for His Son's arrival.

We are told that Jesus' birth, life and death fulfill over 300 Old Testament prophecies! We are furnishing a list of the most prominent of these, with the hope that they will be useful to you as additional evidence of the inspiration of the Word of God.

Prophecies Regarding Our Lord

.This tabulation of prophet recordings is taken from The New Analytical Bible, published by the John A. Dickson Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill.

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History's Climax

Nothing in the, 4000 year (plus or minus) history of the world that we've seen to this point, or anything we will see in the remainder of our studies, will begin to compare to the remarkable entry of God into human activities, by the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

God had allowed mankind numerous ways to relate properly to Himself and in every case mankind came up short. At best, life had brief times of peace, satisfaction and joy, with much misery and pain. Then it was over all too quickly. A small remnant of His followers, through the centuries, had experienced spiritual victory over these problems as they looked forward to God's promised Messiah.

(If you want another side trip to see more amazing documentation on the person, Jesus, Click here, then click on your browser's "back" button to return here).

The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians that the plan for Jesus Christ to come as our deliverer, was in place before the foundations of the world were laid!

Also that we as individual believers were chosen for salvation into the family of God, at that point back in eternity past!

Eph.1:1-2:10 is a rich description of this. John 1:1-14 tells us how Jesus was the creator God back in the "beginning"!

It's important to realize that God the Father, God the Son, (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three persons in one Godhead, were all present and cooperated together in this great plan of deliverance, even ahead of the creation of the universe.

God certainly knew of the failure to come when mankind was given free will to either follow Him in obedience, or to fall for the lie of Satan. Yet He, in infinite wisdom chose to allow free will to run it's course, knowing that eventually, the time would be right for Him to offer Himself as the ONLY satisfactory sacrifice for sin. This is the greatest proof possible of His love for us!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

You cannot conceive of a greater demonstration of His love for you. It is the greatest "swap" of all eternity! He traded our sin for His righteousness!

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." II Cor. 5:21.

Because, God in His wisdom allowed sin to have it's impact on His creation for a time, we who accept His deliverance, will, with Him, have a richer time through all eternity. Having experienced His love in deliverance and salvation, we will always be closer to Him than we could ever have been if we had not fallen!

We have seen how the Old Testament scriptures have prepared the way for the Messiah. The sacrificial system pointed the way to the REAL sacrifice when Christ was to be born of a virgin, to live a sinless life, to freely offer Himself to die in our place on the cross. The 53rd chapter of Isaiah is the classic section among many that tell of this.

The New Testament Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell of the birth, life and ministry of Jesus. They tell of His death, burial, resurrection and ascension back into heaven.

They tell how His chosen people, the Jews, had drifted so far from the true practice of the Old Testament that they as a group, rejected Him.

They tell how He chose a small select group of men to establish a following here on earth to proclaim the good news (the gospel) to the world. They were also told to expect Him to return when He will rule the earth in peace and justice. They also tell that His followers will not be left alone, that God the Holy Spirit will come to live in each believer's heart to give him an opportunity for a victorious life while we await His return.

His last words were a command to share this great plan of salvation to all the world.

The book of Acts is an account of the early church's response to this training and command.

The balance of the New Testament, with the exception of Revelation, are letters (epistles), to various churches that were established, written by these choice leaders appointed by Christ. Some of them addressed various problems being experienced by these early churches. The letter to the Romans is the premier writing on doctrine, methodically and thoroughly explaining the basis for our salvation. Someone has presented the simple plan of salvation, taken from the book of Romans;

1. Rom. 3:10 "...as it is written, There is none righteous, not even one "

2. Rom. 3:23"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

3. Rom. 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

4. Rom. 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned"

5. Rom. 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

6. Rom. 10:13 for "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

7. Rom. 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

8. Rom. 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This passage can be one's written contract with God!! There are only two kinds of people as seen in I John 5:11-13:

"And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life."

You see, He wrote it so that you can know!

The last book, Revelation is a prophetic writing telling in detail how this wonderful plan of God will be concluded and how all of mankind will go on into eternity. Believers, those who accept Jesus, to be with God forever in heaven and unbelievers, those who reject Jesus, to be separated from God in eternal punishment.

Any honest reading of the New Testament, along with any honest investigation of the world's history will lead one to the conclusion that God has offered the very best ultimate plan and solution to those who will believe and accept Him. As it says in John,

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name." John 1:10-12.

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The First Century Church

The last session gave a broad description of the Gospels, Acts and the Epistles to the churches with a brief account of Revelation.

The Revelation of John, is also for the churches, but with extensive prophecy pertaining to the last days of the present age and the millennial kingdom.

There is considerable such prophecy in the other New Testament books. We are not going into that at this time, proceeding with the church history in brief form. When we have progressed up to the current time, we will review the prophetic picture of both the Old and New Testaments, again in brief form.

When the Jewish leadership rejected Jesus as the Messiah, having room only for a "conquering hero" to deliver them from the rule of Rome, Christ began preparing His disciples for His death at the hands of the Jews. Declaring that He would arise from the grave.

He also explained that The Holy Spirit was to come to them and empower them to spread the gospel throughout the world. They couldn't grasp this and were completely defeated at His death.

Just as He prophesied, He did rise from the dead after three days, and spent forty days with them, being seen by as many as 500 at one time, before He ascended into Heaven!

He told them to wait in Jerusalem to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. This happened and these formerly fearful disciples became bold and the New Testament church was launched at the feast of Pentecost with 3000 converts.

This new church prospered, with Jewish believers. A simple, workable form of government was established. Judas who betrayed the Lord, was replaced in the group of 12 special disciples.

These men became known as the Apostles and experienced extraordinary powers initially to assist in founding the church.

The Apostle Peter was given a specific revelation to introduce the gospel to the Gentiles.

In a short time the Jewish leadership began a program of persecution. Saul of Tarsus, a promising young Pharisee of this leadership became a feared persecutor of the believers, even over the years traveling to other cities as they fled Jerusalem.

On one of his trips to Damascus, he experienced a remarkable conversion to the new faith. After several years of study and specific revelations from God, he, now named Paul, set out on the first of several missionary journeys to establish congregations across the land.

He had little success working with the Jews, so turned his major attention toward the Gentiles.

Following his initial successes, he returned to Jerusalem and debated with the Jewish believers there defending his practice of encouraging the Gentile believers to avoid the right of circumcision, which was still closely held by the Jewish believers. He was supported by the conclusion of this important early church council.

Paul began writing letters to some of the early churches that had resulted from his ministry. These letters were passed from church to church for encouragement and exhortation.

Later other leaders also wrote some letters. Some of these letters survived and became important parts of the Holy Scriptures.

As time passed, there was a leading for some of the Apostles to write a history of the life of Jesus Christ. These writings became known as the gospels.

Meanwhile, the unbelieving Jews, continued striving with Rome and in 70 A.D. Jerusalem suffered it's worst defeat at the hand of Titus. The Romans had difficulty distinguishing believers (now known as Christians), from religious Jews, and so initial persecution from Rome followed.

Finally, the apostle John, wrote the last book, Revelation, while exiled as an old man of about 90 years. He was on the Isle of Patmos and experienced a very unusual vision as if he was seeing from heaven, from God, about future events of the terrible judgment to come upon the earth at the period of time at the Lord's return. His visions are supported by the visions and writings of Daniel, some 600 years earlier.

The early believers were expecting the Lord to return shortly and saw His return as a deliverance from the persecution they were experiencing.

However, over the years as His return was delayed, various persons have mistakenly thought that John's Revelation was reporting on this early church persecution and also prophesying of the later Roman persecutions of the next 2 centuries. Then the 20th chapter of Revelation speaks of a 1000 year reign of Christ. These same persons assumed that the church would become triumphant over the world and usher in this 1000 year reign.

This error was amplified when in 313 AD the Roman Emperor, Constantine, halted all Roman persecution, and made Christianity the state religion.

By this time considerable compromise with pagan practices had come into the church and this act of the Emperor "locked" them in and caused additional errors to be embraced. The foundation for the Papal form of church government was being laid through these times.

When the barbarians from the north came south and the Roman Empire collapsed, these barbarians did assimilate the brand of Christianity that was in existence then. This was, we expect, some improvement, even though replete with error, over the various religious options they brought with them.

There were pockets of believers, through the years, that did not identify with the state church. Some of these carried various belief problems of their own.

The state church tended to see them all as problems and in turn initiated their own form of persecution against these uncooperative groups. The most common label of these was "Ana-baptists". This was because they did not recognize infant baptism and rebaptized those who came to them for fellowship. These groups had varying beliefs regarding the requirement of baptism for salvation.

Current day Baptists, tend to identify with these early groups, declaring they are not of the Protestant Reformation.

 

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Apostolic Succession vs. the Priesthood of the Believer

There are two basic directions that church practice takes that largely determine the primary distinctives of organization:

1. Apostolic Succession:

When Jesus asked His disciples in Mt. 16:15, who they thought He was, Simon Peter responded with:

"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus commended him for this confession and stated, "you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Churches holding to Apostolic Succession feel from the above that special powers were conferred upon Peter and the Apostles that were in turn passed along to the Bishops of the early churches and on through the centuries to the present day.

Initally, the Apostles did have unusual power. They did perform miracles and were the final word of authority as they wrote and taught the Word of God. They did appoint Bishops of particular local churches and gradually, these men appeared to replace the Apostles authority as the Apostles passed from the scene.

There was a church council called in the New Testament when some at Jerusalem objected to the way Paul was winning Gentiles with no emphasis on circumcision. Acts 15:6:

"And the apostles and elders came together to look into this matter". There was no apparent hierarchy in place at this council. After Paul and Barnabus' report, James spoke to the issue basically in agreement with Paul and the entire body agreed. Hardly a pattern for the authoritarian organization that evolved.

There were more church councils where the Bishops of the churches met together to deal with issues. The Bishops from the large cities were given more prominence than those from the country and so organizational levels evolved.

The priestly system and the distinction of the "clergy and laity" was a rather natural out- growth of this emphasis.

This belief and practice seems to have originated in the middle to end of the second century. It was encouraged to help defend against various heresies that surfaced in the early church, and was greatly accelerated, at the time of Emperor Constantine, when he made the Christian Church the state religion of Rome in 325 AD.

Prior to Constantine, it had became the accepted standard that to be a "Christian" meant to be a member of this "federation" of authorized churches.

Following his declaration it meant membership in the official state church.

2. The priesthood of the believer:

The New Testament emphasizes the "priesthood of the believer". ITim 2:5;

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus". The book of Hebrews speaks widely of Christ as our high priest and how He has done away with the old sacrificial system that required priests.

Those Christians who emphasize this doctrine, usually reject the concept of Apostolic Succession.They interpret the name Peter, in Mt. 16 as a "small stone" and the "rock" of verse 18, on which Christ will build His church, as the "large rock" of Simon's confession, that Jesus is "The Christ, the Son of the living God". I Pet 2:4-8 refers to Christ as the corner stone and the believer as a living stone, used to build upon that corner stone.

The puzzling passage regarding "the keys of the kingdom" also has several different interpretations from the one used to support Apostolic Succession.

Perhaps the clearer one held by those outside of the "authoritarian" camp is that the "keys" were here offered to all believers, who Peter represents, and the power of the keys is the ministry of evangelism to win men into the kingdom or into the faith. To "loose" or to "bind" would correspond to teach truth or to admonish or confront.

In any event we are looking at what is possibly the most controversial passage dealing with church organization. The above evolution, toward a very authoritarian church, commenced in the 2nd century. This resulted in something substantially different from the simple practices that we see in the church of the New Testament, The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. This difference must have been noticeable to many in leadership at the outset, but was apparently acceptable to most, as a practical approach to manage a growing organization.

There have always been small pockets of believers who resisted the authorized church. In addition, there were groups that taught heresies. All these were essentially "lumped together" in the view of the state church.

3. Believer's Baptism:

Believer's Baptism was also at variance with the official church position. With the "enthusiasm" generated by Constantine's official declaration, mass baptisms of entire armies, whole communities etc. became rather commonplace. This along with infant baptism caused some groups to require persons to be "rebaptized" when they truly came to a trust relationship with Jesus, and to be included in their fellowships.

Most of these groups, regardless of their other distinctives, good or bad, were called "Anabaptists" and may be the forrunners of current day Baptists. (Baptists usually prefer to be identified this way, rather than that they were a part of the Protestant Reformation, led by Luther and others).

These Anabaptists too, were treated as heretics.

The authoritarian nature of the church and the various accommodations of some of the pagan practices where the church reached into the life of the northern barbarians, certainly diluted the faith of many. There were surely those throughout these dark times that did hold to the faith of the New Testament scriptures. A few of these were outstanding. Augustine and Savanarola, for instance. These were strong leaders, working toward church reform, with some success, well ahead of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

These were the three major variances that developed as the church progressed in time and practice from the 1st century, New Testament model. One could list specific abuses that showed up in every group. That is not our goal. We want to present a broad outline, and encourage each one of us to be sure that our faith is in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ rather than in any "church". We realize that we are then members of the church universal made up of all true believers of all cultures and "church" backgrounds.

Along with that we want to encourage each to find fellowship in a local body of believers, a "church", that, is not perfect, but one that honors Christ and His word.

It's been said that if you look for the perfect church and find it, it will cease to be perfect as soon as you join it!

One shouldn't take fellowship with a local body of believers lightly! There is a scripture in Hebrews that tells us directly to seek such fellowship and not to neglect it:

Heb. 10:23-25 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging {one another}; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near."

It could hardly be stated any plainer!

Yet, I meet many who claim they are believers, but who have little or no fellowship in a local body. Most of these demonstrate a very cool brand of faith and are frequently critical of those who are in fellowship. "They are not friendly enough - - the sermons aren't interesting - - I just can't stand so and so - - why don't they sing the old hymns?"

Such persons would do well to read further in Hebrews. One of the most sobering warnings is immediately following the above admonition!

Heb. 10:26-27 "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries."

The conclusion one has to draw is that many who claim to be believers are fooling themselves, having a "head knowledge" that means too little to them and their initial commitment was too shallow. Our Lord made it very clear that many would be disappointed by such shallowness:

Mat. 7:22-23 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'

Hazards of the "Church-State Relationship":

The tight relationship between the church and state contributed to the problems and practice of the church. The Roman Empire was a mix of many cultures and the church, being the official religion, began embracing many of the practices of these cultures. This contributed to a stand on and acceptance of "tradition" as well as the Bible. This hazard of "state religion" was not successfully addressed by the later reformers and probably colored their practice considerably.

By 451 AD. four bishops with high offices called "patriarchs" existed, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Ephesus and Constantinople with Rome's designated the monarchial bishop. The bishop of Constantinople and Rome became leading rivals for church leadership.

When the Western Empire fell in 476, the Emperor of Constantinople became the sole emperor of the world and declared himself the Bishop of Bishops.

This led to the division of the Roman and Greek Catholic branches of the church. Even though Rome had fallen the Roman Church survived as the stronger of the two with world leadership. During this period, Pope Leo the Great gave the theory of Papal power it's final form.

Later when the Moslems conquered Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, Rome's leadership was strengthened.

These high and tight relationships with state, probably account (to some extent at least), for the extreme treatment given to those judged heretics by the church. This heavy treatment was also served up to a lessor extent by some of the protestant groups later on where they "enjoyed" similar state support.

As one digs around in all this background, it makes one really appreciate one's simple faith in the Christ of the Bible and the rather uncomplicated faith and practice of the church as presented in the New Testament. Such should not be taken for granted, as the enemy is always eager to bring dissension and discord into our fellowships. History proves neither "organization nor simplicity" is a guarantee of safety!

The writer has used the text book from a class in church history at the Multnomah School of the Bible for this material. A History of the Christian Church by Lars P. Qualben of St. Olaf College.

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The Protestant Reformation

In our last session we briefly outlined how the life of the church, as practiced in New Testament times, gradually became an authoritarian organization ruled by the papacy. We noted that a struggle between the eastern and western elements resulted in the division into the Roman and the Greek Catholic churches.

The Medieval Church picked up practices that caused several leaders to surface desiring to effect reform within the church:

William of Occam (1280-1349); He asserted that (a) the pope is not infallible; (b) that the General Council and not the pope is the highest authority in the Church; (c) that the Holy Scripture is the only infallible source in matters of faith and conduct; (d) that in all secular matters the Church and the pope are subordinate to the State. Occam's philosophy exerted a strong influence upon Martin Luther.

John Wyclif (1320-1384); He was the leader of a strong reform movement that spread over England. He gave the English the first complete version of the Bible in English. He sent out lay evangelists to instruct the people. His followers were called "Lollards" and numbered many among the nobles. He was condemned by Pope Gregory XI in 1377 and in 1401 heresy was made a capitol offense in England and the mere possession of his writings was punishable by death.

John Hus (1369-1415); He was a follower of Wyclif in Bohemia. The whole nation rallied around him in the cause of church reform. He was excommunicated and burned at the stake at the council of Constance.

Girolamo Savanarola (1452-1498); He headed a remarkable movement in the city of Florence. He too was condemned as a heretic and put to death in 1498.

These many movements indicate how widespread and general the demand was for reform in the church, setting the stage for Luther, Zwingli and Calvin.

The Renaissance, the general awakening of Europe coming out of the "Dark Ages", was stimulated by the invention of paper, and the printing press. The invention of gunpowder, rendered the fortified castles and costly armor almost useless, weakening the position of feudal lords and caused nations to establish standing armies.

The exploits of the Crusaders opened up travel. All these conditions in turn stimulated the concern for reform. The Renaissance also revived interest in studying Hebrew and Greek. This prompted a better understanding of the Bible on which the work of reformation was based.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a brilliant monk who came to the truth that salvation was by faith alone and not of works. He became a prominent pastor in Germany and had a large following. He had many concerns regarding the Church and hoped to lead a reform within the church. The outstanding problem that he dealt with was the sale of indulgences.

Pope Julius II (1503-1513), started building the magnificent church of Saint Peter in Rome in 1506, but the work was interrupted and threatened with failure due to lack of funds. Pope Leo X tried to raise money with the sale of indulgences. England, France and Spain refused to be taxed in this manner, but Germany yielded to his demands.

A Dominican monk, John Tetzel, traveled through Germany selling indulgences with a great amount of fanfare. He would frequently say, "as soon as the gold tinkles in the chest, the soul springs out of purgatory!" Luther preached against this and even so, many of his people were taken in.

So, following academic etiquette, he nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg as a basis for debate on the subject. This triggered a long series of exchanges with the church that finally led to his excommunication and being banned as a heretic. He was favored by various German princes and so was protected in the early days as his following was formed into the Lutheran Church.

While this was going on in Germany, Zwingli was leading a similar movement in Switzerland. He went further in changes than Luther. All pictures were removed, frescoes were cut out, the relics, crucifixes, altars, candles, clerical robes, tapestry and other ornaments were removed. Monasteries in and around Zurich were forsaken and priests and nuns married.

Zwingli became involved in conflict with the Anabaptists. These were cruelly persecuted and suppressed or driven out of the land.

The Anabaptist movement was revived in modified form among the Mennonites and Baptists.

Catholic cantons formed a league and moved with armed force against Zurich causing the eventual death of Zwingli in battle and the movement slowed, to finally be absorbed into the Calvinist reformation led by John Calvin.

England was influenced by the Lutheran Reformation but his writings were condemned and burned. Nevertheless it spread rapidly.

William Tyndale's English New Testament, published in 1526, became a chief source of English Protestantism.

Henry VIII, gave severe opposition until 1527, when he wished to divorce his wife Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn of the court. Lack of a male heir to the throne figured into his request to the pope for the divorce. This was not granted and the king turned and began to favor the reformed and anti-clerical parties.

One of these leaders, Thomas Cromwell, suggested that the king renounce papal jurisdiction and proclaim himself supreme head of the Church of England and then get a divorce decree from his own courts. This he swiftly did. The pope excommunicated Henry in 1534.

Henry wanted to maintain a "catholic" church with him at it's head, but it gradually took on many of the elements of the other reformations.

Apostolic succession was secured when the first Anglican bishop was consecrated in 1559.

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Multiple Denominations

The last session briefly developed the early results of the reformation of the 16th century. This is to be a broad look at the various denominations that have resulted from the original major branches; Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed, Church of England and the Anabaptist group.

In addition John Knox, a Calvinist, led a reformation in Scotland, at approximately the time of the formation of the Church of England, that resulted in the Presbyterian Church.

The colonization of the New World was affected by these main branches of the church.

When Columbus' returned, from his "discovery", King Ferdinand requested Pope Alexander VI to confirm his title to the land he discovered. So he issued a "bull" with a line dividing the territory, giving that east of the line to Portugal and west to Spain. Priests accompanied expeditions of discovery and invasion, with success for the church, in South and Central America and the Philippine Islands. Neither Spain or Portugal made much progress in North America.

In addition, France, Holland and England made efforts at colonization of the New World. In North America, England was the most successful, so numerous of the original colonies were settled with Church of England majorities.

Spain settled missions in Florida, New Mexico and California.

France settled to the north in Quebec and south in Louisanna. However, at the close of the Seven Years War (1756- 1763), all land east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans was ceded to England and all land west was ceded to Spain.

Episcopalianism was transplanted to Virginia in 1607. William and Mary College was founded in 1693.

Congregationalism was established at New Plymouth in 1620. Harvard College was established in 1636 and Yale in 1701.

The Dutch Reformed arrived in New Amsterdam in 1623.

Lutheranism was transplanted to New Netherlands in 1623 and religious liberty was granted them in 1664.

Roman Catholicism was established in Maryland in 1634.

Scotch-Irish Presbyterians organized at Long Island in 1640.

New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania were centers for Quaker activity. This branch was founded by George Fox of England. He was of Presbyterian descent, drifted toward mysticism, gained a following of Anabaptists and others.

John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were ministers in the Established Church of England. They experienced adult conversion in 1738 and began to preach Biblical evangelism within the church. This was not well received and so they held outdoor meetings with great success. This resulted in "methodical" training cropping up within the church that finally led to the founding of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America.

The Methodist "Circuit Rider" preacher followed the expanding frontier.

The Disciples of Christ group developed from the Presbyterians in 1810, a small group joining the Baptists, not finding sufficient support for their special emphasis, finally forming their own denomination.

Freedom of Religion in America:

In Europe, Church and State continued to have strong ties after the reformation. Whatever the branch of state religion, it applied pressure on any not of that persuasion. This encouraged some to migrate to the New World.

The most noted were the Puritans, based in Calvinism and an outgrowth from the Church of England, who fled first to Holland then on to the New World on the Mayflower.

Remarkably, as the colonies were founded, each took on the particular faith of the settlers, as it's official religion and also practiced religious intolerance. This was the general picture until 1631, when an Anglican clergyman, Roger Williams, was welcomed in Massachusetts to the Salem colony.

He served several churches but came into trouble as he defended the rights of the Indians as the true landowners. He was banished from the colony and ended up in Rhode Island where he organized a Baptist church in 1639. This was the first of several and the start of true religious freedom in the colonies, as the Baptists held strongly to separation of church and state.

Swedish Lutherans near the present sight of Wilmington Delaware, issued the first edict against slavery in 1638 and the first edict of religious toleration in 1642.

Maryland adopted a famous "Toleration Act" in 1649, which gave relief to the Catholic minority in that colony.

Mission Activity and Revival:

As seen from the above, most "mission activity" was the result of colonization. There were a few exceptions prior to the modern missionary movement which had it's real start in the 18th century with William Carey. He persuaded a group of 12 Baptist ministers in England to organize what later became The Baptist Missionary Society in 1792. He then went to India the following year as it's first missionary.

David Livingston and Stanley went to central Africa and Hudson Taylor founded The China Inland Mission. Much more mission activity followed and by 1940 there were over 60 American and over 70 European Mission Societies.

This created a demand for wider circulation of the Bible and several Bible Societies resulted.

During this same period, while the church was obedient to the command of our Lord to share the gospel around the world, negative forces were also at work.

In 1859 Charles Darwin published his "Origin of Species" and "Descent of Man", introducing his famous "theory of evolution". This caused many to change their view on the universe and introduced a new world view that was generally hostile to the traditional Christian religion.

Between 1870 and 1914 a new Biblical criticism surfaced, denying the absolute truth of Christianity, seeing it as merely the highest and best of the general religious consciousness of the human race.

The Industrial Revolution has moved much of the world away from an agricultural economy to industry, relocating many into the cities.

Communism and Materialism has made a great negative impact on the church.

All these forces have caused the leadership of most denominations to qualify their acceptance of the traditional faith of their founders. Liberalism or Modernism has attempted to blend much or most of these influences into their "faith" at the sacrifice of the simple, narrow truths of the Bible.

In the name of "tolerance and broad mindedness", the exclusiveness of Christianity, has been denied. Efforts to merge various denominations have met with some success, usually at the cost of some prized beliefs of the original founders.

However, as these things have occurred, there has been a wave of evangelism and return to conservative belief and faith since World War II.

Rather than engage in "merger controversies" and denominational doctrinal disputes, numerous conservative groups have formed interdenominational or non- denominational congregations and organizations. These have for the most part emphasized evangelism and strong Biblical preaching and teaching, defending the basics of the faith with some success.

While "mainline denominations" are experiencing declining attendance and budgets, many of these congregations and organizations have grown.

And, remarkably, there are within most of the "mainline" congregations, laymen who attempt to hold the line against the unbelief of their leadership. Some of these have a rather lonesome existence.

All of this, emphasizes the responsibility each of us has for our fellowship and the fellowship of our dependent families.

We each relate to the Lord as individuals, (there are no spiritual grandchildren). There are no guarantees that any fellowship of today that is true and vital, will still be so tomorrow. Regardless of which church we fellowship in, (and we all should have such fellowship), we must guard and work and pray at maintaining a warm and vital fellowship with our Lord. This is seldom if ever accomplished without fellowship with other true believers

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Last revised: October 15, 2005.