Sentinel Echo Newspaper Article
Friday, July 29, 2011
Departures from “the faith”
The history of the divisions that have occurred in the church “of Christ”
Part 5
1st Timothy 4:1 – “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith…”
Not only does the year 606 A.D. mark the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church, but it also marks the beginning of a great division between the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, neither of which by this time bore any similitude of the true church of the Lord. Truly the great falling away spoken by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 had occurred and a very dark age for the church was fully present. It all started with the desire of church leaders to seek a position of preeminence within the church. The grounds on which they moved to attain this unwarranted position was to claim direct guidance of the Spirit; a claim they could not substantiate by any God given miraculous power.
In conclusion we would like to point out that present day religious division and confusion can be traced to the same problem that occurred in the early days of the church. Just as religious leaders claimed direct guidance of the Spirit then, there are many religious leaders today making the same claim. Rather than being guided by the divinely inspired word of God’s divinely appointed apostles and prophets of the first century, they make a false claim which they cannot substantiate by any miraculous credentials. Just like the bishops in the early church who taught conflicting ideas, these today who make the same claim are teaching conflicting ideas. The only solution that God will accept is for men to quit making a claim which they cannot substantiate, and be guided solely by the scriptures which were given by the men whom God gave the necessary credentials to substantiate their testimony. Until this is done, there can be no religious unity among those professing to be Christians. It is this course to which this writer appeals.
Now back to our main thoughts. Since the bishop of Rome now had the backing of the emperor as being universal bishop over all the churches, and since Christianity had been made the state religion, any person, or group who did not submit to the authority of the Roman bishop was either slain or excommunicated by his command. This is why we read in the history of the bloody inquisition in which literally thousands were put to death if they didn’t submit to the authority of the Roman pontiff. This bloody persecution continued until the time of the great Protestant Reformation which finally broke the power of the Roman pontiff.
Even though the Protestant Reformation broke the power of the Roman pontiff, and gave the scriptures back into the hands of the common man, the different Protestant churches retained much of the false teaching that was brought on the scene by the various bishops of the early church who claimed direct guidance by the Spirit. Thus Protestantism fractured into a multitude of denominational churches. Each church drew up its own creed rather than allow the scriptures to be their guide. It is these creeds that keep these Protestant churches divided, and as long as these creeds are kept intact, religious division will continue among them.
It should be clear to any thinking person that God alone can give to man a perfect creed. This he has done in giving to the world his inspired word. If we really want religious unity, we must discard all these human creeds, and be guided solely by His divinely given creed. For us today that is the last will and testament of Jesus Christ, the New Testament scriptures.
It is utterly foolish to say we cannot understand what the Holy Spirit directed the apostles and prophets to write, but that we must have the Holy Spirit to guide us to understand what he guided them to write. This is as foolish as saying that the Holy Spirit directly guides me, but now must explain what he meant when he guided me. If one believes this foolish notion, he needs to read again 2 Corinthians 1:13, and Ephesians 3:3-5. Since God by the Spirit is the author of the written word, it is blasphemy to say that God could not give to man a written record that he cannot understand without additional guidance of the Spirit.
It is the conclusion of this writer that if the Christians of the first century could understand the oral message of inspired men, and become members of the church of Christ without being a part of any man-made denomination, then men today are able to understand their inspired written word, and become members of the same church of Christ without being a part of any manmade denomination. If we today continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine in every phase of the faith and practice they handed down to us, then we are indeed members of the true church of the Lord.
Gene Lyles