Pastor's Pen

July/August 2006

Preface to upcoming new book –
"The fall and rise of the Christian Church"

The old adage is that if we do not learn from history, we are destined to repeat it. History has proved itself a predictable cycle and the reason for this is because human nature has not changed. (See Daniel 12:10.) Man never seems to learn the lessons from the past. Solomon made this observation a number of times in the book of Ecclesiastes. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun" (Ecl 1:9).

Psalm 107 gives a general overview of the history of the ancient people. It is a history of revival, rebellion, retribution, repentance and restoration – repeated many times! That is history, but it is also an admonition to learn from the strengths and weaknesses of history, and thus break some of the recycling (negative) trends. The Scripture itself exhorts us to teach our children to teach their children the ways of God, and to learn from those who did not. Learning from the past helps us to shape the present.

General George Patton was a student of history. Of course, his subject was military battles and strategies. He even studied the ancient warriors and their military prowess. During one of his battles with the famed German field commander, Rommel; Patton cried out through the roar of cannon fire; "I’ve read your book Rommel… I’ve read your book!" Rommel; had written his battle strategies from the First World War in a book entitled "Attacks." General Patton had read the book and he knew the mind of his adversary. Patton put his enemy out of business because he knew the mind of his enemy. History is predictable because history repeats itself. Yet, this is the reason that we study Church history, so that we in the final chapter might end on the high note.

Psalm 78:6-8 - "That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God."

I Cor 10:11 - Paul recounts the past-history of Israel and then says: "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Israel’s history was to be a lesson for all time!

There is much to gain from Church history. Where did they get off track… why did they get off track? The Lord wants us to be able to separate a matter. As the apostle said, "…Those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Heb 5:14). We can learn as much from negatives as from positives. The Lord once told me to attend a Church that was full of errors. It was a washpot! However, I completed the course on "How not to do it" with a passing grade.

While there are many who will tell us that doctrine is not important, the Church went into captivity for a thousand years because of a departure from sound doctrine. The Word of God is a lamp, and as we shall later see, one little spark (one verse) from that lamp led the Church out of the Dark Ages: "The just shall live by faith."

The study of Church history forces the serious student – or challenges the serious student to consider where he might have stood on the issues of the day. Holy wars; threats by Church and state; which side would we choose… or, would we have been neutral? What would we have done if we had lived then? In previous generations, the men who stood up against error were heroes. Many of them stood alone. They were not just standing up for a medal or for the applause of men, but they stood up for their convictions and men’s opinion did not matter.

When Luther stood up at the Diet of Worms to make his final statement, he did not expect to come back. To his amazement, the whole room broke into thunderous applause, (not from the Church officials), but from all the silent spectators. The world is still looking for someone to stand up and unequivocally say, "This is the way…." May we (by God’s grace) be valiant for the truth and help to bring the Church of our day back on course!

Our Savior desires to visit each generation. He came to the first century AD, in a manger. This typifies how He births himself into every generation. He comes in a way that the people are not looking for. He manifests Himself to an exclusive few. During the "Triumphal Entry," the Christ came on a lowly donkey. This was not what the populace expected. They were looking for the white horse with sounding trumpets.

Usually, by the third generation (after revival) the Church is in recession, it is in decline. There is the generation that has revival. Then, there is the second generation that has seen the outgoings of it. However, to the third generation, revival is often just a tale that is told by the elders. Judges 2:7-10: "And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that out lived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel... Then there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord." By the third generation, the reality is gone – that’s history!

The generations that followed the Acts of the Apostles could parallel (to some degree), the generation that succeeded Joshua in the book of the Judges. Even some of the more famous saviors of the later centuries, such as Luther or Calvin, were often a mixture, and far less than what we would expect today. Many of the Christians who were outstanding in their time were flawed and yet they seemed to be the only ones in their day. During the era of the Judges, some of the saviors did bizarre things, but they were "saviors" and many of them are recorded in the faith chapter (Hebrews 11). That is how we must view much of Church history. (In no wise are we excusing sinful acts, but ignorance and human error played a big part of Church History.)

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Psa 11:3

There is a saying: "As the Church goes, so goes the world." This is a true saying because the Church is the light of the world (Matt 5:14, and Phil 2:15). Yet, in the worse case scenario, what happens when the candlestick goes out in the Church? That was the warning to the Church at Ephesus. They were losing their first-love relationship, and the Lord warned them that if they did not take heed they would have their candlestick removed. It is interesting, that out of the seven Churches, this was the only Church that received such a warning – that the light would go out, or that they would lose the anointing.

The "Seven Churches" of Asia were figures of dispensations within the Church age. For example:

Ephesus – a figure of the first century Church losing their relationship.

Smyrna – a figure of the persecuted Church, which persecution continued to the end of the third century.

Pergamos – began the merging of Church and state (fourth century), and thus the beginning of the institutional Church, or the Roman Church.

The Dark Ages, was a reflection of a darkened Church – the ecclesiastical Church. Church historians usually estimate about 1000 years to the dark ages. The Church became the state Church, and gained control of the government. They eventually controlled everything. They even hindered progress in the realm of science and discovery because of their repression of truth. They had Galileo under house arrest as a heretic because of his theory concerning the planets. Galileo asserted that the planets revolved around the sun (which happens to be true). The greatest percentages of scientists/inventors during the (subsequent) reformation were Protestants.

Revelation and science truly flow more freely when you know the Creator. Isaac Newton attributed all of his scientific knowledge to this fact. The institutional Church had greatly overstepped their bounds in such matters, but as the saying goes, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Things were very dark during the reign of the Roman Church –until Luther.

This book will be available this fall.

*While it is true that there was a rebirth, a Renaissance that preceded Luther (fifteenth century). The Renaissance was more confined to the field of literature and art, and architecture.