An overview by Jason Dimitry
Introduction
Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” and what a true statement of wisdom that is! If we are to learn from history then we must first learn “history”. Sadly many Evangelists, myself included, in our worldwide movement today only possess a rudimentary level knowledge about church history. If we are to be the Preachers and Teachers who will, Lord willing, one day lead churches of thousands upon thousands of sold-out disciples spread all over God’s green earth, then we must move on from being mere novices and become scholars and true historians of the church. As I read “Church History in Plain Language” I was incredibly amazed and inspired to get a two-thousand-year perspective on one of the most fascinating topics known to man – the Christian Church. After reading Shelley’s incredible book, I am now even more convinced of the truth of the phrase “as God’s leader goes, so goes God’s people”. Righteous leadership is absolutely essential for maintaining the purity of the gospel and of Jesus’ church through all generations, just as God intended it.
The Christ
Christianity begins with the death of God – the man Christ Jesus. Just as it says in Hebrews 9:17 “a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living” and so Christianity did not formally come into existence until Jesus died. His blood gave the church its inception, and in Acts chapter two, we read about its inauguration! There is no other world religion that compares to this, but even before there was ever a church, there was a “Jesus movement” – and this is what the first chapter discusses. Jesus’ movement began with the calling of men to come out of mainstream society and begin to see the world through the eyes of their teacher. Jesus told them simply, “follow me” (Mark 1:17). There is so much power and meaning packed into those two words. I am sure that Peter, Andrew, James and John at different points over the course of their lives would look back in awe and amazement at all that happened and what became of their lives, since the day they heard those two fateful words. I am sure the nostalgia would bring them joy and hope during some of the most difficult times, as they strove to build a church that would honor the blood of Jesus in the first century. In a similar way, when I look back over the last eighteen years of my life after I first said “Jesus is Lord”, my heart is immediately filled with joy and happiness for all that God has done and continues to do with my life!
Shelley describes the early life of Jesus and the significant events that occurred in ancient Israel leading up to his birth. This chapter helps us to gain a good understanding of the culture and society that Jesus was born into – first century Palestine, which was a heavily populated metropolis even in comparison to many cities and towns in our modern time. Similar to many societies today, it was fractured into many different sects and ideologies. The Israelites in the first century were a greatly oppressed people, a position in which the Jews were sadly not in the least unfamiliar. Although the Israelites in the first century were divided over religious and ideological lines, they were absolutely united in their contempt for the Roman Empire. From the Pharisee to the Sadducee to the Zealot, all wanted to see the great prophecies of Daniel 2 fulfilled and God’s people once again rise to become a super power. Beginning with the Maccabean era there was always generational talk among the various Jewish communities of revolt and rebellion towards the Romans.
One may question Jesus’ intent in separating from temple worship and Judaism in the midst of all this religious and political upheaval, in order to create the church. Another might even venture to ask if indeed the church was actually Jesus’ intention all along or was it simply a ‘random’ occurrence that took place in the wake of his death? When we look over scriptures such as Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” – it becomes absolutely clear that Jesus is aware that the Jewish religious system of that time was totally and irreconcilably broken. As he makes clear in Matthew 9:17, “Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved“, we realize that Jesus’ solution for a lost world was the church! (Shelly, p. 68)
Early Church
“Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) Without the church the death of Christ would just be a senseless murder! The church was what Jesus received in return for his willingness to pay the ultimate price. “Church History in Plain Language” makes it very clear that the first century church was a movement that was conceived in tragedy and through tragedy it advanced geographically; I am of course referring to the stoning of Stephen. During the first several years of the church’s existence, its growth was solely numerical, being completely restricted to the limits of the city of Jerusalem. This continues until the incredible fruitfulness of the disciples creates intolerable jealousy in the hearts of the Pharisees. Stephen’s bold challenge to the Pharisees about their constant opposition to the way of God, so infuriates them, that in retaliation to this incredibly convicting message, they stoned Stephen to death. Triumph in the face of unspeakable tragedy is the hallmark of Christianity! This moment show-cased the amazing power of discipleship, as Stephen dies with the exact same character and spirit as that of Jesus Christ himself. As Stephen is pelted with stones, he repeats the very same words Jesus spoke as he hung on the cross, “Father forgive them…” Secondly, due to the persecution that broke out after Stephen’s stoning, the true disciples of Christ did not give up their convictions as they fled Jerusalem, rather they preached the word wherever they fled, and the geographical advancement of the first century movement was officially off to the races!
For the next forty years the Jesus movement spread at a phenomenal rate with both geographical and numerical expansion, on a scale that has never been duplicated even 2000 years later! What started out as a tiny Jewish sect within Judaism turned into a sweeping revolution that begun to change the first century world as they knew it! The Nazarene sect became known as “the way” (Acts 24:14) and was even recognized by the highest members of the Roman government. This seemingly unstoppable expansion of the Jesus movement, was due to the incredible leadership provided by the apostles – the men that Jesus had hand-picked and left behind, upon his ascension to heaven, to continue the work. The revolutionary who is willing to die for the cause is the true leader with the depth of conviction capable of maintaining the purity of the gospel. That is the life Jesus so powerfully displayed, and he was able, through walking with, training, coaching and teaching all with a great sense of love, completely transfer his revolutionary spirit into his disciples.
Most of this incredible advancement initially came from the heroic efforts of the apostle Paul. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10 “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them“. Paul was the trailblazer and front-runner of the first- century Jesus movement. The fact that he planted most of the churches in the provinces of Asia, Asia Minor and Europe, as well as taking the gospel all the way to the Roman emperor himself, makes a good argument of his claim in 1 Corinthians 15:10 that he worked harder than all of the other apostles. Paul was probably the most unlikely recruit for the role of an apostle having been a vicious early persecutor of the church; however, this may have qualified him for the job. He trained as a Pharisee within Judaism under Gamaliel, a highly esteemed Jewish teacher, but he was also a Roman citizen and well acquainted with the pagan life-style of that time. All of these factors made Paul a very unique and special individual to be used by the Lord in expanding the Jesus movement. Paul, by all accounts, was the most effective church builder and greatest apostle of his time. His life is a demonstration of the amazing grace and power of God to transform any individual, irrespective of their past and background, into a powerful leader for his kingdom.
The importance of spiritual leadership to the growth and expansion of God’s church can also be seen in the life of Simon Peter – the other notable apostle of the first century. He was the very person to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom and the Lord’s most trusted confidant. Peter started the mother church in Jerusalem according to Acts chapter two and he also helped to solidify the churches in Samaria. He would later travel to Antioch, Corinth and the other cities in Asia Minor, eventually ending up in Rome, where he was martyred in the same year as Paul according to early Christian accounts.
According to Shelly, a major event that dramatically affected the first century church was the Jewish – Roman war which started in 66AD. Oppression and taxation reached a boiling point and Jewish rebels forced a collapse of Roman occupation in Jerusalem. A tragic bloody war followed for four years until 70AD when Titus was able to break through and sack Jerusalem, destroying the temple and most of the city. This effectively leads to the absolute separation between Christianity and Judaism since the Jewish Christians fled Jerusalem during Titus’ siege, as they had no loyalty to the temple. The Jews who remained committed to Judaism and the temple in response disavowed any Jew who associated with the Christian faith.
The Catholic Church
The first use of the word Catholic was by a bishop in the second century who reworded Matthew 18:20 to say, “Where ever two or three gather in my name, there is the Catholic church”. The word Catholic, which means universal, was a term used to teach that God’s spiritual Kingdom dwelled within the church and that the church is ‘one’ no matter where it was on the planet. Most of the explosive growth observed in Christianity in the first, second and third centuries came from a group of people historically known as “God-fearing gentiles”. These were non-Jews, who to some measure or other, believed in the Hebrew God but had not completely converted to Judaism. Cornelius in Acts chapter ten is most likely one of these people. These were people with a pretty good knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures, although they may not have lived in complete adherence to them. Potentially, it would have been very easy for such people to take the next step of coming to the firm belief that Jesus Christ was the true fulfillment of the Old Testament messianic prophecies. As the Gentile world continued to embrace the gospel, the epicenter of Christianity started to shift westward from Jerusalem to Antioch. This city with a population of over a half a million people was historically known to have had up to fifty percent of its population be Christian! It is reported that there were churches started in ancient France, which was called Gaul at the time, and also in Spain. During this period of time the gospel also flourished in India as history says the Apostle Thomas traveled East all the way to India with the message of Jesus, where he was most likely martyred.
Apart from this, during the first three centuries of Christianity most converts were those of humble circumstances, usually the very poor and simple within the various cities and towns. This caused many of the early critics to say that only widows and slaves convert to Christianity since anyone with intellect or culture would surely not subscribe to such a foolish belief. Evidently, these critics were unaware of the fact that Paul converted members of the Areopagus in the city of Athens, Greece, (Acts 17) in addition to many prominent women such as Lydia from the city of Philippi (Acts 16). However, towards the end of the second century many powerful thinkers became outspoken believers and followers of Christianity. These men became the first apologists and many of their original writings were dedicated to emperors who had a major impact on the general population. Towards the end of the second century the Bishop of Gaul (modern day France) wrote five very influential books dealing with Gnostic heresies that had arisen in his ‘region’. These men followed in the spirit of the apostle Paul who said “So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish” 1 Corinthians 1:20.
Tertullian, who was known as the first Christian writer, wrote dozens of books in both Latin and Greek and was the originator of the teaching about the Holy Trinity. There are two main reasons why the gospel exploded in the first, second and third centuries. The first is obviously as a result of the power of God and His truth. God created the most conducive environment for the gospel to be propelled all over the world through the “Pax Romana” and the lingua franca of the time “Koine Greek”. These two elements served as perfect accelerants to the Spirit’s fire enabling the gospel to reach the ends of the Earth in the first century. In addition, God always works through the efforts of human hands and the writings of these hands and so men such as Tertullian were a big reason for the advancement of Christianity on a global scale in the first through the third centuries.
The Persecution
Polycarp remains to this day one of the most famous men to die as a Christian martyr! It is said of Polycarp that when he scoffed at the threat of lions, the Roman governor turned to fire, and it is at this time that he uttered those immortal words, “you try to frighten me with fire that only burns for an hour and you forget the fire of hell that never goes out”! Men like Polycarp were some of the best that humanity has ever known! However, the idea that Rome so hated foreign religion and so killed because of this hate is just not true. In fact, ancient Rome was actually extremely accepting of different world religions since theirs was a polytheistic religion. The great evidence of this fact is the eventual adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire in the third century as Shelly points out. So why then did the Romans so horribly persecute the early century disciples? They did not persecute the Jews as much as they did the Christians even though the Jews, just like the Christians, were absolutely unwilling to acknowledge any other concept of deity other than Yahweh. Well, one of the main differences between Judaism and Christianity is that the Jews were not looking to convert the entire world to Judaism. They considered themselves to be “set apart” as God’s chosen people from all other nations and therefore had no intention of trying to sway other nationalities towards their beliefs. Christians on the other hand, were always preaching and evangelizing in the name of Jesus and the rapid spread of this message showed its alarming power. As such, the Jews would not worship the emperor as a living god similar to the Christians, but the Christians took it a step further – they were looking to convert all other Gentiles to that same conviction!
Another reason for the heavy persecution of Christians which continues to this very day, is the sainthood of the Christ followers. Saint means “the holy ones” but the root word according to Wikipedia means “to set apart” or essentially to be different. A Christian is therefore an individual who is different in regards to the world around them; they are a stranger and alien on this planet (1 Peter 2:11). Conformity is a way of life that provides very little pressure or resistance from the environment around the person who chooses to pursue it. Saints, however, are those who are unwilling to bend and are more than willing to go against the currents of social norms. Tertullian describes the first century Christian as those who were “aloof of the crowd”. The Christians’ unwillingness to conform came across to the pagans as self-righteousness and/or elitism. This most definitely was not the case but the Christian’s very existence was seen as a condemnation of the pagans. The Romans feared anything that could undermine the precious unity that was their Empire. This social furnace finally burned out of control when in 64AD, a great fire burned in Rome lasting six days. Rumors started to circulate that Emperor Nero was responsible for the fire, but Nero looking to shift the blame, found an easy target and so blamed this tragedy on the socially rejected Christians. He immediately begun to arrest and horribly execute our first century brothers and sisters in order to salvage his political reputation. It was most likely during this period of intense persecution that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome. Peter was crucified upside down, while Paul’s Roman citizenship afforded him the more “merciful execution” of beheading.
There were also great periods of peace during the first century for the disciples, but persecution was always looming and popular opinion was generally negative. The crowds accused the churches of conducting orgies during their worship services since they said they came together for a “love feast” (Jude 1:12). They also accused the Christians of cannibalism since the Christians talked about eating the flesh of Christ (John 6:51). These accusations validate the truth that people tend to demonize what they do not know or understand. Jesus obviously knew that being hated and persecuted would be the life-style of those who would wish to be his true followers, as he said; “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18) and “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). When it is all said and done the main reason for Christian persecution is simply because the Christian is just unwilling to compromise. The Romans believed that the emperor was Lord and the embodiment of Rome and all of her pagan gods and so emperor worship brought a great sense of unity to the entire Roman world. However, the disciples were just absolutely unwilling in anyway to compromise and would only worship the one true God – Jesus Christ. This brought these two worldviews to an impasse, eventually resulting in the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel chapter two: the rock that struck the statue in the time of the kingdom of iron and baked clay would indeed bring all other kingdoms to an end. This same rock would then grow to fill the whole world and would become a kingdom that would never end or be left to another people!
The Rise of Orthodoxy
“For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough” 2 Corinthians 11:4
During the persecution of the first and second centuries, lack of conviction and the overall masterful scheming of Satan turned the absolute truth of the Christian faith into the personal philosophy and moral ethics of each individual. With the twisting of Christian doctrine, Satan worked powerfully to get rid of Christian doctrine altogether. However, the answer to false doctrine is never “no” doctrine but always sound doctrine. The New Testament authors can be the only viable resource for Biblical truth since they were the actual eyewitnesses to the accounts or in the case of Luke, the interviewer of the eyewitnesses. These men claimed that the source of their writings was divine revelation. Therefore the first step to having true faith is to resolutely accept that these writings are indeed divinely inspired. As Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:20, “Above all you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit“. The truth of the verse above, that the prophets were divinely appointed to serve as the mouthpiece of God is confirmed by several important proofs. First was the prophets’ ability to perform miracles, which served to accredit the first century apostles and authenticate their message as coming from the Almighty God. In the same way, God confirmed his word in the Old Testament with miracles. Second was the historical fact that all the apostles, except John, died a martyr’s death. Dying a martyr’s death does not necessarily mean their testimony was truth; however, the fact that they all died claiming that they were eye-witnesses to the events they proclaimed, adds a lot of weight to the validity of their testimony. The very last verses of the Bible Revelation 22:18-19 states:
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll”.
The Bible emphatically claims to be the truth of God and as such must not be modified by any man. Now some may say that the apostle John may have only been referring to the book of Revelation in the above verse. This is a fair point, but the apostle Paul also said in Galatians 1:6-9:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse”.
This is a similar message to what John wrote in the Revelation scripture above. Paul wisely builds a safe guard for the gospel in the remote but certainly plausible chance that he or one of the other apostles someday became false teachers! Based on this principle, there can be no evolution of biblical truth, all other writings and texts such as the Gnostic gospels, which were written more than a hundred years after most of the New Testament books, should never be grouped in with the original witnesses.
The Book = Bible/Canonicalization
The compiling and finalizing of the scriptures of ‘The Book’ or Bible was obviously a huge part of church history. This process called canonicalization as Shelly states, was finished by about 400 AD in the west by the council of Carthage. The result of canonicalization was the book that is now widely accepted and which we call the Bible.
Power Of Bishops
In the second and third centuries spiritualism started to threaten the church and this marked the greatest doctrinal dismantling in the life of the church to date. It is sadly at this juncture of church history that we observe a great downward spiral of leadership in the church. As morality started to decline within the Christian congregations, church leadership resorted to the disfellowshiping
of those guilty of immorality, adultery, heresy and apostasy! However, as a counter to this trend, the bishop of Rome at the time, a man named Colistus became the first to readmit repentant sinners. In a bid to justify his stance, which was not widely accepted at this juncture, came the doctrine that the bishop of Rome was in the direct “spiritual lineage” of the apostle Peter. As a result of this Colistus inherited the infallible ability to bind spiritual policy on Earth that would be bound in heaven as well (Matthew 16:19). This false teaching is known as papal infallibility and exists to this day! Apart from that it was also during this time that the doctrine of penance (self-punishment for sins committed) and the deposit of grace (good deeds could build an account of grace that could be given to others) was created. The false teachings of Papal infallibility and penance came about as a result of self-seeking, ungodly and unreliable leadership. These two doctrines have been used by Satan to effectively imprison billions of souls in the false religion of Catholicism for centuries.
The Scholar Origen
Two of the most renowned Christian teachers of the second century were Origen and Clement. Origen was essentially the understudy of Clement, the early church father who tried to bridge the gap between Hellenistic Greek philosophy and orthodox Christian teaching. Although Clement’s intentions were pure and simply to build a platform by which to reach out to the Greek world in a greater way, sadly towards the end of his life he developed teachings that were far from sound biblical doctrine. Thus we see yet another example of how deceived and unspiritual leadership provides avenues for Satan to infiltrate the church and muddy the pure gospel of salvation. Clement was, however, the first scholar in noted history to put forth a first principles study series from the scriptures. In taking an allegorical approach to the interpretation of scripture, he taught that there were three levels of meaning in the Bible. The first is the literal sense of any given passage, the second is the moral value of what is being taught and the third sense was the spiritual and allegorical meaning of the passage. This was known as the mind, soul and body interpretation of Scripture which he taught in the school he started that had in essence a ‘fusion curriculum’. The third century also marked the conversion of the Roman world. Some say that Christianity triumphed over the Roman Empire and in a spiritual sense that is true, but with the Roman acceptance of Christianity it was actually the triumph of Roman culture over the third century Church.
Towards the end of the second century the structure of the Roman government began to fall apart. Emperors were assassinated and Princes-to-be were quickly murdered and this eventually led to a geographic split of Rome into East and West. At the beginning of the third century, Christians found themselves under the worst type of persecution to date – thousands were burned, maimed or executed. There was so much bloodshed that even the general Roman population could not stomach it and so began a public backlash against Emperor Galerius who in his final act, begrudgingly issued the edict of tolerance in 312 AD. It is at this time that Constantine captured his father’s throne during the battle of Eboracum. Constantine claimed to have been assisted to victory in the final battle by the Christian God. He thus concludes that Christianity was the superior religion and is himself converted and after being baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia, he issues the edict of Milan in 313 AD. Now for the first time in history, a Roman Emperor subscribed to the Christian faith. Although some argue that Constantine’s conversion was merely a political stunt, he is known to have publicly professed the faith. He gave tax exemptions to Christian priests, banned the use of crucifixion, suspended the gladiator sports and in 321AD made Sunday a public holiday.
Emmanuel – Christ in the Creeds
During the ensuing imperial age of the church, the emperors put demands and pressures upon the pastors to explain and document exactly where the lines of Emmanuel (God with us) were lay. Was he God or was he man? In 451AD a general council near Constantinople concluded that He was absolutely both, He was absolutely God and He was absolutely man. He was two natures coming together and being melded to form one person. Christology, the study of exactly who Jesus was, is one of the major differences and factors that separate Christianity from all other religions. The imperial age was not the first generation to ask such questions, but it was the first age to vigorously debate it. This conflict naturally created a counter culture within the greater church culture. Church members begun to drift away from the monotony of rigorous doctrinal debate and embraced a worship mainly focused on singing and praising. Doctrinal talk begun to be looked upon as snobbish and thus became increasingly unpopular.
Papal Supremacy
Rome found itself under the siege of Alaric, the first king of the Arian Visigoths, in 410AD after over 600 years of being the pre-eminent world power. Fortunately, for the Christians, Alaric considered himself a Christian and as such they were unharmed when the city was eventually sacked. A few decades later, Rome would once again find itself under attack this time by the
tyrant Attila the Hun. A severely weakened army forced the Emperor to send a delegation to Attila hoping to negotiate terms of peace. The Emperor however did not meet with Attila himself, he instead sent Bishop Leo with the hope that Attila could be miraculously talked out of his campaign. Divine intervention is believed to have assisted Bishop Leo in brokering peace with the infamous barbarian, and Attila subsequently withdrew from the region. This powerful display by this ostensibly divinely appointed leader led to the intertwining of the Emperor’s political powers with the divine power of the bishop resulting in Leo being self-elected into the office of Pope-hood. On the day of his ‘appointment’, it is reported that he gave a lesson from Matthew chapters 13 through 16 where he put forth the doctrine of papal infallibility. Due to the backing of the Emperor it officially became law and, as such, binding on the Christian population. This is therefore the manner in which one of the most destructive heresies in Christian history – papal infallibility was established.
Rome at this time was divided between East and West and so the church was divided as well. Mere months after Leo declares himself the supreme leader of the Catholic church the leaders of the council in Constantinople reject Leo’s Pope-hood and appoint their own leader. This is essentially the root of the great schism that would take place 600 years later when the two groups excommunicate each other leading to the formal split between Roman Catholicism in the west and Orthodoxy in the eastern Constantinople. Constantine, the man for whom Constantinople is named, was believed by those in the East to have been the greatest man in Christian history for the honor he did the early Christian martyrs by bringing Christianity to the world. Others primarily in the West, viewed Constantine’s adoption of Christ and influence on biblical doctrine as the singular worst perversion of biblical truth and destruction of the church and body of Christ in all of history. As the succession of Christian emperors continued, the purity of Christian doctrine was completely lost. The Church which Jesus had prayed before his crucifixion, to be “not of this world” (John 17:16) and set apart was now completely lost. The general population at this time had been ‘Christianized’ and Christian doctrine was strictly enforced by those with political power. The church and the state had now fundamentally become one entity leading to the corruption of biblical truth.
Through the Middle Ages Christianity gave birth to the various societies and communities of modern day Europe. Bishops and Popes increased in power and became statesmen as well as spiritual leaders, and Rome – the city of the Caesars – became the city of Popes. The first Pope to also be appointed Prefect or Governor of Rome was Pope Gregory in 540AD. Pope Gregory is a very significant historical figure since he effectively laid the groundwork for the role the Popes would play in the world going forward. The Pope would no longer just be a supreme leader of the church universal but he would now be a powerful political leader for all of Europe. This time period saw the increased legalization of various false doctrines, unbiblical or extrabiblical and as such the affairs of God’s spiritual kingdom were now effectively blended into the affairs of culture and country. This is the overall theme of the Middle Ages, the heartbreaking story of how the church conquered the state and in turn the state corrupted and polluted the church.
Feudalism
The Middle ages eventually gave way to a long period of political autonomy. During this time many men with the titles of ‘Lord’ and ‘Duke’, who owned land and demanded absolute subordination from their subjects, rose up in power. This created a ‘new’ village social system that became the norm in much of Europe where different Lords and Dukes ruled the land. These men and the power they wielded led to a steady decline in the power and role of the Pope and thus impacted the influence of the church in the lives of the population. The Lords and Dukes demanded complete loyalty from the people and even created ceremonies during which vassals would pay them homage. In these ceremonies the vassal would commonly clasp his hands together pledging loyalty to his Lord, others would kiss the hand of the Duke. In return for their loyalty and homage, the Lords and Dukes would provide the people with safety and security. Interestingly these traditions have been carried on among the various Mafia organizations within Europe to this day.
During the Roman era the Emperor and Pope were generally considered as equals, however by the tenth and eleventh centuries the central spiritual leader held little political sway and was considered of low esteem. A movement within the church called the Cluniacs thus begun seeking to reform and re-establish the Pope’s supremacy in the world. To this end, many attempts to effect change on this feudalistic society using church doctrine were made but to no avail. It was, however, successful in reclaiming the autonomy of the church separating it from stately rule or influence. This is the main reason the Vatican city exists to this day as its own sovereign country under the reign of the Pope although it sits within the borders of Italy. The major milestone reached in this period was the reclaiming of the papacy itself from secular influence in 1059AD. Subsequently in order to facilitate the election of new Popes the college of cardinals, which also exists to this very day, was established. Behind this great reform was a man named Hildebrand who was an archdeacon in the church. In 1073AD he was elected Pope Gregory VII and he oversaw a of time unprecedented power for the papacy! He declared that the spiritual has dominion over the physical and formerly prohibited “lay investiture” claiming that the Pope was God’s chief representative on Earth and no emperor, duke or earthly lord had any right to rule or even influence. This was an absolute line drawn in the sand to all of the European churches and rulers as most of them practiced some type of lay investiture. Shortly after this declaration there was a showdown between Pope Gregory the VII and Emperor Henry IV. After an initial refusal to submit to the Pope, Henry IV in January 1077AD begged for forgiveness and so once again a ‘man-focused’ church conquered the state.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the papacy soared higher and higher above the fading glory of emperor rule. Sky scraping cathedrals were built all over Europe as monuments to the power of the papacy. As the Roman Empire became splintered into unified national states destroying any clear emperor with universal power, the church on the other hand did just the opposite, and the role of the Pope became crystallized as the most powerful office in Europe. In his seat of power Pope Innocent III very clearly defined the divine and infallible role of the Pope. According to Pope Innocent III, the Pope was below God but clearly above man; he was to “judge all and be judged by no man”.
Christian Crusades
In the year 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the first of seven Crusades to regain the Holy Land. Deus volt (God wills it) became the crusaders’ battle cry. The Christian Crusades should serve as a never-ending reminder of how wicked and destructive false teachings can be. Papal infallibility was the perfect vessel for Satan to turn Christianity – an apolitical doctrine of love, forgiveness and conviction into an unholy war costing millions of lives. This horrible and tragic time period should for all time serve as a heartbreaking illustration of the saying “as God’s leader goes, so goes God’s people”. This case it lead them to a place that could not be farther then the original Christian message.
1500s Reformation Movement
Martin Luther was among the first to challenge papal authority as a Biblical doctrine. He also challenged other Catholic doctrines such as the “sale of indulgences”, and the doctrine of “meritorious work” (works based salvation). During this time people were encouraged to make contributions to the church for various works such as saint shrine erections. The individual’s contribution would allow him to accumulate a “treasury of merits” which could then be cashed in for sinful deeds done by the person or others. This resulted in vast sums of money generated for the church. This teaching and practice was sternly attacked by Luther in 1517 after hearing the preaching of John Stencil. Stencil was preaching throughout Germany on a papal fund raising campaign to complete the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Luther begun to debate with various Catholic teachers during this time and shortly after was marked as a heretic by the Catholic Church in June 1521. Luther demanded biblical proof of his falsity, going further to claim that the catholic hierarchy was for Christianity what the Babylonian exile was for Judaism. He put forth his argument before the German government and asking for sanctions that would effectively strip the church of its authority. This line in the sand drawn by Luther sparked the beginning of the reformation movement. The reformation was an attempt to restore the Bible as the standard of teaching in the church. Just like a pendulum that goes from one extreme to the other, so did the teachings of Luther. Luther’s excavation of Christianity came up with bones, but sadly, no life giving truth of the Scriptures. His stand however gave birth to more and more reformers that challenged the Catholic creed. By 1522 there were so many people rebelling and speaking out against Catholicism that a new physical church emerged. No more bishops, no more priests and no more celibacy. Priests took nuns for their wives and a new era of spiritual leader emerged – the pastor. However, in the ensuing years this new found spiritual freedom was lost in the economically driven civil war between peasants and their Lords, which in turn led to a denominational splintering of Protestantism. The Lutheran era serves as a reminder of the words of Jesus when he said “he who is not with me is against me” (Luke 11:23), anything that is not a full return to sound doctrine will merely swing the pendulum redirecting God’s would-be people down a road usually opposite to the way they were traveling but no less still on the wide road to destruction. The true Evangelist must “keep his head in all situations” (2 Timothy 4:5) and make judgements and moves based solely off biblical truth and not in reaction to the religious culture around us nor one that came before us, a discipline much easier said than done!
1525 – Anabaptists
Out of the Protestant movement came Conrad Grebel who started a counter culture calling for people to go deeper into reformation. They were known as the Anabaptists and in a sense they were a reformation for the reformers. They took a radical stance for adult baptism and it is within this group we find in the roots for the modern day Baptists as well as the Amish and Quakers. The Anabaptists challenged the teaching of infant baptism, showing biblically that the early church was a group of adults who made a transforming decision to follow Christ and then were candidates for baptism. They called the reformers back to radical biblical discipleship. Baptism however was not their main area of contention. They wanted to complete a return of Christianity to the early church era in terms of its relation to the state government. The Protestants maintained the same financial reliance upon the states much like the Catholics. Anabaptists wanted to restore church governance solely to disciples and, as such, bring a separation between the church and the state. This group eventually splits into three radical groups in German-speaking Europe: the Swiss Brethren lead by Conrad Grebel, the Hutterite Brethren in Monrovia and the Mennonites predominantly located in the Netherlands and northern Germany. This was sadly a very short-lived campaign of restoration to primitive Christianity, for by 1529 all Anabaptists and any other individuals practicing re-baptism were effectively put to death. The Protestants quickly snuffed out the Anabaptists thus exposing their hypocrisy since they who were once persecuted by the Catholics had now become the Persecutors.
Calvinism
John Calvin, who was actually French, played a major role late in the reformation movement. Most Presbyterian and some Baptist churches to this day hold to the teachings that have come to be known as Calvinism. Calvin authored a book, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, which became known as some of the best literature during the entire reformation movement and gained Calvin fame throughout Europe. Calvin’s outlook on Christianity was virtually the same as that of Luther. He, however, focused more on the sovereignty of God verses Luther’s stance on grace through faith alone. After Calvin was forced out of France, Geneva became the home of Calvinism. Many came from around Europe to learn from this great teacher, and so Calvinism spread through Europe, England and had great success in Scotland. By the time of Calvin’s death in 1564 the impact of his teachings could be felt as far as America. The example of Calvin’s impact in his day makes me remember the great quote by Winston Churchill, “A lie travels half-way around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on”. One can be a great Teacher without teaching the great truth of the gospel. His impact changed the lives of millions but only for the worse and although his influence may have spread to all nations, it would have been better if he had kept it to himself. There is good fruit and bad fruit; the effect of John Calvin is definitely terrible fruit from the evil one. Thursday October 11th, 1492 was the day the Americas were exposed to the East and Christianity for that matter. Over the next 150 years Catholicism and Protestantism started exploratory voyages to bring and establish their creeds to the new world. It was the “Age of Discovery” and the question these ‘explorers’ asked themselves was how they could successfully convert this ‘new world’ to their creeds. Would it be through love or by forcing the native Americans to become Christians? Would they try to win the hearts of these new people or would they mercilessly rule as they did in Europe? The reality is that both tactics were employed, some natives were forced to be baptized at the end of a sword and others sought to convert by displaying the heart of Christ.
It was also during this time period that Christianity started a forceful conquest of Africa since the crusades and Christianity had shrunk to the confines of Europe and Great Britain by this time. In addition to this, it was during this time period that the Moors were forced out of Spain and they returned to Africa they took the tenets of Christianity with them, and so Christian influence was felt in North Africa.
Sadly, the evangelization of Central and South America were more like the crusades than the original missionary journeys of the apostles. Bishops were charged with bringing the rule of Christ to the pagan world, and this sparked a civil theological war within the Catholic world of how to convert the natives. Did the pagans need force to see the error of their ways or did the ‘Indians’ have human rights and as such would the way to reach them be through the peaceful preaching of the word? When it was all said and done Christian imperialism is what succeeded and so much greed for power, land and riches continued.
Asia – Japan & China
A man named Francis Xavier first brought the gospel to both India and Japan. He set out from Goa to bring the Gospel to the Japanese and thus the mission field of Japan begun with a warm acceptance of the message and significant growth. The Japanese mentality Xavier encountered was so honorable and virtuous that it changed his mindset on how to approach foreign missions. In India despite Xavier’s initial use of an imperialistic method of evangelism, the noble culture of the people of the Far East so inspired him that he took a more conformist approach to the preaching of the gospel. Sadly, during the early part of the 17th century, new Japanese rulers violently stomped out the foreign missionaries, fearing eventual foreign rule. Over 4000 missionaries were martyred for the faith, and as a result by the middle of the century, mission work had all but come to an end and only a few groups continued in the faith near the hills Namasaki.
Francis Xavier also attempted to bring the gospel to China; sadly he died in Singapore before he could ever get there. Following Xavier’s death, Matteo Ricci took up his efforts. He carefully and tactfully gained influence amongst the Chinese rulers by introducing them to the measurement of time using clocks and calendars. Ironically, Ricci used science to get his foot in the door so that he could bring them faith. Ricci gained Chinese citizenship after serving for ten years as an astronomer. He was then able to preach the Christian message in Peking and many notable families were baptized. By the time Ricci died in 1610 the church he started had grown to over 2000 members. Adam Schall took up the banner after Ricci’s death and even brought Christianity to unchartered heights by gaining religious freedom for the entire country by 1657. At the time of Schall’s death the number of Christians in China approached 300,000. The Chinese missionaries also met with great misfortune, however, this time the struggle was from within. When western Catholic leaders arrived in China and saw the standards of Christian doctrine amongst the Chinese they were appalled! The ensuing conflict and resulting division went so far that the ‘house now divided against itself could not stand’ and the missionary work in China took a sharp decline.
Denominationalism
After many centuries of religious wars all the different sides became so thoroughly exhausted that a territorial truce was made. From one European village to the next Christian truth so varied that all sense of actual sound doctrine was lost in a sea of different creeds. The 1700s saw the dissipation of religious imperialism and since this time period was known as the age of reason and religious freedom, many cults flourished. The people’s great need for religious peace and the desire for the opportunity to travel freely through different regions and territories essentially gave birth to denominationalism. Denominationalism allowed several different creeds of the same religion to reside in a single town. Therefore whereas in sectarianism each sect claimed to be the one true body of Christ thus making all other religions false, Denominationalism is the exact opposite. Denominationalism considers all groups to be the same even if they have doctrinal differences. Denominationalism believes that no ecclesiastical structure can ever lay claim to the Kingdom of God. Therefore, in this system, it is quite impossible to conclude or know who is saved and who is lost and it is not even the express goal. Christianity became a personal truth that resulted from personal experience which no ecclesiastical structure had the ability or right to challenge. This is the perfect invention of Satan to keep all far from the truth that can set them free (John 8:31). Sadly, this is exactly the religious arena we find in almost every corner of the world today and most certainly reigns in America since this is where the theology was created. All of this sincerity based religion came about in reaction to centuries of bloodshed in the name of Christ. Thus in a complete pendulum swing, the greatest virtues of Christianity became politeness, political correctness, tolerance and generally “being nice”. Dogma and absolute conviction were now frowned upon and preaching carried a negative connotation. The age of reason replaced faith with a humanistic version of enlightenment to such a degree that a true, faithful and righteous life-style centered on the life to come, was thrown out in favor of a man’s own pursuit of happiness in this life. This has therefore created a lifestyle of self-help instead of self-sacrifice; confusion instead of conviction and tolerance instead of total commitment.
In Europe during this time Voltaire led the charge of Deism which challenged the church and Christian theory. In the name of reason he pleaded with people to use their common sense to dismiss these ancient superstitions, after all what did they ever give mankind besides bloodshed? Religion was painted as something that existed to solely hold mankind back from enlightenment and progress. A wave of this thinking swept across Europe and we can still see it’s remnants today. Towards the late 1700’s Protestantism became flat and lifeless and the age of the scholar came to the forefront. Christian sermons now resembled scholarly lectures and the doctrine was lost in theory as the Bible became a subject of study rather than the words of the creator. A once zealous reformation movement was lost in the spell of intellect and slipped back into a state of systematic faithless worship, which the Catholic Church had been in for centuries!
Wesleys
John and Charles Wesley, who preached convictional freedom and the freedom to worship where and how one pleases, championed the reformation movement. These themes led to an incredible revival in England during the early 1700s. The Wesleys in many ways are the fathers of modern day denominationalism. The sincerity gospel where personal truth or experience is the focal point of conversion and the basis of an individual’s salvation, is for the most part a Wesleyan teaching. There is obviously an element of truth in the personal decision called for by Jesus for individuals to count the cost prior to choosing to follow him. However, the ‘sincerity gospel’ that resulted from the Wesleys’ teachings emphasizes an individual’s emotions and feelings over and above the truth and convictions of God’s word. As a result sincerity became the basis of salvation. In America the reformation movement called “The Great Awakening” flourished in the 1800s. In fact, the very first amendment of the constitution was that the congress would make no law prohibiting the exercise of any religion. Rebellion against feudalism gave birth to the French and American Revolutions and with that came “democracy” which in essence is the majority dictating direction for a country or state. Liberty became the cry of the time and “individual entitlement” and the pursuit of one’s own happiness became the right of each person. Revolution swept across Europe and many republics emerged. Nations were now ruled by the people and for the people and this once and for all destroyed the national power of the Catholic Church. Never again would Europe return to an alliance held together by throne and altar. Liberty was defined as more than just an individual’s ability to control his/her own actions but the ability to live up to one’s own nature. Humans were believed to have the ability to govern their own selves and therefore deserve the liberty to do so. This presents a slippery slope on which this concept of liberty in this day and age has been twisted and far removed from the original intentions of its founders. Originally, liberty was supposed to be the freedom that would allow individuals to become the best they can be but today liberty has shifted from an individual’s right to become “good” to his/her right to “feel good”. In ancient times being good was directly linked to feeling good, but today we tend to want the freedom to feel good without the obligation of being a good person. These reactions that exist within our modern day society did not just appear from nowhere, they are in a very real way the butterfly effect of Wesleyanism.
1900s
The 19th century marked the greatest Christian expansion in history. Imperialism was not the vessel for this incredible advancement, instead a voluntary system of societies achieved what imperialistic evangelism never could. Wesley’s dream was achieved and a religious society that put their doctrinal differences aside to birth a greater Christian union. Missions societies flourished and a mainstream Christian message gained societal acceptance and spread like wildfire, making the 1900s by far the most widespread religious age of all. A century torn by world wars, the rise of Marxism, Nazi Germany and communistic Russia left Christianity in upheaval in Europe. Adolf Hitler replaced a Jewish Jesus with an Arian racist Jesus who had been distorted through history. Despite all this Christians sprouted into the majority amongst all the other world religions. In America, Jimmy Carter ran for president, and he openly shared about his faith in Christ. Before we knew it entertainers, politicians and all those in between begun to embrace and profess the Christian faith. This age in America became known as the era of the born again Christian and thus Evangelicalism spread throughout a large portion of the American population and has a foothold still are to this day.
Conclusion
The history of the twentieth century shows that the highest population of Christians shifted from northern Europe and North America to southern Africa and South America as the popularity of Christianity drifted to the third world. This shift can be attributed to the zealous work of Pentecostals. The idea of being healed and the power of miraculous gifts was a message that was greatly and widely accepted in the third world. Pentecostal congregations exploded in Latin America and Africa while in Europe and the West many begun to take the stance that Christian thought was for the uneducated and for those living in social and economical strife, who therefore needed hope in an unseen superstitious God. Apart from this, in much of Europe and America individualism became the purpose of existence and as such the different experiences that make up a person’s life now become the reason for one’s existence. Wants, needs, hobbies, possessions and interests have become the new religion and meaning of life. This social setting affected the functionality and the place the church holds in a person’s life. “Organized religion” has become a term of disdain and the church is now a concept few understand and many fear its authority. What this world needs more than anything is true spiritual restoration. We need to go back to the book of Acts and to again start the Jesus revolution we find in its pages. To do that we must first make the decision that we are actually going to live like the leaders we find in the book of Acts. We are going to have the same convictions, the same commitment and the same love for a lost world. We must imitate the same brotherhood where we heroically spur each other on to fight the good fight and finish the race. Spiritual leadership to once again call people back to citizenship in Jesus’ true church is the desperate need of this hour. Sadly, the arena we find ourselves living in today, is that in which the church has gone from martyrs to a local church that meets in a shopping mall. From conviction and scholarly knowledge to an incredible ignorance blended into thousands of denominations. From a compelling faith and love for God that brought a sold out commitment to God’s kingdom to a spirit of consumerism and the standpoint of being a volunteer in the church. From the absolute truth of the universe to a message of self-help based on one’s own philosophical outlook on life and society. From Christianity and a life that is actually like Jesus to “Churchianity” – a meeting of the week with little to no power in life of the churchgoer. One might look at these last 2000 years of church history and think “why put your faith and invest your life into such a mess”? To me this mess only validates Christian truth because we are not living in a time that is extra-biblical in any way, as it says in 2 Timothy 4:3-5: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations”. Overall what Shelly’s incredible book created in me is a greater understanding of how we got to be where we are in the religious world today. In doing so it has helped me to form a much deeper conviction about the truth we preach and the conviction it is going to take to make it to the end. I guess the great challenge we have ahead of us is one that countless generations before have failed to overcome, to keep our head and convictions in this crazy situation and to God be all the glory!
