THE BODY OF CHRIST
ORIGINS OF
THE FALLING AWAY –
LESSON 6
2 Timothy 3:1-5
“But
know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3
unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers
of good,
4
traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such
people turn away!”
The History of the Falling Away
–
Part II
In the previous lessons, we have learned that the Apostasy was already at
work; yet, the Holy Spirit through the Apostles of Jesus Christ restrained
it directly for a time (2
Thessalonians 2:7). Even during this time, the Apostle Paul
witnessed clearly that the Apostasy would come, a falling away from the
truth, brought on by false teachers and weak, unknowledgeable brethren.
This apostasy is going to take place in name, organization, worship,
teaching, work, and reverence of scripture. As we look into the history of
the apostasy, there are a couple of points we want to set forth up front –
-
Historic Sources.
We want to acknowledge up front that much of recorded history is produced by
the power in control of the specific times.
We would be incredibly naive to think that much of what we know is
not slanted in favor of the powers that be. In this case, much of history
was written by the apostate church; however, in the presentation of the
birth of this apostate church, there is enough clear history to plainly
share the fulfillment of the Apostle Paul’s words.
-
Historic Periods.
We will share this information in highlights of specific periods (there are
vast amounts of information over the thousands of years of history). We will
point out important trends and happenings, but restrain from detail in many
of the points, as massive books would be needed to record it all; however,
everything is researchable in detail, if something catches your interests
(just use the search engine on your internet explorer). There are also many
good books written on the subject of church history. In your research, just
be careful of the historic influence (where it may come from! – consider
point #1).
-
Please Men, or God?
Universally, the importance of this series of lessons is to set forth that
apostate churches and reforms of the apostate churches may do whatever their
founders desire them to do, and please men; however, they will never
please God!
If the church of our Lord is to be faithful, it must only do the bidding of
its founder, Jesus Christ, and such will never please men in general!
Period Four:
Medieval Christianity
591 to 1517 AD
Early in this period the world would witness the birth of Islam (570-629
AD), and subsequently the beginning of the crusades.
It would be in 607 AD, as we mentioned in our previous lesson, that Boniface
III would be called Pope and Universal Bishop.
In 664 AD the Roman church was completely established in the British Isles.
This time frame will illustrate a singular church with great influence over
the minds of men (the establishment of scholasticism, “that which belongs to
the school” 1100-1500 - medieval universities). Science and art would become
the servant of the church and the church would take lead in every
progressive movement. The church built many massive cathedrals, played into
the politics of nations (made and un-made kings), and blessed or cursed
entire nations that did not support every edict of the church.
There would be little rival to the Roman Catholic Church except anti-Roman
sects born out of the great schism between Catholic and Orthodox (Approx.
1054 AD).
In the later portion of this time frame, the Papacy would begin reigns of
tyranny and the inquisitions would be born (approx. 1220 AD). Due to this
oppression and a sense of nationality in many countries by leaders and
people; protests and reforms would begin to organize against the church.
Islam –
The birth of Islam would be disastrous to the Christianity of Rome in the
Middle East and North Africa (570-629 AD). By 637 AD, Jerusalem was taken by
Muslims. By 641, Egypt, long considered the pride of Christianity became a
Muslim country (even Alexandria). The Moors of North Africa would invade and
occupy Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Serbia, Hungary, and even
Sicily for many hundreds of years.
Monasteries
– The word has its origins in the Greek, “Monasterion”;
which denotes the habitation or workplace of monks or nuns. Orders of monks
began to spring up as early as 529 AD and continue all the way through 1664
AD. In many cases through part of this middle age of Christianity,
Monasteries were the only pure source of scholarship and learning in church
controlled areas of Europe. Truthfully, much of what has endured through the
ages was due to the strict practices of copying and protecting ancient
manuscripts and texts.
Scholasticism
– This word has its origin from the Latin “Scholasticus”;
which means “that which belongs to the school”. It would be used of schools
of philosophy taught by academics (approx. 1100-1500 AD). This was an
attempt to marry and control philosophy with church theology.
Crusades
– This term is given to a series of wars initiated by the church to win back
their holy lands, which were taken from them by the Muslims. There were a
total of eight crusades that spanned almost two hundred years.
The Inquisition
– This practice came into being in approx. 1220 AD. These were special
tribunals responsible only to the given Pope of the time. This tribunal
decided the labeling of sin worthy of excommunication from the church and to
be shut off from the earth through death. To this end, the tribunal
practiced regularly; the death stake, imprisonment, torture, fines, and
pilgrimages as punishment for what it deemed a threat to the church.
In 1479, we see the famous Spanish Inquisition, established by Ferdinand and
Isabella, with the approval of Pope Sixtus IV. They plotted a church
approved removal of Jews and Muslims, labeled as heretics. They would be
given an order to become Christian or leave the country. If they failed by
the time frame given, they were burned at the stake.
John Wycliffe -
He was an English scholar, and theologian educated at the Queen’s College,
Oxford (1320-1384 AD). He is thought to be one of the earliest reformers
(something that we will see that explodes in the next lesson). He would
denounce the tyranny of the Pope, and translate the first English Bible.
Summary –
Although this is just scratching the surface of much of what will transpire
during this period of time; it gives us insight to a complete apostate
church.
During this time, we see the complete abandonment of Apostolic Christianity
and the singular source of authority that was meant to guide the body of
Christ.
The church, universally meaning the Roman Catholic Church of this period,
was a tyrannical organization infected with individual power struggles (up
to three popes at a time vying for power) brought on by human greed for
power and covetousness, mandated prayers, complete control of doctrine for
the members, seizing the power to control absolution from sin or to project
judgment for said sin.
The church engaged in physical warfare to promote its own causes and
sanctioned conversion by the point of a sword. It seized control of the
learning centers in an attempt to control science and philosophy. Any who
opposed this state protected church met civil prosecution, and were
imprisoned, banished, or put to death. Kings feared the church and gave into
its whims in order to remain on the throne and avoid the inevitable wars
that would come, if they did not.
There were pockets of resistance to this horrible apostasy from the Orthodox
churches, and from what would begin to be protestant (to protest) reform.
This will transition into the next lesson.
Next: “The
Reformation”