Why Haven't They Gone Back POST TWO

The book of Revelation itself contains a mysterious reference in chapter six to four horses with riders. The first is white, the second red, the third black and the fourth pale. These are symbols describing the decline of the early church from its pure form into something the disciples would not even recognize. In fact Church history in the Christian era is a repeat of Israel’s in the Old Testament. After the time of Moses and Joshua the nation had no direct earthly leader and was ruled by people known as “Judges”. Israel was a theocracy, where the Lord Himself was the real King. He spoke to and through these judges and also His prophets. This parallels the first few centuries after Christ where a number of Bishops each shared equal status as leaders and the church looked directly to God. Before the Roman Emperor Constantine, the persecution of the church came from outside it. Rome was her enemy just like the persecution Israel faced from its neighbouring nations like the Philistines and Moabites. Then Israel sinned when they asked their last Judge Samuel, who was also a prophet, to give them a king so they could be like other nations. When the Roman Empire fell, the Roman Church gradually rose up in its place. (In 508 AD a peace treaty was signed that set the stage for the union of church and state that followed. The Eastern Emperor Justinian declared the Bishop of Rome head of Church in 533. However, the Pope was not free to exercise this power until 538 when the last opposing tribe, the Ostrogoths, was routed out of Rome by Justinian’s armies at the request of the Pope.) From that time onward, though there were some good Popes, most of them lead the church astray like most of the Old Testament kings led Israel and Judah into idol worship. Then the persecution was from within in both cases as God’s true people were the minority within the realm of those who claimed to be His followers.

What made the Dark Ages dark was not primarily the loss of or stopping of scientific progress after the fall of the Roman Empire. It was not the resistance to further scientific progress as shown in the persecution of Galileo. It was the spiritual darkness of the mixing of Bible truth with pagan superstition that became the Catholic Church. Jim Pinkoski lists 48 Papal decisions and declarations in his comic “The Truth About the Sabbath”, pages 44 and 45. Each and every single one of them is a doctrine still taught today by the Catholic Church that out and out disagrees with the Bible and is simply not true. Here’s the way Foxe’s Christian Martyrs of the World describes the decline. This is a book I recommend everyone read. Page 45 of the Barbour and Company 1989 edition says “By reading this history, a person should be able to see that the religion of Christ, meant to be spirit and truth, had been turned into nothing but outward observances, ceremonies, and idolatry. We had so many saints, so many gods, so many monasteries, so many pilgrimages. We had too many churches, too many relics (true and fake), too many untruthful miracles. Instead of worshipping the only living Lord, we worshipped dead bones; in place of immortal Christ, we worshipped mortal bread.” On page 27 we read “The inquisition of the Church of Rome was, in its days, one of the most terrible engines of tyranny ever created by man (taken from the chapter “The Spanish Inquisition”)”.

Here are some more quotes I think you’ll find interesting:

Howard Frederic Vos, Exploring church history [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1994 by Howard F. Vos.
“LONG before Luther fired his verbal salvo against indulgences and launched the Reformation, others had sniped at the theological position of the Roman Catholic church.”

“Like Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe (1330?–1384) was a biblical reformer, bringing to bear the teachings of Scripture on the practices of the Roman church. ... Pope Gregory XI condemned him in 1377 for his efforts, but he was protected by some of the nobles. ... To Wycliffe, Scripture, which he interpreted literally, was the sole authority for the believer. Decrees of the pope were not infallible except as based on Scripture. The clergy were not to rule, but to serve and help people. Eventually he reached the conclusion that Christ and not the pope was the head of the church; in fact, the pope, if he were too eager for worldly power, might even be regarded as the Antichrist. Ultimately he came to repudiate the entire papal system.”

“John Hus (1372?–1415), (was) professor of philosophy at the University of Prague and preacher at Bethlehem Chapel. ... Hus’s approach was similar to that of Wycliffe, and his influence on the Continent was greater than that of the Englishman. It should be remembered that Luther was greatly impressed with the reformer from Prague. Hus’s great work was entitled On the Church. In it he stated that all the elect are members of Christ’s church, of which Christ rather than the pope is head. He argued against simony, indulgences, and abuses of the mass. He demanded a reform in the lives of clergy, and he asserted the right of laity to take both the bread and wine in the Communion.”

“When the pope summoned Hus to the Council of Constance to stand examination on his views, the emperor Sigismund ordered him to go and promised safe conduct. ... But when the council condemned him as a heretic and burned him at the stake, Sigismund did not interfere. Like Luther, Hus came to blows with the pope over the issue of indulgences (among other things); but Europe was not so ready for the Reformation in 1415 as it would be a century later.”

“Many other religious movements, for which there is no space here, spread across Europe during the fifteenth century, demonstrating how widespread was the demand for church reform there. In fact the Continent was a seething kettle by 1500—ready to boil over. In the realms of economics, society, politics, intellect, and religion, the time had come for an eruption. All that was needed was someone who could mold these explosive elements into a single movement. Such a movement would blitz Europe. It was Martin Luther who provided a channel for all this explosive energy in what is now called the Protestant Reformation.”

The Great Controversy, p. 57 ,58 “Another step in papal assumption was taken, when, in the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII. proclaimed the perfection of the Romish Church. Among the propositions which he put forth, was one declaring that the church had never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the Scriptures. But the Scripture proofs did not accompany the assertion. The proud pontiff next claimed the power to depose emperors, and declared that no sentence which he pronounced could be reversed by any one, but that it was his prerogative to reverse the decisions of all others.”

“A striking illustration of the tyrannical character of this advocate of infallibility was given in his treatment of the German emperor, Henry IV. For presuming to disregard the pope's authority, this monarch was declared to be excommunicated and dethroned. Terrified by the desertion and threats of his own princes, who were encouraged in rebellion against him by the papal mandate, Henry felt the necessity of making his peace with Rome. In company with his wife and a faithful servant, he crossed the Alps in midwinter, that he might humble himself before the pope. Upon reaching the castle whither Gregory had withdrawn, he was conducted, without his guards, into an outer court, and there, in the severe cold of winter, with uncovered head and naked feet, and in a miserable dress, he awaited the pope's permission to come into his presence. Not until he had continued three days fasting and making confession, did the pontiff condescend to grant him pardon. Even then it was only upon condition that the emperor should await the sanction of the pope before resuming the insignia or exercising the power of royalty. And Gregory, elated with his triumph, boasted that it was his duty "to pull down the pride of kings."

Martin Luther and John Calvin quoted in “The Anti-Christ Exposed” by Dan Jarrard, p. 27
“Martin Luther: Though recognizing certain individual Popes to be men of integrity, and thus exempt from the system, he voiced in loud and clear tones that the papacy was in truth the very anti-Christ – ‘O, how much pain it has caused me, though I had the scriptures on my side ... that I should dare to make a stand alone against the pope, and hold him forth as anti-Christ ... ‘Twas so I fought with myself and Satan, till Christ, by His own infallible word, fortified my heart against these doubts (MARTYN, pages 372,373).’

“John Calvin wrote in 1536: ‘Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman Pontiff anti-Christ ... His kingdom will consist in speaking great words, or blasphemies, against the Most High (INSTITUTES, Volume 2, page 410).’”

Does this sound anti-Catholic in some way? Well think about it this way. In 2 Peter 3:8, 9 the Bible says “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” When did the Dark Ages begin? Though there was a gradual decline in the spirituality of the church really from the time of the first generation’s demise onward, the last possible date was 538 AD when the union of church and state was in full swing. When did Martin Luther nail the 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church and begin the process of reforming the church, bringing us all to the point where we have the intellectual and spiritual freedom we have today? The year was 1517. Not exact of course, but it was ABOUT ONE THOUSAND YEARS! Luther was not the first to speak out against the church’s errors. With his efforts however, the Reformation would not be stopped. Such is the greatness of God’s mercy. He still worked to save the church He started here on earth for an entire millennium before He gave up on it and started over, even though it had fallen so far away from Him. Even today sincere Catholic people are still loved by God.