For over 1600yrs the Church was bound under a Constantine Church system that was pagan and not the preaching of the Apostles. For 500yrs there has been Reformation, a Renaissance that returned the Church to many of the earlier church practices, examples Solae Scriptura (Scripture alone), Personal Revelation from the Lord Jesus, going directly to the Trinity instead of through false surrogates like saints and the Madonna, the resurgence of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, and more. But still the Constantine model remains strong across the board of denominations from Presbyterian to Pentecostal, from Roman Catholic to Reformed Churches, the final vestiges of the pagan church remain strong with its pews, puffed up pastors, and performance based services. There is still one last dragon to slay, one more sin to crucify, and one last corpse to caste out; the institutional church.
The Church in early days of the Apostles was not an institution but a family, "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." (Acts 2:46). What church do you know would meet every day, like families do after school and work, breaking bread together and fellowshipping? It is a marvel if many people make Sunday services, not to mention Tuesday or Thursday Bible Study, but every day? How could they spare the time?! Did they not have other obligation and duties? That kind of thinking is exactly what is wrong with the institutional church. The Church is the body of believers, Christians who seek Christ together, a community of Christ followers, not a building, institution, program, and services! Back in Apostles days they did not consider it a bother or sacrifice to meet. They sought fellowship daily, because it was a family of Fidel, of faith. Their minds were not like the modern machine, that church is lip service, attendance, and performance; no it was life, it was daily living for the Lord Jesus Christ!
This early Church was bound by love. Love for Christ, love for each other. This love was so powerful, that they went to burning stake, cross, lions, and more; "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." (Revelation 12:11). They took seriously, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it," (Matthew 10:39) and "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24). The Church of the Apostles was ready to suffer affliction and enmity for their faith. Then Constantine came on scene in 313 A.D. and offered the church 'salvation' from the Great Persecution, but 'damnation' in form of putting the family of faith into a furnished building with pagan rites. As a result people began to fall away from what the followers of Christ looked like, and slowly and surely the corrupted church was founded. It is actually fair to not place the whole blame on Constantine, for the corruptions began to slither in one by one after 100 A.D. Once the Apostles had reposed and gone to be with Alpha and Omega, the apostolic fathers developed ideas like asceticism and self abasement which are not what the apostles taught, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh," (Colossians 2:8, 16-23), and, "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." (2 Timothy 4:2-5). Forms of godliness (2 Timothy 3:5) quickly developed, and men like Origen and Augustine, touted as true champions of the faith had worse heresies in their hearts than heretics they fought, Origen a terrible corrupted view of the Trinity, Augustine being taught by a spirit of light (Confessions) that he thought was God, but we know an unidentified spirit of light is Satan, "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."(2 Corinthians 11:14).
As the saints strayed from Scripture and the Spirit of God and embraced the 'sanctuaries' fashioned by sorcerers, sinners, and satanic wolves in sheep's clothing; the dark ages took hold until the 17th Century, when at last a good light, the Light of Scripture was allowed to shine once more, and men discovered how different the Apostles, and Jesus Christ's own words differed from the pantheon of Roman Catholic saints, and Popes. Martin Luther gets the most mention, but others like Zwingli and John Wycliffe, and even Jan Hus had a hand in long running reforms that rekindled and reconnect man with the Son of Man through Scripture. What had been kept in the libraries of lofty liturgy and the privilege of priests and popes, was now public and within reach of the poorest person. The Reforms were not complete, another wave had to come, one that striped even the now dead churches of Luther, Zwingli, and Wycliffe; the coming of the Holy Spirit during The Great Awakening, The Second Great Awakening, Azusa Street, The Jesus Movement, and the advent of Pentecostalism, Charismasticism, and the Gifts of Holy Spirit Churches. Now Scripture was met by the Spirit, but the imbalance persisted, churches adhering to Scripture became Baptist and Evangelical, while spirit filled churches often ignored the testate of Scripture and created Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist, and Four Square Churches. Then came the blending of two; Scripture and Spirit in the Calvary Churches, some Evangelical Churches, some Southern Baptist Churches, and others. But still the stain of Constantine and the apostolic fathers festered. The building and paganized ritual survived despite the Scriptures and the Spirit.
When Scripture and the Spirit of God could not remove the stain, a sword is brandished by the Lord. The work of ISIS and other groups is tearing down the buildings and catherderals, forcing Christians to become community oriented, meeting in houses, and holding fast to the Bible and power of the Spirit. In this setting of persecution, martyrdom, and house churches, the body of Christ is growing at a unestimatable rate! In China, in Iran, in Africa, and other countries, the combination of persecution and personal community in the Prince of Peace has preformed a miracle! The Church of the Apostles, found in ACTS and the whole New Testament is back! It took the burning of the buildings, and the body of Christ becoming a family, rather than a festival, fixture, and forum. The faith is flourishing in the original Biblical model, while here in the United States the church is dying a slow death as men clinging to their the rotting corpse of Constantine and the decaying flesh of the mistaken fathers post the Apostles.
This is the chance to purge the corruption, the "dead body" (Romans 7:24). Sadly, many will not embrace the return to Biblical Christianity. They are afraid of the Church of Acts, and instead want to keep their rather Antichrist model, where ritual not the Redeemer, paganism not the Prince, and position instead of power remain. To many clergymen are invested in the Church of Constantine. They are afraid of the Apostles and the ACTS, because therein they discover their error. Ironically, the major lack of attendance of churches is actually probably the Almighty's doing. True disciples know the Constantine Church is dead, and they long for family of faith found in the Scriptures. It remains to be seen if the American Church can embrace the ACTS family approach and discard the pagan position based approach of the Church Fathers and Constantine Church. I have my doubts, but surely a few disciples will make it out before the dead corpses deaden their discernment.
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