The Corrupt Church to a Child of God

 

What would you think of an evangelical group that preached the gospel in the native language of the people, who identified with the poor by giving up riches, and patterned their lives on the teaching of Jesus? Pope Lucius III branded them heretics and excommunicated them. He also targeted them for extermination.

What would you think of a religious group who wanted to copy apostolic Christianity. Who sought salvation and like Christ, the well-being of people. They believed the Bible is the word of God, that the New Testament is the rule of faith and practice for the Church. They taught believer’s baptism, nonviolence, simple gatherings without clergy. Catholics and Protestants burned some of them at the stake, drowned, hunted them by executioners and soldiers who killed them with the sword or hanged them.

Emerging from the first Council of Nicaea the Roman Catholic Church began its take over of Christianity. 380 BCE “Christianity” became the mandatory religion under Emperor Theodosius I. Heresy was a civil crime. Laws against non-Catholic groups were issued. In the 10^th and 11^th centuries Popes began asserting political power over kings. The political ambitions of the Catholic Church expanded in following centuries.

Imperial features of the Catholic Church – Vast land ownership, political power, economic power. During Medieval times Papal authority over kings. Colonial-era imperialism: Catholic missions intertwined with Spanish, Portuguese, and French empires. Missionaries accompanied conquerors, often with royal authority. Forced conversions in the Americas and parts of Africa/Asia.

Magisterial Protestant Churches (Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican) – Lutheran, Princes became heads of state churches. Mandatory Lutheranism in some territories. Anabaptists and radicals executed.

Reformed (Calvinist) state churches – Geneva: highly regulated religious society, Scotland: strict enforcement of Reformed doctrine, Zurich/Bern: execution of Anabaptists.

Anglican Church (England, British Empire) – Monarch = supreme governor of the church, Nonconformists outlawed early on, Church spread globally with British colonial expansion.

The history of the “Christian” Church is anything but Christ-like. The Roman Church which is the mother of all churches is a human creation. The Roman Catholic Church has no support in scripture even though it is like Judaism of the first century. The Reformation produced more of the same, but with a new name. A Scottish proverb says, “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” which explains the futility of reformation. We don’t need reformations or restorations we need to follow Jesus. Our relationship with God cannot be institutionalized.

The end does not justify the means; however, listening to Paul the gospel can reach people even if the institution or preacher has failings. “Some proclaim Christ from envy … others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition … What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true.”