Scriptural Answers Network

By Michael W. Gardner
There is not much of an argument as to when Christ started his Church.  There is a lot of argument as to which church today is the one Church that Christ started.  Some say their church is the only true Church and some say any church is as good as any other Church.  I have even heard the argument that any religion is as good as any Church and that God started them all.  Is God a God of chaos, because this is nothing but chaos?  Even when they have the same name over the door you can never tell what is inside until you attend a worship and sometimes not even then. 

In AD 33 Christ established his Church.  There is a whole discussion concerning this, what Christ said before he ascended and what his disciples said after, but that is another discussion.  Let’s stay on track as much as we can.  For the purposes of this discussion the Church, Christ’s Church, the Church of Christ was established in AD 33 at Jerusalem.  What followed is documented in various contemporary writings of the day.  The news of Christ, the Good News, was spread throughout the earth.  For one thing, the Romans descended on Jerusalem and the tribulation that followed sent Christians to all the corners of the world.  Interesting that it was the Romans and their roads that made such a thing possible.

Paul and others made missionary journeys and established congregations including the ordination of their leadership.  There was no central place of worship but there was Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was not important as a place but it was the place where most of the apostles resided.  These chosen disciples were endowed with special measures of the Holy Spirit that was their comfort and their guide.  They were a resource or reference library for the early Church.  The apostles had been with Jesus the most and were given special access to understand both while he was alive and after his resurrection what exactly he had been teaching.  Jesus spoke in parables because the Church was not yet come and the old law had not been fulfilled.  The old law had not been nailed to the cross and taken off our backs.  However, Jesus spoke so that once that veil was lifted it would be clear what he was teaching and his parables could be understood.

Christ never meant for his apostles to be Kings and Princes of the Church.  He, Jesus the Christ, was the only priest they needed then and the only one we need now.  For the most part, everyone understood that until the time that there was a special gathering in Jerusalem.  Some in the Church were teaching that certain parts of the Old Law were still in effect and others were completely opposed to keeping any of it.  So, to settle the matter certain ones were selected to go to Jerusalem and meet with the apostles and to carry the question to them.  It is all there in Acts chapter 15 and the conclusion of the matter was an understanding that it was not meant for the things of the old law to continue in the Church.  Was this the first Synod, or gathering of the Church leaders to decide matters of the Church?  It was not, but for those seeking justification, it was close enough to sanction their future gatherings in the name of God to take unto themselves the power of God.  However, that does not happen for some time.

The last book of the Bible was also the last book written.  The Bible in several places is not in chronological order so this really is not obvious on its face.  The book of Revelation was written about AD 90 or so.  It was written in a kind of code so that it’s true message was concealed from those that sought to kill all that were part of the body of Christ through his Church.  The message is much simpler than most would have you believe.  The message is just that things will get worse before they get better but God wins and through him so do the Christians.  For the purpose of this discussion we consider the first 2 or 3 chapters.  It appears obvious in the first part of the book what the code means.  To understand it, consider this; Angels are messengers of God, seven (7) is the number symbolizing complete or whole things.  There are seven churches, or congregations and they each have an angel.  In other words, each congregation has someone who professes to give the message or word of God to the congregation.  Who is it in the Church today that delivers the message to the congregation… it is the pulpit preacher.  The candle sticks are the emblem that makes a congregation a Church.  So if you have the emblem then you are a Church in good standing.

Now read the first couple of chapters of Revelation again and see what the message is and to whom it is sent.  The message is to the Angels of the Churches.  It is not addressing the Christians but it is addressing those that deliver the message.  It is addressing those that would be apostles but are not.  It is urging the preachers not to depart from the faith and for a time this admonition was probably successful.  That is, until an emperor was converted.  Sometime around AD 325, Constantine I was converted and it is said he then ordered all his subjects to convert to Christianity.  He did not stop there but tried to organize the Church.  He was not the first or the last to say, “I know God said this but I think it would be better if we did this other thing.”  I read somewhere that Constantine not only wanted to be the Emperor of Rome but the Emperor of the Church and no less.

So in AD 325, Constantine called all the Church leaders or angels to a council.  During that meeting of early Christians, they put together and adopted as the creed of the Church a doctrine called the Nicene Creed.  After all, they did it in Acts chapter 15 so why not again.  Never mind that in AD 325 they were not seeking the will of the Holy Spirit but were seeking consensus of their fellow Christians.  In the process, Constantine got to exert at least a little imperial control over the Church.  From that day forward they did not use the precedent of Acts chapter 15 but rather the first Ecumenical Council of AD 325.  Approximately 300 of the early Church angels elevated themselves above God and called themselves the Bishops of the Church.

The Church was not dead or gone.  However, we could now begin to see the Anti-Christ.  Who is the Anti-Christ?  First John chapter 2 and verse18 says he is one and he is many.  First John chapter 2 and verse 22 says he is the liar that denies Jesus is the Christ.  Finally, first John chapter 4 and verse 3 says he is coming and he is already there.  These are the only places in the Bible that the Antichrist is mentioned.  Reading First, Second and Third John we can understand that the Antichrist is the one that says they are of God but their deeds show them to be liars.  If they truly loved God and believed in him and trusted him then they would not be worried about creeds and power in the Church. 

Once upon a time the King of Israel started counting the Israelites.  God came very close to destroying the entire nation over it and starting over .  God does not want you counting your warriors because he does not want you relying in your own strengths but he wants you to rely on him.  He did not want ecumenical councils and Nicene creeds because he had already given us all we needed to be perfect.  He gave us the inspired word of God.  When Constantine the first organized the Church in AD 325, I submit that he did not organize Christ’s Church, the Church of Christ, but he started his own Church and whether he meant to or not, he claimed the power of God because only God can start a Church.  In doing this, he denied that Jesus was the Christ and the confession of Peter that Christ made the foundation of his Church was undone.

By AD 606 what Constantine started became formally the Catholic church.  The big “C” would like you to think that all Christianity was wrapped up in their organization.  The Popes have tried over the years to enforce their claim to deity by inquisitions and outright murder.  The records of the Catholic Church bulge with accounts of purging the heretics.  These heretics believed that Jesus was the only priest and that you did not need a priest on earth to worship God.  They believed in baptism for the remission of sins and rejected the claim of the Catholic Priests that only the priests could forgive sin.  These heretics believed sharing the unleaven bread and the fruit of the vine was a way to remember Jesus until his returns and denied the foolish belief that these emblems became the actual living body of Christ in the hands of the priests.  The Church of Christ continued through the dark ages in spite of Hell's attempts to close its doors.  There are even accounts of large numbers of these so called heretics that took shelter in the mountains but continued in faithful worship to God.

As the dark ages ended so did the control of the Catholic church. As the control of the papacy faded there was rebellion within their ranks.  A lot of people from within began to question and search for the truth. Some found the truth while others only fell short creating new denominations instead of finding the original.  Others found the truth and they are credited with restoring the Church.  They did not restore the Church because it never left or closed.  These Christians only restored themselves to the Church. 

As the new world was explored, the printing press caused an explosion of information that made it look like something new and different instead of bringing out what had only been hidden.  In America it was easy to think that a new world caused the creation of a new religion, Protestantism, but they were wrong.  Again, some found the truth and joined the unbroken line of Christians going back to that first sermon in AD 33 in Jerusalem.  Others used new freedoms to make religion what they wanted without considering what Christ wanted.  In their vanity they considered that if they were sincere in worshipping the way they wanted, it must please God because, after all, it pleased them.  What difference is there between this attitude and the one Constantine had in AD 325?  Nothing has changed, either you seek the truth and worship the way it pleases God or you make your own rules like Saul did in first Samuel chapter 15.  Saul was told that to God obedience is better than worship and without obedience your worship is useless.

Is all this important?  Does God care about the little things?  Ask Uzzah in Second Samuel chapter 6 if God cared whether he just touched the Ark to steady it.  Ask Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus chapter 10 if God cared whether they worshipped the way God commanded.  Yes, he cares and he demands obedience to his will whether we think we can do it better or different or what.  God gave us the scriptures so that by studying them we could be perfect and worship perfectly.  All we have to do is follow the pattern he provided in those scriptures.