A ROOT OF APOSTASY

by Bill Jackson

Jesus Christ said, in Mt 16:18, "I will build my church." In Mt

18:17, He indicated that this Church would be definable and visible.

In Mt 20:25 He gave definite commands concerning the government of this

Church. It was not to be fashioned after the Gentile powers that had

great men ruling over the people.

From these scriptures we can learn a great deal about the Church.

It is His Church; it is locally manifested; it is not to be ruled over

by dictatorial authority. In the Book of Acts, the end of evangelism

was the establishment of a local church, and never do we read of any

authority that abrogated the Lordship of Christ in the local church.

In I Tim 3:15, the local church is referred to as "the house of

God...the pillar and ground of truth." This was not speaking of a

structure - this was the local church, men and women called out from

the world for the express purpose of representing God before men,

angels and demons.

Today, if you were to ask, "Where is the church?" you would

probably be directed to a building. While God made no provision for

any authority between the local church and Himself, when we talk of the

Methodist Church or the Baptist Church we often mean a denominational

organization. This is not scriptural terminology.

Where did it start to go wrong? Can it be that many of the problems

we face today with ecumenism and compromise are rooted in the wrong

concept of the church?

Both Paul (Acts 20:29) and Peter (II Peter 2:1) prophesied that

false teachers would attack the church. One false teaching was put

forth by Irenaeus in the 2nd century. He proposed the concept of a

monarchical bishop as a safeguard against heresy. Regardless of the

logic of this, it was in direct disobedience to the words of Christ (Mt

20:25) and was an affront to His Lordship. As the system developed,

the Lord Christ was supplanted by my Lord Bishop. Peter had warned

about this (I Peter 5:3).

This concept of hierarchy (rule by priests) developed into the

present Roman Catholic system of Pope-Cardinal-Bishop- Priest-People.

This bars a local congregation from access to God and subjects each

individual to priestly control, robbing him of the believer-priesthood

that would be his if he rejected the works-grace mixture of Romanism

and put his trust in the Saviour from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Reformation corrected many doctrinal problems, especially

concerning justification by faith alone, but, while affirming the

priesthood of believers, it still continued a church governmental

system that seemed totally oblivious to the unique position of the

local church. Leaders over groups of local churches soon appeared as

bishops, archbishops, superintendents or moderators. As this

leadership became self-propogating, men were loathe to give up the

power and prestige that was theirs as denominational leaders, and the

term "ministry" tended toward lordship over the flock rather than its

true meaning of service to the members of the body.

As reformation and revival movements surged and ebbed over the next

few hundred years, doctrinal purity was often sought, but unscriptural

governmental procedures persisted. Denominations were inevitable

because new groups had distinctives that separated them from others,

but, rather than use the biblical pattern of local church autonomy,

human leaders soon were enthroned in positions of authority over local

churches in their denomination.

Many of the problems we face today are due to these unscriptural

concepts of the church and church government. From the biblical pattern

where the Lordship of Christ is asserted over the local church, we have

come to abrogate His Lordship and adopt a structure that is more in

tune with humanistic patterns of government.

This institutional structure is, by virtue of its form, one that can

and has been invaded by Satan, resulting in a totally disgraceful

doctrinal disobedience and ecumenical compromise. It can only be said

that "this church" - of whatever denomination - is not "His Church."

Let us observe one Christian - Mr. X. He is a truly converted man,

cleansed by the blood of Christ, baptized by the Holy Spirit into His

Body.

This man will always be a Christian. He has eternal life, and he

will have eternal life in 1, 000,000 years. If he could cease to have

it, it was not eternal to begin with.

He joins a local church that admits only born again believers, where

Jesus Christ is truly Lord over all affairs.

One Sunday a visitor encourages the church to join with other

Christian churches in one organization. He speaks of love and

Christian co-operation that would result. The believers had always had

good rapport with Christians in near-by towns, but the visitor tells

them they would have more of an impact on the world by being actually

united. They were told they should form a board from all the churches

to co-ordinate activities. This sounds like a good idea, so the

like-minded churches got together, and a board was formed.

A Superintendent was elected - not a mean, harsh dictator, but a

loving man who insisted that all he wished to do is to help the local

churches. As the structure gets more involved, it begins to control

the missionary activities of the local church and then establishes

theological schools for future ministers.

Many of the fundamental churches in this group, or denomination,

continue their evangelism and growth locally, and don't pay much

attention to what is going on at headquarters. They don't realize

that, over the years, some men who are not sound on the fundamentals of

the faith come into positions of authority on the board.

We can look at Mr. X. He is still a Christian, but is disturbed

when he reads that one of the professors at a school run by his

denomination has written a paper denying the Deity of Christ. But,

after all, he assures himself, this does not affect me. I'm still a

Christian and my church is still preaching the Gospel.

Several years pass. A young man, Mr. Y, is converted in one of the

more fundamental churches in this denomination and goes to Bible

College to train for the ministry. There he is influenced by a liberal

professor who doesn't believe the Deity of Christ. Mr. Y begins to

espouse some very liberal theology.

Some years later, the pastor at Mr. X's church dies and a

replacement is sought. The denomination with which they are affiliated

has secured control of their church property, and the church is told

they must find a pastor who is approved by their board. By now a

number of preachers in this group are unsound.

The young Mr. Y comes to candidate at the church. He doesn't say

much about his beliefs about the Lord Jesus Christ, but, it is thought,

he must be sound because he comes from one of our colleges. Mr. X had

thought he might question the man about some fundamentals, but others

reprimanded him for being too narrow. Mr. Y preaches a good sermon and

is called to the pastorate.

Mr. X, still a Christian, now attends a church where the minister

is unsure about the Deity of Christ. Evangelism has given way to

ecumenism, and Bible teaching has ceased. Mr. X is still saved, but

over the years his loyalty to Christ has been supplanted by a loyalty

to his denomination. His soul is now dry and he yearns for the good

old days when the Gospel was preached and Jesus was truly Lord.

What should Mr. X do? It is easy to see that he should leave his

church and find a fellowship where Jesus is Lord. To face it more

precisely, when should Mr. X have left his church? Since the main

function of a Christian church is to champion the Lordship of Christ,

Mr. X should have left the first instance that the Lordship of Christ

was abrogated, which would have been the first time that unscriptural

control was exercised on the local church. Any authority between the

local church and the Lord Jesus Christ is unbiblical.

Those of us who take a stand against the ecumenical movement and the

World Council of Churches do well to deplore the Christ-rejecting

positions and unbiblical political thrusts. However, the WCC in its

present formation could only exist as an amalgamation of unscriptural

denominations. If we want to get to the root of the problem, we must

see the ecumenical movement unfolding from the point where the Lordship

of Christ over the local church is rejected in favor of hierarchical

control. Even if this control over the local church appears to be

harmless and loving, the Lordship of Christ is abrogated. As soon as

the Bishop (or Superintendent or Moderator) is enthroned, Christ is

dethroned - and only disaster can be the result.

Purity must not only exist in our fundamental doctrine. Our

ecclesiology, or church concepts, must be the scriptural revelation of

the autonomous church body, comprised only of Christians with Christ as

actual Lord of the individual and the body. Any other position is a

step toward the heresy of hierarchical control, a position which is the

basic foundation of Romanism. This position is plain disobedience of

Christ (Mt 20:25 - "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise

dominion over them...but it shall not be so among you.") This

disobedience can only result in situations that bring dishonor to the

Lord Jesus Christ, the only Head of the Church.

Much of the doctrinal and ecumenical corruption that is in

Christendom can be traced to this root of apostasy which resulted in

the actual dethronement of the only One Who can be called Lord.

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