DAVID AND SAUL (part 2)

In part 1 we compared the reign of king Saul with that of king David, and I mentioned that I see a similarity between their different reigns and that of two separate structures of church. The first church structure is the one we see in the book of Acts, which is a picture of the church that Jesus said He would build (Matt 16:18). I have chosen to refer to this one as the "True Church", and the other church structure, which only came into being in the fourth century when Constantine merged the church of that day with the Roman Empire, I have chosen to call the "false church", only because I see it as so opposite to the one Jesus is in the process of building.

King Saul started out OK, but soon became corrupted and was finally rejected by God for his disobedience. At the start, the church that resulted from the merger with the Roman Empire escaped the persecution that they had suffered at the hands of certain Emperors, but it soon became corrupted as well. There was a lot of rivalry between the Bishops of the churches in the major cities, and it divided into a western church under the Bishop of Rome, which became the Roman Catholic Church; and an eastern church which developed into the Eastern Orthodox Church. When you read the history of the church from the 4th to the 14th centuries, you see 1000 years years that have been well named as the "dark ages". The degree of corruption of the church leaders during that time is almost unbelievable!

History records that throughout this time there was always a remnant of the true church that were faithful to the teachings of Jesus. They were severely persecuted by the organized church in every nation, and many were drowned or burned at the stake for their stand for Christ. The reformation that started with Martin Luther and other men of his day brought back some vital doctrines that had been lost through the dark ages. However the basic structure of the church that had been established by Emperor Constantine, never changed. There have been various restoration movements in the church since then which have resulted in the formation of many different Protestant Denominations, but most all have retained some form of a "man centered" religion, rather than a "God centered" relationship like the early church enjoyed! True Christianity is not a "religion", which is man trying to work his way up to God by some system of good works, but is a "relationship" with the God who became a man in Jesus Christ. The difference between these two is as great as night and day!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp