THE ETERNAL CHURCH (part 5)

During the 12th and 13th centuries certain movements such as the Albigenses, and the Waldensians, were raised up to protest the activities of the church leadership. These were followed by men like John Wycliffe, who translated the Bible from the Latin Vulgate Version, used by the Roman Catholic Church, into English. Having the Bible in the language of the people, instead of just in Latin, plus the advent of the printing press, played a major role in bringing about the "Great Church Restoration", that ended the Dark Ages in church history! The common people could now read the Bible for themselves, and discover what God's Word had to say to them.

Martin Luther is the man credited with starting a restoration movement within the Roman Catholic Church, that became know as "The Protestant Movement". It started on Oct 31, 1517, when he nailed his now famous 95 theses to the door of the Church in Wittenberg Germany, and 3 years later he was declared a heretic and was excommunicated by the Pope! He never planned to start a new religion, only bring changes to his beloved Catholic Church. The followers of Luther became know as the Lutheran Church which became the state church of Germany. Other men like John Calvin, and John Knox were raised up as part of this Protestant Movement, and soon other countries formed State Churches such as the Presbyterian in Scotland, and the Anglican in England. The truth that had been lost to the Church, that Luther brought back, was "Justification". The scripture the Holy Spirit used to bring revelation to Luther was "the just shall live by faith". (Hab 2:4) and (Rom 1:17).

Luther brought changes to church theology but not to church structure. When the church became part of the Roman Empire under the reign of Emperor Constantine, he organized it after the pattern of the empire that he was familiar with. This was the structure that can be traced back to king Darius, which was improved by the Greeks, and then perfected by the Romans. This is a "top down" structure that has permeated every sector of society, including the "religious system". It is originally patterned after Satan's kingdom of darkness, and is nearly the opposite to the type of leadership set in place by Jesus in His Kingdom. To understand this read "The Sermon on the Mount" (Matt 5, 6, and 7) where He gives the rules, or bylaws by which His Kingdom was meant to operate. Because this was opposite to the ruling religious system of the day, which was under the control of the Jewish religious leaders, including the current high Priest. Naturally they opposed Jesus because His teaching threatened their religious system! This pattern of the ruling religious systems persecuting the true Church can be traced throughout the history of the church since Constantine established it in 313 AD. First it was performed by the Roman Catholic Church, then by the various Protestant denominations against any new group who started teaching a new revelation of truth given them by the Holy Spirit which threatened their established structure!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp