A STUDY OF THE CHURCH (10)
The Perversions of the church

Victor M. Eskew

 

          God and men have an enemy called Satan.  Anything that God designs to assist man, Satan attempts to destroy.  If he cannot destroy it, he will defile it in some way.  This is true of the institution of the church.  When the church was first established, Satan sought to physically destroy it.  When Satan saw that the church only grew stronger when it was persecuted, Satan devised another method of ruining the church.  He sought to pervert it.  The word “pervert” means “to change into that which is unnatural or abnormal.”

          God knew Satan would seek to pervert the church.  Therefore, He gave warnings about the apostasy during the first century.  It would involve the elders, that is, the overseers, of the church. When Paul spoke to the elders of Ephesus while at Miletus, he noted that perversions  would arise from among them.  “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30).  It would not be long before radical changes began to develop in the organizational structure of the church.  The simple structure found within autonomous congregations would be replaced with a hierarchal system similar to the government of Rome. 

          There would also be the perversion of the doctrine of Christ.  Paul warned Timothy about this in his first epistle to his son in the faith.  “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth” (1 Tim. 4:1-3).  Notice Paul said “some shall depart from the faith.”  “The faith” is the system of faith found in the New Testament.  Doctrines of devils and lies would replace the doctrine of Christ and truth.  Paul even notes two doctrines that would be proclaimed, that is, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats.

          One of the major aspects of the falling away would involve an individual Paul refers to as “the man of sin.”  In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, the apostle writes:  “Let no man deceive you by any means:  for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”  Paul describes a man who would arise and set himself on a level equal with God.  He would sit in the temple of God.  He would allow himself to be worshipped as God.  He would assume titles ascribed only to God.  Truly, he would be a “man of sin” and “the son of perdition.” 

          There have been three major perversions that have resulted from the falling away.  The first perversion is the Catholic Church.  It boasts of being the true church.  It claims that its roots are found in the first century.  However, very little of the first century church can be found in the Catholic Church.  On the other hand, it does manifest all of the aspects of the falling away that Paul described in the first century.  It has a man who sits as the head of the church who calls himself “the Holy Father” and allows himself to be worshipped.  The Catholic church is well known for its teachings that forbid marriage and forbid the eating of meat.  Too, the entire structure of the church has forsaken the first century concept of autonomous congregations overseen by elders. 

          When the Catholic Church began to be questioned about its teachings beginning in the 1500s, Satan stepped in with the second perversion that would keep individuals from returning to the pattern of the original church of the first century.  This perversion is called denominationalism.  When men stepped away from the concepts of Catholicism, they seemed to desire a return to the teachings of the Scriptures.  Those who had these desires fell short as they left Catholicism.  They would develop a set of beliefs.  These beliefs would be put into books called creed books, manuals, and disciplines.  These creed books were the seeds of the denominations.  Denominations certainly are not Catholicism, but they are not New Testament Christianity either.  They resemble the first century church in some respects, but they are not that church.  Their names, their organizational structures, their plans of salvation, their worship,  and their doctrines conflict with the teachings of God’s Word.  Satan has convinced those in denominations that the differences are minor in nature.  He has also convinced them that the division that exists among them if healthy and approved of God (See John 17:20-23; 1 Cor. 1:10).  This division blinds them to the fact that the Scriptures authorize and approve of only one church.  Paul plainly declared:  “There is one body…” (Eph. 4:4).

          A third perversion of the church is extremely unique.  This religion believes that the Bible has been corrupted by Satan.  It affirms that Christianity is a perversion of God’s Word.  It even holds that Jesus was simply a prophet, but He was not the divine Son of God.  It asserts that another prophet of God came upon the scene in the seventh century and proclaimed the true word of God to man.  This prophet was Muhammad.  The religion he established is known as Islam.  The followers of Islam are called Muslims.  This religion, we are told by Muslims, is God’s ultimate desire for man today.  Islam seeks to conquer the world.  Israel, the people of the Old Testament, and the United States, founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, are considered by Muslims to be “the little Satan” and “the big Satan” that must be destroyed from the earth.

          Everyone of these perversions of the truth has had a significant impact on the world.  One sixth of the world’s population is Catholic.  One sixth of the world’s population is Muslim.  And there are some 2,500 denominations that can be found throughout the world.  Satan has done a masterful job in keeping men from becoming members of the church wherein salvation is found (Acts 2:47; Eph. 5:23).  The devil has created a monumental challenge for the church when it comes to evangelism.  All those who are caught up in the perversions of the church believe that they are saved.  They believe they are children of God doing His work.  The church has to go out and convince individuals that this is not the case.  She has to find those good and honest hearts that are able to discern the good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff, and the true from the false.  Those individuals are out there.  When they see the truth, they rejoice that they have been called out of those bodies that are perversions of what is real.