The Falling Away That Brought On the Dark Age - Part 1

The Falling Away That Brought On the Dark Age
By Gene Lyles – Part 1
God, through the apostle Paul, warned that among the very leadership within the church, perverse teaching would occur that would lead disciples away from the faith (Acts 20:29-31). He further stated that there would come a falling away (an apostasy) within the church in which the man of sin, the son of perdition, would exalt himself above all that is called God: even declaring himself to be God (2 Thess. 2:1-4). Even at the time the apostle Paul recorded this prophesy, the mystery of iniquity was already at work (2 Thess. 2:7). Thus it should not surprise us to learn from history that many churches had a single bishop over them even before the end of the first century, rather than a plurality of bishops as the scriptures so clearly teach (Phil. 1:1; Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5).
It was this change in God’s divine arrangement that finally led to a universal bishop over all the churches. Out of this unscriptural arrangement came two powerful religious bodies – the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church –neither of which bore any similitude of the church described in the New Testament. In this article we shall trace the pyramiding of authority which gave these bishops the ability to take the scriptures from the hand of the common man. Even though this was not fully accomplished, it became extremely difficult for the common man to acquire a copy of the scriptures. Had the scriptures remained in the hands of the common man, it is very unlikely that this hierarchical system would have every fully developed. But it did develop, and it is the purpose of this article to tract this falling away step by step to the point which finally led to the dark age at which time the light of God’s word was virtually taken from the common people.
It is difficult to believe that the world could ever go through another dark age, but such is actually taking place at the present time. Even though the scriptures are readily available to all, Satan, through the influence of Atheism, Humanism, feminism, Calvinism, and political liberalism (which has been catering to these satanic organizations), the minds of most people have been taken off of spiritual matters, and put on secular matters. Thus they no longer have a desire to study the scriptures. As far as divine truth is concerned, it seems they couldn’t care less. Even the religious bodies, which seem to be thriving, are doing so by secular enticements, not by the teaching of God’s holy word. Only God can turn this situation around, but you can be sure he will do so in due time.
Those acquainted with history know that the church of the Lord was established in the days of the Roman empire as prophesied in Daniel, chapter two. The Roman empire was deeply rooted in pagan idolatry. Even the emperor was an object of worship. As Christianity began to spread throughout the empire, pagan idolatry began to dwindle. This set in motion a great persecution of Christians by the Roman government. It was during this period of time that many Christians were thrown into the arena to be devoured by wild beasts. Rather than halt Christianity, this ungodly persecution only caused it to grow faster due to the unrelenting faith of the early Christians. The Roman empire began to crumble under the leadership of the Stone cut out of the mountain without hands as prophesied in Daniel 2: 44-45.
Even though Christianity flourished under Roman persecution, there was another problem that raised its ugly head as this persecution was taking place. This was the problem that the apostle Paul warned against in Acts 20:29-31 that among the leadership of the church men would arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. It involved the desire for preeminence among the leadership within the church. A good example is seen in Diotrophes as recorded in 3 John 9-10. Even while the Lord was still on the earth, James and John sought for a position of preeminence in the Lord’s kingdom. However, the Lord quickly corrected them for having such a desire as recorded in Matthew 20:20-27. Also, at a later date, the apostle Peter warned against the leadership of the church having a lordship attitude toward their brethren (1 Pet. 5: 1-3). This should have settled the matter of preeminence, but it didn’t. With the help of Satan, certain ones in leadership positions sought to gain dictatorial control over their brethren.
At this point in our study, we need to carefully examine what the scriptures teach concerning the organizational structure of the church in order to better understand how this corruption set in. After churches were well established by the apostles and their co-workers, it was God’s will that each local church have a permanent office of leadership. This is clearly described in Acts 14: 21-23 and Titus 1:5-9. There are three Greek words used to describe this office: presbuteros, an older man of knowledge and wisdom; episkopos, one who has proven himself capable of leadership; poimen, one capable of feeding or tending a flock. These three terms describe three different aspects of the same office, and are used interchangeably in the scriptures. From these three Greek terms we get six English terms. From presbuteros, we get presbyter and elder. From episkopos, we get bishop and overseer. From poimen, we get pastor and shepherd. To some this is a little confusing, but for one who studies the scriptures carefully, it presents no problem. We not further from the scriptures that each local church was to have a plurality of these men, and each were equal in their responsibility toward leading the congregation. A one-man leadership is totally unknown in the scriptures. Furthermore, the scriptures describe this office to be one of service and leadership, not one of lordship and dictatorial rule, the latter of which brought on the corruption that followed. 
To any student of the scriptures, it is clear that the apostles, and those on whom they laid their hands, were guided directly by the Spirit. This direct guidance of the Spirit was designed of God to give to man a complete and perfect revelation in written form. Once completed and on permanent record, the need for direct guidance of the Spirit had served its purpose. God gave to these inspired men miraculous power to establish beyond question that these men were His appointed spokesmen (Heb. 2:1-4). So then, after the death of the apostles, and those on whom they laid their hands, men were no longer directly guided by the Spirit. The written word is now the perfect guide to Christians for all times to come (1 Cor. 13:8-13; Jude 3). As the apostle Paul said in 1 Cor. 14:37, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or a spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” 
The matter of continuous inspired guidance of the Spirit is the matter that caused the great falling away spoken by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:1-7. After the apostles were all dead, rather than solve religious problems within the church by the written word, certain ones within the leadership of the church claimed direct guidance of the Spirit. If they could persuade those within the congregation to accept their claim, they could lead the church in whatever direction they wanted it to go. So very shortly after the death of the apostles, in many churches, one man became a presiding bishop, and his word, not the scriptures, was to settle all controversies within the local church.
From a book entitled THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS by Edward Burton, we read the account of one outstanding bishop named Ignatius, who, according to history, was the bishop of Antioch between 98 A.D. AND 117 A.D. He identified himself as Theophorus. This term signified a person carried by God. Without any historical foundation, he claimed he was the child that Jesus set in the midst as recorded in Matthew 18:1-6. Thus he assumed to himself a special position of authority and preeminence among the churches. Because of his unwarranted claim, he wrote letters to several churches in which he especially admonished them to fully submit to the rule of the bishop and the presbyters among them. Please not that he makes a clear distinction between the bishop and the presbyters. In his epistle to the Magesians, a church located on the river Meander, about fifteen miles from Ephesus, we give the following quote:
“Wherefore it will become you also not to use your bishop too familiarly upon account of his youth, but yield all reverence to him according to the power of God the Father – as I also perceive that your holy presbyters do – not considering his age, which indeed to appearance is young, but as becomes those who are prudent in God, submitting to him, or rather not to him, but to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the bishop of us all. It will, therefore, behoove you, with all sincerity, to obey your bishop in honor of Him whose pleasure it is that ye should do so, because he that does not do so deceives not the bishop whom he sees, but affronts Him that is invisible: for whatsoever of this kind is done, it reflects not upon man, but upon God, who knows the secrets of our hearts. (This quote comes from pages 84 and 85 of the above-mentioned book.)
As one can clearly see from this quote, Ignatius laid the groundwork for a one-man bishop over all the churches. As strange as it may seem, many of the churches accepted Ignatius as a special bishop among the bishops. To many of the Christians during that time, Ignatius confirmed his unwarranted claim by willingly offering himself as a martyr when he insisted that he be cast to the wild beast in the colosseum at Rome. The Christians of that day greatly erred by putting their faith in the words of this uninspired man rather than putting their trust in the inspired word of God as given by the true apostles and prophets of Jesus Christ.
The unsciptural arrangement of a one-man bishop occupying a preeminent position within the churches quickly created a serious problem. In their claim of direct guidance of the Spirit, we find that the decrees of a bishop in one local church would often conflict with the decrees of the bishops in other churches, thus causing great confusion. In order to solve this problem, a meeting was called to gather the bishops of a particular region into a certain metropolitan city to try to iron out their differences. But since all claimed to be directly guided by the Spirit, they found it impossible to come to a meeting of the minds. So they decided to select one bishop from among them to settle their differences. This called for another office totally unknown to the scriptures, but since one departure from the faith calls for another, they proceeded to call this new office a metropolitan bishop. He now occupies a preeminent position over all the bishops in a metropolitan area. By mutual consent they all agreed to abide by his so-called divinely guided decree.
However, this did not solve the problem of disagreement between the bishops of other metropolitan areas, thus it was decided to call all the bishops within a province together to try to settle their differences. The same procedure was followed, and one bishop was selected from among them to settle their differences. This called for yet another office unknown to the scriptures, which they called a provincial bishop, more commonly called at a later date a patriarch. He was now classed as the preeminent bishop over a province, and all the bishops within a province agreed to abide by his ruling on various matters of difference among them.
As one can easily see, the ordinary Christian’s understanding of the scriptures was not even given consideration. All interpretation of the scriptures must be left to the newly formed hierarchy within the church. It was during this period of time, somewhere between the second and third century, that the clergy-laity system was devised. The clergy consisted of the newly formed hierarchy, and the laity consisted of Christians who occupied no office within the church. This was the beginning of the dark age which sought to withhold the knowledge of the scriptures from the common Christian, and was accomplished with great success.
Even though the so-called clergy now had a powerful control over the churches, they did not have control over the minds of many Christians who were students of the scriptures. Many Christians saw what was taking place, and refused to submit to the rule of these uninspired men. This accounts for the division within the church in the second and third century. It might be compared with the situation in the church at Sardis as recorded in Revelation 3:1-6. The main body of Christians in Sardis thought they were much alive, but were told by the Lord that they were dead. Yet there were a few in Sardis who had defiled their garments, and walked with Christ in white, and were counted worthy. So in the years that followed, the same situation existed: some were faithful to the Lord, and some were not. However, history records very little concerning the faithful, for most history was written by the apostate leaders. Even today most historians record what they consider main stream Christianity, though it in no way conforms to true Christianity. Therefore, people in the future, as they read present day history will have great difficulty finding those of us who remain true to the scriptures.


to be continued...
Gene Lyles