Resources/Articles
The Falling Away That Brought On The Dark Age (Part 1 of 5)
God, through the apostle Paul, wanted 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 Thessalonians 2.1-4). Even at the time the apostle Paul recorded this prophesy, the mystery of iniquity was already at work (2 Thessalonians 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 (Philippians 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 series of articles, 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 hierarchal system would have ever fully developed. But it did develop[p, and it is the purpose of this series of articles to trace 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 2. 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 Diotrephes, as recorded in 3 John 1.9-10. 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 Peter 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 spotless and their coworkers, 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: presburteros, an older man of knowledge and wisdom; episkopos, one who has proven himself capable of leadership; and 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.
