THE REFORMERS GENERATION

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THE REFORMERS GENERATION By: E.O.F. Gabriel Introduction Anyone who has diligently walked with God in the past few years will know that it is not well with us in the church. Errors, which we’ve once rejected in the past, are finding their way to the church; which are always accompanying with celebration. God has stimulated some silent Generals to cry day and night in His presence for Reformation. To have a very good understanding of our present state, we must look back to the past because the present has its root in the past and it is the seed of the future. Winston Churchill once said: “The farther backward you can look, the further forward you can see”. This is absolute truth because the present has its root in the past and it is the seed of the future. No one can have a better understanding of the present or the future without adequate understanding of the past. So, let’s go back to the start. Concise history of the Church The history of the church is best study under seven general period. So let’s take our stand upon a mountain top of vision, and view, as in a landscape, the entire field, which step by step we are to traverse, we will only disclose in a concise form the history of the church. The Apostolic Church (30AD-100AD) The height, which marks the starting point of the church of Christ, is the Mount of Olives, just outside the eastern wall of Jerusalem. Here about the year of 30 A.D, Jesus gave his last commands and then ascended to his heavenly throne. As first, we see company of Jews tarrying for a time in Jerusalem, after which their vision embraced the winning of the world of Christ. This period was under Peter and Paul and the death of John in about 100 A.D marks the end of the epoch. The Persecuted Church (100AD-313AD) For more than two hundred years succeeding the Apostolic age, we look upon the church under the sword of persecution. As the fires of persecution were kindled, Christians were stripped of their possessions and driven from the homes. Great numbers sealed their testimony with their blood. Noble and slave, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, were alike slain without mercy. Christians were falsely accused of the most dreadful crimes and declared to be the cause of great calamities – famine, pestilence and earthquake. They were condemned as rebels against the empire, as enemies of religion, and pasts to society. Great numbers were thrown to wild beasts or burned alive in the amphitheaters. Some were crucified; others were covered with the skin of wild animals, and thrust into the arena to the torn by dogs. Vast multitudes assembled to enjoy these sights, and greeted their dying agonies with laughter and applause. Thousands were imprisoned and slain; but others sprang up to fill their places. In vain were Satan’s efforts to destroy the church of Christ, by violence. God’s workman were slain, but His work steadily forward, said a Christian, you may torment, afflict, and vex us… the more we are moved down, the more we spring up again. No wonder Tertullian marked: “The blood of the Christians is seed… of the church”. Yet, in the face of the most relentless persecution, the followers of Christ increased in number, until they counted in public or secret, a large part of the population of the Roman Empire. The Imperial Church (313 A. D-476 A. D) Apparently the Christians, so long oppressed, at one step passed from the prison to the throne; for the persecuted church became the imperial church. A Christian capital, Constantinople had arisen and displaced old Rome and Christianity was made the religion of the Roman Empire. Sadly, the great adversary endeavored to gain by artifice what he had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, and in its place were substituted the dangerous allurements of temporal prosperity and worldly honor. Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the son of God, and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin, and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart with some concessions on their part, they proposed that Christians shall make concession, that all might unite (uniformity) on the platform of belief in Christ. The Medieval Church (476 A. D-1453 A. D) With the fall of the Western Roman Empire begins the period of a thousand years, known as the Dark ages or medieval. Now the church was in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire, and sword were blessings in comparison with this. Some of the Christians stood firm, declaring that they could make no compromise. Others were in favor of yielding or modifying some feature of the faith, and uniting with those who accepted a part of Christianity, urging that this might be the means of their full conversation. Pagan doctrines, ceremonies and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ. As Christians consented to lower their standards, a union was formed between Christianity and paganism. This was a time of deep anguish for the faithful followers of Christ. At this juncture, different unsound doctrine, which has their duplicated version in the today’s church, was introduced to the church. Among which are: · Adoration of images: (pagans convert only changed the object of worship to image of Jesus, Mary and even the saints). · Transubstantiation: The belief that in the communion the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the veritable body and blood of Christ. · Unholy claims: Faith was transferred from Christ to the pope of Rome. They were taught not only to look to the pope as their mediator, but also to trust in him as one who has power to forgive sin. · Purgatory: By this hereby is affirmed the existence of a place of or men, in which the souls of such as have not merited eternal damnation are to suffer punishment for their sins, and from which when freed from impurity, they are admitted to heaven. · Sales of indulgences: This certificate signed by the pope was said to have full remissions of sins; past, present and posterity, and release from all the pains and penalties incurred, were promised to those who would buy this certificate or on behalf of friends or dead who may bought it on behalf. · Elevation of celibacy: It was said that, to be righteous, you must be unmarried. · Priest in the palace of God: It was said of the pope that, he can modify divine law, since his power is not of man but of God; also that, the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as King of heaven and of earth and of this lower regions. · Superstition about the Church: That the church has never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the scriptures, but the scripture proofs did not accompany the assertion. · The inquisition: Popery became the world’s despot. Kings and Emperors bowed to the decrees of the Roman pontiff, the destinies of men, both for time and eternity, seemed under his control. For hundreds of years the doctrines of Rome had been extensively and implicitly received, its rites reverently performed, and its festivals observed. · Fraud: By the price of crime a temple was to be built for God’s worship – the cornerstone laid with the wages of iniquity. The adventure of errors in the church is always the preface of God’s reformation. Even in the Dark Age. Some men up to preach against these heretic teachings. People like: Ø Peter Waldo 1170: He was driven out of France and he found and holding place in valley. Ø John Wyclif 1329 - 1384: Who translated the entire Bible and preached against these errors. Ø John Huss 1369 – 1415: He was excommunicated, later condemned and burned to death. Ø Jerome Savonarola 1452 – 1498: He was excommunicated, later imprisoned, condemned, hanged and his body burned in the great square of Florence. The Reformed Church 1453 – 1648 In this period of two hundred years, the great fact, which arrests attention, is the reformation. The three antecedents’ forces which led to this reformation are: · The renaissance (awakening): New interest arose in classic interactive, Greek and Latin… · The printing invention (1456): John Gutenberg discovery led to the rapid circulation of the Bible… · The spirit of Nationality: The patriotism of the people established national churches owning no allegiance to Rome. After these antecedent was the reformation in Germany under the leadership of Martin Luther; who know no fear except the fear of God. Other Reformer also emerges simultaneously with him, while some after him. People like John Calvin, Jacques Lefevre (who was condemned for preaching “justification by faith”), John Tyndale (who translate the New Testament into his mother-tongue and was martyred at Antwerp in 1536). Thomas Cranner (condemned to die by fire) and John Knox (who cried out: give me Scotland, lest I die). The Modern Church (1648 19th Century) This period was the subsequent movement of the reformed church. Under this period, we have the Puritan, the Wesleyan, the Rationalistic, the Anglo-Catholic, and the modern missionary movements, which have contributed to the building up of the church. Great Generals came to the scene during this period and their works outlive them. Since the body of Christ refuses to learn from