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 history, history as repeats
itself. So, what period are we now?
The Darker Age: (Nineteen
Century – to Date)
The Church that was founded
upon the blood of Christ, spread with the blood of the Apostles and sustain by the blood of faithful men has finally entered
into the darker age. Every error that was wiped away during the first reformation has found their way back to the church and
more errors are being celebrated on daily basis, parts of which are:
v
Adoration of object and image: such as, Virgin Mary, water, oil, picture of founders, handkerchiefs…
v
Transubstantiation.
v
Reincarnation: Soul rebirth in another body.
v
Pious fraud: Ungodly ways of raising funds in and for the church.
v
Uniformity: Through different association pursuing one world order.
v
Church turned venture: Sales of anointing oil, handkerchief, pastoral handshake,
multiplication of personal empire (denominations).
v
Use of the book of Psalm as magic book.
v
Incantation/Mantra: Prayer or words chanted to summon spirits.
v
Soothsayer (so-called ungodly prophets): one professing to foretell the future.
v
Priest on the throne of God.
v
Ungodly emphasis on power, anointing and the use of fasting as a source of mystic
power.
v
Degeneration of scriptural truth and elevation of prosperity messages.
v
Spiritualism in the church:
v
Strange Doctrines: Like feet washing service, praying naked, among others.
v
Witchcraft prayer: The act of consciously praying contrary to God’s revealed
will, and is characterized by the use of controlling
or manipulative prayer.
v
Elevation of Demonic powers and activities
v
Misinterpretation of the Biblical offices and heretic elevation of “Bishopic
Office”.
Since history has repeated
itself, reformation must repeat itself also. Those that will be enlisting on God’s list for the next reformation must
operate in the five basic reformation principles:
ü
Christianity must be a scriptural religion.
ü
Christianity must be a rational religion.
ü
Christianity must be a personal religion.
ü
Christianity must be a spiritual religion.
ü
Christianity must be a national religion.
To drive my point home, I
hereby announce to you that reformation is not:
Ø
A political campaign but a prophetic movement that changes the world for Christ.
Ø
All about violence but the restoration of the church to the fundamental biblical
truth.
Ø
All about denomination but the proclamation of the person and teaching of Christ.
Ø
All about uniformity but the unification of the body of Christ on the platform
of uncompromised
word of God.
It is our time to cry and
go for the reformation of the body of Christ.
Watch out for the subsequent
article titled: Let’s cry for revival.
For more articles or information
about the writer, feel free to contact:
Gabriel E.O.F.
Omoboriola
P. O. Box 1552,
Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria.
africanscholar1@yahoo.com
Tel: +2348026478981
