The Falling Away and the Beginning of the Roman Catholic Church

Since the Roman Catholic church is a descendant of the great apostasy (the falling from the truth), it is fitting for us to understand how this falling away from the divine teachings developed and how the Roman Catholic church began.

The persecution under Nero was fierce. A great fire in Rome, in July 64 A.D., was followed by charges unjustly involving the Christians. Nero "spread the rumor that the people that called themselves Christians" were responsible. Numbers suffered death by horrible torture in the Vatican gardens where Nero made their death a spectacle. This marked the beginning of a bitter feeling between the Roman government and the people called Christians. For the next 300 years, Rome would begin a serious persecution against the church. Some of the Christians were beginning to compromise their faith and thus left the principles of Christ. Paul, knowing this, began to warn the brethren from apostatizing. He warned the elders at Ephesus "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers...that savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock; and among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (Acts 20:28-30). Again Paul said, "Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work" (II Thessalonians 2:3-7).

The apostle Paul again plainly foretells of the apostasy, "But the Spirit expressly saith that in latter times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats" (I Timothy 4:1-3). Paul was not the only one who confirmed the predictions. James did in James 4:1-3; Peter in II Peter 2:1-2; Jude in Jude 4; and John in III John 9:10. It appeared in the church that a falling away from the truth would indeed happen. It also appeared, as Paul informed the elders of the church at Ephesus, that it would begin with the eldership.

There were several forces that began to distract the church from the truth. Externally, the persecution of the Roman Empire made it difficult to worship openly and therefore brought more and more secret meetings. As the Christians met behind closed doors, superstition plagued the minds of many people and thus a bitter feeling was aroused among non-Christians. Also Greek philosophy made its way into the church, and before long, Christians were using philosophical terminology to explain Christian concepts. Internally, many of the Christians who converted over from Judaism tried to indoctrinate the gentile Christians in Old Jewish traditions. For this reason, Paul wrote the book of Galatians. Also, the book of Hebrews was written to show the superiority of Christ to Moses and Christ's law to the Mosaic law. Problems also originated from the proud men who wanted to exalt themselves above others and thus change the organization of the church.

The change in the organization of the church was gradual. By 150 A.D., there was a distinction made between bishops and presbyters. As you recall in the church, all elders were bishops or overseers and each congregation had a plurality of them. However, as the elders had their meetings to discuss the work of the church, someone had to be chairman of the meeting. This chairmanship apparently became a permanent position and the word bishop was reserved for the one who occupied that position. One by one, churches adopted the practice.

As the office became more popular, the bishops of the large city churches assisted in starting new congregations. These new congregations came under the authority of the city bishops. Irenaeus became bishop of Lyons in 177 A.D. and soon began to gather a list of bishops. By 190 A.D., Victor of Rome claimed to be "universal bishop," but he was ignored by other churches. Cyprian of Carthage (195-268) was the next one to exhalt himself above other elders. By the close of the third century, each congregation of any size had a bishop as its head with a group of elders under him. The bishops of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria received special recognition because of the apostolic origin.

These bishops began to change the doctrine of the church. Cerinthus (100 A.D.) claimed to have had special revelations from angels to the effect that after the resurrection the kingdom would be established on earth. He adopted the teaching of Judaism where there would be an earthly kingdom 1000 years after the second coming of Christ. This is commonly known as the "Millennial".

Origen (185-254), another teacher of Christianity, arose and taught that we inherit the soul of Adam. Tertullion (160-220) believed Origen and went one step further and stated that since we inherit the souls of Adam and Eve, we also inherit their sins (original sin). Cyprian, while bishop of Carthage (248-258), picked up on this idea and declared that all infants needed forgiveness of the sin inherited from Adam and therefore commanded the infants to be baptized. However, not many congregations accepted this view until the 5th century. During this time, baptism was made a ritual ceremony performed only by the bishops. The water took on magical power. The candidates went through a long period of trial and preparation, the devil was renounced by the bishop and then they were baptized.

As pagan influences filtered the church, the Lord's Supper became a ceremony. Gold and silver vessels came to be used. Irenaeus (200 A.D.) began to distinguish the Lord's Supper above other acts of worship and therefore placed special emphasis on the emblems. The emblems became known as the "medicine of immorality". He was the first to administer the bread and wine just before death to remove sin.

Celibacy became accepted for those who were either elders, deacons or preachers. Cyprian thought it was necessary for those who wanted to be elders to be completely devoted to the church and not to a family. Therefore, he ordered that the next groups of elders to be appointed were to be unmarried. Again this was not widely accepted by many congregations until the fifth century.

In July of 253 A.D., Novation was the first man to have water poured over him rather than being immersed for baptism. Since he was ill, he had water poured completely over him in his bed. But it was not until 1200 that sprinkling and pouring for baptism were commonly used.

As you can see, the church was getting further and further from the truth as Paul predicted in I Timothy 4:1-4. Teachings and doctrines were used by some congregations and rejected by others.

In 306, Constantine became sole emperor of Rome. His mother Helena, adopted the Christian faith; therefore, influencing Constantine to ease up the persecution against the Christians. Constantine's favoritism to the church seemed to be more a matter of expediency than of conviction. Rome was loosing its power and influence over its subjects, and Christianity became more and more widely accepted. So he decided to use the church as a center of unity and culture to preserve the empire. He espoused the Christian faith and made the church the state religion. Since the empire had one emperor, one law, and one citizenship, it should have one religion.

In 321 AD, working on Sunday was forbidden. Gifts were made to "clergy". Preachers, bishops and deacons were exempt from paying taxes. Elaborate buildings were authorized and built by state money. Christianity was now a full-fledged state religion. False gods and their pagan temples were destroyed, and everyone in the Roman empire was encouraged to be a Christian. But Constantine soon found out that many congregations were not united on the scriptures and much division existed in the church; so he decided to call a meeting to be held in Nicaea in May 325 AD to discuss and to unite over the issues that had divided the brethren. Constantine presided over this meeting, calling himself bishop of bishops. He sat as the chairman of the council and paid the expenses for all bishops around the world to come to this meeting. Out of this meeting came what is known as the Nicene Creed. 318 bishops assembled and established the first human creed written.

This was called "The Articles of Faith Maintained by the Council".

Several doctrines were decreed: (1) The Oneness of Deity (2) Easter to be celebrated on the same day (3) Preachers not to be married (4) Certain meats not to be eaten on Sunday by bishops (5) A greater recognition given to the bishops of Antioch, Constantinople, Alexandria, Rome and Jerusalem, and they were to be given the positions as patriarchs, placing all authority under them.

A bitter battle of these bishops broke out and finally it came down to two men: the bishop of Constantinople, John the Faster 588 A.D., and the bishop of Rome, Leo the Great 588 A.D. A war between these two was fought, and finally after the death of Leo, Boniface III became bishop of Rome and defeated John the Faster. In 606 A.D., Boniface III was given the title "universal bishop" the pope of Rome. The word "pope" is derived from Latin and means father. 606 A.D. marks the beginning of what is now known as the Roman Catholic Church.

As the Roman Empire was slowly losing political control of the people, the Pope was gaining popularity among the Christians. Eventually, the empire diminished, and the Roman popes were able to control the people politically and religiously. For a brief period of time, beginning with Charlemagne, (742 A.D. and ending with Otto I 973 A.D.) the church and state united and it was named the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually, they dropped the words Holy and Empire and called it the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church was organized and constructed identically as the Roman Empire. The empire was basically wealthy and poor. The catholic church was structured as such: clergy (higher orders; religious orders) and laity (those who were not specifically ordained to minister). "The emphasis on laity is to be taught to obey and to make financial contribution." (Catholic Encyclopedia VI, 136).

As the middle class of people paid taxes to satisfy the extravagance of the emperors, the laity was to support and upkeep the expenses of the clergy (religious orders). The religious orders are as follows:

(1) The Pope - an elective monarch who rules the church by a divine right. He takes the position as pope by selection of the "hinge," men who are given the name cardinals. There are at least 70 cardinals. They are the pope's active cabinet. They are ranked in 3 levels: Cardinal priest, cardinal deacons, and cardinal bishops. All today are archbishops. The main function of the college of cardinals is to elect a new pope.

(2) Papal Legate - Again better known as the cardinals. They are to check on the archbishops or any ranked official under them. They also serve the pope as his personal advisors.

(3) Archbishop - a bishop who oversees his own diocese (territory subject to a bishop). This territory usually consists of twelve other bishops and their parishes (churches). The Archbishop is hand selected by the Pope therefore, giving him special authority.

(4) Bishops - the highest ranking official in a diocese. He is obligated to ordain priests. He serves as superintendent of education, and he serves as a judge in cases that have been appealed from the Vicar General.

(5) Vicar General - special agents who check on the parish priests. They are personal representatives of the bishops. Their responsibilities are to judge church officials, audit accounts and remove incompetent personnel.

(6) Rural Dean - a parish priest who has been given the responsibility of checking on seven to twelve parish priests. He is to make sure the priests are doing their work properly and keep their financial records in good order.

(7) Parish Priest - given the responsibility to oversee a parish. The size depends upon the population and number of church members. His duties are: to teach the people, perform sacraments, impose punishment to the disobedient. There are 2 levels of priests: minor and major. If a man wants to be a priest he has to start at the bottom as a minor order (being a janitor, taking church roll, reading scripture, etc.). Within time he is allowed to move to the major order and is called a deacon. He is now a full-fledged priest.

During the next 1000 years (590 A.D. - 1517 A.D.), the catholic church virtually exercised unchallenged domination over those people who claimed to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. That fact does not mean that there were no Christians following the simple New Testament Plan. We do not read of them because of the "dark" nature of the times and because of the power of Catholicism deceiving the people. II Thessalonians 2:1-12.

Into the llth century, the Catholics engaged in a series of wars called "crusades". These were fought for the primary purpose of regaining the control of the people who had accepted Islam faith in the Holy Land, or other rulers. The first crusade was in l074 when Asia Minor was taken by the Turks. Pope Gregory VII had declared war against these "infidels". The people were moved to join the armies of Catholicism because they were told that they would serve God by doing so. They were also promised the forgiveness of all sins and immediate admission to heaven if they were killed in battle.

CONCLUSION: In my opinion, the catholic church is nothing but a political machine disguised as a religious organization. It is the only religion that has its own government, state, and ambassadors to other countries including the United States. Their main goal is to dominate the people with their traditions and philosophies and to extend the dominance of the Roman Empire through means of a religious institution.

1. List the scriptures that foretell of the "falling away".

A. B.

C. D.

E. F.

G.

 2. What were some of the characteristics of the "falling away"? (See Acts 20:28-30; II Thessalonians 2:3-7; I Timothy 4:1-3).

 3. What were the external and internal forces that distracted the church from the truth?

4. Is there a difference between an elder and a bishop? How did this affect the organization of the church?

5. Name the false doctrines that were introduced to the early church.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

6. Who was Constantine? How was he a key figure in apostasy?

7. Why was the Nicaea Council held?

8. Name the 4 doctrines that came from the results of that council?

9. Name the 5 cities in which the bishops were called patriarchs.

l0. Who were these men?

A. John the Faster

B. Leo the Great

C. Boniface III

ll. What was the Holy Roman Empire?

l2. Give the 7 orders of the Roman Catholic church?

MATCH THESE MEN WITH THEIR DOCTRINE

l. Cyprian ___ A. Millennial

2. Irenaeus ___ B. Inherited souls

3. Novation ___ C. Original sin

4. Tertullion ___ D. Baptizing infants

5. Origen ___ E. "Medicine of Immorality"

6. Cerinthus ___ F. Celibacy