In the degradation of the church the third item is the bringing in of idols. This is an even more serious matter. In its degradation, the church was filled with all kinds of idols; this can be seen in the Roman Catholic Church. Someone told us that the most beautiful, most attractive, and most expensive idols are in the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the same.
In 1940 while I was living in Shanghai, a brother brought me to tour a cathedral of the White Russians, who are part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. When I went in and looked, I saw so many idols of all kinds. It was a day of worship, and there was a table with many candles at the entrance. As the White Russians arrived, each one bought a candle and lit it. After entering the cathedral, they selected an idol, placed the candle before it, and knelt down. After a while, a priest came out, wearing a priestly garment, holding a censer and chanting. When he shook the censer, the smoke of the incense was scattered and rose upward. At a certain time the people below the pulpit joined the priest in chanting, and they were all bowing down to the image in front. When I saw this, I was greatly surprised that they were so openly worshipping idols.
Several years ago when I was in Manila, I purposely went to observe the situation of worship in the Roman Catholic Church. The idolatry there is even more terrible. At times they bring out an idol and hold a procession; this is exactly the same as the noisy processions and festivals held in honor of local deities in China. Often they carry the statue of Mary in a procession, and many of those who are in high positions compete to carry the statue. Do we see the degree to which the church has become degraded?
Although idolatry among the Nestorians is not as strong as in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, they still have idols. History tells us that when the Nestorian missionaries went to China in the Tang Dynasty to preach their religion, they not only brought the Scriptures, but they also brought the images. Therefore, there were idols also among them.
The fourth item in the degradation of the church is not letting God speak. At a certain time the Church of Rome locked up the Holy Bible and took the pope’s words as their criteria. Thus, they did not allow God to speak; they shut the mouth of God. The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Nestorians also took the words of the patriarch of their respective churches as the highest authority. The decisions of their patriarchs were higher than the Holy Bible. This also is equivalent to not letting God speak. At this point God had no way to express His mind in the church; instead, the church became a place where man’s ideas were expressed.
In the degradation of the church the fifth item is having divisions. From the second century or at the latest the beginning of the third century, a small number of the people in the church began to separate themselves from the majority due to differences in the interpretation of the truth and differences in systems. Those who separated themselves and left were mostly believers who had a pure heart and who did not wish to be a part of the degradation of the church; therefore, there were divisions. In the fifth century the Roman Church, because of the power struggle, was divided into the western Roman Church (which is the Latin Church, the Roman Catholic Church), and the eastern Greek Church (which is also known as the Greek Orthodox Church or Eastern Orthodox Church). This was a great division, and it caused the church to have two great branches. Furthermore, due to a doctrinal contention, another division occurred, and the sect of the Nestorians was brought forth. (The Nestorians are also known as Syrians because they use the Syrian language. The name of their leader was Nestorius. When they went to China, they were called the “Ching religion.”) Therefore, at this point in time, the church on the earth was divided not only into a few small groups but also into three large groups, namely, the eastern Greek Church, the western Roman Church, and the Nestorians.
The sixth item in the degradation of the church is having organization for unification. This damaged the principle of the original church of “one city, one church.” As early as the middle part of the third century, Cyprian had suggested unifying the churches. He also used the term catholic church, meaning “universal church.” The use of the name Catholic Church did not start with the Church of Rome; it was used by Cyprian much earlier. Later the entire western Roman Catholic Church was unified under the pope in Rome. Up to the present day, Roman Catholic churches throughout the world continue to be unified under the pope in the Vatican at Rome. (The Vatican is a small part of the city of Rome, the capital of Italy, and it was set apart as the capital of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1929, when Mussolini was in power, he made a treaty with the pope, permitting the city of Vatican to become an independent nation, not under the jurisdiction of Italy. It has its own police force and its own laws. Furthermore, various nations send consuls and ambassadors to the Vatican and vice versa). We can see the degree to which the unification of the churches has developed. On the other hand, the Greek Orthodox Church is mainly unified under the patriarch in Constantinople. Likewise, the Nestorians were also unified under their patriarchs (first at Seleucia and then at Baghdad). At this point, the church was divided, and the ground of the church and the principle of one city with only one church was damaged. The church was joined in an unlawful organization for unification that went beyond a local church. This led to the most serious point in the degradation of the church.
The most serious point of the degradation of the church is the usurpation of the headship of Christ and the encroachment upon the authority of the Holy Spirit. When the church began to have an unlawful organization for unification, Christ lost His position in the church and the Holy Spirit could no longer rule in the church. In the Catholic churches the pope has become their head and highest authority. Under the pope there is a hierarchy, a clergy, including cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests, all of whom became the authority to the laity, the common believers. On the side of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Nestorians, the patriarchs have become the highest authority, and the clergy under the patriarchs are also the authority to the laity. At this point, all of the characteristics of the church have become completely degraded; none of its original characteristics are left. From the inside to the outside, from the principle to the nature, from the inner reality to the outward appearance, from the testimony to the ground, everything of the church has become degraded.