Second, the Protestant church was not separated from the world. The beginning of the Protestant church was the formation of various state churches; thus, the church fell into the hands of political governments. Therefore, the Protestant church was not freed from the world; it was still, in principle, the same as the Roman Catholic Church which was mixed with the Roman Empire.
Later, Protestants produced the so-called private churches, such as the Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the Wesleyan Church. Although these were not state churches and seemed to be outside of politics, they still had many elements and practices that were linked to the world. These situations continue to the present time. Therefore, the Protestant church is still mixed with the world, similar to a boat being in the water and water also being in the boat. The Protestant church did not have a thorough reform in this matter.
Third, the Protestant church forsook idols. Generally speaking, it is true that the Protestant church forsook idols outwardly. It is not easy to find an idol in any of the Protestant groups. This may be considered as a strong recovery with the Protestant church.
Fourth, the Protestant church did not eliminate the intermediary class. We all know about the intermediary class. For example, the system of priests in the Roman Catholic Church is an intermediary class. They exclusively handle things related to the service and worship of God, and the rest of the believers occupy themselves with worldly affairs. We have already pointed out that this is very much against the principle of the New Testament. The New Testament shows that every saved one is a priest, and as such, everyone can approach God and serve God directly without relying on an intermediary. But the deformed church brought the priestly system, the intermediary class, of the Old Testament into the church in the New Testament. The Roman Catholic Church has a priestly system. Protestant churches, even though they reject the priestly system, have produced other systems which in principle and nature are not much different. The state churches have a clerical system, the clergy, and sometimes those who belong to the clergy are called priests; the private churches have the pastoral system.
We are all too familiar with the term pastor; we know that a pastor is one who specifically handles spiritual affairs. Therefore, pastors also constitute an intermediary class. I often met this kind of problem myself. In actuality I am not a pastor, and among us there is no pastor, but frequently people addressed me as “Pastor Lee.” They called me “Pastor Lee” because they considered me to be someone who handles spiritual matters, someone who specializes in this line. It is as if being a pastor is a profession. Today if someone wants to be a medical doctor, he goes to study in a medical school; if he wants to be a lawyer, he goes to a law school; and if he wants to be a pastor, he goes to a theological school. After one has finished his training in a theological school, he can be a pastor. This is the common view. Once I heard a brother utter a humorous statement that when someone is sick, he looks for a doctor; when he has a lawsuit, he looks for a lawyer; and when he wants to worship God, he looks for a pastor. This makes service to God merely a profession among other professions. This is altogether against the principle and teaching of the New Testament. In the New Testament we do not need to look for a pastor in order to serve God. Every saved one can draw near to God and serve God directly; there is no need for a group of believers who specialize in this line and do everything for others. However, the priestly system in the Roman Catholic Church, the clerical system in the state churches, and the pastoral system in the private churches are all an intermediary class in principle. This matter is most offensive to God, and it hurts the church. It is quite damaging to the Body of Christ because it is God’s intention and desire that all of His children would serve and worship Him directly and that all the saved ones would be members of the Body of Christ with each one fulfilling his function. Today, however, in the so-called churches, an intermediary class has been created to serve God so that a few are taking the place of all the believers in the service to God. In this way the functions of all the believers as members of the Body are annulled. This also damages the Body of Christ and causes the church to become degraded. The intermediary class as an element of degradation was not removed from the Protestant churches; it only changed in appearance a little.
Because of the Roman Catholic Church’s promotion of the unification of all the churches around the globe, the church did not have divisions on the surface. But when the Protestant church began, there was a division into numerous state churches according to distinctions of nations and national boundaries. Later, due to the promotion of different truths, the adoption of different policies and systems, and the holding of different spiritual giants in high respect, the church was further divided into many private churches. As a result, the Protestant church presently is divided into approximately two thousand denominations and sects. The Protestant church did not have a recovery in this respect; instead, it caused an even worse degradation of the church.
The various denominations of the Protestant church also established respective headquarters for unification. Almost every denomination has regional centers and general headquarters above the local congregations. The lowest level is the local congregation, the highest level is the general headquarters, and in the middle are regional centers. All of these forms of organization rob the Holy Spirit of His authority and usurp the headship of Christ in the church.
In summary, although the Protestant church was much improved in comparison to the Roman Catholic Church, it did not have a thorough recovery—it did not allow Christ to have the absolute position or the Holy Spirit to have the absolute authority. In the Protestant state churches, either the head of the nation or the highest bishop is considered as the highest authority. In the Protestant private churches, their councils are considered as the highest authority. The Bible, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all neglected; all decisions are made according to the decisions of councils. This causes Christ to lose His position and the Holy Spirit to lose His authority in the church. The above points briefly describe the situation of recovery with the Protestant church.