In these messages we have covered various crucial matters pertaining to the church. The church is not shallow; it is very profound. If you are simply religious, ethical, and moral, you may say, “As long as we love Jesus, behave ourselves, and love others, it does not matter if we are in the Catholic Church, in the denominations, in the free groups, or in the charismatic movement. As long as we all believe in the Lord Jesus and know that we are going to heaven, everything is all right.” Although you may say that everything is all right, God would not agree with you. What about God’s purpose? More than nineteen hundred years ago, the Lord Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). However, it is very difficult to see where the church has actually been built. Undoubtedly, Christianity has exerted some influence upon human society. But where has the church been built to fulfill God’s purpose? Apparently, the Lord’s word has not been fulfilled.
Throughout the centuries, Satan, the enemy of God, has been doing everything possible to frustrate the building up of the church. The subtlety of Satan is demonstrated in the history of Christianity. Immediately after the departure of the apostles, the church began to degrade into an organized religion. Long before Constantine the Great brought Christianity into imperial favor (A.D. 313), the church had already been organized into a hierarchy. During the time of Constantine, the world was brought into the church and the church into the world. In the sixth century the papal system was fully established, and the Catholic Church was completely formed. The Catholic Church is subtly satanic and permeated with fornication. In the words of Scripture, the Roman Catholic Church is the great prostitute (Rev. 17:1). The Great Babylon of Revelation 17 is the apostate Roman Catholic Church. Many, however, have been drugged in Catholicism, never realizing that in the eyes of God the Catholic Church is the great prostitute. The Roman Church has been a great frustration to the Lord’s building of His church. Nevertheless, to the Lord one thousand years are as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). For Him to wait for twenty centuries is like waiting for two days. God is wise. Through His wisdom all the follies of the enemy will be exposed, and He will come in to do His work. If He wanted, He could wait for another period of time for the building of His church. But I believe now is the time the Lord is intervening to accomplish His work. Perhaps the Lord will say to the enemy, “Little Satan, have you done your best? Is there anything more you can do?” Satan will have to confess that he can do nothing more.
After Catholicism had been in existence for centuries, the Lord began His recovery. According to the human concept, the beginning of the Lord’s recovery was the reformation which started with Martin Luther. The reformation actually did little to accomplish the building of the church. Rather, it mainly recovered justification by faith. This is useful for salvation, but it has not been used very much for the building up of the church. None of the denominations that issued out of the reformation cares for the building up of the church. Instead, they have divided the Body and cut it into pieces. In reformed Christianity today there are hundreds of divisions.
The so-called Pentecostal movement began in the middle of the last century. Nothing has been more divisive than the Pentecostal movement in the past and the charismatic movement at present. It has cut the Lord’s Body into pieces even more. Everyone in this movement is utterly individualistic, and many feel free to set up a Christian meeting in any way they choose. Some may attend a small home meeting for a while. When they are no longer happy with the people there, they may form a meeting of their own. Here we see the subtlety of the enemy. He has brought in distractions, frustrations, and divisions. Today so-called Christendom is filled with divisions and confusion.
The Lord’s recovery came to the United States in 1962. During the past fourteen years, we have been presenting, by the Lord’s mercy, what He has shown us regarding the genuine oneness of the church. Some dear friends advised me to say nothing about the local church. In 1962 hardly anyone in Christianity was talking about the local church. But in the Lord’s recovery we have delivered message after message on this matter, and today the term “the local church” is a popular item. Now a number of radio preachers are using this term, and a number of groups are calling themselves a local church.