We have seen that the church is a genuine oneness. The church is absolutely one in substance, both universally and locally. In every aspect, the church is one. Because the church is one, nothing that is of a divisive nature can be the church. Every division loses the position, the standing, the ground, of the church. Today we live in a dark age of division and confusion, and it is difficult to discern the church from a division. This is the reason I gave you the six tests of the genuine local church in the foregoing message.
In this matter of the church we must be discerning. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church claim to be the church. However, we would never admit that they are the church. In a sense, the Roman Catholic Church believes in the Bible. Of course, the Roman Church believes the Bible in its own twisted way, claiming that the Bible can only be understood by the clerical hierarchy of the church. Through this subtle means the people are deprived of the Bible. The Roman Catholic Church even includes the books of the Apocrypha as part of the Scriptures. These apocryphal books were not even recognized by the Catholic Church until A.D. 1645, when the Pope decreed that they must be recognized as sacred Scripture. Some of the books of the Apocrypha, however, are like legends. Would you recognize legends as being inspired Scripture? Certainly not. Nevertheless, the Roman Catholic Church practices this. The Catholic Church does believe in God and somewhat in Jesus Christ.
When we say that the Catholic Church is not truly the church, some would reply, “It is not fair to say this. The Catholics have the Bible, they believe in God, and they have Jesus Christ.” Although this is true, the Catholic Church is still the great prostitute. According to the Bible, she bears the name, “Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes, and the Abominations of the Earth” (Rev. 17:5). God is a divine mystery. Besides this divine mystery, there is a satanic mystery. This second mystery is a mixture. In this mystery earthly things are mixed with heavenly things and paganism with the truths of the Bible. Furthermore, this mystery is filled with idols. Once I visited a Catholic cathedral to study the situation there. Along the walls of the cathedral were idols. Underneath these idols were cards saying that anyone who prayed to the image for a certain period of time would be able to reduce the suffering of a relative in purgatory. This, like Buddhism, is superstitious and blasphemous to God. I cannot understand how educated people in a modern nation can believe such foolishness. How can scientifically trained people pray to an idol? What nonsense to say that the Catholic Church is truly the church!
Besides the Catholic Church, there are all the Protestant denominations, including the state churches, such as the Church of England and the Church of Denmark. Even today, West Germany still has a state church, and all the citizens of that country must pay the church tax. The pastors of the state church are paid by the government. As we all know, the Queen of England today is still the head of the Church of England, and all those born British citizens are members of the Church of England by birth. Would you recognize this as a church? Surely it is not the church.
After the rise of the state churches, the independent churches, such as the Presbyterians, Baptists, and the Methodists, came into being. In the early part of this century, the Pentecostal movement reached the United States, landing in Massachusetts and spreading across the country to California. In 1915 the Assembly of God was formed. At the beginning, A. B. Simpson was there. However, when the decision was made to say that speaking in tongues was the unique manifestation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Simpson and others opposed this, withdrew from the Pentecostal movement, and formed the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Can the Catholic Church, the state churches, and all the independent churches be truly recognized as churches? No, they are divisions.
After World War II, a great many free groups were raised up in the United States. In 1963 I was told that in Southern California there were hundreds of small free groups. If all these free groups can be recognized as the church, then there must be a countless number of churches in the universe. The Catholic Church, the denominations, the Pentecostal churches, and the free groups all claim to be the church. Which group is the church? What should the Lord do in this situation? In order to answer this question, we must come back to the holy Word. In addition to the plain words of the New Testament, we should also consider the pictures, the types, in the Old Testament.