Why did God Leave the
First Century Church of Christ and Did Not Restore?
Instead of restoring, God ordered His nation to leave the
First Century Church of Christ.
Revelation 18:4 as we were taught, was the clear instruction
from God for His people to
“Come out of her so as not to share in her sins and
not to receive any of her plagues.”
It can be deduced, therefore, from this command of God that
He will not restore the First Century Church of Christ. What is the point of
restoring or what is there to restore when He already ordered His people to
leave? It is safe to say that when God’s
nation obeyed His command, what was left in the First Century Church
were the leaders who were primarily responsible for the apostasy and the conniving
officers and members who did nothing but accept the new doctrines that were
introduced by the false prophets. It flooded
the belief of the mainstream Christianity in total disregard of the true
teachings from God and Christ. And so
after the smoke has cleared, the First Century Church that our Lord Jesus
Christ himself founded transformed to what is now the Roman Catholic and
Apostolic Church.
Peter de Rosa, a former Jesuit ordained in 1956 but left the
priesthood in 1970 in his book entitled Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy has these to say
about what has become of the First Century Church turned Roman Catholic and
Apostolic Church.
Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark
Side of the Papacy,
Bantam Press, 1988, p. 30.
Bantam Press, 1988, p. 30.
Quotes from Vicars of Christ: The Dark
Side of the Papacy
"Impeccable Catholic sources, papal documents, letters of reforming saints, all paint the same depressing picture. Monasteries full of women; every friar had his 'Martha', every nun her lover. Bishops, in every sense the fathers of their people, kept harems."
"Young men who spent their youth in rape and adultery were rising in the ranks of the clergy. They were spending their nights with four or five women, then getting up in the morning — in what state, he leaves to the imagination — to celebrate mass."
" ... many monasteries were the haunts of homosexuals, many converts were brothels."
"As to the sex-starved secular clergy, they were so often accused of incest that they were at length forbidden even to have mothers, aunts or sisters living in their house."
"Promiscuity was rife in monasteries and convents. The great Ivo of Chartres (1040-1115) tells of whole convents with inmates who were nuns only in name. They had often been abandoned by their families and were really prostitutes."
"There also crept in the infamous cullagium, a charge for keeping concubines... bishops and archdeacons themselves benefited from this sex-tax; in Rome, it was the pope."
"In the year 1250, Bishop Grosseteste of Lincoln wrote to Pope Innocent IV. Of priests he said: 'They are in truth teachers of heresy, inasmuch as the word of action is mightier than the word of speech.' "
"In the year 1414, King Henry V asked the University of Oxford to prepare articles for the reform of the church. Article 39 began: 'Because the carnal and sinful life of priests today scandalizes the entire church and their public fornication goes completely unpunished ...' "
"In the parish of St John Zachary in London, there was a church service of a very remarkable kind. It provided a brothel exclusively for priests and nuns ..."
"St Alban's Abbey, for instance, was nothing but a den of prostitutes serving the local monks. Nuns were regularly raped therein and the entire place, in a phrase worth of Shakespeare, was 'a riot of seed and blood'..."
"The overall report (in England) said that 144 religious houses were equal in viciousness to Sodom; countless convents, served by 'lewd confessors', were full of children; clergy — abbots, monks and friars — were carrying on not merely with whores but with married women..."
"After six centuries of strenuous efforts to impose celibacy, the clergy were a menace to the wives and young women of parishes to which they were sent."
"Across the border lived Henry, Bishop of Liege. The man was a legend beyond his lifetime. Henry was finally deposed by Gregory X at the Council of Lyons in 1274 'for deflowering virgins and other mighty deeds'... He ended murdered by a Flemish knight who was outraged at what the bishop had done to his daughter."
"During Borgia's reign, the Florentine friar Savonarola said the nuns were worse than harlots. As to the clergy, 'one priest spends the night with his concubine, another with a little boy, and in the morning they proceed to the altar to celebrate Mass. What do you think of that? What do you make of such a Mass?' "
"The evil was too deeply rooted; the last opportunities for reform long lost... A proverb passes from mouth to mouth: 'The profession of the priest is the surest road to hell."
"Impeccable Catholic sources, papal documents, letters of reforming saints, all paint the same depressing picture. Monasteries full of women; every friar had his 'Martha', every nun her lover. Bishops, in every sense the fathers of their people, kept harems."
"Young men who spent their youth in rape and adultery were rising in the ranks of the clergy. They were spending their nights with four or five women, then getting up in the morning — in what state, he leaves to the imagination — to celebrate mass."
" ... many monasteries were the haunts of homosexuals, many converts were brothels."
"As to the sex-starved secular clergy, they were so often accused of incest that they were at length forbidden even to have mothers, aunts or sisters living in their house."
"Promiscuity was rife in monasteries and convents. The great Ivo of Chartres (1040-1115) tells of whole convents with inmates who were nuns only in name. They had often been abandoned by their families and were really prostitutes."
"There also crept in the infamous cullagium, a charge for keeping concubines... bishops and archdeacons themselves benefited from this sex-tax; in Rome, it was the pope."
"In the year 1250, Bishop Grosseteste of Lincoln wrote to Pope Innocent IV. Of priests he said: 'They are in truth teachers of heresy, inasmuch as the word of action is mightier than the word of speech.' "
"In the year 1414, King Henry V asked the University of Oxford to prepare articles for the reform of the church. Article 39 began: 'Because the carnal and sinful life of priests today scandalizes the entire church and their public fornication goes completely unpunished ...' "
"In the parish of St John Zachary in London, there was a church service of a very remarkable kind. It provided a brothel exclusively for priests and nuns ..."
"St Alban's Abbey, for instance, was nothing but a den of prostitutes serving the local monks. Nuns were regularly raped therein and the entire place, in a phrase worth of Shakespeare, was 'a riot of seed and blood'..."
"The overall report (in England) said that 144 religious houses were equal in viciousness to Sodom; countless convents, served by 'lewd confessors', were full of children; clergy — abbots, monks and friars — were carrying on not merely with whores but with married women..."
"After six centuries of strenuous efforts to impose celibacy, the clergy were a menace to the wives and young women of parishes to which they were sent."
"Across the border lived Henry, Bishop of Liege. The man was a legend beyond his lifetime. Henry was finally deposed by Gregory X at the Council of Lyons in 1274 'for deflowering virgins and other mighty deeds'... He ended murdered by a Flemish knight who was outraged at what the bishop had done to his daughter."
"During Borgia's reign, the Florentine friar Savonarola said the nuns were worse than harlots. As to the clergy, 'one priest spends the night with his concubine, another with a little boy, and in the morning they proceed to the altar to celebrate Mass. What do you think of that? What do you make of such a Mass?' "
"The evil was too deeply rooted; the last opportunities for reform long lost... A proverb passes from mouth to mouth: 'The profession of the priest is the surest road to hell."
In
the light of all those evil pervading in the FCCOC turned RCAC, is there any
compelling reason that it should be restored?
Absolutely Nothing! What did God do to Sodom and Gomorrah? Did He not order the angels to take the
righteous out before destroying the cities?
What was God’s order to Israel who were captives in Babylon? Did He not order them to get out of there
too?
We
can see in the Church of Christ in these last days a budding apostasy but we
strongly believe in Ka Erdy’s words before he left us that it will not
succeed. Why? Because as he himself declared: “you have already
been taught!!!” There is this great feeling
of trust and confidence from our beloved brother that there are “learned” members who will not
allow apostasy to once again succeed and run over the Church of Christ. But let
us look at the parallelism! Those who
stand their ground during the first apostasy were killed. They were those who obeyed God and got out of
her. Today, there are also those who heeded God’s same instruction to get out;
they are the “learned” upon which Ka Erdy’s trust and confidence is hinged on. Just like the early Christians who remained
firm, those who obey God today are being hunted and oppressed. Four has already been brutally murdered and
because this apostasy today is only in its early stages, only God knows how
many more will likewise perish in defense of the faith.
The
Bible said history repeats itself so today we can clearly see how the Church of
Christ in this last days under the reign of Brother EVM is slowly but surely following
the footsteps of the RCAC. Again, Satan
is busy with his work knowing there is but a little time left for him. We saw the second fulfillment of Apostle
Paul’s prophecy in Acts 20:29 that it was after the death of the Apostles that
savage wolves in sheep’s clothing will come in and not spare the flock. In our time, it was after the death of
Brother Erano G. Manalo that the savage wolves from among the leaders this time
in suit and tie came in and started the wave of expulsion of the brethren who
were oppose to the widespread corruption.
If the First Century Church was wrecked or rocked by murder,
incest and adultery, the INC today was and is being plagued by corruption. Many
of us were witnesses as to how many members of the church council became
instant millionaires during the construction of the Philippine Arena. The nagging question persists: how could a minister in his meager allowance
able to own a Lamborghini? Your guess is as good as mine!
What
if Lot and company did not listen to the Angels? What if Noah disobeyed God? Do you now have an idea what a small remnant
is? Few hundreds out of millions is
indeed a small remnant, correct? Small
remnant therefore, does not refer to the millions who refuses to obey God but
to the few hundreds who followed the will of God. The choice is yours my beloved brethren.
“And
Joshua said unto all the people (of Israel) choose you this day whom ye will
serve, ….. but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh 24:2)
As in
the days of Joshua, so it is with us today.
“As for me and my house, we chose to be with the small remnant.”
Obeying
the Lord to get out of her is not an issue here. Many who regard themselves as defenders does
not share this belief though clearly written. Just to clarify, it isn’t me asking
the brethren to leave. Neither do I criticize any of you for not doing so. I still have so many relatives and friends inside the INC OWE and they can honestly tell you that I have never ever
asked them to leave.
