The History of the Local Churches

The Degradation of the Local Churches

In their study of church history, Watchman Nee and Witness Lee observe that by the end of the first century, decline had set in among the local churches. This is evidenced by the fact that the apostle John had already begun countering heretical and false teachings in his Gospel and Epistles. This decline is also indicated in the book of Revelation, particularly chapters 2 and 3, where the Lord as the Son of Man is seen rebuking all but two of the seven local churches in Asia. Watchman Nee and Witness Lee speak concerning this general decline and its tragic consequences:

Such a church [the early church] remained in such a genuine condition only for a short time. Near the end of the first century, at the time of the early apostles, divisions, sects, crept in to damage the genuine church and created the degradation of the church (1 Cor. 1:10-13; Rom. 16:17; Titus 3:10). Such divisions grew worse and worse in the succeeding centuries, including the time of the church fathers, and the church attempted to solve the problem of divisions by holding councils with the leading teachers in the leading cities, such as Nicaea, Ephesus, etc. This did not work out as well as expected. Such a confused situation remained until the end of the sixth century, when the papal system was established to deform the church by forming the universal Catholic Church under the pope to keep a false unity throughout the world.

(Witness Lee, Crucial Points, 19-20)

According to church history, it is clear that soon after the time of the early apostles, the church deviated from the right track. It degraded and became a strict organization with the formation of the Roman Catholic Church.

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 104-105)

When the church was first formed, it was very normal. But after a short while, Satan came in and did something to damage the one Body of Christ, the one church of God. Satan worked to such an extent to form the Catholic Church. The word catholic means universally one. In a sense this is not bad. All the saints are one church. We are all catholic, but the Catholic Church is under a pope. Under the pope are the cardinals, who are the cabinet members of the papal government. Then under the cardinals are the archbishops, the bishops, and the priests. This forms a hierarchy to control people. That damaged the Body of Christ to the uttermost for ten centuries, from about A.D. 500 to 1500.

(Witness Lee, Issue of the Dispensing, 75-76)

By the end of the sixth century, the practice of the local churches had been lost. What prevailed instead was a complex hierarchy, absorbed from the Roman Empire, in which the simplicity of the New Testament's teaching was lost.

1. The Error of Rome

Main

Two Aspects of the Church

Who is the Church?

Local Churches in the N.T.

Degradation

Bibliography

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