...... The Word of Truth Ministries     The Falling Away By Rev. S. C. McClain [Elder S. C. McClain was an instructor of Church History at the Pentecostal Bible Institute. He was one of the pioneers in the Oneness Movement, as the Apostolic Faith was then called in the USA. This excerpt comes from his book, Student's Handbook of Facts in Church History, 1959.] IT IS NOT ours to question why God has allowed His church to £all away from Him and to drift into what is called the "Dark Ages.” In fact, God's true church consists of  His true believers, and through all ages and at all times, even when the old apostate church was thrown into profound sin and darkness, some have been true to the Word 0£ God and loved and served Him under severe trials and persecutions, being called heretics by the old backslidden church. But in history the organization that had influence and ecclesiastical power was called the church and others were usually mentioned as heretics. Thus the Roman Catholic Church, which was organized by Constantine soon after his setting himself as head over the church, was called "The Church" by historians, despite her backslidings, until the Reformation. Notwithstanding the fact that the Roman Catholic Church had been recognized as the church God had preserved and kept alive a root and branch of His true church, and the gates 0£ hell had not prevailed against it. While we shall trace the fall of the apostate church, we hope to make mention of this apparently insignificant company, which was persecuted and condemned as heretics.   The two destroying agencies  Joel, the prophet, foresaw the falling away of the church and described it as something that was to come in a future time. (Note Joel 1:3-5.) "Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation" (Verse 3). First, the destroying insects  "That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten" (verse 4). What a pity! The beautiful church fruit tree of Pentecost in the line of never-failing prophecy to be brought down to destruction! With all its fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, long suffering, etc. There would be nothing left but a dry, fruitless stump with neither leaves nor bark left.   As this falling away was' discussed in the writer's church history class, the question was asked, "Which fruit do you think that worm attacked first, and caused to fall from the tree?" The answer quickly came from one student, "I think love was the first to fall." This is quite correct. This is the fruit that St. John often exhorted the church to produce, saying, "Beloved, let us love one another," Then, too, Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that ye are m5' disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). Not only were there fruits of the Spirit on the church fruit tree, but also by the same Spirit there were the gifts of the Spirit, nine of them, including healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles, etc. Without fruits of the spirit, there could be no gifts of the spirit. Then if love is lost, joy ceases.  It appears that these four destroying insects set in to devour the whole tree, fruits, and gifts, with its leaves and bark. For what the palmerworm left the locust ate. It seems that the locust gnaws the bark as well as destroying the leaves, and the caterpillar eats the leaves also, but the cankerworm doubtless destroys the fruit. At any rate, whatever method they use in destroying, the tree with its fruit is brought to destruction.   As the church became more formal and let down the standard of doctrines and holy living, fruit disappeared from the church tree. Let us look at the twelfth verse of this chapter. It tells us that the vine is dried up, the fig tree and all the fruit trees, because JOY IS WITHERED away from the sons of men. Any time the church loses its joy and rejoicing, its fruits will begin to" disappear. Suppose we say that the old worm bored ~he fruit of LOVE and it fell off. Then of course joy, peace, and long suffering fell off also. Where there is no love there is no joy or peace; church members become intolerant, and all but themselves seem to be wrong.  FALSE DOCTRINES began to be introduced after the death of the apostles when Gentile leaders, who once had influence in heathen worship, began to become leaders in the Christian church. Naturally some of these brought with them ideas and opinions of religion that were quite foreign to true Christian doctrine and practice. Paul mentioned one instance of the kind in 1 Cor.11: 17-22 where these believers in Christ were celebrating what was supposed to be the Lord's Supper; but they had the spirit of an idol feast. Every person that could do so brought a big basket, so that the rich had much while the poor were put to shame. So it happened in some of their other doctrines, for instance the doctrine of a Trinity, which will be dealt with later. The outcome was that love and fellowship ceased and there arose debates and divisions, which many times resulted in later years, in the shedding of blood. The church began its fall in the second century, as will be seen from a study of the historical records. They have no wine This was a serious predicament for the newly wedded couple at the feast of Cana, but how much worse £or this new church movement! \\ithin three hundred years that "new wine" that made the apostles and saints on the day of Pentecost act like drunken men was cut 0££. The prophet cried out, " howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth" (Joel 1:5). The early saints really became so filled with the Spirit that they acted like drunken men. Isaiah prophesied of the Age of the Holy Spirit, saying, "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they 'are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink" (Isaiah 29:9). But alas, all fruit is gone, and nothing is left but an old dry stump, or only a dead, dry form of religion, without love or any fruits or gifts of the Spirit. Second, the destroying nation  In the previous chapter we have seen the fall of the church as insects destroying a fruitful tree; but now the prophet changes the scene and pictures the church as a beautiful vine and a lovely fig tree full of fruit in the Lord's vineyard, and a nation with all appearance of a ravenous beast, bringing total destruction upon them both. Note the words of the prophet Joel. "For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, ! whose teeth are the' teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a ,great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made It clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white" (Joel 1:6,7).   I Here the prophet presents a picture very different I from that of the insects. This in its description all but calls the name of the Roman Catholic Church, which united with the political powers of Rome and forced the church into the Dark Age. When Constantine in 313 A.D. made a pretense of becoming a Christian in order to get f all Christians to help him fight the heathen, idol-worshipping as they contested in battle for the position as emperor of the Roman Empire, the church made what has proved to be a great mistake. It was none other than opening the door of the church and inviting the world to come in; but what a temptation it was when Constantine claimed that he had seen in the sky a large flaming cross bearing the motto: By this sin thou shalt conquer. Furthermore, he promised the Christians that if he won and became the next emperor all persecutions of Christians would cease, and the cross would be adopted as the standard of his army instead of the Roman eagle. It was a great gain to Constantine to win the Christians to his side, and to them it seemed to be a great victory for themselves. They had been persecuted by the idolatrous emperors of Rome and had suffered martyrdom in every form of cruel torture possible. The persecution, instead of stamping out the church, caused it to grow the more, so that half the Roman Empire in some measure accepted the Christian religion. These Christians added to Constantine's army gave him the victory over Maxentius, his heathen opponent; and his edict that Christians should no longer be persecuted was received with great gladness. This was another step in the wrong direction for the already declining church, as Constantine united church and state and converted what was left of the fruitless church into the state church, with himself as head of the institution. Preachers were paid from state funds, and no man could hold a political office unless he was a member of the church. Instead of men full of Holy Ghost holding offices in church, it became filled with political rulers. It was no longer a persecuted church in a dark and sinful world, but a dark and sinful world in the church; it sank to the bottom of political corruption, thus descending into the Dark Age.  The prophet pictures the church as the fig tree that had been barked and its branches left bare. (Note Joel 1:7) Home