THE ASSAULT ON THE CHURCH, Part I: An Overview

A.  Introduction

 

Attacks against the Church are nothing new. Ever since its inception, the Church has been assaulted many times and in various ways by the kingdom of darkness. A lot of the attacks have been, and are, from the outside. We have heard of various forms of persecution. However, there is another form of assault that is more insidious, more deceptive: Attack from the inside of the Church. We not only have enemies outside the Church walls, we have enemies within the walls also. In this blog series I will examine the major attacks on the Church today, the warfare being waged within. Because I am a Protestant, I will be speaking from a Protestant perspective, but the forms of assault discussed could well apply to most or even all branches of Christianity. In this first part, it will be shown that the early Church had its share of issues with inside attacks.

 

B.  In the Beginning, Attack!

Those who are regular readers of the Bible—we all should be—can recall passages of Scripture in which false teachings and other issues in the early Church are dealt with. Even so, when you put a comprehensive Scripture listing together, it may surprise you just how much the Church was assaulted even from its beginning. Below you will see a good sampling of Bible verses addressing such issues, including the giving of warnings, the addressing of sin issues, and the concerns about false teachers.

 

Acts 5:1-2:  But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

 

Acts 6:1:  Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

 

Acts 8:18:  And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

 

Acts 15:1:  And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

 

Acts 20:28-30:  Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

 

Romans 16:17-18:  Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

 

1 Corinthians 3:1-3:  And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

 

1 Corinthians 5:1-2:  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

 

1 Corinthians 6:1, 5-6:  Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?…I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

 

1 Corinthians 11:18-20:  For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

 

Philippians 3:18-19:  For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.

 

Colossians 2:8:  Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

 

1 Timothy 6:3-5:  If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.

 

Titus 3:10:  Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

 

2 Peter 2:1:  But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

 

1 John 4:1-3:  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

 

Jude 1:3-4:  Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

C. Onward to the Present Time

When you see all those verses above together, you can see there was a lot going on even in the earliest days of the Church: false teachings, open sinning, power struggles, division, dissension, and so on. It has not stopped. Arriving at 2023, we find about half a dozen branches of Christianity and as many as 45,000 denominations. Wow! As believers we are to reflect Christ, yet today the Church looks more like a mirror that has been dropped and shattered, a few big chunks here and a whole lot of little fragments there. It is a miracle in itself that the Church gets as much accomplished as it does considering it has gotten so far out of alignment since its beginnings. This does not change the fact that the Church is nowhere close to what God wants. One thing the early Church had, however, was power—Holy Spirit power.

 

There was a purity of lifestyle and doctrine that is hard to find today. Because of their closeness to God, these first Christians were able to overcome their opposition and thrive. Throughout the Church Age—in fact, throughout the Old Testament period as well—there has always been a godly remnant of believers. God will once again raise up His remnant in these last days if He is not already doing so (Joel 2:28-32) and do what the majority of the Church is not able to do so well: The will of God. Regardless of that, we must, as believers, know what some of the problems are in the Church today.

 

This blog series will address the chief problems in today’s Church, again from a Protestant perspective, though a number of these same issues could very well apply throughout Christianity. These problems include the attack on the Bible itself by Bible scholars and other professing Christians; the seeker-sensitive Church movement; the prosperity and word of faith movements; the New Apostolic Reformation and various other forms of “charismania”; dead, dull, dry, and traditional Christianity including legalism and cessationism; and the tolerance of open sin in churches, even to the point of embracing what the Bible clearly labels as abominations. By the time you have read all of them you will see that in addition to the attacks taking place from outside the Church, a lot of damage has also been done from the inside. The series will conclude with some practical suggestions on what to do. I can tell you at this point, however, that the best place to be is in God’s remnant. That is where He will be moving the most, just as it always has been.