That They May Be One

The Scattered Church

The Church of God once seemed to have a unity – until false doctrines and deceitful ministers lurking beneath the surface appeared – and many members failed to hold fast.  Those who held fast were given additional tests; new obstacles to face.  Ministers who once seemed on track started preaching watered-down doctrines.  Some ministers behaved in an un-Christian manner toward the brethren.  Some ministers closed their eyes.  A number of ministers arose who claimed the "mantle of authority" and sought personal followings; thereby creating personality-based groups.  Some ministers and members oppressed their fellow servants.  The saints learned that they could not always rely on others for spiritual support.  In that vacuum of spiritual leadership and support, the brethren struggled to make wise decisions – and to work out their own salvation.   The Church of God was shattered.  "Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."  (Acts 20:30)

As a church, we were taught "authority" from the top down.  That is the way that God will rule His kingdom.  We had more than seven hundred professionally trained men ruling over one hundred and forty-five thousand members – implementing a top-down authority.  As was revealed during the apostasy, some six hundred of those pastors were not following Jesus Christ.  It is our responsibility as members to follow leaders only as they follow Christ.  The millennial pattern will exhibit a Godly benevolent authority that was woefully absent in much of the Church.  Those at the top of the ruling pyramid could not fathom the persecution foisted on some true Christians at the bottom.  As a result, the concept of "God's Government" became used interchangeably with "Church Government," at the expense of the well-being of the brethren's spiritual lives.

"How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit."  (Jude :18-19)

We have entered the age of new Gnostics.  Men teach that they know something that others do not know.  They teach that because they alone please God, their group is sufficient unto itself.  The teaching that members need not concern themselves with other brethren is absolutely false.  These are the last days.  Jesus will return before we know it!  Scripture clearly tells us that false religious teachers will plague the Church of God – and the Scriptures are not talking about deceived worldly religious leaders.

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."  (2 Timothy 3:1)

"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts."  (2 Peter 3:3)

"Grievous wolves [shall] enter in among you, not sparing the flock."  (Acts 20:29)

After the death of Mr. Armstrong and the emergence of men who did not regard the Truth, Satan was able to scatter the brethren.  Leaders who should have had the ability to maintain the Truth and to hold the brethren together in unity did not do so.  Those who are responsible should have grave concerns about the scattering of the brethren.  The Truth suffered when so few men of God were willing to take a stand for the Faith.  Good people were disfellowshipped while tares reveled in their newfound apostasy.

Groups sprang up – large and small – with the stated intention of preaching the gospel, or doing the Work.  God ceased calling large numbers into a church that had fallen into disarray.  How could "babes in the Truth" flourish amidst so much confusion and turmoil?  Some leaders were reluctant and fearful to declare our long-held, true beliefs.  Preserving the Truth was not high on their list of priorities.  By the harsh and negligent way people treated one another, it became clear that the great majority did not understand the true meaning of Christianity.

Too many leaders lowered their standards, watered down their messages, and lost their zeal.  Apparently, they
were not willing or able to "cry aloud and spare not" 
(Isaiah 58:1).

"For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed."  (Luke 9:26)

Others, like Diotrephes of III John, sought the preeminence – neglecting their responsibility to confront false doctrine and to stabilize the membership when the Church was in peril.  Large areas of the world were abandoned.  Those men failed to represent the way of God that they had been trained to bring to the world.  None realized the importance of unity and oneness enough to take action to forewarn the brethren of the scattering.

It is interesting to note that so much of the scattering came about as a result of the inability and/or unwillingness of leaders to humble themselves and to work together – rather than from outside persecution, as was expected.  In most cases, at the onset of the apostasy, it was the brethren who led the exodus when the uncertain sound of the voice of strangers was heard.  With very few exceptions, the leaders followed afterward.  It seems that Satan with his subtleties is always able to blind-side the children of God.  As the apostasy set in, the leaders were torn between losing the position they had gained over the years on one hand, and standing for the Truth they had been taught on the other.  Some justified their actions by saying, "It would have been unethical to speak against those for whom we worked."  That statement reveals a terrible lack of understanding on their part.  They had gone along with the apostasy without speaking up.  They should have repented and asked forgiveness – that was the correct thing to have done. Those pastors had a huge responsibility to care for the sheep – not just themselves.  The attitude of self-exaltation is the attitude that is willing to sacrifice others for the justification and vindication of the self.

"The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." (John 10:13)

Those leaders who chose retirement when the apostasy began to beat hard against the Church were, in effect, saying, “It’s every man for himself.”  They did not remember that God had trained and prepared them as shepherds all those years to be able to gather and to hold the flock together for protection in times of danger. “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  (Esther 4:14)