Church History - Ephesus vs. Rome

Last week, I began a series about church history. I gave basically just the opening preliminary comments. We're basically two months away from the Passover, which began God's Feast days. We begin again this spiritual cycle through seven feasts that God has, and they are steps in His plan of salvation. A person cannot understand God's plan of salvation without these seven steps. That's the way God planned it. Of course, we had no idea. I certainly didn't know anything about God's feasts growing up, but when I came across a church, I learned that not only is the fourth commandment, the Sabbath, something that is still required and binding on us, but also there are seven annual Sabbaths, which are the seven feasts. They start with the Passover, and God's plan of salvation goes through the different steps, all the way to the coming of Jesus Christ. We're very blessed to do this and to understand it, and it's so important to know our spiritual roots. Basically, this is like finding the needle in the religious haystack.

And it's what a privilege it is to come across a church that has survived for 20 centuries of persecutions, of twisting God's truths, and truly, like the apostle Paul said, that the God of this world has deceived, and there is a veil over people's eyes. Only God can take the veil off. And so it's very important to understand the religious roots. We didn't come out from Protestant Reformation back in the 1500s. We didn't come out of a church established in Rome with a head bishop that became so powerful and then allied with Constantine the emperor that now they had the sword in their hands.

They could impose the will. It's similar to what the Muslims have done, where they swept and conquered mostly by the sword. Thankfully, this did not happen right away in the church. God's church did not begin with an army with swords to go out and conquer in the name of Jesus Christ. And you had the choice of either submitting or dying or becoming captives.

And so basically for the first three centuries, God's church was the one that was still spiritually pure. It did not have armies. It defended the truth through debate and examining the scriptures, not by the point of a sword. And so as we begin with this PowerPoint Bible study, and it's a sermon at the same time, I'm going to show you by a way of maps, because a picture is worth a thousand words.

So instead of giving a lot of just historical things, these are all backed by historical sources of the first three centuries. We're going to go through in this sermon the first three centuries, which basically cover what we consider the two first church eras. There would be seven church eras until the time of Jesus Christ. And God revealed that through the Apostle John in the book of Revelation. So we're ready now to begin. I know the writing is a little small, but I'm going to go ahead and read it to you.

The history of God's church and basically the two centers of two churches was Ephesus, where the Apostle John, he was the last apostle, he trained his disciples, he trained his successors in that area, which you see there. And all of this, John went from Jerusalem to the city of Ephesus. But there was another supposed Christian that also went from that area of Jerusalem and Samaria. He went to Rome and established another church, another Christian church. This is part of history, but it's a history that's not well known.

Most churches want to cover it up, but it's there for the person who wants to do the research. And so let's review the origins of the true and the false churches. Remember, two churches are described in Revelation 2 through 3, 12 and 17. So Revelation is one of the key areas, because that describes the time from the Apostle John, who at that time was in the island of Patmos, which was right next to Ephesus. He was the leading and the only of the original 12 apostles that survived.

And he was given the truths that God revealed. And part of that would be the history of his true church through 20 centuries and until the time of Jesus Christ. So let's look first here in Revelation 2, because here this is the time when we're going to cover it in a moment. John was a prisoner in the island of Patmos, right off of Ephesus.

How many have visited Patmos? A couple? A few? Okay. Well, the feast in Crete, the Feast of Tabernacles, we have a tour where we're going to go, God willing, to the island of Patmos and see where this happened. So it says in Revelation, and by the way, let's just look at this. Revelation chapter 1 verse 9, just to set the background, it says, I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos, for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Those were the reasons, because he was a true Christian. And then in chapter 2, Jesus Christ reveals that the first headquarters where John would still be serving as pastor there for a number of years, it says, to the angel of the church of Ephesus. And there are angels that protect each one of the churches throughout time. We know the archangel Michael is part of that protection, but each one has an angel assigned to oversee and, of course, under Jesus Christ.

He says, to the angel of the church of Ephesus, right, these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand. And you're going to see these seven stars are seven churches around Ephesus. And this is talking about basically around 90 or 95 AD, when this was written, because this is a time when he went to the island of Patmos.

And he has these seven stars, which are symbolic of churches. This is where God's true church was in that first century, toward the end of it. He says, these things says he holds the seven stars in his right hand. And you can see later on, it mentions about the symbolism of this in verse, let's see, goes into, see, it's toward the end where he says the stars are the churches.

Oh, he goes and says, verse two, I know of your works. This is talking about that first era, basically from 31 AD with Christ establishing the church in Jerusalem. And then the church in Pentecost, which is one of God's feasts, they received the Holy Spirit. So in these, the sequence of God's plan of salvation, there would be a moment when Pentecost would be celebrated and God's Spirit fell upon the church. So that's where God's church began, with 120 people, according to Acts chapter two, one and two. He says, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.

And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. So here, you see there are going to be at least two churches. One, the true church, based in that area of Ephesus, and where the seven churches are. And the other one is the one that says, no, we are the true church. And that's Rome. And from Rome would arise another church that would become huge, powerful.

I don't want to elaborate completely, because I'm not going to have time, but at least you can read this chapter two. But then I want to go to chapter 12 of Revelation. And it reveals God's church again.

It says in verse one, now a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven diadems. This is talking about Satan. His tale drew a third of the stars of heaven. Stars are symbolic for angels. Each one of those stars mentioned in Revelation two have to do with an angel assigned to each one of those eras. He says, and through them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. Satan was ready to destroy Jesus Christ. And sure enough, he tried to do it through who? King Herod, who sent his soldiers to massacre all the infants in Bethlehem. And God intervened and notified Joseph, and Joseph left Bethlehem before the massacre, but Satan was ready to destroy Jesus Christ. And it says, she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God in his throne. And then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1260 days. I'll be bringing that up. But the point is, this is the pure woman. This is the pure church that would not be contaminated with worldly governments, with war, with vicious political infighting. This is the difference. If we had the President of the United States come over and say, I want to be a member of your church. I will back you. I will give you all the powers behind me as the President. You know how we would say? Well, sir, are you ready to start keeping the Sabbath? Are you ready to start keeping the feast days? God is not a respecter of persons. I don't care who it is. We are not a respecter of who it is. We don't bend to anyone. Why? Notice in 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3.

We would be rather persecuted and keep God's truth than make an alliance with this world and have peace and prosperity and backing. That's the difference. In 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15, what is the church described at? He says here to Timothy, I would call, but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to comfort yourself in the house of God, talking about the church, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. It sustains the truth and is based on the truth. And so if somebody comes and says, well, just shift your church over to another system. It's like Satan offering the world to Christ. He said, look, if you just bow, I'll give you all of these nations. No, we're not for sale. We're not going to change our doctrines. We've been doing this for 2,000 years, basically, and we're not going to change. And so Revelation 12 shows a small church persecuted.

With no political or military power, she has to flee because she's not there to fight with swords and see, you know, who's the one that's going to win? Well, the one that has the most swords, the most power, and they get to write history. You think they're going to write good things about the church that they've persecuted and tried to destroy? Of course not.

So and then in Revelation 17 is the other church. From the time of John to our days, what is the history? Is this a little persecuted church that eventually would have to hide out? It says in Revelation 17, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. And the Bible interprets itself. It'll show you this is a great church, which sits many waters, and it's described later as many nations and tongues.

It says, continuing, he says, So this is a harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication. So they've got alliances. They're connected politically, economically. And the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So the inhabitants just follow along. They don't know any better. They're not trying to discern whether this is God's truths or not. They just go with the flow. They go with the winners. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. This is again Satan and a beast power that would arise. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. So this woman has had enormous success, enormous economic power. It dresses themselves up as kings, as the rulers. In ancient Rome, it was the emperor that wore all that gold and his priests. And then his officials were dressed in red, cardinal red. They were powerful. And so this is a system that has copied the Roman Empire. It says, having in her hand a golden cup. What church uses a golden cup? I only know of one.

But what's inside? Full of abominations, the teachings and the filthiness of her fornications. Compromise. If you don't compromise, you might not survive. The church went through about 1260 years of enormous persecution, of trying to survive what was the inquisitions, the crusades, massacres after massacres. And on her forehead, a name was written. What is she really? Is it a true church? No, it says mystery. Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. So this would be a harlot that would engender many different churches. And yet, she's the one in charge in all of these teachings that she has. I'll say that the majority of them come back from Babylon, the Great. I'll cover a little bit of that, but I don't have time to go over every one of these teachings. Verse 6, I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. What other organization just enjoys destroying other churches and wiping them out and covering up its sins?

And nobody says much about it, does it? Because you're not going to be politically nor religiously correct. You're going to be persecuted. So let's go to the next. So one begins in Jerusalem, one church, and ends in Ephesus. The other is in Rome. So this is the key. Two centers of religious teaching about Christianity. Let's go to the second map. The main churches of the Genoa faith were in Jerusalem. Let's go to Acts 2. Acts 2, verse 1. We know exactly didn't start in Rome. That's where the pagan center of the beast power was at that time. That wasn't where God was going to establish his church. It says, verse 1 of Acts 2, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. All the brethren were keeping Pentecost. Should we keep Pentecost with one accord or not? We continue to keep these feast days according to the calendar that you find in Leviticus 23. It gives you all the different dates. That's why we always keep the Passover on the first month in the 14th day of the calendar, God's calendar, Nisan. That's when we keep it. Continuing, it says, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire. This is symbolic of God's Spirit going in them, and one sat upon each of them. So each one, when you receive God's Spirit, it's an individual. It's something that goes inside of you, that makes the connection with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Then you can walk with God in peace and tranquility. And he says, And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And then there were manifestations. Speak with other tongues. They could talk different languages because, of course, they were going to have to go and speak to Greeks and speak to others, and they were given that gift as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem. Jews devout men from every nation under heaven. And so the story is, this is where the church begins.

And the second place is at Antioch. If you look in the map, from Jerusalem in the south to Antioch. Notice Acts 11, verse 19.

It says, Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen, that was in Jerusalem, traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.

But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. Well, Hellenists are still Hellenistic Jews, but you're talking about culturally, they weren't like the typical Jews in Judea. These could speak Greek. They had also that type of a background. And the hand of the Lord was with them. Notice it's God who adds, not man. And a great number believed and turned to the Lord. A great number. So this actually became the second center of activity for the church.

And this third would be Ephesus, which, if you can see in the map, is over toward the middle, upper middle. That's where Ephesus is. Notice in Acts 19, the Apostle Paul established the church at Ephesus, and he spent more time there than practically any other place. Acts 19 verse 1, it says, and it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus and finding some disciples. Notice in verse 8, it says, and he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. See, that's a key, preparing for the kingdom of God that is coming. It's not just about Jesus. Jesus is the messenger. Of course, he's our Savior, but it's also the message that he brought. This is not God's kingdom on earth. It's coming. He goes on to say, but when some were hardened and did not believe but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples reasoning daily in the school of Toranas. And this continued for two years so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. So that was the third center of God's church.

And what happens next?

We go to 69 AD. We can move to the next slide. What happened in Acts chapter 8?

Around AD 33. Let's look in Acts chapter 8.

It says verse 9, But there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God. So this man had miracles produced, but through Satan, through sorcery, witchcraft. He says, And they heeded him, because he had astonished them with his sauceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God, there's the central message and the name of Jesus Christ. We don't leave that out. That's why we have the logo talking about preaching Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip. He was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. So here there was miraculous power that these men had, and Simon realized, I want that power. And so it says, verse 14, Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet he had fallen upon none of them. It should say it there, because it's not a person, it's a power of God. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. That's why we do baptism and the laying on of hands. You need both. And when Simon saw 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. So you see, it wasn't his conversion. Oh, he learned everything about Christianity before he was baptized, but now the true Spirit. There are people that come into the church to take advantage, to use it as a base of power, just like Simon did. But Peter said to him, Your money perish with you. See, we're not for sale, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in this matter. You are not converted. You've got the wrong spirit. For your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this your wickedness. And pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you, for I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. Yeah, he was bound by Satan, and he just wanted that power. We have people that come into the church, like I say, they see power, they see so many things, God miraculously doing things. And this is not something that comes from us. It comes from God. You can't buy it. It says, then Simon answered and said, Pray to the Lord for me. He didn't repent. A person that's repentant would have said, I repent. He just said, Go ahead and you pray about it. That none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me. He's more worried about receiving the punishment. It's like the person that comes before the judge, and he's been condemned, and he said, Oh, I'll never steal again. I'll never do all of these things. And if he's lit off the hook, the great majority go back to doing it again. This is the same type of attitude that Simon had. He says, So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

So most early church historians consider Simon Magus as the originator of the false churches. He knew the Christian teachings, and he could disguise himself now as one of the apostles. After all, Peter had been there. He'd been baptized, and he was right there with the apostles. But he was rejected.

Next slide.

According to numerous early church historians, I have a book. It's called Simon Magus, and it has all the accounts of at least five or six of the early church historians that talk about him going to Rome and establishing a Christian in parentheses, a church in Rome in A.D. 45. He began a false Christianity there, a mixture of Samaritan and Christian beliefs. By the way, the Samaritans are part of the group that picked up, that were also brought in by the Syrians and later Babylonians. They had the same religion that started in Babylon. So he knew, he mixed the elements of it.

He began this false Christianity, a mixture of Samaritan and Christian beliefs, including immortality of the soul. That doesn't. The Bible never talks about the soul being immortal. Just read Ezekiel 18, verse 4. It says, the soul that sins, it shall die. It's not talking about that we're going to continue living in another state. The Bible talks about a person dying and then being resurrected, but being asleep, asleep while he is dead. He goes into unconsciousness until a resurrection takes place. So Simon Magus had that belief, also Sunday keeping. What the Samaritans, with their mysticism, called the octad, the octave, had to do with the eighth. They started teaching that the eighth day was superior to the seventh day. And this is all part of Gnostic teachings, and it started in Rome. Notice, point two here, says, from church records, it is likely Simon Magus started the quote, mystery of lawlessness that Paul talks about in 2 Thessalonians 2.7. He spawned what would become moderate and extreme Gnostics. The Catholic Church is an example of a moderate Gnostic Church. See, because some Gnostics really went out into left field. Of course, you look at them, they hardly had any truth. But there was this central Gnostic group. They combined biblical teachings, and with the Gnostic teachings, it made it more appealable to the people. So that's how they started gaining a foothold in Rome. Let's go to the next slide. The next moment that's important in church history, okay, we have John, we have the Apostle Paul establishing churches in that area of Greece and Ephesus. And there was a church of true believers in Rome, but it wasn't this church that became more and more powerful. The next moment is in 69 AD. The Jerusalem church, after being miraculously warned, fled to the little town of Pella in AD 69, right before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army. And history tells us that the Jews never forgave those Christian Jews that they fled, they did not fight against the Romans. They were saved from the terrible slaughter that took place at that time. So this is where the church had to go. This is where the church had to go because Jerusalem in 70 AD was completely destroyed. Ray Roberts mentioned about that. So there was no place now that the church could really establish in Jerusalem. The Romans had taken it over, but at Pella, this little place in the wilderness, the church was protected there.

Next slide.

Around AD 80, both Peter and Paul were dead. They died in the 60s. And the church in Jerusalem, when they returned to Pella, was very restricted. So some eventually came back from Pella to Jerusalem, but now the Romans were really in charge of everything. You didn't have free travel and course. John had to find the place where he could train with certain freedom and be able to take care of the churches.

The Apostle John went to Ephesus to take care of the churches there and make it the center of freer activities. Didn't have the Romans on top of them. Remember, people talk about, oh, the glory that was Rome. Yes, but as long as you went along, because it was a terrorist-type government. I mean, it impaled people. They crucified people. You went against the emperor. There was nothing soft about that system at all. Next slide. Notice that there were seven churches in the area where John taught and ruled. Revelation 1-4.

Let's go to Revelation 1-4. It says, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia. It doesn't talk about Rome being the headquarters. These were the seven churches that were around that area of Ephesus. He was, remember, in the island of Ephesus called Patmos.

We consider these are also prophetic church eras. Revelation 1-11.

Christ says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And what you see, write in a book and send it to Rome? No. To the seven churches which are in Asia, which today is Turkey, to Ephesus, first of all. To Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. And then it goes on to say, in verse 19, he says, Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, in other words, the things that were happening in his days, and the things which will take place after this.

The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamb stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamb stands which you saw are the seven churches. And so here you have seven churches, not very large. This is not talking about seven local congregations, only because Christ is describing these eras. The first one was the apostolic age, from 31 AD approximately to 100 AD, with the death of the apostle John. No more of the original apostles survive at that time. The next generation of leaders begins, and that begins the Smyrna era, which we're going to go into as well. These seven churches would faithfully describe the history of the main events of the church from the time of Pentecost, AD 31, to Christ's return. We believe we're right now in the Philadelphia era, where God said he was going to open powerful doors to get the gospel out. In the previous era, it was a week. There was no radio. There was no way to get the gospel to the entire world, as it has been done in the last 70 years.

We have millions of people that are exposed, and they know about God's kingdom. We can transmit this around the world.

Next slide.

So by AD 150, the Roman church had strayed so much from the truth that Polycarp, John's successor, and living in the nearby city of Smyrna, right next to Ephesus, that's still the headquarters area, went to Rome to correct the wrong way to keep the Passover. So the Sabbath had already been changed by the Roman church, and they were changing the feast days and the calendar. They were throwing God's biblical calendar out the window, starting Easter, starting all of the Easter Sunday. So Polycarp, who was the successor of John, that's recognized by the Catholic Church and others, he went to Rome, and he told the Pope there that at that time it was just the bishop, Anacetus, the bishop of Rome, Anacetus. He told them about keeping God's feast days. But Anacetus did not obey Polycarp or give up Easter, but went along with Polycarp out of respect for him and kept the Passover properly. So who was in charge? Polycarp. Because these other bishops, they had not been the successors of the apostles, and the apostle John was the one that had trained Polycarp. So here we see a clash of two religions, one based in Rome, the other one based in Ephesus in that area, and Rome is saying, we're going our way. We're not going to go along with you guys. We're more powerful. We have this Gnostic system. We can bring in a lot more Gentiles. We can water down doctrine. We can change things from the Sabbath day to the Sunday, and we've got the power behind us. Satan's power was there. Let's go to the next slide.

So this is the second clash between Rome and Ephesus. This is around AD 190.

Around AD 190, Victor, the bishop in Rome, threatened to excommunicate the churches with Ephesus as its center. See, the church did not obey Rome. They were keeping Sabbaths, feast days, and Victor actually did excommunicate them because he said, if you don't go along with Rome, we're going to excommunicate you. And he did so. Polycarp's successor, who was a Polycretes, wrote back, refusing to change the date of the Passover. And then, when other people around Victor said, you have gone overboard with this, Victor relented and lifted the excommunication of that group.

It's interesting that we have a letter from Polycarpus to Victor of Rome. Again, I'm going to have to go a little bit over time. Hope you don't mind. This is written by Eusebius, the church historian in the fourth century. He copied Polycarpus' epistle to Victor. This is very important, just like the other message I told you about the two quotes back in the 400s, where they're still saying, well, we're still keeping the Sabbath and we keep Sunday as a celebration, but Rome and Alexandria, they haven't done that. So there's this struggle. And this is what Polycarpus wrote, and it could be written just about by anybody that's a member of the church.

This is the right attitude. He says, as for us, those in the area of Ephesus and that whole area of Asia, we scrupulously observed the exact day, talking about of the Passover, neither adding or taking away. Is that what the Bible says? You don't add, you don't take away. For in Asia, great luminaries, talking about church leaders, have gone to their rest, who shall rise again in the day of the coming of the Lord, when he comes with glory from heaven, and shall raise again all the saints.

Doesn't believe in an immortal soul? You can tell. I speak of Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who is laid to rest in Hierapolis. John, moreover, who reclined on the Lord's bosom, talking about the apostle John, and a witness and a teacher, he rests at Ephesus. Then there is Polycarp, both bishop and martyr at Smyrna. These all kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month, in accordance with the Gospel, without ever deviating from it, but keeping to the rule of faith.

So you see, what is the rule of faith? What has been kept by Jesus Christ and the apostles? They're not keeping Easter. They don't have Easter bunnies. They don't have any of this type of nonsense. He says, Moreover, I, Polycretes, who am the least of you all, see that humility is not at their boasting and threatening excommunication.

In accordance with the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have succeeded, some of whom I have succeeded, seven of my relatives were bishops or pastors, and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away leaven. So, of course, the day of Passover is the time when we have to get rid of the leavening, because the first day of unleavened bread is about to come. I myself, brethren, I say who I am, 65 years old in the Lord. So, he probably was around at least 85 at the time. Been 65 years probably in the Lord.

He might have been a young man, because it looks like the whole family had been in the church. He might be 65 years old, totally. He was born in the church, and have fallen in with a brethren in all parts of the world, and have read through all holy scripture, and not frightened at the things which are said to terrify us from Rome. For those who are greater than I have said, we ought to obey God rather than men. So, they had to face the wrath of Rome. I might also have made mention of the bishops associated with me, all of these pastors, whom it was your own desire to have called together by me, and I call them together, whose names, if I were to write them down, would amount to a great number.

These bishops, on coming to see me, unworthy as I am, always at humility, signified or expressed their united approval of the letter that he's sending to Victor of Rome, knowing that I wore these gray hairs not in vain, but have always regulated my conduct in obedience to the Lord Jesus. So, I'm going to end with that. We can continue the next time, just to show you what the church had to go through.

I can give you volumes of information and background, if anybody wants to. There are all kinds of places where you can find this is God's truth. It's important, as we are ready to take the Passover in two months, to prepare spiritually, and to be so thankful that we are in the church that is the pillar and foundation of the truth.