Part I
TRADITIONS OF THE EARLY  CHURCH FATHERS
AND THE GREAT FALLING AWAY
(The Great Falling Away from the DOCTRINE of the APOSTLES
( Ac 2:38 & Ac 2:42)

    40-60 AD
    Nicolas, one of the first seven church Deacons (Ac 6:5) develops and
introduces the doctrine of the NICOLAITANES to the early Christian church
world (Rev 2:6). In his doctrine based on Greek dualism, he and his followers
declared that Christian are sinners saved by grace which meant Christians
could look like the world, dress like the world, and live like the world in
all types of sin and still remain saved. His teaching laid the foundation for
the development of the doctrines of Eternal Security, once saved always saved
and confession to a priest while living in sin. Since his teaching required
no outward or inward change to be saved (No Repentance), he and his followers
attracted large numbers of converts both from the many pagan religious
systems of his day and the Apostolic Christian church world. His message to
the Apostolic church world was why live in the legalism and bondage of
holiness and sanctification teachings of the Apostles when you can be free in
Jesus through his teachings?

    The doctrine of the Nicolaitans violated Apostolic teaching on
self-sanctification and holiness which was a part of their teaching on
salvation. In Apostolic teaching a holiness lifestyle covered standards of
dress, types of activities Christians took part in or did not take part in,
and daily living codes of conduct.  (Ro 6:1, 12:1, I Thl 4:3-7, I Ti 2:8-10,
He 12:14, I Pe 1:15-16 + many more)

    Of special note. When the Great Falling Away began it started with
changing Apostolic teaching on repentance-holiness and sin, then water
baptism and Spirit baptism and the application the blood, then to the
godhead.  All of these gospel of salvation doctrines were completely changed
between 50 AD-325 AD by the Nicolaitanes and the Church Fathers. When the
reformers entered late in church history they only added greater delusions
and went farther away from the teaching of the Apostles in the trinity
Christian world.   

    70-150 AD
    The development of Scholastic Theology as a system to interpret the
scriptures begins to be used by Christian intellectuals.  It is this
developing system that results in the creation of the Trinity Christian world
with a complete departure from the gospel of the Apostles and the plan of
salvation given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ.  With the development of
the Trinity Christian religious world the gospel of the Apostles is labeled a
heresy.  In the following scriptures Paul, Peter, and Jude, address and warn
of the coming of the Nicolaitans, Church Fathers, Reformers, and many other
non-Apostolic groups with their false doctrines.

It is also very interesting to note with the slow development of SCHOLASTIC
THEOLOGY the receiving of the baptism of the Holy ghost with the evidence of
speaking in unknown tongues did not take place with those who were in
leadership or those being taught via the NEW study system.

    Gal 11:1-10
    But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said
before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed.  For do I now persuade men, or
God?  Or do I seek to please men?  For if I yet pleased men, I should not be
the servant of Christ.
   
    2 Pe 2:1-2
    But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift
destruction.  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom
the way of truth (The Gospel of the Apostles) shall be evil spoken of. 

    Jude 1:3-6
    Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the COMMON
SALVATION (The Gospel of the Apostles), it was needful for me to write unto
you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which was
ONCE DELIVERED unto the saints.  For there are certain men crept in unawares,
who were before of old ordained to his condemnation, ungodly men, turning the
grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our
Lord Jesus Christ.  I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once
knew this, how that the Lord, having SAVED the people out of the land of
Egypt,  AFTERWARDDESTROYED THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT.  And the angels which kept
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day.

    Ex 32:31-35
    And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a
great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Ye now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin--; and if not, blot me I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast
written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him
will I blot out of my book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place
of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee:
nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.  And
the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

    150 AD
    Justin Martyr, makes the first change in Apostolic teaching on water
baptism and the godhead.  Since Justin did not believe that Jesus was God The
Father manifested in the flesh as the Apostles taught, he baptized his
converts as follows: "I baptize you in the name of God the Father and the
Lord of all, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost". Justin
believed and taught as the Jews, that the name of God was so holy and such a
great mystery that man could never know it. This is why he believed God the
Father and his Son Jesus Christ were two different persons. It was this
unbelief in the name of Jesus Christ as being also the name of God the Father
and the Holy Ghost that laid the foundation of the coming development of the
different trinities in the Christian religious world.

    I Tim 3:16
    And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

    II Th 2:10-12
    And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause god shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth , but
had pleasure in unrighteousness.

    190-200 AD
    Origen (philosopher) and Tertullian (lawyer) who became believers via the
teachings of Justin Martyr change Justin Marty's baptismal formula to just
quoting Mt 28:19.  In this second (Church Father) change on water baptism the
teachings of the Apostles are also rejected and both Origen and Tertullian
begin to express a difference between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost  as
three different persons of the godhead.  In 200 AD Tertullian adopts the
Roman pagan word "Trinitas" as a description of the three persons of the
Christian godhead.  Both men at this time developed two different doctrines
of the Christian trinity which in fact is not Christian but are modifications
and adaptations from the pagan trinities.

OF NOTE:  Origen developed what is called the Eastern trinity which formed
the foundational teachings of the Greek Orthodox religious system and
Tertullian developed the Western Latin trinity which became the foundational
teaching of the Roman Catholic religious system. Of importance the word
trinity was used for the first time in Christian theology in 200 AD and does
not appear in the scriptures. The Trinitarians have always believed for one
to be a saved Christian one must be trinity. If this were so then ALL those
who follow the teachings of the Apostles including the Apostles were never
saved because they never believed in any type of trinity.

    220 AD
    Origen introduces the doctrine of infant baptism at his pre-baptismal
school in Alexandria, Egypt.

    320 AD
    The Arian heresy develops in the eastern part of the Roman  Empire. In
the teaching of Arius, the divinity of Jesus Christ is denied and God who was
manifested in the flesh and body of Jesus Christ was declared to be nothing 
more than the adopted Son of God.  If it were not for the intervention of
Constantine in 325 AD this heresy would have completely taken over the
Eastern Church world which later became the Greek Orthodox Church world.

    325 AD
    Under the Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea, the Western
trinity of Tertullian and the trinity formula of water baptism becomes the
official doctrine for all Christina churches in the Roman Empire, by Imperial
decree.  All religious systems outside of the trinity were declared to be
heresies including the teachings of the Apostles and the teachings of Arias
along with many other groups.  Under Constantine, the so-called trinity
Christian religious world became the national religion of the Empire.  At
this time, the prophecy of the Apostle Peter in 2 Pe 2:1-2 was fulfilled.

    2 Pe 2:1-2
    But there were  false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring you, upon themselves swift
destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom
the way of truth (The Gospel of the Apostles) shall be evil spoken of.

    Following the Council of Nicaea the Apostolic church world within the
boundaries of the Roman Empire was either driven underground and or scattered
by persecution from the government and the new Roman Catholic Church and
trinity believers.

    416 AD
    Infant baptism by sprinkling becomes compulsory in the Western church
world.

    451 AD
    The worship of Mary, the mother of God instituted.

    607 AD
Boniface III, is the first trinity bishop to adopt the name Pope in the Roman
Catholic Church. The bishop of Rome only makes this move after the fall of
the Roman Empire.

    709 AD
    Kissing the Pope's foot begins.

    786 AD
    Worship of images and relics develops.

    850 AD
    Use of holy water begins.
   
    995 AD
    Canonization of dead saints.

    998 AD
    Fasting on Fridays and before Lent.

    1056 AD
    Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches split over their different
trinities, papal authority, different modes of water baptism, and the
veneration dead saints and images. It should be noted because of the language
difference between Greek and Latin and the trinity difference between East
and West the unofficial split took place around 500 AD but the official split
did not take place until 1056 AD.

    1079 AD
    Celibacy of the priesthood instituted.

    1090 AD
    Prayer beads adopted from several pagan religious systems.
   
    1184 AD
    The Inquisition begins (26 - million Jews and Protestant believers will
die at the hands of the Church of Rome before it ends).
   
    1190 AD
    The sale of indulgences instituted.
   
    1215 AD
    Transubstantiation of the wafer and wine.
           
    1220 AD
    Adoration of the wafer (host).
   
    1229 AD
    Bible forbidden to laymen.
   
    1414 AD
    Cup forbidden to layette.

    1439 AD
    Doctrine of Purgatory decreed.
   
    1439 AD
    Dogma of sacraments affirmed.

    1508 AD
    Ave Maria approved.
       
    1545 AD
    Tradition granted equal authority with the bible.  (Council of Trent)
           
    1546 AD
    Apocryphal Books added to the Roman Catholic Bible.
               
    1854 AD
    Immaculate Conception of Mary.
                   
    1870 AD
    Infallibility of the Pope declared.                
    1950 AD
    Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven declared.
                           
    1965 AD
    Mary proclaimed to be the Queen Mother of Heaven, God, Christ, and the
Church.

    1985
    Pope John Paul II declares that God will not forgive sins directly and
that forgiveness of sins can only be obtained through a priest of the Roman
Catholic Church.

Part II, General overview of the history of water Baptism:

Day of Pentecost, 33 AD. The Apostle Peter introduces the New Covenant
teaching on water baptism (Ac 2:38). In Apostolic teaching water baptism in
the name of Jesus Christ was and is central to salvation. This is because the
Apostles taught their converts that water baptism in Jesus Name is where the
blood of Jesus Christ is first applied to a convert. It is the application of
the blood in the water that applied all seven functions of the blood to the
convert that resulted in the state of salvation for the convert.

Also in Apostolic teaching water baptism had to be done by submersion down
into the water. Pouring on, sprinkling, and infant baptism was never taught
by the Apostles.

In Mt 16:18-19 the Word of God tells us the Apostle Peter was given the keys
to the kingdom of heaven and how he expressed these keys was forever bound
and loosed in heaven and earth. This indicates any change of any kind to the
requirements of Repentance, Water Baptism by Submersion, and the exclusive
use of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in water baptism will result in a
change to the keys of Peter and will not be accepted as the one pathway to
salvation and heaven.

150 AD Justin Martyr makes the first change in Apostolic teaching on water
baptism. While he keeps Apostolic teaching on repentance, the blood, and
submersion, he changes the words used in the ceremony and he lays the
foundation for the development of the soon coming trinity formula of water
baptism.

190 AD-200 AD Origen and Tertullian develop the first two trinity doctrines
and then develop the trinity formula of water baptism. Like Justin Martyr,
Origen and Tertullian keep Apostolic teaching on the repentance, the blood,
and submersion, but they no longer use the name of Jesus Christ in the
application of water baptism to the convert.

220 AD  Origen begins teaching the doctrine of infant baptism because of the
perceived doctrine of original sin at his pre-baptismal school in Alexandria
Egypt.

325 AD Under Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea the holy trinity
and the trinity formula of water baptism are declared official doctrine of
the empire and the Roman Catholic Church.

416 AD Infant baptism becomes universal teaching of the Roman Catholic
Church.

During the dark ages and mediaeval times the Roman Catholic Church adopts to
additional forms of water baptism. These are pouring water on and sprinkling.
In their church writings they acknowledge these changes came via tradition
and there is no Bible foundation for these changes. In the Greek Orthodox
churches of the East these two new forms of water baptism are rejected as
false doctrine.

With the coming of the reformation movement and Martin Luther, water baptism
is declared to have no saving quality and is only an outward sign of an
inward faith. This is due to the fact that the Reformers believed the blood
was applied at confession and not in water baptism. In looking at the formula
of water baptism Luther decided to use the Western trinity and formula of
water baptism which the majority of Protestant churches still use today.

REFERENCE MATERIAL FOR THE GREAT FALLING AWAY:

The Bible, Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity, Fundamentals of
Catholic Dogma, The Catholic Church Story, A Popular History of the Catholic
Church, Aspects of Pentecostal - Charismatic Origins, The Zondervan Pictorial
Encyclopedia of the Bible, Encyclopedia of World Religion, Encyclopedia
Britannica (1947), The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Religions of the World, The History of the Roman Empire.

The writings of the Church Fathers:   "The Faith of the Early Fathers",
Volume One; "Readings in Church History", Volume One.

Lesson by:
Rev. John D. Sims
Pastor-Teacher
Apostolic Bible Center

JSims238@aol.com
aurora238@juno.com