He Who has Ears to Hear


	Chapter Eleven He who has Ears to Hear Part Two (Note: I have placed “The Trail of Blood” excerpts in a blue font with the only changes that I have added in bold font to emphasize certain points which I have also duly noted.) "The Trail of Blood . . ." Following the Christians Down Through the Centuries. . . or The History of Baptist Churches From the Time of Christ, Their Founder, to the Present Day by J. M. Carroll http://members.aol.com/libcfl/trail.htm Available as a printed booklet from: Bryan Station Baptist Church 3175 Briar Hill Road Lexington, KY 40516 email: mailto:%20mail@bryanstation.com Trail of Blood costs are $1.50 per book for up to 5 copies, $1.25 per copy after that. Electronic version produced with the assistance of Lucien LeSage, Grace Bible Baptist Church, Denham Springs. Permission granted to Landmark Independent Baptist Church, Archer, Florida to publish electronic, online version. 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If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “Fair Use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Ephesus - The time of the apostles - 33 to 100 AD: “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Revelation 2:1-7 The Lord begins His discourse on the times that *“are”* by starting with an admonition against false apostles. This is one of the most burdensome false teachings of the Roman Catholic Church that remains in full effect today. They claim that their spiritual authority over all of the “universal” church is by direct “apostolic succession.” They prominently display statues of Peter (who they claim falsely was their first Pope) and the keys of the kingdom given him by the Lord in Matthew 16:19. Yet the Lord Himself proclaims this as a false doctrine of men. In fact He states that they been tried and they have found them to be liars. “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:” In the introduction to the “Trail of Blood” by Clarence Walker, he likewise discusses the false doctrine of apostolic succession which is a marker of the current false church in Rome. This started during the time that the true apostles walked this earth teaching all creatures of the gospel of Christ and of His loving salvation. In Acts 1:21-22, as the apostles were discussing who should take the place vacated by Judas, they set the criteria as to first be a disciple that followed the Lord from the time of John the Baptist through His death and resurrection to be a *“witness.”* “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.” First of all, the only one that could be a candidate was a disciple that had been a part of the ministry of Jesus from the very beginning and to the end when He was taken up to heaven. This limits anyone that was not a direct disciple of the Lord Himself and thus, anyone not taught by the Lord Himself cannot be called an apostle. Secondly, the apostles stated that there was one place that needed to be filled. The Bible in the book of Revelation states that there are “twelve” apostles. (Revelation 21:14) The twelfth apostle is Paul and not the one chosen by lot. All were called and ordained by the Lord Himself. (Acts 9:15-16) Thus, the doctrine of apostolic succession is declared a false doctrine and is *“leaven,”* to the Word of God. So is noted by Clarence Walker: INTRODUCTION By CLARENCE WALKER III “Baptists do not believe in Apostolic Succession. The Apostolic office ceased with the death of the Apostles. (Emphasis added) It is to His churches that He promised a continual existence from the time He organized the first one during His earthly ministry until He comes again. He promised—"I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18) Then, when He gave the great Commission, which tells what His churches are to do, He promised--"I will be with you alway, even unto the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20). . .” IV “In any town there are many different churches--all claiming to be the true church. Dr. Carroll did as you can do now--take the marks, or teachings, of the different churches and find the ones which have these marks, or doctrines. The ones which have these marks, or doctrines, taught in God's Word, are the true churches.” Consequently, we see the first trait of this MYSTERY BABYLON religion in the false claim of apostolic succession. It continues unto today and has been tried by the Word of God and declared to be a lie of the devil. The second prophetic application that identifies the church of Ephesus as the time of the apostles is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. NIKAO means “to conquer” and LAOS means “the people.” The Lord warned his disciples to beware of the *“leaven of the Pharisees”* which are the false doctrines of men: “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” (Matthew 16: 11-12) One of the most evil doctrines of men is that of the “clergy” and the “laity.” The word “Nicolaitanes” is not a translation but instead it is a “transliteration.” In other words, when translating this phrase into English by the King James translators, there was no defined word in the English language that could convey its true meaning. Therefore, they simply transliterated, i.e., placed a Greek phrase directly into English as a new word. This is likewise the same that they also did for the word baptism which had no English equivalent, but is taken directly from the Greek as a new English word. As we shall see by a commentary by J. H. Allen in BibleStudy.org, the term “Nicolaitanes” means "Lords over God's heritage." This is the thing that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, the King of kings and Lord of lords hates: “In the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, it is both "the deeds" and "the doctrine" of those in the two "churches" specified (Revelation 2:6, 15). The Lord demands repentance on the part of those who hold and practice these things and He threatens drastic punishment if they do not obey Him: "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth," (Revelation 2:16). The name, Nicolaitanes, is a compound word which is composed of three Greek words, and which, because of being a proper noun, is transferred instead of being translated into English. As thus transferred, it is subject to the laws of Greek construction in regard to ellipsis, contraction and phonetics. The Greek words used in its construction are first: "Nikos," of which we use the English equivalents instead of the Greek letters, as we shall also of the other two. Nikos is defined as "a conquest; victory; triumph; the conquered; and by implication, dominancy over the defeated." Another transferred name in which this term is used is "Nicopolis," i.e., Niko - conquest; polis city. Hence, the city of conquest, or city of victory. Also "Andro" -- "nikos;" a man of conquest, of victory. The second term used in the name under consideration is "laos," -- people, another use of which is Nicolas, which is transferred and is composed of Nikoslaos and means one who is "victorious over the people," the letter "s" being, in both words, the nominative case ending, which is retained only at the end of the word to denote the case, while "a" short and "o" short are contracted into "a" long.” Laodiceans Also, a still further transferred use of "laos" is found in the name Lao(s)diceans, compounded with dike or dice as the Greek "k" is the equivalent English "c." Thus, in the name Laodiceans, we have laos -- "people" and dice judgment, or vengeance, i. e., the people of my judgment, or of my vengeance. Also the Greek word la(ic)os means "laymen," of which laos is the root and stem, which selfsame word, with the "o" short contracted to "i", to which root and stem the plural definite article ton is joined to form laiton -- is a Greek phrase meaning "the laity." The third and last word entering into the construction of the proper name Nicolaitanes is ton, in which omega, the long "o", is contracted into long "a", thus making the word "tan" which is the genitive case plural in all the genders of the definite article the. Therefore, we have, without the legal Greek construction, the English hyphenated word Nickos-laoston, but which, with its lawful elisions and contractions, becomes the English name: Nicolaitanes, the full meaning of which, in its native tongue and in its ecclesiastical setting, is that the bishops and prelates of the Church have gained a triumphal victory or conquest over the laiton -- the laity -- until they have been compelled to submit to the arbitrary dominion of men who have become that thing which God hates: "Lords over God's heritage." J. H. Allen; BibleStudy.org http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/nicoltn.html J.M Carroll likewise speaks of the governmental structure of the true and false churches. In fact, this is one of his over riding themes throughout his book, to in essence declare the *“leaven of the Pharisees”* by the myriad of false doctrines of men added to the churches. We can see here in Christ’s letter unto the church of Ephesus that already in the first century grievous wolves have entered into the church to make merchandise of the household of God. In Ephesus, Paul in Acts 20:28- 30 so warned the elders of this: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” FIRST LECTURE by J. M. Carroll "Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations; Ask thy father and he will show thee. Thy elders and they will tell thee." (Deut. 32:7) 1. What we know today as "Christianity" or the Christian Religion, began with Christ, A.D. 25-30 in the days and within the bounds of the Roman Empire. One of the greatest empires the world has ever known in all its history. 2. This Empire at that period embraced nearly all of the then known inhabited world. Tiberius Caesar was its Emperor. 3. In its religion, the Roman Empire, at that time, was pagan. A religion of many gods. Some material and some imaginary. There were many devout believers and worshipers. It was a religion not simply of the people, but of the empire. It was an established religion. Established by law and supported by the government. (Mosheim, Vol. 1, Chap. 1.) . . . Some Unerring, Infallible Marks . . . “7. Christ Jesus, the founder of this organization and the savior of its members, to be their only priest and king, their only Lord and Lawgiver, and the only head of the churches. The churches to be executive only in carrying out their Lord's will and completed laws, never legislative, to amend or abrogate old laws or to make new ones. 8. This religion of Christ to be individual, personal, and purely voluntary or through persuasion. No physical or governmental compulsion. A matter of distinct individual and personal choice. "Choose you" is the scriptural injunction. It could be neither accepted nor rejected nor lived by proxy nor under compulsion. 9. Mark well! That neither Christ nor His apostles, ever gave to His followers, what is know today as a denominational name, such as "Catholic," "Lutheran," "Presbyterian," "Episcopal," and so forth--unless the name given by Christ to John was intended for such, "The Baptist," "John the Baptist" (Matt. 11:11 and 10 or 12 other times.) Christ called the individual follower "disciple." Two or more were called "disciples." The organization of disciples, whether at Jerusalem or Antioch or elsewhere, was called Church. If more than one of these separate organizations were referred to, they were called Churches. The word church in the singular was never used when referring to more than one of these organizations. Nor even when referring to them all. 10. I venture to give one more distinguishing mark. We will call it--Complete separation of Church and State. No combination, no mixture of this spiritual religion with a temporal power. "Religious Liberty," for everybody.” (Emphasis added) Therefore, in this first letter to the churches by the word of the “Faithful Witness,” Jesus Christ Himself, He establishes by two separate witnesses the beginning of the church age of Ephesus. By the Word of God alone we see: 1) The witness of the false doctrine of apostolic succession. 2) The witness of the false doctrine of the “Nicolaitanes” which means “Lords over God's heritage.” Both of these false doctrines began in the first century during the times of the apostles. The letter ends with a promise to those who overcome to partake of the tree of life: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Thus the Lord Himself has given the starting point and completion point for this church age prophetically predicted by the church of Ephesus. Smyrna - The time of persecution - 100 to 313 AD: “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” Revelation 2:8-11 FIRST PERIOD A.D. 30-500 “3. More than one hundred years had gone by before all this had happened. This hard persecution by Judaism and Paganism continued for two more centuries. (Emphasis added) And yet mightily spread the Christian religion. It went into all the Roman Empire, Europe, Asia, Africa, England, Wales, and about everywhere else, where there was any civilization. The churches greatly multiplied and the disciples increased continuously. But some of the churches continued to go into error. . .” The Lord made many promises to those who will call upon His name of which we are most grateful. Yet, there are also many promises that He gave unto us that we ourselves would not wish to receive. That which occurred during the time of persecution and affliction witnessed by the church of Smyrna fulfilled the promise of tribulation which will occur while we are in the world: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) For those that suffered at the hands of the apostate Jews who say they are Jews but are not, the Lord will now comfort them for all eternity. For those who suffered at the hands of pagan Rome, they have now entered into the joy of the Lord. But throughout this time, the church flourished all due to the knowledge that Jesus has overcome the world. But He who overcame the world through His own death illustrates in another parable that this is the beginning of the kingdom of heaven: “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field. Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” Matthew 13:31-32 Here, the kingdom of heaven (also called the kingdom of God in the same parable in Mark 4:30) starts first with the smallest of all seeds. In John 12:24, Jesus told His disciples shortly before His death that unless a corn (i.e. seed) of wheat falls into the ground, it will live alone and can only bear fruit if it first falls into the ground and dies. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” This was fulfilled by the Lord Himself when He gave His life for His friends. (John 15:13) The field is the world. (Matthew 13:38) Jesus is the firstfruits of them that slept (i.e. those who die) and even so shall all be made alive in Christ, every man in his order: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power." (I Corinthians 15:20-24) Those that have died in Christ are those who have brought forth the fruits of repentance and the fruits of salvation. Jesus foretold this to the Jews in Matthew 21:42-43: “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Therefore, the mustard seed is Jesus, the firstfruits of the kingdom of God: “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;” He is followed by those who are Christ’s at his coming who die *“afterward:”* Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. These Scriptures together show that the *“kingdom of God”* or the *“kingdom of heaven”* are synonymous with the “church.” This is through the new covenant by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. There were many in the second and third centuries that followed Christ in a martyr’s death, thereby being faithful unto death and earning the *“crown of life.”* There are many interpretations of the *“ten days”* of tribulation mentioned in this passage. Many commentators state that it refers to the ten periods of persecution by the Roman Emperors before 313 AD. Others believe it refers to the great tribulation from 302-312 AD suffered under Diocletian and is a prophesy of the last ten years of persecution before the Edict of Milan officially ended pagan Rome’s state sponsored war against the Church of God. It is clear, nevertheless, that the Bible prophesied of persecution by both the Jews and those that had the power and authority to cast the believers into *“prison,”* thus signifying the pagan Roman government. Likewise, this church age was continuously plagued by the *“Nicolaitanes”* (which means "Lords over God's heritage) even though they are not specifically mentioned in these verses. J.M. Carroll documents many of the progressive doctrines of men and doctrinal errors that crept into the churches during this time: 7. Let it be remembered that changes like these here mentioned were not made in a day, nor even within a year. They came about slowly and never within all the churches. Some of the churches vigorously repudiated them. So much so that in A.D. 251, the loyal churches declared non-fellowship for those churches which accepted and practiced these errors. And thus came about the first real official separation among the churches. 8. Thus it will be noted that during the first three centuries three important and vital changes from the teachings of Christ and His Apostles had their beginnings. And one significant event took place, Note this summary and recapitulation: (1) The change from the New Testament idea of bishop and church government. This change grew rapidly, more pronounced, and complete and hurtful. (Emphasis added) (2) The change from the New Testament teachings as to Regeneration to "baptismal regeneration." (3) The change from "believers' baptism" to "infant baptism." (This last, however, did not become general nor even very frequent for more than another century.) 9. "Baptismal regeneration" and "infant baptism." These two errors have, according to the testimony of well-established history, caused the shedding of more Christian blood, as the centuries have gone by, than all other errors combined, or than possibly have all wars, not connected with persecution, if you will leave out the recent "World War." Over 50,000,000 Christians died martyr deaths, mainly because of their rejection of these two errors during the period of the "dark ages" alone--about twelve or thirteen centuries. 10. Three significant facts, for a large majority of the many churches, are clearly shown by history during these first three centuries. (1) The separateness and independence of the Churches. (2) The subordinate character of bishops or pastors. (3) The baptism of believers only. I quote now from Mosheim--the greatest of all Lutheran church historians. Vol., 1, pages 71 and 72: "But whoever supposes that the bishops of this golden age of the church correspond with the bishops of the following centuries must blend and confound characters that are very different, for in this century and the next, a bishop had charge of a single church, which might ordinarily be contained in a private house; nor was he its Lord, but was in reality its minister or servant. . . All the churches in those primitive times were independent bodies, or none of them subject to the jurisdiction of any other. For though the churches which were founded by the Apostles themselves frequently had the honor shown them to be consulted in doubtful cases, yet they had no judicial authority, no control, no power of giving laws. On the contrary, it is as clear as the noonday that all Christian churches had equal rights, and were in all respects on a footing of equality." 12. Persecutions have become increasingly bitter. Near the beginning of the fourth century comes possibly the first definite government edict of persecution. The wonderful growth of Christianity has alarmed the pagan leaders of the Roman Empire. Hence Galerius, the emperor, sent out a direct edict of more savage persecution. This occurred Feb. 24, 303 A.D. Up to this time Paganism seems to have persecuted without any definite laws to that effect. 13. But this edict failed so utterly in its purpose of stopping the growth of Christianity, that this same emperor, Galerius, just eight years thereafter (A.D. 311) passed another edict recalling the first and actually granting toleration--permission to live the religion of Jesus Christ. This was probably its first favorable law. 14. By the beginning of the year A.D. 313, Christianity has won a mighty victory over paganism. A new emperor has come to the throne of the Roman Empire. He evidently recognized something of the mysterious power of this religion that continued to grow in spite of persecution. History says that this new emperor who was none other than Constantine had a wonderful realistic vision. He saw in the skies a fiery red cross and on that cross written in fiery letters these words--"By this thou shalt conquer." He interpreted it to mean that he should become a Christian. And that by giving up paganism and that by attaching the spiritual power of the Christian religion onto the temporal power of the Roman Empire the world could be easily conquered. Thus the Christian religion would in fact become a whole world religion, and the Roman Empire a whole world empire. Therefore, in this second letter to the churches, by the word of the “Faithful Witness” Jesus Christ Himself, He establishes by two separate witnesses the timeline for the church of Smyrna. By the Word of God alone we see: 1) The witness of the persecution against the Christians by the Jews after the death of the apostles and before the Edict of Toleration. 2) The witness of the simultaneous persecution against the Christians by the pagan Romans after the death of the apostles and before the Edict of Toleration. The history of Rome during the second and third centuries is filled with the stories of men and woman who sang hymns while burning flames smothered their lives in the flesh and how the sword of man had no power over the persuasion of the truth in Christ. The book of Revelation foretold this period of persecution in the letter to the church of Smyrna. Return to Home Page (www.1611revealed.com)