The Church in Sardis prefigures the Protestant Reformation?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Then some protested against Luther, then others protested against the Church of England.. etc etc

Semper Reformanda!

[aron]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Semper Reformanda!

Sorry, no 'semper' here. Reformation was valid until Nee broke bread, then no one can protest Nee (Lee, Blendeds &c).

Because you see, the age turned. Subsequent to Nee et al, protest was not good, but bad. Any protest, subsequent to Nee's establishment as Maximum Brother, was rebellion, an insidious attack by God's enemy.

You have to watch the timeline carefully in this recovery narrative. Because the rules change, over time.

[awareness]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Semper Reformanda!

Always reforming into what? We can't recreate The Pentecost. So to what do we seek to reform into?

Is it a Cargo Cult thing ; if we just get the early church just right God will send the cargo? Is that how it works? Please explain.

[Evangelical]

I think many would agree that Reformation is a continual thing. We cannot remain stagnant however that is what the Reformed churches became. They stopped at the matter of salvation by faith but did not recover the gifts of the Spirit. The charismatic movement tried to restore the spiritual gifts to the church because they saw that the bible is not just about Calvinism vs Arminism.

However let us be clear. The aim of Reformation was to reform the Catholic church..not to go back to the time of the apostles.. A better word is Recovery. To reform the church is to say that the early Catholic church was the right one..and that is all the world knew for hundreds of years.

The aim of Recovery is to recover even the things corrupted and lost by the early Catholic church.

I can say with some degree of confidence that no Reformed church has the goal of bringing Christ back or recover the church condition. They have become as much about forms and rituals as Catholics before. Which is why I guess they can blend so well with Catholics in ecumenical services. But i think the reformers Luther Calvin etc would be shocked at how catholic the reformed churches have become.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

The aim of Recovery is to recover even the things corrupted and lost by the early Catholic church.

Yeah, like the Papal lineage going back to Paul and not Peter.

And renaming the college of cardinals the "Blended Brothers."

And the daily devotional in the Catholic Missal into the HWFMR.

And bringing the capital of the church out of fallen Rome into the new world of Anaheim, CA.

Great Recovery!