On February 27TH in 380 AD Roman Emperor Theodosius made Christianity into the official state
religion. It was one of the most catastrophic events in Church history.
Up until the time Constantine legalized the Church in 313 AD, the great strength of the Church was the fact that the Kingdom of God resided within the believers. Under Constantine the Church became
“Respectable” and began to attract the ambitious and worldly who would make a show of outward piety without an inward transformation. After 380 AD, the Church was swamped with unconverted Pagans and the outward rituals replaced the inner power for most Church members.
The first to clothe themselves in the new mantle of the State religion were the emperors themselves. The Bishop of Rome was eventually forced to trade Church recognition for military protection in Western Europe, beginning with Frankish King Clovis, in order to remain independent of the Eastern Roman Emperor. When the European Church split between Protestants and Catholics the local Kings and rulers forced their own views to be followed in their realms and millions of Christians were martyred. The marriage between Church and State meant that religious questions would be solved with the sword instead of the Spirit.
The religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries left much devastation and little change, and the idea of religious toleration, espoused by Paul in the 14th chapter of Romans, began to take hold. The idea that Christians with different doctrines could be united in their diversity appeared in the 18th century with The First and Second Great Awakenings and the interdenominational missionary societies. The United States, itself a patchwork of states with Catholic, Anglican, Quaker, Methodist and
Congregational backgrounds, became a symbol of unity in diversity and its religious freedom is still a
Light to the world. The sword, which brought division, had begun to give way to the spirit which brings
Unity.
The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements which swept the world in the 20th century brought a Holy Spirit awakening in much of the Church. However the Spirit movements also cried out that “The
Body of Christ is Broken”, praying that the divisions of the sword would be healed by the Spirit. We believe that God is launching a great revival based on unity in diversity within the Church which will show the world that God sent Jesus, just as Jesus prayed in John 17.
Let us pray for reconciliation of the Church and focus on expanding the whole Kingdom of God.
Pray that the world will know us not by our swords, but by our love and unity in the Spirit.