Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Founded on the Rock
While the term “Protestant” originated in Reformation times, when strong fearless men boldly protested against the false
doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, we shall use the same term to represent a people who, long before the days of the
reformers, stood for the faith of Protestantism. The Scriptural name applied to these people at the time of our Savior was the
“Church of God,” and this work will prove, as it has set out to do, both from Scripture and secular history, that this New
Testament church was not the church which later ruled the world from Rome, known as the Roman Catholic church.
The church set in order by Jesus Christ has remained separate and distinct down through the gospel dispensation to the
present time, and, even amidst the most severe persecution, it has held forth the true light, carrying the torch of freedom and
religious liberty down to our own day and time.
The word “Protestant” should not apply only to the people who in the days of Martin Luther protested against the error
and corruption of the Church of Rome; but it rightly applies to a people who have since the days of Moses, and even before
that time, protested against error, superstition, idolatry, mythology, witchcraft, and every form of pagan religion and
philosophy. Hence this work, as it sets forth the true history of these protesting people, cannot have for its beginning the
time of the Protestant Reformation, or even the days of our Savior. Mention is made of the “Church,” as found in Acts 7:38,
which takes us to a much earlier period. The text reads, speaking of Jesus, “This is He that was with the church in the
wilderness.” The same church being constituted of, as it always has, God’s true children here upon earth, existed in the
wilderness. Instead of Jesus endeavoring to reform it with so much corruption, error, and superstition, he immediately set
out in the work of reorganization, choosing anew the twelve and the seventy
Chapter 2
BRIEF PROPHETICAL ANALYSIS
The Two Churches Contrasted
The church set in order by Jesus with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and with proper administration of government, is
symbolized by a virtuous woman in the New Testament. The Lord says of her, “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy
for I have espoused you unto one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ,” II Corinthians 11:2. In
Revelation 19:7-9, the church is again spoken of as the bride, the Lamb’s wife, having on the wedding garments of linen
clean and white. Again, John the Revelator beholds this church in vision, and describes her, as follows: “And there
appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of
twelve stars” Revelation 12:1.
A woman being a symbol of a church, we have here in prophecy the true church of the apostles’ time, clothed with the
sun, the ruler of the day. All darkness was expelled, and the sunlight of God’s truth and righteousness radiated with
brightness and splendor as the power of the sun. She had the moon under her feet, thus picturing that the ruler of night and
darkness was subdued and under subjection; while her crown of twelve stars symbolized the twelve apostles. That this
woman, or true church, did not fall, and later become the Catholic church ruling from Rome, is evident; for there are two
churches clearly set forth in the Scriptures, existing in the same period, one driven to the wilderness, while the other is
exalted to civil power, and rules the world from Rome.
This second woman, or church, is introduced in prophecy in Revelation 17:1-6. The angel said to John, “Come hither; I
will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters . . . And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet
colored beast full of the names of blasphemy . . . the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold
and precious stones . . . upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS . . . and I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”
The fact that this second woman becomes drunk with the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,
shows clearly that the two churches, were different, yet existed together, and that the woman drinking of this blood was not
the true church. Verse 15 says, “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and
nations, and tongues.” This fallen woman, or church, ruled over the world. She sat in authority and power, being united
with the state, and thus put to death the martyrs of Jesus who constituted the true church of God.
Noting the contrast in the two churches, it is sufficient evidence of their distinction and entire separation. One was
clothed with the sun, the other adorned with gold and precious stones; one held the moon under her feet, the other was
seated upon the beast; one possessed the crown of twelve stars, the other wearing the inscription, “Mystery, Babylon the
Great, the Mother of Harlots”; and one was drunk on the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, while the
other was driven into the wilderness, nourished there of God.
The Church Name in Both Old and New Testaments
From the time of the exodus of the twelve tribes of Israel from Egyptian bondage, to the advent of our Savior, the church
was called “Israel,” this term having originated through the experience of Jacob wrestling with the angel.
The church in the wilderness was organized with twelve patriarchs, one at the head of each of the twelve tribes, Numbers
10, and then the Sanhedrin, or the seventy elders, Exodus 24:1 and Numbers 11:16. This form of church government and
organization remained until the dispersion of Israel, and the Sanhedrin continued until the time of Jesus. The name “Israel”
was also the name applying to these people.
The prophet Isaiah, speaking of events concerning the church, said, “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all
kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name,” Isaiah 62:2. This
prophecy was fulfilled when the Gentiles were received into God’s favor, beholding His righteousness, and receiving His
favors through Jesus. The church was to be “called by a new name,” which the mouth of the Lord would name. This also
met its fulfillment when Jesus gave the new name for the church recorded twelve times in the New Testament, viz., “The
Church of God.”
In the Savior’s prayer before Calvary, he said, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given
me . . . while I was with them . . . I kept in thy name . . . I have declared unto them thy name, and I will declare it,” John
17:11, 12, 26. That Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in the change of name from “Israel” to the “Church of God” is further
seen by reading Acts 20:28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” In I Corinthians 1:2, Paul
addresses the church at Corinth, as follows: “To the church of God which is at Corinth.” Nowhere do we find the Catholic
church spoken of; still they claim to be the oldest in the world. The people following the Lord Jesus, called out from both
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Jews and Gentiles, I Corinthians 10:32, and called the church of God, were not the forerunners of the Roman church, as
definite history, set forth in the further pages of this work, will prove.
We find Paul discussing the church, 59 A.D., in the following manner. He says, “For as the body is one, and hath many
members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ,” I Corinthians 12:12. The
church therefore existed as one body to this time, and the Word said further that when one member suffers, all members
suffer with it, and when one member is honored all members rejoice with it.
Five years later, in 64 A.D., Paul says, “I bow my knees to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named,” Ephesians 3:14, 15.THE ABOVE IS FROM A History of the True Religion Traced From 33 A.D. to Date
By Andrew N. Dugger and Clarence O. Dodd
