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God’s Truth Fighting for Survival
How Christendom has striven to destroy the Apostolic faith

by H.P. Mansfield
A condensed transcription of a public lecture given by the late H.P. Mansfield

H.P. Mansfield was a Christadelphian. This lecture was presented to an audience of Christadelphians and at one point goes into extensive support for that group as the true path to God’s Truth today. We have removed all references to Christadelphians, not out of any prejudice against them, but out of our firm commitment to not promote any one group on this website. As we cannot know with a certainty where God’s True Church is today, we contend that the saved will not come from only one church. God is not saving “churches,” but rather people. The body of Christ is made up of people who “keep the commandments and have the testimony of Christ” and they may be found in a variety of settings.

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The subject before us is a challenging one. You may find it disturbing in some respects, but we want to try and show that what we call the Truth, is not a matter of modern development. There has always existed those who have held it. That there has ever been a small minority who have clung fast to the things of God as they are revealed in the Word, and that they have inevitably been opposed by more powerful groups. Yet they have maintained their testimony in the face of terrible persecution—in the fact often, of brutal torture, in the face of violence and bloodshed. And they have maintained their testimony down through the ages.

An Ecclesiastical System

We also want to show that Christendom as we have it today, is not only antagonistic to the Word of God, but it is in exactly that position which the prophets of God declared that it would be.

If we read the 17th chapter of the book of Revelation (a book of symbols), John the revelator was shown the judgment that God declared that he would pour out upon the great whore that sat upon many waters. John says:

So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Revelation 17:3-5

John was then shown the judgment that would be poured out upon that system.

As we have said, the book of Revelation is a book of symbols. It was not a literal woman that John saw. The woman in this chapter represents an ecclesiastical system. Quite frequently in the scriptures a woman is used to define an ecclesiastical system. Frequently in the Old Testament scriptures for example, Israel the nation is symbolized as a woman, the bride of God. And in the New Testament also, we have an ecclesiastical system symbolized as a woman. The Apostle Paul, writing to the congregation of believers in Corinth, likens them to a woman. In verses 2-4 he writes:

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted; you may well put up with it!
2 Corinthians 11:2-4

And so the apostle likens this congregation to one who is espoused to a husband—the Lord Jesus. He likens them to a second Eve, and he warns that as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so the minds of believers could be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

A Religious Controversy

As he directed their attention to the history of Eden, there was a warning inherent in his words. Eve had produced two sons, Cain and Abel. We know the history of those two boys. Both were worshippers of God—but one worshipped God in Truth, and the other worshipped him not according to Truth—and in jealousy and in anger Cain slew his brother, and the first drop of blood was shed in a religious controversy. In this we have a foreshadowing of the history of the Truth and the Apostle Paul is directing the minds of the Corinthians to that fact. He is warning them that as Eve produced two types of children, and that one slew the other—so the history of the Truth could follow in the same pattern. And indeed, that is the pattern in which the history of the Truth has followed.

Firstly notice how he addresses those people. They were as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now when we come to Revelation 12:17 we are introduced again to this community that Paul was addressing. Here in symbolic language we read of a woman, and the remnant of her seed. We also read of a political system that we do not intend to identify now, but which is referred to in this verse as “the dragon.” We read:

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 12:17

Now here is a community that keeps the commandments of God and holds the testimony of Jesus Christ. The context of this verse shows that this remnant of the woman’s seed is persecuted because of the things that they believe; because they are clinging tenaciously to the commandments of God and maintaining the testimony of Jesus Christ. They are being oppressed and tortured. And such was the history of the Truth as it was to be developed.

The Bride of Christ

But still it remained a faithful community, though opposed by powerful forces, This was the chaste virgin to Christ.

In Revelation 19:6-8 we see the ultimate destiny of this faithful group which has existed right down through the ages. After judgment has been poured out on the system to which we made reference in chapter 17, we read:

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Revelation 19:6-8

In 2 Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul had said that the community there was a chaste virgin to Christ. In Revelation 12:17 we find that little group in persecution. But here in the 19th chapter we find a glorious union between them and the Lord Jesus Christ. We find that the marriage of the Lamb is come, “and his wife has made herself ready.”

Now here we have one woman symbolized as an ecclesiastical system in the scriptures. Let us now look at another one—one that finds judgment at the hands of Jesus Christ as we read of it in that 17th chapter of the Revelation.

The Woman Jezebel

In Revelation 2:20 we are introduced to this other system. Here the voice of Jesus Christ directs a message to the community in Thyatira. And he warns that community. They had embraced the Truth in Christ Jesus—but in the midst of that community there was an element that had departed from those essential truths. So the warning is given to those who would pervert the Truth in Thyatira. We read in verse 20:

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Revelation 2:20

There was a chaste virgin to Christ in Thyatira, but in their midst there was another woman called Jezebel. An adulteress. She called herself a prophetess. She endeavored to teach and to seduce the servants of Jesus Christ to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. The Apostle Paul had written to the community at Corinth and he had warned them of certain who were going throughout the communities at that time, leading them away from the Truth that they had espoused. And now here is Jesus Christ taking up the same message, and giving the same warning, and saying: “I have a few things against you …” because you are leaving that precious separateness to which you have been called. You have in your midst that woman called Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, but who is really an adulteress—and who is leading away those who should embrace the Truth in Christ Jesus.

So you see: here is another woman; another ecclesiastical system. Not the chaste virgin to Christ, but one who was a fornicator as far as the Lord Jesus Christ was concerned, in a spiritual sense. This is the one that is referred to in Revelation 17. Here we see how the woman Jezebel has developed into a powerful system.

The Symbols Explained

Let’s analyze the symbology of this 17th chapter. This chapter is completely self-explanatory, and anyone who reads it carefully can come to a full understanding as to the system that is referred to. We read:

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,
Revelation 17:1

We have seen from Revelation chapter 2:20 what is meant by the statement “the great whore,” for there was Jezebel. It was a religious system that had departed from the purity of the faith. Here she is described as sitting on many waters. What is meant by that? In verse 15 we read the explanation:

Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
Revelation 17:15

So here is an ecclesiastical system wielding universal power. That is the symbology of the first verse. Now this ecclesiastical system claims to be the Mother Church, because we read in verse 5:

And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Revelation 17:5

She claims to be the Mother Church. So here we have an ecclesiastical system, wielding universal power that claims to be the Mother Church. We find in Rev. 17:4 that this same system is noted for riches:

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
Revelation 17:4

Also in verse 6, we notice that this same system is a system that is noted for persecution:

I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.
Revelation 17:6

As we analyze this chapter a little closer we discover that she is persecuting these saints and martyrs in collaboration with political powers. For in verse 2 we read:

“with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
Revelation 17:2

There are many other points of identification in this chapter, but sufficient has been shown to demonstrate that here we have revealed:

1. An ecclesiastical system noted for universal power.
2. Claiming to be the Mother Church.
3. Noted for persecution in collaboration with the political powers of Europe.

And, finally, to make the identification complete, we have the statement of verse 18:

“And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
Revelation 17:18

The only city that reigned over the kings of the earth in the days of John was the city of Rome. So here is the system before us.

In Revelation 18:3 we are told:

“For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”
Revelation 18:3

But these merchants are not merchants in the normal sense as we understand it. These are ecclesiastical merchants. The merchandise in which they are engaged is clearly outlined in the chapter, for we have in the concluding words of verse 13, that among the things in which they have gained their merchandise and their riches, has been the bodies and souls of men.

“and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.
Revelation 18:13

So as we analyze the book of Revelation there is set before us two systems. One is a minority group suffering persecution, clinging tenaciously to original beliefs. The other, a powerful universal, persecuting system.

We can now trace these two systems down to our own time.

Original Christianity

But what were the original beliefs? If we are prepared to analyze the scriptures, there is no doubt as to the original beliefs.

Christianity was founded upon the principle that Jesus Christ was crucified and rose again from the dead. That he ascended into heaven. That he is to return again to the earth. That he offers to humanity a resurrection to life eternal. That he is to return to establish on the earth the Kingdom of God, and to reign from Jerusalem.

These truths are clearly and plainly taught in the scriptures of Truth. There is no doubt whatever if we are prepared to accept the Bible. For example, we have such a statement as is found in Acts 1:11, made by the angel as Christ ascended to heaven.

who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:11

There is no doubt as to the meaning of those words. Yet Christendom has wrangled about them. We have Jehovah’s Witnesses saying that Jesus Christ will never be seen; that he has an intangible body. We have other denominations saying that Jesus Christ will never reign on earth—yet we have the voice of the angel saying clearly, this same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.

We have another statement in Acts 3:19 by Peter:

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, “and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, “whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Acts 3:19-21

Again, the words are clear. They mean that if we turn to Jesus Christ now, our sins will be blotted out. That times of refreshing will come to this earth at the presence of Jesus Christ. That he has gone into heaven until a certain time determined by God; that he must return again in order to restore all things that God has promised from the very beginning. There is not the shadow of a doubt about the meaning of these words.

These are clear facts that are plainly taught in the scriptures. Those scriptures that repudiate the principles of Trinitarianism, the principles of the immortal soul, … and the principle that heaven is the reward of the righteous. These things are repudiated by the scriptures, even though the ideas are widespread in Christendom today.

A Clear Warning to Believers

As the Truth was so clearly taught by the apostles, they also warned their contemporaries that the time would come when these things would no longer be held. Throughout the New Testament there is the warning that a time would come when the Truth would be perverted.

In Acts 20, Paul said:

“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
Acts 20:29-31

That was the warning of the Apostle. “I know it,” he said. After my departing, these things shall happen. So watch, and remember—that was his warning.

In 1 Timothy 4, Paul wrote:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
1 Timothy 4:1-3

Whoever heard of such a doctrine in Christendom today—a doctrine that priests should not marry, that there are certain meats not to be eaten on Friday? Here is the Apostle Paul 1900 years ago saying that there would be a departure from the faith; and some of the features relating to that are these very things.

In 2 Timothy 4 he spoke again of this departure from the faith. He said:

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
2 Timothy 4:2-4

That was what the apostle expected. Notice the dogmatic language that he uses. He doesn’t say that perhaps this might happen. He doesn’t say that there is a danger of it—he says they shall do this! “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine … they will turn their ears away from the truth …they will be turned aside to fables.”

When these times come, the duty of Timothy was clear and plain; he must preach the Truth … he must reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering. He was not to be moved by this state of things that would come to pass.

This same warning is constantly found in the scriptures of Truth. Another reference is found in 2 Thessalonians:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

This is what Paul expected. This is what he predicted, and we see the evidence of it in Christendom today. He goes on to say:

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2:7

The development of this iniquity was hindered by the pagan system that then existed, but that would be taken out of the way:

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
2 Thessalonians 2:8

There is no doubt here—this system would develop, and history has shown us its development.

The Testimony of History

During the first 300 years after the death of Christ a gradual change came over the Roman Empire. Christianity was increasing rapidly. The pagan gods were being deserted. But the beliefs of Christianity were greatly modified and changed. The purity of the faith was discarded and pagan ideas were being superimposed upon the truth. Paul’s warnings were fulfilled. Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (Gibbon, the atheist) records this very fact. He wrote:

“The ancient and popular doctrine of the Millennium was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ … a joyful Sabbath of a thousand years; when Christ, with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death, or who had revived, would reign upon earth … The assurance of such a Millennium was carefully inculcated by a succession of fathers from Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, who conversed with the immediate disciples of the apostles, down to Lactantius, who was preceptor to the son of Constantine …”

But this teaching was gradually changed and supplanted with error. Gibbon records:

“The doctrine of Christ’s reign upon earth was first treated as a profound allegory, was considered by degrees as a doubtful and useless opinion, and was at length rejected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism.”

And so the original beliefs upon which Christianity was founded were discarded by those who still retained the name Christian.

How Error Triumphed Over Truth

In the fourth century after Christ, Constantine decided to use the growing body of Christian opinion as a stepping stone to world power. The Church was officially recognized by the Roman government. Christianity became state-sponsored. It was not the Christianity of the Bible, however, but a perverted form of the original faith.

A few still clung tenaciously to the original beliefs, but as their testimony reflected adversely on those in power, they were ruthlessly persecuted, and every effort was made to suppress them. A rigorous censorship was imposed on all doctrine. People had to think in accordance with what the official body taught. The arms of Rome were used, not to destroy the enemy on the frontier, but to suppress conscientious citizens whose only crime was their determination to worship God according to their conscience.

Thus commenced the long history of persecution, in which a Church, claiming to be Christian, condemned and executed thousands, whose only crime was their determination to follow Christ at all costs. The student of history can check this for himself. We have not the space to provide the evidence here. But among the persecuted sects of the past; the Donatists of the fourth century, the Waldenses, Paulicians, Huguenots, and others of succeeding times who suffered terribly from Catholicism through the Inquisition, there have been minority groups that have held similar beliefs.

Conclusion

Let’s return to that passage in Revelation we looked at earlier. John says:

I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.
Revelation 17:6

John marveled with great amazement—astonishment—to see a Christian community boasting the fact that it had shed the blood of saints. He was amazed that a Christian community could act in this manner.

In verse 5 we read that this is a Mother of Harlots. Where are her daughters? Let Gibbon reply:

“During ten centuries of blindness and servitude Europe received her religious opinions from the oracle of the Vatican, and the same doctrine already varnished with the rust of antiquity was admitted without dispute to the creed of the Reformers.”

When we analyze the doctrines of Rome and those of many Protestant churches, where is the major difference? One says the Pope is infallible and the others say he is not. But beyond that, as far as doctrine is concerned, there is little difference between them.

In Revelation 18 we read:

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. “For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
Revelation 18:4-5

There is a future application to that passage, but it is also a call to all those who would seek God’s Truth. We can have nothing at all to do with that system, whether Catholic or Protestant—a system that has perverted the Truth of God and persecuted those who held it. God’s Truth has indeed fought for survival and can be found today, and for this we can be thankful—and for all those who have faithfully maintained the struggle down through the centuries.

H.P. Mansfield was a Christadelphian. This lecture was presented to an audience of Christadelphians and at one point goes into extensive support for that group as the true path to God’s Truth today. We have removed all references to Christadelphians, not out of any prejudice against them, but out of our firm commitment to not promote any one group on this website. As we cannot know with a certainty where God’s True Church is today, we contend that the saved will not come from only one church. God is not saving “churches,” but rather people. The body of Christ is made up of people who “keep the commandments and have the testimony of Christ” and they may be found in a variety of settings.