The Road to the Papacy

What happened to the early church set up Jesus? Twelve men were selected to become apostles, but unlike many churches today, they were not told to run the Church like a corporation with a board of directors and a CEO. Instead, they worked, prayed and made decisions together.

Hundreds of churches were planted throughout the Roman Empire. Each one was independent and this system of leadership continued for 200 years. The ruling power of each church was in the capable hands of the Holy Spirit, who was there to guide, convict and call out new leaders. But as apostasy crept in, each generation of new leaders took the Church further away from the Holy Spirit and closer to a state church run by a supreme bishop in Rome.

The road to the papacy had been laid and the corrupted Church was only a shell of what it once had been. The dark ages were about to begin but Jesus’ promise that gates of hell would not prevail against His church would still hold true as it would be supernaturally resurrected time and time again through the power of the Word of God.