Re: The Early Christians: In Their Own Words

At this turn of events, the curse hanging over the history of the organized

church erupted: the curse of mutual, loveless misrepresentation. It
changed 
Christ’s purpose to unite people in love into fanatical injustice, hate, 
and division. The emerging institutional church was unable to bear the 
spirit of decisive truth, which brought about a sect. The sect, on the 
other hand, was unable to bear the spirit of diffusive love which leads to

the formation of a large church institution. This marked the beginning of 
heresy-hunting, so characteristically “Christian,” yet so completely un-
Christlike. It is clear why the Montanist mistrusted the growing 
worldliness in the institutional church: on the other hand, the censure
and 
mistrust of the institutional church against the free-working Spirit have 
historical causes which are just as im****tant.