When the evangelist came, Robert asked him the very first day, “Brother Monteith, tell me about the church of God.  I see by the Bible that in the apostles’ time there was one church called the church of God, but what became of it?  Where is it now?  All I can see is a multitude of churches.  Can you tell me what has happened to the apostolic church?  Tell me the full history, please.”

“Very well, Brother Davis, I shall do the best that I can to give you a brief account of the church,” he said.  “The church of God was built by Jesus Christ, organized and filled with power by the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and was then sent forth on her glorious mission of working with Christ to save a lost world.

“The first step toward world evangelism followed the persecution of the church in Jerusalem when ’they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.’

“The second step was taken when Paul and Barnabas, with Mark, set forth from Antioch in Syria on the first missionary tour of the early church.  On this tour several local churches of the general church of God were raised up through the salvation of Jews and Gentiles in Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and other places in the Roman provinces of Asia Minor.

“The third great step was taken when Paul and his companions, on the second tour, crossed the Aegean to Europe and thus began the conquest of Europe for Jesus Christ.  Local churches were planted in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth, to each of which Paul wrote epistles—­Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians.  Before Paul’s death he had preached in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, one of the greatest empires of all time.  While Paul was establishing congregations of the one church in the West, the other apostles were raising up local congregations elsewhere.

“Everywhere this church was known as the ‘church of God.’  In the century after the apostles the name ‘catholic’ which means universal, was applied to it.  There was one church.  Congregations embraced thousands in some of the larger cities.  Antioch in Syria is said to have had thousands of Christians within its borders.

“What a glorious church that early church was, Bro.  Davis, you have already seen in your Scripture investigation.  With the breaking forth of the glorious light of the gospel there arose the true church of God, spotless in her purity, glorious in her power, and adorned with the rich graces and gifts of the Spirit.  And in three hundred years this church broke down paganism and Constantine had made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire.