What Changed?

Brief History of the Church & Christianity

            The Church as began after the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in approximately A.D. 30. In approximately A.D. 49 the Council of Jerusalem establishes that Christians do not have to be Jewish. It was on or around A.D. 50-64, Paul writes his letters to different churches [most of the New Testament]. A.D. 64 revealed the first persecution of Christians, under Nero. Peter, Paul, and James the Just were martyred. A.D. 70 (est.) led to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. In A.D. 90 the Council of Jamnia resulted in a break between Christianity and Judaism.

     A.D. 107 brings the first major change of the churches tradition when Ignatius of Antioch writes to seven churches on his way to Rome to be martyred.  The content of those letters introduces the idea of one-bishop rule of the church. This single-leader mentality led to the contemporary pastor and church hierarchy of our current church. He believed the bishop had "ultimate power...and should be obeyed absolutely." Here is an excerpt from one of his letters to give you an idea of where he was taking this ideology of bishop rule, "Plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself....Wherever the bishop shall appear, there will the people be; even as where Jesus may be....You should look on your bishop as a type of the Father" (Viola, F., & Baran, G., 2002). This is in steep contradiction to Jesus' own words in Matthew 23:9, "And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father--the one in Heaven" (NRSV).

     Lest we forget the most important message in the entire Bible; And He said,
"For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father" (John 6:65 NRSV). There is no questioning this message; there is only one Father and He is God. There is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ! Not through bishops, or pastors, or church elders; only through one man and only to one Father.  Why then do we still empower bishops [overseers] and deacons [helpers] and pastors to act as our spiritual guides or as our mediators between us and God? Why do we still allow these men to claim absolute roles within our church today without any realistic oversight? When are we going to bring the church back to it's fundamental role as the body of Christ and allow Christ to be the head?

     In A.D. 313, the Edict of Milan legalizes Christianity. In otherwords, man saw fit to make a divinely offered gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ available under social law. God made salvation available to all who chose to receive it prior to this legalization and the mere thought of man taking a superior role by putting a human stamp of approval on a gift already in play is rediculous and dangerous. Once again, our pride has overtaken our senseability and made us victims to sin.

    A.D. 330 sees Constantinople founded as the Christian capital of Roman empire [the center of pagan practice in that time period]. In A.D. 325, Constantine convened the Council of Nicea. In an attempt to politically unite the pagan and Christian groups in his empire, he implemented many changes. The date of the observance of Jesus' birth became December 25, the day of worship was moved from the original Sabbath (Saturday) to the first day of each week (Sunday), the doctrine of the Trinity was confirmed, and the Church of Rome was officially established. In and around A.D. 380's, Emperor Theodosius establishes Christianity as the official religion of Rome. Now I would like to point out here that Christianity is by no means a religion. While the social order has attached this stereotype to something that is meant to be a belief system and a lifestyle, the Bible clearly reveals a different definition for Christianity.

     In A.D. 393, a council at Hippo establishes the canon of the Bible. A.D. 484 brings the first break within the church; a Roman synod excommunicates Acacius of Constantinople over the Henoticon.  Not only does the Bible discourage dissension within the body, it continuously offers preventative advice on it. "That there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another" (1 Cor 12:25 NRSV). So why does history reveal so much controversy within the early church? There seems to be contradiction after contradiction in the faith regarding correlation of the faith has become at this point to what Jesus entrusted to his disciples. The second break within the church occured in A.D. 858 when Pope Nicholas I condemned Photius of Constantinople. Probably the darkest mark on the churches early history is the Crusades against Jerusalem with the capture happening in A.D. 1099.
    The violence that ensued makes one wonder how the Church continued to identify itself with godly principles when it was orchestrating the capital sin, murder of another man. Leviticus 24:17, 22; 'If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death.' 'There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord you God.' (NASB) The church advocated so much gross and wanton violence and murder disguising it in the great heresy stigma, also accusing most of witchcraft, the very practice used by the Catholic Church in there rituals and practices.  History further reveals that it is non other than the Catholic Church that all other "Christian" denominations are derived.

    A.D. 1611 produces the Authorized Version of the Bible in English, a major feat for Christianity worldwide.  The remaining history of the church reveals dissension, breakdown within the organization of establishment, cover-ups involving priestly misconduct, and much more flagrant sin. It is a wonder so many Christians so faithfully follow the church currently given the substantial amount of grievous activity within the church.  A faithful zealot must question the motive of the church and it's leaders when looking at the dark past of it's development throughout the centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Jesus Tradition and Cultural Effects on the Church

     Lets look at the church as the body of Christ. "He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything" (Colossians 1:18 NRSV). Ephesians 1:22, 23 describes the position Jesus holds in the church like this, "And He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the head over all things for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (NRSV).

    However, we have fallen victim to our "wise" and knowledgeable leaders to the point of blind adherence.  I have observed "men of God" act no different than the average CEO with their extravagant speeches and wonderful and dramatically-presented sermons. At no point during these engagements did I feel, see, or hear the Holy Spirit. Whats more important here, after the service, the congregation spent more time gloating over the presentation of the sermon and the skills and suave of the pastor without one mention of what Jesus had accomplished among the spectators.  "Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," "So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours..."
(1 Cor 3:18, 19, 21 NRSV).

   Armed with this new knowledge of how the New Testament church was originally organized, we can safely assume that where it is currently at from where it began has changed considerably. This change brought a negative affect upon the church due to divisions within the church resulting. These divisions, known as denominations, have only resulted in causing anamosity within the church structure regarding internal seperation of the Christian faith and in relation to other established religions. The church reached a level of distrust never taught or intended by the founding fathers. The ekklesia of the original twelve disappeared into a cloud of a privileged hierarchy looking down on the common laity from their perches above. The commonality of brothers in Christ evolved into a clergy/laity class distinction, foreign to the biblical principles taught by Jesus Himself and instituted by the original twelve apostles.  Our idea of "church" is opposite the ekklesia of the New Testament and how we approach God within this structured religious corporation is counter to the Bible.

So What Changed?

     Will Durant makes a similar point, noting that Christianity "grew by the absorption of pagan faith and ritual; it became a triumphant church by inheriting the organizing patterns and genius of Rome....As Judea had given Christianity ethics, and Greece had given it theology, so now Rome gave it organization; all these, with a dozen absorbed and rival faiths, entered into the Christian synthesis" (Viola, F., 2002).

    Durant adds, "When Christianity conquered Rome the ecclesiastical structure of the pagan church, the title and vestments of the pontifex maximus...and the pageantry of immemorial ceremony, passed like maternal blood into the new religion, and captive Rome captured her conqueror"

    All of this was at gross odds with God's way for His church. Thus when Jesus entered the drama of human history, He obliterated both the religious professional icon as well as the hierarchical form of leadership. As an extension of Christ's nature and mission, the early church was the first "lay-led" movement in history. But with the death of the apostles and the men they trained, things began to change.

    Since that time, the church of Jesus Christ has derived its pattern for church organization from the societies in which it has been placed--despite our Lord's warning that He was initiating a new society with a unique character (Matthew 23:8-11 and Mark 10:42). In striking contrast to the Old Testament provisions made at Mount Sinai, neither Jesus nor Paul imposed any fixed organizational patterns for the New Israel (or those known as Israel by faith).

    This is not by mistake but by divine design that there is no directive on the organizational pattern for the church. By reading Scripture, you will discover it was the full intention of God to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to take the place of human spiritual leadership in every believer's life. Everything we know today of the church regarding the organization, structure, and mission has changed from the original purpose into a mirror image of the culture in which it operates. This "secularization of the church" has led to the mistaken idea that there are sacred professions (a call to "the ministry") and ordinary professions or worldly vocations.

    Much to every Christian's dismay is the fact that almost every "main-stream" Christian pattern, practice, or tradition is synonymous with pagan practices and traditions.

Where Do We Go From Here?

    Figuratively speaking, we go back! Without degressing and taking a giant leap backwards in a literal sense, we progress by getting back to our foundation, our roots. What a paradigm folks.  Progressing by degressing. Although the logic is tacky, the idea is sound. The only solution to the prevelant problem that plagues our ekklesiais to regain the ground we lost when we forced Jesus to take a back seat to our traditions. Realistically speaking, we must perform a "makeover" of our church of today to get back to God's church of tomorrow.

    In reality this idea might seem a ludacrous to the average Christian church-goer.  This is a hard pill to swallow for anyone but the truth of the matter is it must be done in order for Christianity to revitalize and once again witness a revival of epic perportions. God has spoken in His Word and through His Son and we must listen to Him. Our historical record reveals lessons from which we learn. The lesson here is we have allowed society to influence and pollute what was meant to remain holy and consecrated to God and we must stop further damage to our church. Healing must take place but with healing comes renewal and repair.

    Every Christian is a priest of the highest order and is therefore entitled to equal representation with God. Christianity is an individual relationship with the Creator in a collective atmosphere. Every Christian is "in ministry"; called by God to minister to the world and this is perpetual and mandatory. In His infinite wisdom and divine mercy, God provided His Son as a token of grace to us all in an effort to bring every man closer to Himself; revealing His omnipotence through an act of fatherly love. It is by Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ that we can boldly draw near to the throne of grace to seek the face of God. Anything contrived by human means that attempts to contort and construe this goal must be overpowered and brought down. Every diversion constructed by the Master Deceiver must be recognized and immediately destroyed. The enemy will always attempt to destroy the good works of Christ; as His representatives here on earth, we must fight the enemy and protect the work of our Lord.

    Sin created a chasm between man and God; Jesus Christ built a bridge to cover that chasm through His life, then died to destroy that chasm once and for all. Because of His death for us, we are able to approach God without any interference from others. So, Jesus Christ provided freedom from human oppression and interference in communicating with God. By empowering the "church of man" and enabling their traditions, we are crucifying Jesus all over again. He died a horrible death for our freedom from sin. Must we torture Him again? I plead with my fellow believers, help regain what is rightfully ours; the ekklesia of the New Testament.  Jesus envisioned a church of; faithful followers, sincere servants, dedicated disciples, spiritual warriors, peaceful pilgrims, and loyal leaders. The church is the body or the sheep and Jesus is the head or the Shepherd. Every man and woman believer pursuing Christ and living a life of faith and love is the church. This is the true ekklesia of Christianity.

A Glimpse of the New Testament Church

    Acts 2:41-47 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (NRSV)

    Acts 4:32 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought back the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (NRSV)

True Worship


     This is the "church" of Christ. This is the ekklesia of the Bible. This is all and everything it was and is.  Nothing written or inspired by God in the Scriptures allows any deviation from this original intent for Christ's church or body here on earth. No amount of culture change or social shift will ever change this design because the Bible does not provide any other instructions apart from what it already contains regarding the maintenance of the church until Christ returns. To apply seperate instructions and additional traditions to the New Testament model is to add to the pages of the Bible.  Revelation 22:18 "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book...." (NASB).

     We are currently practicing the greatest "abomination" of all time according to Scripture. By continuing to worship the Sun god instead of the One God on a day (Sunday) different from the day set aside by God that should be remembered, or the true Sabbath day (Saturday) appointed by God according to the true times and days, also known as the Hebrew calendar; we are changing the times and days just like Daniel prophesied long ago. By taking symbols meant for pagan worship of pagan gods ie. the cross, idols of saints, pagan images posing as Christian representations, more; we are playing directly into the hands of Satan. We must stop this sin immediately and begin to celebrate the true worship as God commands, His true holidays or days of observance. Read the Bible and it clearly lays out the correct days of observance, God also specifies that we must observe them continually and forever with some. Friend, don't waste another breath on Satan, get forgiveness from God and start worshipping Him in spirit and truth now!


References:
Viola, F., & Barna, G., 2002. Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices.
            Present Testimony Ministry. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Hill, J., 2006. Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity.
            Grand Rapids, MI. Lion Publishing Place.