CHURCHIANITY OR CHRISTIANITY : WHICH DO YOU PRACTICE? : PART 1
Copyright 1994 - 2009 Endtime Prophecy Org
Published On : April 2, 2000
Last Updated : January 3, 2009
Why I Dropped Out, Spiritual Babes Or Mature Leaders, Nature
Of The True Church, Our Body A Living Temple, Christ Within
Us, Cause Of Stephen's Martyrdom, Destruction Of The Temple,
Christ The True Rock, Worship In The Spirit, Being Led By
The Spirit, God's Word Or Traditions Of Men, Freed By Spirit
Of Truth, Finding God's Will Through Total Submission, Stand
Upon Your Convictions, Fellowship And Church In The Home,
Big Congregations And Wrong Reasons, After Church Chat, Cold
Handshakes And Brotherly Love, Lack Of Love In The Endtime
Recently, a dear member of our private Christian mailing list
wrote to me regarding a problem she was having in her personal
life. This problem concerns the goings-on at her local church.
Allow me to share her words with you, in order to help you to
fully understand her dilemma. She writes:
----- Begin Quote -----
I was wondering if you could give me some advice? I can't
stand it anymore going to our church because of the present
pastor. Since we started there, 3/4 of the people have left
because of him. [My husband] is so blind to see what this
pastor has done and all the people he has hurt. [My husband]
said I could go somewhere else. What I was wondering is, if
I would be out of God's will, us going in different
directions? I know the Lord looks at a married couple as one
spirit joined together. I need to be concerned about my own
salvation, and work it out everyday with the Lord's help. I
was wondering what your thoughts were?
----- End Of Quote -----
Being an avid reader of my writings, as well as a long-time
member of our mailing list, this woman is already aware of
my personal feelings regarding the modern church system, or
churchianity, as I prefer to call it. Like others who form a
part of our online fellowship via our mailing list, I have
chosen to simply not participate in organized religion at
all, due to the hypocrisy, the materialism, the general lack
of the true teaching of God's Word, the serious compromise
with the spirit, ideas, beliefs and practices of the world,
the man worship and favoritism, etc. I explain all of this
in more detail in some of my other articles, so I will not
belabor the point here. In short, I can truly relate to how
this woman is feeling at the moment.
Based upon what I know about this particular couple, I am
not certain if they are really ready yet to make this same
kind of break with churchianity as I and others have done.
While the wife may be, being as she has mentioned this same
issue to me before, I have some reservations regarding her
husband. His hesitancy to leave their current church is
readily reflected in the above message; assuming of course
that her description of his current attitude is accurate. If
I am incorrect, and they both are ready to 'cut the apron
strings', as we say in American slang, then my suggestion to
them would be to try to start their own fellowship, in their
own home, with like-minded believers. I believe that I may
have suggested this same possibility to them on a previous
occasion as well.
Because of what this woman has shared with me regarding
their activities in their current church, I do not view this
couple as being spiritual babes; and some of the articles I
have written on the topic of spiritual growth, such as 'Are
You Just A Baby Huey?' definitely apply to them. At their
age, and considering their amount of personal experience in
the church system, it seems to me that they should now have
enough knowledge and wisdom, not to mention at least a basic
understanding of God's Word, to know how to lead their own
flock; or at least how to organize a loose association of
fellow believers who get together on weekends for fellowship
and a reading of the Word. I offer some helpful guidelines
in the two-part article 'Where Are The First Century
Churches?'. In other words, there comes a time when we must
stop being spiritual babes, and mature in the Spirit and
become leaders and fruit-bearing branches in the Lord's
Church. I will be sharing more on this topic later on in
this article.
As I point out in the aforementioned article, as well as in
others, the first thing that they, and many other Christians
need to realize, is that one does not need to attend some
church building in order to find God, or to fellowship with
the Lord, because a church building in itself is not the
true house of God. As I have stated a number of times
before, Jesus quite plainly taught His First Disciples:
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20, KJV
Nowhere in that verse does the Lord say that such gathering
has to specifically be in a church building. In fact, church
buildings did not even exist at the time that He said that!
They were a man-made invention which was contrived at least
a few centuries after the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, when
Christianity became a legal religion recognized by the Roman
Empire, after its radical doctrines had been toned down, and
become polluted, corrupted, perverted, and weakened, by
those who no longer possessed the same moral and spiritual
convictions as the founding Apostles of the First Century.
Again, I discuss these details in other articles for those
of you who possess a serious enough interest to further
study my work.
The point is, our gathering together can occur absolutely
anywhere, and at any time. Over and over again I have told
our readers that God is where we are, because our body is
the true temple of the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit of Christ
dwells within each one of us when we accept Him as Lord and
Saviour. Isn't that what the Apostle Paul said? He wrote:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not
your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, KJV
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord." Colossians 3:16, KJV
Whether we are discussing Christ the Living Word, or Christ the
Written Word, both must dwell within us, and not in a cold,
stone building, because they are basically synonymous terms. In
the Gospel of John, the Apostle wrote, and Jesus Himself said:
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14, KJV
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit,
and they are life." John 6:63, KJV
Isn't it because the martyr Stephen said the very same thing
in the seventh chapter of the Book of Acts, that the Jewish
religious leaders stoned him to death? In so many words,
Stephen said, 'You don't need to go to the Temple to worship
anymore, because you are each now a part of God's Living
Temple, and His Spirit dwells within you'. Consider some of
his final words spoken right before the demon-possessed Jews
stopped their ears, and brought this faithful witness' life
to a bloody end:
"But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the most High
dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the
prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool:
what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the
place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye
stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do
ye." Acts 7:47-51, KJV
Just like many hard-hearted Christian leaders and sheep
today, the Jews simply did not want to hear the truth. They
didn't want to be told that their glorious Temple compound,
which had been renovated and expanded by King Herod himself,
and their cold, formal, mechanical religious worship, had
become outdated, useless, spiritless, and was no longer even
pleasing to the Lord. In fact, after they crucified our Lord
and Saviour, it became even more of an abomination in God's
sight. As I explain in such articles as 'Once Upon A Time: A
True Story', not only was the Temple veil torn in half, as a
symbol of God's displeasure, and a sign of the beginning of
the New Covenant, or New Testament between God and man by
the Blood of Jesus Christ, but the Temple structure itself
was destroyed down to its very foundation stones, in 70 AD
by General Titus, the son of Emperor Vespasian, in direct
fulfillment of Jesus' own words, spoken at the beginning of
Matthew chapter twenty-four:
"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his
disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the
temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these
things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
Matthew 24:1-2, KJV
It is because of this very same understanding regarding the
nature of the true Temple, and true worship, that Peter also
clarified in his first Epistle, that Jesus Christ is the
Foundation Stone, (and not himself as the Roman Catholics
like to insist), and that we are the Living Stones in God's
Living Temple; because the Spirit brings life, and not
death, as in a cold, dead, hollow building made of steel and
concrete:
"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom
coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones,
are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I
lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he
that believeth on him shall not be confounded."
1 Peter 2:3-6, KJV
If there is one thing of which I am certain, it is that
God's true Holy Spirit is consistent in what it teaches us.
It is not like the spirit of confusion which has filled
modern Christianity with so many different false doctrines
and odd manifestations. In his first Epistle to the church
at Corinth, the Apostle Paul not only prays for spiritual
and doctrinal unity within the fledgling church, but he also
plainly states that God is not the author of confusion. Not
only that, but in full agreement with what was taught by our
Lord, by Peter, by Stephen and by others, Paul also tells us
that Jesus Christ is the Spiritual Rock in our lives, the
Foundation Stone; and that it is NOT the foundation stone of
some physical church building. Please consider the following
verses:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be
no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
1 Corinthians 1:10, KJV
"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in
all churches of the saints." 1 Corinthians 14:33, KJV
"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank
of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was
Christ." 1 Corinthians 10:4, KJV
When Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well
in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, did He not say
the following to her concerning true worship in the Spirit?:
"...Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall
neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we
worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh,
and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such
to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth."
John 4:21b-24, KJV
Can the truth be any clearer than that? Jesus was plainly
saying, 'Look lady; the day is soon coming when you will no
longer have to go to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple, or
to any other particular place, because God will require of
all of you, true worship in the Spirit'. You see, just like
many other Jews, she had been taught all her life that if
one failed to make a yearly pilgrimage to worship in the
Temple, and thus help to fill the Temple coffers, he or she
must not be a very devout believer; and this is precisely
the same attitude which has been cultivated in millions of
Christians today. Unless one goes to church, he or she must
not be a very good Christian. In fact, he or she must not be
one at all; or at the very least, he or she is terribly
backslidden from the faith. As I have already stated, when
Stephen tried to reiterate this same message, it got him
killed real quick; just like it got Jesus killed real quick;
and many of those who followed in His footsteps.
When I first read this woman's question, I realized how
serious of a matter it is. As such, I dared not to take it
lightly by just giving her a weak fleshly answer based upon
my human wisdom; so I said a prayer and asked the Lord for
His Wisdom and Spiritual Guidance, and the above Scriptural
answer is the result. As I have said many times before, I
don't have all of the answers, and I don't pretend to have
all of the answers. The only thing I know how to do, is to
draw upon my knowledge of His Word, and trust that God's
Spirit will bring the right Scriptures into my mind, in
order to provide the right answer that people need to hear,
and which will help them to discover the truth for them-
selves. This is what Jesus said would happen, so I have to
simply trust that my answers are of Him. As He said:
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you." John 14:26, KJV
I am not a prophet, and I don't claim to be a prophet; so
all I can do is share what I believe I receive from the
Lord, and leave it at that. All I can do is trust that the
Word that I share will speak to people's hearts; at least
the part that really applies to them and their personal
situation. As the Prophet Isaiah was inspired to write:
"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out
of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:10-11, KJV
As in all cases, in my above answer to this woman, I have
not tried to mix in any kind of personal interpretation. All
I have done is link verses together to show a common thread,
a common belief which was shared by all of these First
Century writers. It is obvious to me that Jesus, Matthew,
Stephen, Peter, Paul, and all the rest were in complete
agreement regarding what they viewed as the true church; and
it wasn't a cold, stone building down the street, where
people just went through the motions of being Christians on
weekends.
Now, in spite of the fact that I have shared the straight
Word of God, I daresay that if one were to take this message
to his or her pastor, priest or minister, or to anyone who
is heavily involved in organized religion, that person would
undoubtedly tell you that I have spoken a terrible lie, and
that I have perverted and twisted the true meaning of the
Scriptures; but have I? Or are they just afraid of losing
their control over people's lives by having them exposed to
the truth of God's Word, which tells them that they don't
need their priest or church system with its hierarchical
control system?
Part of Jesus' message during His Earthly Ministry was not
just about freedom from the pangs of physical and spiritual
death; it was also about being freed from the bondage of
manmade traditions, doctrines and false practices. It was
about being freed from spiritual and doctrinal blindness,
which stifles spiritual growth. It is for this reason that
we find the Lord saying such things as the following, which
He was actually quoting from the Old Testament Prophets:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the
Lord." Luke 4:18-19, KJV
"...If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free...If the Son therefore shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed." John 8:31b-32,36, KJV
If you are one who feels trapped and dissatisfied within
organized religion, let me tell you that God wants to free
you from the enslaving control system within which you
currently find yourself; but you must be willing to take the
step of faith. No one can do that for you. I can only share
the truth of the Scriptures with you, but I can't force you
to believe it, to accept it, or to live it; for as the
Apostle Paul also wrote, we must each be convinced for our
own selves:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And
be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Romans 12:1-2, KJV
"...Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
Romans 14:5b, KJV
In other words, before you can truly discover what God's
Will is for your life, you must be willing to give up your
own will, and what you want to do, or what you think you
ought to do, and allow God to renew you, and to give you the
mind of Christ. As I explain in such articles as 'What Is
God's Will For My Life?' and 'So You Really Think You Are So
Humble?', this means that you must have a totally humble
spirit which is submitted to God; just as Jesus did. Once
you are convinced of what God's Will is for your life, then
as Paul states in the above verse, you need to stick to it,
no matter what anyone says. You need to have conviction
about your beliefs, because God will judge you by your own
words and actions, and not by those of another, or by what
they tell you to do, think or believe.
As I stated a moment ago, if you were to share this message
with your church elder, or with one of his loyal underlings,
I don't doubt that he would immediately accuse me of being
some kind of an evil heretic. He might even tell you that I
am instructing you to go against God's Word by breaking off
fellowship; and he would probably share the following verse
with you, because this is one of the favorite ones they like
to use in such cases, in order to keep you under their
control:
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much
the more, as ye see the day approaching."
Hebrews 10:25, KJV
Now let's clarify some of my previous statements. Have I
told the woman in question to stop fellowshipping? No! What
I have plainly said is that if she is truly not happy with
her current fellowship at her current church because of the
pastor there, then given their age, experience and long
background in the church system, maybe it is time for this
couple to exercise their own faith, spread their spiritual
wings, and start their own home fellowship; and as I fully
explain in 'Where Are The First Century Churches?', this is
the true organizational pattern of the First Century church.
The New Testament quite plainly states that the church was
in the house of the believers, and they fellowshipped from
house to house. Allow me to share some of those verses again
from that article:
"As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into
every house, and haling men and women committed them to
prison." (Acts 8:3)
"Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my
wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto
Christ." (Romans 16:5)
"The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla
salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in
their house." (1 Corinthians 16:19)
"Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and
the church which is in his house." (Colossians 4:15)
"And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier,
and to the church in thy house:" (Philemon 1:2)
When God's Word speaks plainly regarding a certain issue, as
these verses do, I prefer to believe it. What about you? We
are told that before his miraculous conversion, Saul, later
to be known as Paul, went into the homes of the believers,
and dragged them off to prison, because that is where their
fellowships were being held; and not in some huge building
down the block. Unless you believe that all of these folks
had extremely large homes, capable of holding hundreds, or
even thousands of new converts, then these verses seem to
indicate that the First Century Christians had small,
home-based fellowships where everyone knew each other on a
very personal level. There was a real, genuine, spiritual
unity, intimacy and fellowship at work there.
Contrary to what seems to be described in the previous
verses, some modern churches have such huge congregations,
literally thousands of members in fact, that it is virtually
impossible for everyone to know each other on a personal
level; not that they would want to anyway. They have become
cold and formal institutions; and in some instances, sins
and problems cannot be properly addressed due to the sheer
size of the congregation; that is, when the church leader is
even willing to delve into such sensitive matters. Nowadays,
it seems that following the inspiration leader, and making a
lot of noise and having all kinds of strange manifestations,
is more important than sharing and following the Word, and
keeping personal lives in order, and honorable before the
Lord; but again, this is something I discuss in detail in
other articles for those of you who are interested.
Furthermore, in such large congregations, quite a few of the
members are there, not because they really want to be there
in their hearts, but simply because they have bowed to peer
pressure, community pressure, political correctness, because
mom and dad say they have to go, or because they got tired
of the spouse nagging them all of the time. Some of them
simply are not there for the right reasons, and would much
prefer being at home sleeping in, or watching the football
game, or maybe out with the buddies on that fishing trip. If
you doubt my words, then listen to some of the conversations
which are held immediately following the church service.
In many cases, after-church-chat immediately turns to
worldly themes, as if those involved want to try to quickly
forget any words of conviction which may have been spoken by
the well-meaning church leader. They feel embarrassed by the
pastor's words, so they try to simply ignore them by talking
about other things which they do have in common. It is all
so shallow and fake. They don't know how to communicate with
each other on a deeper spiritual level, because they have no
spiritual depth. Is that really true fellowship of the
Spirit? I think not. I am reminded once again of Jesus' sad
description concerning his Jewish enemies:
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and
honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from
me." Matthew 15:8, KJV
In some churches, they have the customary greeting and
handshake, where upon being cued by the elder, everyone is
supposed to turn to their neighbor in the pew, and greet
them and give them a handshake. It is possible that this
modern-day custom may have evolved from the original, heart-
felt expressions of love manifested by the First Century
Apostles and Disciples, as they were instructed to do by
the Lord Himself. Consider the following verses:
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another." John 13:34-35, KJV
"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have
loved you...These things I command you, that ye love one
another." John 15:12, 17, KJV
"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8, KJV
"Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of
Christ salute you." Romans 16:16, KJV
"All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an
holy kiss." 1 Corinthians 16:20, KJV
"Greet one another with an holy kiss." 2 Corinthians 13:12,
KJV
"But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write
unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another." 1 Thessalonians 4:9, KJV
"Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss."
1 Thessalonians 5:26, KJV
"Let brotherly love continue." Hebrews 13:1, KJV
"If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:"
James 2:8, KJV
"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see
that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:"
1 Peter 1:22, KJV
"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8, KJV
"For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another...And this is his
commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son
Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us
commandment." 1 John 3:11, 23, KJV
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and
every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth
God..."Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love
one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love
one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected
in us." 1 John 4:7, 11-12, KJV
"And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new
commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the
beginning, that we love one another." 2 John 1:5, KJV
Sadly, this show of brotherly affection has devolved to a
cold handshake, a pat on the back, and a few mumbling of
words to each other. In the past, I was involved in such
things, and it was so mechanical and emotionless. Like a
bunch of mindless robots, everyone would do as they were
told, and then turn again to face the priest or pastor.
As I point out in other articles, this is precisely how
Jesus said it would be during the Endtime, because not
only do our sins separate us from God, but they separate
us from each other as well; and one of the primary sins
is the sin of pride:
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold." Matthew 24:12, KJV
As we continue this article in part two, we will turn our
attention again to the problem currently being experienced
by the couple in question. This will include a look at such
topics os the persecution of God's servants, the threat of
home fellowships, stamping out the opposition, the Lord's
empowerment, the danger of numbers, rivers of Living Water,
looking to the Word and Divine Inspiration, spiritual and
physical unity, the submission of women, the importance of
united prayer, the test of love, faith, patience respect and
humility, trusting in the Lord for the outcome, the essence
of being a Christian, and being fruitful branches and the
Bride of Christ. I trust that you will join me.
[ CLICK ME ] Go To Part Two . . .