WHAT IS CHURCH? Have you ever wondered what is Church? If asked, What church do you go to? The person asking expects an answer like, I go to the First Church. According to Jack Van Impe there are nearly 30,000 different denominations of Christian Churches. What would cause such division or different opinions for something like understanding the message God has left or His intended words, called T he Bible? This short article may reveal the truth. Church is first mentioned when Jesus said, I w ill build my church. Jesus statement was made during a conversation with his disciples when he asked, Who do you say I am? Mathew 16:15-18 Peter answered that Jesus was the anointed Son of God because God had revealed this to him. This is a fundamental spiritual principle; God is the only one that can reveal Jesus is the Son of God. The conversation between Jesus and his disciples continued as he blessed Simon Barjona and changed his name from a son of Simon to Peter. At this point, in his conversation with his disciples, the Catholic scholar, Jerome, perverted the intentions of Jesus when he translated the original Greek into Latin called the Vulgate Bible: 1. Jesus said, Upon this rock I will build my church. Rock in Greek is Petras and means a large foundational type of material. 2. Jerome incorrectly implied and translated that Jesus wanted his church built on Peter. Peter in Greek is Petros and means a small stone or a stumbling type of stone. Jesus, within seconds, in this same conversation called Peter Satan. It is ludicrous to believe Jesus would build his church on any man subject to failure. But this is what happened as the following events from history reveals. 1
Two or three years after Jesus said on the cross, I t is finished or everything I came for is completed, a group of followers of Jesus were meeting in Antioch. Because they wanted to join other followers of Jesus they went to the Temple in Jerusalem where the Jewish followers of Jesus met. When they were told they would have to be circumcised to join they chose to start the Catholic Church and with Peter as the first vicar or Pope. Christianity was birthed for the wrong reason and additionally on an incorrect and shakable foundation. Jesus, a man on earth, was the materialization of God in heaven, and the church he designed was to be built on JESUS. CHURCH IS A PERSON----NOT AN ORGANIZATION Does this explain the 30,000 different opinions of Churc h? God designed the Temple Solomon built and was a prophesy for the eventual appearance of Jesus. God dwelt in the Ark of the Covenant as a prophetic message for God dwelling in Jesus and later in His innumerable sons of God. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dw ells in him, and he in God. I John 4:15 God s premeditated His Son, Jesus, to be birthed on earth as a man and with a transferable modus operandi in order for innumerable sons of God like Jesus to be birthed. God s design for His Church is Jesus and the innumerable other sons of God. CHURCH IS STILL A PERSON------------NOT AN ORGANIZATION I am Chuck Wardman and where I go is Church. Like Jesus, I relate to people without judging and with love. And also like Jesus, I am doing his works, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has 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. Luke 4:18 The Good New s of the Gospel is Jesus, as the last Adam, reversed the first Adam s mistake of introducing physical death and removing immortality. 2
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and has brought life (Zoë) and immortality to light through the gospel. II Timothy 1:10 Churc h is God s people learning to share life together. The more organization into church life---------------the less life it will contain. Our life in God, shared together, expresses itself as Churc h. Religion is a guilt-m anagement system. Good intentions---------bad results. Religions pray on people s insecurity, ----------- God s unconditional love removes insecurity and imparts security. It is impossible to get from others what God offers. Life is discovered in the journey not in religious intellect. Obliga t ion to religion never produces a brother relationship with Jesus. Living in the freedom of God s provision is critical to what God has for me. If I don t trust God to provide Zoë life for me----he won t entrust His people to me. Teaching is not a substitute for living. Trusting God to do what I want is manipulation, ----- Does this sound like trust. Trust is not interpreting events in life. ----------------------------Mistrust imparts fear. Don t put God s name on my agenda, ---------------------------I live in God s agenda. Living in God s agenda is my responsibility,--------------------------- Providing Z oë life for me is His responsibility. Freedom to be honest and freedom to struggle is key to a real friendship. In concluding this segment, Telling people the truth before they are ready can push them away no matter how good my intentions are. But I still will love you. I have found that other people s contempt doesn t touch me because I am not playing their game. 3
LET S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF CHRISTIANITY It is important to understand that Jesus appeared on earth where Paganism was dominant. J esus w as a spiritual abolitionist. John, undoubtedly Jesus number one disciple, was a physical abolitionist. Both Jesus and John were attempting to set the Jewish people free. Jesus message is a love letter to set people free from religious bondage. John s message was to set people free from slavery and Paganism. John s writings in the Book of Revelation were in Apocalyptic terms to confuse the Pagan Roman government and still impart a message to his followers. E.g. John called the Pagan government, T he Beast, their Pagan priests, the False Prophets and the Emperor was the Dragon. This is covered in the article, Pagan Worship Reversed. Jesus used Pagan metaphors because he was speaking to people who understood how Pagans spoke. E.g. Jesus used an ancient Babylonian metaphor about the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus, to teach kingdom of God life. Jesus used Lazarus as a Jewish name so his listeners could identify with his parable. A gulf between good and evil is always a Pagan term for separation. Let s return to the beginning of Christianity. Jesus, a Jew, had returned to his Father and the Catholic Church, under the leadership of Peter, the first Pope made its headquarters in Rome and Christianity was birthed The Pagan Roman government determined if they embraced Christianity their political power would expand and this would expand their control over more territory and more slaves. The Romans changed their beliefs from Pagans to Christians. Roman lives weren t changed and they started e vangelizing by killing anyone refusing to become a Christian. In the fourth century Charlemagne converted to 4
Christianity and was singly responsible for tens of thousands innocent deaths for anyone refusing to convert to Christianity. Two centuries later Islam copied Charlemagne s form of evangelizing and is currently using the same method for growing Islam. Paganism within the Roman government continued. Let s look at history to see what was happening in spite of their becoming Christians and maybe look at America as a Christian nation. 1. ROME-----Babies were still sacrificed in fires, ------------Worship music was loud to drown out the screams of the babies. 2. AMERICA-----Abortion, another term for sacrificing an innocent baby, is government supported and funded, -----------Christian worship music is still loud to drown out guilt and self-condemnation. 3. ROME-----Paul warned the church, And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. Romans 1:27------------------ 4. AMERICA----Same sex marriage switched from federal to state government approval and with the same privileges as a God designed man and woman marriage. 5. ROME-----The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance. Cicero, the Roman emperor spoke this in 55 BC. 6. AMERICA-----is printing money for debts without a possibility to repay. Politicians are still arrogant without responsibility for America s long term good. America is financing foreign governments. Government support for living without working is encouraged by the controlling left wing liberals. It is very sad to review the wonderful and blessed land of America and to analyze the future and wonder, T he only thing w e learn from history is w e learn nothing from history. Christianity didn t change Rome from Paganism and has not changed America from similar attributes and the coming consequences of 21 st Century Paganism. 5
The SOLUTION is not complicated if the intentions of God are understood. The article I released earlier this month called, T he Secret I believe has the solution. Jesus was a Jew and did not start or had any knowledge of Christianity. Jesus came to earth as a man and the Son of God with a transferable modus operandi in order for God to have innumerable sons of God like Jesus and to destroy the works of the devil and Paganism. Jesus, as the Son of God came to establish himself and his brothers, the innumerable sons of God as the Church. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So should men love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. For w e are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Ephesians 5:27-30 Sons of God like Jesus are the Glorious Church. The Pharisees had Jesus killed for God s message and the Catholic Church sanctioned the Pharisees and aborted the real reason Jesus came to earth. The perversion, J esus came to earth to keep a few from going to hell. This Pharisaical perversion was done in order for the Catholic Church to design a fictitious location called H ell for an eternal punishment by God for anyone who hadn t received Jesus pardon and/or paid an indulgence as decided by a Catholic priest before death. I am an engineer and it is not difficult to apply logic to prevailing conditions and a small amount of history to determine something is spiritually wrong. A Christian convinced against his w ill is of the same opinion still is not worth the consequences the children of America are facing. It is time to repent or change your perception, Why did Jesus visit earth? God and Christianity disagree, ------------------------------------What do you say? chuck@godtruth.tv April 14, 2009 6