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“Conventional,” “orthodox
evangelical,” or “dispensational” Christian theology teaches that the
“Church” came into existence at Pentecost and will cease to function in its
present capacity at “the Rapture” (also known as “the Second Coming” or the
“Translation of the Church”), and that the “Church” therefore consists of all
the saints of “the present age,” and I faithfully taught that doctrine for
over thirty years. My recent studies of the Scripture have rendered that
teaching in some serious doubt in my mind for the following reasons:
a. The Greek word that is translated “church”
in the English Bibles is ekklesia (ekklesia), which is made up of the two words
ek (ek),
which means “out of,” and kaleo (kaleo), which means “to call.”
Ekklesia (ekklesia)
therefore means “called out” or, when used with the definite article (“the”),
“the called out ones.” This concept carries with it the idea of being “elect”
or “chosen,” and it should be properly translated as either “called out” or
“the called out ones” or simply “the elect” for simplicity sake. Other than
the pre-existing religious bias of the Bible translators and the traditions
of men, there is absolutely no grammatical reason for this word to be have
ever been translated as “church.” (Thus in Spanish, the word is not even
translated, but only transliterated as iglacia.)
b. The Hebrew word
arqm (miqra)
carries the same meaning as the word ekklesia, and is used in the Tenakh (the “Hebrew Bible” or
so-called “Old Testament”—the only “Bible” that Yeshua and his Shliachim,
or Emissaries, had) to refer to the “holy convocations” of Israel. Miqra can
also readily be translated as “called out.”
c. While most “conventional” Christian theology teaches that
the so-called “Old Testament Saints” were saved by observance of Torah
(usually mistranslated as “the Law”), the B’rit Hadasha (or “Renewed
Covenant”—particularly Hebrews 11; Romans 3:21-4:25; and Romans 11) teaches
that salvation (justification) has always been solely on the basis of
faith in Mashiach, totally apart from any “works of righteousness,” and
Rabbinical literature from the Second Temple Period to the present reveals
that Judaism recognizes no such concept as “justification through Torah
observance.”
d. The “called out ones” before the resurrection of Mashiach
were justified (saved) by faith in the completed work of Mashiach that was
yet to be performed.
e. The “called out ones” after the resurrection of Mashiach
are justified (saved) by faith in the exact same completed work of Mashiach
that has now been performed.
f. The “called out ones” before the resurrection of Mashiach
were either born or adopted as Israelites. (Genesis 17:10-13; Exodus
12:43-51; Deut 16:10-11; Josh. 8:33)
g. The “called out ones” after the resurrection of Mashiach
are either born or adopted as Israelites. (Rom. 9:1-8; cp. Rom. 8:15; Rom.
8:23; Rom. 11:17-27; Galatians 4:5; Eph. 1:5; Eph. 2:11-13)
h. The “called out ones” before the resurrection of Mashiach
and the “called out ones” after the resurrection of Mashiach are therefore
related to Mashiach in exactly the same manner. (Rom. 3:30)
Where, then, is the
scriptural basis for saying that “the called out ones” before the
resurrection and the “called out ones” after the resurrection are two
different groups of humanity?
There is, therefore, no
Scriptural basis to claim that G-d started something “new” or “different” at
Pentecost. The only difference is that Ruach HaKodesh was now to
permanently indwell those who came to faith in Mashiach, whereas before
Pentecost that indwelling seems (at least from our limited human
perspective) to have been more temporary in nature.
Although the exact etymology
of the modern English word “church” is far from certain, some dictionaries
indicate that the word is supposedly derived from the Middle English
word chirche or kirke, which in turn is derived from the Greek
word kyriakos, which is said to mean “belonging to the Lord.” However,
the strongest evidence against that position is simply that the word kirke
is far more ancient than Christianity, and was originally derived from the
name of the pagan sun-goddess Circe, whose priests and priestesses gathered
in a “circle” to worship her (hence the source of the word “circle”).
Following this line of
reasoning, some other Bible dictionaries and commentaries suggest that
“church” came to be used as a substitute for the Greek word ekklesia
because it is thought that early believers may have met in a circle. However,
that concept is highly suspect because if one correctly understands that the
believers met in synagogues until far after the end of the first century,
there is nothing specific in synagogue worship that lends itself to the
concept of a circle, unless it refers to Davidic dance, which is generally
performed in a circle.
Still other dictionaries and
commentaries suggest that the word “church” it is derived from the Teutonic
kirk or kirche, which is a circle of trees that was used for
human sacrifices. Since the “church” as we know it today owes most of its
form to its Roman Catholic ancestor, I believe that the best explanation is
that the word “church” apparently actually refers to the “inner circle” of
the Babylonian Mystery Religion (closely related to the Teutonic kirk
in both form and function).
In 63 BCE Julius Caesar was
officially recognized as the head of the Romanized form of the Babylonian
Mystery Religion (which, though many different names are used for the gods
and goddesses, is in reality the worship of Nimrod [Genesis 10:8-9] and his
mother, the “Queen of Heaven,” who became known as Ishtar), and was given the
title of Pontifex Maximus, or “supreme bridge” (that is, the supreme
bridge between man and the gods). That title was continuously held by the
Roman emperor until 376 CE, when Emperor Gratian rejected the title, and
transferred it to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, who retains the title to this
day.
When he became Emperor,
Constantine (Pontifex Maximus of the Mystery Religion) desired to
consolidate his power over both the civil and religious aspects of the Empire
(ca. 311). At that time, Judaism (which included Messianic Judaism as a
sub-set, or “sect” of Judaism) was one of the “authorized” religions of the
Empire. Constantine, who never actually became a Believer in Messiah, simply
decreed that his more-inclusive religion, which he called “Christianity,”
would be the “official” and only acceptable religion in the Empire.
All Constantine actually did
was to take the Roman form of the Babylon Mystery Religion, dress it up with
“Bible words,” and change the names of the pantheon of “gods” and “goddesses”
to the names of prominent first-century Messianic Believers, particularly the
Apostles. The names of the gods and goddesses were then removed from their
statues in the Roman temples, their new names were chiseled into place, and
the “worship” of these gods and goddesses continued as “the veneration of
saints.” (For example, the mother of Nimrod, who was worshipped as the “Queen
of Heaven,” was renamed “Mary” and continued to be worshipped as the “Queen
of Heaven,” and the statue of “Peter” that presently stands in the Vatican is
actually a statue of the Roman G-d Jupiter, which has simply been renamed.[123])
The first level of pagan
priests under Constantine was known as the “circle” and derived that name
from their practice of meeting in a circle to worship the sun (see the
reference to the worship of Circe, above). Sun worship was so prevalent in
ancient Rome that they named the first day of the week Sun-day, and
had a law that no work could be done on Sun-day under penalty of
death.
Constantine simply appointed
the priests from the Mystery Religion as “bishops” (now called the College of
Cardinals) in his new hybrid religion, and he himself continued to rule over
them as their “high priest” (Pontifex Maximus). He then called the
Council of Nicea, to which only the Gentile bishops were invited, and made
the observance of any Jewish tradition punishable by death. Passover,
Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits were replaced with the Feast of Ishtar;
Shabbat worship was replaced with Sun-day worship; the Lord’s birthday
observance was moved from Sukkot (Tabernacles) to Saturnalia (the “sun G-d’s”
feast day, December 25); all Hebrew versions of the Scriptures were
destroyed; and all Messianic Jewish Believers were given the choice to either
become “Gentile Christians” or die.
By the time the Bible was
finally translated into English, the entire pagan Roman cult had come to be
known as “the circle” and this term was later rendered into Old and Middle
English as “church.”
When Tyndale produced the
first English translation of the Bible, he correctly translated the word
ekklesia as “assembly.” However, when King James commissioned the 1611
translation, he apparently arbitrarily decreed that the word be translated
using the common term for the Roman cult, “church,” and so that tradition has
also been followed by modern translators without regard to the actual
grammatical meaning of the word ekklesia.
The body of true “Called Out
Ones” (Miqra or Ekklesia) that Yeshua established—beginning with
Avraham—has always survived alongside the apostate synagogue and “church,”
just as He predicted in His parable of the wheat and the tares. He will sort
them all out when He returns to rule over the earth.
[This opinion is where my
research has currently taken me. The subject is still under serious
investigation.] |
