WHY SHOULD I GO TO CHURCH – WHEN I AM THE CHURCH?

There seems to be a lot of reasons to GO to church, especially according to church growth experts, pastors of churches and church administrative leaders (including many theologians).

Got Questions.Org has a good piece on “Why Christians Should Attend Church”.  Take a look.

On the other hand, there are those who are committed Christians but, for the most part, have stopped attending church, and their numbers are growing). The main objection I get from people who say they are Christians but don’t go to church, is that “I go to church sometimes on holidays. But I don’t feel like I need to go to church all the time. I love God and I believe in Jesus for my salvation so why do I need to go to all the trouble and spend so much time going to a building? Besides, I can always watch church on television”.

Going deeper. Here is a link to “15 reasons why committed Christians stop attending church”. Take a look and see what you think.

Finally, here is a 12 minute video by The Fuel Project that features a woman, giving her testimony of why she is tired of and bored with church. She is meant to be representative of the growing group of Christians who have stopped attending church, many of whom become ‘NONES’, (those who may be Christians, but have no religious affiliation). Watch just a couple of minutes and see if it rings any bells for you.

Now, if you aren’t tiring of this topic, please give me another minute or two and I will get to the core matter of Going to Church. I believe it will either inspire you, convict you or perhaps, just irritate you.

Let’s start where it all began.

 THE EARLY CHURCH

(The Blue text below, is excerpts from the book, Pagan Christianity, by Frank Viola and George Barna.)

(1). The early Christians believed that Jesus is the very presence of God. They believed that the body of Christ, the Christians, which are the church, constitutes a temple. When Jesus was on earth, to make distinctions from the Church as the Body of Christ and a building, He made some radically negative statements about the Jewish Temple. Then, when Jesus would refer to ‘the real temple’, the Ekklesia, He was referring to Himself. (see Ephesians 2 verse 6). Since Christ has risen, we Christians have become the temple of God – The Church. DID YOU KNOW THIS? DO YOU BELIEVE OR FEEL THIS WAY?

Now and since His ascension, Jesus spiritually and actually takes up residence in the believers, thus making them His Temple, or His house. It is for this reason that the New Testament always reserves the word ‘church’, (ekklesia), for the people of God. It never uses this word to refer to a building of any sort. Additionally, when Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces. DID YOU KNOW THAT? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT CHURCHES TODAY?

Although surrounded by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples, the early Christians were the only religious people on earth who did not erect sacred buildings for their worship. The Christian faith was born in homes, out in courtyards, and along roadsides. For the first three centuries, the Christians did not have any special buildings! DID YOU KNOW THAT?

As one scholar put it, “The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement.” Meeting in homes was a conscious choice of the early Christians. It was a coming together in a more intimate setting, a ones’ home. Very little could be hidden from one another in such an environment. It created an intimacy we rarely see among the organized church membership today. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS WAY OF ‘DOING CHURCH’?

So, to recap, the early disciples didn’t GO to church because they were the church. Acts 2 verses 43 through 47 tell us that in the early church, “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all the believers were together and had all things in common; and they would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

To be fair, there were circumstances such as the severe persecution of the early church by both the Jewish religious structure and the Roman government that to a large degree dictated how, when and where the early church met. But external circumstances could not and did not create or affect the sense of awe, community, brotherhood and family of the early church. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS? AND, HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL?

Things have changed over the centuries, especially for America and Americans. We have found a large degree of personal freedoms and personal wealth. Our attitude about ‘individualism’ has divided even Christians as a family. We are not like the early church people in our attitudes or practices. I can GO to church, Sunday after Sunday, and reach out and warmly greet others, and still sit alone as an acquaintance but not as a friend and not as a family member of the Church. DO YOU UNDERSTAND AND WONDER?

Okay. Do you know what I have just done, though? I have made a presentation about going to church versus being the Church, and within this case, I have hidden a ‘binary trap’. Your answer requires a YES or a NO; I agree or I don’t agree. I left just a small space for other opinions. But, when we discuss or think this way with our church leaders, isn’t that how they approach situations like this? Rather than listening and looking for answers or solutions, we are told we are wrong and ‘here is how it is’! We are left in a binary trap. So we are faced with the choice to ‘get along or get out’.

So, which is the right way to ‘do church’? Actually, I believe BOTH choices have merits, and both have weaknesses.

Truthfully however, Jesus never recommended either way.

Jesus would, by example, preach and teach in the existing Jewish Temples and Synagogues, on streets, along roadways, on hillsides, in boats on lakes, in people’s houses and out in fields. Anyplace and everyplace was His pulpit and any place and everyplace was His mission field. Anyplace you might find His disciples, you had found His Church.

Jesus took this so seriously that on one occasion, “As they were going on the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (see Luke 9, verses 57 through 59).

In other words, this person, this scribe, was implying to Jesus, ‘I will follow you wherever you go, but let’s settle down a bit, and let me do my job as a scribe, but we need a permanent place, like a building of sorts, and become a permanent fixture’. To which Jesus responds with His memorable words that said, ‘I and My Body is on the move. Time is short and we have no time to settle in anywhere. We are only here for the time being’. And that is still true to this day!

Then on another occasion, “Jesus said to another, “Follow Me.” But the man said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” (see Luke 9 verses 59 through 60). Is Jesus lacking sympathy? No, He is not. The urgency and immediacy of the mission calls for drastic action! We rarely see this in the modern and postmodern church.

Finally, on another occasion,  “Another man said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say goodbye to those at my home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (see Luke 9 verses 61 and 62). WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS? AND, HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL? DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE?

In the end, the Apostle Paul gives this heartfelt instruction about meeting together, which many church leaders apply as a directive to GO to church, “Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word]; and let us consider [thoughtfully] how we may encourage one another to love and to do good deeds, not forsaking our meeting together [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more [faithfully] as you see the day [of Christ’s return] approaching. (see Hebrews 10, verses 23 through 25).

In reality, however, Paul means exactly what he says, “encourage one another to love and to do good deeds, not forsaking OUR MEETING TOGETHER [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some,

Whether in the existing church buildings, on streets, along roadways, on hillsides, in boats on lakes, in people’s houses and out in fields. Anyplace and everyplace is YOUR pulpit and any place and everyplace is YOUR mission field. Anyplace you find Jesus’ current day disciples, you have found His Church. Active, organic, hopeful, excited and on the move, because the day of His return is near.

Now that we know these things, also know that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. And He says for us to GO therefore, [into all the world] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that He has commanded us. And remember, He is with us all the way to the end of the age.” And, please be aware and remember, Jesus was not talking to theologians or Bible teachers with a Masters of Divinity or a Doctorate in religion, He was talking to His disciples. These same disciples, who, ”when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.” (Does that verse from Matthew 28 verse 17, sound like someone who goes about in your Christian skin? If so, take heart and GO!)

If you consider yourself a fully devoted Christian, you are called by God to GO. If you don’t know how, then learn. Team up with someone who has an idea of how to GO. Or, with great prayer, caution and care, find a church  that properly teaches the Jesus model of evangelism and disciple-making. Just get started and GO.

Denominational ecclesiasticism is smothering and stifling the Church, the Ekklesia of God. Many of these so-called churches will say that they cannot allow you to ‘go rogue’ and become ‘a lone ranger Christian’. You might get it wrong or make a mess! To that I say HA! Just look at Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, Robert Tilton, Peter Popoff, Bill Hybels, Tony Alamo, Ted Haggard, Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, Ravi Zacharias, Jimmy Swaggart, Eddie Long and many other pastors and leaders of once-famous megachurches.

The Catholic church has been a disgraceful mess for centuries. Most recently is the priesthood being discovered as rife with homosexuals and pedophiles, and it seems it is only getting worse with a leftist, socialist leaning Pope!

Furthermore, take a look at these church’s world-wide messes:

The Episcopal Church in the United States and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have also allowed ordination of openly gay and lesbian candidates for ministry for some years, and now the United Methodist Church has follow the path to the dark side.

Internationally, churches that have rewritten the Gospels to reflect the attitudes and intentions of men and have ordained openly lesbian or gay clergy include the Church of Scotland, the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Church of Sweden, the Church of Norway, the Church of Denmark, the Church of Iceland, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Evangelical Church in Germany, the Methodist Church in Britain, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, the United Protestant Church in Belgium, the Swiss Reformed Church, the United Protestant Church of France, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Anglican Church in Canada, the Old Catholic Church, the Czechoslovak Hussite Church and the United Church of Christ in Japan.

Read Matthew 3 verses 11 & 12, which says, in part, “He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

You see, (first), you GO, and (secondly), He, who is coming after you, Who is mightier than you, whose sandals you am not worthy to carry, (thirdly), will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Then, fourthly), [He, with] His winnowing fork is in his hand, will clear His threshing floor [His creation, this earth], and (fifth), He will gather His wheat, [those who believe on Him and follow Him] into the barn [into the Kingdom of heaven]; but (sixth and finally, regarding) the chaff [the unbelievers, the rebellious ones], He will burn [up in the lake of, and] with unquenchable fire.”

Oh. And by the way. None of this is really a good reason NOT to go to church. If you find a good church, you could really be surprised – and you could really benefit from it!

Just GO!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(Let’s GO! Email me at whitestonefellowship1@gmail.com or write me in the space below here).

THE EMBRYONIC CHURCH – AND THE BEGINNING

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

“The early Christians believed that Jesus is the very presence of God. They believed that the body of Christ, the church, constitutes a temple. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He made some radically negative statements about the Jewish Temple.’

“The one that angered many Jews most was His announcement that if the Temple was destroyed, He would build a new one in three days! (See John 2:19-21.)

“Though Jesus was referring to the Temple that existed in the architectural sense, He was really speaking of His body. Jesus said that after this temple was destroyed, He would raise it up in three days.

“He was referring to the real temple—the Ekklesia—which He raised up in Himself on the third day (Ephesians 2:6).

“Since Christ has risen, we Christians have become the temple of God.

“At His resurrection, Christ became a “life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Therefore, He could take up residence in the believers, thus making them His Temple, His house. It is for this reason that the New Testament always reserves the word church (ekklesia) for the people of God. It never uses this word to refer to a building of any sort.” (Excerpts within quotation marks and in blue lettering are from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008)

“When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces.

“Although surrounded by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples, the early Christians were the only religious people on earth who did not erect sacred buildings for their worship. The Christian faith was born in homes, out in courtyards, and along roadsides. For the first three centuries, the Christians did not have any special buildings!

“As one scholar put it, “The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement.”

“Meeting in homes was a conscious choice of the early Christians.” It was a coming together in a more intimate setting, a ones’ home. Very little could be hidden in such an environment.

THE DRIFT BEGINS – 391 A.D.

The Church was barely out of its infancy when the religious spirit of innovation appeared, in the late second and third centuries, and a shift occurred.

“Christians not only adopted sacred spaces, they also had created sacred objects. (They would soon develop a sacred priesthood.) It might seem they had forgotten Moses and the golden calf.

“In all of this, the second and third century Christians began to assimilate the magical mind-set that characterized existent pagan thinking.

“These factors made the Christian terrain ready for the man who would be responsible for creating church buildings. In AD 327, Constantine began erecting the first church buildings throughout the Roman Empire, some at public expense.’ In so doing, he followed the path of the pagans in constructing temples to honor God. Augustine of Hippo (later, sainted by the Catholic church), began his work of making the Christian Movement ‘legitimate’ by government and Catholic standards.

“Interestingly, he named his church buildings after saints — just as the pagans named their temples after gods. Constantine built his first church buildings upon the cemeteries where the Christians held meals for the dead saints. (I ask, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL AN ACT LIKE THAT?)

“Constantine brought peace for all Christians.'” Under his reign, the Christian faith had become legitimate. In fact, it had risen to a status greater than Judaism and paganism.

“For these reasons, the Christians saw Constantine’s rise to emperor as an act of God. Here was God’s instrument who had come to their rescue.

“Christianity and Roman culture were now melded together.” (Again I ask, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?)

“The Christian building demonstrates that the church, whether she wanted it or not, had entered into a close alliance with pagan culture.’ As Will Durant, author of The Story of Civilization (a sweeping, eleven-volume work on world history that earned him a Pulitzer Prize), put it, “Pagan isles remained in the spreading Christian sea.”

“This was a tragic shift from the primitive simplicity that the church of Jesus Christ first knew. The first-century Christians were opposed to the world’s systems and avoided any contact with paganism. This all changed during the fourth century, when the church emerged as a public institution in the world and began to “absorb and Christianize pagan religious ideas and practices.

“As one historian put it, “Church buildings took the place of temples; church endowments replaced temple lands and funds.”

“Under Constantine, tax-exempt status was granted for all church property.

“Consequently, the story of the church building is the sad saga of Christianity borrowing from heathen culture and radically transforming the face of our faith.

“To put it bluntly, the church buildings of the Constantinian and post-Constantinian era essentially became holy shrines. The Christians embraced the concept of the physical temple. They imbibed the pagan idea that there exists a special place where God dwells in a special way. And that place is made “with hands.”‘ (Once again, I ask, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL AN ACT LIKE THAT?)

“As with other pagan customs that were absorbed into the Christian faith (such as the liturgy, the sermon, clerical vestments, and hierarchical leadership structure), third- and fourth-century Christians incorrectly attributed the origin of the church building to the Old Testament. But this was misguided thinking.”

“Most Americans are struggling to clarify their identity. They tend to see themselves as unique individuals, Americans, members of their family, occupational professionals, consumers, and then as followers of Christ — in that order of priority.

“In the minds and hearts of most Americans — even those whose beliefs classify them as “born-again Christians”— their identity as a follower of Christ pales in importance in comparison to the other roles they embrace. (WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT MINDSET?)

“Oddly, most of the born again Christians consider themselves to be servants of God and to have been transformed by their faith in Christ.

“Clearly, there are some missing connections in this self-evaluation. Perhaps the confusion is due to the enormous number of inter-actions and responsibilities that people take on each day.

“Maybe it has to do with the disjointed, topical teaching that most of us receive from our churches. It may even be attributable to the lure of competing perspectives and images bombarding us from the ever-present media.”

Luke Chapter Nine – Ministry of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus.

Luke 9:1, Now He called the twelve (disciples) together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and the power to heal diseases. Verse 2. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. Verse 3. And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics. Verse 4. And whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. Verse 5. And as for all who do not receive you, when you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Verse 6. And as they were leaving, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Luke Chapter 10 – The Seventy (two) Sent Out by Jesus.

Luke 10:1, Now after this the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. Verse 2. And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Verse 3. Go; behold, I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves. Verse 4. Carry no money belt, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one along the way. Verse 5. And whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ Verse 6. And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you. Verse 7. Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they provide; for the laborer is deserving of his wages. Do not move from house to house. Verse 8. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is served to you; Verse 9, and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ Verse 10. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, Verse 11, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ Verse 12. I say to you, it will be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that city.

The Joyful Results

Luke 10:17, Now the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” Verse 18. And He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Verse 19. Behold, I have given you authority to walk on snakes and scorpions, and authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Verse 20. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

Matthew Chapter 10 – The Twelve Disciples; Instructions for Service

Matthew 10:1, Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.

Verse 2. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew; and James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Verse 3, Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Verse 4. Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who also betrayed Him.

Verse 5. These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, “Do not go on a road to Gentiles, and do not enter a city of Samaritans; Verse 6, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Verse 7. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Verse 8. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Verse 9. Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, Verse 10, or a bag for your journey, or even two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is deserving of his support. Verse 11. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city.

There have been and there are influential and powerful people in the Church who have said and will say that what Jesus did as it is recorded in Matthew chapters ten and eleven and in Luke chapters nine and ten was NOT a model for future missionary evangelism. They say it was just a record of Jesus sending His disciples and followers to the Jew only; or they say it was simply Jesus laying the groundwork for future missionary and evangelistic efforts, which, by necessity, would change and evolve with the changes in technology, social norms and advances in education.

To these ideas I say, nonsense!

WHY, OH WHY?

Why would God record ‘temporary and unimportant information or events’ in His Word (The Bible) – which is meant to be eternal? Are we just being entertained?

No. He would not, He did not and He does not.

Every word in the Bible, all scripture is God-breathed, given by divine inspiration, and is profitable for instruction, for conviction of sin, for correction of error and restoration to obedience, for training in righteousness, that is for learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage; so that the man (or woman) of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

I am a simple thinker; possibly hampered, being a linear thinker, for the most part. But I also consider myself  a critical thinker. I like to try, when reading credible sources which suggest they offer insight to truth into our ever devolving world, first, to take what I read at face value wherever and whenever possible. I then try to analyze available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application of rational, skeptical, analyses and evaluation.

Please note, I am telling you these things about me because I am not alone. Everyone has a standard – a believability plumbline – by which they measure and observe the things they see, hear and read for its veracity. So, everyone will be biased in some fashion to some degree. It is unavoidable if one is to form and draw their own conclusions. Therefore, some might say that I am biased because I filter all that I read and consider through the lenses of the Bible – one of the oldest and most carefully studied, critiqued and guarded documents in existence. The Bible is a record of history and of faith, which has shaped our world. I, by no means, discount secular world history, but it has been written, debated and disputed by brilliant minds who regularly disagree on many issues and points, depending on the points of view taken. Mine is the Bible.

Therefore, I refuse to stray too far from the obvious when it is framed within the context of the whole. And the obvious face value reading of Matthew chapters ten and eleven and Luke chapters nine and ten, say that Jesus called the twelve (disciples) together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and the power to heal diseases. and to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. He told them to take nothing for their journey, (neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics), and whatever house they would enter, they were to stay there until they left that city.

“The bottom line is really quite simple: You are a priest of God, a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a member of His glorious body. Through your declaration of allegiance to Jesus and your stated desire to live with Him forever, you have a responsibility to be a functioning priest, minister, and member of the Body .

“The organized church has moved down a winding path over the past two thousand years. The only way to get it back on track is for each of us to begin prayerfully exploring the original plan that God had for His people, and then to be willing to respond faithfully to that plan. (Excerpts from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008).

I say, “enough of this dangerous game of creative re-imaginative religious realignment.

I would like to suggest that we break the current man-made rigid religious molds. That we break these chains of manmade traditions that are binding us. I suggest that we go back to the beginning. The beginning of what Jesus taught and modeled and re-learn something old, making it new.

It is time we stopped ‘going to church’ to be served (i.e., to get what we want), and start assembling as the Church in order to serve God by finding OUR PURPOSE AS THE CHURCH by doing the works of Jesus!

Please click the following link, and begin to pray for God’s Wisdom and discernment.  An invitation.

I humbly offer this after fifteen years of prayer, study, seeking God, asking for His Wisdom to know and follow His Call. I sincerely and prayerfully urge you to do the same.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young.

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent, that is, change your inner self, your old way of thinking, live changed lives and become like children trusting, humble, and forgiving, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives and welcomes one child like this in My name receives Me.”

Matthew 18:3-5

PS: If you are searching for a ‘brick and mortar church building’, it is my opinion that if you live in the Naples, Florida area (including Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero or even South Fort Myers), that you go to the Covenant Church of Naples. It contains the Body of Christ. It is a Church of integrity and in this postmodern, post-Christian America, a church bravely staying the course while facing the stresses of these Last Days.

This is a very brief outline of Biblical instructions regarding the New Testament Church. (I am making it very brief and very simple in order to bring a similar simplicity with which Jesus taught.)

Jesus first taught the Jews about the Kingdom of God – in simple terms – since the average Jew had been brought up in the ways of Moses, Abraham, Issac and Jacob,they knew and had heard the Talmud. So Jesus did not teach as the Pharisees taught. He taught that He is the fulfillment of the Jewish Law – which most Jews rejected.

Next, Saul, (soon to become the Apostle Paul), encountered Jesus on his fateful trip to Damascus. He was soon thereafter commissoned by God to bring the Good News of Jesus to the gentile world.

Since gentiles (non-Jews) do not have an understanding of Jewish life, culture and religion, they would benefit from the teachings of how the Old Testament is the foundation of the New Testament and the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. That is still the case today.

And the message of the Gospel is meant to be simple enough for each and every person to hear and understand, so complexity can be a barrier.

Therefore, I am presenting a simple message and simple instructions of:

B‭elonging to the Church of Jesus Christ

The Bible says in Mark 8:34 says, “And He summoned the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

The Bible says, in Romans 10:8-10, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

And, John 1:12-13 says, “As many as received Him, to them, He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.”

Building The Church

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.‭

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,‭ teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Being The Church

Philippians 2:1-16 tells us that being the Church means, “Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.‭

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;‭

Do not ‭merely‭ look out for your own personal ‭interests‭, but also for the ‭interests‭ of others.‭

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,‭ who, as He ‭already‭ existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,‭ but emptied Himself ‭by‭ taking the form of a bond-servant ‭and‭ being born in the likeness of men.‭ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.‭ For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,‭ so that at the name of Jesus ‭EVERY KNEE WILL BOW‭, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,‭ and ‭that‭ every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.‭ So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;‭ for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for ‭His‭ good pleasure.‭

Do all things without complaining or arguments;‭ ‭so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,‭ holding firmly the word of life.”

Pillars of The Church

1. The Apostles Teaching
2. Fellowship
3. The Breaking of the Bread
4. Prayer

Pillars Within the Church

1. Fellowship – A Healthy Body of Christ, being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
2. Discipleship – preaching, teaching, edification.
3. Sending – commissioning.
4. Evangelism – Lifting the Name of Jesus.

Spiritual Gifts in the Church

Cycle of Ministry of the Church

I.

Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

II.

Matthew 4:19, “And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

III.

Matthew 10:5, “Jesus sent These twelve out after instructing them: Verse 7. “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Verse 8. ” Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Verse 9. “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, verse 10, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support.

IV.

Matthew 28:19 , “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, verse 20, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

V.

Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Verse 16. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. Verse 17. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; verse 18, they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

VI.

1 Corinthians 12:25, “so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. Verse 26. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Verse 27. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. Verse 28. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.”

VII.

Ephesians 4:21, “Indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, verse 23, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, verse 24, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God.”

Verse 25. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. Verse 26. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, verse 27, and do not give the devil an opportunity. Verse 28. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Verse 29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as it is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Verse 30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Verse 32. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Jesus’ Model of Ministry for the Church

Follow Him, follow His ways.

1. Repent

Matthew 4:17, ” From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

2. GO – Make Disciples – Follow Him

• Matthew 4:19, “And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

3. Jesus’ Model for Ministry: Teach, Preach, proclaim the Gospel, lay hands on the sick

• Verse 23. Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and
• proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
• and healing every kind of disease
• and every kind of sickness among the people. Learn and teach – BE BEREAN – STUDY TO BE APPROVED –

4. Jesus teaches His disciples 5:31 through Matthew 9:38

• Disciples and the World
• Regarding Personal Relationships
• Giving to the Poor and Prayer
• Fasting; The True Treasure; Wealth (Mammon)
• The Cure for Anxiety
• Prayer and the Golden Rule
• The Narrow and Wide Gates
• The Two Foundations
• Jesus Cleanses a Leper; The Centurion’s Faith
• Examples Peter’s Mother-in-law and Many Others Healed
• Discipleship Tested
• Jesus Casts Out Demons
• A Paralytic Healed
• The Calling
• The Question about Fasting
• Miracles of Healing

5. Our Instructions for our Service

(a) Matthew 10:1, “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

(b) Matthew 10:5, These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them:

“Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; verse 6, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

(c) Matthew 10:7“, And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

(d) Matthew 10:8“, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.

(e) Freely you received, freely give.

(f) Matthew 10:9, “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, 10 or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support.

(g) Matthew 10:11, “And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city.

6. A Hard Road before us

(h) Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves;

7. The Meaning of Discipleship for us

(i) Matthew 10:24, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

(j) Matthew 10:26, “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

(k) Matthew 10:32, “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33“But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

(l) Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

(m) Matthew 10:38, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Verse 39. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

8. The Reward of our Service

(n) Matthew 10:40, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

9. GO and follow His example

(V.) Matthew 11:1, “When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.”

10. Warninga and Woes

(VI.) JESUS WARNS ABOUT US THE PHARISEES / HIRELINGS – 8 WOES

Matthew 23:1, “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying:

(a) “The chair of Moses

(b) Matthew 23:8, Titles: Rabbi, Father, Leader, Servant.

11.  8 WOES – Matthew 23:13 – 33

12.  WARNINGS to His Disciples on the mission field – Matthew 23:34 – 39

13.  BE WATCHMEN – Signs of Christ’s Return

(a) Matthew 24:1 – 3, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Verse 4. And Jesus answered and said to them,

Finally dear brothers and sisters, since we are the Bride of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ, let’s remember that we are all called as living stones, and are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light; for we once were not a people, but now we are the people of God; we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy.

Simple Faith

I pray that if we will practice a simple Christianity in the Church, we may avoid being trapped in the complexities of religion.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CHURCH?

It is easier to define the word, “Church” and to cite scriptures that describe “Church”:

Church: The Greek word is “EKKLESIA”; EK = out of, or, out from; KALEO = called or summoned; “The Called-Out Ones”.

But defining the word Church does not give us the PURPOSE OF the Church.

Describing the PURPOSE OF the Church can be further confused by imposing a PURPOSE ONTO the Church as is the case by Pastor Rick Warren’s (founder of Saddleback church, California) extremely popular and successful book, “The Purpose Driven Church”. Warren, in his book proposes that in order for a church to be healthy it must become a purpose-driven church, built around the five New Testament purposes given to the church by Jesus.

1. Worship – “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Mt 22:37).
2. Ministry – “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39).
3. Evangelism – “go therefore and make disciples” (Mt 28:19).
4. Fellowship – “baptizing them” (Mt 28:19, identification with the Christian community).
5. Discipleship – “teaching them to obey all that I command you” (Mt 28:20).

Warren’s primary thesis is that “what is needed today are churches that are driven by purpose instead of by other forces” (p80). His paradigm consists of a perspective that looks at everything through the five New Testament purposes of the church, and a process for fulfilling those purposes (p80). These five purposes, says Warren, are taken directly from the Great Commandment in Mt 22:37-40, and the Great Commission in Mt 28:18-20, and are therefore non-negotiable in the application of the model.

“The issue is church health, not church growth!” declares Warren. “If your church is healthy, growth will occur naturally. Healthy, consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church.”

The earliest examples of the rudimentary Church can be found in Matthew 11, when Jesus finishes instructing His first twelve disciples, and gives them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.

Then, in Matthew 28:18-20, “Jesus came up and spoke to them, (His eleven disciples), saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We could say, that from these first two examples of Jesus’ instructions, that the earliest PURPOSE OF the Church was to

1. Have authority over unclean spirits and to cast them out of the lives of the afflicted,
2. To heal every disease and every sickness,
3. Go and make disciples of all the nations,
4. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
5. Teaching them to follow all that Jesus commanded.

There are many tasks and attributes of the Church seen in scriptures. The church is to teach biblical doctrine, a place of fellowship, where Christians can be devoted to one another, to  instruct one, to be kind and compassionate to one another, to encourage one another and most importantly, love one another. (see GotQuestions.Org)

The church is to be a place where believers can observe the Lord’s Supper, promoting fellowship and for prayer. Some final purposes of the church are to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The church is to be about the business of ministering to those in need. This includes not only sharing the gospel, but also providing for physical needs (food, clothing, shelter) as necessary and appropriate. The church is also to equip believers in Christ with the tools they need to overcome sin and remain free from the pollution of the world.

However, the Apostle Paul gives what I consider as the prime example of the PURPOSE OF the Church when he taught that the Church is God’s hands, mouth, and feet in this world – the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). We are to be doing the things that Jesus Christ would do if He were here physically on the earth. The church is to be “Christian,” “Christ-like,” and Christ-following.

The rest of this article speaks to the direction and drift – or dare I say the ‘shipwreck’ – of the Church; how the church has been and is being reimagined and re-identified as a means to attract the world to its doors. This, I believe, in large part comes from men such as Rick Warren and Bill Hybels (Willow Creek, Chicago, IL). They identified key components of the true Church and adapted them to the current cultural mores, and their influence has been staggering. The results, however, has created and era of one of the biggest drifts of the Church from her foundation. (See “The Seeker-Friendly way of doing church”). Is this the Great Apostasy described in the Bible?

Let’s say you encounter a group of people – a large group of people – who are loving and who show unselfish concern for other; people who are joyful and show an inner peace; people who are patient, and show not only the ability to wait, they wait with kindness, people who are good, faithful, and gentle, showing great self-control. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

What if these people show a loving attitude and behavior that allows them to endure with patience and serenity; a people showing a love that is kind and thoughtful, that is not jealous or envious; a people showing a kind of love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. People who are not rude; not self-seeking, not provoked nor are overly sensitive and not easily angered; People with a loving attitude that does not take into account a wrong endured. They do not rejoice at injustice, but rejoice with the truth when right and truth prevail. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

People with a love toward others that bears all things regardless of what comes upon them, believes all things, that is looking for the best in each person, hopes all things, remaining steadfast during difficult times, and endures all things without weakening. People with a love never fails, never fades and never ends. What would you think? What would you do? AND, YES, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

THE CHURCH: INHERITING THE EDIFICE COMPLEX

“The idea, that the Christians in the apostolic age, erected special houses of worship is out of the question.

The Savior of the world was born in a stable, ascended to heaven from a mountain. His apostles and their successors down to the third century, preached in the streets, the markets, on mountains, in ships, sepulchers, eaves, and deserts, and in the homes of their converts.

“Thousands of costly churches and chapels have since been built and are constantly being built in all parts of the world to the honor of the crucified Redeemer – who in the days of his humiliation had no place of his own to rest his head!” — PHILIP SCHAFF, NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN CHURCH HISTORIAN AND THEOLOGIAN

“MANY CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANS have a love affair with brick and mortar. The edifice complex is so ingrained in our thinking that if a group of believers begins to meet together, their first thoughts are toward securing a building. For how can a group of Christians rightfully claim to be a church without a building? (So the thinking goes.)

The “church” building is so connected with the idea of church that we unconsciously equate the two and it has caused Christians to disconnect the original meaning of “The Church” (Ekklesia) from the people of God, the disciples of Jesus, to the edifice or buildings which occasionally house the Body of Christ – His People.

Just listen to the vocabulary of the average Christian today:

“Wow, honey, did you see that beautiful church we just passed?”

“My goodness! That is the largest church I have ever seen! I wonder what the electric costs to keep it going?”

“Our church is too small. I’m developing claustrophobia. We need to extend the balcony.”

“The church is chilly today; I am freezing my buns off in here!”

“We have gone to church every Sunday this past year except for the Sunday when Aunt Mildred dropped the microwave oven on her toe.”

Or how about the vocabulary of the average pastor:

“Isn’t it wonderful to be in the house of God today?”

“We must show reverence when we come into the sanctuary of the Lord.”

“Or how about the mother who tells her happy child (in subdued tones), “Wipe that smile off your face; you’re in church now! We behave ourselves in the house of God!”

“To put it bluntly, none of these thoughts have anything to do with New Testament Christianity. Rather, they reflect the thinking of other religions—primarily Judaism and paganism.

FROM HOUSE CHURCHES TO HOLY CATHEDRALS

“The early Christians believed that Jesus is the very presence of God. They believed that the body of Christ, the church, constitutes a temple. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He made some radically negative statements about the Jewish Temple.’

“The one that angered many Jews most was His announcement that if the Temple was destroyed, He would build a new one in three days! (See John 2:19-21.)

“Though Jesus was referring to the Temple that existed in the architectural sense, He was really speaking of His body. Jesus said that after this temple was destroyed, He would raise it up in three days.

“He was referring to the real temple—the Ekklesia—which He raised up in Himself on the third day (Ephesians 2:6).

“Since Christ has risen, we Christians have become the temple of God.

“At His resurrection, Christ became a “life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Therefore, He could take up residence in the believers, thus making them His Temple, His house. It is for this reason that the New Testament always reserves the word church (ekklesia) for the people of God. It never uses this word to refer to a building of any sort.” (Excerpts from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008)

“When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces.

“Although surrounded by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples, the early Christians were the only religious people on earth who did not erect sacred buildings for their worship. The Christian faith was born in homes, out in courtyards, and along roadsides. For the first three centuries, the Christians did not have any special buildings!

“As one scholar put it, “The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement.”

“Meeting in homes was a conscious choice of the early Christians.” It was a coming together in a more intimate setting, a ones’ home. Very little could be hidden in such an environment.

“Then, in the late second and third centuries a shift occurred”

Christians not only had adopted sacred spaces, they also had created sacred objects. (They would soon develop a sacred priesthood.) It might seem they had forgotten Moses and the golden calf.

“In all of this, the second and third century Christians began to assimilate the magical mind-set that characterized existent pagan thinking.

“These factors made the Christian terrain ready for the man who would be responsible for creating church buildings. In AD 327, Constantine began erecting the first church buildings throughout the Roman Empire, some at public expense.’ In so doing, he followed the path of the pagans in constructing temples to honor God.

“Interestingly, he named his church buildings after saints — just as the pagans named their temples after gods. Constantine built his first church buildings upon the cemeteries where the Christians held meals for the dead saints. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“Constantine brought peace for all Christians.'” Under his reign, the Christian faith had become legitimate. In fact, it had risen to a status greater than Judaism and paganism.

“For these reasons, the Christians saw Constantine’s rise to emperor as an act of God. Here was God’s instrument who had come to their rescue.

“Christianity and Roman culture were now melded together.” WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“The Christian building demonstrates that the church, whether she wanted it or not, had entered into a close alliance with pagan culture.’ As Will Durant, author of The Story of Civilization (a sweeping, eleven-volume work on world history that earned him a Pulitzer Prize), put it, “Pagan isles remained in the spreading Christian sea.”

“This was a tragic shift from the primitive simplicity that the church of Jesus Christ first knew. The first-century Christians were opposed to the world’s systems and avoided any contact with paganism. This all changed during the fourth century, when the church emerged as a public institution in the world and began to “absorb and Christianize pagan religious ideas and practices.

“As one historian put it, “Church buildings took the place of temples; church endowments replaced temple lands and funds.”

“Under Constantine, tax-exempt status was granted for all church property.

“Consequently, the story of the church building is the sad saga of Christianity borrowing from heathen culture and radically transforming the face of our faith.

“To put it bluntly, the church buildings of the Constantinian and post-Constantinian era essentially became holy shrines. The Christians embraced the concept of the physical temple. They imbibed the pagan idea that there exists a special place where God dwells in a special way. And that place is made “with hands.”‘ WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“As with other pagan customs that were absorbed into the Christian faith (such as the liturgy, the sermon, clerical vestments, and hierarchical leadership structure), third- and fourth-century Christians incorrectly attributed the origin of the church building to the Old Testament. But this was misguided thinking.”

“Most Americans are struggling to clarify their identity. They tend to see themselves as unique individuals, Americans, members of their family, occupational professionals, consumers, and then as followers of Christ — in that order of priority.

“In the minds and hearts of most Americans — even those whose beliefs classify them as “born-again Christians”— their identity as a follower of Christ pales in importance in comparison to the other roles they embrace. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“Oddly, most of the born again Christians consider themselves to be servants of God and to have been transformed by their faith in Christ.

“Clearly, there are some missing connections in this self-evaluation. Perhaps the confusion is due to the enormous number of inter-actions and responsibilities that people take on each day.

“Maybe it has to do with the disjointed, topical teaching that most of us receive from our churches. It may even be attributable to the lure of competing perspectives and images bombarding us from the ever-present media.

“The bottom line is really quite simple: You are a priest of God, a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a member of His glorious body. Through your declaration of allegiance to Jesus and your stated desire to live with Him forever, you have a responsibility to be a functioning priest, minister, and member of the Body .

“The organized church has moved down a winding path over the past two thousand years. The only way to get it back on track is for each of us to begin prayerfully exploring the original plan that God had for His people, and then to be willing to respond faithfully to that plan.

“In this way, the Revolution that has begun to take root in our day will spread far and wide. And God will get what He has always been after.” (Excerpts from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008)

So, where do we go from here? Let me start with a story about a funny thing happened to a friend. He related how, while at a crowded football game, he stood in a very long line for to order some food at half-time. It was taking so much time to reach the concession stand that he remarked others in the line that this is the longest food line he has ever had to endure. Then to his astonishment several shouted back that this was the line to the restrooms!” Why would anyone stand in the wrong line for an hour? They wouldn’t – not on purpose anyway! But, in case you did, there is a very old saying you need to hear again, “what do you call it when you keep doing the same things, expecting different results?” Nuts!!

I would like to suggest that we break the current man-made rigid religious molds. That we break these chains of manmade traditions that are binding us. I suggest that we go back to the beginning. The beginning of what Jesus taught and modeled and re-learn something old, making it new.

It is time we stopped ‘going to church’ to be served (i.e., to get what we want), and start assembling as the Church in order to serve God by finding OUR PURPOSE AS THE CHURCH by doing the works of Jesus!

Click the following link, and begin to pray for God’s Wisdom and discernment.  An invitation.

I humbly offer this after fifteen years of prayer, study, seeking God, asking for His Wisdom to know and follow His Call. I sincerely and prayerfully urge you to do the same.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

What is God Saying to His Church – You and me

The Church Militant?

Consumerism in the Church?

Is this the Church?

Has the Great Apostasy Begun?

Let’s say you encounter a group of people – a large group of people – who are loving and who show unselfish concern for other; people who are joyful and show an inner peace; people who are patient, and show not only the ability to wait, they wait with kindness, people who are good, faithful, and gentle, showing great self-control. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

What if these people show a loving attitude and behavior that allows them to endure with patience and serenity; a people showing a love that is kind and thoughtful, that is not jealous or envious; a people showing a kind of love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. People who are not rude; not self-seeking, not provoked nor are overly sensitive and not easily angered; People with a loving attitude that does not take into account a wrong endured. They do not rejoice at injustice, but rejoice with the truth when right and truth prevail. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

People with a love toward others that bears all things regardless of what comes upon them, believes all things, that is looking for the best in each person, hopes all things, remaining steadfast during difficult times, and endures all things without weakening. People with a love never fails, never fades and never ends. What would you think? What would you do? AND, YES, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

THE CHURCH: INHERITING THE EDIFICE COMPLEX

“The idea, that the Christians in the apostolic age, erected special houses of worship is out of the question.

The Savior of the world was born in a stable, ascended to heaven from a mountain. His apostles and their successors down to the third century, preached in the streets, the markets, on mountains, in ships, sepulchers, eaves,and deserts, and in the homes of their converts.

“Thousands of costly churches and chapels have since been built and are constantly being built in all parts of the world to the honor of the crucified Redeemer – who in the days of his humiliation had no place of his own to rest his head!” — PHILIP SCHAFF, NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN CHURCH HISTORIAN AND THEOLOGIAN

“MANY CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANS have a love affair with brick and mortar. The edifice complex is so ingrained in our thinking that if a group of believers begins to meet together, their first thoughts are toward securing a building. For how can a group of Christians rightfully claim to be a church without a building? (So the thinking goes.)

The “church” building is so connected with the idea of church that we unconsciously equate the two and it has caused Christians to disconnect the original meaning of “The Church” (Ekklesia) from the people of God, the disciples of Jesus, to the edifice or buildings which occasionally house the Body of Christ – His People.

Just listen to the vocabulary of the average Christian today:

“Wow, honey, did you see that beautiful church we just passed?”

“My goodness! That is the largest church I have ever seen! I wonder what the electric costs to keep it going?”

“Our church is too small. I’m developing claustrophobia. We need to extend the balcony.”

“The church is chilly today; I am freezing my buns off in here!”

“We have gone to church every Sunday this past year except for the Sunday when Aunt Mildred dropped the microwave oven on her toe.”

Or how about the vocabulary of the average pastor:

“Isn’t it wonderful to be in the house of God today?”

“We must show reverence when we come into the sanctuary of the Lord.”

“Or how about the mother who tells her happy child (in subdued tones), “Wipe that smile off your face; you’re in church now! We behave ourselves in the house of God!”

“To put it bluntly, none of these thoughts have anything to do with New Testament Christianity. Rather, they reflect the thinking of other religions—primarily Judaism and paganism.

FROM HOUSE CHURCHES TO HOLY CATHEDRALS

“The early Christians believed that Jesus is the very presence of God. They believed that the body of Christ, the church, constitutes a temple. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He made some radically negative statements about the Jewish Temple.’

“The one that angered many Jews most was His announcement that if the Temple was destroyed, He would build a new one in three days! (See John 2:19-21.)

“Though Jesus was referring to the Temple that existed in the architectural sense, He was really speaking of His body. Jesus said that after this temple was destroyed, He would raise it up in three days.

“He was referring to the real temple—the Ekklesia—which He raised up in Himself on the third day (Ephesians 2:6).

“Since Christ has risen, we Christians have become the temple of God.

“At His resurrection, Christ became a “life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Therefore, He could take up residence in the believers, thus making them His Temple, His house. It is for this reason that the New Testament always reserves the word church (ekklesia) for the people of God. It never uses this word to refer to a building of any sort.” (Excerpts from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008)

“When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces.

“Although surrounded by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples, the early Christians were the only religious people on earth who did not erect sacred buildings for their worship. The Christian faith was born in homes, out in courtyards, and along roadsides. For the first three centuries, the Christians did not have any special buildings!

“As one scholar put it, “The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement.”

“Meeting in homes was a conscious choice of the early Christians.” It was a coming together in a more intimate setting, a ones’ home. Very little could be hidden in such an environment.

“Then, in the late second and third centuries a shift occurred”

Christians not only had adopted sacred spaces, they also had created sacred objects. (They would soon develop a sacred priesthood.) It might seem they had forgotten Moses and the golden calf.

“In all of this, the second and third century Christians began to assimilate the magical mind-set that characterized existent pagan thinking.

“These factors made the Christian terrain ready for the man who would be responsible for creating church buildings. In AD 327, Constantine began erecting the first church buildings throughout the Roman Empire, some at public expense.’ In so doing, he followed the path of the pagans in constructing temples to honor God.

“Interestingly, he named his church buildings after saints — just as the pagans named their temples after gods. Constantine built his first church buildings upon the cemeteries where the Christians held meals for the dead saints. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“Constantine brought peace for all Christians.'” Under his reign, the Christian faith had become legitimate. In fact, it had risen to a status greater than Judaism and paganism.

“For these reasons, the Christians saw Constantine’s rise to emperor as an act of God. Here was God’s instrument who had come to their rescue.

“Christianity and Roman culture were now melded together.” WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“The Christian building demonstrates that the church, whether she wanted it or not, had entered into a close alliance with pagan culture.’ As Will Durant, author of The Story of Civilization (a sweeping, eleven-volume work on world history that earned him a Pulitzer Prize), put it, “Pagan isles remained in the spreading Christian sea.”

“This was a tragic shift from the primitive simplicity that the church of Jesus Christ first knew. The first-century Christians were opposed to the world’s systems and avoided any contact with paganism. This all changed during the fourth century, when the church emerged as a public institution in the world and began to “absorb and Christianize pagan religious ideas and practices.

“As one historian put it, “Church buildings took the place of temples; church endowments replaced temple lands and funds.”

“Under Constantine, tax-exempt status was granted for all church property.

“Consequently, the story of the church building is the sad saga of Christianity borrowing from heathen culture and radically transforming the face of our faith.

“To put it bluntly, the church buildings of the Constantinian and post-Constantinian era essentially became holy shrines. The Christians embraced the concept of the physical temple. They imbibed the pagan idea that there exists a special place where God dwells in a special way. And that place is made “with hands.”‘ WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“As with other pagan customs that were absorbed into the Christian faith (such as the liturgy, the sermon, clerical vestments, and hierarchical leadership structure), third- and fourth-century Christians incorrectly attributed the origin of the church building to the Old Testament. But this was misguided thinking.”

“Most Americans are struggling to clarify their identity. They tend to see themselves as unique individuals, Americans, members of their family, occupational professionals, consumers, and then as followers of Christ — in that order of priority.

“In the minds and hearts of most Americans — even those whose beliefs classify them as “born-again Christians”— their identity as a follower of Christ pales in importance in comparison to the other roles they embrace. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT?

“Oddly, most of the born again Christians consider themselves to be servants of God and to have been transformed by their faith in Christ.

“Clearly, there are some missing connections in this self-evaluation. Perhaps the confusion is due to the enormous number of inter-actions and responsibilities that people take on each day.

“Maybe it has to do with the disjointed, topical teaching that most of us receive from our churches. It may even be attributable to the lure of competing perspectives and images bombarding us from the ever-present media.

“The bottom line is really quite simple: You are a priest of God, a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a member of His glorious body. Through your declaration of allegiance to Jesus and your stated desire to live with Him forever, you have a responsibility to be a functioning priest, minister, and member of the Body .

“The organized church has moved down a winding path over the past two thousand years. The only way to get it back on track is for each of us to begin prayerfully exploring the original plan that God had for His people, and then to be willing to respond faithfully to that plan.

“In this way, the Revolution that has begun to take root in our day will spread far and wide. And God will get what He has always been after.” (Excerpts from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008)

So, where can I go from here? Click the following link to another page, read it, and begin to pray for God’s Wisdom and discernment. An invitation

I humbly offer this after eleven years of prayer, study, seeking God, asking for His Wisdom to know and follow His Call. I sincerely and prayerfully urge you to do the same.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

More links on this site about “The Church”

What is God Saying to His Church – You and me

The Church Militant?

Consumerism in the Church?

Is this the Church?

Socialism in the Church?

It is Time – The Day is Now Upon Us

THE CHURCH BUILDING: INHERITING THE EDIFICE COMPLEX

“It is an interesting paradox that as the Church moves underground, IT BECOMES MORE VISIBLE”

“The idea, that the Christians in the apostolic age, erected special houses of worship is out of the question.

The Savior of the world was born in a stable, ascended to heaven from a mountain. His apostles and their successors down to the third century, preached in the streets, the markets, on mountains, in ships, sepulchers, eaves,and deserts, and in the homes of their converts.

“Thousands of costly churches and chapels have since been built and are constantly being built in all parts of the world to the honor of the crucified Redeemer – who in the days of his humiliation had no place of his own to rest his head!” — PHILIP SCHAFF, NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN CHURCH HISTORIAN AND THEOLOGIAN

“MANY CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANS have a love affair with brick and mortar. The edifice complex is so ingrained in our thinking that if a group of believers begins to meet together, their first thoughts are toward securing a building. For how can a group of Christians rightfully claim to be a church without a building? (So the thinking goes.)

The “church” building is so connected with the idea of church that we unconsciously equate the two. Just listen to the vocabulary of the average Christian today:

“Wow, honey, did you see that beautiful church we just passed?”

“My goodness! That is the largest church I have ever seen! I wonder what the electric costs to keep it going?”

“Our church is too small. I’m developing claustrophobia. We need to extend the balcony.”

“The church is chilly today; I am freezing my buns off in here!”

“We have gone to church every Sunday this past year except for the Sunday when Aunt Mildred dropped the microwave oven on her toe.”

Or how about the vocabulary of the average pastor:

“Isn’t it wonderful to be in the house of God today?”

“We must show reverence when we come into the sanctuary of the Lord.”

“Or how about the mother who tells her happy child (in subdued tones), “Wipe that smile off your face; you’re in church now! We behave ourselves in the house of God!”

“To put it bluntly, none of these thoughts have anything to do with New Testament Christianity. Rather, they reflect the thinking of other religions—primarily Judaism and paganism.

FROM HOUSE CHURCHES TO HOLY CATHEDRALS

“The early Christians believed that Jesus is the very presence of God. They believed that the body of Christ, the church, constitutes a temple. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He made some radically negative statements about the Jewish Temple.’

“The one that angered many Jews most was His announcement that if the Temple was destroyed, He would build a new one in three days! (See John 2:19-21.)

“Though Jesus was referring to the Temple that existed in the architectural sense, He was really speaking of His body. Jesus said that after this temple was destroyed, He would raise it up in three days.

“He was referring to the real temple—the church—which He raised up in Himself on the third day (Ephesians 2:6).

“Since Christ has risen, we Christians have become the temple of God.

“At His resurrection, Christ became a “life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Therefore, He could take up residence in the believers, thus making them His Temple, His house. It is for this reason that the New Testament always reserves the word church (ekklesia) for the people of God. It never uses this word to refer to a building of any sort.” (Excerpts from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008)

“When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces.

“Although surrounded by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples, the early Christians were the only religious people on earth who did not erect sacred buildings for their worship. The Christian faith was born in homes, out in courtyards, and along roadsides. For the first three centuries, the Christians did not have any special buildings!

“As one scholar put it, “The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement.”

“Meeting in homes was a conscious choice of the early Christians.”

“Then, in the late second and third centuries a shift occurred”

Christians not only had adopted sacred spaces, they also had created sacred objects. (They would soon develop a sacred priesthood.) It might seem they had forgotten Moses and the golden calf.

“In all of this, the second and third century Christians began to assimilate the magical mind-set that characterized existent pagan thinking.

“These factors made the Christian terrain ready for the man who would be responsible for creating church buildings. In AD 327, Constantine began erecting the first church buildings throughout the Roman Empire, some at public expense.’ In so doing, he followed the path of the pagans in constructing temples to honor God.

“Interestingly, he named his church buildings after saints — just as the pagans named their temples after gods. Constantine built his first church buildings upon the cemeteries where the Christians held meals for the dead saints.

“Constantine brought peace for all Christians.'” Under his reign, the Christian faith had become legitimate. In fact, it had risen to a status greater than Judaism and paganism.

“For these reasons, the Christians saw Constantine’s rise to emperor as an act of God. Here was God’s instrument who had come to their rescue.

“Christianity and Roman culture were now melded together.”

“The Christian building demonstrates that the church, whether she wanted it or not, had entered into a close alliance with pagan culture.’ As Will Durant, author of The Story of Civilization (a sweeping, eleven-volume work on world history that earned him a Pulitzer Prize), put it, “Pagan isles remained in the spreading Christian sea.”

“This was a tragic shift from the primitive simplicity that the church of Jesus Christ first knew. The first-century Christians were opposed to the world’s systems and avoided any contact with paganism. This all changed during the fourth century, when the church emerged as a public institution in the world and began to “absorb and Christianize pagan religious ideas and practices.

“As one historian put it, “Church buildings took the place of temples; church endowments replaced temple lands and funds.”

“Under Constantine, tax-exempt status was granted for all church property.

“Consequently, the story of the church building is the sad saga of Christianity borrowing from heathen culture and radically transforming the face of our faith.

“To put it bluntly, the church buildings of the Constantinian and post-Constantinian era essentially became holy shrines. The Christians embraced the concept of the physical temple. They imbibed the pagan idea that there exists a special place where God dwells in a special way. And that place is made “with hands.”‘

“As with other pagan customs that were absorbed into the Christian faith (such as the liturgy, the sermon, clerical vestments, and hierarchical leadership structure), third- and fourth-century Christians incorrectly attributed the origin of the church building to the Old Testament. But this was misguided thinking.”

“Most Americans are struggling to clarify their identity. They tend to see themselves as unique individuals, Americans, members of their family, occupational professionals, consumers, and then as followers of Christ — in that order of priority.

“In the minds and hearts of most Americans — even those whose beliefs classify them as “born-again Christians”— their identity as a follower of Christ pales in importance in comparison to the other roles they embrace.

“Oddly, most of the born again Christians consider themselves to be servants of God and to have been transformed by their faith in Christ.

“Clearly, there are some missing connections in this self-evaluation. Perhaps the confusion is due to the enormous number of inter-actions and responsibilities that people take on each day.

“Maybe it has to do with the disjointed, topical teaching that most of us receive from our churches. It may even be attributable to the lure of competing perspectives and images bombarding us from the ever-present media.

“The bottom line is really quite simple: You are a priest of God, a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a member of His glorious body. Through your declaration of allegiance to Jesus and your stated desire to live with Him forever, you have a responsibility to be a functioning priest, minister, and member of the Body .

“The organized church has moved down a winding path over the past two thousand years. The only way to get it back on track is for each of us to begin prayerfully exploring the original plan that God had for His people, and then to be willing to respond faithfully to that plan.

“In this way, the Revolution that has begun to take root in our day will spread far and wide. And God will get what He has always been after.” (Excerpts from Frank Viola & George Barna’s book, “Pagan Christianity”, Tyndale Publishing, 2002, 2008)

So, where can I go from here? Click the following link to another page, read it, and begin to pray for God’s Wisdom and discernment. An invitation

I humbly offer this after eleven years of prayer, study, seeking God, asking for His Wisdom to know and follow His Call. I sincerely and prayerfully urge you to do the same.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

More links on this site about “The Church”

What is God Saying to His Church – You and me

The Church Militant?

Consumerism in the Church?

Is this the Church?

Socialism in the Church?

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

Where have the ideas of mystery, power and fear of an awesome God gone? Most do not remember going into a Church SANCTUARY (deliberately and aptly named meeting place) to worship and to pray to the One and Only Living God.

Most do not remember the tears being shed over personal sin, people running to altars to confess their sin, repent and to get right with God and others, and the joy of fellowship afterward.

Most do not remember the spreading joy over a repentant person who surrenders their life to Jesus and entered the family of God!

Most do not remember the prayer meetings that would sometimes last for hours until a breakthrough was sensed.

While attending First Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas, just before services had begun, some kids were playing in the balcony, running around, squealing and shouting. The senior pastor came to the microphone and spoke these words: “Hey, kids. It’s time to settle down. I need you to settle down, now. I am getting ready to perform SPIRITUAL SURGERY here, and I need some quiet.” These youngsters quickly settled and readied for services to begin, and the pastor quietly spoke, “thank you, young people. Thank you.”

With that, a hush fell over the entire church as people, young, old and all others, began to prepare their hearts and minds to meet God in prayer, worship and reverence. Something we rarely see now-a-days as we sip our coffee in the auditorium, listening to modern ‘Christian music’ being played over the church’s audio system and glancing at the announcements via on-screen video and sit casually chatting with those around us, as we wait for the show to start.

Services, as I remember would ‘serve’ in a fashion that at their conclusion many would leave feeling a sense of spiritual renewal or spiritual relief – instead of being ‘pumped up’ to become a ‘better you or to hear ‘another fascinating bible story’; being inspired by the Word of God to live a holy life was a primary thing, and going to lunch with friends after church was just a secondary pleasure.

The ‘remaking of Church’, the work of redefining everything Christian, the hijacking of certain look-a-like ‘Christian practices and phraseology’ has lulled us into a relaxed slumber and has caused us to forget that we don’t just “GO TO CHURCH”, but that the “WE ARE THE CHURCH”. The Church goes wherever we go. We “ASSEMBLE AS THE CHURCH”, and this is why scriptures tell us “Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrew 10:25). It is not a matter of “GOING TO CHURCH”, it is a matter of “BEING THE CHURCH ON THE GO”!

The day is coming though and is now at hand when every eye will see Him. For now, God is raising up a holy remnant in these last days: “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”   Romans 11:1-6

Please, let’s pray together:

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

PS:  Ever so slowly, over decades, the Bible has been re-written (yes, re-written).

Using a slight-of-hand writing technique, over sixty people and organizations, putting themselves forward as ‘Bible translators’, have re-written the Bible. These are NOT new translations of the Bible. They are ‘new VERSIONS’; their own versions, of the Bible. But, like the writers of the English Standard Version are saying,

Here is a list and comparison of how THE KINGDOM, THE POWER and THE GLORY and other important verses have been deliberately altered or omitted from scriptures for reasons other than clarity and simplicity – no matter what they are saying to the contrary:

King James Version – “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

American Standard Version – “And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

English Standard Version – “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

New American Standard Bible – “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

“The English Standard Version (ESV) stands in the classic mainstream of English Bible translations over the past half-millennium. The fountainhead of that stream was William Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526; marking its course were the King James Version of 1611 (KJV), the English Revised Version of 1885 (RV), the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV), and the Revised Standard Version of 1952 and 1971 (RSV). In that stream, faithfulness to the text and vigorous pursuit of accuracy were combined with simplicity, beauty, and dignity of expression. Our goal has been to carry forward this legacy for a new century.”

These people have deliberately removed wording that may be deemed confusing or offensive to a post-modern post-Christian culture. They have redefined certain words to suit their own cultural and religious worldviews. They, in essence, are playing God with the Bible and the results are now obvious: Church evangelism and Church growth is in decline, a serious decline that some are calling a freefall.

Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

American Standard Version – And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (missing: Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.)

(The American Standard Version was the basis of four revisions. They were the Revised Standard Version, 1971, the Amplified Bible, 1965, the New American Standard Bible, 1995, and the Recovery Version, 1999. A fifth revision, known as the World English Bible, was published in 2000 and was placed in the public domain. The ASV was also the basis for Kenneth N. Taylor’s Bible paraphrase, The Living Bible, 1971.)

English Standard Version – And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (missing: Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.)

(The English Standard Version (ESV) stands in the classic mainstream of English Bible translations over the past half-millennium. The fountainhead of that stream was William Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526; marking its course were the King James Version of 1611 (KJV), the English Revised Version of 1885 (RV), the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV), and the Revised Standard Version of 1952 and 1971 (RSV). In that stream, faithfulness to the text and vigorous pursuit of accuracy were combined with simplicity, beauty, and dignity of expression. Our goal has been to carry forward this legacy for a new century.)

New American Standard Bible – And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ (missing: Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.)

The NASB does not attempt to interpret Scripture through translation. Instead, the NASB adheres to the principles of a formal equivalence translation. This is the most exacting and demanding method of translation, striving for the most readable word-for-word translation that is both accurate and clear. This method more closely follows the word and sentence patterns of the biblical authors in order to enable the reader to study Scripture in its most literal format and to experience the individual personalities of those who penned the original manuscripts.

NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE 2020 UPDATE

(After completion in 1971, the NASB was updated in 1977, 1995, and most recently in 2020. This brand new update of the widely respected NASB 1995 builds upon its strengths by further improving accuracy, modernizing language, and improving readability. The NASB 2020 is an important update because it utilizes advances in biblical scholarship over the past 25 years and it incorporates changes necessary to keep pace with the ever evolving English language. This refreshed text is designed to speak accurately and clearly to current and future generations.

The long-established translation standard for the NASB remains the same as it always has been, that is to accurately translate the inspired Word of God from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts into modern English that is clearly understandable today.)

But, why remove and completely omit all of these entire verses?

Matthew 12:47 — removed in the footnotes

Matthew 17:21 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”

Matthew 18:11 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.”

Matthew 21:44 — removed in the footnotes

Matthew 23:14 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

Mark 7:16 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 9:44 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Mark 9:46 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Mark 11:26 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Mark 15:28 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.”

Mark 16:9-20 (all 12 verses) — There is a line separating the last 12 verses of Mark from the main text. Right under the line it says: [The two most reliable early manuscripts do not have Mark 16:9-20] (NIV, 1978 ed.) The Jehovah’s Witness “Bible” also places the last 12 verses of Mark as an appendix of sorts.

Luke 17:36 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

Luke 22:44 — removed in the footnotes

Luke 22:43 — removed in the footnotes

Luke 23:17 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “(For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)”

John 5:4 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”

John 7:53-8:11 — removed in the footnotes

Acts 8:37 — COMPLETELY removed . It’s deletion makes one think that people can be baptized and saved without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Sounds Catholic. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

Acts 15:34 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV says: “Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.”

Acts 24:7 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands,”

Acts 28:29 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: “And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.”

Romans 16:24 — COMPLETELY removed . What are you NIV readers missing?

KJV: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

I John 5:7 — Vitally important phrase COMPLETELY removed . In the NIV it says,
“For there are three that testify:”
Compare the NIV reading with the following Jehovah’s Witness reading–
“For there are three witness bearers,”
What are you NIV readers missing? What does the real Bible say?

KJV: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

Sometimes, I like to do odd things. How about you?

I like to browse houses for sale. I just like houses. I have no intention of moving, but house browsing stirs my imagination.

I also like nature. Some may think it odd that I especially like the little ones in nature. I live in Florida, so we have lizards known as Anoles.

I love these little creatures. They live in our flower beds, under our patio furniture and on our walls. They will scurry about, darting from their hiding places to grab a gnat or a small flying bug and then run back to the sanctuary under an umbrella stand, or they lounge about in the hot sunshine.

Maybe not as weird, I like to watch the little rabbits that inhabit our shrubs, and birds of all kinds, from bald eagles to egrets to mocking birds and the smallest of sparrows. I love watching them play and discover their food. It entertains me and gives me a certain peace.

Moving away from nature, I like to read want ads. Now that is odd, because I am retired. Still, it is an interest to me. Odder yet, I especially like to read “pastor employment ads”. It fascinates me to read an ad placed by a small rural or semi-rural church detailing a lengthy ‘job’  responsibility list and their educational and previous experience requirements, typically a seminary degree and five or more years of experience, then offering a poverty-level pay range. I like the irony and sometimes a good laugh.

In addition to what I have already listed, many church ads will give a long list of ‘responsibilities’ which should, in effect, tell any potential applicant “we don’t really care about your education or experience or calling by God unless you can give us the rest of what we want in a preacher-pastor, and precisely the way we want it”.

You see, I love to be surprised, amazed, astounded and entertained. It reminds me of a verse from 1 Timothy 4:3, “ For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.”

Interestingly, the very Bible these churches preach, says “But as for you, do not be called Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest of you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” (Matthew 23:8-12).

The church, according to several polling and statistical surveys from reputable organizations, tell us that the post-modern Church is in serious decline (see “Is Church membership really in a serious decline?”)

Could it be because most people are not living on ‘blind faith’ alone, and are smart enough to see through the hype, entertainment and words of appeal to “Come join us”, and realize that something isn’t squaring up?

The Bible warns against this type of hypocrisy and disobedience. It also warns that this day was coming.

Take heart, though. There are many good and faithful Churches with good and faithful servants of God, also known as pastors. “You will know them by their fruits”.

One last odd thing I like. I really like going to Church. I say odd, because it is something that most people don’t do anymore, but I love it. You see, I have found a Church, a fellowship of believers, that really strives to live out the life of Jesus and to do His bidding (follow His commandments).

It’s pure joy. And, I love being happy.

How about you?

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

The Parable of the Weeds

Matthew 13:24, “Jesus put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, Verse 25, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. Verse 26. So, when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. Verse 27. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ Verse 28. He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So, the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ Verse 29. But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Verse 30. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

This is a prophetic and instructional warning given by Jesus to His disciples (and all future disciples, i.e., Christians).  Jesus spoke these words in or around 29 C.E. Matthew recorded this event in or around A.D. 60. These dates are especially important when considering the timing of the tribulation periods as this is a reference to the coming 5^th Seal of the Tribulation. (Read to the end to see how Jesus explains this parable of the weeds.)

The Apostle Paul says this (of the coming 5^th Tribulation Seal):

2 Thessalonians 2:1 “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,

(First, please note that this is a direct reference to the time just after the 5^th tribulation seal and the instant of the 5^th tribulation seal:

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Verse 30. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

 Verse 31. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet-call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”)

Continuing with 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 2, “that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. (“The Day of the Lord” is the Great Tribulation which is a 7 year period which begins with the breaking of the 6^th tribulation seal).

 Verse 3. “No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first,  and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, verse 4, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

Paul makes a direct mention that BEFRORE the Day of the Lord, the breaking of the 6^th tribulation seal and during the 5^th tribulation seal, the Apostasy is completed.)

Outlined, verse by verse, makes this easier to understand; just read slowly and take it at face value.

1. With regard to the coming of our Lord and the gathering together to Him

2, Do not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

3. Let no one in any way deceive you

*4. For the day of our Lord and the gathering together to Him will not come unless the apostasy comes first

*5. For the day of our Lord and the gathering together to Him will not come unless the man of lawlessness is revealed

6. The man of lawlessness is the son of destruction, (verse 4) who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,

7. He takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

WHAT IS THE APOSTASY: In Christianity, Apostasy is the rejection of Christianity by someone who formerly was a Christian.

The title of this article might suggest that misbehavior and apostasy is a recent malaise of the church.  Apostasy, from the Greek word, “apostasia”, means “a defiance of an established system or authority; a rebellion; an abandonment or breach of faith.”

The term apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia, meaning defection, departure, revolt or rebellion. It has been described as “a willful falling away from, or rebellion against, Christianity.

In the first-century world, apostasy was a technical term for political revolt or defection.   Actually, just like in the first century, spiritual apostasy threatens the Body of Christ today.

Revelation 6:9, tells us, that, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; Verse 10, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Verse 11. And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

Matthew 24:9, also tells us that one sign of the 5^th Tribulation Seal is being broken and reason for a ‘falling away from the faith’ is, “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. Verse 10. And at that time many will fall away from the faith, and they will betray one another and hate one another. Verse 11, And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. Verse 12. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.”

Even now, before the great persecution of Christians has reached the Western world, Pew Research and Barna Research, both, are revealing what the corporate Church is unwilling to admit, that many are leaving the church and are not returning. But, the other half of this ‘equation’ is that many are LEAVING THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS – that is, they are falling away from the faith – but they are staying in the church .

This “falling away from the faith”, as told by Pew and Barna research, alone, may not signal what prophetic scriptures has foretold regarding the “Great Falling Away” (The Great Apostasy) but, considering everything that has already come to pass (the breaking of the first four Tribulation Seals) you can be confident this is what is prophesied.

Just prior to this falling away from the faith, Jesus warns, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people”, (Matthew 24:4-5). False teachers may not say the exact words, “I am Jesus”, but they will claim to represent Jesus and His Gospel, and will mislead many people. Institutional deception is our greatest threat.

I have personally experienced pulpit bullies, false teachers, apostates and heretics in our postmodern church.  Many of these men seem to have started right, but, over time, their ‘true selves’ emerged, and they are the ravenous wolves which scriptures warn about:

Matthew 7:15-23  says, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?  “So, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”

      “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

This is being seen in the Church of the 20^st and 21^st centuries. Please review this timeline progression of the Church falling into apostasy:

AD 1 The Church of Jesus Christ, The Body of Christ, had no buildings, little money and no wealth. The Church was a Movement.

Although the penalty for becoming a Christian was often death. The Church grew exponentially.

AD 49. The Church expanded into Greece. The Church became a philosophy to many. The Church grew and size and influence.

AD 313.  The Church expanded into Rome and it gained recognition. It grew in power and popularity. It obtained wealth, buildings, property and influence. It became an institution.

AD 380.  The Church expanded into Europe. It was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. It grew in wealth, stature, power and influence. It had become a culture.

AD 1607.  The Church reaches America.

AD 1681.  The Church became corporate. It had became a business and incorporated. It became regulated by the government.

The Corporate Church grew. It needed money to support growth and expansion, which meant the Corporate Church needed more people.

AD 1777.  The state of Virginia granted tax exemption to houses of worship.

AD 1894.  The corporate church was granted tax exemptions by the Federal Government.

AD 1954.  The Federal Government regulated what a church could and could not say in order to retain tax exempt status.

The church continued to grow, and in order to attract more people the Corporate Church lowered its membership and doctrinal standards. More people became ‘members’ and gave more money to support more growth.

The Church corporation is complete with leaders, boards and membership and a business model.

Local churches compete against one another for members (customers). The church is selling itself in “three line slogans”.

The Church members now have choices and have become religious consumers. Church people can shop around for the religious brand and standards that best suits them. (2 Timothy 3)

The Leadership (pastors and preachers) have become CEOs, disciples have become church leaders, growing their 501(c)(3) business models.

Record numbers of pastors quitting because of stress, burnout or are being fired by their congregations (some stats say 1500 – 1700 leave “the ministry” each month).

Church debt in America soars; church foreclosures soar.

AD 1968.  The church ordains homosexuals as clergy.

AD 1972.  The United church of christ ordains homosexual clergy

AD 2010.  The Lutheran church ordains homosexual clergy

AD 2012.  The Presbyterian church ordains homosexual clergy

The Episcopal Church in the United States and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have also allowed ordination of openly gay and lesbian candidates for ministry for some years.

Internationally, churches that have ordained openly lesbian or gay clergy include the Church of Scotland, the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Church of Sweden, the Church of Norway, the Church of Denmark, the Church of Iceland, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Evangelical Church in Germany, the Methodist Church in Britain, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, the United Protestant Church in Belgium, the Swiss Reformed Church, the United Protestant Church of France, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Anglican Church in Canada, the Old Catholic Church, the Czechoslovak Hussite Church and the United Church of Christ in Japan.

AD 2021.  The church is losing and has lost influence. The church in 2021 is losing members and adherents. (George Barna research; Pew Research)

AD 2023.  Much of the current-day church is teaching and living a different Gospel than that of the Apostles.

JESUS EXPLAINS THE PARABLE OF THE WEEDS OF THE FIELD

Matthew 13:36, “Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” Verse 37. He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. Verse 38. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, Verse 39, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Verse 40. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. Verse 41. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, Verse 42, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Verse 43. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

FAITHFUL AND WISE

Matthew 24:45, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant*, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

The Reward of the Faithful Servant

They were all called ‘servants’ but only the ones who did what the Master said are rewarded. The wicked disobedient will be cut to pieces and put with the hypocrites where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 THEY ARE ALL CALLED VIRGINS

Matthew 25:1, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. ’And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’

But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

The Punishment of the Wicked

But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

THEY ARE ALL CALLED SERVANTS

Matthew 25:14, “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So, take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Rewards of the Faithful and the Punishment Fearful Servants

They were all called ‘servants’ of the Master. But only the faithful are rewarded and the fearful are counted as worthless and are cast into the outer darkness.

THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS

Matthew 25:31, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The Final Judgment

The faithful sheep on His right and the goats on His left. The sheep who showed compassion, mercy and servanthood are welcomed into the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world.

The unfaithful goats on His left are told to depart from Him, and are called cursed, and sent into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels

WHO SHOULD HEAR THIS AND HEED HIS WORDS?

Pastors: Prepare those in your charge. Teach this to them. Remind them. Warn them. Encourage them. You are to watch over and to care for the flock of Jesus. It is not yours to judge or to remove them. Please remember that you are being held to a higher accountability.

Christians: Those whom Jesus calls the ‘good seed’ or the ‘wheat’. Jesus has said He speaks in parables because “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.”

If we are to consider ourselves as followers of Jesus, that is as Christians, then let’s check ourselves to insure that our faith is not without works, otherwise that faith is dead. Let’s be found doing what Jesus teaches in the way and in the spirit He commands. Otherwise, we may be deluding ourselves and will be found out at the time of the judgment as being among the ‘tares and weeds’, counted amount the ‘foolish’ and of the ‘goats’ to be separated and ‘sent into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

DECEPTION WITHIN THE CHURCH

SHIPWRECKED – Enemies Within The Church

THE FALSE CHURCH EMERGES

PULPIT BULLIES

WHAT IS THIS STRANGE NEW GOSPEL?

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts;
There is no one who does good. (Psalm 14:1)

I am talking with a ‘friend’ and an acquaintance who claims to be a Physicist. In fact, he has a Ph.D. in Economics, an M.S. in systems engineering and a B.S. in Physics. He hails from Bolivia but has resided in and is a citizen of the United States since his youth. He is a staunch Socialist and a democrat, and although he claims to be a trained scientist, his life work has been in economics.

During one conversation, he asked me if I believed in an afterlife? I answered that I am a Christian and that I firmly believe in an afterlife, for good or for harm, depending on what one believes. I told him that If you believe in Jesus as the Christ, then for good, if not then an eternal darkness of torment in the fires of hell.

He smiled, slyly, and scoffed. He then added that he was a Catholic at one time, but now he doubted that teaching. Still, it seems he has concocted a belief system of his own. One based on the influences of Catholicism and on his physics training, I suppose, which hast led him to believe in an afterlife. “After all,” he said, “Look at the magnificence of the universe of even the impossible complexities of the human eye.”

I asked him if, if that were true, if he believed in God? He shook his head in the negative, but said he believed in science and that the universe, in some magnificent way, preserved the essence of the soul of each human being after death.

I asked him where he got this idea, and if it came from his understanding of science, that he would please explain that to me. He said he could not.

I asked him if he had ever read anything by Paul Davies, specifically his book “The Mind of God”. (Davies is a British theoretical physicist with a doctorate in theoretical physics, and an astrobiologist who contributed to scholarly and popular debate on issues such as the origin of life and extraterrestrial intelligence. Davies became interested in quantum field theory and curved space-time, and focused much of his research in that area. He published The Physics of Time Asymmetry, the first of numerous books directed to his professional colleagues and to the public, in 1974. Davies then joined physicists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, who were researching the thermodynamic properties of black holes.)

My friend had heard of Davies but had not read that book.

I explained that the book was hard for me to read and fully understand, but after a couple of tries, I got the idea that Davies believes that God is actually a cosmic harmonic and a math equation of sorts. In fact, Davies startling conclusion is that the universe is “no minor byproduct of mindless, purposeless forces, and that the universe is a kind of gigantic computer.  He says, “We are truly meant to be here.” By the means of science, we can truly see into the mind of God.

My friend, again, smiled wryly as if I had fallen into his line of thinking and ‘knowingly’ (and annoyingly) shakes his head in the affirmative while stroking his chin to project Stoic wisdom, I guess.

Then I asked him, “To what end?”

His eyes widened, and he asked me what I meant.

“So what?”, I asked. “If you have an afterlife, so what? Are you going to drift about the universe as formless, useless ‘stardust’ (as his hero Carl Sagan would say, we are all products of the stars)?”

I continued, “Can you imagine the horror of having consciousness, an awareness, but being trapped in an eternity with no purpose, no ability to think or reason or to interact with your surroundings? Just aimlessly drifting, forever”

I continued, “You scoff at the teachings of the Bible, the existence of God and of Jesus the Christ as being ‘unprovable’ religious fantasies, yet you make up a story about an afterlife that has no basis in fact, not even one scientific theory to support your self-made idea? Doesn’t that sound a bit, well, hypocritical for a scientist – and dangerous?”

“Dangerous?”, he queried?

“Yes, dangerous”, I replied. “You are, in essence, telling me that ‘your life choices and your core beliefs will determine your afterlife’. Imagine, further, if what you are saying is true. If so, and if the Bible is correct that your life choices and your core beliefs will determine your destiny, then your essence, that is your soul, will either go to be with God in a tangible spiritual paradise, (heaven), or you will be condemned to drift aimlessly in torment, darkness and hell. How do you reconcile that?”

My friend looked at me and had no answer. So, I prodded him, “Well, what do you do with that?” I asked. Still, just a blank and silent stare.

Finally, he defiantly repeated his earlier claim, “You can’t prove religion”.

“You are right that I cannot prove the mechanics of religion, or of Christianity in particular.” I said, “But, I can point you to the empirical evidence and the observable, tangible outcomes in changed lives through Jesus. There are millions upon millions of people’s lives that have been positively changed for the better – I am speaking, of course, about those who honestly gave their lives to God through faith in Jesus and truly followed Jesus and His teachings.

The Bible clearly teaches that if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; that is made safe, made spiritually healthy and made whole; rescued from perishing (into an outer darkness of torment, loneliness and pain) and delivered out of the dangers of the result of sin and faithlessness and brought into the safety, the light, the provisions and privileges of the presence of God.

And, if that isn’t proof enough, my friend, then you will have to stick with your ‘idea’ that God is a giant cosmic 3-D computer.”

My friend guided us away from our conversation with a closing (and a very un-scientist-like, close minded) remark, “I am a scientist and I believe in science. The universe will work things out to an end”.

I like and care about my friend, but the Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Unfortunately, my friend is a nihilist. I pray for him. He is close to knowing, but he is blinded to the Truth by science and Satan. He has no hope, at this point, except for an eternal end with no destiny and no purpose.

My friend, and most in our world are turning away from the God of the Bible, in record numbers, just as the Bible said it would happen in these last days. (see the Great Apostasy). The Bible also warns that God’s judgment – The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord – will soon follow.

There is only one way to God, and that is Jesus. He, alone, is the Life, the Truth and the Way, and no one comes to the Father except by Him.

Perhaps this will help the rest of us to see why our world, which has come to depend almost solely on science, technology and government as our saviors, has lost its civility and morality and is spiraling out of control.

Friends, if you choose, you can see that this world age is hurtling toward its cataclysmic end – that is if you believe the Bible – and I do believe it. The Bible provides us with ample evidence through prophecies and the corresponding historical events (which have come to pass with exacting accuracy), to lead us to the undeniable and inevitable conclusion that The End of the Age is near.

Let the Light of Christ shine through your life and your lips proclaim His mercy and His Great Gift of Salvation. Jesus has told us that anyone who will trust in Him, can have His peace to protect them. Peace, and not as the world gives, but His peace and security. He has overcome this world.

Call on Him. Trust in Him. Rejoice in Him. Praise Him. He will be your refuge, your strength, and a very present help in times of trouble.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young