Overview
Nehemiah 8:8-9 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah+8%3A8-9&version=NIV
Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
My hope in presenting this information, is that the reader would hear what the Word of God says about the topic and change the way they congregate and fellowship with other believers, and that the reader would have renewed purpose in the assembly.
The community of Christians are not preserving our society morally; not remaining pure from the most shameful sins; not loving one another like the early Christians did who often sold their possessions to provide for each other; not promoting the Kingdom of God in the face of persecution. There is a desperate need for the Christian community to change. There is something about the way we are doing things that is keeping us from being fruitful. It’s as if we have fallen asleep spiritually. It’s as if we’ve been given a distracting toy to keep us from being productive.
Something is terribly wrong with “The Church”
Before you read on, it is important for you to understand the difference between the common perception about church in our society, and the truth; what you believe before and after you read this.
So, what would you say is the meaning of the word “church”? Think about it and write it down if you have a moment. Take some time and don’t rush past this part.
Next, take a moment to think about what a church does, and what the people do when they go to church. Not, what they should do, but what they actually do. Write that down as well.
Lastly, who is the head of the local church? Write that down.
Matthew 24:24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
https://biblehub.com/matthew/24-24.htm
When I read that as a young Christian, I made an assumption that there would be one single point in time for some specific deception, but that is not written in the text. It is important to understand that satan is not asleep or on vacation. False messiahs (anti-Christs) and false prophets (people who pretend to speak for God) will continue to deceive Christians in every way that they can. These deceivers aren’t going to be found at the office, or a night club. They are looking for Christians and will be found at “Churches”. Most of them are self-deceived and think they are doing the work of God.
Beware of the attacks and tricks of satan!
obfuscation:
noun
The act or process of obfuscating, or obscuring the perception of something; the concept of concealing the meaning of a communication by making it more confusing and harder to interpret.
Spin Doctors use different words and change the meaning of words, and so does satan: Reeducation camps; ministry of truth; collateral damage; enhanced interrogation; It’s not an invasion, it’s an intervention; terrorists are freedom fighters; our opponents lie; our allies may have misspoken.
When you read the word “Church” in the New Testament, it is a translation of the Greek word ekklésia.
The definition of ekklésia is: an assembly, a (religious) congregation. It refers to the people!
https://biblehub.com/greek/1577.htm
I find no source that claims ekklésia meant anything other than that before the writing of the New Testament.
So, where do we get this word “Church”?
It is an English word and it doesn’t mean the assembly or congregation; it means the building they meet in and the authority that governs those people and that building:
Old English cirice, circe “place of assemblage set aside for Christian worship; the body of Christian believers, Christians collectively; ecclesiastical authority or power,” from Proto-Germanic *kirika (source also of Old Saxon kirika, Old Norse kirkja, Old Frisian zerke, Middle Dutch kerke, Dutch kerk, Old High German kirihha, German Kirche).
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Church
This is probably [see extensive note in OED] borrowed via an unrecorded Gothic word from Greek kyriake (oikia), kyriakon doma “the Lord’s (house),” from kyrios “ruler, lord,” from PIE root *keue- “to swell” (“swollen,” hence “strong, powerful”).
So, even when the early Christians (about 300 AD) talked about going to Church, they were using the Greek word kyriake or kyriakon doma, not the word ekklésia that is translated in the majority of modern English translations as “church”.
How did this happen?
Christians would meet in houses that belonged to one of them. According to that etymology source, at about 300 AD, to show their hospitality to the others and their devotion to their new King, they would refer to their own houses where they met as “of the Lord” or belonging to the Lord. In time, people began using phrases like we do: “I’m going to kyriakon doma (the house of The Lord)” when talking about the place where the assembly was held. But the church is not the assembly as was written in the New Testament and spoken of by Jesus. No place in the New Testament talked about meeting in the House of The Lord. Jesus only talked about the Assembly (gathering) when talking about His congregation: his disciples and believers. The Apostles spoke of the Assembly when talking about saints that meets at a certain person’s house, but never ever spoke about them with Greek words that meant “house of the lord” or Church. The English word Church has no place in the New Testament when referring to the Body of Christ. The terminology of church or kyriakon doma came as a teaching and custom, apart and separate from Jesus, the Apostles and Prophets.
Popes and Kings insisted on a false translation of Assembly because they put themselves in the place of Christ as the Head of the Assembly.
Both Catholic and Protestants swear to the creed from the council at Nicaea (325 AD): one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic church.
They were the authority/lord inferred by the word “church”, and mandated that English translations use a word promoting their authority so they could control the people and murder anyone who challenged their doctrines. This plan takes the authority away from our Christ, away from our Messiah.
Most especially the sadistic, (reportedly) homosexual, and murderous King James who claimed to be “the only supreme head of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia”
Even today, men in large and small assemblies lust after power and seek to supplant Jesus as the head of the assembly of saints.
In order to guide you toward a healthy and supportive community of believers and subjects of the Kingdom of God, I used the common term “How to Church”, but now that I have explained the deception of that word, I will hereafter use the words “assembly” or “congregation” (ekklésia in the Greek).
Jesus has fulfilled the priesthood and is our eternal High Priest. Satan has seduced leaders in the assembly to reestablish the Priesthood, and the Temple by replacing the assembly of the saints with “The Church”.
Jesus never established a church, He established a Kingdom and he builds a congregation of saints upon the revelation that He is the King.
From Matthew 16:18 – Jesus says He will build his house, and the assemblies thereof just as “The House of David” and “The House of Saul” meant their subjects/kingdom.
My favorite website for Bible Tools is BibleHub.com
As an example: for the word ekklésia in Acts 8:1, they list 38 English Bible translations that use forms of the word Church, and 7 that use the forms of the words assembly or congregation. Here are the translations that use assembly or congregacion (the early English spelling of congregation):
https://biblehub.com/parallel/acts/8-1.htm
Not a single modern translation
From the Early Modern translations:
Coverdale Bible of 1535
Tyndale Bible of 1526
From the Classic Translations:
World English Bible
Darby Bible Translation
From the Literal Translations:
Literal Standard Version
Young’s Literal Translation
None of the Catholic Translations
None of the Translations from Aramaic
From the NT Translations:
Worrell New Testament
The human leaders of Churches keep you as a spectator in Church services that I call “Sunday Morning Pastor/Priest Shows”.
We should NOT gather for a service, but in service to our King. So then, what does our King want us to do in service to Him (because it is His kingdom); His will to be done. His reign and His rule is through his obedient servants, his subjects as His hands and feet, who do works in and through His power.
There are six sections on how to function as an assembly.
The first section elaborates on Jesus being the Head of The Assembly.
1. Christ is the head of The Assembly
https://biblehub.com/acts/2-42.htm
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
2. The teaching of the apostles
3. Fellowship – Breaking of Bread
4. Prayer