What Is The Christian Church? Is It In Scripture?
Bernard Pyron

"Church" is sometimes used loosely as a metaphor for the assembly of
God's
people in the Old Testamnt period, under the Old Covenant, who were
mostly
Hebrews. But Christian Church and Old Testament assembly are not the
same
thing. The thing that has come to be called the Christian Church is
not in the
Bible. All who are saved in Old and New Testament periods are the
Israel of God (Galatians 6: 16).

In the King James "Church" is the English translation of the Greek
word
ekklesia, Strong's number 1577, which there is said to mean "a
calling out, a popular meeting, especially a religious
congregation." "Churches" in the KJV
is from the same Greek word.

What has come to mean the Christian Church is more than just a
meeting of
Christians, those called out of the world by the Lord.

The Christian Church meets, almost always, in a specific building,
rather than
in someone's home, or in several homes in succession. And almost all
Christian Churches have more members who come to church than could fit
in a home of a Christian of modest or average means. The third major
characteristic of the Christian Church is that it has one leader,
called a
preacher or priest, who controls the congregation and almost always
is the only
one who does the talking. Other seminary trained preachers are
sometimes
guest speakers. But in a Christian Church, in contrast to what is
shown in
Paul's assemblies in I Corinthians 14: 26, 29, 31, there is almost no
verbal participation in Christian Church services by the congregation
members,
except for singing.

The Catholic Church was established under Constantine, according to
http://www.eaec.org/cults/romancatholic.htm in 312 A.D. The
Catholic
Church joined the Roman government. On
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/Catholicism/ch-state.htm
following the ancient
historian Peter Brown in his 1971 book, The World of Late Antiquity,
they say:

"What the Constantinian establishment of the Catholic Church meant
was that the bishops (note that the Biblical, Presbyterian form of
church government had been abandoned by the churches before the time
of Constantine) now joined the bureaucrats to form a new governing
class in the Empire. The bishops of Italy became the heirs of the
Roman Senate, and the bishop of Rome became the Emperor's successor."

Not only was the Catholic Church modeled after the Roman Government,
its hierarchy of priests were integrated with the Roman ruling elite
and with
the government..

In Revelation 13: 11-14 the beast who comes up out of the earth
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had
two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,
and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the
first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down
from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of
those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;
saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an
image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live."

The first beast of Revelation 13: 1-3, made up of the three beasts of
Daniel 7, is government. The image to the beast of Revelation 13: 14
is false
Christianity, which is a copy of the beast government, something
which is
like government in its organization. False Christianity as the
Christian Church
is not limited to the Catholic Church. To some extent the
Reformation failed
to fully separate the Christian Church from the Catholic tradition
which
integrated the Church with government. Interpretations of Romans 13
played
a key role here, for Dutch and other European Reformed
interpretations of
Romans 13 tended to teach an uncritical obedience to and service
toward
government.

So the definition of the Christian Church is first, that
congregations hold
meetings in special buildings, rather than in homes or in other small
buildings
The Church building to some extent comes to be thought of as God's
building.

Yet Acts 7: 48 teaches that "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in
temples made with hands; as saith the prophet." And Acts 17: 24
says "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands."

I Corinthians 3:9 says "For we are labourers together with God: ye
are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." We are the temples of
God, we are his
"building." He wants us to be his building, not big expensive
structures that
are used only a few hours per week for Church services.

"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the
temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and
walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(II Corinthians 6: 16)"

The second definition of the Christian Church is that generally the
congregations are large, much larger than can fit in a single family
dwelling
for meetings as home churches.

In a meeting of several hundred or thousands of Christians, there can
be little participation by individual members.

This leads us to the third defining characteristic of the Christian
Church.
Except for participation in singing, there is little or no
participation in
the regular Sunday or Saturday service, though there may be some
participation in Sunday School sessions.

But Paul in I Corinthians 14: 26 says "How is it then, brethren?
when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a
doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.
Let all things be done unto edifying."

I don't think Paul is talking about members of an assembly reciting a
psalms,
explaining a doctrine, speaking in tongues, giving a revelation or an
interpretation of Scripture in Sunday School. He is describing
participation
by Christians who met together in his home churches in Corinth.
Probably
there was preaching of doctrine by the leaders of the small home
church groups, especially by Paul's associates when they were in
town. But still,
the "preachers" seemed to allow participation by members of the small
groups. In addition, there were men of some authority within these
small
groups who could step in when necessary to correct any false
doctrines that
members might bring up to the group.

Paul goes on to say in I Corinthians 14: 29 and 31 "Let the prophets
speak
two or three, and let the other judge...For ye may all prophesy one
by one,
that all may learn, and all may be comforted." He is talking again
about
participation in home churches.

The fourth defining characteristic of the Christian Church is that
its leaders rule over the congregations and on Sundays,or on Weekday
prayer meetings, do all the teaching of doctrine, and allow very
little if
any participation by the members of the assembly. I know that in
some Protestant Churches there are deacons or elders who have some
control over the selection of the preachers. But usually, once a
preacher
is in office, he is in control of the doctrines he teaches to the
congregation. In addition, once a false theology becomes accepted
by large numbers of Church members and deacons too, the Church members
develop itching ears to hear the same false doctrines.

Preachers, like Priests, have the power to spread false doctrines
among
Christians. The Old Testament prophets talked a great deal about this
problem, that the shepherds or pastors were leading God's people into
false religions and false teachings.

Isaiah 56: 10- 11, for example, says " His watchmen are blind: they
are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping,
lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can
never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand:
they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his
quarter."

Jeremiah 10: 21 tells us that "For the pastors are become brutish,
and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and
all their flocks shall be scattered." And again "1 Woe be unto the
pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the
LORD (Jeremiah 23: 1)."

Jeremiah 50: 6 - in one of the chapters on the Babylon of prophecy -
says
"My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to
go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have
gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace."

"Their shepherds have caused them to go astray." What could be
plainer
that that? Just as the shepherds of Old Testament times caused the
people
of God to go astray, so the preachers of today are causing Christians
to
go into false doctrines that become stumbling blocks and God may send
them
even more lies as strong delusions (II Thessalonians 2: 10-11)

Then, Ezekiel 34: 2 says ".Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto
the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed
themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?"

Ezekiel 34: 8 says "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my
flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the
field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search
for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock."

There are interesting metaphors about the shepherds leading God's
people astray in Ezekiel 13: 17-23. " And will ye pollute me among
my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the
souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should
not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?

13:20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your
pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I
will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the
souls that ye hunt to make them fly...22 Because with lies ye have
made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and
strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from
his wicked way, by promising him life:"

"Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the
goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of
Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle
(Zechariah 10: 3)."

God is calling his people out of Babylon in Revelation 18: 4, "Come
out of her,
my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not
of her
plagues." He is calling his people out of the influence of the
shepherds
who have taught them lies. Above all, God is calling his people out of
false theologies.

II Thessalonians 2: 10-12 says "And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness."

This is a frightening Scripture for those who have followed the
preachers
in the Christian Church into believing false theologies. "That they
all might be
damned who believed not the truth..."

Matthew 24: 11-12 says "And many false prophets shall rise, and
shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of
many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

The fifth defining trait of the Christian Church is that more and more
it is joining up with government. We can see this joining to
government in
John Hagee's Christians United For Israel, in Rick Warren's Networking
Church, in Dominion Theology, and in other parts of
the evangelical community.

The Christian Church is becoming more and more a copy of the world,
and especially of the government.
Since the Christian Church as I have defined it here is not in
Scripture,
we should not place as much emphasis upon "the Church" as on getting
out
of false doctrines as fast as possible. You can be outside the
Christian Church and still be in false doctrines. If there is
Scripture that can be interpreted
to refer in an explicit way to all five characteristics of the
Christian Church as it now exists, I would like to
see it. We are called to love the truth
and to come out of false teachings, and - because the present
day Church promotes false doctrines - we are also called to come out of her.