Paul's Passing Thoughts

Church is an institution because it was founded in a church-state and for the express purpose of a church-state. As we have seen, with the departing of the two foremost apostles, Paul and Peter, notable leaders and disciples of the apostles began calling for a central religious authority to succeed the authority of the apostles. But, the apostles never operated by authority to begin with, and for that matter, nether did Christ. All these ministries were marked by leadership and skilled persuasion, not authority. Why? God’s kingdom is not presently on earth; when it does come, indeed, God will rule the nations with a “rod of iron.” Right now, we are merely ambassadors pointing to God’s future kingdom and the hope thereof.

We “do church” the way we do because it was born out of the world’s caste system and authority-lust that is the essence of sin. The Church Fathers sought a central church based in Rome because that was the epicenter of world power during that time. They chose one disciple to succeed the apostles and rule over the massive home fellowship network that existed during that time. This could well be the beginning of what the apostle Paul referred to as the great “falling away.”

Meanwhile, they sought to replace the existing pagan-state with the church-state. Those who hijacked the ekklesia were hellbent on replacing the pagan-state as Rome’s new lover in order to have their orthodoxy enforced by the state. It took their constant meddling in state affairs and treachery some 300 years to replace the pagan-state with the church-state beginning with Constantine. The Church Fathers had been integrating paganism into Christianity’s idenity for some time, and the model still practiced in church today was solidified during the time of Constantine and was modeled after pagan temple worship. This is by no means obscure history, and “church history” is truly just that and not the history of God’s ekklesia.

In contrast, any true history concerning the ekklesia is VERY obscure by the church’s design. No doubt, this is why the history of the early ekklesia is in the Bible and stands as the only real history we have of it. Furthermore, we are therefore not left without a true identity and mode of operation.

What evolved from the hijacking of the ekklesia was the Catholic Church which was the epitome of a church-state and sought unfettered world domination. Church history is a story of political intrigue and slaughter unparalleled in human history. Eventually, some within the Church thought they could do church-state better resulting in the Protestant Reformation. The idea that theological differences spawned the Reformation is an absurd myth as theologians in the Church saw Scripture through a Platonist caste system. Early church documents show clearly that the contention was spawned by differences in opinion regarding social engineering for purposes of controlling the great unwashed, not some romantic defense of the Bible. Again, it must be said that such a notion is patently absurd.

Furthermore, within the Protestant Reformation, the Puritans thought they could do church-state even better and sailed for America to create a Calvinist theocratic utopia. Hence, the first Bible to arrive on American shores was the Geneva Bible, a Calvinist commentary on the Bible. But at any rate, it escapes one to ponder the zeal behind duplicating Geneva which was already unraveling due to its despotism.

Authority has never brought about unity. And though a tacit node towards individualism created a shining city on a hill called America, the book of Revelation makes it clear that mankind will return to the authority myth and create the most monstrous church-state of all time.

Thank God this is not our kingdom. Thank God we are presently free to recover the ekklesia.