Paul's Passing Thoughts

Originally Published November 25th 2014

“Church” is a word that should be associated with institution and NOT body. Much will be said in this book about the need for a body to be organized, but much will also be said about authority and attempts to invoke life from a so-called body via a spiritual caste system. Though many will find the title of this chapter shocking and absurd, the institutional church’s war against the Holy Spirit is well-defined. If Christ’s called out assembly is a body of Spirit indwelled members, and it is, that could pose significant problems for a top-down institutional authority, and it does.

We will begin where chapter three ended with the rise of the Catholic institutional church that waged all-out war on home fellowships through academic intimidation. Finally, after a nearly 300 year effort, the church at Rome married with the state in order to enforce its orthodoxy upon the masses. Constantine The Great (AD 272-AD 337), the first Roman emperor converted to “Christianity,” consummated the marriage and his rule began the epoch of force and faith in Western culture.

Constantine was the consummate double-minded man, and like the bishops of Rome, integrated paganism with Christianity. What Victor could only verbalize at the first church counsel in AD 193, Constantine made law in the first ecumenical church council (First Council of Nicaea AD 325); that is, the recognition of Passover versus Easter. The reason this is key follows:

“This marked a definite break of Christianity from the Judaic tradition. From then on the Roman Julian Calendar, a solar calendar, was given precedence over the lunar Hebrew Calendar among the Christian churches of the Roman Empire” (Wikipedia: Constantine The Great…citing, Life of Constantine Vol. III Ch. XVIII by Eusebius).

The adoption of “church” nomenclature, as we shall see, was also very deliberate in marking that departure, but for purposes of this book, we would be errant to focus primarily on anti-Semitism; a major problem was the Jewish focus on body versus institution. Like all nations – and of course the Jews were and are a nation – institutions are relevant and needed, but religiously, the Jews always functioned as a body with heavy focus on the individual. A person is normally concerned with their own body parts in equal measure. If Christians are members (as in body parts) of one body, and they are, there should be equal concern and care for each member. This is much different than institutional membership. What the world needs are more functioning body members versus church member-ship. The teachings of Jesus, as well as Jewish traditions, are saturated with a focus on the individual life. When we think of Jewish worship, our minds, unfortunately, gravitate towards the formality of temple worship, but the temple was only a focal point of a broader interpersonal sharing of the faith.

The best example of this is the tabernacle during the exodus. Obviously, the small dwelling was not a central meeting place for millions of Jews who were part of the exodus. Even then, there were elders who led small groups among the people in the learning of the word, prayer, and fellowship. Seventy of these elders were summoned to meet with God on Mt. Sinai with Moses (Exodus 24:1,9). As we know, the temple was not always available for the Jews, and was never the central place of fellowship around the learning of the word, or discipleship, but rather a place of ritual sacrifice. Historically, that was always the norm. Even when the temple existed, the Passover meal was experienced in private homes (Matthew 26:14,15). This is also indicative of the 1^st century home fellowships that met together for discipleship and mutual edification. There was fellowship around a meal, a teaching and sharing from the word of God, and singing of hymns.

There are many reasons for anti-Semitism, but one of Judaism’s foremost threats is against spiritual caste systems that have always dominated world history. Judaism emphasizes the authority of God’s word, and the ability of the individual to understand it:

Deuteronomy 29:29 – “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 30:11 – “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Herein is a major distinction between individualism and collectivism.[9] In collectivism, there is in fact an hierarchy that must “ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it… go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it.” The word, or truth, is not near to the individual, it must be brought to bear by others who are “specially gifted” to understand. Historians believe there were about 400 synagogues in Jerusalem alone during the ministry of Christ.[10] These were mostly small groups meeting in private homes. These groups were focused primarily on the reading and study of God’s word.

This is where we begin to examine four ways in which the institutional church of Rome began to wage war on the Holy Spirit. Primarily, the newly appointed religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine sought to remove the private interpretation of the Bible from the common people. Let us remember, the word is the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph 6:17) and what the Spirit uses to sanctify (John 17:17).

At that time, New Testament Scriptures were a far less problem than Old Testament Scriptures which were painstakingly preserved and canonized by the Jews. The Old Testament Hebrew had also been translated into Greek (the Septuagint) circa 250 BC. Greek and Latin were the most common languages during the Roman era, but Latin was the language of bureaucracy, law, and the military.

This is when two primary theologians of the Roman church emerge and seek to demonize the people of God making a strong distinction between the Jews and Christianity. Remember, one of the primary objectives of the Holy Spirit was to make Jew and Gentile ONE body in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:11-22). This is/was one of the primary objectives of the Holy Spirt. The church’s two foundational theologians in its 4^th century infancy were St. Augustine of Hippo, and St. Jerome. Both were Saints and Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church. And…

“Church Fathers like St John Chrysostom, St Ambrose, St Jerome and St Augustine (second only to St Paul as a Christian authority for the Western world) had by the end of the fourth century AD crysallised a demonic image of the Jew who combined superhuman malevolence with total spiritual blindness…The monkish, ascetic St Jerome, embittered by the spectacle of successful missionizing in Antioch by the large Jewish population, denounced the synagogue in theses terms: ‘If you call it a brothel, a den of vice, the Devil’s refuge, Satan’s fortress, a place to deprave the soul…you are still saying less than it deserves’” (Robert S. Wistrich: Anti-Semitism|The Longest Hatred; Pantheon Books 1992, p. 17 ).

“This theology is for the first time institutionalized in the fourth century AD, when Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire” (Ibid p. 19).

To divide Jews from the body is an audacious throwing down of the gauntlet against the Holy Spirit. But Jerome and company were far from going to war with the Holy Spirit on that front alone. Jerome set out to translate the Bible in the bureaucratic language of the empire and make it inaccessible to the laity and common people via the Latin Vulgate. Eventually, Rome made it against the law to translate the Bible or even teach from it unless accredited by the Church upon pain of death. This was Rome’s mandate for about 1000 years:

Decree of the Council of Toulouse (1229 C.E.): “We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.”

Ruling of the Council of Tarragona of 1234 C.E.: “No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned…”

Proclamations at the Ecumenical Council of Constance in 1415 C.E.: Oxford professor, and theologian John Wycliffe, was the first (1380 C.E.) to translate the New Testament into English to “…helpeth Christian men to study the Gospel in that tongue in which they know best Christ’s sentence.” For this “heresy” Wycliffe was posthumously condemned by Arundel, the archbishop of Canterbury. By the Council’s decree “Wycliffe’s bones were exhumed and publicly burned and the ashes were thrown into the Swift River.”

Fate of William Tyndale in 1536 C.E.: William Tyndale was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. According to Tyndale, the Church forbid owning or reading the Bible to control and restrict the teachings and to enhance their own power and importance.

~ Source:  Huffington Post .com: Why Christians Were Denied Access to Their Bible for 1,000 Years; Bernard Starr, Ph.D. 5/20/2013.

The Church also took it upon themselves to establish the formal canon of the New Testament which was only in the form of letters written by the apostles and others. There were many copies of these letters circulated among the laity and commonly accepted as Scripture:

2 Peter 3:15 – And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Colossians 4:15 – Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16 And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”

1Corinthians 14:37 – If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

Therefore, the idea that there was no agreed upon collective Scripture for New Testament era believers is unfounded, and the body of Christ hardly needed Gnostic academics to tell them what was inspired and not inspired. Nevertheless…

The Council of Nicaea called by the Emperor Constantine met in 325 C.E. to establish a unified Catholic Church. At that point no universally sanctioned Scriptures or Christian Bible existed. Various churches and officials adopted different texts and gospels. That’s why the Council of Hippo sanctioned 27 books for the New Testament in 393 C.E. Four years later the Council of Cartage confirmed the same 27 books as the authoritative Scriptures of the Church.

~ Source:  Huffington Post .com: Why Christians Were Denied Access to Their Bible for 1,000 Years; Bernard Starr, Ph.D. 5/20/2013.

And…

In 382, Pope Damascus therefore commissioned Jerome (c. 347-420) to translate the Bible into Latin, a task which took him twenty years to complete. This Bible came to be known as the versio vulgata (common translation) and became standard for the Western Church.

~ Source: gbgm-umc.org: Three Early Biblical Translations.

Attempting to obstruct the Spirit’s work in baptizing the Jews and Gentiles into one body, and confiscating the sword of the Spirit from the laity was manifested in a third way. In translating the Bible into English from the Septuagint (LXX), and for the most part not the original Hebrew, the English translators substituted the word “assembly” for “church.” The Greek word for assembly is “ekklesia” as translated from the Hebrew word for assembly,  kahal, or edah.

This is a very significant fact in the transition period that produced another version of the institutional Catholic Church, Protestantism. These are merely two sides of the same institutional church that waged the exact same war against the Holy Spirit and continues to do so in our day. As aforementioned, it was against the law to translate the Scriptures without the permission of the Catholic Church, but this happened anyway because of the “Lollard movement, a pre-Reformation movement that rejected many of the distinctive teachings of the Roman Catholic Church” (closed quotation from Wikipedia).

In the early Middle Ages, most Western Christian people encountered the Bible only in the form of oral versions of scriptures, verses and homilies in Latin (other sources were mystery plays, usually conducted in the vernacular, and popular iconography). Though relatively few people could read at this time, Wycliffe’s idea was to translate the Bible into the vernacular, saying “it helpeth Christian men to study the Gospel in that tongue in which they know best Christ’s sentence”.

~ Source: En Wikipedia .org: Wycliffe’s Bible.

Although unauthorized, the work was popular. Wycliffite Bible texts are the most common manuscript literature in Middle English. More than 250 manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible survive.

The association between Wycliffe’s Bible and Lollardy caused the kingdom of England and the established Catholic Church in England to undertake a drastic campaign to suppress it.

~ Source: Ibid.

However, by no means did the Protestant Reformation abandon the core fundamentals of the institutional Church’s war against the Holy Spirit which was a devotion to the separation of Judaism from the body of Christ, and academic authority in regard to private interpretation of the Scriptures. Though the Protestants presented themselves as commendable for the distribution of Bible translations to the common people, they never believed the laity could interpret it for themselves, nor did they ever state such. To the contrary,

“The Protestant Reformers in leaving Rome did not leave all Romanism behind them. In particular, they brought with them the prosecuting principles of Rome, and worked them freely and vigorously in support of the Reformed faith. They changed the Pope but not the popedom… Persecution is the deadly sin of the Reformed churches, that which cools every honest man’s zeal for their cause, in proportion as his reading becomes more extensive—Hallam… Rightfully and nobly did the Protestant Reformers claim religious liberty for themselves; but they resolutely refused to concede it to others” (William Marshall’s The Principles of the Westminster Standards Persecuting (William Marshall, D.D., Coupar – Angus. Edinburgh: William Oliphant & Co. 1873).

The English translators did something in the English translation of the Bible that Rome did not even do in the Latin Vulgate. They translated “assembly” as “church” which had no validity whatsoever. The Greek word for assembly and the Greek word for church are two entirely different Greek words with completely different meanings. The Hebrew words for assembly and the Greek word for assembly allowed for a connection between the Judaism of the Old Testament and the Christianity of the New. The word “church” puts forth the idea of a completely different program and plan of some sort. In the like institutional core fundamentals, the Catholics kept the Bible from the laity, while the Protestants skinned the cat a different way by taking liberty with translation. Tyndale was much more virtuous on this wise, translating assembly as “congregation,” but unfortunately was executed by the Catholics for the effort.

We will make this point here, but will revisit this issue in a later chapter because the rendering of “assembly,” “synagogue,” and “church” in Protestant translations of the Bible present an egregious distorted dichotomy in regard to the Jewishness of God’s overall plan for the ages. It is best to delve into this while discussing the fact that the 1^st century home fellowships were merely a continuation of the Jewish synagogue, and that word seems to suggest some sort of institution, or temple-like mini-institution.

To the contrary, some sort of substructure or mini temple version would have been a blasphemous notion to the Jews. Furthermore, for the most part historically, the Jews have had little choice to do anything other than worship in the privacy of their own homes.  Moreover, synagogues were of the laity and far removed from any priestly authority whatsoever. The intended model for Christian fellowship and assembly has never changed since the exodus and before. It is a body and ground-level family unhindered by the musings of bureaucratic control. It is not a machine controlled by men, it is a body that lives and grows.

The Protestants never sought to separate from the Catholic Church and indeed they did not. It was a protest, not a revolution by any stretch of the imagination. Institutional accreditation was vital to the Protestants, and critical to their credibility. This means they NEVER left the Catholic Church. Protestants retained solidarity with the Doctors of the Catholic Church for this reason, particularly St. Augustine. The most prominent fathers of the Reformation, Luther and Calvin, were avowed Augustinians till the day they died. No citations will be noted here due to the immense common knowledge of it. Contemporary Reformers constantly strive to outdo each other in quoting Augustine at every opportunity, but God’s people are completely unmiffed by the exaltation of this serial anti-Semite Platonist. Why?  Because what happens under the roof of an institutional church is mostly inconsequential; it is the depot that punches your ticket to heaven.

There are four primary ways that the institutional church wages war against the Holy Spirit, and this is a joint effort that includes Catholic and Protestant alike. We have examined three of them, but the fourth is what separates the Catholic from the Protestant. This war is not as absurd as it sounds, for the permanent indwelling of the Spirit suggests ability on the part of the individual. Both sides endorse the incompetence of the individual and need for enlightened mediators between the great unwashed masses and God; in other words, an efficacious caste system.

This fourth war strategy involves the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the new birth. The Catholic Church acknowledges the indwelling of the Spirit and the new birth, but insists that this only enables the salvation candidate to cooperate in the finishing of the salvation process; primarily by faithfulness to the Mother Church. As we discussed in the first two chapters, Rome is not shy or ambiguous about this idea. Yes, Catholicism and Protestantism alike hold to an unfinished progressive justification. Again, this was addressed in some detail in chapters one and two.

Protestants deny the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the new birth all together. Let’s think about this: if the Holy Spirit permanently indwells the believer, salvation MUST be FINISHED, there is simply no way around that. A permanent indwelling of the Spirit makes a progressive salvation dependent on the church completely unnecessary.

So, what are the specific differences in this fourth aberration of the Spirit’s work, and what are the specific differences in their progressive justification constructs? In addition, how does authentic Protestantism explain away the new birth, and how is the new birth redefined by them?

In the next chapter, these questions are answered in detail.

Endnotes:

1. Collectivism defines the worth of an individual by their ability to contribute to the common good. That adds up to the “collective good” which determines the overall wellbeing of a society.
2. Talmud: Bavli Ketubot 100a; there were 394 synagogues in Jerusalem. Yerushalmi (Ketubot 8:1); there were 460 synagogues in Jerusalem. Yerushalmi (Megillah 3:1); in Jerusalem, there were 480 synagogues.

I must say that my journey in nursing school, so far, is bitter sweet. Nursing school is hard, and hard work and best practice is no guarantee that you will make it. One thing that is particularly difficult is learning to think like a nurse. It is a different way of thinking, but more on that another time.

I have seen the sacrifices being made by people to become nurses, and it astounds me. Humanity has many intriguing breeds, and nursing is one of them.

But the purpose of this post follows, as I must, once again, hurry to class. My experience is bittersweet because I see the emotional fallout at school from those who think they have failed at something. It’s no surprise that this is seen more often during midterms or finals. Whether sitting in their car alone sobbing, or walking down the hall looking like they just survived an electrocution, this is what I would say to them:

You haven’t failed at anything till you quit. Your desire is your calling. Stay the course. Find a way; the world needs your heart.

That’s what I would say, so that you do not make me sad.

paul

Susan and I don’t watch the news much. She used to start her morning by watching channel 7 news. She pretty much got sick of hearing, “How can you start your day with that?” If you want to throw a bucket of cold water on “This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it,” just turn on the news.

My news epiphany happened last night as we were laying in bed watching FOX news. It occurred to me that Brian Kilmeade was having way too much fun reporting the latest news. The sparkling gleam in his eyes, I believe, sparked the epiphany.

EVERY news network out there is guilty as hell. You see, good news doesn’t sell. Because we live in an under-condemnation realm, good news makes us fearful that we are being set-up for a fall. Good news is a cruel trick being played on us by a wrathful god. In fact, when our life is good, we feel guilty and our alms are “pay it back” or “pay it forward.”

Receiving bad news is our reasonable service to mankind. After all, we all deserve hell. The least we can do in this life is pay penance by being unhappy. As I have watched the political pendulum swing back and forth between bad policies and good policies over the past 55 years since I was old enough to understand politics, I must ask: do Democrat’s get a turn because of Republican guilt?

Let me get back on track here, FOX news was all too happy to report on the Russian hoax and anything else that prevented TRUMP from executing the true function of a representative republic. Because, good times and good news do not sell. A functioning representative republic is bad for ratings, and makes political shills like Carl Rove irrelevant. Trump gets this, and it is behind his reference to people being “tired of winning.” Actually, due to the realm we live in, winning politicly makes good people feel guilty.

The mainline Protestant religion adds to the grief. Do you want to know the crux of their “good news” gospel? Here it is: “daily salvation.” There you go, get up every morning needing salvation. So, yes, statistics show that there is no percentage difference between the churched and unchurched in regard to depression and anxiety. Who knew?

True salvation is a once and eternal escape from condemnation in this realm and the realm to come through Christ.

The news has no vested interest in good news, it doesn’t sell. They need and want Joe Biden. It’s OK with the news networks and many Republicans that the election was stolen.

Trump is an immanent threat to the condemnation we all deserve.

paul

The issue draws parallels between Protestant and Catholic progressive justification.

Introduction   

    Welcome to a book about one of the greatest, self-fulfilling careers in the world, the nurse aide. Yet, unless you have been on the moon for the past decade, you know the shortage of nurse aides in the healthcare workplace is severe. And, considering that in post COVID nurse aides are finally making respectable wages, how can this be?

    The focus of this book answers those questions with an event witnessed at a healthcare facility somewhere in the state of Ohio. It was a conversation between a facility resident and a STNA (state tested nurse aide). After a hearty greeting, the resident asked the aide, “What are you doing today?” The aide answered this way: “I am a certified butt-wiper, and I am doing a lot of it today.”

    Full stop. The one sentence spoken by the aide encapsulates the core problem with the present-day nurse aide crisis; identity, the problem is an identity crisis. That is the thesis of this book. For the most part, nurse aides have no vision, and have not been given one by the healthcare establishment. To a large degree, nurse aides do not know who they are. An emphasis on what a nurse aide is will solve the problem, as it did with nurses.

    Nursing was not always a reputable profession. It is fair to say that nursing of the early 19th century had no vision. Nursing was an occupation, not a profession. Hospitals were referred to as “pesthouses” and were staffed by untrained personal. Workers loosely referred to as nurses were generally women of ill report, such as prostitutes and prison inmates.[1] Florence Nightingale was the reformer who changed all of that. She gave nursing the identity it needed to fulfill its true calling. She was one of the few in her day that saw nursing for what it really is.

    Technically, the identity of nurse aide is a profession, but it is overwhelmingly seen as an occupation. Ironically, the training and state requirements show that it is a profession, but in the field, it is treated like an occupation. Do not misunderstand, there is virtue in all work, but professions are distinguished by levels of training and demands on the individual. The true identity of nurse aide demands much, but in reality, little is expected from nurse aides themselves and those who need their services. After all, for the most part, they are “butt-wipers.”

    Frankly, there are a lot of people who are dead well before their time because of this aide misidentification, and you might ask yourself the following: What does aide self-image project to those being “cared” for? But these are subjects for later in this book. A nurse aide reformation is needed; nurse aides must find themselves for their own good and the good of those who need them. We can begin there with the true identification; nurse aides are needed by doctors, nurses, patients, and the extended families of patients. In a long-term care setting, hundreds of extended family members are counting on aides to do their jobs. It is a sacred trust before God; it is God’s work.  

    That is only the beginning of the identification. This book will attempt to articulate the identity in depth, and supply the necessary vision. But we will hardly stop there. Included in the vision is a new way to think about the nurse aide profession. What it truly is—is astounding, but the challenges are part of that identity. Part of the nurse aide identity follows: nurse aides are not inclined to search for the easy road. Caring for others is not always easy, and quality care is the ultimate goal. Nurse aides will do things they would have never done before they were an aide because the goal of quality care was not on the other side of the task. You may call that “love” if you want to, that is probably apt nomenclature.

    It is 0:600 somewhere in Dayton, Ohio. A nurse aide pulls up to a drive through window at a local coffee shop about a mile from his assigned facility. The shop manager opens the drive through window and hands the aide an extra-large coffee, black. The manager notices the scrubs, and asks, “Are you a nurse aide?” After the affirmative answer, the manager states, “I saw an aide care for my dad while he was dying, it’s a very hard job.” After the aide agreed, the manager asked, “What do you have to do to become a nurse aide?”

    What was going on there? After all, the manager was already in a career. Apparently, the manager saw something in her father’s aide that she wanted to aspire to, even though she knew it was hard. This is because intuitively, we know that hard tasks bring greater self-fulfillment. And in life, there are some jobs that must be done; someone has to do it. Therefore, self-aware aides know they are the ones who stand in the gap. They know that they go places and do things others will not do, and they like that about themselves. They do what they do because someone has to; that is their contribution to humanity, and that is honorable.

    With all of this said thus far, you are probably assuming there is a type of brotherhood or sisterhood among nurse aides like you see in law enforcement. You would be totally wrong about that. No profession eats their young, so to speak, more than nurse aides. If the profession is so difficult, why is this the case? The answer is easy: no vision. No identity.

    Aides who work for staffing agencies are special aides that cover staff shortages on short notice; they stand in the gap, right? Yet, agency call-offs are commonplace, and are an oxymoron of sorts. The agency aide who was supposed to cover a call-off, called off. How could this possibly be commonplace in our day? Same answer. Aides simply do not know who they are.

    Why are all kinds of abuses against residents and patients by aides commonplace as well? Is it because they don’t know who they are? It’s a rhetorical question. Moreover, if an aide identity was clearer, it would prevent many from obtaining the position who do not belong.

    This book will provide the vision, which includes identity, worldview, and mindset necessary to survive the rigors of the profession, and the ability to excel in it. To a lesser degree, we will discuss execution.

    So, it is the nurse aide state of being; it is who we are, which leads to what we do, and the goals we set for ourselves to realize the full vison. If, we know what all of that is.

    Together, we can overcome the nurse aide identity crisis, and do our part to put this sacred trust on full display.  

Paul M. Dohse, STNA/MA-C

[1] Msn, C. K. R., & Msn, G. K. R. (2018). Foundations and Adult Health Nursing (8th ed.). Mosby. p.2