Write The Author
By Neal Griffin
Aaron's golden calf was not the last idol to rear its ugly head. Men have continued to construct visible idols of worship and the reason is the same one that prompted the children to demand that Aaron build a visible image for them to worship. That reason is a dreadful lack of faith. Today's would-be worshipers continually display the same lack of faith. They require visible images. God must be brought down to the carnal realm in order for them to grasp the concept of His being. Now, as in Aaron's time, it is Satan who provides the visible images all of which can be summed up in one word, "Churchanity".
Churchanity is probably the cleverest and most deceptive of Satan's schemes. Doing church deceives its practitioners into feeling that they have served God by the performance of certain church ordinances and/or rituals. The massive cathedral, the dandily attired altar attendant (pulpit minister), the money (tithe) collection, and the ritualistic observance of the supper of our Lord along with other rituals, provides the spectator with a sensational aura of religiosity and lures him into thinking that he has practiced "true religion". But the sad fact of the matter is that none of these things has anything to do with the Bible definition of "true religion". See James 1:27. Churchanity and Christianity have very little in common. The above listed things have nothing at all to do with New Covenant worship. See Romans 12:1 and John 4:21-24. This grievous heresy is mostly the result of the perversion of the word, "church".
The word "church" was coined centuries after the New Testament letters were written. There is no koine (common) Greek word that translates the word "church". It is a derivative of the old English word "kirk". It does not translate "ekklesia" and there is a very good reason by the King James translators chose to use the word "church" instead of "assembly". "Assembly" has no religious meaning, but the word "church" very definitely has a religious connotation. The word "church" is a perversion of the word "ekklesia". The Church of England was entrenched at the time of the King James translation, and King James who was the titular head of that man-made, denominated, religious organization, demanded that the translators retain the religiously oriented wording because an accurate translation would have jeopardized his control over his church. The Greek word "ekklesia", from which they translated "church", simply meant an assembly or gathering of people. The incident recorded in Acts, chapter nineteen, proves that it had no religious connotation. In this passage the word "ekklesia" is used to identify an angry mob of unbelievers. See verse 41. It is the same word, "ekklesia", rendered "assembly", that the translators rendered "church" in other places. Why the inconsistency? The answer is obvious. Satan had already planted the word "church" with its religious connotation in their minds, and King James insisted on preserving that concept. It is also interesting to note that the same word, "ekklesia", in the Old Testament was never translated "church". One does not have to have a degree in Theology to see this inconsistency. The Greek word "ekklesia" was a people word. It was never used to depict a religious organization. In our day "church" implies organizational (corporate) entity. In Paul's day "ekklesia" had no such implication. Today a few use the word "church" to refer to the called out people of God, but most use it to denote a religious organization that has life (entity) separate and apart from the people who are its members.
Satan must surely be dancing with glee as he observes the millions who are caught up in "churchanity", and the billions upon billions that are spent in the name of religion. "Churchanity" primarily promotes the church instead of the Christ of the church. Its focus is on being a member of the church instead of being a member of Christ in the physical body sense of the word. Instead of focusing on Christ and Him crucified, it focuses on being a member of the right denominated religious organization. It takes the eye of the would-be worshipers away from the true goal, which is Christ, and puts it on a denominated religious organization. God is not served through a man-made organization, the "church", and neither does He dwell in temples made by the hands of men. He does not need the numbers of which denominated religious organizations boast. Too financially strapped from supporting "churchanity" and too busy practicing it, church members are not able to practice the true religion of which James writes. Yes, the prevailing concept of "church" is erroneous and "churchanity" is truly the golden calf of our age. Truly, it is Satan's opiate for the masses.
Please consider these thoughts in light of the Word. I believe them to be true.
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