HISTORY REBUILT PART 8 – ENTRENCHMENT OF THE CHURCH

Did you ever wonder about the entire ramifications of Jesus birth, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension? Did you ever think that there was more to it other than a means of salvation? Did you ever think the actions of Jesus tell a different story other than calling out someone’s sinful ways? Did you ever think that what Jesus might be doing is telling us what life was to become living here on earth? Did you ever think that there was way much more to the story than what has been given in Scriptures? We ask that you keep these entire questions in mind as you go through the next several History Rebuilt Parts as we explore many pieces of history we have not been told in our history books or the pulpit.

We will look at the church entrenchment right after the death of Jesus in this Part. We ask that not only you consider the above questions in reading the discussion herein but you keep an open mind about the subject presented and consider how this discussion fits into the story narrative of Jesus and our current history.

Let’s first define the church. What do you think the church is? How would you define the church?

So let’s walk back in time a bit to bring all this into perspective for the church at the time of Jesus life and death on earth. So we will walk down memory lane from Noah and the flood.

We know that Noah had three sons. Seth was the chosen one for the bloodline of Jesus and the other two sons, Japheth and Ham, would follow the traditions of the religious beliefs leading up to the flood – Satan Bloodline. We are told in Genesis 10 that the sons of Noah rested in an area called Shinar and there built a Tower to the Heavens called the Tower of Babal and because they did so they used the Tower as to represent God and from that God changed their speech and disbursed them throughout the world. It was this event that all nations were created. Genesis 11:1-9 KJV “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

So after the flood the sons of men built the Tower of Babal to worship. It was Nimrod who lead the construction of the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babal. The very focus here after God had destroyed all evil was to recreate it.

Conceit of the People

It was towards the end of Peleg’s life that something happened which changed the social life of all men on earth.

After the Flood, man had again begun to multiply and fill the earth. They all spoke one language and understood one another well. The generations of people before the Flood had been interested only in themselves; they thought of themselves as supermen and lived each one for himself alone; they used violence and force against their weaker neighbors, paying no attention to laws and rules. The new generation of mankind was different. They stressed the opposite code of living. The individual did not count for himself; he counted only as part of the community, and he had to subject his own interests to those of the group. Had they confined themselves to this kind of social life, all might have been well. But they overdid it. The tremendous strength that grew out of their organization and goodwill made them proud, and their pride made them turn against God.

They decided to build a tower which was to reach to heaven, to make them equal to God, and at the same time, to make it possible for them to stay together. This symbol of their divine strength, as they thought, was to be built in the valley of the Land of Shinear.

Their Punishment

God decided to destroy their arrogance by destroying their ability to understand one another. He, therefore, confused the people by splitting them up into seventy different nations and tribes, each with a language of its own, (hence the name Babel, meaning “confusion”).

When this happened, the project of the Tower had to be given up. The various groups migrated in different directions and settled in all parts of the world. The Tower itself was partly burned and partly swallowed by the earth.

Nimrod

But even this severe punishment did not bring the people back to the ways of God. During the time of Nimrod, who was the grandson of Ham, the wickedness of the people increased tremendously. Nimrod had inherited the clothes of Adam, made out of the skin of the Serpent, and he was unconquerable. All the animals of the world obeyed him and kings recognized his rule. He proclaimed himself god, and images of his face were shown all over the country. People had to serve him and bring him offerings.

It was in this age of idolatry that a new star appeared on the horizon-the only shining star in a dark sky.

So it was not up until Abram son of Shem that an individual begin to worship the one true God. Because of Abram worship God made himself know to Abram. Genesis 12: 1-8 KJV “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.”

So God entered into a Covenant with Abram and changed his name to Abraham and it was from Abraham staying faithful to God that the Israel Nations came from and Jesus was born from. This was the only linage out of the three sons of Noah that had remained true to the One True God. So throughout the history before Jesus birth we know that the only group of people worshiping the One True God was Abraham linage. All others were worshiping Idols.

So we can know more into the makeup of the church in the days before Jesus, during the Jesus time on earth and after he ascended into the Heavens.

The Church before Jesus

We know that the 14 tribes of Jacob had only one part that survived the historical conquests from Noah until Jesus birth. We know that the only two tribes survived were Benjamin and Judean tribes. However, when we look at history the Benjamin tribe was disbanded and scatted with the Judean tribe remaining together until the accession of Rehoboam, David's grandson, in c. 930 BCE the northern tribes split from the House of David to constitute the northern Kingdom of Israel. The tribe of Benjamin remained a part of the Kingdom of Judah until Judah was conquered by Babylon in c. 586 BCE and the population deported. It was the tribe of Benjamin and Judah that today’s Israel consists of. The Jewish people gain control over their territory and religion for a while during the Hasmonean Dynasty. By 100 B.C., the Hasmoneans had managed to regain control of the territory that had once been controlled by Israel and Judah and even some territory that those kingdoms had never controlled.

However, the Hasmonean success proved short-lived. As Roman power grew in the Mediterranean, the Hasmoneans soon found themselves overmatched. The Roman general Pompey took advantage of a Hasmonean civil war to launch a military expedition into lands controlled by the Hasmoneans. Jerusalem fell to Pompey in 63 B.C. and from that point on the territories that the Hasmoneans controlled was effectively under Roman rule.

So as we can see the tribe of Judea was the only surviving tribe that lasted until the birth of Jesus. It had to because it carried the bloodline for Christ. This was the only group of people that continued to worship the One True God. All other peoples, even the church, were idol worshipers.

The Church Make-up at Jesus Time on Earth

We really have to look no further that King Herod to find this out. Matthew 2:1-12 KJV “1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard [these things], he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, [in] the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found [him], bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.” Acts 12: 19-24 finishes the story. KJV “And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that [they] should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and [there] abode. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's [country]. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, [saying, It is] the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. But the word of God grew and multiplied.”

So Herod built the temple in Jerusalem that was there at Jesus birth. It was the second temple built. Upon Herod's death, the Romans divided his kingdom among three of his sons and his sister: Archelaus became ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea; Philip became tetrarch of territories north and east of the Jordan; and Salome I was given a toparchy including the cities of Jabneh, Ashdod, and Phasaelis.

So one might still need more information to see a pagan church before Jesus birth and during Jesus life on earth and after he ascended to Heaven. So we will look at the worship rituals compared to the early tabernacle and first temple to that of the second temple built by Herod.

We will not go into a long discussion about the differences found in the religious rituals established by God in the Tabernacle of the Old Testament and carried forward into the first Temple built by David which carried over into the rituals of worship the same as the ones used in the Old Testament Tabernacle with the ones used in the second temple built by Herod. We will allow you to read a detail document about these differences. However, let us say here that the worship rituals of the second temple built by Herod did not follow the rituals described by God before Jesus was born. Therefore, the church at the time of Jesus’ birth, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension did NOT follow the worship ritual described by God and therefore was a pagan church worshiping the idols of the day.

Church Rituals Part 8 Document

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So the same church that was there before Jesus with its same worship rituals remained the same church during the life of Christ and continued to be the same church after his ascension to Heaven; a pagan church worshiping the idols of the day – a satanic church.

The church of historic times, during Jesus life time, became the Roman Catholic Church that never changed its idol worship even as of today.

What is the real definition Jesus provided for the Church?

A Theological Review of the Church – The Role of the Church in God’s Government

In Ephesians 3:10 KJV it says “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” What we see here is that God used the church to make God’s wisdom known to the rulers and the authorities in heavenly places. We have already determined in Chapter 4 that God’s developed the earth be part of His Kingdom but a separate and distinct part with man having dominion over all living creatures. We also know that God made a Covenant with humanity before and after sin to fulfill God’s agenda for humanity on earth. And we know that in Mark the disciples were commissioned to go spread the gospel of salvation to humanity and disciple those who believe. Then we know in Matthew that all disciples were commissioned to go disciple all nations. Disciples identified in both Matthew and Mark was not just confined to the disciples of Jesus. If that were the case we would not be able to fulfill these commissions today. So, now as Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians he is telling us that it is God’s intention to use the church to distribute the wisdom of God to all rules and authorities in the heavenly places (earth). There is really nothing new to Matthew’s commission of nations discipleship from Paul is telling the Ephesians. The only difference here is the Matthew made a commission to all disciples and Paul in his letter indicated that church was the disciples bringing the two together as one. In essence, Paul is telling us that the church is made up of the disciples and, as disciples, they represents the church. The other thing to note about Paul’s reference is that the church is to be used to overrule the rulers and the authorities. Did you hear me? God intended the church to be the ruler over rulers and the authorities. God gave humanity dominion over all living things. Humanity believing in God is the church and through the church the dominion given to humanity is transferred through the church to have dominion over the rulers and the authorities.

It might be best to look at the entire 3rd chapter of Ephesians to understand the exact premise of verse 10. Ephesians 3:1-21 KJV “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

What is the “mystery” that Paul speaks of? The answer is given there in verse 6: “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” In other words, salvation is for the entire world, not JUST for the Jews. That portion of the plan for the salvation of mankind had previously been hidden (verse 9). We see the Jews as God’s chosen people that were expecting an earthly kingdom where messiah would rule and reign here on earth. But, the mystery is reveled through Christ (Through the Holy Spirit as shown in verse 5), that salvation is for ANYONE who comes to Him, not just the Jews. The gentiles (verse 6) are fellow heirs. This revelation, as spoken of in verse 6, demonstrates and points to God’s supreme wisdom. In verse 9, that wisdom is made known to “all men” on earth. Then, in verse 10, notice is even given to the principalities and rulers (in high places) in the heavenlies (the very angels and demons themselves) the wisdom of God. And that “wisdom” is the plan of God, that through the church, (Through those servants and Disciples of Christ) salvation is offered to all mankind, not just the Jews… According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord (verse 11).

In 2 Chronicles 15:3-6 KJV “For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law; but when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in [high crime], but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. So nation was destroyed by nation [international conflict], and city by city [urban conflict], for God troubled them with every adversity.” It is important we stop here and ponder this a moment. In this passage we have been given a current state of Israel. Azariah, the son of the prophet Oded, went out to see Asa, the King of Judah. He prophesied over Asa and told him that the reason there was trouble in the land of Israel was because they had turned to other gods, idol worship. He told Asa that as long as he would continue to seek God, God would be there for him and prosper the nation of Judah. Asa then called for a re-dedication of the land that he had recently won in battle. We see the result of this in 2 Chronicles 8-12 KJV “And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;”

Understanding the above, I now want us to look upon this and see how it applies to our current condition of the world. This passage tells us that the Israel as a nation was in trouble. The cities within the nation of Israel were in trouble. If things going on in your community, your church, your state, your nation and the world are not going right it is not any of these humanity organizations’ faults. The fault lies in the spiritual condition of the individuals and, extended, the home. Who turned to the LORD God? Was it an organization of the church, the city council or the nation of Israel? The answer to all these questions is NO! It was humanity (people) who reached out to the LORD God for help. And had the people been aligned in their homes correctly as we discussed in Chapter 5, none of these issues would be happening. But just like then, it is now that our homes are not aligned with God, so the issues of our world are caused by us not following God’s governmental rules.

In the passage in 2 Chronicles we are told because of the people’s disobedience not following God’s governmental rules that God troubled them with every adversity. What’s going on today? You see, if God is allowing us to be “troubled with every adversity” like it was in Israel; then for some reason, I bet He is allowing us to be “troubled” today. Turning to God is our ONLY solution. We have no other place to go. Any other attempt to “fix” the church, outside of absolute repentance and turning to God is futile.

In this passage it also speaks of not having a true God. It was not the case that the people were not gathering for religious meetings or doing religious things it was the fact that the people being outside of God’s Covenant were not real in their worship. The scripture tells us that there was failure in the pulpit – there was no teaching priest. Because the priest had failed in the pulpit the knowledge of the true God was lost and people were worshiping the world and not God. In this case, and in this time in history, the term “Israel” is referring to the northern part of the Canaan after the nation split upon the death of Solomon. The kingdom of Judah and Benjamin occupied the southern part of Canaan. Here, Israel, the northern portion of Canaan had begun the practice of idol worship and worshiping false gods. And the passage goes on to say that because of these things there was no law – God’s government. So God’s rules were no longer what ruled the land. It was at this point in Israel that people made up their own rules. As a result society was in total chaos. Sound familiar?

Pick a city anywhere in the world. The issue facing the cities today is both a theological one and a spiritual one. These issues manifest themselves in all forms of systems – economically, physiological, financial, sociologically – and has all kinds of offshoots in its fruit; but it only has root. And that root is the spiritual breakdown within society that has been promulgated and sustained by, and through, the church. So as harsh as this may sound to Christians and pastors of Christian churches; the primary reason of the breakdown, regression and chaos in all countries today and throughout their cities, especially America, is a failed church. These failures are because the church dismally failed to be what its head, Jesus Christ, created and designed it to be and become. Therefore, our citizens of each country turned away from the church and focused on its government to fix what God intended the church to provide. History has shown that government, alone without the church and without God, cannot fix the issues of today.

I am firm believer in the ecclesiastical church. If I were to ask you to define an ecclesiastical church, what would you say? Why is this even important for you to know? In order to become an ecclesiastical church, we must first understand the theology behind its meaning. The study of ecclesiology is the term to describe where you would go for that understanding.

The study of ecclesiology is the study of the Christian Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership. I encourage you to study this in detail but to do so here would be another book. So we will look at the mountain peaks of the study in order to define an ecclesiastical church.

We will look at the theology behind an ecclesiastical church because we always want to start with God. But, in doing so, we cannot forget that while Jesus created the church, He is in the Heavens sitting on the right hand side of God and we are on this earth. So when we speak of the church we cannot view it from only one perspective. In other words, we cannot only look at the church as it pertains to Jesus being the head and having created the church, but we also have to take into account that we are the church and we are on this earth. So as we move through this we must have the perspective of not being in the clouds only or being on earth only but linking the two together in order to have a firm understanding of the church. See while Jesus is in the clouds his body is on the ground. In Ephesians 1: 21-23 states His church is His body.

As a football official in my younger days, I was able to officiate a number of great games that included a lot of great players. This experience changed my mindset as to how I watched football games. I began to watch college and professional games in a completely different focus. Instead of watching solely for entertainment, I watched with a mind for the legislative side of the games – what fouls were made, when officials made a call or didn’t and whether or not a close call was adjudicated correctly. I recall a number of games, in the winding down of the clock in the fourth quarter, where the quarterback would drop back and fire a pass to the end zone for a last ditch play, in hopes of a score to win the game. In most instances, the pass was thrown to a spot in the air that the receiver was the only one who could reach it and it always seemed to be on the sideline or the back of the end zone. The receiver had to catch the ball out of the air and land with their feet on the ground in the field of play. If they catch the ball and landed out of bounds, or if he stayed in bounds and missed the ball, it would be ruled an incomplete pass. Because the quarterback throws the ball to a certain spot so as to keep it away from the defensive player; in most cases the receiver has to jump up to catch the ball landing in bounds or they stretch to the point that only their toes are touching the ground like a ballerina.

So the receiver has to two things at once. He has to reach high and catch the ball while his feet land on the ground inside the field of play. Just like a receiver in football we must go skyward to reach Jesus while not leaving the planet.

Churches today typically operate in two extremes. One extreme is to focus in the clouds on heavenly minded things, preventing them of providing any earthly good. This church teaches so far up in theology that they do not represent God’s salvation and laws to the nastiness going on in the here and now. Or, the church teaches only salvation without the laws which prevent the Christian from learning God’s governmental rules. The other extreme is to focus only on earthly things, never teaching God’s rules, principles or laws. This church focuses more on the social, political, and economic issues staying on earthly things without reaching up for God information on the subject. This church is only secular in their approach to teaching; as though there were no God or True God. In this church, Heaven and earth do not meet each other in its teachings.

In an ecclesiastical church, Heaven and earth meet because it was created by Jesus being God-man. He is fully God and fully man. This is called a hypo static union – where Heaven and earth meet. Jesus can be thirsty and walk on water. He can be hungry yet feed 5,000. He can die but resurrect. Jesus is doing two things at once. He reaches to Heaven with His hands and plants His feet on earth simultaneously.

In the two main scriptures on the church found in Matthew 16:18-19 KJV it says “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Some of you may challenge that these are the two primary scripture versus but in looking at the legal side of things there is a law called the hermeneutical law – the law of first mention. This law states that if you want to understand a scripture to determine biblical truth you look to the time it was first mentioned. Looking back to Adam and Eve we know that the first marriage was between Adam and Eve not Adam and Joe. Why do we know this because the law of first mention. Since God never changed the definition of marriage being between a male and a female we do not get to change the definition or make up a different one.

In looking at the two verses in Matthew, and according to the law of first mention, the word church has never been used before. So it is here we look at the definition of the church.

A few verses earlier in Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples “Who do you say am I?” The time Jesus did this was He was preparing His disciples for their change into apostles. They would soon see Jesus go to the cross, the Holy Spirit come to minister to them and they would then leave to go disciple people and nations. The word “You” in this question is a plural. Peter, who answered Him first, is speaking representatively for the group. Specifically, Matthew 16:15 KJV states “….Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And God responds to Peter as stated above that He will build church upon this rock. (That “rock” or “foundation” being the understanding, and acknowledgement, that Jesus IS the Christ, the anointed one who would take away the sins of the world.) Can you image the look upon Peter’s face? I can only image that Peter thought that He with be the foundation of the church.

Knowing this or now becoming knowledgeable about this, there should be no reason not to understand that it is Satan’s role to disrupt the unity of the church. It is Satan’s plan to get people to focus on other things than the Christ and Him crucified. If Satan can do that, he can insert other feelings and “focuses” so as to water down the gospel in the church. And how does Satan do this - by disrupting the home.

So let’s dissect Matthew 16:18. Jesus was talking in plural to His disciples and in that context we come to the conclusion that Jesus was not speaking directly to Peter in His response but to all disciples so we look then as to the meaning of the rock in that verse. We find that the Greek work for rock is Petra and the Greek word for stone is Petros. During that historical time, the Greek meaning of rock was the make-up of many stones that were collectively put together to make a rock. So, in understanding the Greek word of rock, we can see that what Jesus did was call Peter a stone with the collective whole of disciples a rock.

Many scholars think that Jesus was calling himself a rock but I don’t think so. You see using the law of first mention when Jesus asked His disciples as to whom He was and with Peter’s answer as to the Son of the Living God. Jesus declared that to be the truth.

I substantiate my position about Jesus speaking about the disciples as stones and the rock as a cluster of stones by looking at 1 Peter 2:4-5 KJV which states “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Let’s step back and look at our current conditions today. What we have is the greatest tragedy today where we have a lot of stones that have never become a rock. These stones represent us as believers and as such the reason we have not become clustered rocks is because we have failed in our homes. We want the blessings from God and the corrections of our current state of affairs but we want to live in our homes on a worldly basis. In Chapter 6, we speak directly about this. God made two individuals, who worked through marriage to become one flesh, who multiplied as requested by God as a means of expanding God’s Kingdom on earth, who share a home that has as its hierarchy a structure that God has given us in our Covenant of Obedience and all its rules and he told us that if we didn’t follow this structure that we being stones could not cluster as rocks in order for God to build His church.

As to the church we have also failed to build the rock. We have a lot of individuals that are like a ripen grape ready for harvest. Many, church leadership have failed on their task to cultivate their individual stones; clustering them to build a rock. We have individuals in pulpits all across this country and I suspect the same in other countries that teach about all kinds of things but the true God. And to some extent even the ones that do teach about the true God miss the mark on the total subject matter God says is required of total discipleship. We discussed in chapter 1 about the two commissions Jesus gave His disciples. One was focused on the individual and one on nations. Let me ask a question. How many of you, through your church leadership, has been taught about your responsibility over all governments due to having domain? We see the focus of the ecclesiastical church has left the pulpit today by pastors accepting the status quo. The attitude today of pastors who have all out their congregation to the worldly government or have accepted that based upon the current conditions of their government that they abandon God’s government all together. They have intentionally or unintentionally sold out God’s government to the status quo.

You see God gave you salvation through Jesus Christ and because of that you are now a stone that can be used to cluster others in building the rock for the foundation of the church. Once saved you cannot lose your stone-ship. However, if we fail at clustering then God cannot build the rock for His church. See just like all other things spoken through scripture about more than one person God needs a lot of stones to build the rock; because the rock is something much bigger than an individual stone.

Knowing this or now become knowledgeable about this there should be no reason not to understand that it is Satan’s role to disrupt the unity of the stones. See if unity of stones is what God seeks to build a rock for the foundation of His church then disunity keeps the stones separate and thereby prevent clustering and a rock. Jesus tells us the Satan can rule over a stone but not a rock – and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it – the rock that He forms called the church. And how does Satan do this - by disrupting the home.

We stated clearly in Chapter 5 that the Home was the foundation for all other Authority Structure of humanity organizations – church, workplace, government. If we do not have the home in order nothing is in order. Satan has seceded in destroying not only the home but the church, the workplace, our governments and the world at large.

A Legislative Review of the Church

The church was called an ecclesia. The word ecclesia was a known word at the time and everyone knew what it meant. It was not a specific Christian word it was a regularly used Greek term. The primary use was an assembly of legislatures. It was a term that defined a governing body. It was also used as a body of people that went and taught people of a different way of culture when one nation was taken over by another - like our current day city council. However, the term used in defining the church means “the called out ones”. Now here’s the question for the church. Ecclesia is called out from what, to what and for what? While the word for the church means called out one; in the early church its usage was a legislative term. And we see this in scriptures.

In Act 19:39 KJV it states “But if ye enquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse. And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.” The Greek word used for assembly in these verses is ecclesia. The original Greek text tells us that the ecclesia came together to go to the courts to legislate against the proliferation of Christianity and it used the word church. This was because the activities were legal in nature.

If we were to look at an illustration of what I am addressing, we should look at an individual country’s embassy. The world knows that countries, who want a presence in other country, first create an embassy in order to foster a relationship with that other country. In other words, an embassy (let’s say of the United States embassy located in a foreign country) is foreign entity on that country’s soil, but the soil that the embassy sits on is as through the embassy was sitting in the United States. It is an extension of the United States in a foreign land and when you have entered a US Embassy in a foreign country, when you step through the gates, you are no longer in the foreign country but on US soil. It is where the laws of the embassy country are upheld and not of the location where it sits. Let’s apply this illustration to the church.

The church (ecclesia) is supposed to be a little bit of Heaven on soil a long way from home. It is supposed to be where the values of God are resident in the locations for all of history. See, when the church no longer follows the laws of its homeland (Heaven) but follows the laws of the location in which it resides (World), then the church has become an enemy of the homeland. What we see today is churches are not embassies of Heaven, but an enemy. Churches are more following the laws of its residing culture and the world at large than God’s rules, regulations and laws. Because of this the churches can have all kinds of cultural issues inside the church that would not normally be there had they been following God’s rules, regulations and laws. These cultural issues include racism, homosexualism, Satanism, and all the other “isms” you wish to name.

What we don’t realize is this has been going on since the creation of the first church. When one looks from an outside point of view we think that either God is powerless or doesn’t care; when the problem is, actually, the church has gone rouge and not reflecting the legislative responsibility it is created to manifest on this foreign land.

Jesus said that you will know a church when you see it because it shall be built on a rock and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. So let me clearly state that wherever Hell is winning; Jesus’ church is not operating. Let that soak in a moment as you apply that thought to our current situations around this world. There is a significant problem somewhere when we have all these churches, located on almost every corner in our cities, with all the pulpits supposedly teaching God’s opportunity of salvation and His rules, His regulations and his Laws, with all the members, who do or don’t attend church; and at the same time we are living in a constant state of Hell. Where’s the monkey holding the wrench?

One of the things we see in at least the culture of the USA is that we see churches being built – mega churches – built on our cultural system of worship and not on the principles established by Jesus. We cannot complain about these churches doing good things, because they are. We see discipleship, singing, preaching, teaching and worshiping; but what we don’t see is any legislature.

Jesus says this to the church and in scripture the only time Jesus says this is to the church in Matthew 16:19 KJV “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Jesus tells the church (Jesus was speaking to Peter regarding Peter’s revelation that Jesus is the Christ. This is the “rock”, this revelation, upon which Christ will build HIS church. Jesus then gives to Peter (and those who get the revelation that Jesus is the Christ) the keys to the kingdom of heaven. When a person becomes born again, individually, he is given the keys to the kingdom. Keys are not maintained in the church. Each relationship with Christ is personal, first-hand.) He gives them the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Nowhere else in scriptures does He give these keys to anyone but the church! (Each believer is given the keys to the kingdom. So, by extension, this is carried into the church, which is a body of believers.) Now we know keys provide access – Isaiah 22:22 KJV “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”

See God gave the keys to the kingdom to the church and to no one else has the keys. The keys are not keys to the church but kingdom keys because the church doesn’t exist just for the church it exists for the homeland (Heaven) and because the church home is form the Kingdom God gave us keys to get home. What we find is that the church is using earthly keys in trying to get into the Kingdom with no success. We have become secular churches with some Jesus sprinkled on top and the doors to the Kingdom do not open and we remain on the outside trying to get in. This is not talking about your salvation. You will go to Heaven when you die but during this life you cannot access the Kingdom’s protection and blessings unless you have the keys.

In order for Heaven to back our play on earth, we must follow the keys. He then will open the door to the Kingdom. Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:19 KJV “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” We discussed in the entire previous chapter that earth is a mirror image of heaven. That this mirror image was what God said when he said let us make man in our own image and when he provided us with dominion over this earth not to leave out the trinity of the family. God tells us at the end of verse 19 that whatever we bind it is bound in Heaven and whatever we lose with also be done in Heaven. This verse is about choices. What we allow and disallow or what for forbid and not forbid. It is in these choices where or not Heaven is backing our play. In our current state of the union heaven is not backing our play so we must not be using the right set of keys. We need to really think about this – based upon what I see in many churches today we may not even be the church of the rock.

Jesus created the church to have authority, but in today’s society the church has joined society over authority. See, Jesus tells us that the gates of Hell shall not prevail on His church. He is speaking legislatively. He is saying that He will rule in Heaven and provide authority through us on earth. We have just failed to keep up to the task. It is our job to take a bite out of the societal elephant, one bite at a time. We need to take back one church in one city at a time. We need to first, get covered underneath God’s Covenant and then claim our authority in our Home and then the Church. If we take our citizenship and come together to form a rock without compromising the spiritual faith, we can conquer the world one city at a time, one state at a time, and one nation at a time.

We need to strip away the religious membership requirements and get back to being spiritual faith members of Jesus Christ. When we do this in unison, we can then address issues one at a time in accordance to the authority provided to us as having dominion over all living things. What are some of the issues we may want to address? Marriage definition might be one. Abortion might be another. Prayer in schools or public places another and many more. The point here is as we come together in the correct spiritual faith we have authority to make the changes God has given us to rule over. Our problem is the church’s inaction!

The problem with churches today is they have a sign posted on or near the front of the church that says “church”. People see that sign and think that it means “working underneath the authority of God to proclaim not only His gospels but to administer the legislative requirements of His Kingdom here on earth”. But when people come to obtain aid, we tell them we are not practicing that here. We either need to either begin practicing the things of God or take down our signs.