Thank you again for your many comments, emails and phone calls affirming these articles and my stance against the idol. The articles have been reprinted by various ministries, placed on other websites etc which is great because it is getting the word out.

Many also affirm what I am saying by having the same revelation, some even years ago, but I think the revelation that what we are facing is an actual idol has put it all into context of what we have been seeing, hearing etc over the years.

Some dear people still don’t get it and are actually defending the idol. Not one has challenged the teaching with scripture / theology. They only object through the mindset they have on the subject. A ‘mind’ that is ‘set’ on a thing is called a stronghold. I pray all will come out of the shadow of this idol and see clearly.

It amazes me how we got into this mess in the first place – but then we are fighting a very deceptive enemy.

I pray that we all see scripture with eyes wide open and not read it with our Greek Philosophical glasses on. There are many instances in scripture where we need correct understanding. For a very, very simple example in point. Do you realize that there were not 3 wise men following the star going to visit Jesus. (the bible doesn’t actually say how many) That they didn’t see Jesus in a manger (He was probably around 2 years old when they visited Him in a house). Yet for whatever reason when we read this account in Matt 2 we see in our mind 3 wise men visiting Jesus as a baby in a manger.
I am only using this as a clear example of how we read things through a mindset, whether it be from a tradition mindset or a repetitive viewing of pictures when we were children of the 3 wise men and Jesus in the manger.

We see everything through a mindset or a way of thinking. The Bible actually calls a mindset a ‘stronghold’. Regarding the ekklesia we also see this through a mindset. For many it’s the mindset of the idol called the church. If we put these glasses on all we see is what the idol dictates.

Just to indicate one other point about our mind set – Is church planting in the Bible? Have you ever researched this without a church planting mindset? Did Jesus say “go and plant churches”? We have attributed the Apostle Paul as the greatest ‘church planter’ – did he actually plant churches? If not what did he actually do? We attribute the gift of Apostle to church planting. Did the Apostles plant churches? If our mindset of church planting is incorrect what do we do to get back to the commission of Jesus? (This will be another series of articles coming soon – I believe this will radically tie in all the answers many people have been asking me over the years of how do we get back to Christianity found in the book of Acts.)

In this study I am going to attempt to bring some answers to the problem of the idol called the church and to break strongholds, change mindsets and bring clarity.

I was going to leave the answers to the end of this series and once all the revelation had been laid out, but many have been asking for answers as they see the problem clearly or at least are starting to grasp it and want to start standing against this idol and implementing change.

The major problem is the mindset (stronghold) we have regarding the ‘church’.

When we say ‘church’ what do we mean?

The English word "church" has various meanings. Webster gives the following definitions for the word church.
1. a building for public Christian worship.
2. a religious service in such a building.
3. (sometimes cap.) a. the world body of Christian believers; Christendom. b. any major division of his body; a Christian denomination.
4. a Christian congregation.
5. organized religion as distinguished from the state.
6. (cap) a. The Christian before the reformation. b. the Roman Catholic Church.

So when we say church, what do we mean?
Do we mean a building?
Do we mean an organization?
Do we mean the body of Christ?

Or is there confusion between these descriptions as to what the church really is.

Again over the Christmas break I have heard people say things that just reinforce this confusion. Eg. “Years ago people went to the church for answers – now fewer people are seeking out the church”
“the church has lost its relevance – so we need to be more relevant by updating our church programs”
“bring them to church to get saved”
“my life was a mess before I started going to church – the church has turned my life around”

All of these statements (to mention only a few) reflect confusion at best and heresy at worst. To answer briefly.

People should seek Jesus, not the church.

How can the body of Christ, full of the power of the Holy Spirit be irrelevant?

How can the church save lives? How can the church change lives? Isn’t it Jesus that does that?

ANSWERS TO DEFEAT THE IDOL.
Some would say we need to wage war and pray against this idol. This may be so and I encourage you to actively seek God first about this and pray what He says. I do believe we need to pray against the idol but we also have to put ‘feet to our prayer’ and do something about it.

2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

I believe we need to re-educate ourselves and if we are leaders to re-educate those we teach. A mindset is started by incorrect teaching. It can be reversed by correct teaching (the truth shall set you free) A stronghold is used by an idol through the mindsets of people. Change the mindset and you take the stronghold away from the idol.

I have already shown in previous articles that the translation of the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ to the English word ‘church’ is incorrect.

To recap briefly.

An Ekklesia is not a building. (so why do we keep calling a building or organization a church)

Nowhere in the Bible is the PLACE where Christians meet referred to as a "church", nowhere.

Never does ekklesia refer to a BUILDING in which people gathered, for worship or for any other purpose, Never.

Ekklesia is not a physical place - it is an assembly of people.

I have also shown that the root word for church is not birthed in scripture but out of non Christian origin.

Some might say I now understand that we shouldn’t call a building or organization ekklesia or church but the body of Christ is the Ekklesia or church so why cant we use the term church to describe the body of Christ?

Today the word church has a wide variety of meanings from referring to a building to performing a religious service.

Unfortunately, when we hear the word ‘church’ our mind often paints a picture through those glasses filled with unbiblical characteristics. I believe it is time that Christians proclaim and reclaim a truly biblical concept of Ekklesia. Scripture confirms over and over again that an Ekklesia is the assembly of those who are called out of sin and called to Christ. Many of our modern concepts of ‘church’ are simply not found in Scripture and some even oppose Scripture.

The English dictionary reveals that the English word "church" which is used in our English Bibles is taken from the late Greek word "kyridakon" not "ekklesia." The Greek word "kyridakon" is not found in the New Testament and only came into being in the 16th Century long after New Testament times. Thus the English word "church" cannot be translated back into Greek because there is no word in the New Testament Greek that is the equivalent of the understanding of the English word.

Because there is so much confusion with the term ‘church’ I believe we should

1/ Remove the word ‘church’ from our vocabulary. When we do this we will see the change in our understanding of what we really mean when talking about ‘church’. Try and see how difficult it is to stop calling church, church. Everything is about church, so when we stop using the word we have to carefully choose another word to mean exactly what we mean. When "ekklesia" is translated correctly "assembly": "the assembly of God" or "the assembly of Christ." or even congregation as some ancient versions do and used in our conversation it begins to change many things that were associated with the idol called church. Ekklesia is all about the body of Christ, the people not the building or organization. We don’t go to church – we ‘assemble’ as the body of Christ whether it is in a special purpose building or on the beach. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name there I AM” Matt 18:20
Instead of saying “where do you go to church” you could say “where are you going to assemble”.

2/ Stop calling the building or organization, ‘church’. It is a ‘building’ and should be named such to avoid the continued confusion. We should stop calling the building a church, sanctuary, or the house of God (more teaching on this later) I suggest calling the building a centre, hall, assembly hall, fellowship hall. Eg stop saying things like “I am going to church”. The scriptural alternative is something like  “I am going to assemble with other Christians to worship God meeting at such and such Christian Centre". (this is Ekklesia) So you could replace with something like I am going to the centre, the assembly hall or the fellowship hall. It takes the emphasis off the idol and onto the body because it is just a hall.

3/ Stop using statements such as "welcome to church today", "welcome to the house of God", "we need to build the church" or "I love being in church" and anything that refers to the building or organization as being the ekklesia. They are incorrect.

3/ Stop teaching incorrect theology. Examples:- bring people to church to be saved, the church is the most powerful force on earth etc. Church changed my life. House of God theology including ‘sons of the house’ etc (more on this erroneous teaching bringing people into bondage to the idol later)

4/ Start teaching correct theology – Examples:- Jesus is the only one that can save people from their sin and transform their life and the body of Christ full of the power of the Holy Spirit has all the relevancy needed to preach the Gospel to every creature.

Teach how the body of Christ can rise up, how each member has a part, a function (not just in services) but in serving Christ and each other. It seems we have been confusing services with serving.
Start training the body and releasing them to do the work of the ministry God has called them to do. Eph 4:11-12

5/ Stop using bibles that translate ekklessia incorrectly.
The first printed English translation of the Bible (Tyndale’s Translation circa 1526) accurately translated the Greek word Ekklesia as ‘congregation’ or ‘assembly’. However, most modern translations of the Bible translate Ekklesia as ‘church.’ This is done out of out of convenience to the readers since ‘church’ is the common cultural word used for an assembly of believers. However, this does not mean it is an accurate translation of Ekklesia.

William Tyndale's translation did not translate the word "ekklesia" as church. Tyndale's translation correctly used the term "congregation." Tyndale completed the translation of the New Testament and part of the Old Testament before he was martyred. John Rogers, an assistant and friend of William Tyndale, completed the translation of the Old Testament using some work from Coverdale and published the first entire Tyndale Bible under the pen name "Thomas Matthew." This Bible was called the Matthew's Bible (1537) and also used the term "congregation." The next English Bible, the Great Bible (1539), also used the term "congregation." However, in 1557 the Geneva New Testament, produced by William Whittingham, was the first to translate "ekklesia" as "church”.
The word "church" was first used by Theodore Beza in 1556, a Protestant, who followed John Calvin at Geneva, Switzerland. As a Presbyterian, Beza believed in the idea of a catholic church and its hierarchal form of government and therefore chose to support this false concept by using the word "church" instead of "assembly." The reason is obvious in that the use of the word "congregation" or "assembly" would not support his church's hierarchical form of church government. William Whittingham's Testament of 1557 followed Beza's usage of "church" and was actually the first edition of the Geneva Bible and was a revision of the Tyndale New Testament.

Because the Geneva Bible was printed in Europe and not in England the English people desired a Bible published in their native country. This was the reason for the next English Bible, the Bishops Bible (1568) which was a revision of the Geneva Bible and this translation continued the use of the term "church" as has majority of subsequent English translations including the King James Version. This shows that the use of the word "church" instead of "assembly" or "congregation" came from those who had a bias towards a hierarchical and unscriptural form of church government. To have translated the word "ekklesia" accurately into "assembly" or congregation" would have exposed their form of church government as being in error.

I suggest using older translations like, Darby or Youngs or younger translations like ‘The Source’ (which was translated by a Greek scholar rather than a theologian or denomination and was taken from the actual meanings of the Greek words rather than from the use of those words in previous versions of the bible)

To be continued.

An interesting time line of the bible can be seen here.

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/