These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
Colossians 2:23

...holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
2 Timothy 3:5

Last Update 02/01/08

I am indebted to Frank Viola and George Barna and their publication PAGAN CHRISTIANTIY. Pagan Christianity leads us on a fascinating tour through the "inorganic church" history, revealing this startling and unsettling truth: Many cherished "inorganic church" traditions embraced today originated not out of the New Testament, but out of pagan practices. To order Pagan Christianity, click on this link: Present Testimony Ministry

THE "INORGANIC CHURCH" TODAY

"We do virtually nothing that is New Testament, as you will see. We are left in a situation today where we have absolutely no idea how our faith should be practiced." - Gene Edwards.

"As you will see, the modern, institutional church does not have a Biblical or historical right to exist." - Frank Viola.

Outrageous comments? Blasphemy? Heretical? You be the judge! But, before you dismiss these comments as "the ravings of lunatics," you better take the time to examine the historical and Biblical basis for them.

This book is about the history of the Inorganic Church. It is about sacred writings and the transmission of those writings down through thousands of years to you today. It is about political and religious power struggles that spawned conspiracies that changed the faith and practice of early Organic Christianity . It is about political and religious organizations controlling their subjects. It is about the rise and fall of the Christianity of the New Testament.

Know Your History. If you do not know your family history, you cannot know what impact your genetic make-up is having on your physical health and wellbeing today. Likewise, if you do not know your Christian history, you cannot know what impact State Governments, Religious Institutions, and Biblical translators have had and are having on your spiritual health and wellbeing today.

The Status Quo. Most of us simply accept the status quo. If our Christianity was good enough for our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, then it is good enough for us. But, accepting the status quo puts us at a great disadvantage. We are left depending on decisions and practices of State governments and Religious Institutions over the last several hundred years, if not over the last several thousand years, for our understanding of Christianity. We hope they made the right decisions, but did they? We hope they had the best intentions and motivations, but did they? We hope that it was the TRUTH that guided them, but was it? Christianity did not start several hundred years ago; it started over 2,000 years ago and the religion of Christ started over 4,500 years ago.

If we are to understand the Christianity described in the New Testament, then we must return to those yesteryears that were the cradle for our faith. Then...we must compare what we know today with the facts of what was true then and then brace ourselves for the revolutionary changes we must make to our faith and practice of Christianity.

As philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once put it, "Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards." Understanding the genesis of our Christian traditions can very well change the course of Christian history.

Corruption in Translation. The title of this chapter is The Corruption of "Christianity". One glaring piece of evidence of the corruption of Christianity is the use of the word "church" in the New Testament. Even though the Greek word Ekklasia is translated 114 times in 111 verses as "church" in the New Testament, it is NOT even a translation. Even though the word "church" is defined in a variety of ways, in today's world, it only defines the "Inorganic Church" not "Organic Christianity." I'm sorry! You were not ready to read that were you? You are probably very shocked. I understand. I was also.

It will take the rest of this book to explain why the word "church" is the wrong translation in our English Bibles. It will take the rest of this book to explain why our concept of Christianity, as it is practiced today in organized, institutional churches, is not the Organic Christianity of the New Testament - it is the Inorganic Church.

Identifying Lies and Embracing Truths. I know that it will not be easy for you to accept the fact that the world, the flesh, and the devil have lied and deceived you about your faith. It is not easy to lay aside the "so-called" truths you have held as sacred for your entire life. However, if you are going to come to the truth about your Christianity, you MUST take this journey. God wants you to know the truth. The truth is what sets you free...from sin and death. God send His Holy Spirit to lead you into all Truth. BUT, I warn you that this journey will be difficult and painful.

People are fat and unhealthy today because they believe their diets and physical lifestyles are healthy. But, to become lean and healthy, they have to change what they believe to be true. They have to realize that their culture and family experiences have taught them the wrong way to live. They have to change what they eat and how they exercise. Discarding their beliefs in what foods they should eat and how much they should exercise is difficult and implementing changes is painful. TV shows such as "Big Loser" and "Fat March" illustrate the pain and suffering that they must endure to change their mental and physical lives.

While weight loss is a physical journey, learning the Truth and practicing the Truth is a mental and spiritual journey. However, both involve changing our mental and physical lives. We have to change our mental lives so our beliefs (our faith) are based in the truth and we have to change our physical lives so our actions (our good works) are based on the truth. So, are you ready for the journey?

To demonstrate the difficulty and pain associated with changing beliefs and embracing the Truth, we will start by examining contemporary definitions of the "Church" or as we call it the "Inorganic Church" identifying some of the rituals associated with the practice in "inorganic churches," and look at an overview of the scope of study needed to understand "The Corruption of Christianity". Ultimately, if we are to come to the truth, we must determine what the New Testament teaches about "Organic Christianity."

THE DEFINITION OF THE "INORGANIC CHURCH"

A definition of "Inorganic": Involving neither organic life nor the products of organic life. Not composed of organic matter. Not arising in normal growth; artificial. Not resembling a living organism in organization or development; interconnected. Having no properties associated with living organisms. Not having the organized structure of living things. Made by human work or art, not by nature; not natural. Made in imitation of or as a substitute for something natural.

Throughout the rest of this book, each time we use the word "church" or "churches," we will be referring to the "Inorganic Church," unless otherwise specified.

There are secular definitions, religious definitions, Biblical definitions, and etymological definitions of the word "church". Let's begin to explore some of the definitions by consulting The Internal Revenue Service, United States Department of the Treasury. Then we will look at the definition of "church" by Webster's Universal College Dictionary and The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

"Churches" Defined: The term church is found, but not specifically defined, in the Internal Revenue Code. With the exception of the special rules for church audits, the use of the term church also includes conventions and associates of churches as well as integrated auxiliaries of a church.

Certain characteristics are generally attributed to churches. These attributes of a church have been developed by the IRS and court decisions. They include:

The IRS generally uses a combination of these characteristics, together with other facts and circumstances, to determine whether an organization is considered a church for federal tax purposes. End Notes: Source: Publication 1828, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations

Webster's Universal College Dictionary. Webster gives the following definitions for the word church:

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary lists five definitions. From this, we can see why there are so many mental images that we have when we use the word "church":

Did you know...the definition most people give for the word "church" is a building set apart for Christian worship. In this context, we hear people speak of:

We also use it of a religious service conducted in a building set apart for such, as in the statement "do not be late for church."

These definitions came from the past. So, let's take a few minutes to examine how they came into existence.

FORMS IN THE PRACTICE OF THE "INORGANIC CHURCH"

The practice of the Inorganic Church has taken many forms throughout history. Some of these forms take the shape of buildings. Other forms comprise the activities that take place in those buildings. In this next section, we will explore these forms, based on the previous definitions, introduce you to new ideas about them, and refer you to other chapters in this book that expand the study of them.

Buildings for Public and Especially InOrganic Church Worship

Did you know...Christians in first century never built religious buildings? They met in homes and in large, open meeting places. There were no church buildings until Imperial Roman established them. This brings to mind the Roman Emperor Constantine. He was a pagan who worshiped the sun. During his reign, he commissioned the building of public places in which Christians could come together. In the year 327 A.D., Constantine ordered the construction of nineteen Church buildings. Up to this time, there had been no church buildings. Until then, Christians met in homes (at first, buildings were seen as shrines). These nineteen buildings were constructed in four places. One in Bethlehem and two in Jerusalem, nine in the city of Constantinople and seven in the city of Rome. So it came about that Christianity joined all the other world religions and came to have its very own temples.

Some say that in 190 A.D., Clement of Alexandria (150-215), recorded the first use of the word "church." One comment about this statement is, "When he wrote the phrase 'go to church,' Clement of Alexandria "Going to Church" that was supposedly a reference to a Christian meeting place (Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book III, Ch. 11)."

However, Clement of Alexandria could not have used the word "church" because the word "church" did not exist for another 1500 years. In fact, he used the Greek word ekklasía, not the English translation "church." The translators of Clement's work, The Instuctor, Book III, Ch. 11, simply used the standard English translation of the Greek word ekklasía which is "church." The usage of the English word "church" for the translation of the Greek word ekklasía is completely in error. See the link Ekklasia on this web site for an explanation. In addition, ekklasía could have been translated "go to the assembly" or "go to the gathering." It refers to a gathering of God's people that the 2nd century Christians used. The Greek word ekklasía, translated 'church' in many English Bibles, is always associated with the people of God. The New Testament never uses this word to refer to a building of any sort.

Did you know...Constantine and his architects chose the "basilica" as an architectural form for these church buildings? ROMAN BASILICAS: Among the adjuncts of the market-place none was more important than the basilica, which served as a meeting place for the citizens, an exchange for merchants, and a court of justice. Basilicas employed interior-facing colonnades aligned as a peristyle to create a raised second-story aisle or "clerestory" and a sense of interior monumental space (see Basilica Plans). The design was possibly imported from Hellenistic Greek buildings ("Stoa Basileios") that formerly stood in capitals such as Alexandria. The BASILICA JULIA in the Roman Forum was begun by Julius Caesar as Dictator and completed by Augustus (first century BC). The BASILICA of CONSTANTINE, constructed of concrete and high ceilinged vaulted brick arches in the early fourth century AD at the south end of the Roman Forum, served as the architectural model for Grand Central Station in New York. The BASILICA OF ST. PAUL BEYOND THE WALLS (of the city of Rome) and the interior of the BASILICA SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE in Rome, both fifth century AD, mark the transition from the traditional Roman function of a basilica as a civic center for commerce, finance and legal tribunals to the primary locus of the Catholic Church ritual.

Do you know the origins of the "Sunday school"? The earliest evidence of a Sunday School or "Sabbath School" movement in Lutheranism point not to England as many suppose, but to Germany. Pastor Phillip Jacob Spener, father of Lutheran pietism, instituted "Kinderlehre" about the year 1666. Kinderlehre were "held on Sunday, immediately after the morning service, and were for old and young, but especially intended for the confirmed youth, and consisted in a brief opening service with singing, Scripture reading and prayer, followed by the examination in the Catechism, and the texts of Scripture illustrating the several parts."

Sunday School In England. The concept of Sunday school came about in the late 1600's and early 1700's. It was popularized by Robert Raikes, a newspaper publisher who became burdened for the children of his town. They worked long hours six days a week, and on Sunday they were unsupervised and unruly. He decided to organize the children to teach them reading, writing, good morals, and instruction in the Word of God. He started "Sunday School" at his own expense. This idea quickly spread across England and Wales, then across the Atlantic to the United States.

Sunday School in America. William Elliott founded the first known Church Sunday school in America in 1802 in Virginia. The Sunday school grew until it was too large for its meeting place. He then moved it down the street to a church building and the Sunday school became a part of the church. Since that time almost all religions have established some form of Sunday school as part of their teaching and training program. Sunday school is a teaching tool to help students of all ages. It is used primarily for religious teachings, helping to guide Christians in their walk with God.

The idea of the Sunday school caught the imagination of a number involved in evangelical churches and groupings. Most notably, Hannah More and her sister Martha founded a number of schools in the Mendip Hills that involved innovation. These lay in the pedagogy they developed; the range of activities they became involved in; and the extent to which publicity concerning their activities encouraged others to develop initiatives. They attempted to make school sessions entertaining and varied. Programs had to be planned and suited to the level of the students. There needed to be variety and classes had to be as entertaining as possible (she advised using singing when energy and attention was waning). She also argued that it was possible to get the best out of children if their affections "were engaged by kindness". Furthermore, she made the case that terror did not pay (Young and Ashton 1956). However, she still believed it was a "fundamental error to consider children as innocent beings" rather than as beings of "a corrupt nature and evil dispositions" (More 1799: 44, quoted by Thompson 1968: 441).

Friends Meeting House, St Martin's Lane WC1. This meeting house opened in 1883, was damaged during the Second World War and reopened in 1956 (Lee and Lee 1983). The first London meeting house was in Westminster close by the abbey on a site now occupied by Church House and included a school and library (1666 - 1776). The Meeting moved to St Martin's Lane in 1779 (to a new building close by St Peter's Court - a site now occupied by or close to the Duke of York's Theatre).

Inside every inorganic church today, we can observe various rituals and ceremonies, as well as sacred instruments, and furniture. Let's look at these items and examine their effectiveness in promoting Organic Christianity. Most of the rituals, ceremonies, sacred instruments, and furniture are used during what is called the Order of Worship. This order of worship is the unbroken liturgy that 345 million Protestants around the world observe religiously week after week. Not all church services have all of these elements, but most have many of them.

The Roots of the Protestant Order of Worship has its basic roots in the Catholic Mass. The Order of Mass is based on the Missale Romanum (The Roman Missal, revised by Decree of the Second Vatican Council and published by authority of Pope Paul VI). The English translations of the prayers and responses given here are copyright 1970-1985 by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), and reprinted here with permission. The explanations printed in small italics are by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

The basic structure of the Mass has four parts: two main parts and two framing rites:

The Development of the Protestant Order of Worship Began with with Martin Luther. Martin Luther (1483-1546) and his Reform stands in history as one of those unique forces, an individual who by force of will and by his ideas changed the world fundamentally.

The right kind of evangelical order cannot be exhibited among all sorts of people, but those who are seriously determined to be Christians and confess the Gospel with hand and mouth, must enroll themselves by name and meet apart, in one house, for prayer, for reading, to baptize, to take the Sacrament, and exercise other Christian works. With such order it would be possible for those who did not behave in a Christian manner to be known, reproved, restored, or excluded, according to the rule of Christ (Matt. 18:15). Here also they could, in common, subscribe alms, which would be willingly given and distributed among the poor, according to the example of Paul (II Cor. 9:1-12). Here it would not be necessary to have much or fine singing. Here a short and simple way of baptism and the Sacrament could be practiced, and all would be according to the Word and in love. (Martin Luther: A Brief History of the Lord’s Recovery, which was authored by James Reetzke and published by Chicago Bibles and Books)

The German Mass and Order of Divine Service. The German Mass and Order of Divine Service, Jan. 1526, by Martin Luther, 1483-1546. Documents Illustrative of the Continental Reformation, from B.J. Kidd, ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911), pp. 193-202:

The Mass vestments, altars, and lights may be retained till such time as they shall all change of themselves, or it shall please us to change them: though, if any will take a different course in this matter, we shall not interfere. But in the true Mass, among sincere Christians, the altar should not be retained, and the priest should always turn himself towards the people as, without doubt, Christ did at the Last Supper. That, however, must bide its time. What follows is Luther's order of worship:

The Order of Worship:

Many others have contributed to the order of worship and the meaning of each of the elements. There was Zwingli, Calvin, the Puritans, Methodists, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, Billy Graham, and John Mott, to mention just a few. Even though Martin Luther and other reformers made changes to the Roman Catholic Church, they were simply making changes to the Inorganic Church. They never made the transformation from the Inorganic to the Organic.

Pews. When the Italian Christians walked into these shiny new buildings which were built in Rome and when the Greeks walked into the buildings in Constantinople, they discovered there was nowhere to sit down. The Italians dragged in three-legged stools and sat down! On the other hand, when the Christians in Constantinople walked into these shiny new buildings, something odd happened. Someone demanded that, out of respect for Christ, everyone should stand. (The name of the man who did this odd thing is lost to us.) No sitting. No stools. Stand! The result? Today the Eastern Orthodox churches still have no place to sit down in their churches ... despite the fact their Sunday ritual is two hours long! Unto this day they have no pews, and scarcely any windows. No wonder the devout Eastern Orthodox church did not grow like Roman Catholicism! (By the way, later the Roman Catholics replaced the three-legged stool with the bench.)

Just before the Protestant Reformation, someone figured out how to put a back on a bench. So was born both the chair and the bench with a back. The Protestants jumped on the idea, and so was born the Protestant pew. Grumblingly, the Catholics of Western Europe are gradually taking out the bench and putting in the pew. (In America, almost from the beginning, the Catholics capitulated to the pew, to compete with the Protestants.) It was not until the arrival of the enlightened minds of us twentieth-century evangelicals that we got really New Testament and put cushions on our pews. (This way we can at least be comfortable while being bored to death.) Pews were wooden seats or benches in the church. Pews only appeared at the end of the medieval period. Often pews had carved bench-ends and were carved with animal or foliage designs.

Pews and Status: From the 1600s through the mid 1800s, Churchgoers of most denominations were seated in their houses of worship according to social rank, whether by assignment or purchase. This expressed a nearly universal Christian perception of social rank as part of a divinely ordered hierarchy of creation. The highest ranking pews were close to the pulpit, the lowest furthest from the pulpit. Private pews gave rise to the practice of numbering pews for easy record keeping.

Some pews were set aside as general seating for special groups. Details varied according to town, location, date and circumstances. Variants included reserving seats for adolescents, the poor, widows, the hard-of-hearing, and black people.

These last were called Negro Pews. These pews were sometimes numbered, sometimes labelled "free" or "Negro."

Negro Pews in 19th Century America. In the USA there would also be pews for the use of black people (free or enslaved) and Native Americans. Often the Negro Pews would be in upper galleries, as far as possible from the pulpit. White people would be appointed to oversee or monitor them. Apparently slave owners had to purchase pew space for their slaves in their churches, just as they did for themselves. From the 1840s to the 1930s churches gradually shifted from private pews to free and open seating, giving rise to the term "free church". Old pew numbers and labels were usually left in place.

This transition occurred in a society that was increasingly democratic in its outlook toward white people, but remained racially segregated. The adoption of free seating must have placed black Americans in an ambivalent social position; especially where old "Negro" labels remained in place.

Pulpits(Ambones): Ambo: A word of Greek origin, supposed to signify a mountain or elevation; at least Innocent III so understood it, for in his work on the Mass (III, xxxiii), after speaking of the deacon ascending the ambo to read the Gospel, he quotes the following from Isaias (xl, 9): "Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength". And in the same connection lie also alludes to Our Blessed Lord preaching from a mountain: "He went up into a mountain--and opening his mouth he taught them" (Matthew 5:1, 2). An ambo is an elevated desk or pulpit from which in the early churches and basilicas the Gospel and Epistle were chanted or read, and all kinds of communications were made to the congregation; and sometimes the bishop preached from it, as in the case of St. John Chrysostom, who, Socrates says, was accustomed to mount the ambo to address the people, in order to be more distinctly heard (Eccl. Hist., VI, v).

Ambones are believed to have taken their origin from the raised platform from which the Jewish rabbis read the Scriptures to the people, and they were first introduced into churches during the fourth century, were in universal use by the ninth, reaching their full development and artistic beauty in the twelfth, and then gradually fell out of use, until in the fourteenth century, when they were largely superseded by pulpits.

With the beginning of the Middle Ages, the mention of the ambo becomes frequent. Among the services of Pope Sixtus III to the church, Platina notes that he adorned the ambo or suggestus in the Basilica Liberiana.

The early rule was to have only one ambo in each church, and this continued in the Middle Ages, except in the largest churches. Where there were two, they were placed one on each side against the columns dividing nave from aisles.

The Pulpit also known as an ambo was called a pulpitum by Cyprian. Pulpitum (Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin pulpitum, from Latin, wooden platform) means a raised place to which the lectors ascended to read to the people. Eusebius relates that Bishop Paul of Samosata erected both a "bema" and a lofty throne to speak from; and the context shows that he is not speaking of the semicircular apse, which was sometimes called "bema" also. So, according to Sozomen, John Chrysostom preached seated upon the platform (Gk. Bema) of the readers; and the same historian speaks of a grave placed "beneath the ambo," adding the definition "platform of the readers." Other expressions are analogius or analogium, suggestus, solea, pyrgus, and ostensorium.

With the Reformation the pulpit became the most conspicuous and important accessory in the Protestant church. Modern pulpits are, as a rule, of simple design.

Alters and Alter Rails: An altar in the Old Testament is a place where a sacrifice was slain. The OT foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus in the NT, so it seems to me that the only "altar" in the NT was the cross, upon which Jesus was slain. This, however, does not stop the very many institutional churches who put little padded benches up front and call them "altars." But, even if they are called "prayer benches," or something similar, they still reinforce the idea that there's something going on up front in front of the audience. And as I am sure you know, in the NT church there was no front and there was no audience. The altar is just one more piece of religious furniture that reinforces spectator Christianity, the kind that Watchman Nee said engendered "passivity and death."

The alter was the location where the bread and cup were placed. In the late 2nd century, the Supper had devolved from a full meal to a stylized ceremony called "Holy Communion." The cup and bread were seen as producing a sense of awe, dread, and mystery. The churches in the East even placed a canopy over the alter-table. In the 16th century, rails were placed on the alter-table. The rails signified that the alter-table was a holy object only to be handled by holy persons - i.e., the clergy (Edwin Hatch, The Growth of Church Institutions (Hodder and Stoughton, 1895, pp. 214-215).

Choirs: The leaders of the early Christian Church, guided by Old Testament precedent and New Testament admonition (e.g. Colossians iii.16 and James v.13), gave their general approval to the use of music in the services of the church; but although Christianity was a Jewish sect at its inception and therefore heir to the musical materials and practices of Judaism, it possessed during its earliest period neither the financial resources nor, since it was forced by persecution to conceal its activities, the physical facilities necessary for the development of a tradition of choir singing like that of the Jews. As a result of these circumstances the singing that flourished among the early Christians was largely congregational. Specific practices varied from place to place, but the activity of singing praise was common to Christians everywhere. 'The Greeks use Greek', reported Origen (c185--c254), 'the Romans Latin ... and everyone prays and sings praises to God as best he can in his mother tongue'.

The Christian choir first appeared in Christian buildings commissioned by Constantine. None existed before Constantine. As the church building fad moved across Europe, the choir became universal. Future choirs were patterned after the choir in Milan, Italy, circa 400 A.D. where the choir was perfected under the leadership of a bishop named Ambrose.

The roots of the choir are found in the pagan Greek temples and Greek dramas (H.W. Parke, The Oracles of Apollo in Asia Minor, Croomhelm, 1995, pp. 102-103).

Under Constantine's reign, choirs were developed and trained to help celebrate the Eucharist. The Catholic Church imported the custom of Imperial Roman, which began its imperial ceremonies with professional music (Will Durant, The Age of Faith (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1950), p. 1027).

Sermons: So central is the sermon that it is the very reason why most Christians "go to church." In fact, the entire service is typically judged by the quality of the sermon. For the typical Christian, the sermon is the chief means of spiritual sustenance. It has been the habit for decades to reserve Sunday lunches for "roasting" the preacher.

The Catholic Church imported the sermon straight from the pagan pool of Greek culture. In the fifth century B.C., the sophists recruited disciples and demanded payment for delivering their orations. They were expert debaters. They were masters at using emotional appeals, physical appearance, and cleaver language in their orations (Douglas J. Soccio, Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy (Belmont: ITP Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1998), pp. 56-57). The oratorical techniques were more important than the truth of the subject matter. They spoke mostly in the abstract rather than speaking the truths that they experienced in their own lives. Aristotle gave to rhetoric the three-point speech. "A whole must have a beginning, a middle, and an end" Aristotle, On Poetics, Chapter 7. Protestant preachers still use the same sermon techniques today.

In Antioch, Syria, circa 400 A.D., one of the great heathen orators of all time, John Chrysostom (golden mouth) became a believer. He brought his Aristotelian rhetoric/sermon skills into the Catholic Church. He also gave us the custom of the Sunday morning sermon, that is, the tradition of a Sunday oration being delivered by the same man, in the same place, at the same time, every Sunday. In Chrysostom, the Greek sermon reached its zenith, while in Augustine the Latin sermon style was emphasized.

Pulpit eloquence in the fourth and fifth centuries reached a high point in the Greek church, and is most worthily represented by Gregory Nazianzen and Chrysostom. But it also often degenerated there into artificial rhetoric, declamatory bombast, and theatrical acting. Hence the abuse of frequent clapping and acclamations of applause among the people. As at this day, so in that, many went to church not to worship God, but to hear a celebrated speaker, and left as soon as the sermon was done. The sermon, they said, we can hear only in the church, but we can pray as well at home. Chrysostom often raised his voice against this in Antioch and in Constantinople. The discourses of the most favorite preachers were often written down by stenographers and multiplied by manuscripts, sometimes with their permission, sometimes without.

In early Organic Christianity, many pagan orators were becoming "Christians". Unfortunately, some of these men became the theologians or the early Christian church. They became known as the "church fathers."

Funerals: The words Christian leaders use when preaching over the Christian dead at funerals are almost word for word the typical heathen orations given over the heathen dead (Music and Worship in Pagan & Christian Antiquity, pp. 162-168). In was the common practice of pagans in the Roman Empire to hire one of the town's eloquent professors to speak at the funeral of a loved one. He would say of the deceased, "He now lives among the gods, traversing the heavens and looking down on life below" (Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire: A.D. 100-400 (London: Yale University Press, 1984), pp. 11-13).

Both Roman betrothal practices and funeral processions were adapted and transformed into Christian "weddings" and "funerals" (Frank, Senn, Christian Worship and its Cultural Setting (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), p. 41).

Tertullian was opposed to the Christian funeral procession simply because it had a pagan origin.

PARTING THOUGHTS

So, now do you know the true definition of the "Inorganic Church?" Do you understand how early Organic Christianity became corrupted? Do you see that the corruption that led to the organized, institutional church and the corruption of Bible translations affects the theology, doctrine, and the form and function of your Christianity today? The only way you will know is to study the history of the church: the history of State Governments, Religious Institutions, the individual lives of brave Christians, who gave up their lives, and their impact on Christianity throughout the ages. If we base our faith and practice of Christianity on the New Testament, then we must examine the text of the New Testament to determine what it teaches about "Organic Christianity."

Do you know what Christians believed and practiced from 30 a.d. to 100 a.d.? The New Testament is the book to read that answers that question. We are writing a book entitled Christianity: The Early Years that uses the New Testament as the basis for not only what Christians believed and practiced during the 1st Century but also what Christians should believe and practice today. This book is scheduled for publication in October 2008.

Do you know the history of the Bible? In this book, we study the politico-religious history surrounding Christianity and the basis and history of the writing and translation of the New Testament.

In this book, we generally take a chronological approach to studying these topics. However, we cannot prevent some overlap when dealing with different subjects that cover centuries of time. In the following list of chapters, we indicate the time period covered and the subject matter studied in each of the chapters:

(250 BC - 50 BC) Chapter 3 - The Septuagint: Greek Translation of the Tanakh studies the translation of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language. It also deals with the translation of specific Hebrew words into the Greek that lays the foundation of an understanding of why the English word "church" was and is used to translate (ekklasía).

(60 AD - Present) Chapter 4 - The New Testament - The Official Canon: explains how the New Testament was written, including the order and purpose of each book and explores the debates and power struggles that lay behind the formation and acceptance of each book of the Old and New Testaments.

(100 AD - Present) Chapter 5 - Imperial Rome: The InOrganic Church Created: covers the interactions between State Governments and Religious Institutions in the development of theology, doctrine, sacred texts, and the form and function of the InOrganic Church.

(30 AD - Present) Chapter 6 - Persecutions: Organic Christianity Under Attack describes how State Governments and Religious Institutions treated Christians who chose to defy those State Governments and Religious Institutions: Christians who were martyred.

(350 AD - Present) Chapter 7 -Translations: The Struggle for Truth details the intrigue and conspiracies that have plagued the process of obtaining an accurate translation of the Bible: a plague that continues today.

(4000 BC - Present) Chapter 8 - Power and Control: The World's Organizations presents the history of chain-of-command and military, political, and corporate organization that are used in the Inorganic, organized, institutional church today.

1600 AD - Present) Chapter 9 - The Ekklasía: Organic Christianity Deceived is a word study of the Greek word (ekklasía). It describes the usage of ekklasía in the (1) translation of the Septuagint, (2) daily lives of Greeks and Romans, (3) text of the New Testament, (4) and translations throughout time.

SUMMARY

In order evaluate the "inorganic, institutional, organized church" today and to establish a "New Testament organic community" tomorrow, we must first know what changes were made to the form and function of early Christian faith and practice, the impact of intrigue and conspiracies of State Governments and Religious Institutions on Christian history, the contribution of faithful Christians who put their lives on the line for the truth, why the word "church" appears in the New Testament, and the true purpose of the Christian "assembly" or "congregation" in Scripture.

The contents of this web page are excerpted from chapter 1, The Corruption of Organic Christianity in the unpublished manuscript with the working title The Great Church Conspiracy.

© 2007 by Jerold L. Reed All Rights Reserved

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