At
the heart of the culture wars, especially the immigration debate, is the notion
that God has been on the side of “American Christians” since they bolted Europe
onto the shores of what we now call the United States of America
Reformed Christians had had enough of that Church and its collusion with the state, and were justified in leaving in hopes to practise religion without that organization’s persecution. Most religious scholars of that period knew that Church was not practicing biblical precepts as Luther and other great men of God rightly proved. Basically, the so-called Church was an off-shoot of
After
Constantine merged these two factions, the early leaders of the new religious
order usurped and enforced a man-contrived persecutory doctrine on the half Pagan,
half true believers and misinterpreted (or rather twisted) the scriptures to
infer that Jesus bestowed the leadership of the community of His true followers
on the Apostle Peter when he stated thusly in Matthew 16:17-20:
"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not
revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I
tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the
gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Religious
zealots have believed for centuries that (in these verses) Jesus was bestowing
the leadership of that (newly perceived religious) organization on the
shoulders of the Apostle Peter, who they claim was the first Pope of the now
powerful Catholic Church. This particular issue has caused a major chasm
between Catholics and Protestants and continues to this very day.
Now we have
one of two choices. The church is built upon Peter, or the church is build upon
Peter's confession, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Now the
Catholics assert that the church was built on Peter. There are problems with
this. Number one, Jesus said unto him, "Thou art Petra's", which in
the Greek is a little stone. And then He declared, "upon this
Petras", which is a giant stone, "I will build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The church was not build upon
the little stone, but upon the giant rock; "Thou art Petros", a
little stone, "upon this Petras".
This
is great exegesis, to say the least. However, an even more profound fact
besides Henry’s word comparison analysis (petras, petros) of Matthew 16:17-20,
is one key word in this group of scripture few ever have focused on. It is the verb build (to strengthen, embolden), as opposed to create! I wrote about this
profound fact in my book, The End Times
Passover (page 32), a clear Bible-based fact that relatively few
theologians have ever dealt with in their “Peter the Pope” debate that has torn
apart any hope for unity between Catholics and Protestants. This revelation is
actually a small and minor one that any student of the Greek language would be
able to understand, if only they would take the time to examine God’s words
more closely.
When Jesus told Peter that upon this rock I will build my church (Matthew 16:18), Christ was telling Peter that on
the Day of Pentecost, His already existing ecclesia
(a people called out) would receive
the edifying, strengthening and emboldening power from the Holy Spirit, in
order for His already existing ecclesia would possess the power it never had before, (see Luke 24:49; Joel 2:28; Ephesians
1:13). In Matthew 16:18, the word build
used by Jesus in this verse is the Greek verb oikodomeo, which means to strengthen,
edify, embolden. If Jesus wanted to
tell Peter He was going to create something new on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus
would have used the more appropriate word for creating a new religious entity,
which is the Greek verb ktizo, to create! Jesus was not saying He would be creating a
new religion (the so-called Christian Church); but, rather, He was telling
Peter that through Himself (the bigger rock) He would strengthen His already
existing assembly (ecclesia), this small remnant group of faith-believing
Israelites and Gentiles who are now following Him, (Luke 12:32).
How
does someone strengthen something that supposedly doesn’t already exist? If God’s ecclesia
(a people called out) didn’t already
exist before the outpouring of Holy Spirit-induced power, what was the Holy
Spirit giving strength to? God’s ecclesia
(a people called out) includes all of
His children of promise going back to faithful Abel and up to those who today
believe in the promised Messiah, who Himself surrendered His life so believers
could live for eternity with Him. Jesus was prophetically telling Peter that on
the Day of Pentecost, those true believers would receive power to fulfill His
mission of broadcasting His Good News to all mankind, not that Peter was going
to be a Pope. God’s true church cannot function without Holy Spirit power. Even
accomplished theologians and masters of varying philosophies since time
immemorial can never convey God’s truth to humanity unless they are imbued with
Holy Spirit power (1 Corinthians 2:14
But
yet that one issue (the Peter the Pope debate) alone keeps many beloved and
believing Catholics and Protestants at each others throats, preventing greater
unity among God’s children worldwide. The common believer, those who faithfully
kneel before God inside a Catholic cathedral in Rome or inside a modern glass
hewn edifice in Dallas, Texas, have been kept biblically in the dark for centuries, as their
leaders continue their contrived doctrinal battles, instead of teaching their
parishioners God’s truth.
And that truth cannot be discerned until both teacher and student have received this “power from on high!” Instead, those “competing” entities (Catholics and Protestants) adopt man made precepts as if they hold more biblical sway than the other, when in fact they are both wrong on so many fronts. Sadly, the American version of Christianity is in shambles, crumbling, destined to the dust heap of religiosity, along with those who chose not Jesus’ way, but to practise church their own fashion, to suit their own selfish needs.
A.W.
Tozer, one of America
Within the last quarter of a century we
have actually seen a major shift in the beliefs and practises of the
evangelical wing of the church so radical as to amount to a complete sellout;
and all this behind the cloak of fervent orthodoxy. With Bibles under their
arms and bundles of tracts in their pockets, religious persons now meet to
carry on "services" so carnal, so pagan, that they can hardly be
distinguished from the old vaudeville shows of earlier days. And for a preacher
or a writer to challenge this heresy is to invite ridicule and abuse from every
quarter, (Of God and Men, pg 16-18 by
A.W. Tozer)
Pastors and priests need to tell their flocks the truth, and not encourage and perpetuate mythologies to control their man-conceived religions. For example, the belief by the Catholic faithful in Mariology (reverence of Mary on an equal plane with God), confessions to a priest, repetitious prayers such as the Rosary, and lighting votive candles for the dead (among other man conceived traditions) are beliefs and practises that are not called for nor contained in the Bible any more than the belief by many Protestants that Jesus is planning to come down from heaven and secretly snatch born again Christians up to heaven seven years before His Parousia (return to earth), to avoid the so-called Great Tribulation. There is no Bible truth foundation, either, to support the evangelical Protestant doctrine that the cultic Zionism philosophy (which purports ethnic Jews and the land they currently control has been divinely promised to them) is biblically based, nor that today’s nation of ethnic Jews will soon rule the whole world from New Jerusalem.
Prior
to this rampant break from things that involved the true spirit of Jesus Christ
(who guides and directs His children of Promise to help the poor, widows and
orphans, the infirm and the homeless), throughout the remaining years, leading
up to the 16th century period when Reformist said, “Ya Basta,” the
then known Church had totally decimated any semblance of the true religion that
followers of Christ practiced and believed in. Through its manipulative
alteration of scripture and invoking a myriad of diabolical, ecclesial
distortions, some of which still exist today, the true disciples of Jesus
Christ, His children of promise, those who are prepared to surrender everything
they have (family, jobs, homes), ready to pick up their cross and follow Him, have
been replaced with an American version of Christianity that belies everything
Christ represents. If this angers you, instead of hanging your head in shame,
then your belief system needs to be questioned and challenged! Keep reading; it
gets worse!
First
of all, one can’t really blame the Puritans for leaving their European
homelands to escape the painful rule and control by the religion-state
cabbalistic elites. But two wrongs don’t make a right! From
the outset, those Puritans who landed on Plymouth Rock got it all wrong;
firstly, by believing the Manifest
Destiny concoction that they were the
“New Israel!” Even though that concept had not been coined yet, the emerging American
church viewed itself as the modern Israel
and assumed its perceived role as inheritors of the proverbial Promised Land,
New Jerusalem USA
Sadly the mostly pious Puritans viewed
themselves as better than any other peoples in the then known world, and proved
so in their dealings with Native Americans, whom they called heathens. Early
explorers such as Columbus
Throughout
America
And
now, as the immigration reform debate becomes more heated as never before, the nativists’
reactions scream louder than the atomic bombs we dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki America
Sad!
So sad! Not for those Americans who feel their “culture” is being threatened by
Liberals and the so-called “Reconquista” cabal (as the Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan,
Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh led mantra festers); but sad because those who claim
to be “good American Christians” have no idea what has happened to what they
believed was their ideal of Christianity. They have co-mingled Christianity and
Americanism in such a distorted manner that no true believer of Jesus Christ
can recognize! The once patriotic tunes written by American heroes such as Francis Scott Key, Sabine-Baring-Gould and Arthur Sullivan
have morphed into the background music of the “Friday the 13th” movie!
Sadly,
the existent cultural view of American Christianity was based on how our
forefathers practiced religion to begin with. Their version of American Christianity
has always been a “holier than thou” and “let’s see how many folks we can
convert” to swell up our respective ranks. Let’s see how big we can build our “true”
churches. And then, once we build them to heights unimagined, let’s see how we
can control the government and mandate that all people in America
That
version of America Christianity has been doing that ever since it landed on
American shores. It has built huge, giant mega-churches, crystal cathedrals,
some of the biggest and most beautiful edifices this side of ancient Rome US
Well,
folks, the questions beg to be asked! What happened to listening to what the
Holy Spirit wanted us to do? What happened to turning the other cheek? What
happened to picking up our crosses and following Christ, ready, willing and
able to die for Him as He did for us, in order that he may be glorified and get
all the credit due Him for paying such a heavy price for our salvation? What happened
to praying for the needy, the sick, the infirm, helping the widows and orphans
and the aliens amongst our midst, as Christ told us was true religion? Instead,
the churches then and the churches today have become smug, self-righteous, and
holier than thou, vindictive, mean-spirited; full of pride, just like the “church”
the Puritans fled from over 300 years ago!
Matthew Henry, once
again, sums it up best:
“It
is here plainly and peremptorily declared wherein true religion consists: Pure
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
(1.)
It is the glory of religion to be pure and undefiled; not mixed with the
inventions of men or with the corruption of the world. False religions may
be known by their impurity and uncharitableness; according to that of John, He
that doeth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loves not his
brother, (1 John 3:10) But, on the other hand, a holy life
and a charitable heart show a true religion. Our religion is not adorned
with ceremonies, but purity and charity. And it is a good observation of
his that a religion which is pure should be kept undefiled.
(2.)
That religion is pure and undefiled which is so before God and the Father. That
is right which is so in God’s eye, and which chiefly aims at his approbation.
True religion teaches us to do every thing as in the presence of God; and to
seek his favor, and study to please him in all our actions.
(3.)
Compassion and charity to the poor and distressed from a very great and
necessary part of true religion: Visiting the fatherless and widow in their
affliction. Visiting is here put for all manner of relief which we are capable
of giving to others; and fatherless and widows are here particularly mentioned,
because they are generally most apt to be neglected or oppressed: but by them we are to understand all who are
proper objects of charity, all who are in affliction. It is very remarkable that the sum of religion be
drawn up to two articles: it is to be
charitable and to relieve the
afflicted,” (Matthew Henry Commentary on James 1:26-27)
There is no more afflicted person than one who is
scorned, maligned, mistreated, and rejected (especially by those who call
themselves American Christians), solely because economic conditions in Third
World countries have forced the poor to seek work (wherever) to feed their families
and their children.
God’s true disciples (not the American version) are
hereby those whom Jesus uses, not the government, but His ecclesia, a people called out,
to be the charitable ones, and those who will bring relief to the afflicted!
-30-
Joe Ortiz is the author of two books that challenge the Left
Behind and Pre-Tribulation Rapture, and premillennial dispensational
precepts and doctrines being promoted by many right-wing evangelicals. The two
books include The End Times Passover (Etymological Challenges to
Millenarian Doctrines) and Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation
(The Sequel to The End Times Passover), published by Author House Publishers. The former talk show host, journalist and
news columnist is the first Mexican American to host a show on an
English-language, commercial radio station, beginning in 1971 at KABC-AM Radio
in Los Angeles
Blog addresses:
Web sites:
· Joe
Ortiz Associates Web site for Joe Ortiz
Associates, a full service public relations company
· The End
Times Passover Web site to discuss end times topics
and to promote books written by Joe Ortiz
· Tom
Flores NFL USA This is the new and
official site of the Tom Flores Fan Club, managed by Joe Ortiz, fan club
President.
2 comments:
1.
2.
AnonymousJune 29, 2013 at 9:37 PM
Real truth - as found in the above article and the Bible - brings about far more conviction than falsehood. Thanks for bringing us all to our knees. Johnny
On the other hand, I agree wholeheartedly that "The Church", Christianity and religion itself (regardless of what religion that may be) has been usurped throughout history by men driven by lust for power and wealth...quite successfully. The author's perspective of American history is quite accurate and painful, especially for those of us, Native, Mexican and Black, who were the historical victims of their corruption. I agree that this corruption continues and is even now being used to oppress and victimize those who do not fit the template of what they believe is the "face" of America.
Perhaps it's time, as the author suggests, for Christianity to investigate itself and its motives. Perhaps it's time for Christianity and all religion, as they exist now, to come to an end. Instead, let people read the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud, The Popul Vuh, the writings of the Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tse and find that ultimately they and we all have one basic Truth in common...we are creations of God and are One with that Creative Energy. When we understand that, we can let go of our illusion of separateness from God and from each other and create this world as it is intended to be...filled with love and understanding for one another and with joy and gratitude for the blessing of life we've been given.