THE DEGENERATION OF THE CHURCH
Just as mankind degenerated into ‘beasts’
with one sin, the church has degenerated into the Beast in thousands of years. Jesus
said to Peter about Himself, “Upon this Rock I will build my Church; and the
gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18).
Catholics say that the Church was
built on Peter (Greek; Petros) while the Church was really built on the
Rock (Petra). Language is awkward at times, Petros is not plural
but the root noun. Petra is the feminine form of masculine Petros.
The head of the Roman Catholic
Church is the ‘Pope,’ or ‘Papa’ (father). They claim that Peter was the first Pope,
or father of the Church.
The Church is feminine; Jesus
said, “The days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them,
and then shall they fast in those days” (Mark 2:20). The ‘Groom’ is taken to be
Jesus, as most theologians understand, and the ‘Bride’ the Church. Jesus asked,
“Can you make the children of the Bridechamber fast, while the Bridegroom is
with them?” (Luke 5:34).
The ‘Bridechamber’
would be the Invisible Church and the Bride, those who say they are ‘Brides.’
Of course, the parable of the brides has both brides that are ready and those
who think they are prepared for the wedding appropriately enough.
As the story goes,
many thought they were ‘brides’ but just a few were!
For the first
point, the ‘Bridegroom’ is the masculine head of the Church and it was not
Peter. How so? The ‘Brides’ are those waiting for Christ — Petra — the
feminine form for the ‘Rock.’ They are those who would be ‘married’ to Jesus.
Paul wrote
about spiritual marriage, “Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to
the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to Him
who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God” (Rom
7:4).
Jews were ‘married’
to the Law. Christians, according to Paul, are married to the One who died and
was raised from the dead. That ‘marriage,’ again according to Paul, “should
bring forth fruit unto God.”
I checked on
the meaning of marriage in that context. I was expecting to see something
associated with coupling! Not, so, the Greek word is ‘ginomai’ — “caused
to be regenerated”
Therefore, the ‘Bride’
— the Church — are of the gens of God just as Jesus is the ‘Son of God.’
Just as Adam shared his image, most assuredly his genes, that he received from
God, Paul meant by bringing our fruits to God that Christians are to share
their gens from their regeneration from Jesus.
To be blunt, it
was not by Paul’s marriage and semen that the Church was formed but the blood
and waters from the Belly of Jesus who sowed the Good Seed on Calvary. (Paul
was never married.)
So how about
the degeneration of the Church. It should be when the ginomai ceases.
Again, not to be nasty, but ginomai literally means “to come,” according
to linguist Justin J. Petrick. Therefore, marriage to Jesus means coming to Him,
not the other way around. In fact, all that the Greeks needed to do was
demonstrated when they said to Philip, “Sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21).
Of course, even
sinners could see Jesus and remain unscathed, but the Greeks were seeking to
see the Face of God that God had hidden from Moses. The Church, therefore, is a
multitude of people from all nations that see Jesus as the Face of God.
Those Greeks
saw Jesus as God and became part of the Church. The proof of their ‘regenesis’
is them bringing forth good fruit from God. How can a ‘bride’ of Christ
know that they are ‘married’ to Jesus, having become one with Him? Jesus revealed
how to know, “Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so,
shall you be my disciples” (John 15:8).
Jesus was
speaking of that ginomai from Him that we are to share with others. We are
to sow the seed that Jesus shared with mankind on the Cross. Disciples are not
only followers and learners but ‘spreaders’ of the ginomai. The Church
is built on spreading ginomai, and the material for the Church is “lively
stones” (1 Pet 2:5).
So, here is the
third type of ‘stone’ from the Greek — lithos, or small stones with
zoa — that are alive!
Think of a
lithograph. It is the image of a person or other object chemically reproduced
on stone. We know from scripture that graven images are not to be made,
(Exod 20:4). Lithography uses a greasy substance to draw objects on stone. They
are not engraved but parts of the surface of the stone become more susceptible
to ink than others. They are drawn, not by hands, but by the agency of God!
‘Lively stones’
would be those drawn by the Hand of God. The ‘stones’ would have God engraved into
their being; the lithos being the pebbles (Christians) on which they
plainly see the Face of God and see it is Jesus!
The Book of
Genesis is about God making two ‘lively stones’ (Lithos that have
come alive) and them soon degenerating. It continues with the progeny of those
two lively stones (images of God) becoming more and more depraved. Their
assignment was not to create anyone; God would do that, but only to spread the genes
of God to the little Lithos (Pebbles) that He would make.
Eve took it
upon herself to spread the ginomai of God and as a result the genetics
of God that she received from Adam spreading them, she decided to do herself
(Gen 4:1). In one generation, man had degenerated to a beast as Cain was of the
Wicked One (1 John 3:12).
With that
background it should be plain to see that things were made perfect, but
afterward all things degenerated in the world. Adam and his mate had a propensity
to sin, but God slowed it down with coats of skin (Gen 3:27). However, up until
the time of Jesus, the history or mankind was more and more degenerative.
Indeed, we have evolved, but according to the science, it would not be toward improvement
but chaos.
Since this is
getting lengthy, tomorrow I will continue with the degeneration of the Church and
begin with the seven churches of Asia.
No comments:
Post a Comment