Church Means Community
Pastor Jerry Wilhite,
Author
The word church does not exist in the Greek writings. The actual word would be community. The reason for the importance of the word is twofold. One is that church has become overused and lost its meaning. The other is that Jesus never said church; He said community. Let me start with the fact that Satan has had a huge
jump on us in his knowledge, attacks, and how to deceive and mislead
us. What is sad is that Satan does not have to do much himself. He
finds one here and one there to do his work for him. The True Church Matthew 16 15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. 18. 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. In the Latin Vulgate and all other translations the word in verse 18 "Peter" is "Petros" in Greek. Petros
means "a piece of the rock". Yes if a person is named Petros, the
translation is Peter, but reread verse 16 and even before how Simon was
already called Peter. So why would Jesus mean Peter instead of a piece of the rock
in verse 18? Also the word "rock" is "petra", or "bedrock". That means
he is referring to the mass of rock of which Simon is a piece. Now read the verse with a piece of the rock instead of Peter. 18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art a
piece of the rock, and upon this bedrock I will build my church; and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Why was it changed to Peter? The pope is supposed to
be directly linked to Peter via the laying on of hands from one person
to the next, or figuratively "wearing the shoes of the fisherman,
Peter". As such the pope is the head man of God that is everyone's
spiritual father. The Catholic Church needed a way to justify this and
what better to do that than making Peter the church? The truth is you and I (the individual) comprise the
church, not a building, or denomination, or non-denomination. The
person that has had a revelation from God regarding who Jesus is as the
Son of God and the Christ is part of the church. Look at what Jesus said when Peter said, "You are the Christ." "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven." Not flesh and blood, but of the Father, of course that is God,
and God is a Spirit. The only way to have this revelation is to be of
the Spirit and hearing from God. Being of the church is having revelation knowledge
from God of whom Jesus is as the Christ and the Son. This is not
knowledge that can be read or taught by man, but by God and God alone. Matthew 16 Jesus even charged them not to reveal that he was Jesus the Christ, because that would be only head knowledge. The problem is so many know of the word, know of God; they read the word and attend church, but they never have come to truly know the Lord in a one on one relationship. John 14 26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you. So many believe that the above verse was only for
the apostles that lived back then and not for us today. If that were
true then even salvation would be for those living then and not today.
The word is given to us to learn the way to God, not man. Satan knew
this and as early as the first year of the community; it became divided
due to fear. Remember fear is Satan's form of faith and once he has
someone in fear he has won. Acts 5 11. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. 12. And by the hands of the apostles
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were
all with one accord in Solomon's porch. 13. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. Satan had the community in two groups; one that was
of salvation, community and Christ, and the other that, out of fear,
would go no further than the community. Paul even ran into a problem of division of the community. 1 Corinthians 1 11. For it hath been declared unto me of
you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there
are contentions among you. 12. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? In verse 12 above replace Paul, Apollos and Cephas with the name of a church today. 1 John 3 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. The world did not know them because they did not
know the Lord. The idea is that when one is of Christ so much becomes
clear that was not before and only those of Christ can know what they
know and understand. 1 Corinthians 1 24. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. I know some of you are thinking this is nuts, but I
tell you if you want to truly know the truth you first have to get to
know God, not know of Him, but actually know Him. Matthew 7 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have
cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. How is it that anyone could do all that Jesus tells
in verse 22 and then have Him call them workers of evil and to depart?
He said it, "I never knew you." He never knew them He knew of them, but He never actually knew them personally. He was waiting on them, but they were too busy doing what they thought was His work to get to know Him. Revelation 3 20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me. 21. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set
down with my Father in his throne. 22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He is at the door, standing, knocking, and waiting for any to open it and invite Him in. So few actually do. Matthew 7 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide
is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many there be which go in thereat: 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now the above verses are about all who are seeking
Him because He warns of false prophets, which, by the way, are false
teachers, prophets, and leaders. In our history we forget that: first the apostles
did not have the New Testament, they were writing it; second that
within a few hundred years it would be regulated to be read by priests
only and no one lower than a priest up could even possess a Bible. Satan has gotten into and diverted the
church/community in other ways. First in the third century Rome (which
at the time controlled most of the known world) had made a law that all
Romans were Christians. It became the first state run church. In time
it was run by non-believers who lied (about being believers) to gain
power, wealth, etc. During this time we had the "Dark Ages", "Middle
Ages", "Medieval Times", Crusades, inquisition, etc. Shall I go on? I
think you get the idea. Then in the sixteenth century one of the church’s
own monks (Martin Luther) translated two of the forbidden books and
broke away from the church; actually he was excommunicated. Over the
centuries to come all churches that followed were based on the same
idea of what a church was to be and as far as man's church maybe they
were right. Jesus’ community was to consist of believers like
the apostles who took His teachings (which they got via the Holy
Spirit) to the world. They would gather often and share with each other
all the wonders and blessings of God. They would edify each other,
uplift each other, and share all. This was their way of gathering as
churches do once or twice a week now, except they did it more often. In Revelation 2-3 Jesus tells us that out of
the seven churches (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hindu, True
Community, etc) that only one was of Him; the rest were not. He
describes how they fell away and into other beliefs and teachings that
over time became less and less of Him and more and more of something
else. Do not believe that He meant Christianity.
Christianity is a word man came up with to describe those who were like
Christ in all ways, not just a believer. The truth is out there, but Satan is doing all he
can to keep it from you, and he has only one weapon–thoughts– yours and
the thoughts of all men and women. Satan forces his thoughts on us; he
picks those he can reach the most with to plant his lies into to keep
all from knowing the truth. The truth can only be found in the Spirit
from God. 2 Corinthians 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; Paul knew this and tried to warn us, that if we did
not cast down every thought, idea, and imagination that went against
the knowledge of God and take the rest into captivity to the obedience
of Christ we would be deceived and be misled. John 3 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. 4. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man
be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's
womb, and be born? 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Satan has lied and gotten us to believe lies about
being born again, baptism of water over spirit, etc. Being born again
and baptized in the Spirit is not just something we need to do, we
should do it. If we want to enter His kingdom we must. Matthew 3 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes
I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and
with fire: There are many verses on baptism of the Spirit and
after Acts none to talk about on water. Most in Acts were still using
water baptism because they had not heard of any other baptism. If you want to know the truth and not depend on man for it, but truly know it, seek God, hear from and listen to Him. It is sad so many believe we can talk to Him, but He can not talk to us. Do you wonder where that lie came from?
What scares Satan more than anything else is your actually hearing from
God because then Satan knows he has lost you for good…literally.