There is no such thing as “Church.”

I mean it. The Church, as you understand the term, does not exist. It never has. The idea of Church that you’ve been raised to believe in is, beyond all argument, the greatest lie the devil ever pulled off.

I want to make this absolutely clear… I’m not just saying that false Churches are bad. Of course they are, everyone knows that. No, I’m saying the very idea of Church is bad. That there is no such thing as a true Church, nor did God ever intend for such a thing to have existed.

Surely, by now you’re objecting that the NT is full of “Church,” almost always in a positive light. But the fact is, the word “Church” does not appear in the New Testament at all. Not in a form you would recognize, anyway.

Oh, I know, the English word “church” appears in your English Bible. And the English word “church” does indeed mean what you think it means – “a temple/house/holy building of God,” where people assemble with their peers to worship. So that much is true.

Our word church evolved from earlier Germanic kirche and ultimately derived from the Greek kyriakon which meant “the Lord’s [place],” literally, “place belonging to the Lord”; thus the implication was of the temple or house of a deity; a building where the God(ess) dwells and his/her worshipers gather to worship him/her. A temple, in other words.

So, this is what the English word Church literally means – “place of the Lord.” And yet that is not what the original Greek word translated as “church” means! When you see the English word “Church” in your Bible, it does not come from the Greek word kyriakon, as you might think, nor from naos (Jewish temple holy place), eidoleion (house of idols), or heiron (sacred place, temple). All of which might be fair translations into the English “Church.”

No, instead, “Church” is grossly mistranslated from a different Greek word: ekklesia! And this word does not mean “place of God,” “temple of the Lord,” or things belonging to the Lord! In short, this word does not mean Church!

Ekklesia has a very different meaning: “a calling out”; formed, as Greek works often are, from two other words, “ek” (think our prefix “ex-”) and “kaleo” (think the English word “call,” its relative); so ek means “out of,” and kaleo means “to call.” Hence, “a calling out,” or “called out people.”

Thus, the people “called” to the wedding in Matthew 22 were “ek-kaleo,” called out of their houses; called away from their routine. Not formed into a Church, however! Most people who know anything about their Bibles know this word means this, yet they persist in applying it to a Church which is dead wrong.

You might as well translate “apple” as “orange.” The two things are just not the same at all! This is a simple Greek noun, and has no particular connection with anything holy or religious, especially not a building or PLACE that’s holy!

It simply means “the people who were called out [of something]!” It is wrong, borderline criminally wrong, to equate this word with “temple,” “place,” or “Church of God!”

THE SIMPLE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE

God did not write the Bible to scholars. The words He used were, for the most part, simple verbs and nouns that anyone could understand – it was written, after all, to the foolish and poorly educated (1 Corinthians 1:17-29), so that even children could understand (Luke 10:21)… often when the adults couldn’t (Mark 10:15).

I say this, because most of the disagreements and misunderstandings in Christianity today are because people took a simple Greek or Hebrew word, stirred their dogma into it and gave it a special, pseudo-sacred meaning it did not have when it was written!

Now if I told you “Hey, I called some people over for dinner,” are they a Church? Are they a temple of God? Of course not. They’re just people I, y’know… called. Why can’t people just treat God’s words as simply as that?

I want you to think about that when you read 1 Corinthians 1:2. Try very hard not to think of the word “church” as a “Church,” because it isn’t a building, it isn’t a temple, it isn’t a group of men with shared beliefs under a certain leader, and it most definitely is not a group of saints all headed to the first resurrection.

In fact, it isn’t a corporate structure of any kind. It isn’t a group of people who believe the same thing, or worship the same God. It isn’t a congregation that meets on Saturday, it isn’t a flock of believers, it isn’t a group of people at all, necessarily! For the church is composed of all the individual people, everywhere, whom God ever called – as it plainly says in that same verse!

The ekklesia is all people whom God has called. That is the only, single, solitary thing they have in common. Not location, faith, leaders, quality, nothing but the fact that Jesus said to them “come,” and “called them out.” But out of what? John 15:19, John 17:16.

Now that is a very clear and simple meaning; in the Biblical sense, the ekklesia of God is every person Jesus calls out of the world to follow God. No more, no less. I say “no more,” because it pointedly does not necessarily mean saints destined for the first resurrection.

Many were called; few are chosen. Fewer still remain faithful (Matthew 22:14, Revelation 17:14). Yet all three of these groups are STILL part of the ekklesia! Because all of them have, at one point, been called, which is ALL THE WORD MEANS!!

Now try and read Matthew 16:18 without projecting meaning onto the word that isn’t there. Try to imagine hearing this in Greek, with no preconceptions about ekklesia, when it still simply meant “called out people.” If you do that, what you would hear when Jesus spoke was “I will build my called-out ones.”

If you had read this in Greek in the first century, you would not have imagined a Church with a cross on top, or a group of people on Earth who share beliefs or follow a certain man! Because all Jesus said was that He would call people out of the world to be His, and that the grave would not be able to hold them, just as it couldn’t hold Him! (Acts 2:24).

This requires a dramatic revision in the way you look at every single mention of the word “church” in the Bible, for they are all mistranslated. And that is so damaging because the word conveys the idea to us, today, of a herd of true believers. And there is no such thing! There never has been! In fact, it’s precisely the opposite – for God calls you OUT of the Churches to follow Him!

So the great irony is…
…that what you think a Church is…
…not only is it not that, but what you think a Church is…
…is precisely what God calls you OUT OF to make you a part of the ekklesia!

THE GREEK ASSEMBLY

Paul often addressed letters to groups like the “Church at Corinth” (1 Corinthians 1:2, Acts 8:1, Romans 16:1, etc.). If we read that for what God actually said, it means the letter was addressed to the called out ones who happen to be in Corinth, or Asia, or Rome, etc.

These are not different Churches, each with their own set of beliefs, leaders, and buildings; rather, they are individual souls who were called by God out of the Churches of the world (and in this I include all Churches, trinitarian and sabbath-keeping alike).

So when you read Philippians 3:6, instead of imagining Paul persecuting a Church, with an apostle, deacons, board of elders, bank account, building, statement of beliefs, and so on, read this the simpler way, as any Greek would have: “concerning zeal, persecuting the people whom God had called.”

There is no reason we need to project our idea of a Church on that verse; anywhere, and everywhere, that Paul found people preaching Jesus, Paul persecuted them! Calling them “the Church” has a meaning to us that it simply didn’t have to God and wasn’t what the inspired Greek word meant!

Now, if you show all this to an educated Church-goer, or do some research on your own, you’ll find that people know the word ekklesia doesn’t mean Church. But they will defend it, saying that the Greeks used the word to refer to an assembly of people – thus, “why not apply it to the weekly worship at Church?,” they’ll say.

And this is true, the Greeks did use this word to refer to gatherings – for it is natural to associate the word meaning “a calling out” with a group of people thus called. The Greeks had done this in Acts 19:25-41; in this chapter, the word “assembly” is actually from ekklesia – a gathering, done after they were called in verse 25.

Surely this isn’t a Church in the modern sense – it was a lawless mob, gathered together by rumor and selfishness and powered by fear and superstition. You know, now that I think about it, this is a Church in the modern sense!

Just kidding. Well, not really. Anyway, they’re exactly right: those who are called by Christ are supposed to be gathered together in an assembly… but Church is not that assembly! Nor are they all gathered weekly, on the Sabbath day!

EARTHLY EKKLESIA

Remember, ekklesia is everyone who has ever been called; many of those people got tired and quit; (“fell by the wayside”). Many others got bitter, and started robbing or misleading other travelers along the way; some faked their way into being called in the first place (tares).

Some even began assembling groups of once-called people and thrusting out the true believers (Diotrephes, 3 John 1:10). Yet every one of these people remains part of those called on the Earth! Their failure to finish their course does not make their calling invalid!

Calling is without repentance (Romans 11:29), a poor translation that just means “God won’t retract it”; once called is always called. But to receive the prize, you must reach the finish line of that calling! (Philippians 3:14). So the most apostate Christian in history is still part of the ekklesia… on Earth.

But where is God’s one-and-only-true ekklesia? The one you’ve been searching for for oh, so many years?? (and have, most likely, been sure you’d found several times)? Hebrews 12:23. It’s in heaven! Or rather, it will be once everyone gets there! John 6:37-45.

In case Jesus didn’t mention it often enough, “the last day” is when that happens. Not every day, nor every week; they are gathered at His return, when all those among the ekklesia who were capable of walking in His footsteps finally arrive at their destination and become an ekklesia… an assembly… in HEAVEN!

Your Church is not that ekklesia, not that assembly of saints. Moses being read in a synagogue on the Sabbath was not that assembly. Jesus speaking on the mount wasn’t even that assembly! No, the true ekklesia of the firstborn is every single person who has ever lived who has their name written in the book of life in heaven!

And the first time in HISTORY that they will EVER be gathered together into one place is when they finally arrive at the event THEY WERE CALLED TO ATTEND! The wedding supper in heaven! (Matthew 22:1-14, Revelation 19:6-9).

And in that ekklesia there will be no tares, no fearful, no faithless, no backbiters, none like Esau, no dogs, none who “love and make a lie.” But in this ekklesia on Earth those things are very much present because we are in the process of proving whether we deserve to be there or not (2 Peter 1:10).

The calling itself proves… nothing. MANY are called, after all. And many of those called do not belong in the ekklesia in heaven. Which is why those who give up on their journey, but don’t want to admit they’ve quit… form, join, and/or attend… Churches.

THE “TRUE” CHURCH

And yet… God does indeed have a Church on this Earth: you (1 Corinthians 6:19). Not your Church! No Church congregation is a house of God. Because “house of God” means, roughly, “container in which God dwells.”

And your congregation does not have the holy spirit living in it because no congregation today does! MOSES’ congregation did (Exodus 25:8). Because Moses’ congregation was Old Covenant! The holy spirit dwelt among them, but should have been in them, as it should be in us (John 14:17).

Which is why there is no temple where God dwells in today, no holy place within each congregation where God sits to judge the people because He doesn’t need to – He sits in your mind, in the only true CHURCH, the only true house of God on this Earth… you!

The temple of God today is not your Church, not your group, not your congregation, it’s you. The world, Sabbath-keeping and otherwise, accuses me of not going to Church, as they will you. And they’re absolutely right. You and I don’t go to Church. We don’t need to… because you and I ARE the Church! (At least, should be).

We are not merely the ekklesia… for if you are called by God and chosen, you are the actual meaning of the English word “Church:” you are the temple of God, the house of God, the place belonging to God (verses 15-20). Not collectively, as they believe they are; but separately.

You and I are each, individually, potential houses for God’s spirit. Unfinished houses, to be sure… but we need not visit a temple where God dwells for two hours each week, for God dwells in us DAILY. Why would you need a different, VASTLY inferior, human… Church?

Can you see now why God would be offended when you go seeking another house where He supposedly dwells, desperately searching for a Church that supposedly has His spirit dwelling among them, where the preacher talks to God for them (Deuteronomy 5:17)… when He’s already trying to dwell inside of you? (Romans 10:6-8).

Now to be clear, no it’s not forbidden to gather together with people who are also seeking the truth… but nor is it commanded for the NC ekklesia. Sure, there’s a time and place for it, and sure it can be a good thing (Malachi 3:16). And sure, doing it on the Sabbath makes sense, since you can’t work then.

No, that’s all fine… the great deception comes when you label such gatherings Churches, houses of God, bodies of Christ – for as I said… there is no such thing as a Church of God on this Earth, as you had understood the term.

The evil comes when you create ritual and pomp and ceremony around a simple day of rest; when you have sermonettes and sermons to bore a sleepy audience back into oblivion; when you sing boring, depressing songs off-key and think God loves your “joyful noise.” These are the evil things.

That’s why these are the things God addressed, quite clearly, in Isaiah 1:12-17. Who has required this at your hand? When did God ever command Church, as you’ve seen it practiced? (And probably, practiced it yourself.)

Surely this was not a commandment from God… for your calling of solemn assemblies on the Sabbath days are a stench in God’s nostrils.

And so I boldly say that anyone who doesn’t hate Church is probably not part of the ekklesia.

Now there’s an irony for you.

THE ANTI-CHURCH

You’re probably furious by now, but if you’re thinking “well, I can see how that makes sense but what about apostles, elders, deacons, ministers, prayerbaptismrepentancefellowshipholysacredtogethertime…” Whoa, slow down!!

Those questions are fair and need answered; but men have spent 2,000 years creating a paradigm, a lens through which verses in the Bible are seen. It’s gonna take a lot more than this article to unravel all of that and change your perspective.

Many years back when I was still trying to make Church make sense, I marveled that there was so little about Church services in the Bible; it took such wishing to read “Church service” into Acts 16:13, for instance, or John 20:19. It’s possible… but it’s a stretch and we all know it.

And even if we accept them as “services,” there is no mention of songs, opening/closing prayers, announcements, sermonettes, and so on. Why not? Where was our guidance on how to do this? I mean 1 Corinthians 14 is more a list of “don’ts” than “dos.”

Why was God so sparing with His instruction on something so central to Christianity? And then I finally realized the obvious… there was no example of a Church in the modern sense in the Bible… because the entire idea of Church wasn’t Biblical at all.

What we call Church today is just Protestant formality transferred to Sabbath day observance. And that Protestant formality was just a sanitized version of Catholic mass, with some portion of the idolatry cut out. And that, in turn, was just a Christianization of the pre-Christian sun-temple with its chanting and sacrificing and idols and prostitution.

So what is actually in the Bible, when it comes to passing on the gospel to others? Surely it takes more than saying “Repent!” or “Jesus is Lord!” and hearing “Ok!” to consider your job done. It takes a lot of study, training, correcting, to take anyone, however well intentioned, and make them into a child of God.

Let’s think about that for a second; Christians are supposedly children of God. Therefore, newly converted Christians are metaphorically newborns. And any parent who left their babes to their own devices for a week at a time, with a 2 hour visit from a babysitter, would be arrested and imprisoned for negligence. And yet that’s exactly what Church is.

Children, particularly the youngest children, require absolutely constant care. Church is not capable of providing that; one pastor can’t do that for 50 children, any more than one parent can do that for 50 children. Even Jesus maxed out at twelve, and was regularly frustrated and stressed even with that!

If you don’t believe in this principle, compare the stress and workload on the parents of 2, 6, and 12 children. Then compare how well clothed, fed, educated and happy the children of the different houses are – all things being equal.

Then imagine doing it with 50 or 1,000 children. That’s Church; and people are somehow surprised that it doesn’t produce great results??

Indeed, if God were the grossly negligent parent He would have to be if Church were what He intended – even the most ideal and well-led of Churches – then He would be, by His own words, worse than an infidel! (1 Timothy 5:8).

THE PERFECT EXAMPLE

Obviously, God is not an infidel, the problem is with the babysitters themselves (Isaiah 56:10-11, Ezekiel 34, Matthew 21:33-45). Just consider these examples; can a shepherd check in on his flock once a week for 2 hours? Or even twice a week, with a Wednesday night study? Or even once or twice daily, with mass?

Surely the flock would be scattered, eaten by wolves, stolen by thieves, if the shepherd were not in constant present attention, day and night, sleeping and living with the flock! Well, God’s metaphors are perfect so you have your answer right there.

So let’s look at how God intended for us to learn the truth if not from a dull sermon 2 hours a week. This is gonna be very, very easy and very, very hard at the same time, so hang on. How did Jesus teach the truth to the saints?

He didn’t do it in synagogues (ok, one time, but that was just to prove a point and fulfill a verse). He didn’t do it by regular weekly sermons (the “sermon” in the mount was never called a sermon – the word “sermon” does not appear in the Bible, in fact – and there is nothing like what we call a regular Church service in that passage).

So again… how did Jesus pass on the truth to the next generation of believers? By following the instructions Moses gave us all! Deuteronomy 6:4-9, in particular verse 7:

Deuteronomy 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Jesus called twelve disciples to follow Him. Actually no, that’s not true. He called many people… but chose twelve disciples to follow Him (Luke 6:13). And they were with Him everywhere. In the boat, in the city, in the town; sure, He’d send them on errands now and then but otherwise they followed Him EVERYWHERE (Luke 18:28).

I mean… they had no other choice because they had left everything else behind! So when Jesus woke up, the disciples were there to see what He did in the morning; how, if, and what He prayed; they were there to see if He brushed his teeth or not; then they were there when He talked to people, healed people, yelled at people.

They were there when He went to sleep at night; they watched what He ate and how; they were with Him when things were scary, like in the storm; and when things were exciting, like on the mount of transfiguration. They fully knew everything about His life.

And Jesus spoke to them about the truth whenever an interesting topic came up (fig tree, harlot, hungry people, leaven, taxes, spikenard, etc.). He didn’t lecture them for an hour or two a week. Their WHOLE life was learning His way of life in person FROM A PERSON.

The offerings He received fed them; the donations they got clothed them. Not necessarily well – but their sole function, as His disciples, was to do what they were told and listen to what He had to teach. Likewise, their sole worry as His disciples was to do what they were told and to remember what He had to teach.

This was our perfect example. Why has no one ever done this since?

Trick question! EVERY true Christian has done this since.

Everyone else formed a Church, like the lazy dogs and blind shepherds they were.

THE CHURCH OF THE NARROW WAY

When Jesus said “I will build my ekklesia,” men said “Right! You’ll build a temple that we can worship at!” But that’s not what Jesus said! Remember, He had already had Moses, and then Solomon, build Him a temple, and it hadn’t made the people who visited it perfect! (Hebrews 9:9)

He wasn’t building a new kuriakon, He was building an ekklesia! (Which I can’t stress enough, is what He said He was building – an ekklesia not a Church!). He was not gathering a group of people to live among, but a large number of scattered individuals to live within, ones who would follow Him wherever He went! (Revelation 14:4).

And these people who follow Christ – (NOT “these Church members”) will all be walking on the straight and narrow way behind the same Jesus wherever they may be! (Matthew 7:14). But let’s dive into this parable… remember, “the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

So imagine this “narrow way” we must walk along, hemmed in by thick jungle or sheer drop-offs on each side. It is on this trail that Jesus’ “true Church” (ugh, obedient ekklesia) walks. Now imagine fitting a large group of people on such a trail… how would that work?

They’d jostle each other, and all would fall off! Which is exactly what happens when men form a Church! Because you can’t fit a CHURCH onto a narrow path! The only way to walk with a CHURCH is to walk on the only path that can FIT a herd of people… the wide and broad road!

Only a long row of independent people walking in the single pair of footprints that Jesus left can fit on that path! (1 Peter 2:21). Does that mean you’re destined to walk alone? Absolutely not. Remember: think the metaphor through. It’s perfect. God didn’t miss a single aspect of it, so if you truly understand the parable, all the answers you need are contained in it.

Let’s say you’re walking along this narrow trail along the edge of a cliff; you can’t fit a Church there, but you can, maybe, fit a couple of people there. In particular, you can see the person in front of you, and the person behind you.

Your Master; and your disciples.

MAKE DISCIPLES

Jesus had spent 4 years teaching His disciples a way of life through constant attention, discussion, and challenges; then the world imagines that He suddenly one day up and said “Ok. I’m done, you’re finished, now go start a Church and teach people in a completely new and untested manner that you’ve never done before!”

But in fact, that’s not what He said at all.

John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: AS my Father hath sent me, EVEN SO send I you.

Now when His Father sent Him, Jesus came and called disciples. So here, Jesus said He was sending His own disciples (which made them apostles, “ones sent”), to call other disciples whom they would teach, following the example He gave them… exactly as He taught them!

Matthew 28:19 (BBE) Go then, and MAKE DISCIPLES of all the nations…

Which was WHY He had been teaching them that way!! To prepare them for the job He gave them, making them “fishers of men!” He said go make disciples in my name (in His place), and teach them exactly as I’ve taught you, and exactly WHAT I’ve taught you!

So why has anyone ever done anything BUT that? Why am I having to even SAY THIS??

Jesus fulfilled the command of Moses in Deuteronomy 6:7 to teach His metaphorical “children” (John 13:33) the things He knew about their mutual Father “by the way, when you rise up and lay down” so that they could grow up like Him and fully know everything about His way of life… INCLUDING how to pass it on to others!

Now Paul called Timothy “my own son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2). And as a metaphorical or spiritual son, Timothy had been “raised” BY PAUL, with Paul teaching him his way of life “when he rose up and lay down.” Which is the only way it is POSSIBLE to fully know your teacher’s “manner of life”;

2 Timothy 3:10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience

But it doesn’t end there; for Paul commanded Timothy to teach others in the same way, so that they in turn could teach others in yet the same way!

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Which is why Isaiah prophesied to Christ:

Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee [Jesus], and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth [Jesus’], nor out of the mouth of thy seed [Apostles such as Paul], nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed [Timothy, Titus, etc.], saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

We were never meant to form Churches. We were meant to call disciples who needed a better life… and then give them one by teaching them every day, every hour, how to be better people as they lived, worked, ate, and breathed with us. Exactly as Jesus did.

And as for finding such disciples… you’re supposed to have your life together in such a way that when someone sees you, they want to be like you; they want to be successful like you, to know God like you, to be in control of your body and spirit they way you are.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

And when you are such a person, God will add to the ekklesia daily such as should be saved; and send them to those whom He trusts to teach them in His absence as if He were teaching them Himself:

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Truly, there is no shortage of people in the world who need God’s help, and no shortage of people who want God’s help. There is only a shortage of laborers who are willing to help them God’s way, and not through a Church! (Matthew 9:37). A shortage of teachers who will are qualified and willing to train disciples.

DISCIPLESHIP

It was well known in ancient times that higher education was only attained in a single way; by hiring a master to train you. Whether you wanted to be a smith or a poet, it was the only way. The Pharisees, John, Moses, Socrates, Plato, Gamaliel, all of them had disciples.

The rich could afford to hire tutors for their children; but the poor had to pay with the only currency they had – their time. So it was standard practice, when someone wanted to be, say, a carpenter, to find a master carpenter and say “I’ll do anything, just teach me what you know”; and sign on for a period of time (Biblically, 7 years), and live and work with your master without pay, but with full room and board.

When finished, you’d have a profession, a skill set honed by experience (Hebrews 5:14) and be sent off with a lump sum to start your life over, hopefully wiser and better skilled than before; Deuteronomy 15:11-15 is referring to this practice of the poor to sell themselves into service for a period of time, as is Leviticus 25:47-50.

This practice continued up until the time of the industrial revolution which substituted master-apprentice relationships with school-and-professor. Which you’ll notice is the same principle as pastor-and-Church, and yielded similar results with education as Church has with religion. But that’s neither here nor there.

It was explicitly to this practice of teaching the apostles a profession in exchange for their time and service that Jesus was alluding in Mark 1:17. But the master is under no obligation to take every apprentice who asks (Mark 5:18-20). Maybe he’s too busy to take on any more; maybe he doesn’t trust the fellow (Acts 15:37-39).

This was also what the man in Matthew 8:19 wanted; simply by calling Him master he was acknowledging that Jesus knew enough to teach a disciple, like himself, to be more like God. And so he was offering to pledge himself to His service for a time – but Jesus refused, for reasons unspoken.

Likewise, not all those who are called are committed enough to follow (Matthew 8:21-22); and some are simply already committed to another master and don’t want to change (John 9:28). Even when Moses had already given them explicit permission, freeing them to do so (Matthew 18:15).

MINISTERS

As I said, disciples typically paid the master with their service – or in archaic English, with their “ministry.” This word is so confused by other meanings like “preacher” and “bureaucrat” that we’ve forgotten it simply means servant and is translated from the Greek diakonos which also means, simply, servant.

So a minister serves, or ministers, to his master (Colossians 4:7, 1 Thessalonians 3:2). The Bible never uses “minister” as a title, as is commonly done today. We are servants of God, because we do what He says. We are not ministers over a congregation because there IS no such thing as a Church congregation!

We sometimes minister to people in the sense that we give them food, money, knowledge or simply time; thus, we “serve” them. Yet we are ministers of God. We serve Him. And if we happen to serve people in any sense, it is only because that is what our Master sent us to do (Mark 10:42-45).

So in that sense, when someone calls a disciple, they pay for their discipleship with their service. By doing the menial jobs to free the master to do the higher skilled labor; and by doing so, they learn the master’s trade from the ground up, with an intimate knowledge that can only be acquired BY USE (Hebrews 5:14 again).

This is why Jesus sent the disciples to prepare the Passover (Mark 14:12); to announce His coming and prepare the way for Him (Luke 10:1); to get bread so He wouldn’t have to (Matthew 16:5). This is why Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah, his own master (2 Kings 3:11, 2 Kings 2:3).

Because Elijah was his minister as he prepared to replace him at his job! (1 Kings 19:16). Exactly as Joshua was one of the young men who “ministered unto Moses” (Numbers 11:28), yet who was in training to inherit his job.

Read Acts 12:25-13:1-2. Note that Paul and Barnabas had “finished their [period of] service” – “fulfilled their ministry.” And yet they were not done being ministers, as the world understands the term, for they had not even BEGUN yet to teach the gospel to the Gentiles!

But I can’t stress enough that “minister” does not mean “preacher,” it means servant. And here, it clearly says that Paul and Barnabas’ (period) of ministry was finished. Because they had been enlisted under their own masters in Jerusalem to learn about God!

Exactly as Paul had learned, once upon a time, from Gamalial about Moses’ teachings (Acts 22:3)… at his feet, in a position of humility and servitude appropriate to a young man before one of the most respected Jewish scholars of the day (Acts 5:34).

There is great demand to be a disciple of the greatest teachers, and it was a badge of honor to have been Gamaliel’s disciple, who was wiser than Paul would be for many years. Read verses 35-39, and compare to what Paul, his zealous and foolish disciple, went on to do contrary to this wisdom (Acts 8:1-4). He didn’t learn that from Gamaliel!

And yet he could only learn from him that which Gamaliel himself knew. Just as Nicodemus’ disciples weren’t going to learn about being begotten again from him (John 3:10). Woe unto the disciples of such a man! (Titus 1:7). But this was the best there was to choose from until John the Baptist came along!

Which is why Paul and many others who had been highly educated in the Jewish religion had to “enter again into their mother’s womb” so to speak, and start over learning the truth from the apostles of Jesus. As humiliating as that certainly would have been for them.

DISCIPLES OF DISCIPLES

And so as a Christian matures over the course of some decades, if they’ve gotten their lives in order correctly, God will bring disciples to cross their paths for them to adopt and train – who will become, for a time, ministers of their own as they, in trade, teach them the ways of God. So that they can one day replace them at their job – or at least, do it alongside of them.

This is how it has always been done, in literally every profession but particularly in true Christianity and in the OT prophets before them… so why would God change in Acts 2? He didn’t. Of course He didn’t!

Thus in Acts 13:5, John Mark was their minister, the servant to Paul and Barnabas. Their disciple! But Paul and Barnabas had only recently finished the period of time that was their own period of ministry to the apostles before them!

And when that term of service had ended, before they “enlisted” again with another master, or set out on their own, they fasted and God said they should be “separated unto the work he had called them to do.” And that made them – both of them – His apostles (Acts 13:1-2).

So first, they had been servants; because “it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lamentations 3:27), “before honor is humility” (Proverbs 15:33). And no one should have disciples and servants that has not been humbled by having been one himself.

Thus, long before Paul called Timothy a “son in the faith,” he had been a disciple to someone else – just as Timothy would go on to have his own disciples. Because that’s literally the “great commission” Jesus gave the ekklesia as His last words on Earth! So why did anyone ever stop doing that??

If you’re paying attention above, I said that Barnabas was also an apostle, because “apostle” also doesn’t mean what people think! Acts 14:14. Honestly, it says it so clearly I struggle to understand how people have always thought there were only the twelve (and maybe an honorary apostleship for Paul).

Barnabas was CLEARLY an apostle, and of course he was – because the word only signified that HE HAD BEEN SENT! Likewise, and for the same reason, John was literally “an apostle” in John 1:6-8. The same Greek word was used when it says John “was sent” (we could translate it “was apostled”).

And as an apostle, John had his own disciples, as everyone knows. Because that’s all it meant! Someone sent by God and not by another man, usually to call disciples and build a house. Thus Timothy was not called an apostle, because he had been sent by Paul. He was Paul’s apostle, but not Jesus’.

Again: The Bible was written in simple words to simple people. Apostle didn’t mean “holy blessed vicar of Christ saint popedivinelightbringer…” it just meant “dude that some other dude sent!” “Apostle of God” simply meant, “one sent by God.”

Typically, it means one sent by God to build a house in His name (Hebrews 3:1-6).

HOUSES OF GOD

The real harm of false doctrines isn’t that they lead you to believe wrong things… it’s that by having wrong things to believe, you don’t go searching for the TRUE things and can’t see them even when they’re right in front of you!

Ephesians 3:14-15 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

At its heart, what is the ekklesia? Ephesians 3:15. It is, in a word, the family of God. Which is why if anyone had actually listened to 1 Timothy 3:4-5, every question you had about Church – or rather, about the ekklesia – would be answered.

We are the family of God. Entitled to call Him Father (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). The NT is stuffed with verses that talk about us being the sons of God (1 John 3:1-2 for instance). So why does no one believe Him? Why does no one realize that the ekklesia is a family today? In every sense of the word.

In what family does a father train his children by having the two-year-olds attend a lecture by his six-year-olds once a week? Yet that is what Church does; and that’s assuming it’s a Church with true doctrines!

In what family does a father have a baby, then abandon him without leaving at least a legal guardian to be with him daily? If that were done in any family in the world today, everyone would decry it as blatant neglect and child abuse; because we know that there is NO HOPE of such a child growing up happy and healthy!

In what family does a father raise his children in absentia using books and vague subliminal suggestion? Because we all know that you need an actual person to raise a child, because no child will receive the love, instruction, and correction he needs without visible, present parent-figures in his life all day, every day!

This is why Paul called Timothy his “son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2). Because, like everyone, Timothy needed a father-figure and God wasn’t there! And the only believers in Timothy’s family, apparently, were his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5).

So Paul was made the head of that branch of the ekklesia family, a father to many in the Church (Philemon 1:9-12), and grandfather to many more. And because the ekklesia was managed exactly like a family, Timothy fully knew Paul’s doctrine and manner of life (2 Timothy 3:10).

Can you say that about the preachers you’ve known? In what Church is it possible to fully know the manner of life of a preacher you watched, through heavy eyelids, recite what (if anything) he learned about God that week?

For that matter, can you say that about me? Is it possible to learn that about someone through thousands of pages of written lessons such as these, even if they were the truest words ever inspired (which they aren’t)? No, because children are not raised by email.

Is it possible to learn that about someone in Church, with only 2 hours of group lecturing a week? Or even a FULL day once a week? Maybe with a Bible study Wednesday night? Would you train YOUR own children that way? Then you may consider yourself #GoldenRuled!

Going to Church is like being raised by your toddler brothers and sisters, perhaps with visits from a teenage babysitter once a week… and then being expected to grow up like your father. So OF COURSE it doesn’t work! Because sons taught by strangers grow up like the strangers… not like their Father (Matthew 23:15).

At the end of the day, you are not your pastor’s child, you’re a sheep to be fleeced… (Philippians 2:19-23). And however sincere his intentions, at the end of the day, he will give your life for his, because he is a hireling, not a father (John 10:7-15). And that’s why Church doesn’t work, and can’t ever work.

Which is why there is a better way.

THE HOUSE OF FAITH

As I’ve said so many times, you already know all these things, if you’d only thought about it. We call God our Father, and use phrases like the “house of God,” and the “house of faith,” without realizing what they mean. But read Acts 8:3 carefully. What does it really say?

To most people, viewing this through the lens of capital-C-Church, this says “Paul entered into the Churches and even pursued the members into their own houses.” But break that paradigm; throw it away, and open your eyes and ears to read these words (Luke 9:44). What does it really say?

If we already accepted the assumption that God had Churches like we see around us today, patterned after the pagan temples of Babylon, then yes, this verse would indeed make sense within that paradigm; but if we know that is not true, then the much simpler reading of this verse would be “Paul persecuted all of the called out ones, and entered into every one of their houses!”

So rather than persecuting different Churches, Paul persecuted the CHURCH of God… and each of the HOUSES within that Church! Because the NT authority structure was not divided into Churches, but into houses!

Think about that; imagine a literal family, with several generations of living people. They are all of the same houseHOLD and yet each generation has a separate family unit. They all share a common last name, and yet each man is the head of his own house; subject in broad matters to his own father/head, who in turn is subject to his own father/head, and so on (1 Corinthians 11:12).

Which means that the ideal house of God would be a group of disciples living in a worthy man’s house! The disciples would be apprentices, servants, symbolic sons of a man of God; whose head is Jesus, whose head, in turn, is God! This is not a Church, not in any sense of the word; it’s a household with called-out ones being raised in it!

Which resolves the conflict of 2 Timothy 3:10, for you never truly know someone the way your children know you – not just the face you put on for Church, but the face you wear at home. When you have disciples, they know all of your faces – not just the ones you show in public.

This verse cannot be reconciled with the paradigm of Church; but it fits perfectly with the paradigm of the house; for isn’t that what God commanded the Israelites to do in their houses, with their children? (Deuteronomy 6:7, Exodus 12:24-28). You can only teach them “by the way,” if they are WITH you in the way!

Remember the parable of the “narrow way”; you aren’t walking alone if you can see your proxy-parents in front of you, and your foster-children behind you! Talking with you of these things when you lie down and rise up, when you walk by the way… and when you rest with your house on the Sabbath!

God is building a family; thus we are of the house of God, the house of faith, the house of Abraham who was the father of the faithful! So how could the ekklesia NOT be structured like a house in every possible sense of the word??

Which gives us a very new way to look at Galatians 6:10, doesn’t it? Millions of Churchians use this verse all the time, never realizing that the existence of this verse disproves everything their religion is. Note carefully, I said what the religion is.

Not what it believes, or what it teaches, or what it practices; their religion itself is wrong. Because their religion, all religion, is built around the paradigm of Church. And there is nothing about Church that is true.

THE NEW PARADIGM

Knowing that the ekklesia were organized into families or houses, verses like Matthew 10:11-14 make tons more sense than they ever did with the old paradigm. When they arrived in a city, they were to inquire and find a worthy man. And then they would go stay in his house, and salute the house – the household of faith that lives, works, and learns with him!

Consider verses like Romans 16:5, 10-11. Why did Paul salute these houses? Houses named after righteous men in that region? Because these houses were full of disciples who were learning FROM THOSE MEN!

He was obviously not saluting the physical building, nor just a man’s literal children, but the entire household… the group of people in his house who were disciples of Christ, being raised by an earlier, wiser, spiritually older disciple of Christ… thus… an elder of theirs!

Now that you know this, you’ll start to realize this was always what the Bible said, but we were too blinded by our paradigm to see it. For example, Colossians 4:15; this was a Church that was IN HIS HOUSE.

Not a Church that meets weekly in their house on the Sabbath… but rather an ekklesia that IS in the house! This was the house of a worthy man, who gathered disciples unto him, as Jesus did, to live with him and fully know his doctrine and manner of life; so that he could spiritually obey the command of Deuteronomy 11:19!

This lends a whole new light to1 Corinthians 4:14-15. Paul raised up the Church “as a father doth his children” (1 Thessalonians 2:11), and considered them his children “in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2), and himself their father. BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT JESUS TOLD US ALL TO DO!!!

And while they may have many instructors, they only had one father; just like every house may have many tutors, relatives, and friends whom the children learn from; but at the end of the day, only one man is their father. Only one man who called them to be his disciples, spiritually conceiving them in Christ’s name.

We tend to read these things as light metaphors, but this was a very big deal. Paul was their spiritual father. Which means they, in turn, belonged to the house of Paul, as your own child bears your own last time, and is bound to obey you!

Now obviously, Paul’s house was part of the house of Jesus, which in turn was of the house of God; a fact Paul repeatedly reminded them of (1 Corinthians 3:4-5). And yet the fact that your grandson is your grandson doesn’t make your son’s house any less your son’s house.

Does it diminish you in any way that your grandson calls your son “daddy?” Are you less of a father, just because he is one too? Again… you’ve been #GoldenRuled. And so to speak of the “house of Paul” is not disrespectful to the house of God, for Paul built this house with God’s last name on it! (Philippians 2:9-11).

Because, like in every family, within God’s house are many other houses! (John 14:2). So does it diminish the Father’s glory that every knee bows to Jesus? Does it diminish Jesus’ glory, that Timothy treated Paul as a father? Why would it, when every generation that bears children increases the glory of the heads of every house above it?? (Proverbs 14:28).

Thus Paul repeatedly spoke of the house of people like Chloe, Stephanus, and so on; even though they themselves, were part of his own house! Because he had baptized them (1 Corinthians 1:14). Baptism – yet ANOTHER grossly abused and mistranslated word which simply means immersed; as in “the best way to learn a language is full immersion in the culture.”

For while water immersion is the symbol we were given to “seal the deal,” being constantly immersed in the spirit of God which the members of that house has is the TRUE immersion that changes people. Thus the only way to become a Christian is to live, work, talk, eat, and breathe in FULL IMMERSION in the house of true Christians. Just as the twelve did with Jesus, our perfect example!

Just as you raise your own children to be like you by doing all those things with them! Going to Church, even if the members there WERE true Christians, would be, at best, a sort of “sprinkling” of the holy spirit.

But true baptism is full immersion in water as a symbol of full immersion into the household of faith as a disciple of God, through the man God sent as a proxy parent to raise you up in His house.

THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL

If you can really grasp these things, nothing in the Bible will ever look the same again. Apostles are simply men God sends to do a job. People who are not part of another house, but whom God called to build their own house in His name (Galatians 1:6-12).

But what you’re realizing now is that these apostles are founders of houses in the name of God. They act, as sons of God, to bring Him grandchildren. And among those children, they choose out elders to rule houses within their own houses. And so on.

Every single thing you need to know about the ekklesia stems from that metaphor. As, obviously, it should; for the whole reason God chose Abraham to be the father of the faithful was that he ruled well his own house! And we are to work the works of Abraham! (John 8:39).

And yet, if you’re thinking critically here, as you should be, you’ll wonder how this squares with 1 Corinthians 1:9-13. Identifying ourselves with men instead of God is wrong, right? I’m glad you asked!

The body of people within the house Paul built was symbolically a woman, as all spiritual groups are; since he had begotten and raised them (1 Corinthians 4:15), they were therefore, collectively, his daughter. The individual members of that body were, of course, of both genders, but the sum of them was female.

Now within that house, the wiser individuals were appointed as elders; Paul’s spiritual sons, like Timothy, who would continue building on his house in his name (Psalms 115:12), adding branches to it as all trees do.

Meanwhile his individual, spiritual daughters would add stones to the house – new literal heirs who should, in theory, become spiritual heirs as well. Thus the sons would form spiritual family trees and the daughters would be the stones that build the family and hold the house together.

But collectively, the house of faith that Paul built was his daughter. Not his bride! It was his daughter, whom Paul was raising to present her as a bride to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). This is why John the Baptist said his role, too, was as friend of the bridegroom; preparer of the bride (John 3:28-29).

John the Baptist came to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). Paul came to do the same basic job, to prepare a carnal people to hear the spirit of God. Which is the role of every human father: to raise a daughter capable of being a good wife.

And when that daughter was married to Christ, she would cease to bear Paul’s name, and forget her brethren and her father’s house!! (Psalms 45:10-11). But that won’t happen until Jesus’ return; until then, while she remains in Paul’s house, she remains in his house, part of his name (Leviticus 22:12-13).

The houses we raise are our houses. They endure or fall based on our choices (Ecclesiastes 10:18, Proverbs 24:3-4) – with God’s blessing (Psalms 127:1), and subject to His veto of course (Proverbs 15:25). Just like every human son who ever started a house.

Each of our spiritual houses are only one member of the true body of Christ, and the names of all our houses will be swallowed up in the one name they all share: the bride of Christ. When she marries Jesus, it will be as a single woman, made up of thousands of cells from all the houses in history.

But though the stones in that house, the actual Christians of whom she is made, are from every kindred, nation, and tongue… the individual cells of her spiritual body will no longer be Jew nor Greek, Paulitian or Peterian, male or female… all will be alike, as cells of a single woman married to Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26-28).

LOSING A DAUGHTER

If we bear only daughters, our name will not continue for eternity; as it shouldn’t! For we are not worthy to put our spirits into the Church of God; only to put our spirit upon the Church of God; externally as Moses did, rather than internally, as Jesus will.

The job of the head of a NC house of God is to humble the hearts and break the spirits (Psalms 51:17) of the members of his daughter (1 Corinthians 4:21), so that she is CAPABLE of receiving her Husband’s spirit! Because without a humble heart and a meek spirit and an awake soul, no one can obey God.

None of us can see ourselves as we truly are (Jeremiah 17:9). You read my articles and lessons, you hear the things in them, and then you go your way and forget (James 1:22-24). And a father, physical or spiritual, would be there to make sure that doesn’t happen. To remind you, every moment, of what you truly look like – no matter what you think you look like.

Paul’s job was to remind the Corinthians, forcefully and physically if necessary, that they were indeed yet carnal. Because every father’s job is to create meekness, humility, and wisdom in his daughter; so that her husband (or Husband) can fill her with His spirit and make her in all ways like Him.

The biological purpose of a woman is to create the body of a child out of her husband’s “living water” – his spirit (think about John 7:37-39, and ask yourself what “living water” He’s talking about). Their children will be made by her, but made like him.

So in general, her OC purpose is to bear fruit in her husband’s name, which is of course… also the name of his father. Likewise, the NC purpose of the metaphorical woman is to bear fruit in her Husband’s name, which is the name of His Father.

Which is why her long-term goal is not to bring honor to the name of her human father, in this case Paul or John or Apollos; but to be a worthy bride for Jesus, prepared to be the mother of His children and raise them with His words – not her own, her brethren’s, or her father’s.

FATHER OF THE BRIDE

So why would these fathers of the houses of God bother to work so hard, knowing our names will disappear? Knowing that nothing we do will make our names and our houses last? Because as in most of history, young men give great sums to the house of a worthy bride! (1 Samuel 18:22-25, Genesis 34:11-12, Deuteronomy 22:29, etc.).

And the hotter the bride, the greater her fame, the more powerful family she comes from, the better the price (Genesis 24:15-16, 22, 50-53). And why not? The elders of these houses are laboring to create a bride for Jesus; if they do well, they deserve more (1 Timothy 5:17).

Every person who believes the truth and makes their body, spirit, and soul blameless (1 Thessalonians 5:23) will be in the first resurrection, even if you never convince a single other person of the truth. But you will only be earning your life, just the bare penny you were promised (Matthew 20:8-14).

What we do in this life, beyond ourselves, may endure or not (1 Corinthians 3:1-13); but the more people we turn to righteousness (Daniel 12:3), and the better we make them, the greater our reward in heaven beyond mere survival.

Which is why God has promised the heads of houses greater rewards than those who are simply righteous on their own… for they made His bride better, and the laborer is worthy of his hire! Because the fair value of anyone’s wage, even today, is equal to the value that they can produce.

If you produce no value beyond your own life, then that’s all the reward you’ll have; but if you labor in the word and doctrine, build a great house in God’s name, and deck His bride in jewels and present her to Him in all her radiant beauty, you’ll deserve to have those same jewels in your own crown (Isaiah 61:10).

You created value for God, which is exactly the measure of your value to Him – and thus, of your reward (Hebrews 6:10). And we’ve always known this; for He gives to every man, specifically, according to his works (Matthew 16:27). And what is that work? John 17:4-6.

The work God gave Jesus to do was to “manifest God’s name unto the men which God gave Him out of the world.” To make the NAME of God, the house of God, evident to the disciples whom God had drawn to Him out of the world!

And He sent us to do the exact same job as He was given to do; to conceive, if you will, a daughter… to be raised by the sons of God (John 20:21-23), and married to the Son of God when she is old enough (Revelation 21:2).

MAKING THE BRIDE READY

Read 1 Corinthians 4:1-2. Paul said he was a steward of God (Titus 1:7), whom we might call the business manager of God’s house, the foreman of his work crew. But also, potentially, God’s son and heir (Luke 12:42-44).

And as Paul was God’s steward, not the Corinthian’s minister, he worked for God, not the people (something Churches have never understood) – 1 Corinthians 4:3-4. Thus, God judged his results, not them, nor even Paul (Romans 14:4).

And as I said, his job as the head of a house of God was to make sure his daughter is capable of receiving her husband’s spirit. It is very difficult, sometimes impossible, for a young man to convert the woman in Proverbs 21:19 or Proverbs 27:15-16 into the Proverbs 31 woman – nor is it worth trying, when there are plenty of fish in the sea.

You cannot take a devout feminist and make her into the wife in 1 Corinthians 7:34. She is neither willing, nor even capable of submitting her will to her husband’s in anything. Her father might have been able to break her spirit, when she was younger; but once she’s set in her ways… Proverbs 29:1. Which is why a wise young man just marries someone else – or no one at all (Proverbs 25:24).

And so Paul as the father of the stiff-necked, Church-centric – and thus, metaphorically feminist – Corinthians, was undertaking the enormous task of breaking their spirits so that they could receive the spirit of Jesus (Acts 7:49-51, note the word “house”).

Of course, this is a job meant for the spirit of Jesus and of the Father; but the whole POINT of a foreskin is to prevent God from accessing your heart! The whole POINT of a stiff neck is to resist the words of Jesus’ spirit! To make it easy to ignore His prompting, easy to dismiss His correction!

Which is why God almost always breaks such spirits and hearts first by using the rod of other men! (2 Samuel 7:14). Just as Paul was doing to the Corinthians! Making ready a people prepared to receive the Lord’s spirit.

This is why houses exist! Psalms 78:1-8. They exist so that fathers can prevent their spiritual children’s spirits from being stubborn, and their hearts from being rebellious, so that they could espouse them as a chaste, humble, meek virgin to Christ! One who has no other spirits within her, including her father’s… but who is prepared to receive His.

So back in 1 Corinthians 4, Paul explained that in order to do this, he had, in a symbol, transferred the job of bringing to light the hidden darkness in their own spirits and the selfish thoughts of their heart to himself and Apollos.

Their jobs, as their spiritual father and his minister Apollos (1 Corinthians 3:6), was to break their spirits and judge their selfish hearts so that God wouldn’t have to judge them later (1 Corinthians 11:31-32). Teach them to judge themselves, so that no one else would have to; just like every father figure, ever, has done for his children!

IN GOD’S STEAD

If you’re still paying attention – and you still should be – you’ll be wondering how this squares with Matthew 23:8-11. If Paul was indeed the master to Timothy’s disciple, the lord to Titus’ servant (Matthew 10:24), surely this violated Jesus’ clear command to the twelve?

Once again I’m glad you asked! We are certain that the ekklesia was meant to be organized like a family. The Bible is absolutely overflowing with variations of that metaphor. So as always, go back to the golden rule:

If your parents died or left when you were a teenager, leaving behind younger children, would you not effectively become a parent to your brethren? All of the roles of a parent – providing food, shelter, education, approval and validation – would be yours to provide.

But you can be like their parent without pretending to be their parent! When they’re old enough to understand, you would certainly tell your younger siblings that you were only standing in for an absent mutual parent.

And even though you were only playing the part of father, all the verses about fathers would apply equally well to you – as they also do to apostles, elders, judges, kings, heads, princes, and so on! Because these were all just types of father-figures, which is all that the NC heads of God’s houses were: 2 Corinthians 5:20.

They spoke to their children, spiritual or otherwise, in God’s stead. And if God was their true Father, then Paul was acting as a type of that Father, acting in His place! And thus, for the purposes of that metaphor, Paul was their father… at least, by proxy.

All of the men in these jobs built houses, and naturally the houses were named after them, to distinguish them from the houses other men were trying to build. But the righteous ones knew they were only surrogate fathers of those houses! 1 Peter 5:3.

Moses built a house, and was faithful in it (Hebrews 3:1-7). But Moses knew it wasn’t his house (Numbers 11:11-12). And Moses’ people were his disciples (John 9:28). They heard his words and learned about God through him. But Moses knew he was just filling in until the real Head of the house came (John 5:46).

They were proud to be Moses’ disciples, Moses’ foster sons; and Jesus told them Moses was His own son (Exodus 3:6), so if they treated Moses as a father, they should treat Him as a grandfather! Because Moses had already told them to do so! (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).

In the same way, Paul was faithful in his house, but it was not ultimately to be his house, for it was a daughter he had promised in marriage to Jesus (Colossians 1:28), just as Moses married off his own daughter, the ekklesia in the wilderness, to God (Jeremiah 3:20, Isaiah 54:5). (It was not, as it turned out, a happy marriage – but rather, one which Jesus died to get out of.)

Likewise, John came to prepare a people for God, and trained disciples (John 1:35), who called him master (Luke 3:12). And like Moses, John sent his disciples to Jesus, the TRUE master, as soon as they were ready (John 1:36-39).

Because his job was to teach them how to repent and make sure they did it (Matthew 3:11). To make ready a people PREPARED for the Lord. Isn’t that what Paul did? And what you should be doing – as soon as you’re competent to do so?

But note that John had many other disciples, and many of them did not follow Jesus; why? Luke 16:29. Because meat belongs to grownups; if you choke on milk, you’re not ready to be Jesus’ disciple. If you won’t keep the Sabbath when the SDAs told you to do so, you aren’t ready to learn from me. And if you won’t learn from me, you certainly aren’t ready to learn from Jesus on your own (verses 30-31).

PROXY FATHER

Yet while I might play the role of your father, or master, or lord, I am not. God is your Father, Jesus your Master and your Lord; but I may still act in Their place, doing the things They would do in Their name, without actually being those things.

God delegated Moses to speak to Pharoah on His behalf; as far as Pharoah and Aaron were concerned, Moses was God (Exodus 7:1). Does that mean Moses WAS the one true God? Obviously not. Yet for all practical purposes Moses dealt with Egypt and led Israel in God’s place, as His proxy.

And the things he said to them might as well have been said by God Himself (2 Corinthians 2:10). And the things they did to Moses, might as well have been done to God Himself (Numbers 12, particularly verse 14). And if they rejected Moses, they might as well have rejected God Himself (1 Samuel 8:7).

Remember what the “name” of Christ means; it means to act in His place, with His authority. So if you are baptized in the name of Christ, it means baptized by someone in Christ’s place, someone delegated to act with Christ’s “power of attorney.”

Moses never pretended that he was more than God’s proxy, and subject to recall at any time (Numbers 16:3-5). Just as an ambassador to say, Russia, may speak in the name of the USA president, sign treaties in his name, threaten and compromise as if the president himself were doing it… but nonetheless is NOT the president and is subject to immediate replacement if he displeases his master.

So likewise, people like Paul and David knew they could act as your masters only because they were delegated to do so by our mutual Master. And yet that doesn’t diminish their authority; for if you become the disciple of Jesus’ ambassador, are you the disciple of the ambassador, or of Jesus?

Obviously, you’re a disciple of Jesus, for anything the ambassador does is done in His name. Yet also, in a down-to-Earth way, you’re a disciple of that ambassador. For it is his house you live in for now, him you see day in and day out, him you actually hear yelling at you for doing things wrong.

And it is by learning to humble yourself under him, that you can learn what it’s like to humble yourself under God.

And so if you are the disciple of Jesus’ apostle; or of an elder like Timothy whom that apostle appointed; or of the disciple of that elder; you’re still a disciple of Jesus, even as you are also part of the house of Paul, and of Timothy, and of that elder, and so on. Because that’s how families work!

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

This is not secret knowledge. At least, it shouldn’t be. Indeed, it takes a lot of effort not to see this in the Bible, because it’s literally all God ever talked about. Why does it matter if a man “know how to rule his own house,” if not because that’s exactly what you’re doing in the house of God? 1 Timothy 3:4-5.

You could get the same idea just from reading and thinking about the implications of Psalms 78:1-8; or Genesis 18:17-19; or Deuteronomy 6:1-9; or for that matter Genesis 1:26-28. Any of these, fully understood, tells you all of the things in this article.

Still, if I had to choose just verse to lay all this out – on top of the hundreds I’ve already used – I might go with 1 Chronicles 29:16-18. We are building a house for God; yet this house is built of people whom God brings to us (Acts 2:47).

The house is ours, and called after our name, and the children in it are our inheritance, their quality and number corresponding to our reward. And yet our names will be stricken from the house when the bride is married to Jesus.

We are building the house with our own labor, yet without God building it, we labor in vain (Psalms 127:1-5). For we can build this house in our name only because we ourselves bear the name of God, because we are acting in His place, building it as if He were building it.

Our job first is to prepare our own hearts and spirits and souls to be able to help others prepare theirs; by submitting ourselves to other masters God sends us to, as necessary – both carnal and spiritual.

But then, having done so, our mission is to take our experience and apply it to preparing the hearts of the people God sends to us, helping them to mortify their flesh and crucify the lusts thereof, so that they can “speak with the enemies in the gate,” defending our house against the barbarians of Babel.

The Bible is written with this paradigm in mind; it practically shrieks from every page of the Bible. But if you’re looking for a Church, then you can’t see a house, even when it SAYS house!

If you’re looking for a Church, you can’t see a master for yourself or a disciple who needs your own help right in front of you.

The ekklesia IS a house, and if you’re a child; nay, a fetus; nay, an egg in that house, you need parents… at least guardians. Obviously, if you saw yourself as you truly were, you wouldn’t need a man to do it for you; but is that realistic? Romans 10:13-15.

Which is why Paul said, on numerous occasions, that his children should follow him (1 Thessalonians 1:6), which, as that verse shows, is not in contradiction with following God.

Read 1 Corinthians 11:1. This commonly interpreted to mean Paul was asking them to follow him if, as, and when he followed Christ; which is fine, but you should also follow Obama or for that matter Osama exactly “if, as, and when” they follow Christ;

Which is to say… do right, when they tell you to do right; otherwise, don’t do what they do or say. But does that really need to be said? What, really, is the point of following at all? No, this wasn’t Paul’s point at all. Note that vital word AS, as in “follow me as I follow Christ.”

Always pay close attention to the word “as.” That’s a big word in the Bible, because it means this is a metaphor, a pattern. Words like “as” and “like” are essentially grammatical equals signs, and just like with math, it means all the information on the left must equal all the information on the right.

So here, Paul asked the Corinthians to follow him as he followed Christ.Which means he wanted them to follow him just like he followed Christ, in precisely the same way he followed Christ!

And when someone followed Christ, they became His disciple, and His minister (Matthew 16:24). And that made them part of Jesus’ house! So if someone followed Paul the same way Paul followed Jesus, then they would be Paul’s disciples.

And if Paul was Jesus’ disciple, that made them grand-disciples of Jesus, if you will. Which is what Jesus has been saying all along, but we were too blinded by the old paradigm to see it. Read John 20:21 one last time; remember that word “as!”

As His Father sent Him, in exactly that way, He sent us. Remember: “sent” is the Greek word “apostle.” These men had been disciples in verse 19; but now Jesus was making them apostles, exactly as His Father had made Him an apostle over His OWN house (Hebrews 3:1, 6).

When Jesus came, as an apostle of the Father, what did He do? First, He proved His own righteousness and obedience over 30 years of life. Building a life that His Father would actually want passed on to another generation of disciples!

And then, He gathered disciples to train; first training them as apprentices and servants (John 15:15), then as they matured, treating them as friends and brothers (Romans 8:29), preparing them to be the sons of His own Father (Hebrews 2:10-12), by first treating them as His own foster-children (verse 13, Mark 10:24).

And so, since they were to do AS He did, walking the same path in His footsteps, OF COURSE that’s what He expected Paul and the other apostles, and all the true Christians since, to do!

He Himself baptized no one into His house (John 4:2); He died instead of having true children of His own. So under the law, it fell to his brethren to foster children and raise them up in our dead brother’s name! (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).

If Jesus baptized no one with water, then He built no house. Thus, He died without seed, but with brethren; and according to the law, the disciples were commanded to raise up a house in His name after His death!

Which is why the very last words Jesus told the disciples…

…His final command, summing up everything He expected from them in a single phrase…

Matthew 28:19 (BBE) Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:

They were commanded to make all nations their disciples, in the name which the Father, the Son, and all those with the holy spirit share… the name of Elohim; literally, they were to baptize them into the Gods; apprenticing, discipling, raising as surrogate children all nations in Jesus’ stead.

In other words…

Disciple them into the house of God.

So why doesn’t anyone do that?