Aaron's golden calf was not the last idol to rear its ugly head. Men have continued to construct visible idols of worship and the reason is the same one that prompted the children to demand that Aaron build a visible image for them to worship. That reason is a dreadful lack of faith. Many of today's would-be worshipers display the same lack of faith. They also require visible images. God must be brought down to the carnal realm for them to grasp the concept of His being. Now, as in Aaron's time, it is Satan who provides the visible images which all fall under the umbrella of "Churchanity".

Churchanity is probably the cleverest and most deceptive of Satan's schemes. Doing church deceives most into feeling that they have served God in the performance of certain church rituals. The massive cathedral, the dandily attired altar attendant (paid pulpit minister), the money (tithe) collection, and the ritualistic observance of the supper of our Lord along with other rituals provides the spectator with a sensational aura of religiosity and lures him into thinking that he has practiced true religion.
The sad fact of the matter is that none of these things has anything to do with true religion. See James 1:27. Churchanity and New Covenant religion have very little in common. Rituals performed in the public assembly have very little to do with the worship of the New Covenant. See Romans 12:1 and John 4:21-24. The heretical idea that worship in spirit and in truth is something that is done in the Sunday assembly is primarily the result of a misconception of the meaning of the word, "church".

The word "church" was coined centuries after the New Testament letters were written. There is no koine (common) Greek word that translates "church". It is a derivative of the old English word "kirk". It does not translate "ecclesia" and there is a very good reason why the King James translators chose the word "church" instead of "assembly". "Assembly" had no religious meaning but the word "church" very definitely had a religious connotation. The word "church" is a perversion of the Greek word "ecclesia" and here is why it was so perverted in the K.J. version: The Church of England was entrenched at the time of the King James translation and King James, the titular head of that man-man, denominated, religious organization, demanded that the translators retain the religiously oriented wording because an accurate translation would have jeopardized his control over his church. The Greek word "ecclesia", from which they translated "church", simply meant an assembly or gathering. The incident recorded in Acts 19 proves that it had no religious connotation. In that passage the word "ecclesia" is used to identify an angry mob of unbelievers.
See verse 41. It is the same word "ecclesia", rendered "assembly", that the translators rendered "church" in other places. Why the inconsistency? The answer is obvious. Satan had already planted the word "church" with its religious connotation in their minds and King James insisted on preserving that concept. It is also interesting to note that the same word "ecclesia" in the Old Testament was never translated "church". One does not need a degree in Theology to see this inconsistency. The Greek word "ecclesia" was a people word. It was never used to depict a religious organization. In our day "church" very definitely implies organizational entity. In Paul's day "ecclesia" had no such implication. Today a few use the word "church" to refer to the called out people of God but most use it to denote a religious organization but that is not the Bible usage of the word.

Satan must surely be dancing in glee as he observes the millions who are caught up in "churchanity" and the billions upon billions that are spent in the name of religion. "Churchanity" primarily promotes the church instead of the Christ of the church. Its focus is on being a member of the church instead of being a member of Christ. Instead of focusing on Christ and Him crucified it focuses on being a member of the right denominated religious organization. It takes the eye of the would-be worshiper away from the true goal and puts it on a denominated religious organization.

God is not served through a man-made organization the "church", and neither does He dwell in temples made by the hands of men. He does not need the numbers of which denominated religious organizations boast. Too financially strapped from supporting "churchanity" and too busy practicing it church members are not able to practice the true religion of which James writes. Yes, the prevailing concept of "church" is an erroneous concept and "churchanity" is truly the golden calf of our age. Truly it is the opiate for the masses.

Please consider these thoughts. I believe them to be true to the Word.

Neal Griffin
10514 Bar X Trail
Helotes, Texas 78023