I use the term, “Church”, as interchangeable with “Christendom”. That is, the New Testament Greek: “he-Ekklektos”, or “she Bride-called-out”.
Such a title can only mean, “a Bride to the Groom (Christ)”, if one is to apply our relation to Christ via Jewish customs to the Greek language and its newly founded Chrestoi, or Christ followers.
I also qualify “Church” by saying that such a body is grammatically “female” in the New Testament text. This means that “She” is in the ‘receiving sense’. Grammatically- Spiritually “She” is inseminated and takes in the “Logos Spermatikos”1. At ‘her’ full term, she births the Logos’ child.
One can confer to Philo for such historical references as just another ‘pagan’ philosophical idea which was governed by the philosophical fervor of his day. It is such an example of ‘pagan’ ideas that were governed by God. I believe the ‘rocks’ that screamed Jesus’ name were here. As Jesus told the Pharisees, “If you were to quell the voices of those yelling, ‘Hosana is here’, I say to you that these very rocks would proclaim my Name”. This is why I believe in natural Heathenism and natural paganism, without concoction. Justin Martyr did too. He became a believer in Christ because of such beliefs and then, he was martyred by his ‘fellow christian believers’.
Such a Body as the “Church” has all of the fullness of the Father, Holy Spirit and Son inflecting through HER as SHE receives eternal accuracy translated to time and space.
I use the term, “Christianity”, as the practice of proper exegesis, hermeneutics, application of the prior two and a death to self by such an application, even unto the physical death – as to seal the ultimate contract if God so wills it. No error or falsity would give enough ‘bank’ for the early Chrestoi (Christ followers) nor me to die for a speculative belief. As my good friend, David Rohl asks, “Would you bank your entire life on a Harry Potter novel to be a valid faith based tool?”
THE COUNTERPART
I had yet another argument today on the “prosperity”2 doctrine delivered through yet another ‘christianity’ called, “Pentecostalism”. There are many versions of this ‘religious movement’ using the term, “Christianity”, to infiltrate the believing Church at large.
1 Justin Martyr, a Jew, who lived in the first half of the second century (ca 100 to 150), converted to Christianity after his studies in Stoicism and Platonism. He concluded that Jesus Christ was the “Logos Spermatikos”. Justin saw that such a pagan culture as that of the Logical Greeks were capable of conveying the ultimate term for God. Justin saw this ‘ultimate term’ as Christ Jesus being the fulfillment of the ultimate pagan nod for “God”. Justin was denounced by his ‘christian brothers’ and beheaded for his coming to be beliefs in Christ. So sad is this, that ‘coming to be’ as a believer was not accepted by the very christians who were only a century later from the writers of the New Testament, who themselves, taught against this action.
2 Fortune, allotments, distributed goods, lucky, lot, etc. (all terms will fall into play with the “goddess” culture of ‘allotments’, i.e., Fortuna, Parcae, Moirai, Graces, Norns, Jeannie, Ashtoreth, Asherah, etc. Finally, the very term, “fortunes allotted” is called in the archaic Greek: “Daimonidzo” which does mean, “Demon” or “demon of dispensing”. Hence, the distributors of fortune in the male form as well-namely, Enki with Inanna, the Wyrd Hoard Dragon who blessed Beowulf. Such Wyrd Hoard Dragon kept the riches of knowledge and dispensed the gifts of elocution, vocabulary, etc. at his dispensing. This sounds all too much like the Satan in the Garden of Eden who gave the “fruit of the tree of the knowledge of ‘good and evil’ “. They learned to lose genius and gain “wit”. Hence, they were ousted by their new talents from the Garden of Genius. Many similar stories follow this pattern.
Such an argument brought me to something I have been overlooking for a very long time. The Fortuna, or dispensing of riches goddesses, were alive and kicking as a mythological belief in Roman times. John at Patmos referred to the “Great Whore” who sits on the Land of the Seven Hills. That she corrupted the entire earth with the wine of her fornication and that the merchants waxed rich with her merchandising.
As the pagan poet, Robert Graves said in my paraphrase, “I worship “HER” because she was able to make the christians drunk. She was so important as to be mentioned in the Bible as THAT goddess who was capable of doing such a thing!”.
I always knew that the goddess figure, wherever worshipped, feared, adored, etc. was always an allotment goddess of some sort. Whether you call “HER” a “FATE” or “Goddess”, to me, the terms are nearly interchangeable, though some would argue that the Fates had power over the gods to fate their lives. Nonetheless, I am referring to the FEMININE force, the SHAKTI, the GODDESS of agriculture, the Ashera-consort of EL/ Lady Luck, fortune of war, fortune of children, riches, ‘lady luck’, ‘dice—a.k.a., “deia”, “Sors”—“sorcery”, “pharamakon”, etc. the Dispenser.
Good enough. Let’s get Theological.
It is in the Scripture that I find the litmus test for ideas, their consequences, their realities and The Reality.
Let’s look at Matthew 7:22 – “Many will say to me on that Day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?”.
There is NO “christian” religious movement except for ONE and it’s various hybrids that claim this statement currently: It is the Pentecostal-Charismatic Church. The Roman Catholic Church comes very close concerning miracles.
We see the return to the Greek’s (both pagan and Christian) mysticism of babbling found in Corinth. One must confer to 1 Corinthians 13:1-following. Glossa vs. Glossalalia. “Glossa” means, “Glossary” or “Ordered speech”. “Glossalalia” means, “blablablabla-sounds”. Paul addresses the Church at Corinth to know the usage of foreign “intelligent language” is ONLY to confer the word to someone who cannot understand or speak another’s “Glossa” or “tongue” or “language”. Not the application of “babble” to non believers who need Truth—as the pagans of Corinth do in their mystery religions.
This practice of babble was obviously known to the believers at Corinth, Paul, the Romans, and, for sure, John the Beloved, who was a prisoner of the Romans. John wrote with an immense amalgam of Christian, Jewish, Roman, Greek, Babylonian and Persian poetics all which fused a polyrhythmic sense of meaning. With God’s breath to John’s pen, John’s “Apocalypse” or “Revelation” became that of prophesy of and by the Lord who guided his talents.
It was the “Fortuna” that I speak of. SHE was the composite sketch of all of the worlds’ ancient dispensing goddess summed by one guiding force but divided into three.
Returning to Matthew 7, we find Jesus telling us that in “THAT DAY”, many will be professing such a “dispensing of riches” in the guise of ‘Christianity’ which is not Christianity.
“SHE”, the goddess who has corrupted us, corrupts poignantly, the “Christian” body, turning them into ‘christians’ who are the “Christos Temporas” or “Christ Merchants” of the last Days.
Do we not see the “Merchandising” of the great Harlot within christianity that has corrupted us? …Whether it be the ‘daimidzo’ – ‘dispensing of fortunes’ (“demon”) of “christian-republican-
