The Fall and Rise of the Church

The Death of Christendom, and the Resurrection of Christianity
-To be delivered at the 3rd council of Nicaea

“A rampant wave of secularism” “The rise of the nones” “Losing my Religion” “Leaving the
church in droves”. “A people losing their faith”. These are all buzzwords signaling the changing
demographics of the majority Christian world. With the near fatal decline of mainline protestantism, the
majority non-religious population of Scandinavia, and with Anglicanism increasingly becoming an
obsolete cultural relic of a bygone age, it's understandable why many are praying for a revival, hoping
with enough posters and aggressive evangelism, a third great awakening can start. While I can
sympathize with the grievances, I can't see how it is the death of the gospel, in actuality, I see a
nostalgia of an authoritarian time that wasn't as good as it seemed. In their words, they say they they're
hurt at the declining number of siblings in Christ, but in their hearts, they know all they truly lost was
clout; clout they used to make anyone that didn't line up with their worldview to stay out of sight, out
of mind. From the Moral Majority and Religious Right postponing secular and civil marriage, to the
Vatican preventing contraceptives in South America and Africa, Christians should use love to make
others live righteously, not the influence of the police. It is that influence that causes the Church to
sometimes be mistaken for a corporation, and it is that influence that caused the birth of New Atheism,
the violent backlashes of communism/anarchism, the centuries of enlightenment philosophers decrying
everything about God, and the spark behind every atrocity committed in the name of the Cross.
The faithful has never been without controversy, but Orthodoxy should never be unrepentantly
guilty of a criticism, that the Son of Man wasn't attacked for [1 Peter 3:16]. The loss of influence is a
vehement reaction against abuses of the church, and fighting fire with fire will only cause the word of
God to be burned with it. For politicization, by its very nature, is an all consuming black hole that
drowns out all noise and runs rivers red with blood. The biggest controversies in Christian history had
more to due with governments than theology, and science is also falling prey to the organized power
behind a campaign or ballot. [Matthew 5:38] The Ecclesia needs to dial it back to the apostolic age.
Remember, the Church doesn't need massive cathedrals, colleges, and extravagant holidays. It started
with 12 followers who lived god's word, ordained who the community needed, and served liturgy in
people's houses. A bible-based government seemed like a wonderful idea 1600 years ago, and Christian
empires did assist in bringing bibles and missionaries to far-flung nations, but in the modern mass
media age, even state religion is like an appendix, a vestigial organ that previously had a purpose, but
now is infinitely more likely to just cause you harm.
The first harm is diluting Jesus. The interpretations and appropriations of the church has caused
it to be unknowable from the original, because in the words of Sam Pascoe "Christianity started out in
Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became
an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.
What started out as a devotion to God ended as a national culture and money making machine. To
quote Justo Gonzalez, “the greatest enemy of Christianity was Christendom. The purpose of which is to
simplify the matter of becoming a Christian. In Christendom, one is a Christian by simply being neither
Jew nor Muslim. But in truth, those who understand Christianity in that fashion are mere pagans. Such
cheap Christianity, with neither cost nor pain, is like war games, in which armies move and there is a
great deal of noise, but no real risk nor pain – and therefore no real victory. What we call Christianity is
simply playing at being Christians. And many preachers contribute to the mockery of that game when
they seek to make Christianity an easy thing. This is the “crime of Christendom”, which plays at
Christianity and “takes God for a fool. Christendom has done away with Christianity without being
quite aware of it. And the tragedy is that few realize how ridiculous it is to speak of God in such terms.
In the Christianity of Christendom the Cross has become something like the child's hobby-horse and
trumpet.”
The Second harm is now that brother will go against brother not on heresy or theology, but on
politics. The first Christian theocracy was created under the edict of Thessalonica, in 381 AD, the first
of the remaining splits in Christianity was started not even 50 years later with the Assyrian Church of
the East at the Council of Ephesus. Few years after that, Oriental Orthodox churches split with the
council of Chalcedon, a 1000 year schism was erected between the east and west Orthodox Churches
in 1054, and the reason why the body of Christ is now split between 41000 sects is because the
meddling of kings during the 16th century protestant reformation. The merging of the church and the
state has caused brothers in Christ to slay one another, and to cause sisters in Christ praying for a
renewal of faith to disown each other. When there is no separation between Church and State, the State
corrupts the Church, and the newly corrupted Church corrupts the State.
If you want more devout people, start with a more devout and unified Church. No longer see
other groups in the “Us vs Them” conflict that needs to be competed against and show hostility
towards, especially not a fellow christian in another denomination. Instead of bringing the sword to
ecclesiastical communities, bring dialogue. Instead of sending missionaries to the hubs of Protestant
Churches, send mediators so our remaining transgresses can be overcome and we can rebuild the
fellowship of the one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church to depend on each other instead of conniving
rulers.
If you want to see change, preach the lord and emphasize the needs of the community, and good
fruits will be produced. [Matthew 25:35-37]. What does not need to be preached is making Christian
synonymous with conservative or any other political stance. The only word that should be preached
from the pulpit is the word of God, not the word of man or the word of Satan. Do not make a worldly
agenda a test of fellowship.
When I hear the words of the Messiah and pray for God's plan, I can't imagine the idea of a
“Christian Nation” or “Christian Europe” being a part of it. The idea of saved vs unsaved being a
matter of geography is anathema to the gospel, and a corruption of a decentralized religion.
The Christian Church should be the beacon of progress in a society, not a backwards
bureaucracy of regress. If you want to keep the next generation in your pews, don't be obsessed with
keeping “everything” the way it is, for complacency is the mother of heresy, apostasy, and shallow
parishioners. We must move forward by moving backwards; 21st century attitude toward religion is not
Satan trying to drag us down, but God showing us how to metamorphose so god's word [Matthew 6:19-
21] [Matthew 28:19] resides in the heart of a believer in every nation. Jesus, give us the clarity to not
store God's word on a country, but to make a disciple of each nation. In the name of the father, son, and
holy spirit, Amen.

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The Death of Christendom, and the Resurrection of Christianity

-To be delivered at the 3rd council of Nicaea

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