Ghu rch ? or Assembly? by When someone enters True Jacob O. Meyer average person never thinks twice Worship and sees just how much about using church. Oveil the paganism has saturated the truth, things, we will be able to avoid years as more mingling among the the transfer over into the modern- the pitfalls of affiliation with the people of the community took day extension of the Messianic spiritual Babylon that will be de- place, the word church increas- assembly can be traumatic. One is stroyed when the Messiah re- ingly found its way into our eom- staggered by JUST how totally turns. Let us focus on just one munication. Later on as I was different (than what the Scrip- more proven aspect of paganism working in the business commu- tures teach) is the religion that is which holds a tenacious grip on nity, I once happened to be in a presented as the modern exten- the religious world. The subject of Jewish establishment on a Satur- sion of the Messianic assembly. this artiele is the word church day. Upon asking for the owner, I When the Word of Yahweh which is of common usage. When was informed by an employee of gets through revealing the errors we examine the subject with an the firm that he was in "church." of our previous worship, it is open mind you will become so Occasionally in some literary work almost as though Jeremiah 23229 revolted with the meaning of the the term "Jewish Church" is used, were fulfilled in a meaningful word that you will never utter it possibly the most outstanding manner. "Is not My Word like as a again in your conversation when example being Dean Stanley's fire? saith Yahweh; and like a referring to True Worship. It is noted work, History of the Jewish hammer that breaketh the rock in probable that you have never Church. So it would appear that pieces?" With systematie concen- really investigated the source of few religions can escape the ten- tration, the Word of Yahweh the word in question or you would tacles of this word as it is applied demolishes many pet ideas which already have discarded it as un- to them. held, but then it worthy of being included in your we formerly Etymology of the a knowing faith after hav- Bible truth vocabulary. builds Word Church ing swept away that ruin so that When I was a young boy, the many lessons necessary to carry religious organization with which Perhaps our first logical stop in us through the coming tribulation my family was affiliated frowned launching a study such as this is to can be learned. on the use of the word church. As ask what the Hebrew and Greek The angelic cry from the heav- a matter of fact, in my boyhood words are from which this transla- ens still echoes today, and even we were taught that we should tion emerges. First of all, the more strongly than ever, "Come not use the word since it denoted Hebrew words, kahal and 'edah, out of her My people, that you be popular religion which had aposta- and the Greek word ekklsgia mean not partakers of her sins and that tized. In our conversation we used exactly the same thing. They you receive not of her plagues," terms like meetiDg, meeting mean an assembly, congregation, Revelation 18:4. By proving all house, or congregation where the meetitrB, eommunity of believers. e 1978 Assemblies of Yahweh, Bethel, PA 19507 AU Rights Reseryed Israel in the Old Testament was building. Strangely, many organ- sun images and symbolism, he the kahd Yahweh (Deut. 23:1-3), izations in nominal Christianity actually became nauseated with just as the Messianic assembly of place great emphasis in their repugnance. Sun worship was the the New Testament is the ekklesia cathedral-like edifices and little on most basic form of ancient reli- of Yahweh. You may check these the membership. Perhaps this is gion. if you would like to see more facts in the Strong's or Young's the reason many of those build- on this subject, turn to page 162 in Concordances or any other good ings are so devoid of worshipers. the book The Two Babylons. Now Iexicon at your disposal. The following is a quote from be watchful as you view the struc- It is interesting that in Acts the Compenion Bible, Appendix tures and art of nominal "church- 7:38 we find the term "church" 186, p. 207. "Church is derived ianity," and see how often this employed for the nation or congre- from the Greek kyriakos, of or ancient Egyptian sunburst is du- gation of Israel in the wilderness. belonging to the Lord, house plicated in our worldly religion Have you ever thought that we (Greek oikos) being understood. It today. Therefore, by its very root today are merely a more refined comes to us through Anglo Saxon association with sun worship, the extension of biblical Israel when circe (Scotch kirk). Compare He- word church is disqualified for we are affiliated with the Assem- brew kikkar, a eircuit or disk." use in True Worship. For more blies of Yahweh ? It is a fact that Here we arrive at yet another information on this subject you the Bible proves this conclusively. choice morsel of knowledge! If the may read the article on the word We are not a new religion in this Hebrew word kikkar (a circle or "Chureh" in the Encyclopedia Bri- Messianic age. We are people who disk) is the ultimate root or a tannica and you will find it most live like Israelites by keeping the word with identical meaning, then informative as a supplement to commandments of Yahweh, eom- the word church traces directly to what has been written above. bined with the living faith of the sun worship! Around the turn of this cen- Messiah and His government soon tury, a Frenchman named Victor Basis in Mythology to come to this earth. Conse- Berard, a scholar and statesman, quently, to summarize, we find In ancient mythology the sun had a unique idea. He was the that the words kakd and ekklesia was the supreme deity. It was president of the Sorbonne Gradu- mean assembly, congregation, worshiped as Baal or Lord. It was ate School of Oriental Studies who meeting of True Worshipers. always a full circle and never as part of his studies decided to Let us turn next to an exami- decreased in size as did the moon. make a journey on his yacht in an nation of the word church. The Depicted in the religious art of attempt to trace the route of the Webster's New lVorld Dictionary much of churchianity is the circle Odyssey of Homer. After much (as does practically every other or disk. It is seen in the halo on research and study in preparing reputable dictionary) lists the the people, depicted in sunbursts, for this journey he came to the roots of the word in the following on stained glass windows and may conclusion that the epic poems of way: [ME. chirche, kirke ( OE. be viewed in frescoed ceilings, Homer were translations from cirice (& ON. kirkja < OE.) rising suns, or erosses superim- Phoenician stories or religious Gmc. *kirika ( LGr.(Ec.) *kyrike posed in a circle to denote the sun, traditions. His conclusions are ( C". kyriake (oikia), Lord's among other variations. When we based on the idea that the words (house) ( kyriakos, belonging to observe that the churches of have no meaning in Greek, but the Lord (kyrios, ruler ( kyros, nominal Christianity worship on they do have meaning in the Sunday with absolutely no scrip- Semitic languages, especially *kewe-, to swell, be strong, herol. tural basis for doing so, and when Hebrew. This would tie in closely Immediately we are forced to we see the profuse use of the sun with what we have already seen admit to the fact that this word depicted in religious art, we to be the case with the word has nothing to do with a meeting, should not be astonished at the church and kikkar, since one of assembly, or congregation of be- reason why Almighty Yahweh the mythological mighty ones lievers, but rather it emphasizes promises to this contemporary age described in the Odyssey is Circe. the house OVER the oceupants, sueh severe judgment for their Circe- who are the worshipers. While the sins. Hebrew and Greek words mean a When the writer realized the We hope that you noticed the congregation of people, the word seriousness of the widespread reference to the word circe, as a church traces its roots to the saturation of modern religion with root word for church. It came 2 through the Anglo-Saxon into Eng- lish but ean be traeed ultimately to Greek mythology. In the Odys- sey, Ciree was a goddess who lived on Aeaean Island. She was the daughter of the sun by Perse, who was the daughter of Oeeanus. Ciree's house was in the middle of a dense forest of trees. The house of Ciree was made of stone hewn especially for this purpose from a rock quarry nearby. All around the house wandered onee ferocious animals who had been tamed and drugged into subjection. Ciree had sueh an entrancing voiee and sang beautifully as she worked at her loom, weaving a soft, filmy web of dazzling colors. She lured the men of Odysseus' erew into the house and fed them While the Hebrew a meal which had been drugged with a stupefying potion.