What is the Church?
The disciple's concern for today (continued)

 Pretty harsh words, these. However, during the past thirty years, the American Roman Catholic Church was plagued with a filthy disease: priests engaging in homosexual pederasty. During the tenure of Pope John Paul II, the crime was exposed and corrective actions were instituted. But through revelations of Roman Catholic Church documents, and the testimonies of the male victims, one thing became crystal clear: the Roman church did not do what the Apostle Paul mandated in 1 Corinthians. Instead, the Roman church made every attempt to deal with the problem privately (which is their right, if they could effect the correct solution), but dealt with it in the main by removing the pedophiles from the scene of their crimes and placing the offenders in different, distant locations. There was no punishment ordered as prescribed by Paul.

Hopefully, under the new Pope, Benedict XVI, who by all accounts is more efficient and resolute in dealing with the sin and other such grievous matters, offending priests will be discovered, exposed, banished from the church and be held accountable to civil law, justice and punishment.

On another topic - the celebration of the Mass - the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. came close to destroying itself during the great cultural upheaval of the late 1960's and 1970's. First to go was the Latin mass; replaced with an English language mass. Second, was the relocation of the church alter from the head of the sanctuary to the middle of the sanctuary. This action diluted the 'Mystery of the Mass' in the minds of  the older Roman Catholic generation. Third, was the not-so-subtle replacement of the formal singing of Latin and Greek laity responses. (The 'Kyrie Eleison' is the only Greek language used in the Roman Catholic mass.) The Mass, and laity responses, having been changed to English rubbed many congregants the wrong way.  Fourth, the 'Folk Mass' made its appearance as a desperate attempt of the American Roman Catholic Church to communicate with and hold onto its youth. The Roman church genuflected to the whims of the new American culture.

Depending on the geographic locations in the U.S., the results of these changes were - and still are - mixed. It was during this time that a more threatening factor arose within the U.S. Roman Catholic Church: the laity's emboldened refusal to follow the dictates from the Vatican - especially those Papal edicts that addressed abortion and birth control. Today, a good number of American Roman Catholics disregard the Pope's directives and do, in fact, practice birth control and abortion - even though concurrently accepting the majority of their faith's rules. Also, divorce and marriage annulment edicts have caused internal strife, or are ignored altogether.

The Protestant church in the U.S. has its unique problems and is fragmented into so many individualities that it is nearly impossible to count them; for with the right paperwork and licensing, almost anyone can formally start up a Protestant church - mainly in the Evangelical and Pentecostal themes. The main recognized Protestant churches have, at one time or another, been split by schisms leading to the formation of distinctly different denominations.

For example, the Presbyterian church is divided into many branches: Presbyterian Church U.S.A., Presbyterian Church in America, Presbyterian Church in the U.S., the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The Lutheran Church is divided into two main branches: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. The Baptist church is divided into three main branches: The Southern Baptist Church, the American Baptist Church, and The National Baptist Convention, USA, which is the main African-American Baptist Church. The Methodists are mainly twofold: The United Methodist Church and the Free Methodist Church of North America. Within the Methodist camp also exist the Evangelical Methodist Church and the Primitive Methodist Church in the USA. The Episcopalians have The Episcopal Church in the United States, The Reformed Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church - AME - which ministers to the nation's African-Americans.

Within the church bodies named there exist splinter groups too numerous to list. Additionally, there is the Church of Christ, the Mormon Church, the Quaker movement, Christian Scientist, the Wesleyan Church, and the various offshoots of the Methodists, Baptists and other Reformation churches. And because America is America, one will find Ukraine Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox churches in addition to orthodox Christian churches that address ethnic groups who relocated from throughout the world. The number one growing segment in the U.S.A. are the Pentecostal-Evangelical-Charismatic denominations; many of which offer a Christianity that is unfamiliar and disturbing to the old
guard orthodox faithful.

Over the past twenty years, I have made it a quest to visit a wide number of Christian churches to observe their method of Sabbath services, their polity, and the demeanor of the congregations. What I specifically focused on was the solemnity and sanctity of the worship service. It has been an amazing journey. Like a large shoe store, it seems American Christianity has a denomination for everyone that, in its own way, attempts to provide a comfortable, and alas, entertaining fit for the worshiper.

'Comfortable and entertaining' are the key words regarding a great majority of American Protestant churches today.

The worshipping of God and Jesus Christ does not have as its primary concern, or reason for existing, the 'comfort and entertaining' of the worshipper, nor the accommodation of the worshipper's personal social timetable.

"After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.'

"At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads.

"Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal."

"... the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, 'You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.' " - Revelation 4: 1 - 6 & 4: 10 - 11

Let me ask the reader, when was the last time you attended a worship service that came even close to the above experience? Recall the last time you, personally, attended a worship service and completely divested your thoughts of yourself and concentrated exclusively on saying to God, 'You are the most high. You are the Creator. You are my reason for living. And to You I say, 'Holy, Holy, Holy - Lord God Almighty!'

When was the last time you spoke the words of allegiance to God? When was the last time you solely meditated on God, Christ and the Holy Spirit while in a worship service? Quite some time, if ever? It is not all your fault that you can't or haven't done this. The fault lies in the fact that most likely you were never educated and disciplined in the ways of true worship. For that lack of discipline I fault the denomination higher organization and the church pastor. The main church organization is unfortunately ofttimes fraught with politics and can become counterproductive; but the church pastor must honestly bear his or her share of the fault. It is he, or she, who is the congregation's shepherd; it is he, or she, who was commissioned via Christ's words to Peter to 'Feed my lambs.' And if today's Christian lambs are not being fed, it is the pastor's omission that he or she will have to explain before the Throne of God.

The pastor, though, is not entirely to blame for the lack of sanctity of worship. Much of the blame has to be borne by the believer; or to be blunt about it, the spiritual laziness and arrogance of the believer. This type of believer is primarily concerned about him or her self and not concerned about the wishes of God, and the duty to carry out those wishes.

The German Roman Catholic theologian, Hans Kung in his On Being a Christian made a stunning declaration that applies to all Christian churches: "If the Christian Churches at least in theory have become or are attempting to become so human, if they stand for all those human values for which others also stand, why do they not quite openly overcome all sectarian isolation? For this is the current trend. Numerous 'Catholic' trade unions, sporting associations, student groups, in the post-conciliar period (Second Vatican Council - Pope John XXIII - Jan.25, 1959 - Oct. 11, 1963) have given up their separate existence. 'Catholic' parties have become 'Christian,' Christian parties 'democratic.' Why then is there a Church at all, claiming to have a special place in the world of men? If it is now so modern, progressive, emancipatory, why is it still at any point conservative, traditionalist, or at any rate covertly tied to the past? To put it briefly and clearly, if it is now so human, what is the point of calling it Christian?"

Let me cite an example of this humanness as it manifests in the form of believer arrogance, an incident I witnessed the epitome of believer arrogance and disrespect for God some time back while attending an American Baptist worship service. The pastor was delivering an intellectual sermon that involved Christian theology. It was a good, solid sermon that addressed Christian discipleship. But, it was a long sermon and was destined to prolong the length of the Sunday service beyond the usual conclusion time of 12 noon. As the minister was speaking, two members of the congregation arose from their pew and proceeded to exit the church. The minister broke from his sermon saying,
'If you'll wait but a few more minutes, I will be finished. It is important you hear this.'

The husband and wife stopped, turned to face the minister, and the husband spoke in a loud voice, "I always eat my Sunday dinner at 12:10, and we have just enough time to get home." The twosome turned and left the church. The rest of the church body was speechless; as was the minister. Shortly, the minister regained his bearings and proceeded to lecture the remaining congregation on the insult that had just been given to God. To say the pastor was angry is an understatement. The entire congregation felt shame for the actions of the couple, but in confidence later admitted to me that the pastor's sermons tended to be 'a bit long'.

Another example of believer arrogance is the feeling of superiority. The hidden secret one denomination harbors towards those of the other denominations: Our way of belief is superior to yours. Roman Catholics are paramount in this arrogance, for they claim that they are the one and only true church. Oh, they will tolerate the other denominations, but in reality they hold themselves above all others. Evangelical and Pentecostalists are often overheard saying that their way is a much improved worship than that of the old-line denominations - that theirs is more spirit-filled.

Other Christian church bodies exist to bring in great amounts of money from believers who have pressured their leadership over the past two decades to be entertained during the service. The age of multi-media entertainment has made its way into the Southern Baptist, Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations. Within those groups, there is a fast increasing majority who will not attend a church service that does not incorporate videos, PowerPoint^® presentation sermons, and an overload of contemporary music, usually performed badly by a group of congregational musicians.

There is also the growing allure of believers to join what has become known as a 'Mega-Church'; a church body that numbers into the thousands - some as high as 20-35,000 members. The 'benefits' of joining a huge church body are twofold: The non-beneficent congregant gets lost in the crowd, and nothing is asked or expected of them in the way of discipleship. Second - many of the mega-churches have a civil-political agenda as their duality operant; that is, Christianity paralleled with national politics. Old Baptist polity, in contrast, states than when a church body numbers over one hundred members, the church governing body - the deacons, board of trustees and the pastor - are mandated to select members of the present congregation who would be tasked to go forth into un-churched territory to set up and maintain a new congregation.

That long-established Baptist polity does not seem to be the rule today in America. Also, Baptist polity leaves no doubt about the political association issue: There is to be a clean separation between the Baptist faith and civil politics - separation of church and state. To the opposite, the mega-churches continue to grow in membership and expand their physical building real estate to where many resemble college campuses and increase in political influence. Yet, and to be objective about this, I do know of Christian congregations who choose to remain small and, thus, ensuring spiritual congregational relationships. Those church members actually know, fellowship and administer to each other's spiritual and physical needs in what could be described as a kindhearted, family way.

What does this mean for the modern Christian disciple?

It means that today's disciple has to exercise discernment where he or she worships. Again, I
stress solemnity of the worship service. Does the church worship service show due humility and deference
to the glorification of God? Or, is the worship service something that amounts to nothing more than an occasional 'God fix' for believers who really would rather be elsewhere? Is the worship service centered primarily on the adoration and worship of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, or does it focus mainly on 'What can God do for me?' Does the service dwell on complete Scripture reading, the explaining of the Scripture, and in the sermon, the application of the Scripture message to our spiritual lives? Is there heartfelt, worshipful prayer - or does the praying do as Jesus admonished us not to do: "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6:7)? Does the service include the saying of the Lord's Prayer? Is the Apostles' Creed, or Nicene Creed, recited? Does the church celebrate the sacrament of Communion once a month?
Or, does it gloss over or outright ignore these acts as mere 'formalities'?

Today, both the Presbyterian Church USA and Episcopal Church are in serious  turmoil over the issue of admission of homosexuals to the congregation and clergy. During the 1960's in America, the Presbyterian Church USA had a membership of 6.5 million; in 2008, that count is 2.3 million. The two primary divisive issues: homosexuality and internal politics concerning money and investments. As for the former fractious issue, the Apostle Paul stood against homosexuality
and said in Romans 1: 26 - 29:

"For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done."

Therefore, if this conflict presently exists within a church body, should the Christian disciple become involved? Or, should he or she seek another church that does not tolerate homosexuality and is not consumed by internal or external political strife? Truthfully, that is not a choice the Christian disciple has to make, because it is Jesus who gives the orders, tells us where to go, and God's Holy Spirit who imparts to the disciple the wisdom for dealing with the situation. After all, within the most strife-ridden church there may be a worshipping body, or single person, who God wants redeemed and you, the disciple, may be the agent who precipitates the spiritual change within that body of believers. 'Not my will, but Thy will be done.' Proceed, though, not blindly in your faith and kindheartedness, remembering the words of Paul above in his first Letter to the Corinthians. People who disrupt the Church of Christ by sowing discord and engaging in rumormongering - breaking the Ninth Commandment in so doing - are in fact agents of Satan; whether they know it or not.

Christian discipleship is a continuing battle against the wiles of Satan. The Devil has done much harm to the Church of Jesus Christ by fostering and inciting temptation, arrogance, intolerance, differing and questionable interpretations of God's Word, internal politics, secular humanism, all-action/little-worship groups, the creation of intra-church class systems that ostracize those who are different, or outright shunning of the stranger who just doesn't fit in. Yes, indeed, Satan has done his job well, and the disciple of Christ must be up for the battle to identify and combat old Diabolos .