BTZ Blog

The church we belong to may be one our parents attended, or one in which we were born again, or one to which we were attracted because of its charismatic preacher, its doctrine or perhaps its singing. Whatever the reason, we eventually hold the beliefs of the group we have joined. If we attend a Bible school or seminary our beliefs and concepts are formed according to that particular school of thought. Soon we find ourselves unable to agree with millions of other Christians simply because their "indoctrination" has been different from ours. Although all believers have been transferred from out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's Dear Son, we remain divided into thousands of denominations and disagreeing groups. This is the consequence of our beliefs, concepts and traditions, and we need to hold them lightly and be prepared to discard them if we wish to move on with God. Our environmental background, be it the norms of our society, the teaching of others, ...

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25), is a common verse cited by Christians who believe that if you're not attending weekly meetings or plugged in a church denomination that you are somehow out of sync with Scripture and, for all practical purposes, "backsliding". Some refer to the out of church crowd as rebels, or the walking wounded and this verse is often given as the prescription. But is "attending church" really what the author of Hebrews had in mind here? YES THE BIBLE SAY’S NOT TO FORSAKE THE ASSEMBLING TOGETHER? NOTICE IT DOES NOT SAY DO NOT FORSAKE THE "ASSEMBLY" OR CHURCH BUILDING. First of all, it is essential that we understand the meaning of the word "church" as it is used in the Bible. These comments, while being historically and biblically sound, are not meant to suggest that Christians should not meet together, share fellowship, pray or preach the Word of God. If that is the conclusion ...

Chapter 4 The Example of Christ The example of Jesus is the most powerful argument against the idea of a ruling clergy. Did he model one thing, only to build another? We think not! Did He come serving only to elevate His anti-type later? The spirit of antichrist speaks not only of anything that replaces Christ, but also of what is the opposite of Him. Christ's likeness in a thing determines its legitimacy. Does it reflect Him or not? If not, it is not His and it is most certainly against Him. As it is the Father's will that His Son might fill all things, whatsoever does not reflect him, is most certainly not His. If it is not His doing, reflecting His image, His character, is it then His workmanship, His ekklesia? Christ came as a servant. His servanthood is the new standard of greatness in the kingdom of God. "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authori...

Chapter 3 Two Models of Leadership 1.) H O R I Z O N T A L 2.) V E R T I C A L Horizontal leadership is going on ahead, following the captain of our salvation, out in front of the flock, leading or guiding, not driving them from behind. Vertical leadership is one person presiding over another. The very word over creates a mental picture of one above, and another beneath. One involves climbing up the ecclesiastical ladder of success, while the other is simply following on to know the Lord and assisting others along the way. Jesus gave us the first and only model of horizontal leadership. It was so radical in comparison to the vertical that without divine help the disciples could not imagine such a thing. The vertical, pecking-order model of leadership has no place in the Christian community. Referring to this vertical model, Jesus said; "But you shall not be so…" "And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest...

Chapter 2 Twisted Scriptures Now let us begin to look at a few of the passages that we believe were altered to advance the authority of king and clergy, some of which are not translations at all but are either paraphrases or outright fabrications! Deacons Although the KJV is called a translation, we should note that in some places it is not a translation but a paraphrase. We should be leery of all such portions of scripture. A word for word translation would have left the readers to decide the truth for themselves, but that was unacceptable. This brought about use of entire phrases to redefine one Greek word, in order to promote the ecclesiastical paradigm. One such case is found in 1Timothy 3:13. "For they that (1247) have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." The words have used the office of a deacon were all used to define one Greek word, diakoneo, which is defined as: "To b...