The word “church” became a catch-all term to describe the Body of Christ, obscuring the true meaning of Ekklesia. Did you know that there are multiple Greek roots describing it? Listen to this quote from the 1915 Gospel Advocate: The word “Church” is really not a translation of any word that was used by either Christ or His Apostles, but is the Anglican form of a different word which Roman Catholicism substituted in place of the word used by Christ and His Apostles… It is in our English scriptures by order of King James, who instructed his translators to use the word church for the word “Ecclesia” instead of their choice of either “Congregation” or “Assembly”. According to this article, King James covered the true meaning of Ekklesia with a benign word to mislead Believers. The Greek word Ekklesia is correctly defined as the called-out (ones), meaning a civil body of elected people. The Oxford Universal English Dictionary defines Ekklesia as a regularly convoked assembly. YHWY intended for us as the Ekklesia to function as called out decision makers, guided by the Holy Spirit. Decision makers define culture—a role the deceived Church relegated to godless bureaucrats long ago.

Recall the days within the early Church in the book of Acts, when the disciples and other Believers established their own form of government within the Roman Empire: A deep sense of holy awe swept over everyone, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. All the believers were in fellowship as one body, and they shared with one another whatever they had. Out of generosity, they even sold their assets to distribute the proceeds to those who were in need among them… They were continually filled with praises to God, enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were coming to life (Acts 2:43, 47 TPT). Notice that Believers started taking care of the poor without looking for the help of the government. People received healing without doctors. They operated in a powerful anointing with miracles and daily communion and began to win the hearts and minds of the people and grow in numbers daily. The Ekklesia’s generosity, miracles and anointing began to threaten the Roman establishment. This explains why Rome scattered the Ekklesia. Yeshua expects us to involve ourselves with leading, making decisions and influencing culture, just as the early Ekklesia did in the book of Acts.

Extracts from the book Glory of Eden by Benjamin Thomas