Is The Modern Church A Counterfeit?

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - June 25, 2013 - PRLog -- Gene Aptaker, a Knoxville, TN man, says without hesitation on his new website, that the "Church" as it exists in our world today... with some rare exceptions... is a shallow, bland, powerless counterfeit of the church that God created, and the church that God wants to see operating on this earth.

You can take a look at his website at http://whatischurch.org/.

Why does this man take such a hard, critical stance regarding the church, an institution that has been around for thousands of years and claims followers in the hundreds of millions? His answer follows:

..... The church, or body of Christ, was created by God to be a living, organic expression of Jesus Christ Himself.  It is supposed to show forth, or demonstrate, the very life, nature and ways of the Lord, Jesus.

..... God's word... the Bible... is extremely clear on this, both in its doctrine and in its historical presentation of what went on in the early days and years of the Church.

..... The apostles were fearful cowards after Jesus was crucified, but, after the resurrection, on the day of Pentecost, they suddenly became bold as lions and full of life and power.  What happened?

..... What happened is this... the very life and nature of Jesus, the Christ entered into them... truth was proclaimed boldly and fearlessly... people were healed of physical diseases and also freed from demonic oppression.  These Christians were now a true force to be reckoned with.

..... By the way, the word Christian actually means "Christ bearer".

..... The church, the body of Christ, grew like a weed, even with heavy opposition and persecution by the religious leaders of the day, and by the Roman authorities. The truth of the gospel, along with the powerful, transformed lives of believers, was turning the Roman world upside down.

..... After a few hundred years of the church spiritually invading the empire, and drawing countless souls into God's kingdom and the church, Satan, the devil decided to change tactics.  Instead of opposing the church, he was now going to join it, and he worked through the Emperor, Constantine, to bring about the marriage of the Church and the State. This started the disastrous trend towards Christian "religion" that we see down to this day.

..... Now, instead of being about the life, love and nature of God being expressed by His people, the church is all about programs, projects, this or that outreach or ministry, and religious people doing religious things, including the pointing of dirty fingers at those who are not among them.

..... Even those who are totally non-religious can see how bland, powerless and "phony" Christians are.

..... The believers claim to serve a powerful God of love, but His "followers" don't seem to have much love or power going on.  It's a sad state of affairs, and, with my new website, I'm hoping to help Christians and non-Christians alike see that the modern-day church simply is not the real deal.