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NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.



The issue of the upper room is just one example where some religionists attempt to twist the meaning of the Scriptures in order to support their false, oppressive church system. Another example is found in the following verse which we find in the Apostle Paul's first Epistle to Timothy:

"But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."


As you can see, in this verse, the Apostle Paul states "in the house of God, which is the church of the living God". We have already discussed how the Book of Revelation informs us that we represent symbolic pillars in the Temple of God, so I see no need to further discuss that part of the verse. As you can probably imagine, religionists interpret Paul's words in a very literal fashion. In other words, to such people, the phrase "house of God" is understood to mean a physical church building. However, is this really what Paul is saying here?

Contrary to what religionists believe, the phrase "house of God" is not referring to a physical church building. You may recall that in part two, I pointed out that church buildings did not exist at that time. It would not be until centuries later that the Roman Catholics would begin to construct such buildings during the reign of Emperor Constantine. Neither is "house of God" a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem. This second point is very easy to prove, simply by taking note of what Paul is writing about, who he is writing to, and where that person is located.

The simple truth of this matter is that the Apostle Paul is offering counsel to his beloved son in the faith -- Timothy -- who has remained at Ephesus. The Book of Acts informs us that Timothy -- or Timotheus as he was known in Greek -- was half Jew on his mother's side, and half Greek on his father's side. The writer Luke informs us that Paul chose to have him -- meaning Timothy -- circumcised in order to quell the anger of the legalistic Jews. Timothy in fact later became the first bishop of Ephesus. Consider the following verses which verify these various points:

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do."


"Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek."


"The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. [The second epistle unto Timotheus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, when Paul was brought before Nero the second time.]"


The fact of the matter is that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, that in the previous verse, Paul would need to advise Timothy regarding how he should comport himself in the Temple in Jerusalem, which, as I already noted, is how some religionists apparently interpret "house of God" in the verse. Why? Because as far as we know, Timotheus' ministry and life centered around Macedonia and Asia Minor -- which is today known as Turkey -- and other nearby regions. To my knowledge, he never went to Jerusalem -- and there is zero evidence in the Scriptures to indicate that he did -- so to suggest that Paul was instructing Timothy regarding how "to behave [himself] in the house of God" -- supposedly meaning the Temple according to the religionists -- is really a moot point. Please note that the three cities of Derbe, Lystra and Iconium were located in Lycaonia, which was a region of Asia Minor. Iconium was in fact the capital of the region.

Being as we are discussing the Apostle Paul, Timothy and the city of Ephesus, allow me to interject another important fact which is directly related to our primary discussion regarding how the King James Bible was purposely translated in such a manner, so that it would support and enhance the power of the Church of England, and its church buildings and ecclesiastical structure at that time.

As I explain in other articles, when Paul and his companions -- Gaius and Aristarchus -- arrived in Ephesus, once their presence became known, a troublesome local idol maker by the name of Demetrius stirred up the anger of the union of local craftsmen, when he warned them that the presence of Paul and his companions would result in a loss of income for them. As you may know, Ephesus was the location of the famous Temple of Diana, which was also known as the Temple of Artemis. Much like the Roman Catholic Church today, selling silver statues and trinkets which were associated with this false goddess was their very livelihood. Thus, once the word spread about the arrive of Paul and his companions, a major disturbance erupted in the city, so that they shouted "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" for about two hours straight, as we see by the following verses:

"And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians . . . But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians."


Now, please keep in mind that this entire incident revolved around pagan temples, idol worship and their false goddess Diana. While the primary temple to Diana was located in the city of Ephesus, this entire region -- and by extension, all of Asia Minor and beyond -- was very steeped in the worship of false gods and goddesses of one sort or another. They had constructed temples and shrines to a wide range of deities. However, oddly enough, when the townclerk finally managed to get the situation under control, you will never imagine how the KJV translators chose to translate part of what he said. Consider the following verse:

"For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess."


What? Robbers of churches? Where in the world did that come from? As it turns out, the phrase "robbers of churches" is translated from the Greek compound word "hierosulos". This word is derived from "hieron" -- which refers to a sacred place or temple -- and "sulao" -- which means to rob or to despoil. When these two words are placed together, Thayer's Greek English Lexicon indicates that it generally means to be guilty of sacrilege, which actually goes along with the rest of the verse where it says "nor yet blasphemers of your goddess", referring, of course, to Diana. At the very least, it seems to me that the translators could have more properly translated "hierosulos" as "robbers of temples", so that the reader would realize that the townclerk was referring to the temples and shrines which had been dedicated to Diana.

Thus, in my view, there seems to be no way to get around the strong possibility that "hierosulos" was purposely and very intentionally mistranslated in the Scriptures. These people were pagans. The townclerk was likewise a pagan. They were clearly worshipers of Diana. Furthermore, as we have already seen, church buildings did not exist at that time. They most certainly did not exist in Ephesus. Just the knowledge of the arrival of these Christians caused the people to riot and go into a religious frenzy for Diana so that they chanted her name for two hours straight. My gosh! Can you imagine it?

So why did the translators choose to translate this word as "robbers of churches", when the Greek word "ekklesia" does not even appear in that verse? Isn't it obvious? As you will hopefully come to understand by the time that you finish this series -- if you haven't done so already -- the clear aim of the KJV translators was to manipulate the text in many small, subtle ways, so that it would support church buildings, and everything that was associated with organized religion; that is, churchianity, or in this case, the Church of England. If you happen to be a hard-nosed religionist who is tempted to accuse me of purposely trying to make the Scriptures say what I want them to say, then consider the following, and wake up to the truth; that truth being that the KJV Bible has in fact been purposely manipulated, and that it is not the inerrant Word of God. Inspired, yes; but inerrant, no.

Just now I investigated the matter further with my particular Bible program. As it turns out, the word "temple" is found twenty-five times in The Acts of the Apostles alone. Guess what? In every single case, it is translated from the Greek word "hieron", which is the first half of the Greek compound word "hierosulos" that we examined a moment ago. Furthermore, even in the phrase "the temple of the great goddess Diana", the word "temple" is derived from "hieron". So tell me; why did the KJV translators choose to translate "hierosulos" as "robbers of churches"? There was absolutely no reason to do so unless they had a specific agenda in mind. In fact, in my view, to do so it totally out of context with what this part of Acts chapter nineteen is about. Are you convinced yet?

Returning to our discussion regarding 1 Timothy 3:15, while certain religionists strive to convince us that the phrase "house of God" in that verse refers to a church building, as we have already come to understand, the Apostle Paul plainly tells us what he means by "house of God" in all of the verses that I shared with you earlier, where he very clearly informs us that our bodies are the Temple of God, and thus the House of God as well. We can also say that collectively-speaking, we are also the true Temple of God, and thus the House of God and the Church of God as well. Furthermore, we all know that Jesus Christ is the one and only true head of the universal Body of Believers, which we refer to as the Church, as we see by the following group of verses:

"But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God."


"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,"


"But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:"


"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."


"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."


"And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:"


"Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,"


To convince ourselves that the Apostle Paul means something else in 1 Timothy 3:15, is to purposely twist the meaning of the Scriptures, in order to make them say what we want them to say. My friends, the truth becomes so clear, when we just compare Scripture to Scripture, instead of leaning to our own understanding. To reiterate my previous two points, it is impossible that Paul was referring to the Temple in the city of Jerusalem when he said "in the house of God, which is the church of the living God", because there is no record to even indicate that Timothy ever went to Jerusalem. Second, neither could the phrase "house of God" have implied a physical church building, because there were no church buildings at that time; especially not in Ephesus, which was the center of worship for the false goddess Diana, or Artemis. Are you convinced yet?

I suspect that another reason why some people -- particularly church-going religionists -- become confused when they see that phrase "house of God" in 1 Timothy 3:15, is because the Greek word "oikos" has been translated there as "house", when that is not what the Apostle Paul meant. You see, "oikos" does not just mean a physical building. It also means the members of a family or household; that is, the actual people. If you doubt that this is so, then consider the following well-known verse where the same Greek word is used:

"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."


Now, obviously, Paul and Silas are not telling the keeper of the prison that his actual physical house can be saved. They are plainly stating that the other members of his household can be saved, if they too believe that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior. This becomes clear simply by reading the next three verses, as we see here:

"And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."


In this case, in the phrase "in his house", the word "house" is derived from a very similar word, "oikia", which again can refer to the actual dwelling place -- as it does in this case -- or to the actual members of the family; that is, the household. In the phrase "into his house", the word "house" is again translated from the Greek word "oikos", but this time it is referring to the actual structure, and not to the people. Finally, the phrase "all his house" is derived from the Greek compound word "panoiki". In this case, the first part -- pan -- means "all". This is the same prefix that we find in such words as "panorama", which is a sweeping view of an entire landscape. So the phrase "all his house" really means all of the members of his household.

It is my view, that for the sake of clarification, when the translators chose to translate the phrase "the house of God, which is the church of the living God" in 1 Timothy 3:15, it would have been a lot better if they had translated "oikos" as "household", so that the phrase reads "the household of God" -- meaning the family of God -- and not "house of God". In other words, in 1 Timothy 3:15, Paul is talking about us -- God's adopted children -- as being the "church of the living God" when he uses the phrase "the house of God". If you still doubt that this is so, then consider that in the following well-known verse, the translators translated the word "oikeios" as "household", so that the correct phrase "household of God" is used, just as I believe it should be used in 1 Timothy 3:15 as well:

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;"


We have already looked at so many Scriptures which confirm this same point. The true Church of the living God is not a cold, dead building constructed of concrete and steel. It is not a church, it is not a temple, it is not a mosque, or anything else. As we saw earlier, the Apostle Peter writes that we are "lively stones" in the "church of the living God". Even Jesus Himself teaches us the same thing when He says the following:

"I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."


"He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err."


"For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him."


Thus we see that all of these various Greek words -- that is, "oikos", "oikia", "panoiki" and "oikeios" -- are derived from the same Greek root, and can refer to an actual structure, or to the actual members of a family; that is, the household. In order to properly understand what it meant in each case, we need to do two things. First, we need to read the verses in their proper context. Second, we need to consider everything else which has been stated regarding the same subject; not just in the same chapter, but also in the same Book, as well as in other Books. As I have long taught, we need to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to properly understand the Word of God. We cannot just quickly look on the surface and assume that we have understood it, because maybe we haven't.

When we do this, when we look at everything as a whole, if we are truly honest with ourselves, and open to the leading of God's Holy Spirit, we can't help but realize that all of this is meant to be understood in a spiritual sense, and not in a physical sense, as church-going religionists erroneously try to do, and exactly as this particular person tried to do. He looked at that phrase "the house of God, which is the church of the living God", and said "Aha! Gotcha! See! Right there we are told that the house of God is the church of God!" He looked at it with his physical eyes, and with the wisdom of his own mind, but not in the Spirit. As Paul also writes:

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


Because religionists feel compelled to defend and justify their corrupt religious system -- that is, the physical church system -- that is exactly what they do. They choose to interpret some of these verses in a purely physical sense, when that is not what they mean whatsoever. They ignore the plethora of verses which tell us "ye are the temple of God, and . . . the Spirit of God dwelleth in you", and "your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you," and "he spake of the temple of his body." Sadly, I know that there are people who will read this entire series, and they still won't get it. No matter how hard I have worked to make it so plain to them here, some of them will no doubt still take offense, and they will accuse me in their hearts. However, I can't be concerned with hurt feelings and such trivialities. God's truth goes marching on.

Because they are so beholden to the physical church system and its various trappings, another tactic which is used by certain church-going religionists to try to justify their position is to point to verses such as the following:

"And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen."


"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."


"But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life . . . And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."


The argument seems to be that if the First Century Apostles preached and taught in the Temple in Jerusalem, then what is wrong with people going to church today? What difference is there really? Let me answer is the following manner. While it is true that the Apostles and Disciples did gather publicly in the Temple and witnessed there for a time, not only do we know that it wasn't before long that the Jewish religionists began to persecute them, but we also know that God eventually destroyed the Temple as well. Furthermore, we already know why God destroyed it. Jesus told us quite clearly in the four Gospels, in such chapters as Matthew chapter twenty-three and John chapter eight. In short, it was a corrupt, hypocritical religious system, where they worshiped God in name only. I am reminded of verses such as the following:

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:"


"Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me."


"He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."


"Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:"


Even though the Temple in Jerusalem was doomed to destruction as Jesus had prophesied, we know that during His last week of life, the Lord preached there as well on a daily basis, as we can determine by verses such as the following:

"In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me."


"And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?"


"I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled."


"And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him. And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders, And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?"


"And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him."


"Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness."


"Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught . . . Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me."


"These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come."


"The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said."


Please go to part four for the continuation of this series.

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