Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices

Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices | Frank Viola, George Barna | The Pieces FINALLY Fit

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Pagan Christianity...

	Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices Frank Viola, George Barna BarnaBooks, 2008 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 205 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

pagan christinanty

very good, lots of research , put together very well. a must read for all who would follow Christ in truth and spirit.

The Pieces FINALLY Fit

I recently read this book. I grew up in a Christian church and was taught the whole ball of wax. (Go to church three or more times per week, tithe 10%, etc., etc.) As I grew older, matured, studied more about Chrisianity and our role in God's kingdom, things just didn't seem to "fit". It seemed like the church's teaching didn't fit exactly with what the Bible teaches. Your book FINALLY put the pieces together. What a burden of guilt has been lifted from my shoulders! I can now see the big picture! We WERE on the right track! The verse: "the Truth shall set you free" has so much meaning now. WE are the church!
Thank you so much for writing a book that needed to be written. Our purpose (as Christians) is so much clearer now.

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Im not emergent either...

This book is awesome...awesome...awesome (and Im not an emergent post-modern either!) This book gets to the root of many church practices today...very eye-opening. I hope this book becomes the most popular book in seminaries around the world. If you are stuck on tradition, watch out...cause this book will kick your (_|_)

Amazing Journey

Upon the advice of a friend, who knew the desire in my heart to find like-hearted worship with others, I got this book and inhaled it! I couldn't stop reading . . .

You see, I grew up SDA. Surrounded and soaked in the traditions of the church and the institutions and thoughts thereof. Though I knew God on the heart level and lived outside of the box as much as I could --- I knew little life outside of those traditions and theories. I wasn't a back row sitter in the SDA church. I was raised going to church every Sabbath at 9 am. I was schooled my whole life in church school - through college. I worked at the church's summer camp throughout my 20's, I went to VBS, I was counselor at Bible Outdoor School, I taught and directed the local kids Sabbath School for years, I did oversee missions and local missions, I was a worship-leader, I even spoke from the pulpit many times. I put together programs and implemented them. I went to the wall for defense of the 'church.' Until . . . . God called me out.

At 35 my marriage was on the rocks. The Spirit lead my husband to a Wild at Heart Boot Camp put on by the Ransomed Heart Ministry team in CO and was awakened and transformed. After 35 years in the 'church' we'd never seen transformation like that. I was so blown away by his transformation and the non-existant permanent transformation of people inside the church that we were forced to take a large step bacd. We stopped going to church because when we did go -- we couldn't stomach it. It all seemed so wrong. We saw the foolishness of the traditions, the half-truths that were being preached, the posing and posturing of people during that 2 hours, and the stage-like performance of the pastor vs audience. I wanted to scream. I did and then we left. Originally we stopped going out of the shock of realizing that we'd been apart of something that claimed to change peoples lives -- but didn't. Then, it turned into more . . . .

During the next 4 years God walked us into throwing out everything we once knew. We saw the bigger picture of what the modern 'church' was doing to people and telling people and the half-truths that exist there -- we were convinced that the way they were worshiping and what they were preaching was so very misleading! Of course, we knew that God may still work within the brokenness of the institutionalized church, but we wanted more of the original. Yet, had no way of finding it. We thought we were all alone. We continued to walk with God -- journeying as a family into amazing truths re-discovered and re-claimed as He brought them back to us.

We were moved to write books, create online redemptive communities, host like-hearts at our home, put on Freedom Events at the local grange hall, in the mountains, at coffee shops -- we tried many things to find others searching for what we were searching for. Hungry for what we were hungry for. Walking with God lead me to buy many books on Amazon from authors like Greg Boyd, John Eldredge, CS Lewis and then I would see your book. I tried to order the older version of "Pagan Christianity." But it was never available when I went there. It was either not the right time, or something was set against me getting it.

God continued to journey us.

Then, my like-hearted warrior friend called me from the East Coast and said, "You've got to read this book, "Pagan Christianity." I did. I inhaled it. I cried. This book confirmed for me, with logics and statistics and history, what my heart already knew. God was already walking us away from the legalized, systematized, institutionalized and programitized way of worshiping. Away from the counterfeit. And all I wanted was to find the Church. The Church that Barna and Viola speak of in their book. All of a sudden, though we didn't have a local fellowship, I felt like I wasn't alone. Someone put into writing what I knew to be true and the why's! And now when I tell my 'church' friends about my walk and mention this book -- all I have to do is mention the authors and my friends actually take notice for they've heard of Barna from the pulpit!

After reading the book and after journeying through the concept of spiritual alliances, I decided to severe my spiritual alliance with the SDA church (that took 6 months -- they didn't want to let go!). I was convinced, after reading this book, that I wanted to be aligned with the True Church. The Bride who is gathering in the First Century tradition. People who walk with God in the New Testament Tradition -- the dream of Jesus. I am done aligning myself with a man-made institution. An angel stands at the entrance to those places and warns, "Jesus has left the building!" to all those who have eyes to see.

Now, I look forward to finding the Church to fellowship with in New Testament, early Celtic Christian style-- living in community organically, worshiping in that dynamic flow that Viola and Barna talk about. I have met a few like-hearts and have networked with them across the country but am needing to find worship where I live. That, my friend, Frank Viola, is harder than it seems for many of us. I appreciate your effort to connect us, but so far nothing for North Idaho. I know that there are not many. The path is narrow. There are few that find it. There are few with eyes to see. But I thank you my friend, for having the guts and the walk with God that cumulated in a book that helps us mystics out with the history and proof that help us jump away from the fire into the arms of God and His Bride. God has and will continue to use your book and your heart to call people out to the 'real.'

Your walk is confirmed by my walk prior to ever reading your book. The Spirit is moving. The Trinity is moving. Aslan is on the move. We are at the End of the Age. I do crave fellowship with the Church---I pray it happens more constantly for this little family in Idaho.

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