From the OP:
The word church was first used in the New Testament and is a translation of the Greek word
ekklesia, which means a calling out. Jesus said to his disciples, “I have chosen you out of the world.” (John 15:19) The true church is a company of believers who, in accepting the invitation of Christ, have become sanctified or separated from the world, worldly pursuits and worldly organizations.
Act 7:34
I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
Act 7:35
This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send
to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36
He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Act 7:37
This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
Act 7:38
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and
with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
Act 7:39
To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust
him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40
Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for
as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
ekklēsía, ek-klay-see'-ah; from a compound of
G1537 and a derivative of
G2564; a calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both):—assembly, church.
How easily the children in the wilderness fell away from following God and his messenger Moses.
After 40 years of God providing for them, it took only 40 days and nights to rebel.
When Moses came down from the mountain, the chilfren of Israel had created for themselves an idol, a golden calf to worship.
Moses was wroth and cast down God's words written with His own finger, spoken by His own mouth, to the ground and shattered them in pieces.
Moses didn't say, let's just sit down together and break some bread and try to get along.
This day there would be a dividing of the wheat from the tares.
Exo 32:7
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves:
Exo 32:15
And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony
were in his hand: the tables
were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other
were they written.
Exo 32:16
And the tables
were the work of God, and the writing
was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exo 32:19
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
Exo 32:20
And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt
it in the fire, and ground
it to powder, and strawed
it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink
of it.
Exo 32:26
Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who
is on the LORD'S side?
let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
Exo 32:27
And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side,
and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Exo 32:28
And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Act 7:42
Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices
by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Act 7:43
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Rephan,
Ῥαιφάν (Rhaiphan)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 4481: Rephan, the Saturn of later mythology. By incorrect transliteration for a word of Hebrew origin; Remphan, an Egyptian idol.
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Act 17:16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
Act 17:17
Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
Act 17:18
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
This isn't about Catholicism or Judaism or even Americanism.
The whole world is infested with idolatry.
Act 17:22
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said,
Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
Act 17:23
For
as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Act 17:24
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:25
Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Act 17:26
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Act 17:27
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Act 17:29
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Act 17:30
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
1Co 10:14
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
Hugs