People today say, “Oh, you have to belong to this or that, a sect, a religion, or a denomination. If your name is not on our book, you are lost.” This is nonsense. It’s a cult that says that. God never saved man on the basis of becoming a member of an organization, but on the basis of election through faith in the WORD. He “Who had saved us and called us with an holy calling, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (11 Tim. 1:9).
God does not call His people by an organization. He calls them as individuals - whether you are a Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Protestant, or what you are. Before the foundation of the world, God knew you, and predestinated you - either to eternal life or to eternal damnation.
SALVATION IS AN INDIVIDUAL AFFAIR WITH GOD....
Salvation is an individual affair between every person and God. Each human individual is a unit, and you will never go to heaven as a denomination or as an organized church. You have to answer by yourself at the day of judgment. God did not save you because you are a Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Protestant or whatever “brand” you have got “tagged” on you. That doesn’t make any difference to God. But He saved you on the basis of His elective Love.
Ephesians 1:4-11 says this: “According as He hath CHOSEN us IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having PREDESTINATED US unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Romans 8:30 declares: “Moreover, whom He did PREDESTINATE, them He also called: and whom He CALLED, them He also justified; and whom He JUSTIFIED, them He also GLORIFIED (past tense). And God sent Jesus Christ to redeem these people alone, and not the whole world.
THE BIRTH OF DENOMINATIONS....
So, have we ever asked ourselves where have all these denominations came from? Do take note that the DENOMINATION came from the Catholic Church. She is the Mother of all denominations and each denomination has come right down from her.
Authentic historical records show that the Catholic Church was the very first ORGANIZED religion founded by Constantine of Hippo in 325 A.D. in Rome. But history revals that TRUE CHRISTIANITY never started in Rome. It originated from JERUSALEM on the Day of Pentecost (33 A.D.) when the Holy Ghost came down in tongues of Fire to indwell every true believer, which wrought them power, miracles and supernatural wonders.
The SECOND organization, according to history, was the LUTHERANS, when Martin Luther protested the Catholic Church in 1517 A.D. and his followers organized his teachings after Luther was gone. Then after that came ZWINGLI. It came down through CALVIN, and from that came the ANGLICANS, and from the Anglicans down into the METHODISTS. Out of the Methodists came the CAMPBELLITES, then came John Smith, then the CHURCH OF CHRIST. Then came the BAPTIST CHURCH which had lots of pull-outs : the Southern, The Northern, The Trinity, the Bible Baptist, and all the Baptist churches there is now.
And out of the Methodist came also the WESLEYAN Methodist, and broke-off again into the FREE METHODIST. And from that split came the NAZARENES, and from the Nazarenes to the PILGRIM HOLINESS, and on down. They finally wound up to the PENTECOSTALS.
And what did the Pentecostals do? The same thing that her Mommy did, she went back into an ORGANIZED RELIGION - into the ASSEMBLIES OF GOD, The CHURCH OF GOD, the APOSTOLIC ONENESS, the FOURSQUARES, and all the other charismatic splinter groups. Today, there are over 3,000 denominations all over the world - ALL of them organized, ALL having their OWN INTERPRETATIONS of the Bible, ALL claiming originality of the Word, fussing, proselyting and debating with one another.
ALL CANNOT BE RIGHT....
What is it, therefore, that these denominations are based upon? It is the claim to originality, and that they are of God, and the claim that their doctrines are right. ALL CANNOT BE RIGHT; IN FACT, NOT ONE OF THEM IS RIGHT. They say they are right because they are the one saying it, but saying it does not make it so. The churches have changed to a powerless group of people whose only weapon is argument. She could produce nothing in the Spirit, for her hopes are built on programs and not on faith in the Word. Where is the power that Jesus has promised for the church in Mark 16:17,18, that says, “These SIGNS shall FOLLOW them that BELIEVE, In My Name, they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues; if they take up serpents and drink deadly things, it won’t harm them. And if they lay hands on the sick, they shall recover.” It’s not there, for there is something wrong somewhere.
The Spirit is not active in any denomination. It’s not interested in making organization, because the Spirit Itself is contrary to the organization. The organizations are looking for worldly things, the mind of the world, and they make big temples and polished things, and great polished organizations, and polished preachers, and so forth like that, and the best class in the city. How can the Spirit work in an organization when it’s denying, taking creeds instead of the Word? Membership is what matters today with the denominations. Big membership, big Sunday school classes, pay prizes for somebody can proselyte and bring somebody else from some other church over, see who’s got the most.
GOD IS NOT AN AUTHOR OF CONFUSION
Denominations are NOT of God. They have never been and never will be. Denominations have caused a separation of brotherhood through their doctrinal differences, and thus, it has been a system that God is not pleased with.
God is not the author of denomination because denomination is CONFUSION, and God is not an author of confusion. Denominations simply SOW discord among brethren, and God never recognizes anyone of them as His own. Nothing types denomination in the Scripture but the TOWER of BABEL, where God confounded them of their follies.
They have turned away from the perfect will of God by adding their own man-made dogmas, creeds and doctrines, and let their members live by it, though they be CONTRARY to the Word of God.
Where can you find the “Vicar of Christ” in the Word? Where do you find a “Purgatory”? Where do you find a “Mass”? Where do you find “Paying money to get out of hell”? They are not in the Bible. They are man-made hybid teachings. The Bible also says that only Jesus Christ is the MEDIATOR between God and man; but here now they have made Mary as a "mediatrix". Did Mary die for us? They also say that Peter was the first "pope". That is a lie. The Bible says that Peter was married and had a wife, therefore, he can never be a "pope". Matthew 8:14 states, "And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever."
THESE TEACHINGS ARE NOT IN THE WORD. The perverting spirit of the serpent has again made all denominations write their own MANUALS and teach their creeds, set up their offices and church governments, and then claim that she, and she alone, truly speaks for God, as she is best qualified, according to each and every one of them. That’s what the denominations have done. In organizing, they separate themselves from the Word (as did Eve) and bring themselves into SPIRITUAL ADULTERY. She, the church, has accepted again Satan’s wisdom instead of the pure Word of God.
Villager,
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