Four

 

The separation that now affects Christianity is somewhat reminiscent to that of the Jewish Diaspora. Just as the tribes of Israel were displaced to all of the corners of the known world, Christians are separated from one another due to the schism that started during the Middle Ages. The unity that Christ referred to in His teachings and those of Saint Paul are no longer given any consideration and are of little importance to the churches of today. The present day teachers of the scripture have no concern for this and do not see it as a problem, as long as people still attend services and offer their worship to God, this is all they state that matters. It matters not how it is performed, just as long as it is done. How are the Christian people ever going to understand the importance of unity if those doing the teaching have little or no care in doing so? These men and women that now teach have also been blinded by 1000 years of sectarianism. They teach only what they have themselves been taught; they cannot see or seem to understand the truth that lies in the unification of all Christians.

 

Allow me to go back to early Israel to make a comparison to Christianity. As the Jews were spread throughout the world, they were affected by the cultures of different parts of the world in which they found themselves, but it did little to change their way of worship. Christians have been influenced by the many doctrines which have been brought about by the Reformation. There are many Christian denominations whose doctrines are not in harmony with the word of God. There is one great difference between what took place in the old world and what is happening in the Christian Churches of today. Even though the Jews were found scattered throughout the world, no matter where they found themselves the rite of worship in the synagogue never changed. A Jew regardless of being a stranger in a foreign land was still able to go to the nearest temple and find the people of that country following the same religious practices as he was taught and had come to know in his native country, this is unity. This is what is meant by "being one in body". There has never or ever will be another people on the face of this earth that will be subjected to that which the Jewish people have been through; until the end times when Christians will be severely persecuted, through it all the Judaic People’s practice of worshiping God has changed very little. Can the same be said of Christians? Can one that is of the Catholic faith go to service at another denominational church and find the worship service to be the same as their own? Absolutely not! Each of these so called Christian denominations all follows their own practice of worship. If the stranger in the previous example of the Jew were a Christian and wanted to attend worship in a place far from home, they would be unable to stop at the nearest church because of the diversity in Christian worship. It is a pitiful thing for the adherents of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be unable to worship in the same manner no matter where they find themselves, but much worse they cannot even call themselves by the same name. Many believers instead of calling themselves Christians will say I am a Roman Catholic, I am an Anglican or I am a Presbyterian, if they are asked about their religious conviction. A man should be greatly humbled to take upon himself the name of God made flesh. How much closer can one come than to align their name with that of Christ and be known by nothing other than Christian? I personally would be greatly ashamed to call myself anything other than this and I am quite sure that my Master and King would feel the same of me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five

 

In order for unity to take place and return all of Christianity back to its origin of the One Body of Jesus Christ, it must fall on the leaders of those denominations that were the root cause of the segregation that lies between them at the present time. I am not saying that all should return to the Roman Church or am I promoting the idea of a "One World Church", only that all that believes in Jesus Christ should be on the "same page". I referred earlier to many Christians who have left the organized denominational settings to seek after something that is more in line with fellowship as it was proposed originally. This is all well and good but in relation to the vast amount of adherents to Christianity, this is as a grain of sand on the seashore.

 

I have come under fire from those in biblical academia for my views on the subject of theology and all that has been written since the introduction of modern printing techniques. More books have been written and published on theology than Bibles. Man’s never ending attempt to explain those words spoken by the great prophets and apostles, and the greatest teacher of all; our Lord Jesus Christ, has led to the vast differences between denominations. Man has a very inquiring mind. I find no fault in anyone wanting to have a better understanding of all that pertains to God, but this should remain within the confines of theological academia and not allowed to filter into the Gospel with the resultant effect of influencing the church itself. Some of these opinions of men have had a debilitating effect on the church which has affected the original intention prescribed for it by its founder. Mankind will never be able to think out of the box of human intelligence. There is temporal knowledge and the spiritual, and "Never the twain shall meet". If mankind is ever to understand the mysteries that surround God, this must come directly from Him through the Holy Spirit.

 

In order to turn the church around and return it to the place it belongs; will only be done on the part of very few of its present day leaders. I pray that there would be more, but this is optimistic thinking on my part. When a large corporation or small business fails, even governments at times, it is due to poor management and falls directly on the shoulders of those people at the top. In other words it is no more than poor management. Most often the people on the lower rungs of the ladder see the problems but have no way of addressing them. The church is no different in respect to mismanagement. The leading men that are in the hierarchy of the church are no different from their counterparts in management positions in Fortune 500 Companies. The effects of this upon the fellowship of the church are much more serious than that on business or government. Although these greatly affect everyone involved in a personal way and may bring about hardships to peoples lives, it does not affect the very soul of men as the leaders of the church would. The business world holds the livelihood of its employees in its hands, but the church holds the eternal life of its dependents in theirs. Just as the surgeon holds the life of his patients in his hands, the ministers of Christ’s Gospel hold their very souls.

 

I believe that the ultimate responsibility for the guidance and direction of a believer’s soul in order for them to maintain those things required for it; has been taken too lightly by some who have been called to undertake Christ’s Great Commission for the purpose of tending His flock. Those of us who have been chosen and called into Christ’s service should never become complacent with respect to it. The profound importance of the job that we have been given to accomplish is as no other that a man can do. There is no work that is done in Christ’s name that can be considered of little importance. All of those that are in ministry are answerable to God first and their church hierarchy second. The organizational agenda according to each individual denomination of Christianity has for the most part taken precedence over what the original church founders, Christ’s Apostles, built upon the cornerstone that Christ had laid. They practice what is right in their opinion rather than those guidelines proposed by the early fathers of the church. This has resulted in destructive division, rather than a unification of the church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six

 

 

There has entered a new threat regarding Christianity as a whole that in my opinion is the greatest to come along in 2000 years. It is known by the name of Progressive Christianity. This new movement is very deceptive in its overall plans for the very future of Christianity. It speaks of unity among all beliefs regardless of whether it is considered religious or of a secular nature. This movement has gained an incredible amount of strength in the past five years due to a great number of former denominational churches coming under its banner and it is gaining many converts from the various denominations of Christianity that have left their lifelong affiliation due to a lack of being fulfilled.

 

The basis of this movement is made up in part of psychology, science and sociology. It attempts to explain away God as no more than folklore and mythology. That God was created by man to explain much of the unknown to the early ages of mankind, where also superstition played a key factor in life, and when many things were shrouded in great mystery. With the technical advances of this age men have come to believe in themselves and their own knowledge and feel there is no intelligent rationale to support any credible evidence of there ever being a Supreme Being that created the universe and all that lies within it. They believe that Jesus was only a man of high moral character and not the Son of God. They believe that they should look within themselves to find God and also in the world around them. It has always been hard for me to imagine what people’s lives are like who do not believe in God, as revealed in the New Testament, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is puzzling to me how anyone who has been a believer in Christ can abandon their belief and accept science in its place. On second thought I truly can, it is the work of the "Evil One" and no one else. There are also many pastors from differing denominations that have moved to this new form of "False Christianity".

 

There is an answer to this and it lies within Christianity itself. It is not of doctrine or the fault of the believers themselves, it is the churches that are at fault here. They have become too comfortable in their position in the world and have not cared to stay abreast of the changing tide of movements that surround them. There have been tens of thousands that have left their particular churches over the last decade or two. At first the churches were not very concerned over this fact until more and more began to leave and it came down to a mass of empty pews. The problem is due to the simple fact that believers are not being fed according to that which will sustain a deeper degree of faith. It is not the message itself but the messenger that is at fault. The words of scripture have to be delivered in a way that addresses those issues that affect people’s lives in this day and age. There is too much preaching and not enough teaching. The scriptures do not have to be rewritten to keep up with the times, the clergy only need to learn to teach in a direct relationship to the problems that face their congregates in the 21^{st century. Earlier I made the statement of wondering how a Christian could turn away from his faith, "for that is sweet to the hungry soul, which the full soul loathes". (Deut. 8:3) When a dog is hungry and he is given food by a stranger, it matters not to the dog what kind of food or from whose hand it comes, only that its hunger is satiated.}

 

This threat that now faces the future of the adherents of Christianity is one that cannot be passed off as just another "New Age" religious fad. This is not going away anytime soon and it is quickly gaining converts to it. This issue must be addressed in length by the hierarchy of all denominations with the purpose of developing a systematic approach of long term planning that will keep the churches themselves prepared for the onslaught of what is to come, and that is the concern of a straying and quite possibly; lost flock. It will also be of great importance to keep every congregation in every single church aware of the situation as it develops for the long term safety of the Christian community as a whole. The Roman Catholic Church never expected the affect that the Reformation would have directly upon it and if the churches of today consider this lightly, they will all face an even greater and possibly complete demise in the future.

 

Those who consider themselves to be Christians must personally do whatever they can to help thwart this attack upon God’s plan and provision for his Kingdom upon the earth. As Christians it is our duty to serve God in this way, if we all do not take a stand in this, then we will have turned our backs upon Him and are no better than those that come to destroy what Christ lived and died for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven

 

 

There is a great change that is taking place in today’s world that will have a far reaching effect just as the Reformation did so many ages ago upon the church at that time.

 

There are many in the clergy who see that a change is needed in relationship to how the churches go about the act of worship in our quickly changing world. Many of the younger generations have left their fellowship because it is presented today just as it was decades ago, it holds nothing for them with regard to the issues that face many of the younger Christians of today. There is talk of new ways, such as involving the arts into worship, such as media, musical instruments and a more present day type of gospel song and possibly dance. There are many new churches that are emerging with a new perspective and an emphasis on change. There can be nothing wrong with this type of change as long as the messages of the gospels remain intact.

 

If this is what is needed to bring Christians back into fellowship then so be it, but if it will cause divide as denominationalism did than a problem will still exist. We need to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to solve any and all problems that now face Christianity in this millennium. There are many who still hold to the old ways of worship who will not readily agree with this "New Age Worship". Time moves on and we must all move with it. The young are not content to sit quietly in church for an hour or so to only hear their church leader speak. They have a great joy that is bottled up inside and just waiting to break loose, they want to jump up and shout and sing their praises to God. They want to be heard! They wish Him to hear them shout out His name in glory and praise. This is how worship should be, many voices as one. Worship should be done with reverence but not in the same way as prayer, for this is a very personal act between us and God that is done in solitude only, one voice alone with God.

 

If Christian fellowship is to survive in the coming ages, the leaders of Christianity must come together, put their differing opinions aside and come to a consensus in regard to the church’s future, the church being the body of Christ and not their own personal perception and denominational aspect of it. If these leaders cannot see the importance surrounding this very important decision, then it is time for a change in the "Old Guard", for the Body of Christ is far more important than they themselves are. The greatest answer to this issue will in the end ultimately lie in the hands of the flock of Christ, the believers. The Pastors that now lead the churches have done this for many years and have become quite comfortable in the nests that they have built for themselves. They are not about to give these up after so long a time only to end up as itinerant preachers, they have as much to lose as the organizational churches themselves have. The hierarchies of the organized denominations have too much invested in their particular sect to lose it in any way, shape or form. They will form a blitz against any movement for the unity of Christianity using sermons from the pulpit as you have never heard before. They will twist the Word of God in such a way as to demonize anyone having the mere thought of unity and will be branded as heretics, and as those that come to destroy the church.

 

The believers in Jesus Christ must educate themselves with the New Testament in order to truly understand that the gospels are the written testimony of Jesus and what their explicit meaning for all men are. I can tell you now, that there will not be many of this kind of believer, due to the fact that most of us have been raised in a particular sect of Christianity since childhood. Sectarianism is all that we have ever been taught and come to know. For this reason many will be reluctant to leave regardless of the written Word, just as the pastors for "they are blind and cannot see". It will take a great number of the faithful if the church as it now stands is ever to change, and it will also take countless generations to bring it back as Jesus designed it. It will have to be a movement as strong as the Reformation that started during the Middle Ages. There will need to be men and women of very strong faith and determination to lead the rest of Christ’s flock in this direction. They must possess the capacity to lead, just as many who have come before them in the name of Jesus Christ and this leadership quality must be ordained by the Holy Spirit and be not men that follow their own lead; but Christ’s. It is impossible for any temporal being to think beyond the capacity of human intelligence and into that of a spiritual realm without the direct inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, if not it is no more than theology according to man.

 

Christians cannot sit idly by until the return of Jesus only for Him to find us all scattered and not functioning as his One Body. What will He think when He finds us all referring to ourselves by every name other than Christian? He taught us the greatest example of unity that mankind could ever learn. It is something that all Christians base their faith directly and solidly upon. This is the Trinitarian form of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What higher form of Unity can there possibly be, there is no other as wondrous as this; it is perfection and purity in its highest degree. It is one God made up of three individual Beings, all working in unison with the other for the very same purpose; and that purpose being for the benefit of all mankind. This is as Christianity itself was meant to be. One body with Christ as its head, and the faithful in Him making up all of the members of the body; worshiping together for the greater good of all souls, united not divided.

 

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after reading this book many of you may find yourselves puzzled by it and possibly quite disturbed as well. This is understandable because you have never heard these things from the pulpit and I doubt that you will ever hear them. There will never be a denomination in Christianity that will breathe a word about it. If they were to do so the churches as they now stand would become empty. All that I am trying to accomplish here is to alert believers to the truth and spread the message as I was called to do. Please do yourselves a favor and study your Bibles. If you do; I can guarantee that your eyes will be opened and you will not only be amazed at what you truly see, but you will come closer to Christ than ever before because you will become as "One with Him".

 

 

May the Holy Spirit of God bring you insight and an understanding of His Word so you may become fulfilled in the

Greatest of Truths. <><