Which denomination is the true one? For both Catholics and Protestants, I am sure each one of you will most likely have an answer, for one reason or another. But.... is it the right answer? The subject matter is important, and I beg you understand. My intent is certainly not to disparage any particular denomination with what I am about to share here. But here is something to ruminate on.
If one is truly preaching the pure unadulterated gospel, what happens? The gospel works! A good tree produces good fruit. Many are convinced that their particular brand of Christianity is the God centered one, as I am sure you do yours. We base this on what we perceive to be what the true gospel is, so we congregate with others of like mind.
But what if we based it on the type of saint that gospel produced? In other words, what if we based our assessment of any split or denomination upon what God had promised us? If we are to know them by their fruits, then shouldn't a major factor in determining who actually possesses.... or in this particular case.... is possessed by the truth?
Here is the sad truth. It is here that things get dicey for every single denomination on the planet. All 500+ of them. Yours. Mine. Ours. Theirs. Catholic. Protestant. Orthodox. Why? Because Jesus said that if we abide in Him, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. If we are walking in God’s will, we will love Him with our whole heart and our neighbor as ourselves. We will love not the world, nor the things in the world. We will be single eyed, full of joy, and walk as overcomers with our shields of faith up, quenching all the fiery arrows of the enemy. Jesus PROMISED us that. It is our birthright, and it is time we finally possessed it, amen?
We must understand. We see these things as goals. They are not. They are fruits of the truth. Simply put, truly pure teaching of the real gospel WILL produce much fruit, amen? Those who walk the path will find the FREE INDED Jesus spoke of, free of committing sin. (His words, not mine). So how are we doing? How is your particular denomination of choice doing? Mine? Yeah, same as yours.
Now you may be honing in on the purpose of my OP. How do we react when we hear Jesus’s description as to what will happen when the real gospel is proclaimed correctly? Do we not get defensive, a bit angry, frustrated, trying to defend what we have put so much trust in?
Look, I get it. I do. Our identification, our feeling of security, comes from our affiliation with others of the same mindset. But at what point do we say "Something is off." This is what we need to face. Our security is not in Christ. Subtly, it has become our "group" that makes us feel we possess the truth. Ahhh, but does the truth possess us? Do we not see? If our love for our denomination is greater than our love for other believers who perhaps do not see things is the same light as we do is, then according to the word of the God we serve, we are still carnal. No exceptions.
When we finally stop and scratch our heads and really question why this is, instead of defending our group based on our denomination’s long history or our huge size, or our superior teaching, that is a real first step in seeking for and finding the answer we need.
But as long as we continue to worship man-made institutions and place them on nearly equal footing with God Himself, nstead of crying out to our Father to bring our own lives to fulfill the standard listed above, to set us free indeed, sadly we will continue to wallow in our religion. And equally sadly, the world will continue to look at us and call us hypocrites. and rightly so.
Change IS coming. who will see it first? Those who hunger not to be in rbe right group, but those whose hearts are crying out for more of Jesus, those who refuse to accept anything less than abiding in Him and walking pleasibg to the one who bought us.
Blessings,
Gideon
