Thread: 33,000 Christian denominations? "A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND"
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33,000 Christian denominations? "A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND"
Posted : 11 Jan, 2020 10:03 AM
Jesus prayed that we all be ONE and that people would know us by our love. Therefore I'll pose the question: If we are not loving each other, but dividing, name calling, hating and condemning each other over Christian doctrines, are we really following Jesus? Or has the devil infiltrated Christianity as a spirit of religiosity and knowledge puffing us up and dividing us?
Let's take a couple denominations that main stream Christianity classifies as "Cults"; Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons. I used to be puffed up with knowledge and could easily and proudly hold my own when debating members of these "Cults" in games of Bible verse karate. However after many years of studying and by the grace of God and the understanding bestowed on me, I came full circle. Who was I to judge and condemn people I didn't know, who apparently love God enough to give up their time and go door to door telling people about God?
Sure, I can and still do discuss their doctrines, but I no longer see them as "Cultists", but rather brothers and sisters loving God differently. I can't judge their hearts. God is their ONLY judge. And what happened?! They love coming to my house and discussing God. I have inadvertently made new friends, because I didn't judge them, but instead loved them.
Jesus said a house divided will not stand. How can we hope to stand if we are divided into 33,000 parts?
I believe true Christians are united in Christ and do not let doctrinal disputes divide them. Salvation is in following Jesus, there is NO OTHER WAY!
33,000 Christian denominations? "A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND"
Posted : 11 Jan, 2020 06:02 PM
**THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS **FAITH** EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH LOVE**!!{Galatians 5:6}
Acts 26:17,18: Jesus said to Paul, "I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are **SANCTIFIED BY FAITH**!"
Romans 1:17: For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed--a righteousness that is **BY FAITH FROM FIRST TO LAST**!!
Romans 3:23-25: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood--to be received **BY FAITH**!!
Romans 3:27,28: Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? **NO**, because of the law that **REQUIRES FAITH**! For we maintain that a person is **JUSTIFIED BY FAITH** apart from the works of the law!!
Romans 5:1,2: Therefore, since we have been **JUSTIFIED THOUGH FAITH**, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access **BY FAITH** into this grace in which we now stand!!
Romans 10:5-9: Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: "The person who does these things will live by them." {Lev 18:5} But the righteousness that comes **BY FAITH** says...The word is near you: it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the message concerning **FAITH** that we proclaim: IF you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your **FAITH** and are saved!!
Romans 12:3: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the **FAITH** God has distributed to each of you!!
Romans 14:23: Everything that does not come **FROM FAITH** is sin!!
2 Corinthians 1:24: We work with you for your joy, because it is **BY FAITH** you stand firm!!
2 Corinthians 5:6-10: We are always confident and know that as long as we are at home with the body we are away from the Lord. For we live **BY FAITH**, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him... For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad!!
Galatians 2:16: We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but **BY FAITH** in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our **FAITH** in Christ Jesus that we may be **JUSTIFIED BY FAITH** in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law **NO ONE WILL BE JUSTIFIED**!!
Galatians 3:23-26: Before the coming of this **FAITH**, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the **FAITH** that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be **JUSTIFIED BY FAITH**. Now that this **FAITH** has come we are **NO LONGER UNDER THE SUPERVION OF THE LAW**. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God **THROUGH FAITH**!!
Galatians 5:5,6: For through the Spirit we eagerly await **BY FAITH** the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is **FAITH** expressing itself through **LOVE**!!
Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, **THROUGH FAITH**--and this is not from yourselves, it is the **GIFT** of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are **GOD'S HANDIWORK**, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!!
Ephesians 3:16,17: I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts **THROUGH FAITH**!!
I Thessalonians 1:3: We remember before our God and Father you work produced **BY FAITH**!!
2 Thessalonians 1:3,4: We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your **FAITH** is growing **MORE AND MORE**....Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and **FAITH** in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring!!
2 Thessalonians 1:11: We constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed **PROMPTED BY FAITH**!!
I Timothy 1:3,4: Command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer... Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work--which is **BY FAITH**!!
2 Timothy 3:14,15: Continue in what you have learned and become convinced of...and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation **THROUGH FAITH** in Christ Jesus!!
Hebrews 11:1,3,6: So **FAITH** is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see...**BY FAITH** we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, in that what is seen was not made out of what was visible... Without **FAITH** it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He **REWARDS** those who earnestly seek Him!!
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, “The Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels and **THEN** He will **REWARD** each person according to what he has done!”
Hebrews 12:1,2: Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our **FAITH**!!
33,000 Christian denominations? "A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND"
Posted : 11 Jan, 2020 07:29 PM
**THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH ***LOVE***!!{Galatians 5:6}
**THE FATHER LOVES HIS FAITHUL SAINTS JUST AS MUCH AS HE LOVES JESUS**
John 17:23: Jesus says to His Father, "You sent Me and have **LOVED THEM** even as you **LOVED** Me!!"
**JESUS LOVES HIS FAITHFUL SAINTS **JUST AS MUCH** AS THE FATHER LOVES HIM**!!
John 15:9,10" Jesus says, "As the Father **LOVED** Me, so I have **LOVED** you!! Now remain in My **LOVE . **IF** you obey My commands, you will remain in My **LOVE**, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His **LOVE** !"
John 14:21,23: Jesus says, "Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who **LOVES** Me! He who loves Me will be **LOVED** by My Father, and I will **LOVE** him....If anyone **LOVES** Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will **LOVE** him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him!!"
I John 3:18: Dear children, let us not **LOVE** with words or tongue but with actions and in truth!
WHAT'S **LOVE** GOT TO DO WITH IT??
I Peter 1:22: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere **LOVE** for your brothers, **LOVE** one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again... through the living and enduring Word of God!
I Peter 4:8: **ABOVE ALL**, **LOVE** each other **DEEPLY**, because **LOVE** covers over a multitude of sins!
I Corinthians 13:2,4-8: If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not **LOVE** I am nothing...**LOVE** is patient, **LOVE** is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. **LOVE** does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. **LOVE** never fails!!"
John 13:34: Jesus says, "A NEW command I give you: **LOVE* one another As I have **LOVED** you, so you must **LOVE** one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples." John 15:12,13: Jesus says, "My command is this: **LOVE** each other as I have **LOVED** you. Greater **LOVE** has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
I John 3:16: This how we know what **LOVE** is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers!
Ephesians 5:1,2: Be **IMITATORS OF GOD**, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of **LOVE**, just as Christ **LOVED** us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God!
Luke 6:27,28,35,36: Jesus says, "**LOVE** your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. **LOVE** your enemies, do good to them. and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your **REWARD** will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful!"
Matthew 28:19.20” Jesus commands, “Go and make disciples of all nations... teaching them to *OBEY EVERYTHING* I have commanded you!” {See I John 2:3-5}
EVERYTHING would also include all the other commands in God's inspired Word from Acts to Revelation as per 2 Timothy 3:16: 4:2: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work...Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction."
If we really **LOVE** our brothers and sister in Christ we will lovingly teach them to obey all the approximately 400 commands of the NT with **LOVE** in the hope of countless eternal rewards when Jesus comes with great power with all His angels.
Revelation 22:112: Jesus says,"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done!?
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and **THEN** He will **REWARD** each person according to what he has done."
Ephesians 4:15: "Speaking the Truth in **LOVE** , we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ! From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in **LOVE** , as each part does its work."
Ephesians 3:17-19: "I pray that you, being rooted and established in **LOVE** may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the **LOVE** of Christ, and to know this **LOVE** that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!!"
I John 4:7-12: Dear friends, let us **LOVE** one another, for **LOVE** comes from God. Everyone who **LOVES** has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not **LOVE** does not know God, because God is **LOVE**. This is how God showed His **LOVE**among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is **LOVE**, not that we **LOVED** God, but that He **LOVED** us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so **LOVED** us, we ought to **LOVE** one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we **LOVE** one another, God lives in us and His **LOVE** is made complete in us!
Romans 8:35,37-39: Who shall separate us from the **LOVE** of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...We are more than conquerors through Him who **LOVED** us! For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the **LOVE** of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!!
33,000 Christian denominations? "A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND"
Posted : 11 Jan, 2020 08:09 PM
**WE ARE BORN AGAIN THROUGH THE LIVING AND ENDURING WORD OF GOD** 1 Peter 1:23
Deuteronomy 18:17-19: The Lord said to Moses, "I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among your fellow Israelites, and I will put My words in His mouth. He will tell them **EVERYTHING** I command Him. I Myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to My words that the Prophet speaks in My name!!"
John 14:21-24: Jesus says, "Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me... Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching, My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.. Anyone who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me!" {See Deut 18:17-19 above}
Acts 5:32: We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given **TO THOSE WHO OBEY HIM**!"
Luke 6:46-49: Jesus says, "As for everyone who comes to Me and hears **MY WORDS** and **PUTS THEM INTO PRACTICE**. I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears **MY WORDS** and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete!"
I Peter 1:23-25: You have been **BORN AGAIN THROUGH THE LIVING AND ENDURING **WORD OF GOD**!! All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the **WORD OF THE LORD STANDS FOREVER**. And this is the **WORD** that was preached to you.
Matthew 24:35: Jesus says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but **MY WORDS WILL NEVER PASS AWAY**!"
I John 2:3-5: We know we have come to know Him {Jesus} if we obey His commands. The man who says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone **OBEYS HIS WORD**, God's love is truly made complete in him!
Matthew 4:4: Jesus says, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on **EVERY WORD FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD**!"
Luke 8:15: Jesus says, "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the **WORD**, retain it, and by perseverance produce a crop."
John 17:17: Jesus prays to His Father, "Sanctify them by the Truth, **YOUR WORD IS TRUTH**!"
Acts 20:32: Paul says, "Now I commit you to God and to the **WORD OF HIS GRACE**, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified!"
Romans 10:17: Consequently, **FAITH COMES FROM HEARING THE MESSAGE**, and the message is heard **THROUGH THE WORD OF CHRIST**!
James 1:18; He chose to give us **BIRTH THROUGH THE WORD** of Truth!!
I Corinthians 15:2: By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the **WORD** preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain!
2 Corinthians 4:2: We do not use deception, nor do we distort the **WORD OF GOD**!
Ephesians 1:13: You also were included in Christ **WHEN** you heard the **WORD** of Truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Ephesians 2:17: Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the **WORD OF GOD**!
Colossians 1:25: I have become its servant by the commission God gave to me to present to you the **WORD OF GOD IN ALL ITS FULLNESS**!
Colossians 3:16: Let the **WORD OF CHRIST** dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom!
I Thessalonians 2:13: We thank God continually because, when you received the **WORD OF GOD**, which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the **WORD OF GOD**!
Acts 17:11,12: Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and **EXAMINED THE SCRIPTURES EVERY DAY**... As a result many of them believed!!
Psalm 118:147,148: I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in **YOUR WORD**! My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I might meditate on **YOUR PROMISES**!!
2 Timothy 2:15: Do your best to present yourselves to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who **CORRECTLY HANDLES THE WORD ** of truth!
2 Timothy 3:15,16: 4:1,2: You have known the **HOLY SCRIPTURES**, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. **ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD-BREATHED** and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: **PREACH THE WORD**!! {**WHICH IS THE ENTIRE NEW COVENANT AND NEW TESTAMENT**!!}
**DOES GOD"S WORD SAY THAT **ADDING** OR **TAKING WORD'S AWAY** FROM GOD's WORD IS AN UMPARDONABLE SIN**??
Revelation 22:16,18,19: "I, Jesus. have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the Churches.... I warn everyone who hears the **WORDS OF THE PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK**: If anyone **ADDS** {Like the RC popes} anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this Book {Including **ETERNAL HELL**} And if anyone **TAKES WORDS AWAY** {Like the RC pope} from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City {The New Jerusalem}, which are described in this book."
John 16: Jesus says, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the Truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that he will receive what he will make known to you!"
And holy spirit inspired the 8 writers of the 27 books of the New Testament to write everything Jesus told him to write!!
THE GREAT COMMISSION: Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on ***EARTH*** has been given to Me {Not some RC Pope}. Therefore go and make disciples of *ALL NATIONS*...teaching them to **OBEY EVERYTHING** {The entire NT} I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very *END OF THE AGE*!”
