For years now I’ve wanted to know, just which church is
Jesus coming back for. Can anybody tell
me? Seriously, ‘cause then I’ll go to
that church religiously, so to speak, and listen to who they tell me to listen
to, read what they tell me to read and
do whatever they tell me to do, knowing that I’m in Jesus’ one and only favorite
special church.
I’ve read both the old and new testaments more than a few
times in the last 30 years I’ve been riding in this Christian rodeo and I’ve
never been able to find just which denomination gets the Messiah’s, personal
endorsement. The Old Testament has a tendency to lean towards the Jewish way of
thinking but I believe they’re still waiting for the first coming instead of
the Messiah’s return. Jesus, in the Gospels,
tells us the “how” to be the church but not “who” specifically is the church. Okay he does tell us, but He doesn’t put a denominational name to it. The books
following the gospels, starting with Acts and going to Revelation, describe in
detail the trials, tribulations and lessons taught and learned of the first
church, but still no denominational title for the church Jesus is coming back
for.
I can only surmise that, back in the day, as
time went on men would translate to others what they were told or heard, adding
their own spin to it, as most story tellers do. Eventually, as the stories were
told and retold, they changed, intentionally or unintentionally. Men and women, being the humans they are and
the written word not available to all people, or the ability to read for that
matter, people didn’t get the Word “O” God as it was originally presented. Opinions varied on various aspects if not all
of the gospel and prophetic teachings of the Old Testament. Some would believe
a little or a lot, some of this but not that. “This letter makes sense but, ain’t
no way can I believe that prophesy.” “He couldn’t possibly have meant what He
said”, and on and on and on.
So the people that thought they had a lock on the meaning
and or definition of the Word would put their spin out as “gospel” or divine
revelation and insight to the Word of God. Do not for one second think I’m
judging their love of the Lord Jesus and God, I’m not. As previously stated,
some for example, just couldn’t get behind the “tongues” thing, so for them it’s
out of their doctrine. Others believed that God’s people shine brightest when
poor, so the message of God’s prospering his kids was tossed out. Some think
you can work your way to salvation and others say it’s by grace alone. Do you want to talk
about “drinking poison and handling snakes”? Really, it’s not for me, but some interpret
the first part of Mark 16:18 in such a way to prove their faith. And so the “Denominations” were born. The
majority did what they did and how they did it because of their love of the
Lord. Some, I dare say for fame and fortune, men being human, but the majority,
out of the love of God. They just couldn’t believe some of the things Jesus did
or said, red letters or not.
So what constituted being a Christian in the “First Church”?
Following the teachings of Christ. No, really, that’s it. They were Christians,
nothing more. Christian, being defined as “little Christs” or “Christ like”.
There were never any names or adjectives added on such as, Baptist,
Evangelical, Presbyterian, Catholic, Pentecostal, Assemblies, or Word of Faith
and there was nothing to be Reformed at the time so that was out. It was just Christians following the
teachings of Christ. Charlie Daniels,
(yes that Charlie Daniels), had a line in one of his songs on the album The
Door, “They didn’t have no denominations, they just called themselves the body
of Christ” If Charlie Daniels can figure
it out, why can’t the book smart, college educated denominational leaders?
Unfortunately the early Christians didn’t have the benefit
of Jesus’ words in red. So how could they possibly know what to do? But wait,
they did have the benefit of walking and talking with Jesus for three years of
His ministry or at the very least hangin’ out with the guys that were hangin’ out
with Christ for three years of His ministry. And some still had trouble
understanding what He was saying. (parables, don’t cha know)
Today, so many of the
mainstream denominations think they have “The One True Doctrine” and if you
don’t follow them, you’re going to burn. Which brings me back to my original
question, which church is Jesus coming back for? A few years back, my wife and
I were led to attend various churches in our area in order to see what was
going on in the body and possibly find a new church home. We started with
churches closest to our house and branched out further from home week by week
regardless of denomination or affiliations, as long as it was Judeo/Christian.
One thing that they all seemed to have in common was that they all believed in
Jesus. That He is the Son of God and was/is one part of the Trinity. Oh yeah,
salvation was through believing in Him and His sacrifice on the cross and
accepting Him as our personal Lord and Savoir. My studies and readings all lead
me to believe that the salvation thing was the whole purpose of God coming to
earth in the human form of Jesus. These different doctrines, as in Wesleyan,
Lutheran, Assemblies of God, etc. and various non-denominational churches all
share one reoccurring theme, Jesus and salvation through Him and Him alone.
When I read the Old Testament, I see types and shadows of
the story of Jesus, His sacrifice, our deliverance along with other messianic
supporting themes. The prophets told of His coming down to the smallest
details. One can only assume, at least I can only assume that Jesus and His
sacrifice on the cross and our salvation through Him is the focus of the Bible.
If we can agree on that at last statement, then why, can’t we get along as one
church? Why do we focus on our denominational differences and not the one thing
that ties us all together? An analogy
I’ve always felt fit the situation is, “FOOD”! Jesus is the main course of the
meal, the steak & potatoes if you will, or Portobello mushroom if you’re a
vegan and the things we seem to disagree on are the side dishes, gravy and
desert. They don’t make a difference in our receiving our salvation but they do
make this life tastier, more fulfilling and much sweeter. Brother, I don’t give a rip if you don’t want
gravy on your “taters” or pie and ice cream for desert as long as you get fed the
substance of the meal. The meat of the message, Jesus. And I’ll thank you to keep your opinion of my
love of gravy to yourself.
Oddly enough some people just can’t accept the Gospel as
written and have to translate it to suit themselves and criticize everyone else’s walk with the Lord
when it doesn’t line up with their interpretation of the Word.
Matt. 18:3 and Luke 18:17 tell us to have a child-like faith
and receive the kingdom of heaven as a child. (my paraphrase) What exactly does
that mean?
If you are a parent, just look at your own children. If you
are a loving parent, meaning not abrasive and or abusive, your children will
believe what you say and do what you say because they know you love them and
have their best interests at heart. Our Heavenly Father is just that, “Nuthin’ but luv” and He
has our best interests at heart. If He says it’s so, we can believe it’s so. He’s not trying to trick His kids into doing
anything. Although some, I believe due to a lack of faith, believe that God is
more of a puppet master than father, just yankin’ our strings watching us jump, rather
than being loving, caring and concerned with our well being. He is a father
guiding and directing us through life because He really does know best. (Thank
you Robert Young) Oh, and don’t forget, there is some disciplining involved in
parenting also. If you ask King David, he’d tell you to take God’s discipline
rather than the worlds. It will work out better for you in the end.
If you haven’t guessed yet, I’ve for years, belonged to the
non-denominational denomination. I’m one of those “suckers” that takes the
Bible literally as written and look to the Holy Spirit for any necessary
interpretation or definition. Why? Because We’ve prospered and have lived in
health even as our souls prospered (3John
2) for 30 years. I can quote you a
plethora of scriptures that apply to specific situations that we have passed through
in our lives but for time and space, I’ll move on.
Anyway, if you approach the Word, Kingdom, Son and Spirit of
God as Jesus says we are supposed to, with a child-like faith and if God is to
you Abba Father as well as the all knowing, all seeing, all powerful,
omnipotent, creator of the universe, it’s really not that difficult to take Him
at His word. If He says “you will have what you ask, if you believe you
receive”,(Mark 11) why not ask, believe, and receive? He told us to! If He says “give and it shall be given unto
you…”, (Luke 6)why not give? He said you could! You were just going to spend it
on pizza and beer anyway. If He says “your faith has healed you….” (all over)Why
not live healed? I guess a lot depends on if you really believe the Bible is
the word of God. (By the way I paraphrase a lot, I know)
Now, if the Bible is the word of God and you believe it to
be, and Jesus says/said “… a house divided will not stand!” Why are there so
many Christians intentionally trying to divide the House of God by picking at
the peripherals instead of celebrating our main common beliefs? Mainly our
belief in Jesus and salvation though Him. Especially in this age and time. I
don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the world is pointing at the church and
shaking is global head. It’s pointing and laughing because we can’t get along
with ourselves. The political world is doing is best to muzzle and put a leash
on God by means of legislation against the Church. (As a side note, there is
nothing in the constitution about “separation of church and state”. The first
amendment was put there to protect the church from the state not protect the
state from the church.) What are the denominations doing? Fighting “Doctrinal wars” among themselves, showing
the world that they believe the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself”
(Matt 22:39) was more a suggestion than a commandment. James 1:8 says “because
of doubt and a lack of faith, we are like a double- minded man, unstable in all
our ways.” Denominational thinking has the church “double-minded” and is
showing itself to the world to be unstable.
God made a big move in Florida a few years ago, unlike
anything I’ve ever experienced. There were thousands, if not tens of thousands
in attendance from all over the world. Lovers of Jesus, praising and worshipping, all with one focus. We were with Australians, Norwegians, English,
Irish, Spanish, South Africans, Germans and so many others. It was great! So
what happened? To put it simply, Good
tidings were preached to the poor, the brokenhearted were healed, liberty was
proclaimed to the captives, and those bound were loosed and healings in every
meeting. I have to admit that I went in with a cynical eye because I have trust
issues when it comes to these things. But I was allowed to “see” shortly after
arrival. What were the denominations doing? Pointing fingers at the chubby,
bald, tattooed biker preacher with an aggressive way of “laying on hands” and
screaming that this “outpouring” could not be of God, just look at that so
called preacher. Ain’t no way! They really kicked the divisive talk into high
gear when they found out he left his wife. I’m certain they were all smiling
self-righteously while yelling “adulterer and fornicator”, because Lord knows
that kind of thing would never happen in their church!!(Would somebody please
read the OT Bible!) The denominations were so busy looking at the man of God
and how he differed from their sense of normal and how he didn’t fit in their
box, they missed the huge move of God that left Florida and spread around the
world. I’ve got news for the denominations. The man was human. As I read it,
our God has a tendency to use flawed humans to carry out His work here on
Earth. It’s not the way I’d do it but I’m not God. About a year after Florida
and I was still hearing about the chubby bald tattooed preacher that left his
wife but no mention to the spiritual fires started around the world from the
Florida spark! As another side note; No
one ever mentioned, in all the YouTube internet clips about Todd Bentley’s
aggressive style, that the people he “touched” were healed. Of course not, because
then it would be harder to say he was a “bad man” now wouldn’t it?
So now please tell me, which church is Jesus coming back
for? Can anybody tell me? Seriously,
‘cause then I’ll go to that church religiously, so to speak, and listen
to who they tell me to listen to, read what they tell me to read and do whatever they tell
me to do, knowing that I’m in Jesus’ one and only favorite special church. If I
can’t get an answer I guess I’ll just keep reading the Bible, pray and ask the
Holy Spirit for assistance in the hard parts.
After saying all this I must also say that I do see a need
for the variety of Denominations. God made a beautiful big world and we’ve
slowly filled it with bunches of people. Not everybody sees, hears or reads
things the same way. (refer to the Tower of Babel story, it’s near the front of
the book) So such variety needs variety. Not everyone will receive Jesus the
way I did, and without getting into it, they should really thank God for that bit
“O”mercy. The apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians on the matter in 1Cor
3:4-9. For one says “I am of Paul” and
another “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? (5)Who then is Paul and who is
Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one. ……..(9)For WE are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
See that “WE”? It’s all inclusive. Not
just followers of Paul or just the followers of Apollos, but WE. Also in Romans 12: 4 - 6, For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same
function, so we being many are one
body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace
given to us, let us use them;…. So let’s celebrate variety and diversity of
thought but not forget the central binding theme. Jesus and His sacrifice.
The denominations had best get over themselves and come
together as one real soon ‘cause the “red letters” say this rodeo is going to
get real rough real soon with bigger bulls, spiritually, mentally, emotionally
and physically trying to “stomp” on you.
It’ll be nice to know just who has your back, who’s standing along side
you and just which clown is going to step in front of the bull for you or take the
barrel for himself.
