Denominations or heresies?

de·nom·i·na·tion

dəˌnäməˈnāSH(ə)n/

noun

noun: denomination; plural noun: denominations

1. 1.

   a recognized autonomous branch of the Christian Church.

   synonyms:

   religious group, sect, cult, movement, body, branch, persuasion,order, school;  church "a Christian denomination"

   • a group or branch of any religion.

     "Jewish clergy of all denominations"

In the original New Testament text...denomination literally means HERESY. Words have been changed, redefined, removed and altered from the Bibles most of us read.  However, God's Word will always be revealed and cannot be hidden or destroyed because He does in fact, watch over it!



A denomination can be defined as a faction or sect.

In the online etymology dictionary, it states "heresy(n) an opinion of private men different from that of the catholick and orthodox church" [Johnson], c. 1200, from Old French heresie"

In opposition of the Catholic and Orthodox Church...interesting.
This stands in total opposition to Scripture being that:

1 Corinthians 1: 12-13 "What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?"

and

Ephesians 4:4-5 "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism,"

and

Romans 12:4-21 "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. ..."

There are more but I will stop there.  Now, many of you already knew that something was wrong being that there are SO many denominations in the world.  However, this now explains a lot when studied from a perspective of there only being one true body of Christ.  Which denomination is correct?  Who do I follow?  They all believe they are on the right path.  Well, the plan of Satan has always been....divide and conquer.  How can we ever see the truth of this one body with many members when we are stuck in believing that "our church is the one teaching truth and all the others need to get on board with us!"?  We can't...hence the heresy of the denominational institutional church.  My husband used to persistently ask this question of the leadership in our old church..."Is Christ divided?"  I don't believe he ever got an answer, at least not the real answer which is plain as day in Scripture.  The answer is NO!

I began to realize while working as an altar worker that what we were teaching couldn't possibly be right.  How could I tell people that if they had not been saved according to the doctrine of our church, their salvation was invalid.  This led to a conflict for me and I was unable to continue in these duties. Again, I had to repent.  People from all walks of life, all over this world will be saved.  Who is one faction to tell another faction that they have it all wrong?  That thought alone should tell folks to wake up because something is terribly wrong here!  This is a very deep topic that I won't discuss at length in this post, because I just wanted to put this out there, if for nothing else but to cause others to ask questions and begin to think and research what they believe or follow for themselves.  We need to know WHY we believe what we believe.  Don't blindly follow anyone into a ditch!

God is not the author of confusion.  His Word is clear and simple enough for a child to understand. We humans complicate everything.  He said we must come as a child, meaning...we can't impose with our big ideas about what God needs us to do to help His Church. This is how we have fallen into the monstrosity we see today known as the institutional church...man's ideas.  Little children are learning, growing, and trusting that their parents will provide, teach, and take care of their every need.  God wants to do the same for us.  Let's get out of His way and let the Lord do His work!