Questions & Answers


What Does God Think of "Denominations"?
Do you belong to one of Christianity's "denominations"? Perhaps you attend an "Assembly of God", or a "United Pentecostal" service. You may consider yourself a "Catholic", or a "Methodist", or a "Lutheran". Of course, there are others, such as "Presbyterian", "Baptist", "Church of God"... and even groups which some may not consider Christian, such as "Mormon", "Jehovah's Witness", or a variety of other sects claiming to have their peculiar set of beliefs which please God. Additionally, we see "non-denominational" Christian groups (those claiming they are not part of any "denomination"), again, all claiming that theirs is the way of Jesus Christ, yet tolerating, but not able to fully agree with others who don't believe exactly as they do. I have heard leaders of these groups say that these "divisions" are actually pleasing to God; that they are "diversities" of the Body of Christ. It is interesting to note that there is one title these groups all claim for themselves. One "name" they all lay hold to: "Christian". Yet "Christian" groups around the world are the epitome of division.

They are confused, divided, scared of one another, envious of the other's numbers, and BY their divisions, frustrating the prayers of Jesus, that "we would be one, as Jesus and the Father are one".

Is this the way of Christ? When Paul said there was "one faith", did he mean what he said? If there is "one faith", doesn't it make sense to believe that there is also only one set of beliefs that is right? If there is "one church", or "one body", isn't reasonable to expect that every one in this family of God will believe the same thing? Yet by belonging to a "denomination" or a "non-denomination", your actions prove otherwise. If a person has been made a member of the true "church" by God, why would that "church member" join himself to any of men's sects and creeds? The reasonable and sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will not deny this truth. If you think that the Body can exist "divided", you are not being "reasonable". If you are a holy Ghost filled believer in any denomination, you are in disobedience to the Spirit you have received... perhaps in ignorance, but hopefully never again after reading this!

In order to lend credibility to their sects, certain groups have picked out for themselves one of the titles given to the church in the Bible. Others chose to add names to the word church which are not used in its connection in the Bible, such as, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and many others. God condemned such divisive practices at their inception (1Cor.1:10-13); still, we should be more concerned with whether or not we are in the church than what its proper name might be, for only those in the safety of the church will be saved.

The word, "church", comes from ekklesia, a Greek word which means "called-out ones"; and that is exactly what the church is: people called out of the darkness of sin into the light of holiness. Many in our time call the building in which they worship "the church"; but the word "church" refers only to God's earthly family, and it should never be used in reference to a building built by men. The church is the earthly dwelling place of God's Spirit, as Paul stated, "your body is the temple of the holy Ghost" (1Cor.6:19). Peter described the church as "living stones", forming "a spiritual house", a place "to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1Pet.2:5). The church, then, is the people of God, not a mere building. As the man of God said, "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 7:48).

How does one become a Church Member? This is vital, because if one is in fact a Church Member, all other associations or memberships in other "churches" are unnecessary, and in fact, sin. Moved by the Spirit of prophecy, the Psalmist declared (Ps.87:5,6), "And of Zion [the church] it shall be said, `This man was born in her'. And the highest Himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count [note], when He writeth up the people that this man was born there." One must be born into the church because it is a divine family; it is not a club which can be joined. In Old Testament Zion, it was by a natural birth that one became a member of God's family, but in this New Covenant it is a by spiritual birth. This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again" (Jn.3:3-7). The following three verses reveal, in New Testament terms, how one enters the church:


ROMANS 6:3: "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?"
GALATIANS 3:27: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
1 CORINTHIANS 12:13: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. . . ."
These three Scriptures state clearly how one becomes a church member, and they all agree: baptism. The only question, then, is "Which baptism is it that makes us church members, a baptism in water or the baptism of the holy Ghost? That question is fully answered by the verse from 1 Corinthians 12:13: "BY ONE SPIRIT ARE WE ALL BAPTIZED INTO ONE BODY." Friend, regardless of how good a person appears to be or how lofty his religious title, if he has not received the baptism of the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking in other tongues), he is not in the church of Jesus Christ. The church is comprised only of Spirit-baptized people. Some of these saints are obedient and some disobedient, but no one else is in the church, though many may yet enter in.

Not all Members of the Church will be saved! Not all who are born into the church will be faithful to God. Therefore, the church, as a whole, is not perfect. Nor was it perfect in the days of the apostles. Ananias and his wife Sapphira, for example, were anything but exemplary believers. From its beginning, the church has been a mixed multitude, some good and some bad; but Jesus will purge the church of its ungodly members before his return (Mt.13:36-43). We are still living in the age when the church must carry both the bad and the good, the foolish and the wise, the false and the true. But, thanks be to God, the end is drawing near.