Baby Steps 6: What's Up With All the Denominations?

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, 

born of the virgin, Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day He rose again;

He ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

The holy catholic Church,

(this is not the capitalized, Catholic Church, but the church universal)

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

This is the 'Apostles Creed.'  I put it here because, while many mainstream Christians have never read or even heard of this creed, it encapsulates the foundations of most Christian denominations.

Almost all of them believe these basic tenets and any variation from this basis would cause Christians to consider your belief system to likely be a cult.

For example, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is Michael the arch angel and Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers.  Both of these belief systems deny the divinity of Christ which makes them cults and therefore, it would be difficult for anyone in these systems, who believes their tenets, to be saved.  Remember our study of Jesus.  You have to know who he is.  Believing on a prophet, teacher and good man, won't cut it.  You have to believe He is God or the cross loses all its significance. 

Now, with that being said, all the other stuff is gravy; meaning it is extra to saving belief.  There is a portion of scripture that I would like to bring to your attention. It says,

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us."

I take this to mean that all Christian denominations that are about the Father's business are OK.  All of us are different.  Some like liturgy, some don't.  Some like hymns, some like more modern songs.  The key is, if you haven't found a church,  you should look for one that believes what you do, has the same kind of mission you do and preaches the Word of God.

Does this mean that there are no bad churches?  Absolutely not.  There are indeed bad churches but, for the most part, they aren't bad because of the denomination they are, but the people that are running them.

You have to be careful, though. You must study the word of God because even the best of churches in the best of denominations can err.  If you find yourself in a church, let's even say you have been there for a while, but you hear something come across the pulpit that violates the word of God... Run!  The more you grow in the Word and in prayer, the safer you will be from deception.

If you are a new Christian, but as you study you find something being taught in your church that doesn't line up with what you know the bible says... Get Out!

Here are a few examples of things that good, saved Christians can agree to disagree on: 

• The Rapture 
• The Millennium
• Foot washing
• End time events
• Whether to take communion weekly or as the Spirit leads 
• Baptism by immersion or by sprinkling, etc.  

These doctrines are areas that are not essential for salvation.  

Some doctrines that should not be embraced at all by anyone who calls themselves Christian are:  

• Eventually everyone gets into heaven, 
• Blatant sin is acceptable in the church (fornication, homosexuality, etc.), 
• There is no Hell, everyone is basically a good person

These are the doctrines of devils and are very dangerous.  

Two others that should be included are the extremes of ultra-legalism and 'greasy grace.'  Ultra-legalism is the belief that there are things that you absolutely must do to be saved.  We aren't talking about living a life that is pleasing to God, we are talking about, "If a woman cuts her hair or wears pants, she is going to hell." Or, "You must speak in tongues to be saved."  Even saying something like, "You must be baptized by submersion to be saved."

If there was anything you could do, or any behavior you could avoid to be saved, Jesus wouldn't have had to die.  This doesn't mean we shouldn't abandon sin, we should.  Sin is like cancer and left unattended will destroy you and your soul.  But, let us not forget that "God looks on the heart."

At the other extreme is the ultra-grace position that says you can do anything you want and the blood of Jesus will cover it.  Sorry folks.  The Bible says that we, as Christians, are dead to sin.  How can we continue in it?  The Bible also says that if anyone be in Christ, they are a new creation.  Old things pass away and behold, all things become new.  One more thing,  we are told to show fruit that is in keeping with repentance and that you shall know them by their fruit.  If there hasn't been a change in your likes and dislikes, your behavior, etc., I would advise you to check your heart and make sure you are saved at all. 

I recently saw a video of a very famous preacher saying that the Hindus in India love God and are very nice people.  That remark is heresy.  I'm sure the Hindus in India are very nice people (except for the ones setting Christians on fire, of course) but they don't love God.  Jesus said in John 8:42,

"If God were your Father, you would love me."

 Jesus also says in John 14:6,

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."

All people are not good people and I'm not speaking about congeniality here.  As a matter of fact, the Bible says, 

"There is none righteous.  No not one." Romans 3:10

As far as sin in the church, this is one portion of scripture among many:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.  And you are Arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?  Let him who has done this be removed from among you......I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people~not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality, or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler~ Not even to eat with such one.

This is pretty clear and, as I said, It isn't the only place that puts forth this thought, which is; you can't remove yourself from the sin practiced in the world, but you must not let it take hold in the church.  If you are in a church that embraces or doesn't call out sin, Get Out!  Right in this passage, Paul reiterates that a little leaven (sin) leavens the whole lump (church).

Now, for my opinion on all this.  I'm a fundamentalist.  I believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and I take it literally.  I don't think as some do, that even though it is Spirit-breathed, it is allegorical. This rules out some denominations right off the bat, like most Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Anglican and Catholic congregations.

I don't believe that baptism by sprinkling or pouring is biblical.  I believe in baptism by immersion and it should only be performed on someone old enough to make a decision for Christ.  This rules out the Methodists, Lutherans and Catholics for me as well.

I do not believe in eternal security.  I believe you can walk out from under the blood of Christ therefore forfeiting your salvation.  This rules out most branches of the Baptists like the big one, the Southern Baptists.

I believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  This makes me a Pentecostal.  But, within the Pentecostals there are many different ideas that lead to different branches like, should women be allowed to preach, what constitutes order in a service and many other things.  It should also be noted that most of the extremes I mentioned above, ultra-legalism and greasy-grace are found in the ranks of the Pentecostals, so beware.

I do feel that, in these last days, the chasm between the world and the Church will grow and it will be harder to be a true Christian if you are going to the more worldly denominations like, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, etc. Again, that's just my opinion but it is an opinion based on scripture.  

As these congregations embrace the world more and more, I would say to those in them, heed the word of the Lord in Revelation 18:4,

    "Come out of her my people that he be not partners of her sins."

 You see, the great falling away spoken of in the Bible is, as it says, a falling away.  That means those that  once walked in truth are now deceived.  We are seeing it everyday.  Still, no matter what, we need each other as a body of Christ and are exhorted to attend the assembly of the brethren.  Find a good one and stick to it.