of SECTs ... and DIVISIONs
A curious fact usually becomes evident once a person starts reading the Bible for themselves ... that the letters of Paul in the New Testament are generally written to local assemblies known only by the name of their town or city
e.g. ... to the church of God which is at Corinth 1 Corinthians 1: 2
and to the saints (believers) at Ephesus Ephesians 1:1
Oddly, only 3 letters were actually written to individuals - Timothy (2) and Titus.
All the others are written to the saints, to the faithful followers of Jesus Christ and addressed to them and known by locality only.
And reading on, we find that the Apostle John in Revelation 1 : 11 also writes and addresses particularly 7 Churches in specific locations ... Pergamos, Thyatira etc
So .... believers, followers of the Christ, called Christians, were united in their locality, and known simply by ... e.g the church in Pergamos etc
So, I must ask .... WHAT HAPPENED
Why is there now as I have heard, approximately 25,000 churches registered in the USA alone ... considerably more that its number of cities or towns ?
Why has virtually any city or town in the western world, spawned such a proliferation of denominations, assemblies, groups, sects, splits, factions, divisions .... etc ?
And some on the fringe even becoming 'wild and wacky' even degenerating into Cults.
And speaking of which - there are the Cults ... the established ones anyways ....
the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science.
And a remarkable series of coincidences in that .... most started in the mid 1800's, most began in the USA, most with a dominant woman figure, most with a wacky end-time doctrine.
Do these coincidences tell us something ? (But thats another subject, and for another time)
But back to our basic topic ... why so many sects, splits, factions, divisions ?
1 Corinthians 1 : 11, 12 reveals the answer ... the factors that have led to the scandal of divisions. Simply, the Corinthians were starting to be followers of their favourite male role model .... every one of you says, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos; and I am of Cephas (Peter) : and I am of Christ ... the I am of being also translated as I belong to ....
And Paul rebukes them all for it !
And is so concerned about it all that he repeats it again in 1 Corinthians 3:4 while one says I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal ?
Which means natural, or spiritual babes, immature – showing how little they have grown in the Lord.
It was and still is, a natural preference caused by jealousy, envy, and strife that had led to these scandalous divisions within a primitive local church.
And so it continues down through 20 centuries – just what was becoming evident in Corinth ... endless splits, factions, divisions, doctrinal differences ... etc etc
The thought occurs – why don't churches ever unite or combine together – and reverse the trend ?
But its such an exceedingly rare event, requiring forgiveness and tolerance, the surrender of pet doctrines, etc - supposedly Christina virtues, but seldom observed to be evidenced between denominations or groups !
It is just so much easier to be carnal - natural, or spiritual babes, immature, and DIVIDE YET AGAIN isn't it ?
As for me, when meeting someone, or another 'Christian' perchance, I wait for the inevitable question to come ... “and where do you fellowship - what church or denomination to you attend ?” I now simply answer ... “the Church in Auckland” and watch the non-plussed response.
My wife answer this common question with ... “wherever the Holy Spirit is moving !”
which also confounds the enquirer greatly !
And so the ordinary people look ..... and wonder ..... and are mystified at the appalling number of denominations that abound, and shake their heads in bewilderment.
They wonder ... how have those who have taken the name of Christ upon themselves, got something so simple and basic as unity ... SO TERRIBLY WRONG ?
How has the early primitive church so soon after Christs death and resurrection, degenerated into such an array of thousands upon tens of thousands of divisions, each with its own building, structure, doctrinal interpretations, budgets, titles, hierarchy etc etc ?
(Well, the Emperor Constantine aided it all with his conversion and church building programme in the fourth century) (again, another subject, another time)
And why did Jesus, though brought up by his earthly father as a carpenter, never lift a hammer to build a material physical Church ?
And why did Jesus, just keep moving around, doing good in the personal particular, meeting ordinary people in their homes, preaching outdoors in the fields and by the sea-shore, calling people as he passed by with just 2 words ... FOLLOW ME ?
His followers were later on dispersed from Jerusalem by PERSECUTION .... used by God to spread the message of His Kingdom around the globe.
But other corruptions have come along - materialism, self-promotion, individualism – even narcissism, personal eloquence, intolerance, self-empire building, and divisions are turned into 'concrete' and 'bricks and mortar'
May God forgive us for such a disgrace !
As MOVEMENTS of God have become MONUMENTS
OH, that PEOPLE WOULD UNITE AS EASILY AS THEY DIVIDE !
That building the KINGDOM of GOD was more important that building an earthly kingdom, and creating a collection of deteriorating buildings.
Again ...
MAY GOD FORGIVE US FOR SUCH A DISGRACE and a spiritual blight !
Merry C H R I S T mas !
