Disunity in the Churches.

Photo by:  Saffron Blaze, via http://www.mackenzie.co

There is a lot of disunity among Christians these days. I have read about this and also heard about it on podcasts. Just the other day, I heard this: “People say Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship.”  The podcasters didn’t like this. They insisted Christianity is a religion. They didn’t understand what these other Christians meant. They thought they were putting down the Christian religion.

When Christians say, “It’s a relationship,” they mean that this is the most important facet of Christianity. Without the relationship with God the father, Son and Holy Spirit, and you say you are a Christian, you are just following the rules. As Jesus said, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.”  Luke 11:39

We cannot become truly clean inside without a living relationship with God. It is impossible. He alone is the strength of our life, which even the writers of the Old Testament knew.

We are living in time of the end of the world. Jesus is returning soon and calling his children, “Come out of her my people, that you be not partakers of their sins.” Revelation 18:4

I believe this verse means God’s people who are in churches that are led by evil leaders. This verse is coming true right now. People are leaving the regular Christian churches and starting their own. They could not stay with people who said they were Christians and yet are full of hate.

I left my church because of the way the people there treated non-Christians. I also didn’t like they way they treated each other. I didn’t see love there; I saw harsh judgement and criticism.

Most religions or churches don’t want people in their community if that person disagrees with them on doctrine or life-style. Drinking, drugs and sex are the sins they think are the worst. Pride, greed, selfishness and unkindness aren’t really addressed. But their kind of teaching is the opposite of both the Old and New Testaments.

Jesus doesn’t care what church you go to. As he said to the woman at the well, “Sir,” the woman said, “I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say the place where one must worship is Jerusalem.” 

Jesus answered, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation comes through the Jews. But a time is coming and has now come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is seeking these kinds of people to worship him. God is Spirit, and his worshiper must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  John 4:19-24

 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.” 

 “Do not stop him,” Jesus replied, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”  Luke 9:49,50

Paul wrote, “All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well." 
   Philippians 3:15,16

Whatever church you belong to, whatever your beliefs about God, that is the freedom God has given us. We must give that freedom to others. If there is disunity among the churches, we should accept that with love.

Dying for God.

I was listening to a sermon by Jeffrey Rosario, one of my favorite preachers. He was speaking on why a person would die for their beliefs. He spoke about the men who were tortured and burned to death during the Dark Ages. To save themselves, all they had to do was say they were wrong about what they believed and say the Mother Church was right.

Why did they think the different beliefs they held were worth dying for? Jeffrey said a beautiful thing. He said they weren’t dying for a belief; they were dying for a person. Their beliefs weren’t a thing, they were a person. I love that.

Some things Christians disagree about are not very important. But when it comes to who God is, that is important. God is the only God, he is worthy of our praise and worship.

“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me.” Isaiah 46:9

The early Christians were told to worship the Emperor of Rome or die. Some chose to die. In the Dark Ages, Christians were told to accept the Roman Christian Church, and if they didn’t they would die. Some chose to die. They could not say they agreed with what the church was teaching about God.

When I was in university, a guest professor came into our class. Someone asked him why Christians would die for their faith. He said he thought they were like suicide bombers and no one could understand them.

“They were nothing like that!” I said.

He asked me what they were like then. I said, “If a German during WWII didn’t want to become a Nazi, wasn’t that worth dying for?

He said there were some Germans who did that. Then he looked at my professor in exasperation and she said the discussion was over. I wish I had thought of something better to say than what I did, but it all happened so quickly.

Many Christians have been killed by ISIS because they would not renounce their belief in Jesus. They are being killed in the Sudan and many other countries. One day, persecution will come to the West. One day there will be religious people who will want to arrest and kill those who disagree with their concept of who God is.

But we need not be concerned; if we stick close to God through faith and prayer, he will give us the strength at the right time to stand with him. Jesus told us not to even worry about what to say, for the Holy Spirit would give us the words.