We are glad to bring you the review of the continuation of the sermon preached last week titled, ‘What makes a Church a Denomination’. The servant of God started off by telling us the importance of having a relationship with God. There is only one thing you will leave the earth with, and it is your relationship with God. If you don’t have a relationship with Him on earth here, you cannot have with Him when you get to heaven. Thus, it becomes imperative to strive to have a relationship with God, for that is the only tangible thing that transcends through to eternity.
See Also: What Makes a Church Becomes a Denomination I
TEXT: NUMBERS 23:9-10, DEUTERONOMY 14:2, DEUTERONOMY 7:6, 1 PETER 2:9, 1 SAMUEL 8:1, MATTHEW 16: 18, JEREMIAH 3:15, LUKE 22:29, GALATIANS 1: 1 – 12, REVELATION 17:1
The Peculiarity of the Nation Israel and the True Church of God
To understand the origin of denomination from the church perspective, we need to point back to the nation Israel, God’s election over them, and his demand over them as an elected nation. Israel is a nation called out by God
Israel is a type of the true church of God; we can get a picture of how the church of God operates from the conduct of the people of Israel. God is the one that gives his church laws and organizes them just like he gave the Israelites laws.
God separated the Israelites from other nations and He demanded that they should not be reckoned with those nations, why? For the purpose of His will! He wanted to be their God, He wants to rule them by His laws, according to His mind, He wants them to have their freedom in Him, he simply chose them for Himself amongst other nations; so they are to live for God, who chose them. God doesn’t need anyone’s knowledge to rule them for Him; their carnal intellectual prowess is not needed in leading and controlling them. This means that they were not to organize themselves by whatever, they are not to copy other nations to live. They are a special people designed by God.
This is the same case with the church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, Apostle Peter tells us in His epistle that we are a chosen generation, and that God has called us out of darkness (world system) into His marvelous light (His word). Thus, the true church of God should not be a denomination. Because they are to be guided by the laws of God; they are not be reckoned with or administered by the knowledge of man gotten from one headquarter controlling every branch in the world.
The children of Israel forgot that they were not to be reckoned with other nations, and they requested to have a king over them ‘like other nations’ [1Samuel 8:4]. God was not pleased with their request. The church today has done the same thing, we threw Jesus out of His church, and made ourselves General overseers, having headquarters, and branches, wherein, these branches have to submit to the headquarters. God hates denomination!
In lieu of this, I would say that you should be careful of not doing what God has promised you in your way. The reason success is hard for us is because we fail to patiently wait for God’s ways and assume our ways. God is a God of miracle, but not in your way; He’s got His way! And if God has told you what to do, and suddenly you feel dryness(or unfruitfulness), go back to the God that spoke to you, he will tell you what step to take; He speaks she we call him. Allow God to lead you. God desires to lead His church by the Holy Spirit, and not by human wisdom; and don’t forget that you are the church.
The gate of Hell cannot prevail over a church that Jesus Christ built, and what is the gate of hell? It is worldliness. But today, we have politics in our churches, we have dogmas (what our church believes which is not according to the bible), we have football clubs, just to mention but a few. The gate of hell has prevailed upon such churches. A true church solely believes and lives the whole word of God, and it is impossible for a denomination to holistically believe the word of God. God organizes and leads His church by His word.
How the devil crept into the church
The devil rode on a white horse of religious deception, and began to suggest ideas appealing to sensual faculties on how to administer and bring people to the church. That is why they have football clubs, doctorate-degree-preachers eloquent in grammars but void of the revelation of the word of God, inviting comedians to the church, et al. God uses His word to draw His own, not things enticing the flesh. God does not cajole people.
The church of God is the kingdom of God. And you don’t enter in by going to church, but by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. So, the baptism of the Holy Spirit brings you to the kingdom of God.
Here are a few traits of denomination:
In our last review, it was stated that a church becomes a denomination she it is organised by anti-bible doctrines. Below are other traits:
- A church with a woman as the head,
- A church who baptizes her members in trinity titles(God the father, God the son and God the Holy spirit), and claims that the apostles made a mistake at Pentecost,
- Pastors trained by Bible schools and seminary,
- Churches with earthly headquarters.
All of these and many more are foreign to the doctrines of the Bible, we have churches who have ‘school of the prophets, ‘school of healing’, etc. The Bible talks of people whose god is their belly, that’s the condition of those who have a certificate that endorsed them as employable preachers, who are paid salaries for preaching.
Peter was not learned, neither did he go to a theological school, yet, he was given the keys to the kingdom of heaven for having gotten the revelation of who Jesus is. You don’t need to go to a seminary school to become a preacher. If God calls you, he will teach you and give you the revelation of his word.
What is the Message of Restoration?
In closing, I love to let you know that God has sent us the evening light which is the message of the hour (Rev. 10:7) through his messenger, William Branham. And we only come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ because God has sent us this messenger. In the book of Revelation, there are seven church ages. God started his church amongst the Gentiles through Paul in the Ephesian church age. Now, we are in the last, which is the Laodicea church age, and the message of the last age is the message of “Restoration.” Restoration is bringing back the exact thing that was lost, this means that the message of the first and the last is the same! So we are restored back to the faith of the apostles (Malachi 4:5-6).
In-between the first and last church age were five church ages, and their time was the time of reformation, thus, God allowed some things in their age, because they did not have the full revelation of the word of God, we did speak on how Romanism ravaged Christianity in our last review. So, God permitted them to have things which cannot be found in the first church age when the gospel started. They were reformers. But now is the last age, and God will harvest the exact thing he planted. Therefore, align your faith (belief) with the faith (belief) of the apostles in the New Testament. If they did not have deaconesses, lady evangelists, trinity doctrine, and cooperative organization and so on, then the church today doesn’t need them if they must be true to Jesus Christ.
Make sure you don’t believe what the apostles of the Bible did not believe. God hates denomination!
God bless you.
Read Also: Did The Apostles Make Mistakes at Pentecost?