Looking for a church with Biblical values.
The other day I was talking with a friend who told me that she has not been able to find a church that reflects Biblical values. Our chat reminded me of why I am writing this blog, which is to share my study on how to live forever according to Scripture.
Many Christians and believers I’ve met, have set ideas about ‘living forever.’ Their beliefs are usually based on what their churches teach them. I decided to find out for myself what the Bible has to say about ‘living forever’ without church doctrine or denominational flavours.
The Second Commandment was taken out of the Catholic Bible.
I was raised a Catholic and Catholics aren’t known to read their Bible much. I used to sit in church with Mum and Dad and listen to sermons being preached in Latin. I was only a child and didn’t understand a word of what was being said in Latin. Even if I had understood I still would not have known if it was God’s Word or not because we were not encouraged to read our Bible so I would not have been able to cross reference. I just assumed that churches preach God’s Word.
It wasn’t till years later that I discovered that the Catholic church actually changed the wording in their Bible. For instance, the Second Commandment has been taken out of the Catholic Bible. This explains why idolatry is rife within the Catholic faith but that’s another story.
Before I read the Bible I used to think that all church doctrine was based on Scripture and I was really surprised to find out that this is definitely not always the case.
Jesus wasn’t too jazzed about churches.
On my blog, I am sharing what GOD’s prophets and His Son have to say about ‘living forever’ based on the words ‘live forever’ as they appear throughout Scripture. During my studies, I discovered that Jesus isn’t too jazzed about what goes on in churches. Jesus sent stern warnings to various churches in the first three chapters and the last chapter of the book of Revelation, which is the last book in the Bible.
Many of today’s churches teach us that ‘people are saved by faith.’ What does Jesus have to say to the churches about this? Jesus doesn’t tell us that we’re saved by faith only. Jesus tells us that it matters what we think as well as what we do,
Jesus says that everyone will receive according to their works. He mentions this in the last book of the Bible. First in the second chapter and then He repeats this in the last chapter. No promises here of special treatment for anyone. Just plain common sense… according to your works.
Jesus says, I won’t acknowledge lawless ones as my own.
Is having your bum on a church pew as good as a ticket in?
Jesus did not say, ‘Oh well you believe in me, so, therefore, you’re part of my special posse.’ No, He said, believe on Him that sent me.
Jesus has specific requirements for his followers and there are many requirements that seemingly very dedicated followers won’t adhere to. This often happens because church doctrine confuses people and they’ve been made to believe that having their bum on a church pew is as good as a ticket in. Or church doctrine teaches people that a statement of faith is all that is required to receive eternal favours.
What did Jesus say about this? Jesus said, don’t come telling me that you’ve done all sorts of good things in my name if you don’t even get the basics right and refuse to follow my Father’s law.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work lawlessness (iniquity).
It took me a little while to figure out who Jesus was referring to with the above Scripture. Initially, I found it hard to imagine that believers would think that they are above the law. Eventually, I discovered that there are indeed many believers who are convinced that they have been made ‘holy’ and won’t have to make an effort to follow the commandments; just because they claim to have faith and believe in Jesus.
Thou believest that there is one GOD; Guess what? thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble … faith without works is dead.
Jesus says, ye hypocrites .. teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus addressed the clergy of his time as hypocrites because of their church doctrine.
What the churches teach today is nothing new. They did the same in Jesus’ day, more than two thousand years ago. Churches still make up their own rules and regulations instead of sticking to the will of the Father and teach their followers to follow GOD’s commandments.
Jesus is the Son of GOD.
Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth to bear witness to his Father’s Word which is also called the truth. Just before He was crucified Jesus said,
Around one-third of the world population claims to follow Jesus. But how many of us really do? How many of us walk as he walked?
Jesus preaching in the synagogue.
For people such as my friend referred to earlier in this post, who loves GOD’s Word but has not been able to find a church which reflects GOD’s Word; the following is what happened to Jesus when he spoke the truth in his own place of worship.
Jesus reading in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
One day when Jesus was in Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as his custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And even though the churchgoers wondered at the gracious words which came out of his mouth; they also said, Is not this Joseph’s son? Jesus received a lukewarm reception because the people of the church knew him as the carpenter’s son.
Jesus speaking the truth and exposing hypocrisy.
Jesus continued his teaching by saying that being a believer doesn’t entitle anyone to favourable treatment. Jewish people are generally known as GOD’s chosen in a similar way that many Christians believe that they are Jesus’ chosen and entitled to special treatment and privileges.
In the synagogue, Jesus reminds the congregation that GOD sent special help and favour to a widow and her son who both were from a non-Jewish town. This was during a period of several years of severe drought when all Jewish people equally suffered throughout the drought. Yet a lady and her son from a non-Jewish town were helped by one of GOD’s prophets throughout the drought and favoured over and above all the believers.
With their hypocrisy exposed the ‘holier than thou’s’ in the church got so mad that they chased Jesus out of their church and city and attempted to throw Him down a hill.
The Son of God was thrown out of a church for speaking the truth.
Jesus ran away from the hypocrites and found himself another town where people were more receptive to his teachings and healings.
If you’ve been thrown out of a church or Bible-reading gathering for speaking the truth and exposing hypocrisy; don’t fret, you’re in good company.
More messages from Jesus.
Other messages passed on by Jesus about preaching the gospel as relayed to his disciples were as follows,
The Kingdom of God has come nigh unto you.
Receiving the Good News is akin to accepting an invitation into the kingdom of GOD. Not everyone accepts this invitation. This may be because repentance goes hand in hand with this invitation and not everyone is genuinely remorseful about their muck-ups nor prepared to better themselves.
Step-by-step guidelines.
Following are step-by-step guidelines set by Jesus from start to finish for sharing the Good News, including what to do when the invitation is declined.
Jesus sent them forth by two and two.
And gave them power to heal all manner of sickness and disease.
He said, go as you are without dilly-dallying.
Bring wishes of peace.
Freely ye have received, freely give.
Accept what is given to you.
Stay where you’re invited.
Don’t go from house to house.
If they don’t receive you … leave.
Know that ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.
When they persecute you in a city, flee ye into another.
Wipe the dust of your feet and let them know that
The kingdom of GOD came nigh unto them.
He that heareth you heareth me;
And he that despiseth you despiseth me;
And he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
He that knoweth GOD heareth us.
If people are not receptive, move on.
If people are not interested in what you have to share about the Gospel it is time to move on.
Don’t go telling others how to believe according to your own faith. If people don’t (want to) hear you, let them be. Not everyone is able to hear unless drawn by The Father.
Set a good example.
Extraordinary as this may seem, there are believers who make it their business to tell others that GOD’s law is not applicable to them. This is what Jesus has to say about that,
Once more, just plain good old common sense tells us to set a good example by sticking to some basic rules and obey our Maker by not lying, nor killing nor stealing, nor coveting and so on. Just as Jesus did, who is our example and without sin.
Don’t offend little ones.
Jesus is not impressed if newcomers or little ones that believe in him are offended.
Some well-meaning believers think it is their duty to impart their wisdom and understanding upon others. What is wisdom and understanding according to Scripture?
Judge not.
If someone is helping others in Jesus’ name but is not part of your congregation or church; Jesus says, leave them alone. Don’t go telling others how to believe according to your faith. If anyone does good work in Jesus’ name, that speaks for itself and is not to be rebuked. Judge not that you’ll be not judged for the LORD is our lawgiver and judge.
GOD’s message is a message of truth.
So to my friend and others who are not being welcomed into church communities, Jesus was very clear about it. GOD’s message is one of truth.
The LORD shall judge the people with his truth. The Bible tells us what truth means. GOD’s law is truth, his commandments are truth, his Word is truth. His truth endures forever.
The Word was made flesh … full of grace and truth. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth and He said that everyone that is of the truth hears Him.
If people are not teaching this message or receptive to this message, move on. GOD’s people will hear you and if people despise you when you share Good News, don’t be surprised. Jesus warned us that this is likely to happen.
In fact, he tells us to leap for joy when we get rejected.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT THE CONTENT
All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications. Occasionally I partner with people because I like their products and you can read about that here.
ABOUT MY BOOKS
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NEW BOOKS RELEASES, INTERVIEWS, AND REVIEWS
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all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2014
The rest of the story.
One of my fellow bloggers and new found friend, Meredith, asked; “Please tell me the rest of your story, where you were baptised.” I could respond by saying; “Stay tuned, I’ll get to that eventually.” But I said that already to another fellow blogger Inspiring Max who said that she’ll be interested in hearing about it (my story) and laughing with me.
I don’t want to be seen as someone who is fobbing people off so I will answer the question regarding baptism next and I promise to tell later why God hath made me to laugh.
Click here if you haven’t read the first part of our baptism story.
The bible is the authority on things religious.
Our planned baptism was for me one of the most significant events in my life. To be baptised was more momentous to me than it had been to get married or give birth; precious and special as these occasions were. The events surrounding our planned baptism left us bewildered and in turmoil. At the time we did not understand what was going on at all and felt confused and rejected and abandoned. These emotions were quickly followed by clarity and elation as soon as we understood that the church is not God. Nor does the church always represent God.
I am convinced that the majority of religious leaders mean well but I also know that the Bible is the Word of God and therefore, as far as I’m concerned, the Bible is the authority on things religious and not the church nor their leaders.
Church doctrine and politics
What my daughters and I had gotten caught up in is just your regular church doctrine and politics. There were issues playing in the background of which we were completely unaware at the time. For instance we discovered later why we had to ‘sign up’ with the church and agree to abide by their doctrine in order to be baptised. Most churches expect their members to contribute ten percent of their income to the church and we would no longer have been in charge ourselves as to where to make our donations. In hindsight this could have been a smart move because in those days I was going into debt at a rate of around ten grand a year. Had I partnered with the church, they could have carried some of this. That’s meant to be a joke btw to lighten this tale up a little.
As an aside .. feed the hungry
As an aside, our favourite charity feeds one hungry child for a whole month for only six bucks. We don’t think it gets any better than that. If the only thing any of us would do is feed one hungry child each month for just six bucks, I wonder if that could prevent children all over the world dying from hunger?
Back to church doctrine.
Back to church doctrine. The other thing, which we did not realise at the time either is that there are quite significant disagreements between churches for instance with regards to keeping the Sabbath or not keeping the Sabbath, baptizing adults or not baptizing adults and so on and so forth.
It is my understanding from reading the Bible that in Jesus’ day all followers kept the Sabbath and all people joining themselves to the LORD were baptised. Jesus himself kept the Sabbath and was baptised.
All my daughters and I wanted was to be baptised and celebrate this with our whole town. Whilst we were washing and ironing our pretty white dresses and shopping around for cake and flowers, all our pastor and his mates seemed to be focused on was to preserve the status quo. To them this meant that we had to sign on the dotted line and our non-denominational pastor seemingly was not considered ‘worthy’ to baptise us because he was not registered with a church.
In addition, baptisms are apparently meant to be quiet private church affairs, not to be opened to the public.
But all our friends are ‘the public.’
We had never distinguished between believers and non-believers and we certainly didn’t intend to start doing so now.
The Bible on baptism
The three of us continued reading the Bible and discovered that the Bible does not tell us that we need a years worth of indoctrination before we are baptised. Quite the contrary.
The Bible does not tell us that baptism needs to take place in a quiet secluded place either. Jesus was baptised in the Jordan river, at a public place by his cousin.
The Bible does not tell us that we need to sign up with a church or denomination to be baptised. Nor are we to be baptised in the name of a church or denomination.
What the Bible does tell us with regards to baptism is that we are to be baptised in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost.
41,000 different Christian denominations
The Bible is very clear on what baptism entails. It is not complex at all. What is complex however is that there are approximately 41,000 different Christian flavours (denominations) and each of these churches has their own doctrine. If all churches were to follow God’s Word there would be no need for a church doctrine because the Bible would be their doctrine.
In Jesus’ day ‘congregations’ were named after the place name not after a particular religious flavour.
We follow God and His Son
My family follows God’s Word and his Son Jesus. We don’t do any of the flavours because as we discovered with our baptism, church doctrine often enough is not in agreement with God’s Word.
Jesus prayed for his disciples to be as one. Not 41,000 different flavours, but one.
Jesus also said, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
In addition Jesus said, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Our Baptism
My daughters and I make three, with Jesus is four and this is how we were baptised at that lovely place, the nice bright open clearing at our town’s river mouth where we originally planned for our baptism to take place. In the name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
– all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2014 –
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ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications. Occasionally I partner with people because I like their products and you can read about that here.
ABOUT SCRIPTURE CARDS – If you want to send free Scripture Cards to your friends click here and you want to buy hard copies of Scripture Cards you can click here.
MY BOOKS AND A FREE VIDEO COURSE – To download a copy of MY STORY OF SURVIVAL click here. For a copy of MIMI’S BOOK LAUNCH PLAN, click here. For a copy of GOD HEALED ME click here. For a copy of THE HOLY GRAIL OF BOOK LAUNCHING click here. For a copy of LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE click here. For a free video course on how to write a bestseller, click here. To join my launch party click here.
NEW BOOKS RELEASES, INTERVIEWS, AND REVIEWS – As a member of the Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance and as a member of the Christian Indie Authors Reading Group and as the current Administrator of Christian Authors Worldwide, This is FUN! Mimi’s Launch Party and co-administrator of OMEGA nonfiction writers I share new book releases, interviews and reviews with my readers. Stay tuned!
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