Bible in general (Archive 1)

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Bible Question (short): Churchianity

Question (full): There has been so much bickering on the forum lately that I feel led to post an email I received written by Mike Forest. I believe we all should read it. It is named Churchianity but could easily be changed to "forum-ianity". I would appreciate it if this would remain on the question board to allow everyone a chance to read it before anyone answers it. I have posted the question twice so that the second can be used for the tree. Thank you ....prayon

I have been reading with much interest on the subject of "Churchianity." I would like to make a few comments:

For one thing there are no perfect churches because there are no perfect people. It doesn't matter how much we think we have it together spiritually, as soon as we walked into the front door, the church would no longer be perfect, because the Lord is still working on all of us.

It cannot even be debated that the Lord did not establish organized religion or denominations, but the question to be asked concerning any church is this:
How much of the Lord's presence is in the church? To what degree is Jesus Christ being given first place? Is Jesus really being glorified in this
place? Who is really in control, is it the pastor, the deacons, the people, or is it the Spirit of God ?

There are denominational churches where God is present, because a place is being given for the Holy Spirit to rule and reign. There are also
non-denominational churches and home churches that are totally under the control of some man or group of people, and the Spirit of God is being
quenched. Which church do you believe that the Lord is most pleased with? It is not only a question of being in the system or out of the sytem, but the question is this: Are we in the will of God? Are we related to the Body in
some way? Are we allowing Jesus Christ to be Lord of our lives? Are we living for Him or just living for ourselves?

Several years ago I got the shock of my life when Sharon and I met a couple that I had been corresponding with by E-mail in a home meeting in Alabama. I considered these people to be very spiritual people by the prophetic messages
that they were giving out. They had come out of orgnized religion themselves. What I found out made me sick to my stomach because they dominated and took control of the meeting. Another brother even tried to bring a word of correction in love, but they wouldn't hear what he was saying. They wanted to be in control. This really taught me something, that there are some in the Body of Christ that are deceived, because they think they are something special and are not submitted to the Lord or to the rest of the Body but are
out there doing their own thing.

God has not called anyone to be seperated from the rest of the Body of Christ. We are all members one of another, and the Lord is against this individualism that fragments and breaks the Body apart. The one thing that the enemy is working overtime on is to cause division and strife and break the unity of the Spirit in the church.

"For as the Body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many , are one body, so also is Christ." "For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be (parapharsed) in the "organized church", or outside of it), and have all been made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." (1 Cor. 12: 12-14).

"For while one says (parphrased) I am a baptist, another says "I am non denominational". Another says " I don't belong to any church, I only follow
Jesus." Are you not carnal? (1 Cor. 3: 4). As you can see I changed the wording slightly, but you get the point. "For we are laborers together with
God; ye are God's husbandry, you are God's building." (1 Cor. 3: 9).

We cannot say that just because that someone is in the organized church or outside of it that they are not following the Lord. I believe that God leaves some saints in organized churches at least for a season, many times to pray
and intercede. If you are on fire for Jesus in a dead church, then one or two things will happen. Either there will be a resurrection that takes place in the lives of those that are dead, or you will get the left foot of fellowship. In any case, whether it be revival or judgement, the Lord's will is being done.