....for it is MISSING!
There is a two word verse that reads 'Jesus wept'. John 11:35. Does anyone doubt that this verse is true? Do you believe that Jesus wept at this point? Maybe it's a lie?? GASP!! 'Yet...now we all know for sure you are batty, crazy, out of your head. Yep! We knew it all along. Now we have the proof along with the pudding! You are a fraud. A lunatic. A deceiver. A false prophet, teacher, and cultist!! We gotcha now! Telling us that a verse in the bible might be false, a mis-print. How dare you Yet?'
Ok. Moving on now. You think you're mad at me now, just wait.
There are about 50 verses in 1Cor.12, Ephesians 4, and Romans 12 that I continuously teach on to the dismay of most.
These scriptures are soundly rejected by organized religion, the 'church', falsely called.
Do you suspect an inconsistency here? I'm just a simple man with a simple mind.
Most everything the ecclesia is suppose to be, isn't. And what it isn't suppose to be, is.
The true biblical dynamic of the scriptural body of Christ is MISSING, and has been for nearly 1800 years.
My question is should we put the 'church' on a milk carton and hope someone can spot it somewhere?
The church is composed of wheat and tares, goats and sheep.
As far as local fellowships go, the one I'm attending operates very well and scripturally.
I highly recommend that individuals who are considering a fellowship look for a sound one that is operating like this. They are out there.
I find that there are many professing Christians who act like Elijah and think they are the only ones following God. God's reply to him during his depression is telling..he said he has 7000 other followers who have not bowed the knee to Baal. "Lone ranger" Christians don't live in reality. There are tons of solid believers.
I think some who really don't want to be involved with a local fellowship, and come under the authority or accountability of anyone, spend a lot of time engaged in cutting all of them down. They also have an unrealistic opinion of their own orthodoxy and the coherency of their private belief system.
I've heard one person say that he won't attend a church because they wouldn't let him preach. I've listened to him long enough to know that he holds some really crazy ideas and is not someone who is able to teach. Why would anyone, even a sound thinking well-trained person, expect to be allowed to preach without establishing their own credibility with the local fellowship?
Others are nursing hurts and resentments caused by events that happened a LONG time ago. If I operated like that, I wouldn't be in fellowship very long, as people are imperfect, and imperfect people offend others. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints, as the saying goes.
Ephesians 4, folks. Those who claim to be spiritually mature and are not in fellowship are not reading these Scriptures honestly. They say these sorts are blown around by all winds of doctrine..how many do we see on the forums like this? Let me answer that..a LOT.
And, younger Christians, I suggest you pay heed to these words. If you consider the people here to be your teachers, beware. Some of them are tethered to the Church through their local fellowship and are reliable dispensers of truth, and many hold heresies. Get involved in a local church, after determining that they teach sound evangelical doctrine.
I have some more comments on this in my profile if you're interested.
Returning to local fellowship was key in me coming back from a long backsliding. Sin and disbelief thrives in isolation. God doesn't want lone ranger Christians. He wants team players who are not contentious. If you have to sacrifice by driving an extra distance to find a good fellowship, do it. Your life belongs to Him if you are saved anyways. Submit to Him in all ways, including being involved in the local fellowship. Don't be influenced by rock throwers who continually come up with excuses for not fellowshipping.
DO find a good fellowship, though. I list some church finders in my profile that may help.
As a disclaimer, I am not dissing individuals who are homebound due to health reasons, or who have legitimate reasons for being unable to fellowship in person. In addition, this site is great for supplemental fellowship and I avail myself of it practically every day. It's not a replacement for real face-to-face relationships though. You need to be involved in discipleship and equipping in a local church. This site does not claim to substitute for those things.