Denominationalism is all around us. We have the Roman Catholic Church, the Pentecostal Church, the Calvinists, the Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church, the Charismatic Movement, the Mormon Church, ad infinitum. Each and every one of these separate denominations has a set of dogmas that they follow in their worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each claim that they in turn hold the absolute truth about being in communion with our Lord; yet they are becoming more tolerant about how they relate to other denominations.
Some denominations are even saying that we are all together in the Body of Christ, because we all believe in Jesus, and we all consider Jesus Christ to be 'Lord' of our lives, and consider ourselves 'Born Again'. The Charismatics of each denomination go further by saying that the ultimate experience is to have 'the Baptism in the Holy Ghost' with the evidence of speaking in tongues, even as the 'Spirit' gives the utterance.
But truly there is a problem: NONE of the denominations agree with other peer denominations, and indeed it seems that it is anything but a brother(sister)hood of love in Christ Jesus. What causes all this turmoil, and division, and discord. Satan, the Devil is the root cause of this division, and it interferes with our worship of Christ in our daily walk and it can prove to be the thing which causes loss of Grace with God.
It is loss of Grace with God that Satan is after, for this means in other words: loss of our salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God. But, if we do not accept this gift daily by thanks, and prayer, and worship, and following after the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we lose our free gift of Grace, and become separated from God. Of course, if we repent, we gain back the free gift of Grace, but our hearts have to throw away the hypocrisy of saying Amen while we mean the opposite. Until our hearts throw out the nature which is deceitful; in favor of the nature which is full of TRUTH, and PEACE, and REPENTANCE, there can be no salvation for us to be kept. In other words, we can accept the free gift all day long, but if the conditions are not right in us, the free gift will be thrown away by us each time it is offered.
Let us come back to one important point: Denominations are an effect of division, and turmoil, and discord. Can the Church of Jesus Christ really be party to this situation? The answer is a resounding NO!!! Jesus Christ himself assured the Apostle Peter that the Church would never suffer Evil, or Division, or Discord. The Gates of Hell will NOT prevail against the Church. So, already it seems that we can say that all the people in these denominations are not a part of the Body of Christ, right? Wrong!!! Although, the Body of Christ is one, and will always be one, and has always been one, we cannot say that our invisible brethren are outside of the Body of Christ in a blanket fashion. Well, we say: How do we determine who is and who is not a member of the Body of Christ? 'Charlie over there, he is definitely an outsider!' And how do come to that conclusion? 'Well, he doesn't do this or that!' Thou hypocrite, if you see a mote in your brother's eye, first cast out the beam which is in your OWN eye, and then take care of your brother. In other words, because we are imperfect before God, we cannot judge our Brother. Then how can we judge Charlie? Anything we can say of Charlie, can be said about us if we think about it!! Let us bring forth unity and resolve to be part of the Body of Christ in FACT and put away our DISCORD, DIVISION, and EVIL in favor of TRUTH, GRACE, PEACE and LOVE.
What am I saying here? Well, I'm saying that anyone who truly seeks after the Lord Jesus Christ will find him, and will go through personal transfiguration and a personal pentecost in their souls. But this person needs communion with the rest of the Body in order to grow spiritually. How can a Body hear without ears? How can a Body see without eyes? Can a person smell using an ear? Or see using the mouth? No: Eyes are for seeing, Ears for hearing, and Mouths for speaking. So, therefore, the Church is the Body of Christ here on Earth, and there is ONLY ONE CHURCH. NOT MANY, BUT ONE CHURCH!!!
The different denominational groups are not in themselves a Church. This is because all the various denominations are products of men; not God. The undivided Church of Christ, on the other hand, is Divinely Created by God for mankind's salvation. Now, we ask, how can we find the Church? How is it possible to identify it? Those who ask these questions miss the important part of the message of this paper. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic (Katholikos meaning Universal), and Apostolic, and headed by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This title cannot be claimed by any group that is an outgrowth of Discord, Division, and Evil. The title cannot be claimed by any group tracing its history back to a mortal human being. The title can only be claimed in a visible fashion by the successors to the Apostles who were in turn given power by God, through the Son, and the Holy Ghost, under the Love of the Father. In other words it is a complete harmonious move of all three persons of Holy God; the Trinity. As long as the Apostles defended the Faith, the Church lived on, and lives on this day and ever more to the coming of our Lord.
But there is an invisible aspect to the Church as well, for we are not able to be judge of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. There are those who have been a part of the Body of Christ in isolation, or in ways mysterious to us in the visible Church. For us to deny that this can be so, is to deny the power and glory of God. God's will does not wait on us, or depend on our action to commence. Therefore, the Apostleship of God can be an invisible as well as visible ministry of the Body of Christ. But let us not sit back and say to ourselves that: "Since I am not a visible member, I am yet a member anyway because of my 'relationship' with 'God'." We should always be weary of complacency. It is a fact that we are often misled into: 'feeling good is a requisite to salvation'! Satan is master at making us 'feel good'! Beware, we are skating on thin ice if we are not TRUE in our HEARTS with GOD. One day, if we do not change from corrupted hearts, we will fall through the ICE and drown in the spirit, and burn in hell fire! Let us all repent!
But, I'm a good Christian. I'm right with God. I do everything I can for God. I'm a good person. I perform miracles in Jesus' Name. I prophesy in Jesus' Name. I've made it!! I'm saved, and my place is made for me already in heaven. My reservation is in. (800) 325-3535. Sorry, I just couldn't resist!! We are the opposite of humble if we claim 'once saved, always saved.' If we say, 'I am born again. I've made it.', we delude ourselves and lie to our Lord. The reason for this is that our soul is saved when we accept the Lord as our personal saviour, and further we put our actions where our mouth is. Jesus wants to see that we carry out our commitments to Him. If we say, Lord! Lord! but we really don't mean it, Jesus will say, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who perform iniquities.' So, therefore, we need to be careful about the content of our heart.
Jesus commanded each of us to be Baptized, and after this He commanded that we should receive the Holy Ghost. These two events in our lives are very important to our spiritual life, and our salvation, because it is part of the armour and amunition that God provides us to be ready for battle with Satan, the Devil. Through these actions, God sends down upon us His Cloak of Grace to protect us from evil. The Holy Ghost lives in us from the time we receive Him and inspires us to do God's will, provides the LAMP of God within us, and is our teacher. Jesus further commanded that we should on a regular basis participate in the Divine Supper of our Lord, saying, 'Do this in remembrance of me.' Jesus took the Bread and broke it and said, 'This is my Body.' Then Jesus took wine and said, 'This is my Blood of the New Testament.' 'Take Eat'. 'Drink'. The 12 Apostles received Divine Grace from God the Son during this Divine Supper, which represented the eating and drinking of the Divine Substance of God, so that God would become part of us more and more each day. Jesus showed his Disciples the Gift of Healing and commanded that the Apostles carry on this ministry. So, when we are sick and lame, we go to be healed by the Apostle of God. Jesus then showed us to empty out the evils of our heart, and replace this turmoil with peace that passes ALL understanding. We do this by confessing our sins, and transgressions, so as to be cleansed of the excess baggage of guilt and torment and unrest. Confession makes it possible for peace to return to our hearts, through repentance. If God calls us, then we answer the call to become His Apostolic Servant, and carry on the special responsibilities of this Office. Through marriage, we grow in learning about the mystery of 'diversity in unity, and unity in diversity'. All these and other actions confer upon us Grace from God above, who feeds us good spiritual food for our souls to grow by. This Grace from above is called by theologians, a Sacrament or Mysterion. In the Church of Jesus Christ, there are an infinite number of Sacraments, and there are seven Major Sacraments: Baptism, Holy Chrism (Receiving the Holy Ghost), Holy Eucharist (the Divine Supper of our Lord), Holy Ordination, Holy Unction (Healing), Holy Confession, and Holy Marriage.
The Sacraments help us to grow spiritually into likeness of God. We are told that we already were made in the image and likeness of God, but when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they lost their likeness of God and became dead spiritually. When we become Baptized and Receive the Holy Ghost, we start taking the medicine of God that restores our likeness to God. But if we during our spiritual walk make a decision to love the things of the world more than our God, or if we make the decision to push out of our heart the Holy Ghost, we will lose the gift that God provided us with. Every day, we need to renew our commitment to God, and our Love of God. This way, we can say: I was saved, I am saved, and I will be saved. Consider this seriously.
The Holy Orthodox Church is today one of the members of the corporate Body of Christ in its visible form. Learning more about the Orthodox Church is a most valuable query for us to make, because this Church can trace its history all the way back to Jesus Christ, has Jesus Christ as its head, and is consequently a member of God's Divine Institution here on Earth. Through an insightful inquiry, we can learn about the breathtaking history of the Church, and be inspired by those servants of God who living in the past became shining examples for us to follow in our journey upon the Ladder of Spiritual Growth in Christ Jesus. Let us all remember that God's most shining example for us to follow is Jesus Christ, Himself. Amen.
+May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and for ever, and from all Ages to all Ages. Amen.