Denominations - Truth or Dare

It is my firm belief that false teaching is the dominate theology in America. It may surprise you, but I personally believe that the 86% of Americans that believe they are saved, are not. The majority of people that attend your local church are not saved, as evidenced by the 50+ % divorce rate, teen pregnancy, murder, abortion rates and complete moral decay. American pop-culture has whitewashed the scripture, neutered God and flavored Christ as to desirable to all. This casts a overly simplistic nature of who God is, as though salvation could come from a bazooka joe comic. This is far from the truth. People like Joel Osteen are perfect examples of this - when asked as to whether or not mormons were saved and going to go to heaven he said;

"Oh I don't know, they believe in Jesus Christ, like I do and so I believe they are saved. I'm not the judge and so I don't want to get caught up in the details".

Clearly this is false teaching disguised as self-help or Christ centered teaching when in fact it's pure unadulterated Antichrist teaching.

This is no more evident than in the following verse.

Matthew 7:22-23
7:22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do 25 many powerful deeds?’ 7:23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ 26

As I've said before - these people who speak to a righteous Lord, believe they are saved yet they are not. Could denominations be to blame? I say yes and no. First the no.

There are some who do not believe, yet they act with outwardly appearance as recorded in John. Then there are also those who are weak and are misled, and for those unfortunate souls, they share the fate of those who reject God.

Now to the yes;

Where did denominations come from?

By and large this question begins not with the denominations but rather your theology then denomination. All people whether they know it or not fall into one of two camps theologically.
Calvanism - Predestination
Armeinism - Free Will

From here, scholars interpret scripture, (unless your catholic and that is reserved for the clergy) and thus scholars provide analysis of the context, meaning, metaphor or narrative and the applicability to modern christians. Beyond that teachers begin to assimilate the differences into a specific denomination. We're covering these specific denominations in a bit more detail than the others:

Catholicism/Episcopalian
Baptist/Methodist
Mormon
Traditional Non-Denominational

I'm doing this briefly as this could be a book all by itself. I want to record a few simple statistics as well as my thoughts on the matter. I'm looking for the following information:

Theological Position
Invention
Major Tenants
Scriptural Relevance (according to me)

Below are all the major denominations of Christian religions and their invention date. Yep, I said invented.

* Martin Luther founded the Lutheran Church, in 1522.
* King Henry VIII founded the Anglican Church of England, in 1534.
* John Knox of Scotland founded the Presbyterian Church, in 1580.
* The Congregational Church was founded by Robert Brown in Holland, in 1582.
* John Smith in Amsterdam founded the Baptist Church, in 1606.
* Michelis Jones in New York founded the Dutch Reformed Church, in 1628.
* The Protestant Episcopal Church is an offshoot of the Church of England, and was founded by Samuel Seabury in the American Colonies in the 18th Century.
* The Methodist Church, was founded by John & Charles Wesley in England in 1774.
* The Unitarian Church was founded by Theophilus Lindley in London in 1774.
* The Mormon Church (Latter Day Saints) was founded by Joseph Smith in 1829.
* The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth in London in 1888.

Most denominations are Armenian in theology. With the exception of some types of non-denominational and baptist. This definately applies to catholics, mormons, baptists (southern and N. American) episcopal, and methodist.

The major tenants only differ between Catholics, Mormons, Baptists and traditional non-denominational. The largest difference is between Catholics however and the remainder. This fundamental difference is that Christians themselves possess no power to interpret scripture accurately. Only the pope can interpret scripture and because the catholic church is purportedly THE Church of God, then accurate information only comes from them. Where other denominations self interpret and measure those results against experience, prophecy, the Bible and mature Christians. The next major difference as we look at all denominations is what is traditionally called legalism. Any church regardless of denomination can suffer from this, however in most cases this is an armenian church where young Christians are taught that by following the 'rules' of the Bible, one can assume a holy lifestyle and thus become closer to God. This is the beginning of the end for all denominations. The farther people fall from the actual biblical framework for interpreting scripture, the more legalistic and cultic they become. Mormons are a perfect example of that. Mormons believe that the Bible isn't enough, and that Joe Smith was visited by God in the early 19th century. This scripture was added to the Bible and became the only way "true" Christians could be saved, ofcourse once it was combined with the regular Bible.

Denominations by themselves are a method of naming a recorded method for believing in God. Mormons believe that they can become Gods as they say Jesus did. Catholics believe that they need to 'earn' their way to heaven by good works and never having not confessed sins, less the be caught in purgatory. Episcopalians believe nearly the same things that Catholics do, with minor and insignificant differences. The pope being the most obvious. Baptists are free-willers who believe that the way to heaven is belief, but also by demonstrating how worthless and insignificant you are all while forcing rules upon the laymen.

It is my firm belief that denominations are anti-scriptural. There is NO scriptural support for a specific denomination or even the attempt to bring one to bear. While I recognize the intrinsic value of being able to distinguish what a certain body believes, all bodies should be the same body of Christ. Yet sadly they are not. The cling to denominations as their life line - when it's Christ who is the lifeline.

All denominations are flawed in some manner or another. The very reason I can say that is because all cannot be perfectly right so they must be wrong. The Bible says that even if you violate a part of the law, you violate the whole law. So man cannot live by the law, but by faith that God's grace covers them through Christ's sacrifice.

What is this a call for?

Faith! A resolute purpose in searching for God in his word. Living by the spirit who guides us and congregating with our brethren who are seeking the same. In the end, you are chosen to be sanctified before the foundation of the world (eph 6) and by accepting God's gift (john 3:16) you can become saved. Adding to that simply dishonors God. It dishonors God because the Bible is the record of the sufficient work of God. In so being you must rely on it directly and theologically primarily as your source for knowledge regarding salvation.

I John
1:7b ...the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Acts 16:31b
...believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Romans
3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

I John
1:9 If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Matthew
6:9, 12 After this manner...pray ye: Our Father... forgive us....

1 Timothy
2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus [not Mary, not saints, not priests, not the pope];

I John 2:1, ...And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Now - let me capitulate some to those who are "REALLY" happy with their denomination of choice.

You can serve God anywhere and if you feel like you're being fed in your church, and you aren't being taught false doctrine, or bad theology, then I encourage you to stay where you are. But if you doubt for a second that the truth is being taught in your local body - then you are obligated to challenge that teaching. You are then obligated to leave that body if changes will not occur.