Ardent American Patriot and Lover of Israel
Posts tagged baptist
A Credible Lifestyle
Nov 30th
“And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6).
At times we tend to think of John the Baptist as a wild man, one who would have been either an offense or a laughingstock to those he was trying to reach, but in reality quite the opposite was true. He was greatly respected and believed; some even wondered if he should have been worshiped as “that prophet” (i.e., the Messiah), or revered as Elijah (John 1:21).
His “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3) was so effective that not only the common people (Luke 3:10), but also the publicans (v.12), soldiers (v.14), priests, and Levites (John 1:19), as well as the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Matthew 3:7), came to hear his teaching.
Many repented and were baptized.
Far from being non-credible, John’s style was what was expected of a prophet. Indeed his ministry and message were in fulfillment of those of Elijah (Malachi 4:5) who himself “was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins” (II Kings 1:8).
Even false prophets mimicked this style (Zechariah 13:4) to gain credibility.
The point is, we should strive to package our timeless message of the gospel of Christ in such a way as to gain the greatest hearing and the most true converts. This is not to say that we should dress as John or Elijah did, for that would be bizarre in today’s world. Nor should we flaunt riches, for both styles detract from the message and induce ridicule and blasphemy.
Perhaps the principle is to dress and act as the hearers would expect a credible, sober conveyer of truth to behave. Let us be careful to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things” (Titus 2:10).
Where Did Denominations Come From?
Mar 12th
Posted by William Cody Bateman in Commentary
1 comment
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” I Corinthians 12:13
“Where did denominations come from?” This question is often asked of me by those wearied of going from one “church” to the next, trying to find a place they might finally “fit in.”
My heart goes out to those Christians who wander from building to building trying to find true fellowship – fellowship already intimated in the Book of Acts and the Epistle letters.
A Baptist preacher from Massachusetts once told me, “The reason for denominations is because God desires ‘walls of separation’ in order to keep bad doctrine from creeping in.” Unfortunately, this “teacher” was and still is, promoting an exclusivity or “closed fellowship” mentality – doctrines strongly rebuked by the teaching of our Apostles. Is this scriptural?
No!
Listen to our Apostle Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian Church. These believers were promoting then, just as others promote today – a form of fellowship that runs contrary to the doctrines of the Apostles and the working of God the Holy Spirit:
Christians are called by God unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 1:9), are told to speak the same things with no divisions – and having the same mind and judgment (I Corinthians 1:10).
When these simple instructions are NOT followed, the results are catastrophic:
No where in the scriptures does God encourage a separation between true followers of Jesus Christ by denomination affiliation but, unity instead:
These scripture are a beautiful word picture about unity between all true followers of Jesus Christ! With this in mind, I have put together a very brief and simple history of denominations and their origins. Today, especially in America, new “movements” are popping up all the time so, for expediency sake – I have only listed the major “movements” of which most smaller or more recent denominational creations derived:
Our brother and Apostle Paul rebuked the Corinthian Church long ago, and God the Holy Spirit rebukes us today – that the only thing we are to glory in is Jesus Christ – not our favorite denomination, teacher, worship team or any other ministry effort.