Why So Many Denominations? (Part 1)

How many Christian denominations are there in the world?  According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (2011), there are over 41,000 denominations identifying as Christian in the world today.  As a thinking person striving to follow Christ and to obey Him in all things, I would want to know which church is the right one to support my commitment to Christ.  That is to say, which church or denomination truly takes all the teachings of the Bible as the rule of faith and presents the Jesus Christ as the only Way to eternal salvation. 

Narrowing Down the Options

Trying to choose between 41,000 churches professing belief in Christ and in the Bible is challenging, to say the least.  But Jesus is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (1 Peter 2:25), and He has promised to lead us all in right paths as we seek to follow Him.  Let me start off by saying that, in every denomination that teaches salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, you will find sincere believers in Christ who are walking in all of the light that God has given them through His word.  Jesus makes it very clear in Scripture that He has sheep in "other folds" (John 10:16) which He must bring into "this fold," indicating that He does have a designated or denominated people on earth who have been entrusted with all the truths of His word and gospel today.

God is Not the Author of Confusion in the Churches

The whole truth be told, much of what passes for Christianity today has no Christ in it at all.  The following are just a few of the teachings and practices of some churches that lack biblical support and are contrary to the teachings and Spirit of Christ:

  • "Christian" homosexuality, gay marriage and ordination of openly gay ministers
  • The false gospel of worldly prosperity
  • The deepening involvement of the church in politics
  • The dead going immediately to their reward (heaven, hell or purgatory)
  • The nailing of God's ten commandments to the cross
  • Sunday sacredness
  • Nominalism, or the worldly gospel

Many professedly Christian churches have departed from Biblical teaching and are conforming to a worldly standard.  Their pastors, scholars and theologians have adulterated the plain word of God with their human suppositions and theories and called it "thus saith the Lord," when the Lord has not spoken.  Read Ezekiel 22:23-31.     

But within these same churches are millions of faithful Christians who, observing the abominations creeping into their churches, sigh and cry to the Lord for forgiveness, repentance and a return to primitive godliness and biblical faith.  The new reformation is coming and has come.  But it is not to be found within the confines of their denominational framework.  More on this later.

Click here to read "Why So Many Denominations?"  part 2.

    



        

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