True Christianity
Today’s churches say we should come to church, but Jesus says we should come to Him.
Today’s churches say they’re still waiting on Jesus and the kingdom of God to come, but two thousand years ago Jesus said that He and His kingdom would come within the generation of His contemporaries.
Today’s churches say God is three, but Jesus says God is one and that seeing the Son is seeing the Father.
Today’s churches say that what matters is believing in Jesus and being a part of church, but Jesus says what matters is believing in Jesus and doing the will of God.
Today’s churches say either heaven or hell await you when you die, but Jesus says that He will draw all men to Himself.
Today’s churches provide ritual or entertainment to attract a crowd, but Jesus says we must give an account for every idle word we speak.
Today’s churches present themselves as the people of God even though they meet in thousands of different denominations, but Jesus says a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand and that He alone knows those who are truly His.
Today’s churches have made themselves God’s mediator by saying we cannot be close to God without joining them, but Jesus has no need of a mediator between Himself and His people.
There are many other ways that today’s churches contradict the teaching of Jesus. They do this because they fail to recognize that the church of the New Testament lived in preparation for the coming of the kingdom of God, that the kingdom came on the timetable Jesus set, and that from that time on we should all be seeking the kingdom of God…which is now in our midst.
Today’s churches are not malicious; they are deceived. In fact, the churches have many members who truly love God. Institutionalism and leadership, not the people in the pew, keep the truth at bay. I grieve for all of today’s churches, especially the evangelicals and charismatics in whose ranks I once stood as a pastor. They know and proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, but are ensnared by the tentacles of organized religion. Organized religion is a monster that consumes people and their resources – people for whom Jesus died and rose again.
What then shall we do? Believe in and obey the Jesus whom the churches preach! Among those churches there are many who know full well that Jesus alone has the power to transform our lives. We simply need to give Him His rightful place.
Where is Jesus’ rightful place? Everywhere – including where you are right now and where I am right now. We must stop walking around on this earth as if He is absent. He is present with every person and He is present in every group. Our responsibility – and our privilege – is to worship Him continually in our hearts. He is not interested in our lip service at certain times and in certain places (for that is the sin of the churches). He wants the entirety of our lives. This is true Christianity.
If you would know more about this One Person, you can read the page Jesus of Nazareth.
Whoa. You almost beguiled me with the affirmations concerning the immeasurable Love of god. Then I read further and saw you affirm that even the servants of Satan will gain heaven.
I don’t know who you are calling “the servants of Satan,” but if you disagree that everyone is going to heaven then how can you agree that the love of God is “immeasurable”?
Hi Mike,
Like where you are going.
Wondered if you have ever read any of Emanuel Swedenborg’s writings?
He was utterly rejected by the church in his time and to some extend us ‘Swedenborgians’ still face similar criticism today. Yet, he testified ideas which makes sense and provide a full picture of what true christianity is. Your thoughts resonate very much with what he wrote in mid to late 1700′s
Two of his works “Arcana Coelestia” and “True Christian Religion” are the cornerstone of a number of churches that have sprung up out of followers of his works. “Heaven and Hell” has also been one of his most popular works, being a summary of the experiences described in the Arcana.
If you can cast aside the public criticism, and take some time to read for yourself and pray to the Lord for yourself you may take away something very powerful!
His books are freely available from http://www.theheavenlydoctrines.org
warm regards,
Cor
PS If you are ok I’ll leave you with two quotes:
“True wisdom is seeing what is beneficial to your eternal life, and managing your life according to that. You do this when you not only know these things and grasp them with your understanding, but also will and do them.”
“If charity were its essential element, there would be one church, not a division into many; and it would then not matter if their teachings about faith and external forms of worship were different.”
I am not familiar with Emanuel Swedenborg. However, I am not surprised that others have written ideas similar to the ones I write because these ideas come from the Scriptures and are available to the ages. I have no private claim to them.
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