Category: Thoughts from Others

Thoughts from my good friend Fernando Krusher Souza. Fernando can be contacted through email: aigrejaembauru@gmail.com.

Sunday afternoon. The house is quiet now, filled with that nice silence that comes after a good party. I still have a smile on my face and a warm heart from what happened last night.

I got home, tired from the day, and when I turned on the living room light, there they were. My wife, with that knowing look I know so well, my daughters, my son-in-law, and a handful of those friends who are closer than brothers. A “Happy Birthday” sung in chorus that took me by surprise and, I confess, brought tears to my eyes.

Today, thinking about it calmly, what really hits me is this good feeling of being loved.

We spend so much of our lives trying to prove our worth. We chase after success, recognition, a pat on the back for a job well done. And all of that is fine, but it’s a kind of affection that is conditioned on our performance.

What I felt yesterday was different. No one there was celebrating my achievements. They were celebrating my existence. Simple as that. The love that filled that room wasn’t a prize for good behavior. It was a gift. It was free.

And in my walk with Jesus, I’ve understood that this is the best picture of God’s love we can have in a practical sense. We often think of God’s love as something abstract, a nice theory. But yesterday, I saw that love with skin on. I saw it in my wife’s eyes, in my daughters’ hugs, in my friends’ laughter. God shows Himself through the people He places around us.

My “church” was all there, in my living room. It didn’t need a temple, loud music, or a sermon. The worship service was the preparing of food in the kitchen, the casual conversations, the sincerity of the affection. That right there was the church in its purest form: a community of people who love each other and take care of one another.

And today, with my heart still warm, a sentence from the apostle John makes more sense than ever: “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:12).

What a profound truth. We don’t see God, but we can see Him acting, dwelling, and revealing Himself in the love we show for one another. That love in my living room wasn’t just a human feeling; it was God Himself making Himself present, becoming visible through my people. His love is made complete, not in me alone as an isolated individual, but in the community we form—in our mutual care and unconditional affection.

What a birthday present. And what an extraordinary truth to live by every day.

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Written by Roger Thoman from SimpleChurch Journal. Check out his website simplechurchjournal.com

Church is people. Living for God is lifestyle. This is the simplicity of being ekkesia: followers of Jesus.

Traditional church has focused on programs, pulpit teaching, and Sunday performances. It is a religious system rather than a spiritual ecosystem. And systems, by nature, tend to mass – produce followers who conform rather than disciples who commune, serve, and live the lifestyle of Spirit.

Abiding Isn’t a Concept, It’s a Lifestyle

Jesus’ words in John 15 are shockingly practical: “Abide in me and I in you.” He’s not handing out another theological point – He’s describing the whole Christian life.

And yet, many of us were never discipled in how to abide. How to slow down. How to recognize His presence moment by moment. How to remain rooted in Him throughout our day, our disappointments, our decisions. Too many times we became students of outer forms rather than inner spiritual realities.

Learning to Walk by the Spirit

Galatians 5:25 says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” That assumes a kind of attentiveness – a listening and responding in real time. A rhythm of relationship.

The Spirit-led life doesn’t fit neatly into structured forms of religion. The Spirit is wild. Unpredictable. Personal. Organic. He doesn’t follow an order of service.

So, we default to structure over surrender. We program what should be discerned. We mechanize what should remain mysterious.

We live from places of comfort rather than out in the messiness of people’s needs and suffering where Jesus is more likely found.

Dying to Self Is the Way In

And maybe this is why we prefer the outward forms of religion. Romans 6 tells us that if we’ve been united with Christ in His death, we will also be united with Him in His resurrection life. But how many of us walk into this mystery of death to self?

This isn’t just about sin management. It’s about an inner crucifixion that leads to freedom. It’s about surrendering the false self so that the true self, hidden in Christ, can emerge.

The Power of Stillness

“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Stillness is where the noise dies down and the presence of God becomes known in the quiet center of our soul. But institutional Christianity, along with the Western culture, is often addicted to activity and noise. Many times our worship has become loud, crowded, performance-driven.

Stillness requires a different space, a different pace. It’s uncomfortable at first. It undoes us. But it’s there – in the silence, in the unhurried place – where we begin to hear the whisper and feel the nearness.

Rediscovering the Ancient Path

This is the journey we’re reclaiming. Not a rejection of faith, but a return to its root. A faith that’s lived from the inside out. A daily, actual, experiential walk with Jesus.

We are being invited – many of us, again or for the first time – into the deep waters of the Spirit. A lifestyle.

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The below article was written by Buff Scott, Jr. You can contact Buff and sign up for his Reformation Rumblings newsletter by emailing him at renewal@mindspring.com.

The universal biblical principle, found throughout, is that in the assemblies of the early saints all gifts were shared mutually. The “hired hand” today interferes with and disrupts this principle. Do you suppose Paul had the professional minister in mind when he told the Roman believers they were “able to instruct one another” (Rom. 15:14)? Surely he was not referring to a one-man instructor! And was Paul coming off the wall with a lot of nonsense when he told the believers at Colosse they were to “teach and admonish one another” (Col. 3:16)? The one-man admonisher was nowhere to be found.

In the early assemblies there was a mutual exchange of praises, teaching, sharing, and singing. No one person did it all. The Thessalonians were told to “encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11). When we substitute this “one another” arrangement with a counterfeit system, such as the professional minister, we are guilty of disrupting heaven’s blueprint for spiritual growth.

 We need to be reminded that if a congregation can import a man and pay him a big salary to do all or most of the public speaking, the same congregation can import another man and pay him a healthy salary to do all of the singing, and still another man to do all of the praying-for a salary, of course. Well, you get the idea. The principle that allows one allows the others.

To state it more explicitly, if importing specialists to feed the flock is heaven’s way, all of our gifts can be performed by proxy. As a result, all we need do is warm a pew and wait till heaven arrives. For, after all, we’re paying others to do our ministries.

Take a look at our house assemblies, usually referred to as “house churches.” Where’s the pulpit minister? He’s not needed! Why? Because all attendees contribute their share, as God’s grace abounds within them, and as He confers a diversity of gifts among them. Why in the name off good sense are we incapable of conducting our “church services” in the same fashion? The reason is because we have gone professional. We have abandoned common ground in favor of skilled specialists. We want the world to know how sophisticated and refined we have become. So we go all out to import the best and build the fanciest edifices. We have adopted idolatry, just as surely as we have substituted a bogus system.

When will it all end? In the trash-heap of by-gone religions unless we wise up and address our deficiencies and get back to the basics of edifying and strengthening one another. The situation will not improve until and unless we rediscover the “one another arrangement,” as is so clearly defined in scripture. May God open our hearts and minds to do just that.

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Written by Buff Scott, Jr.

Being Clear From The Beginning

I think it might be expedient to say that if King James had not intervened in the efforts of his Hebrew and Greek scholars, the KJV of the Scriptures might have turned out to be among the most accurate translations. His interference and dictatorial decrees must have annoyed his scholars and surely impeded their endeavor to translate the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts flawlessly – or at least as closely as possible to the oldest available manuscripts.    

Consequently, most of the blame for the distorted sections of the KJV should be ascribed to King James, not to his translators. The King’s preferences relating to “church,” “Easter,”  “baptize,” “Bishop,” plus other Biblical terms, had to be adhered to by his translators. Indeed he became the foremost innovator of “Mad Church Disease,” “Mad Easter Disease,” “Mad Bishop Disease,” and other theological disfigurements. The “side-effects” from the King’s blunders can be seen in the myriads of divisions, discords, and schisms among us.

He told his translators, “When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which has been most commonly used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place, and the analogy of the faith.”

    To paraphrase the King, “When any word has different meanings, you are to keep only the most commonly used by the most eminent church fathers who founded our faith, regardless of the Greek’s implication.” – www.bible-researcher.com/kjvhist.html

The King’s Decrees To His Translators

Please give your attention to the History. King James instructed his translators, “The old ecclesiastical words to be kept…” He insisted that all ecclesiastical terms be retained. In Hebrews 2:12 of the KJV, the writer quotes from Psalms 22:22, “For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, ‘I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto you.’ ”

The Psalmist passage in the KJV reads, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” The Hebrew word for “congregation” is kaw-hawl, which means assembly, company, congregation, community. The Greek counterpart for congregation or assembly is ekklesia. The King’s method of manipulating is almost unbelievable, for in Psalms 22:22 “congregation” is accurate, but in Hebrews 2:12 “church” is inaccurate, faulty translated, spurious, and a total distortion of the Greek.

Travel With Me To Acts, Chapter 19

It can easily be demonstrated that King James was inconsistent and manipulative. In verses 32, 39, and 41, ekklesia correctly delivers “assembly.” My concern is why did his translators fail to translate ekklesia “church” in these passages, as they did elsewhere? If they and the King had been logically compatible, we would have, “For the church was confused,” “It shall be determined in a lawful church,” and “He dismissed the church.”    

The reason for this discrepancy is evident. The  king  forced “church” into his translation to bolster his sect, The Established Church of England. The point I wish to make is if ekklesia is delivered correctly here, it is delivered incorrectly wherever “church” is found. There is no escaping this fact. The King went wild in using “church.” In verse 37, he even used it in place of “temple!”     

One of the foundational features of The Established Church of England sect was that she was colonized around “church,” just as our religious parties are. Hence, to keep “church” out of his version of the scriptures would have made him appear as though he were King and Head of a commonplace congregation or assembly. That would have been degrading!

“Church” And Other Translations

“Church” became so common following the KJV that most all other translations followed suit. There are a few exceptions, however. The Authentic New Testament [1955], translated by Hugh J. Schonfield, a Jew, gives “congregation” as the translation of ekklesia. Alexander Campbell’s Living Oracles [1800s] does not carry “church.” He used “church” in some of his writings, but he left it out of his Living Oracles. He knew the Greek ekklesia did not justify it. Another translation destitute of  “church” is The Christian Bible [1991].      

The deliberate mistake made by King James has cost us dearly, for contemporary religions have pounced upon his offense by creating and establishing sects and factions under the guise of “church” until they have divided and sub-divided themselves out of practical existence. The result? An apostate system.    

Another one of the King’s unsightly terms is “Bishop,” as used in 1 Timothy 3:1 and Titus 1:7. The Established Church of England had autocratic leaders called “Bishops.” The Greek in the Timothy passage is ep-is-kop-ay’ and means “inspection” or “superintendence” – in short, an overseer or superintendent.    

The Greek in Titus is ep-is’-kop-os, signifying leadership abilities, overseer, or one in charge. Age-wise, these men were elders and gifted with wisdom, hospitably, and self-controlled. Young inexperienced men were never referred to as “elders,” for they are usually hot-headed and lack control and wisdom. “Bishop” portrays authority, control, and supremacy, the exact personality of The Established Church of England. Our Lord did not found this sort of ekklesia.

One More Botch

Let’s briefly address one more of the King’s botches before we close – namely, “Easter,” as found in Acts 12:7. The Greek is pascha, meaning Passover. I have before me Adam Clarke’s treatise on The Acts of the Apostles. Clarke was a renowned Hebrew and Greek theologian (1762-1832). Here are his comments on King James’ deliberate indiscretion. They are mentally stimulating!   

“The goddess Easter,  whose festival was celebrated by our pagan forefathers on the month of April…Perhaps there never was a more unhappy, not to say absurd, translation than that in our text…Every view we can take of this subject shows the gross impropriety of retaining a name every way exceptionable and palpably absurd” (pages 774-775).

And there we have it. Other translations correct many of King James’ missteps and mistakes, but not all errors have been rectified – particularly “church.” I suspect we are stuck with it until time is no more. But I will never again use it as a unifying appellation, glorify it, or praise it. I am forever finished with “Mad Church Disease,”  except to reveal its partisan, divisive colors.

This article is from my friend Buff Scott, Jr. You can find out more about Buff, sign up for his newsletter or download his three books by clicking here.

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By Victoria Holt

I woke up multiple times last night, and always with the same thought ricocheting through my spirit in acute awareness: “You’re not a ‘group’…”

Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, I simply stayed up. I chose to be still, and listen.

Prior to last night, I’d been praying about this for some time because whenever I would hear someone use that word in reference to any local assembly of worshippers of our Lord, it really bothered me. So yes; I was very ready to have an audience with Him about this matter. And what a time we had together! What sweet reminders He gave of the truth.

The truth?

We’re not merely some “group.”

We are a local ἐκκλησίᾳ that meets in a house. We are worshippers of the Lord Jesus Christ who has reconciled us to the Father and sealed us with the Holy Spirit, and in fact, we’re one of many ἐκκλησίαι that meet in a house as described in 1 Corinthians 16:19, Romans 16:1-5, Acts 2:1-47, Acts 5:12-42, Acts 12:1-17, Acts 16:1-40, and Acts 20:18-21; and Matthew 18:20 is as true here, as it is elsewhere. Where most translations translate ἐκκλησίᾳ as “church” and ἐκκλησίαι as “churches”, some translations use the words “all who gather”, or “congregation/churches”, or “assembly/assemblies”, or some believers use the anglicized “ekklesia”.

Bottom line?

We’re His people through His loving sacrifice, knit together tenderly by Him for His express purposes, on His terms. And we’re so blessed to be that!

Each local fellowship of those who are born again in Christ Jesus is blessed to be very much a part of the entire holy household of the Living God… the family of God; and that’s regardless of whether we meet in a house or elsewhere, or what native language we speak, or whether we sing hymns or more modern music, etc., etc., etc. 1 Corinthians 1:1-31 (!!), 1 Timothy 3:14-15, Ephesians 4:4-6 and a host of other such passages of the Scriptures make that crystal clear. We each are one part of His household built of “living stones” (1 Peter 2:4-5), and in addition, in the boundless mercy and grace of our Lord, we are also part of “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

We are part of the household of God, and of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).

Wowsa!

That does not get old to me. I remain in awe.

We are a part of the Bride of Christ, as testified to by Isaiah 54:5, Matthew 25:1-13, 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:25-27 and 32, and Revelation 19:7-9.

We, like the rest of the Body of Christ, are His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Matthew 28:18-20; etc.).

We are a part of the redeemed!! Thanks be to God!! (See Psalm 107:1-3, Isaiah 43:1 and 44:22, Luke 1:68, John 3:16-18, Romans 5:8, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:17, Colossians 1:12-14, Titus 2:11-14, 1 Peter 1:17-19, and Revelation 5:8-10 among other passages).

Like a multiplicity of other Scriptures that testify to the following, Ephesians 2:19-22 so beautifully reminds us, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

Fellow citizens with the saints… of God’s household… of His dwelling place…

Does that shield us from the “curveballs” of life? Ha! Nope!

We, as a part of the Body of Christ, must be ready at all times for even that.

I was just now reminded of that again, because, literally, as I was writing this a few minutes ago, our doorbell rang, well… unexpectedly.

It was one of our neighbors. This particular neighbor had never been to our door before. She was in tears. She told us that her adult son had unexpectedly passed away a few weeks ago, and that she is in need of a ride somewhere so as to take care of some personal business, and asked if we would please do that for her. She said she knew that she could call on us. We stopped and sat with her. We listened as she poured her heart out. We grieved with her. We rejoiced with her when she said that her son loved Jesus and was now with Him. We loved on her, and when she calls in a few minutes to say that she’s ready to run her errand, we’ll be honored to give her the ride she’s requested.

That, friends, is the Lord’s own doing.

He’s made His people to be “salt” and “light” (Matthew 5:13-16). We, His people, are His very own servants. We all get to love on others for His sake, and they, too, can come to know Him themselves; and those who already do know Him will find Him among us: us, firmly rooted in His presence, and therefore, Him, graciously inhabiting ours. We are His people. We’re not some innocuous “group.” We are, individually and together, of His Body! And so it is written, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4).

Imagine that!!!

We’re co-laborers with Christ, God’s fellow workers, His field, His building, His temple… all that packed into 1 Corinthians 3: 9-11. And we’re so very much more! But since this is a post and not a book, I’ll let that be enough for now. 😊

One last thing, though, family:

Remember the story of “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen?

What everyone thought to be a duckling (and a very ugly one at that!) turned out to be “the most beautiful of all the birds.” It was never ever a duckling, ugly or otherwise! It had been of a completely different species all along! It had always been… a swan! It’s just that neither the swan, nor anyone else, had realized that.

What about us?

Will we, like the swan of Andersen’s story in its earlier years, allow ourselves to be mistaken for something other than the beautiful ἐκκλησίαι that Jesus has created us to be? Will we allow an evil world, or our own carnal thoughts and shabby, inaccurate, completely inadequate opinions (or those of others) to tell us that we’re something far different than who we really are in Him?

Or will we listen to our Lord and Master who plainly declares from Genesis to Revelation the truth of who we are, how we came to be, why we are who we are, and truly Whose we are by His own doing and for His own delightful purposes?

Will we acknowledge what He Himself has built and is Himself continuing to build, or will we persist in calling it something far different than He does… with increasingly disastrous results?

If we don’t know who we truly are— as dictated only by our God who has revealed that in and through the written Word, and in and through the Word Who took on flesh and tabernacled among us— then we’ll never function as such.

And that’s a huge deal.

The thoughts above are from my good friend Victoria Holt. Sign up below for my bi-monthly newsletter so you don’t miss a post.

From my friend Reed Merino

You are guilty – and you don’t even KNOW it – if you are content to be a DENOMINATIONAL Christian!

If I am successful then when you have finished reading this essay you will feel a hefty dose of guilt and anger – hopefully, not at me, but at both yourself and your congregation or denomination.

On the very last day in which He could be with His beloved disciples, He introduced them to the covenant meal through which He was going to fulfill His promise to be in their midst. He then entered into the most passionate and intense prayer that is recorded within the Scriptures; listen to it with your heart:

“Jesus spoke these things, raising His eyes to Heaven and saying:

‘Father, the hour has come! Glorify Your Son, so that Your Son also may glorify You, just as You gave Him authority over all humanity, so that He will give eternal life to all those whom You have given Him. Now eternal life is this: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One whom You sent – Jesus Christ. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work that You have given me to do. So now, Father, You glorify me by Your side with the glory that I had along with You before the world existed!’

‘I have revealed Your name to the men whom You have given me out of the world. They were Yours and You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word. They now know that everything You have given to me is from You; because I have given them the sayings which You have given to me; and they have received and known for sure that I came forth from You, and they have believed that You sent me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given me, because they are yours. Actually, all my things are Yours and Yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, yet these are in the world, and I am coming to You.’

‘Holy Father, keep them in Your name which You have given to me, SO THAT THEY MAY BE ONE JUST AS WE ARE. While I was with them in the world I kept them in Your name. I protected those whom You gave me, and not one of them was lost except the son of perdition, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made full in them.’

‘I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth. Just as You sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.’

‘I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe into me through their word; [that is you and me!] that they ALL MAY BE ONE, JUST AS YOU, FATHER, ARE IN ME AND I IN YOU; that in Us they also may be one, SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME. In fact, the glory that You gave to me I have given to them, so that THEY MAY BE ONE JUST AS WE ARE ONE: I in them and You in me, so that they may be perfected into one; also SO THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU SENT ME AND HAVE LOVED THEM JUST AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME.’

‘Father, those whom You have given to me, I desire that they also may be with me where I am, so that they may observe my glory, which You have given me, because You loved me before the founding of the world. Righteous Father! Indeed the world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent me. Yes, I have made Your name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which You have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ (John 17) When he had said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. There was an orchard there, and he and his disciples went into it.” [And it was in that Garden that He sweat in such passion prayer that, “being in agony, He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44)].

If you have let His “bloody sweat” prayer penetrate into your heart, and stir up your own motivations, then you cannot but help being aware of just HOW IMPORTANT it was, and still is to Him that we who consider ourselves to be “Christians” be united in our affection for one another, in faithfully passing on His teachings together, and in our ability to decide and function as one in our decision making. As Paul also pleaded: “Now I PLEAD with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all SPEAK the same thing, and that there be NO DIVISIONS among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the SAME MIND and in the SAME JUDGMENT” (1 Corinthians 1:10; by “same mind and in the same judgment,” I understand Paul to be saying, “same theory and same practice”). How much time do you take thinking, praying, and yearning for that to happen?

Whether you have IN FACT received the same Spirit into Him that He had received in His baptism is demonstrated by whether there is a recognizable movement going on within you that was so clearly within Him – a movement that is drawing you into a passion for union with other disciples of Jesus that is the very same intimate union that Jesus and His Father have: “ONE JUST AS WE ARE.” Do you even recognize within you a DESIRE for that kind of unity with the fellow members of your own congregation, let alone among all of your fellow fragmented Christians?

If you cannot recognize that desire within your heart, do you realize what that is telling you about the real nature of your loyalty, love, and trust in Jesus? If it is not motivating your prayer and your actions, it means that your “personal relationship with Jesus” is not as personal or as real as you may think. To be “in Christ” certainly must mean that you yearn for what was and is within His heart to be within your heart, no?

That kind of loving unity has never EXISTED within the unregenerated people of planet Earth! And, to Jesus, that unity for which He prayed, endured the agony of bloody sweat, and poured out His life’s blood – that unity was SO important that it was a key way by which, “the world may KNOW that you sent me and HAVE loved them just as you have loved me.” Do you understand the gravity of the fragmentation of what Christianity has become? – “so that the WORLD MAY KNOW that you sent me AND HAVE LOVED THEM just as you have loved me”! Your “fragments” are power testimony that God does NOT love them in the way that the Father loves His Son!

But despite how much we all may be proclaiming to God how much we love Him and want to please Him and spread His holy Gospel – here we are, FUNCTIONALLY split up into hundreds and hundreds of splintered and competitive fragments. Our theologians can wax clever and eloquent about how all who are “born again” are members of His “one church.” But the world is less deceived than our theologians! They can see how “seriously” WE take that Book that we want THEM to read! And if they ever do decide to “go to church” they know that no matter what kind of lifestyle they prefer to embrace they can find a “church” to suite their taste.

And the horrible tragedy is that you who are reading this probably do not really know within your own heart what Jesus was verbally pouring out through His heart! You probably do not feel the horrible effect that the very existence of your own denominational fragment is having on the cause of Christ – or how easy your fragment is making it for Satan to convince his citizens to ignore you! Neither you nor your church elders or your pastor are probably engaged in any heartfelt prayer – let along actions – to explore with other sincere “Bible believing Christians” how you might overcome your differences of “theory and practice” and fulfill the deep desire of the Man that you claim is your “Lord and Savior.”

Your denomination, whether consisting of hundreds of congregations or just one, is an affront to God, a scandal that demeans the name of Jesus, the Son of the Most High God! Your denomination is a broken off fragment of the holy movement that Jesus created and called “My Church.” You Methodists, or Baptists, or Presbyterians, Lutherans and Anglicans are a broken-off fragment that advertises itself as an adequate representation of the whole, like trying to sell an animal with no legs and advertising it as a horse, or advertising a machine with no propeller and wings as an airplane. And the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox are no better – they were the ones who BEGAN that fragmentation! And no matter HOW different your denominations are from one another each of you feels that you have the right to call yourself a “church of Jesus Christ.” And, if you are loyal to your denomination then you may well assume that all the other denominations should quit being who they are and join your denomination. And if you think that your “non-denominational church” claim exempts you from this charge, you will find that God merely looks at you as a rebellious group that is so unable to become one with others – so extremely fragmented – as to have become a one-church denomination!

The reason that you are content to remain in your denominational fragments is not because you have problems with their people and their people’s theology and actions nearly as much as because you have problems with Jesus! You do not love Him as much in your heart as you do on paper. If you loved Him and were as personally loyal to Him as you may think you are, then you would have His passion that poured out through His prayer!

Jesus’s passion for His children to be one flock is obvious. If you do not share His passion then why do you think that you are one of his children? His Spirit – animated children are motivated to be loyal to Him, so as to let HIS priorities become their priorities, His passions their passions.

If you are a true lover of what God defines as “good” then you will always be looking for what is good – ANYWHERE you can find it, but especially from other sincere followers of Jesus. But if you are merely – as God judges you – a lover of your denominational tribe then you are content to focus largely on where your tribe is superior to the other tribes: and the tragedy that Satan created just continues.

So: what are you going to do about it?

You can learn more about Reed and his books by going to reedmerino.com.

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From my friend Reed Merino

The Importance Of The Church: God’s Kingdom Among Men!

There is no need more urgent on our planet than that apostolic Christianity should be restored. Considering the desperate conditions that exist on this planet, that is a bold statement indeed! Poverty and hunger, suicidal loneliness, political and racial hatreds, people slipping over the brink into insanity, families disintegrating: can the establishment of a “religious” organization really be more important than the resolution of those wretched conditions? Properly understood, the answer is a resounding “yes!”

And I do not say this lightly: decades ago, I knew what it was like to fear that suicide might be the only alternative to a total breakdown. And perhaps like you, during the course of my life of eight decades, I have known loneliness to the point of tears; I have felt the fear of failure and have known deep anxiety about whether I might “go under” financially. Yet I still say that there is no need more urgent than that the Christianity of Christ and His apostles should be restored. You see, if the churches were to enter into the Biblical teaching and obedience described in the following chapters, she would provide a form of human society within which none of those wretched conditions mentioned above would ever need exist again!

We humans have many basic needs, and even more subtle ones. God’s design for His redeemed children is that we satisfy those needs not simply as individuals, or even as families, or even as the typical “church,” but as the tightly knit communities of disciples of Jesus that are described within the New Testament. Hear this, Christian: Christ in His church is God’s solution to all human needs and problems, not just its [supposedly] “religious” ones! Governments down through the ages have addressed, with varying degrees of seriousness and various degrees of success, what they considered to be the pressing problems of man. Sadly, history shows us that they have never been able to provide an adequate solution to those problems; and there are no grounds for believing that such an inability will ever change. Within the society of the Church of Christ (and only in His Church) there is indeed such a solution: a solution that actually used to exist, and a solution that God intends to restore!

The church described in the New Testament is not simply a center of worship and “religious” actions. God’s idea of “religion that is pure and undefiled” (James 1:27) includes much more than our usual categories of “religion.” God’s kingdom is not a formless mass of individuals whose belief and practice are carried out in private; nor is it the loose-knit association that gathers together a few times a week for “religious” activity, such as is characterized by Christendom’s Christianity. When the Kingdom of God is manifested on the earth, a visible society is created. As created by God, the church is that society of regenerated humans who have accepted Jesus as the divinely appointed ruler of the entire race of man. Her charter is to demonstrate how the entire race of humans could function if they yielded to the authority and the Spirit of God’s Anointed One. His church is the sphere where God’s plans for the “total man” and for every aspect of human society are accomplished. Indeed, the church is the true form of human society!-such is her call; such is what is necessarily implied in being “Christ’s body” (1 Corinthians 12:27 NASB)), “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), “a chosen race,…a holy nation,…the people of God” (1 Peter 2:9-10 NASB).

Think of the kind of conditions which had to have existed in the apostolic church in order for it to be instinctively described by them as a “body,” a “race,” a “nation” and a “people.” Most of us contemporary Christians are so used to reading those terms and so used to thoughtlessly and invalidly applying them to our forms of Christianity that we fail to see the obvious-that theological “ignored elephant in the living room”: they are terms that can only be applied to a group of people that is very tightly knit together. Can you honestly apply those terms to whatever group of Christians to which you now belong? Are the members of your congregation so tightly knit together that all of you function in this world as one organism, one body? Is your congregation’s community life so complete-so mutually committed to one another’s well-being, and so well organized to enable all of you to survive and flourish in all aspects of life-that you find the term “nation” a natural way to describe yourselves? I suspect not. Yet those were the very terms that came to the apostles’ inspired minds when they sought to describe the church they knew. The difference between their Christianity and what we have gotten used to calling Christianity is profound, Pilgrim!

If a member of an apostolic brotherhood were to suddenly find him or herself in one of Christendom’s congregations today, what differences do you think they would detect? They would notice significant differences in doctrine, worship, and organization, to be sure. But I suspect they would be most distressed because of another difference they would quickly sense. It is a difference like the difference between marriage and casual dating: the difference between an intimate, life- long 
relationship of people who have “all things in common” (Acts 2:44), versus a 
“meaningful relationship” that serves merely to take the edge off of our loneliness 
and to enable us to have some enjoyable and creative times together. It is a 
difference like the difference between the U.S. Marines and the Boy Scouts of 
America: the difference between a brotherhood whose way of life effectively 
prepares its members to march right into the jaws of death together, versus one that 
exists primarily to provide nice bonding times together. It is a difference like the 
difference between theater and reality: between “make believe” and “is.” That is 
how far the Christianity we know has been removed from the reality called 
“apostolic Christianity,” the Christianity described in the New Testament, and 
manifested for some centuries.


Contemporary Christianity is not even living a way of life that is up to the 
standards of ancient Israel, and yet we who think that we are followers of Jesus 
tend to think that we can look down upon them as our legalistic and primitive 
spiritual inferiors! To see current ecclesiastical organizations calling themselves a 
valid manifestation of “Christ’s Church,” but who have lost both the vision and the 
heart to “put their money where their mouth is” is somewhat like the way we would feel if we saw a really crack company of Marine soldiers marching and 
tossing and spinning their bayonetted rifles with awesome precision and elegance-only to learn that they had quit using their weapons for actual combat and had 
given up actually fighting their nation’s enemies!


Are you willing to happily pay the price to become an individual member of His 
Church?


Let me know if you are!



You can learn more about Reed and his books by going to reedmerino.com.

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The Early Ekklesia’s Anatomy vs. The Modern-Day Church

Let’s find out.

This article is from my friend Buff Scott, Jr. You can find out more about Buff, sign up for his newsletter or download his three books by clicking here.

When we reflect upon the early ekklesia and compare it to the contemporary church, we can easily see how widely separated they are.  A great gulf lies between them. The early ekklesia was not composed of sects, denominations, churches, or religious parties. Except for the “petite” factions at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:12-13), religious parties were non-existent within the universal body of believers. God’s colony of redeemed sinners functioned as a humane and evangelistic community. Their meetings were informal but orderly, serious and alive, responsive, and mutually managed. Ours are “services,” as at a funeral, largely non-responsive and non-stimulating. 

Pew-warmers have little or no recourse except to sit silently and be indoctrinated by an elitist. As a result of inactivity and lack of mutual participation, commoners experience little or no spiritual growth. As growth is stifled, most remain spiritual adolescents. Elitists who run the show have been hired for a salary and can be fired by “stepping over the line” and speaking things “contrary to the Word of God,” which, when translated, means to turn a little to the right or to the left of the party’s doctrinal platform. The doctrinal platform is the various conceptions of  the “Word of God” held by those who keep the Corporation running smoothly, such as dictatorial Elders, Pastors, Priests, or Church Boards.    
  
It is strikingly clear that the early meetings were bereft of pulpits, collections to buy and maintain flashy edifices and to keep an elite orator vocationally afloat, ritualistic nonsense, and pew-sitters. Their environment was family-like. Our gatherings resemble formal business meetings, where business or “worship” doesn’t begin until the hands on the clock are at a certain crossroads. Our overall anatomy mirrors a Corporation, an Institution, not a compassionate community of concerned ones.
 
What dissimilarity! We have retrogressed, not progressed. We have traded the holy for the common, the celestial for the terrestrial, the spiritual for the materialistic, the sacred for the plain. Yet there are many receptive and seeking hearts within the corridors of the modern church. God will deliver them, if they are willing to remove their soiled garments and replace them with garments of reconciliation. His children no longer need wallow in the partisan litter of the Religious Establishment, for God will raise up reformers to rescue His elect. He always has. He always will.
 
But it isn’t likely He will penetrate the divisive armor of those whose  hearts  are solidly enslaved by the Institutional church, and whose deep-seated infirmity is “Mad Church Disease.” The divisive spirit is a work of our carnal nature. It is reflected thusly, “We are right and others are wrong. We are the only church Jesus founded.”
  
As long as this separatist spirit lingers within the contemporary church, she will never be able to apply a healing balm to “Mad Church Disease.” Freedom in Jesus will always escape those who parrot this mindset and exhibit a cliquish spirit. It is indeed a rarity to find freedom in the contemporary church. The reason is that the party line must be parroted, her precepts supported, her traditions preserved, and the “church system” idolized. If we veer a little to the right or lean a little to the left, we will soon be verbally disciplined and told to shape up or ship out-or worse.
 
This is not freedom. It is bondage. To find a man who is truly free to speak his mind and heart while employed by a church is like looking for shelter in a hailstorm. Even pew-sitting peasants are not allowed the freedom to speak their heart and mind without ecclesiastical reprisal. There are, however, many receptive and loving hearts who are caught up in the web of partisan religion. They need to be freed.
              
But to be truly free in Jesus we need to cast off our partisan shackles and disavow all sectarian systems-that is, all religious parties that have subjugated us. This I have personally done. This I will not undo. No church or religious party upon the face of planet Earth has one bit of control over my life, my mind, or my beliefs any longer. I will no longer be a bondservant to any of them. My only Master is Jesus-and He alone. I will forever be His slave. I refuse to bow to any other. “Give me freedom or give me death” will  always be my cry. For without freedom to think, to dissent, to investigate, and to question, our walk with the Lord and voyage to Heaven might be difficult to negotiate. In 1973, I composed a poem which contains this verse:

Come, now, my fellow believers,
Consider the divisive infirmities of each other;
And how they can be reversed and set asunder,
By offering our love and helping one another.

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Great insight from Mark Lake as he describes the organic church.

“By “organic church,” I mean a non-traditional church that is born out of spiritual life instead of constructed by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grass roots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings (opposed to pastor-to-pew services), non-hierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering.” Frank Viola

The following illustration is how I have tried to describe what happens when an organic church meets together to express Christ with every member functioning:

Paul says in Ephesians 3:8 that there are “unsearchable riches” in Christ. Imagine with me that the Louvre Museum in Paris is a picture of all of the riches that are in Christ. The Louvre has approximately 35,000 exhibits in its massive museum grounds, not to mention the architecture alone is stunning. Many of the most famous pieces of artwork in history are housed within these walls.

Now, imagine a group of people setting out to explore and experience the riches of this museum.  To give 5 minutes to each of the 35,000 pieces of art would take 243 twelve hour days!  Picture this group entering the museum in awe of its beautiful architecture. They gather around a famous art display and take in its beauty and uniqueness.  After some time, they share with each other what aspects of this piece of art stood out to them and how it affected them.  As they go around the group taking turns sharing, they find that no one saw quite the same thing, even though they were all certainly looking at the same piece.  Some were astounded by the colors.  Others were captivated by the fine detail in the work. Some were focused on one particular aspect, such as the expression on a face.

Some wondered about the meaning of the painting.  Others pondered the artist’s motivation for the piece.  As the group shared their varied insights, everyone saw much more of the artwork than any one person saw themselves.  As the group moves through the museum, gazing upon the beautiful art and sharing with each other, they grow closer as they share together, and even begin to see the artwork from other people’s perspective.

Additionally, the group may decide to disperse in random directions to search out some artifact that catches their interest.  They may ponder this piece alone or with just a few from the larger group.  Later, the group comes back together and shares with each other what they have found.  Many times, a very discernible theme will appear as they share, even though there was no intention to seek a common theme.  (I’ve been in meetings where this happens and it is truly electrifying!)  As each person shares about the treasure that they found, many different aspects of this massive museum may be revealed.  The group may decide to venture together through some of these areas and behold together the treasure that some have brought to the group.

It is much the same as this when a group of people gather to express the Lord Jesus Christ together.  Rather than getting only one view (such as from a pastor), many people bring many various views that are woven together into a beautiful picture of Christ that is much more rich than only one person’s view.  In other words, Jesus Christ is the art piece that this group beholds.

Imagine if the same group went to the Louvre Museum, but when they made it into the foyer, they elected only one person to go in and view the artwork and then come back and share with the group what he alone saw. Without entering in to the museum together, the group’s ability to fully understand what the one person saw is difficult and limited. Week after week, they gather in the foyer and listen to this one person describe more of what he has seen.  As the weeks and years pass, this person appears to be so much of an expert in the Louvre artwork, the group is intimidated to think about going inside themselves, lest they be expected to come back and expound on what they saw as well as the expert does.

In my view, this is similar to what happens in a church that depends on a select few clergy to minister Christ.  Certainly, there are many pastors and clergy members who have a great depth of knowledge of Christ and a rich relationship with Him.  But when the duty of exploring Him rests completely or mostly on the clergys’ shoulders, the rest of the body becomes passive and underdeveloped.  In an organic expression of the church (as I’ve defined here), this duty is shared among the priesthood of ALL believers.

You may read this and not believe that Christians can live in this way together with each other.  I can affirm by experience that they can, but only when their focus is learning together how to live by Christ’s indwelling life.  But that, of course, is another story for another day.

From Reformation Rumblings by Buff Scott, Jr.

My brothers, show no partiality…For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ while you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there,’ or ‘Sit down at my feet,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? [James 2:1-5].

It is visibly apparent that most religious parties have adopted earthen titles to describe the function of various leaders who represent them. At the outset let me say our Lord, of course, does not sanction them. As badly as many of us would like to see a rapid change, it takes time and efforts to rectify “wanderings” and “ramblings” that have developed over centuries and fastened themselves onto us. Correcting radical apostasies cannot come about overnight. So we ought not become weary in well-doing.    

Specialized human titles should be re-examined and corrected. For in using those terms, a few within the flock are elevated above other sheep. “Associate Minister,” for example, leaves the impression that the brother who is saddled with this earthly title has not graduated to the level of “Chief Minister.”    

All sheep in the pen are ministers or servants-everyone of us! None are either “associate” or “chief.” There should be no distinctions among us, according to James, who says that favoritism should not be shown [James 2:1-7]. God views all of us on the same level, regardless of our gifts. If we can invent an “Associate Minister,” why not an “Associate Saint”? Or an “Associate Servant”? I’m afraid our titles are a major part of our digression.

Even “elder,” “shepherd,” “pastor,” and “overseer,” legitimate terms of the Holy Spirit, appellations that refer to the same function or gift, are not to be viewed as someone “in charge” of others. Instead, the terms describe the ability or gift to lead, as opposed to being a warlord with authority. They are not titles! They are functions, and functions only. Human titles and human offices within the body of believers have their genesis in pride. Pride breeds all manner of departures.

When we take a common noun of the Spirit and amplify it to a proper noun, we have attempted to hoist someone above his fellows. This is contrary to the spirit of humility. “Instead, whoever wants to become great [elevated] among you must be your servant” [Matt. 10:26]. Away with titles that tend to move some of the sheep to a cushioned seat while others are expected to sit in a pew.

“Don’t Be Called Leaders” is a 75-page treatise whose Author is a personal friend and brother of mine, Jon Zens. If you would like a copy, please contact him at jzens@searchingtogether.org. You might wish to look over his library of other books as well at jonzens.com.

Reformation Rumblings is a weekly email sent out by Buff Scott Jr. If you would like to subscribe please contact him at renewal@mindspring.com.

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