Introduction

The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11:18
In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.

If you live in our modern Christian society (mainly in the States and in Europe) and are attending a church, whether you see it or not, you most likely face a huge fundamental problem in your growth in Christ: that your view of God's church is diseased and cultured so much that you might not even recognize (maybe you would even criticize) a true biblical one. In these writings, I believe I can show willing hearts and minds how in our modern times we have lost our identity as a body, become far less intimate than the original gatherings of the scriptures, have now gone on to gain a false sense of power and legalistic expectation that we place on even non-believers to adhere to and have lost much needed credibility in society as a result. I will also show how we mask that honest criticism from "the least of the brethren" as nothing more than persecution. I believe I will prove not only that the church in our culture is in serious trouble for these issues, but that a revolution unlike any other in modern times is on it's way because the, for lack of a btter term, meek are going to inherit the earth.

Now, before I go any further, I have but one rule. You cannot refer to me as a church-basher. What I write is for the uplifting and edifying of the saints of God, and if I bash anything, it is the evil that has slipped through our doorways when we gather and that enables us to do our greatest lying when we sing our songs. I am only telling us that we need to practice what we preach, myself included. So, with that said, I invite you to read on and consider what I will say in these entries and even respond to them; We both could use some sharpening, I'm sure.

Why am I doing this? Because as the years have gone by and I have served in many, many churches, I now see a need more than I ever have before. A serious, serious need. Do you even know how many people are outside of the church that truly desire God in their lives but cannot function within our gatherings? You would be shocked to know that of all the people I have ever ministered to, each and every one of them has had a primary issue with the church in their way. This is a very backwards situation here. Let me give you another perspective:

First, picture a church in your head. Now, be honest... did you see a building or a group of people. If you saw the latter, you are already on your way to health. The rest of you probably already know what I would say to you by reading what I just said to them.

your church is probably too big AND your church is probably too small at the same time. Confused? What I mean is that whether you realize it or not, the local gathering you are currently in is most likely too large to foster intimacy for those who deeply need it, while at the same time, your local gathering is probably divided from the church universal by some denomination or by a claim to not have one. The latter making the church in your eyes too small due to the subconscious exclusion of others from your daily concerns.

Some of you might disagree already, so let me give you a few details to help you understand what I mean: First, by "church" I will never, in any way, not even to the slightest degree be referring to a physical structure. Nowhere in the Bible are their any rules or guidelines whatsoever about what the local church should look like outside of purpose and government, so any consideration of it's physical structure is to be interpreted by the rest of the Scriptures, and the temple model is used in Acts alone, and it is but ONE aspect of gathering. Second, nowhere in the Bible are churches divided by anything other than geography, which is but a natural separation and could not be looked upon as divisive.This makes the illusion of denominations an even greated division, as we cannot be one if we are divided in essential issues.

More coming...