Christ Is Not Divided

Jesus often taught through various figures and in different ways. He taught that He is  the true Shepherd, and we are the sheep. He is the foundation, and they are the living stones in the spiritual building; He is the head, they are the body. In the book of John, chapter fifteen, verses one through eleven, Jesus said, “I am the vine ye are the branches.”  Now, we ask, “Who are the branches?”

            Some have taught, and teach even now, that it takes in all religious groups or all denominations . . . All separate, and yet all one in Christ, the true vine. Is this true? The answer is NO, and a thousand times NO!

            This is a great conglomeration of error in the garb of truth. It is the reverse of what Jesus teaches. He said, “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matt.15:8-9). It may be true that some clusters of grapes are larger than others, but the fruit is all grapes, and all branches are alike, and all are like the vine. A vine which produces grapes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and thorns would be a monstrosity. Yet, these fruits are not more unlike and opposite   than   the   various   clashing   and   warring   religious  organizations  and  denominations of  the present age.  Therefore we ask, are the Catholics, Unitarians, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and various other denominations branches of the true vine???  Again the answer remains the same. . . NO, NO, NO!

            The  apostles  went  into all the world and preached the Gospel to the whole creation. (Mk.16:15-16). They went everywhere preaching by the commandment of God that there was to be the observance of all things whatsoever He had commanded, and only then would they have the promised help from the Lord. (Matt.28:19-20). Not one time did they ever at any place start or organize a denomination, for no denomination is of God, then or now. The above groups mentioned, and all others, other than the church of Christ, are denominations started by man and never started by the Lord God! Rather than starting a denomination, Paul condemned division noting that such is carnal, wrong, unscriptural, sinful, and  that  Christ  is not divided. The word denomination simply means “division”. Scriptural unity is found only in the Bible, “rightly divided”.         (2 Tim.2:15).

. . . .  Fred  House