I understand what you are saying, but am sure many do not. The institutionalised church is not really a church, it is man created and man named. It is not the ekklesia.
In fact in scripture there is no such thing as an Institutionalised church! There is only one church, it is the ekklesia, the born again from above souls, regardless of age, sex, colour, tongue and where they live in the world. It is not a building, it is not a congregation of saved and lost souls, as we know.
Keeping to the details of the conversation in this post, allow me to share something that has happened in the last few months.
A dear brother, a brother and friend for 30 years, a truly born again soul, he invited me to his place of worship, he knows better than ask me to go to his church, he doesn't have a church, no one has a church, we are only part of the ekklesia when we are born again from above, washed and spiritually regenerated. As we know.
He would like me to join him there, understandable, he has been going to the place of worship for 21 years, the paster is a lovely man of God, he too has been there 21-22 years.
The first obstacle for me was, I did not agree with the creed. As with many Church of England, though some are changing, they say 'I believe in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. I would never say this, I do not agree with this, I believe in the apostolic church yes, but not the rest. My views got back to the fellowship and was discussed and taken to the vicar, a reply came back that Roman Catholic Church stands for the Universal church, not acceptable to me at all. Not only does it tie them into the RCC/CC, they say RCC before Apostolic church. I was not happy with the reply and continued to pray the Truth would be revealed to them, to the vicar there. I could also image at this time how Martin Luther would react, the bull in him would rage, the hoofs throwing up the earth, the horns at the right angle, he was noted for his rage as we know not just the 95 theses.
Time went on, prayers continued, I shared with my dear brother, how can you expect people to join you at your place of worship if the vicar cannot get the creed right. The creed is the shop window for the fellowship, it has to be right, it has to be clear. But here is the problem I think, they are following, handed down, denominational practices without questioning them against scripture. Now I must state, this is a wonderful man of God, it is just that certain things they do are wrong with scripture, certain things are taken for granted, handed down practices, basically what I call denominational influences.
As stated these discussions and prayers have gone on for months, has have my conversations with my dear and much loved brother in Christ.
The next thing we discussed in detail was 'the church' the ekklesia. I laid out very clearly, as I have stated many times on here. The church building is the kuriakkon, a word introduced by the RCC decades later, a word that is not in scripture anywhere. The building called a church is only so due to the RCC introducing the word mentioned. He agreed one hundred percent and admitted it was habit to call the building a church, it confuses the issue, confusion comes from the devil, we should stop calling a building a church, it is a place of worship, it is a house of prayer, it is a place of fellowship. Also discussed and taken back to the fellowship group at the place of worship my dear brother attends was what the ekklesia actually is. The church, the ekklesia, the body of Christ, the spiritual stones, are ONLY the born again from above souls. My dear brother agreed, and from what I gather most of the fellowship group he is part of, this was as I understand relayed to the vicar. Here came the stumbling block! The vicar believed all the congregation in the fold we the church! We would say, how can one of the most important items in scripture be over looked, mis-understood? The enemy of souls attacks us all.
Time ran on, as did the prayers, a week and a half ago my dear brother sent me a message and a link to the service he had just been to, you will like this Paul he said, it is about the church. My heart jumped for joy, PTL has he got the message, is he actually preaching it, is he going to tell the congregation, they are all part of the denomination group, but only the born again are part of the ekklesia, the body of Christ, only the born again from above are saved.
It was a good sermon, a lot was included, he told the congregation being part of a denomination, this or any other doesn't mean you are saved. That was good and I wanted to Praise the Lord, but I couldn't for two reasons, although it was a good sermon, although it included so many good points, it failed on two counts. 1 - His opening statement was 'Good morning Saints' to all listening, the saved and the lost, the sheep and the goats. 2 - His whole sermon never once explained the most vital point in scripture, unless they are born again they will not see, they will not enter the Kingdom of God, they are not part of the ekklesia, the Body of Christ.
It is sad, it is common, it is more common in common I guess in the institutionalised churches (as they are called). Should we be surprised, No! The enemy of souls is splitting fellowships like he is splitting families, he is a liar, the father of all lies, it is up to 'every single person' to make sure they are right with God, to make sure the place of worship they attend preaches, The Truth, the Whole Truth and nothing but The Truth. That is a stumbling block in itself, not one place of worship gets everything right, every place of worship, every denomination, every free church as they are called, think what they do and believe is right with God.
It was my turn to waffle PB
