Joining a Perfect Church

There is no perfect human being.  Some are Extremely good.  Some are Extremely bad.  All the rest fall within these 2 points of the continuum.

 

Same for the churches.  Church is the body of Christ, but made up of people.  There is no perfect church.  Some are Very Christ-like, following the beliefs of the New Testament very closely.  Some are Very unChrist-like, following all kinds of non-biblical beliefs and misinterpretations .  Most of the churches fall within these 2 points of the continuum.

An author in Wikipedia says that there are 41,000 Christian denominations. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations)  Okay, this number is unimaginable and may be exaggerated.  Let say there are 5,000 denominations, in all different categories (such as Western Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic Churches, Various independent Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Lutherans, Anglicans, Reforms, Presbyterians, Congregationals, Anabaptists, Baptists, Free Evangelicals, Methodists, Apostolics, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Neo- Charismatics, Independents, etc).

If you are looking for the perfect church, then be assured that you will not find it on earth.

However, we must join a 'decent' church.  Look at the church's Statement of Doctrine, Statement of Faith, Statement of Purpose and the Creeds it embraces.  Avoid churches that have unorthodox beliefs about the Trinity, about Salvation, about the Son of God, the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection.   This is my view.

 

 

Say the right thing, do the left thing - Whitney and Solomon

Whitney Houston was a real inspiration to me and to many people of our generation.  Her songs instill hope and love and encouragement.  I really really like her beautiful clear voice, and the uplifting lyrics of her songs.



So it came to me as a great surprise that she was using drugs during the last period of her days.  Through her songs, she had ministered to me in times of loneliness and dejection.  She had inspired me and millions with her songs  -- but she had not been able to inspire herself to overcome the difficult periods of her own life.

King David's son, King Solomon was the wisest man on earth.  He wrote 4 or 5 books in the Bible, teaching and exhorting others to live meaningful and godly lives.  But he himself married one pagan wife after another-- a thousand wives and hundreds of them were pagan.  In the end, he worshipped pagan gods with his pagan wives. 

Probably because of his sins, King Solomon died relatively young -- he ended less than 70 years old.  God never considered Solomon a friend.

The world is full of examples of human beings who say great things, but live lowly lives.  We must NOT aspire to be like them.  We must keep our eyes on Jesus alone.

Why Jesus asked Father to "let this cup pass from me"?

At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as you will."

Many of us are puzzled by this prayer.

Was Jesus saying, "Father, I don't want to die on the cross-- but I'll do it if You insist" ???   No.

Brother Andrew, in his book AND GOD CHANGED HIS MIND, put it this way:

Remember, it was only a short time before this that Jesus said, referring to His coming crucifixion "What shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this reason I came to this hour." (John 12:27)  Obviously Jesus would not make such an emphatic statement and then do a complete about-face in the Garden and ask God to keep Him from the dying on the cross.

I'm convinced that the 'cup' He was asking God to take from Him was premature death in the Garden of Gethsemane as a result of the crushing satanic pressure that caused Him to sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44) as His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. (Matt 26:38).

If He were to die prematurely in the Garden, then He would not die on the cross to save mankind.

So His prayer was in essence, "Father, let this cup pass:  I don't want to die here in the Garden.  If You have changed Your mind about me dying on the cross later, I'm asking You to change Your mind again... but may your will be done."