"Well, we believe."

In our world today, there are more than 600 denominational churches, each one teaching different man-made doctrines, with different forms of worship, different non-biblical plans of salvation, and wearing different religious names.  No man has any right, biblically, to teach others to follow this confusion, "For God is not the author of confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33).

What does the Lord of all creation think about this? Certainly, He cannot pleased. The word "denomination" comes from the same root word as a denominator in mathematical fractions and means to divide. Religious division is sinful.
1 Corinthians 1:10 says, "Now I plead with you, brothers, 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." This does not happen as we look closely at the denominations of any generation.  Denominations are designed by man and have no scriptural authority to exist. Every denomination is in conflict with the one church which Jesus built.

Jesus Christ says in Matthew 16:18, "I will build My church."  The word "church" is singular, meaning one and only one and the word "My" is possessive, meaning it belongs to the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ built only one church; HIS. Jesus never promised to build even one denomination. The church that belongs to Christ, which Christ built, began some 2000 years ago.
There were no denominations in the first century and for hundreds of years thereafter. The Lord did not establish the denominations, man did. Every denomination we see today is less than 500 years old. The Lord never built any of the more than 600 different denominations giving men a choice of which church he wants to join. This is man's doing, not God's design. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of denominations, each with its own name, its own peculiar man-made doctrine and practice which contradicts the Bible. How can any of these differing doctrines be true? They can't. Anything that contradicts The Holy Word of God is false doctrine, designed by Satan to cause people to be eternally lost. Their divisive human creeds that govern them come from the minds of men and not from God. Their creed books hold their group together as a denomination. Methodist Churches preach the Methodist Discipline, Baptist Churches preach the Baptist Manual, Catholic Churches preach the Catholic Catechism, etc. The main reason any of these exist is because man will not accept God's Holy Word as the final authority.

Even their names do not claim to be the Lord's church. They seem to be ashamed of the Lord, not wanting to wear His name. Jesus says, "For whoever shall be ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of Him the Son of Man also will be ashamed" (Mark 8:38).

If the Lord is ashamed of people, they will be lost in Hell for eternity. Since they are not the Lord's church, they call themselves by names that give glory and honor to people, places, or things other than the Lord. The Lutherans honor their founder, Martin Luther. The Methodists who were founded by John Wesley give honor to the methodical way they do things. The Presbyterians founded by John Calvin give honor to the 'presbuterous' (Greek word for elders, pastors, shepherds). Baptists give their honor to John the Baptist while the Pentecostals give honor to the Jewish Day of Pentecost. The Apostolic Church give their honor to the apostles.  And the list goes on and on. Denominations are steeped in unscriptural practice since each denomination has a human founder and not Christ.  Denominations are plagued with division and conflicting creeds and doctrines, unscriptural worship, and false "salvation practices", which leave a person lost since it is different from what God requires in the Bible. They are more concerned with doing man's will and not God's will, therefore God will not save them in their ungodly practices.

When a church wears the wrong name, teaches the wrong doctrine, is organized the wrong way, worships the wrong way, and holds to the wrong plan of salvation, it cannot be the church The Lord had in mind. A denomination is a substitute of man's creation and has no authority from God to exist. What benefit is there in joining a man-made denomination? An individual will be eternally lost in doing so. As sad as it is, Jesus says, there will only be a few people in this world saved (Matthew 7:13-14). This is in spite of the Lord making a tremendous sacrifice for unworthy man to enable him to be cleansed from soul condemning sin so he can be saved. The division and confusion of denominationalism have paved the way for atheism, agnosticism, humanism, skepticism, modernism, and a denial of the Bible. This division contradicts the prayer of Jesus for all who claim to believe in Him, "that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21). Division and confusion have come from man and not from God or His Holy Word.

It is often the case that people do not want the truth. "In latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Timothy 4:1-3). Denominations have their conscience so seared with false teaching that, for the most part, they are impossible to reach with the truth of God's word. Near the end of the first century the apostle John said, "many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).  They are still with us and have had 1900 years to multiply.

Men have altered, revised, manipulated, rearranged, added to, and even ignored what God has said in the Bible into whatever they have seen fit. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). I have found in speaking with different folks from different denominations, that three basic words will separate one from the other, and from God's Word; those words are "Well we believe..."

The confusion in denominationalism is guided by opinion, pride, prejudice, impulse, physical sensations, emotionalism, and assumptions.  Denominations give their allegiance to the authority of men over that of Christ. Since God's Word is true (John 17:17), all that disagrees or is different from it is false. Their sin is not in changing man-made laws, but in making their own religious laws and setting aside the laws of God.  All denominations are the result of the many departures man has made from the teaching of the Bible. God's Holy Spirit tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Therefore 'Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord.'"
                                                                God bless until our next time...