Can Denominationalism Find God?

 Christian organized religion continually seeks out the Spirit of God to see where he is and what he is doing. The cry goes out for denominations to reveal the mysteries of God. We want to go to the mountaintop and be with God. The mystery-seekers soon discover that God is more difficult to reach than their devotion and willingness permit. Disillusioned, the mystics change into religious philosophers. Unable to experience the mountaintop, they become a group unto themselves, preferring not to mingle with others they view as common. Refusing to leave their illusions of religious splendor, they adopt an ivory tower mentality. These so-called "church scholars" assume knowledge of God but in reality have only an appearance of godliness contrived through intellectualism but devoid of the Spirit.

Again, the cry goes forth, this time for Christianity to be more socially and communally oriented, culturally sensitive, and humanitarian. We get involved in civic groups, welfare programs, benevolence projects, conflict management seminars, business enterprises, and so on. Before you know it, outside forces are setting the standard for God's people by interjecting ideas and methodologies foreign to biblical teachings. Where the mystic sacrifices his service to humanity, the humanist sacrifices an intimate knowledge of God. The religious humanist pursues a pragmatic approach that is geared towards solving spiritual ills through human tactical intervention. These religionists want a secular gospel - a gospel so weighty and complex because of a sullied mix of worldly schemes that no true liberty can be found, only an imagined freedom.

Once more, the cry goes forth. Now organized religion gets on its knees and begs God for gifts of healing, signs, wonders, and miracles. Certainly, we think, these things will effect a closer relationship to God. So desperate are disciples for a spiritual happening that they imagine demons behind every bush and miracles around every corner. So dubious are their works, however, that faith healers are often referred to as fake-healers and rightfully so. Such illusionists, when caught tricking innocent believers, claim that the end justifies the means: Thus, if a miracle is faked, so what, at least the pews are filled. But we know that true miracles are from God; tricks are from charlatans and manipulators. Let us understand, as well, that one's obsessive pursuit of the miraculous often results in the disciple's unwillingness to search out the more difficult things of God in exchange for the ecstasy of experiencing signs and wonders. Grieving our inner spirit is oftentimes the only way God can draw us closer to him. The church is not utilitarian in design; it is not a place or experience wherein man fulfills his need to be religious.

The cries accomplish nothing because organized religion lacks the presence of the Holy Spirit. Denominational congregations consistently fail to fill the ever-present emptiness inhibiting their memberships. The time has come for sons of God to cry out to their heavenly Father. What is lacking is the presence of God that initiates an interpersonal acim bookstore  between our spirit and the Lord's spirit. It is time for sons of God to meet their real Father so that they might fully comprehend their true relationship to him (Galatians 4:1-7). It is time for the prodigal son to come home. We once belonged to Satan, but through faith, we now belong to the Father. When the spirit of man seeks and finds his spiritual Father, sonship is established, and it is in this relationship that the spiritual void is consummately filled.

The problem is denominationalism and the false doctrine and disciples sown in our midst by the evil one (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). Christians are so enthralled by the specter of organized religion and its worldly attachments that they have inadvertently endeared themselves to their respective cultures, adopting many of society's pagan ways.

All too often disciples limit their interest to the "phenomenon" of God without truly establishing a daily, personal walk with him. The result is that we either keep God at a distance or bring him closer by making him more earthy. This is why Christian organized religion invites worldliness to enter its doors. Early church apostles, however, strongly resisted sacrificing doctrine or kingdom directives so that the world could feel more comfortable with God.

Simple faith continues to be overshadowed by sophisticated religious doctrine. As the forest cannot be seen for the trees, so the individual disciple cannot be distinguished from one's denomination. Organized religion has turned scriptural cooperation into a secular corporation, making denominationalism a spider web for trapping the unwise and unsuspecting.

Consequently, the greater populace of God's kingdom is ignorant of their specific callings and gifts. Without purpose, disciples remain unfulfilled, wandering about and wondering what their work is, thinking that God calls but a mere handful to labor in his kingdom and I am not one of them. However, Paul calls all disciples to mature in their faith (Ephesians 4:14-16), as Peter calls all disciples to be certain of their calling (2 Peter 1:10). In order to know and practice these basic principles, there must be an unveiling of the false teachings and practices pervading denominational thought.