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Don’t see the audio player? Click here.People often ask, “Why are there so many different Christian churches?” Some believe it’s because of pride and jealousy among Christians. Of course, some of that exists, but another reason may be traced to God. God designed the church, the Body Christ, to have variety. Diversity serves to meet various needs of people who gather. The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, explains the complex nature of the Church. Using the analogy of a human body he says, “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” Needless to say, God’s wisdom in arranging churches with variety does not excuse racism or discrimination among God’s people. God has only one Church and everyone committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is a member of it. To discriminate or segregate on the basis of ethnicity, race, or class, denies the church’s unity—the very unity Christ died to create. And within this gathering, there is plenty of room for variety and differences.
The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, explains the complex nature of the Church. Using the analogy of a human body he says, “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free.
This is why we should follow Jesus and not follow Paul as Paul follows Jesus for we tend to get lost when we do. You just took Paul’s idea of a 5 Fold Ministry, something Jesus never taught (division) and used it to justify or explain division in religion. Amazing, and the scary part is most people will see nothing wrong in this. Actually Jesus taught just the opposite; a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. The Jesus Words Only movement is not new yet it is not popular and not for the Holy Spirit I would never have found it. A good place to start to come out of her (Christianity, the religion) is here http://www.jesuswordsonly.com/
The reason why there are countless numbers of churches is because men are greedy. Church planting is a multi-million dollar business. Every soul represents 10%. God’s people are bartered among “pastors” through church hopping and better programming but lives are not being transformed. The Kingdom of God is here and Church as usual has been placed on notice.