“The gates of Hell shall not prosper…”  (Matthew 16)

 

There are many “Churchians” in the local church today. The Churchian is a person that loves the church or “their” local church more than they love Christ or the invisible church or the Body of Christ.  This is never a good thing. What is the difference between the local church and the Body of Christ? The Body of Christ is made up of those that have been called out of the world and unto Christ.  The Body of Christ is made up of those that are in many different denominations, use different versions of the Bible, and hold various secondary views, but hold to the basic cardinal doctrines. The gates of hell can prosper against the local church but not the universal Church. Anothet definition of the Body of Christ or the Invisible Church is the Holy Catholic Church.  Not the Roman Catholic church, of course, but again, the Universal Church.

Are you a “churchian” before you are a Christ-ian?  Which do you think of more?  Which excites you more? I have seen many a “churchian” in action and they are pretty easy for me to pick out.  They are usual very active in the local church, the first to make themselves known to everyone, especially visits. These are usually life-long deacons, elders ect. The churchian can also be trouble-some to the pastor.

The Christ-ian puts Christ ahead of everything, and everyone.  Christ has the Preeminence and is loved more than the local church, Body of Christ, family, friends, work and all other things. In fact, the Christ-ian loves to the point of hating all else. Nothing even comes to a close second (2nd) in the life of the Christ-ian…nothing…no one. The Christ-ian spend much if not most of his time and energy walking with Christ.

How do you compare to the two (2) above persons?  Are you a churchian or are you a Christ-ian?  Is there any doubt or is it clear? I tend the be embarrassed by the churchian and for the churchian.  We will leave this to your conscience as we move on.

The difference between the local church and the Body of Christ are many.  We read in Matthew 16 that the gates of hell shall not prosper against the Body of Christ or the Invisible Church. However, the gates of hell CAN prosper against the local church.  How many times in the recent years have we seen local churches come tumbling down? How many “faith-leaders” have we seen fall to sexual sins or through out the years fall to greed and other financial sins?  It seems these sins are the most prevalent in the fall of the local church.

It appears that power, control, and authority tend to be the besetting sins as well.  It has been said, “If you want to see the true character of a person, give them power and authority.”  Power, control and authority are the great revealers of a man.  While it is true that the gates of hell shall not prosper against the invisible church, the gates of hell shall prosper against many a local church and will destroy the powerful and carnal. It is safe to assume that the carnal churchian is also subject to these as well.

The man that puts Christ before the local church, power and control. and all else…everything else, everyone else will not soon fall. I ask you again, are you a churchian or a Christ-ian?

Are you a member of the holy catholic church?  The answer may surprise you and even shock you.  If you are a believer, if you are a Christ-ian, if you are blood bought and a child of the Living God, you ARE a member of the holy catholic church.  I do not say Holy Roman Catholic Church or even the Catholic Church. I say, the holy catholic Church. Do you note the difference? The Catholic Church or the Roman Catholic Church is the denomination or the abomination.  The holy catholic church…made up of lower case letters is the universal church or in other words, the invisible church or the Body of Christ.  The holy catholic church is made up of all those who have been called out of the world and unto Christ. Therefore, the gates of hell shall not prosper against the holy catholic church.

The members of the holy catholic church can be found in any and all of the theologically sound denominations through out the world. Non-denominational fellowships, Baptists, Methodists, some pentacostals, Presbyterians, Reformed and the many strips in these denominations.  Of course, the Catholic church, the j. Witnesses, Mormons, Apostolics, and many of the Charismatics can not be considered as part of the universal church. That is not to say that there are not born again persons in the Catholic church or sthe fringe Charismatics. We cannot bring ourselves the say the same of the J. Witnesses or Mormons or even the Apostolics.

The Apostolics believe one must be, must be baptized and speak in tongues in order to be saved.  This disqualifies them from the universal church. The same is held by SOME of the Charismatics but not all.  The Catholic abomination can not be counted among the univeral church is either as they hold to the worship of Mary and consider her as necessary to salvation.  This abomination also holds to the veneration or exaltation of saints as well as praying to these persons. Their view on transubstatiation or the wine and the wafer being transformed into the LITERAL BODY and BLOOD of Christ is Apostacy.

The above are only a few of those false teachings that disqualify this abomination. Let it be stated, we have met some that do not hold to any of the false teachngs.  These same will give or seem to give sound testimony to their faith.  How this is I know not but it appears to be the case. I have met a few of these and it is hard to pin point any error.  I suppose it can be compared to a person in a legalistic baptist church and hold not to the legalism…I’ve been there.

So inclosing:  1. Are you a churchian? If so I beseech thee, repent. Let me be clear at this point….a churchian can be and most likely IS A REAL BELIEVER, who has gone astray. 2. The Body of Christ cannot be defeated by (s)atan but local churches may and have. 3. The Body of Christ, the Invisible church, the universal church is the holy catholic church. Members of this universal body of believers should love one another and Christ more than everyone else and everthing else period.

Godspeed.