Why do you have a quarrel with God concerning the "countless interpretations of His word, yet God promised the church the Spirit of Truth" ? Jesus revealed that from the "one faith" (Eph 4:5) that he established and went into operation on Pentecost 33 C.E., there would come forth "weeds" or counterfeit Christians to the tune now of some 41,000 different denominations and sects that all say they are "Christian".
Hello Guestman...... This is a well written, concise account of a continuous problem we have in this world until He comes with all His saints, in order to defeat the great Harlot ( who is filled with the blood of the innocent saints ) and all of her off spring ( all the other religions which sprang forth from the first organized/forced so called Christian religion. ) One thing I am not entirely sure about. Where did the name given to our Father, Jehovah, come from? When I have looked in the Old Testament all i could find was a reference to His name being pretty un pronounceable, as it only contains 4( is it? ) consonants. Some call Him Yhwy ( or similar ) some use ' Jehovah' But can you show me where we are told this please? All of us simply MUST put all of our pride and what we term our knowledge, empty ourselves of ourselves, and let Him build us up in the most Holy Faith, through Love, the very substance of our Father. Thank you for a great read......Blessings in Him Pia
In his illustration of the "wheat and weeds" at Matthew 13, Jesus disclosed that he foreknew that his teachings would be twisted, distorted and completely "rewritten" by those professing to "know him". Thus, he divulged that there would arise a multitude of fake Christians establishing their own denominations and sects, as the apostle Paul wrote "that in later times some will fall away from the faith (note faith is singular, not plural, so that only one of the many thousands who profess Christianity is the right one), paying attention to misleading inspired statements and teachings of demons".(1 Tim 4:1)
Paul further said that these counterfeit Christians would "forbid marriage" as the Catholic church has done in teaching celibacy is a requirement for being a priest as well as "command people to abstain from foods that God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving" as the Catholic church has commanded to abstain from eating meat on "Good Friday".(1 Tim 4:3) Both these are marks of apostasy, for some of the apostles were married men (1 Cor 9:5), such as Peter.(Matt 8:14) This alone disqualifies the Catholic church. Paul also said that those who are "overseers" ("bishop" KJV) within the Christian congregation who are married has to be "a husband of one wife".(1 Tim 3:1, 2) And the eating of meat was given to Noah and his descendants until Jehovah changes this allowance to the way it was before the global deluge.(Gen 9:3) Thus, there is no "Good Friday" or forbidding of marriage in God's eyes, but there is among those have ' fallen away from the faith '.
In the illustration of the "wheat and weeds", Jesus said that "a man.....sowed fine seed in his field", with Jesus being the "man" and the "field" being the world of mankind alienated from God.(Matt 13:24, 38) Jesus then says that "while men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat and left".(Matt 13:25) The "enemy" Jesus revealed is "the Devil" ("Devil" means "slanderer", Gen 3:5; John 8:44) who "oversowed weeds (or imitation Christians) in among the wheat" of true Christians.(Matt 13:39)
The apostles were the ones who acted as a restraint from the incoming apostasy,("apostasy" means "a falling away" from "the truth") and in which the apostle Paul wrote that "you know (the apostles) what is acting as a restraint" to the foretold "apostasy".(2 Thess 2:3, 6) Hence, after their death or "while men were sleeping" (John was the last apostle to die in about 100 C.E.), true Christians ("wheat") were now beginning to be overtaken with "weeds" or counterfeit Christians so that by the 4th century, true Christians were considered as nonexistent.
Jesus set forth critical requirements for being a true Christian throughout his ministry, explaining that "few" would be on the ' cramped road' and go through the 'narrow gate' that leads to life, while the vast majority who profess to be his followers are on the ' spacious road ' that allows for all sorts of doctrines and practices that do not harmonize with the Bible.(Matt 7:13, 14) Their interpretations would be a deviation from what Jesus taught.
The critical requirements that Jesus taught have been altered, watered down, and out right changed by groups of individuals who want to "rewrite" what a Christian is, with Jesus calling these ones "weeds".(Jesus most likely alluded to the bearded darnel, a plant that looks like wheat until grown, so that at harvest time, a clear distinction can be seen. for wheat bends over while the bearded darnel keeps standing straight up)
And what did Jesus teach that clearly defines who are his true followers ? In responding to Satan's temptation concerning all the kingdoms of the earth being his for just one act of worship, Jesus said: "Go away Satan ! For it is written (at Deut 10:20): ' It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service'.(Matt 4:10) How many among the churches of Christendom worship Jehovah God as he has outlined in his Word the Bible ? None. In fact, the churches have hid Jehovah's name, supplanting it with "Lord" or God" in their Bibles as well as their personal language, treating his name "with disrespect".(Isa 52:5; see also Jer 23:27)
And then on the night before his death, Jesus gives this command to his eleven faithful apostles: "These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen out of the world, for this reason the world hates you".(John 15:17-19) What did Jesus mean here ?
That his genuine followers would avoid touching the "world" and its political arena in any form or fashion (that insidiously causes a person to become loveless), such as by running for political office, voting for a particular candidate or even having feelings for the political arena, even protesting for or against a certain political policy, for this would constitute spiritual adultery, and in which James wrote that "whoever wants to be a friend of the world is making himself an enemy of God".(James 4:4) True Christians are politically neutral so as to be "friends of God" (see Isa 41:8) and not his enemy while the churches of Christendom are totally immersed in the world of politics. Thus, the churches are to reap Jehovah's anger in the near future, whereby he will use the political "wild beast" (or political governments) to accomplish this.(Rev 17:12, 16)
Jesus said that his genuine followers would have love among themselves, unwilling to join, promote, or even have a mental inclination for the political "wild beast" and its military (see Rev. 13:16; the political governments are called a "wild beast" at Rev 13:1, 2, who tries to forcibly "mark" everyone "in their right hand" to give them support or at the very least, "on their forehead" by these ones giving mental or verbal support for the political governments).
In contrast with true Christians, the churches send off their young men to war, blessing the troops and weapons and in which during both world wars, German Catholics wore belt buckles with the inscribed words "Gott mit uns" (God is with us). How far they were from God, for he is seething with anger over their involvement in the wars of the nations. On the other hand, those who apply Jesus words: "Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you", show godly or agape love and do not participate in the wars of the nations and have God's favor.(Matt 5:44)
The field is becoming very "narrow" and "cramped" whereby only a "few" are willing to carefully follow Jesus teachings (Jesus said that those who strictly adhered to his teachings would need to "disown himself and pick up his torture stake and keep following me", Matt 16:24), such as unwilling to observe "holidays" based on pagan practices and doctrines, which include Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Mother's day, Father's day, New Years day, "feast days of saints", July 4th (in the United States), memorial day, etc.
Jesus words: "Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations......teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you" continue to define a true Christian.(Matt 28:19, 20) How many within the churches go from "house to house"(Acts 20:20), teaching individuals about God's Kingdom ? (Matt 24:14) None. And the reason why the "gate" continues to narrow is as Jesus said: "because they do not know the One (Jehovah God) who sent me".(John 15:21)
Hence, because of the myriads of interpretations (or perhaps more correctly misinterpretations) of Jesus words and the Bible, Christendom came into existence almost 1,700 years ago because of Roman Emperor Constantine support. Soon, it will disappear forever, but not forgotten for all the blood it has shed over its life and rightly placed at her feet by God (Rev 18:24), in conjunction with all the rest of the religions of the "world" that make up Babylon the Great.(Rev 18:8, 21; 19:1-3)