My studies lead me into Ezekiel 18 last night, and now I see why.Ezekiel 18:4-9
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.
What's notably missing from this? Church. What's the clear, concise, and overarching theme of this passage (or the whole chapter for that matter)? If you follow what God has laid out for you, clearly in the form of his WORD, as you WORSHIP the WORD MADE FLESH (John 1:14).As Father himself said:Ezekiel 18:25
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
When any man, church, group of friends, or whatever tells you something that supersedes the Almighty there is a problem, and a very big problem at that. If this is not a problem at your church, and for many of us it is not, then it's a nonissue and it's a wonderful thing to have someone to help you. However, if one spends their days hypocritically playing the game of my denomination is better than you denomination, I've got to ask how much in line with Christ is that? The only ones that had that kind of talk were the scribes and the Pharisees, and my friends that is not the shoes you want to be in.Rest assured that the church of __________ or any "holy figure, preacher, priest, pastor, teacher, or anything" is going to stand between you and judgment. When they start saying "Lord, Lord" he has already told us he won't listen? Why? Because what he told each and every one of us is right there in the Word. He even made it become flesh and made it easy if only you keep that relationship with him of which earthly denominational church is only a part.