The reason people remain in a system that has been wrong for hundreds of years is that the rest of the culture around them would call them insane if they deviated from what the culture has always practiced.
Mark 7:13 "So much of the way people act and what they believe is based on a lifetime of false Christianity and false doctrine. The only way to overcome it all is to ask God to reveal all that is wrong and be willing to discard anything that is not of God."
Matthew 15:8-9 …7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ "
I recall a few times when I quoted scripture to an old woman who had been attending a modern church all her life until she became too ill to leave her home. This woman often spoke unbiblical things based on the culture, and was irritated when I would give her scripture that clarified or corrected her thinking. She resisted the scripture because it came from someone she considered to be a fanatic.
Sadly, this is the state of many people who have attended large gatherings all their lives. They go to a large building, sit in the pews for years without interjecting or participating except when told to repeat after the pastor in the pulpit or to sing a song the leader told them to sing. Nothing was led by the Holy Spirit, and no one was allowed to speak except those who were considered to be in authority over the people.
The pews all faced forward toward the designated preacher, who was elevated on a platform as though superior to the others below.
The people below in the pews treated the one in the pulpit as though he were the mediator between them and God. The people dared not speak without permission, or they would have been considered rebellious by the rest of the group.
God's model for the church gathering was for all to participate; there would be several leaders who led by example and teaching, but had no authority over the others. The elders served, not dominated.
Matthew 20:24-26 "…24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,…"
1 Corinthians 14:26 " 26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the church."
Everyone participates, and the Holy Spirit is the leader in the gathering of believers. The groups are small, so that this can happen decently and in order. The leaders are servants of all to help with guidance, and they are subject to correction themselves as are all the rest.
No person is greater than another; only the Holy Spirit is above all.
Ephesians 5:19 "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord,"
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
Romans 12:6-8 "We have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."
In the gathering as described by God in the Word is vibrant, each person participates according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, not according to rules instituted by men. No one is forbidden to speak as is in the institutionalized churches.
I have experienced this a few times in my life and was so blessed that I cannot describe the fullness of the time spent with others who love to edify one another in the Word. There were leaders who were men, and no one was considered superior to anyone else, because Christ was elevated not people.
1 Peter 4:10-11 "As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another. If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen."
God does command us not to forsake gathering together, but that does not mean we must gather in the way of the culture. God told us that where two or three are together, He is in the midst, and that it can be anywhere on any day of our choosing, it can be every day or any day chosen. There are no rules about when to meet or with how many. The example in Scripture was in homes; no special building was required.
Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The purpose of the gathering was to edify one another, building one another in the faith so that everyone would leave that place having grown in wisdom and holiness.
Sadly, the modern gatherings have reverted back to the Catholic model with a hierarchy of men negating the Holy Spirit in every other believer who was considered less than the one in that elevated pulpit. The clues are those pews all facing forward and that man elevated above the others in a pulpit as though an authority.
There is great freedom in following Christ; the bondage of organized religion, based on man's ideas, is eliminated when we obey the Word of God in our gatherings.
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