On another thread, there was a discussion on how believers met in the first century. I thought that Tom Stewart brought up a very good point that I wanted to share here.
Tom Stewart said:
"When Constantine built the first official building dedicated to being a Christian church he patterned it after the Roman Senate. Audience and stage or focal point. It changed Christianity from being a participatory event to being a spectator event. No more body ministry and individual involvement. The professionals took over."
Gwendolyn Wehage said:
"Tom Stewart yep, and this was a shame. Some believers are beginning to realize the traditions they followed for centuries were not God's doing but humans' thinking of a way to control the people, rather than allowing them to be controlled by the Holy Spirit."
A picture Tom provided for us.
Anyone who desires to follow a man, quoting that man more than quoting God has an idol.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 "3 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building."
Why would you want to follow a man when the Creator of the universe lives in you, Jesus Christ Himself? There are no mediators between us and God other than Jesus Christ. If you follow Calvin then you have assigned him the mediator between you and God rather than Jesus Christ.
When Christ changes us into a new creation when we trust in Him, at that moment His Holy Spirit comes to live in us eternally.
Ephesians 1:12-14 "…12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 13 And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth— the gospel of your salvation— you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory."
