What I rarely hear is "I am the church, gathering with others who are the church."
I hear, "What church do you attend?", but never hear "who do you gather with to edify one another?"
God commanded us to gather together, wherever we choose, to edify one another in the Lord. No fansy building, no pulpit just people who love Jesus Christ all interacting together, each one led by the Holy Spirit without a progam or script.
Edifying one another means building up one another in the faith, so that we grow and become more effective as ambassadors of Christ in the world.
Sometimes they say, "What does your church believe?" rather than "What does Jesus Christ teach?"
All of this verbiage that demands that a born-again believer go to a place called church has led people to believe they must attend a building led by an authorized preacher educated by men in a place called a seminary. None of this is mandated in God's Word. It has destroyed edification because the focus is not on Christ but who is in control and the ritual of the gathering focused on one man and now "worship leaders" who have taken the place of the Holy Spirit in leading the gathering.
Most of these gathering places led by a hireling, educated by men, disobey more of the scripture than they obey, violating God's principles while upholding cultural concepts mixed with some scripture out of context to justify the violations.
And, worse yet, the program-oriented places forbid anyone from the pews from participating.
2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."
This passage was written to ALL believers, not a special class educated by special schools that God never commanded.
John 16:12-14 "…12 I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. 13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"
In these days of apostasy, the paid man who is educated in man's schools is revered over and above the Holy Spirit. People will talk all day long about their favorite "pastor" and never mention the name of Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit.
Those who attend these ritualistic gatherings led by men often speak of the activities or the music they enjoy, but never utter from their mouths what the Holy Spirit taught them.
John 14:26
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."
When the Holy Spirit is in fullness within a believer, they will be growing and learning to teach others.
When the Holy Spirit is the teacher and leader within the church gathering, Christ is magnified. When there is a man chosen by men to teach as long as he is educated by man's system, then the man is magnified.
1 Corinthians 3:1-2
"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready."
Those who depend on men as their teachers are always learning man's ways but not necessarily God's.
2 Timothy 3:7 "who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth."
When we are growing in wisdom according to the Holy Spirit, then God is glorified. Those who gain knowledge without the guidance of the Holy Spirit will be puffed up, arrogant, and impossible to be taught.
We are living in the end times when there is more wrong in the churches with their buildings than there is right. They have become lumps in the pews listening with ears that are dedicated to hearing what they want, not what is true. They have little ability to question what is being said from that pulpit because they are not engaged at home with their Bibles or the fellowship of those who do obey the Bible.
Prayers are only uttered by most when there is a disaster from which they need to be rescued. The prayers from the pulpits are offered by the designated "Pastor", while the people in the pews remain silent. In other words, these designated men do their praying for them, tell them what songs to sing, and demand money at the end of the gathering to fund the activities of the church.
Those in the pews do not interact with the others in the pews during the week. They don't even know the lives of those who attend because the gatherings are too large and the people tend to hide in their section of the pew so as not to be bothered.
Many years ago, I was visiting a woman at her home. When I began to speak about the Bible and Jesus Chris, she told me "religion is a private thing, that we shouldn't push it onto others." This woman attended a protestant church for over 50 years, and yet she wanted to remain secretive and separate from others in the church. She knew very little of the Bible, only her favorite comforting verses that she clung to for a sense of safety.
This same woman told me she heard it was right to worship angels. Just the opposite of what God teaches in His Word. When I corrected her with Scripture, she went silent and showed no interest.
Is it any wonder I am convinced we are in the end times, in which most people want to make up their own religion of their choosing and call it Christian?
