Surely one of the most frustrating aspects of having become a Christian has been determining what God requires of me. Many Christians usually settle into one or two denominations, accept their tenents more or less and get on with their lives. When I got saved, I immediately found myself in several different denominations, each coming from very different directions. As a new believer, I had to wrestle with major issues which have split Christians into thousands of different sects such as: eternal security versus conditional salvation (Calvinist vs. Arminianist); gifts for today or not, water baptism necessary or not; which form of baptism is the right one; are there still apostles and prophets; what is the proper governmental form of the church; eternal torture vs. annihilation vs. the salvation of all mankind; works vs. law; can a Christian be demon possessed; what day is the Sabbath (Saturday or Sunday); and many other issues as controversial as the ones listed.
My conversion was a rather dramatic one. I relate to Paul’s Damascus Road experience very well. Because of the way God called me, I went from atheist to Christian zealot literally overnight. I had tremendous energy and a desire to learn. That desire has not been quenched in all these years. Being an independent businessman, by God’s grace, I could earn a living and still have plenty of time to dig into all of the above these subjects. Being in love with my Father, the Creator of the universe, I wanted to show Him respect by being obedient to His Word, whatever that might be.
During the first few years of being a Christian, I attended over 200 different Christian churches with all kinds of different beliefs. To one who has never had such a broad exposure to different belief systems, it is probably difficult to imagine the torment these varying beliefs caused me. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the experience was the fact that the church leaders who were trying to persuade me of their beliefs, would look at me without blinking an eye and tell me their beliefs were based strictly on the Bible itself! One pastor would tell me that Christians who speak in tongues today do it under the power of the devil and another would tell me if one doesn’t speak in tongues, they are really not born-again yet. Both would justify their positions from the same King James Bible.
For those of you who have not gone through such an ordeal, I highly encourage you to do so. How do you know your sect has rightly divided the Word of God? Go find a half dozen denominations quite different from your denomination and with sincerity try to understand why they believe what they believe. Remove the garment of tradition which you have received from your denomination and take on the garment of another and see what happens. Oh yes, each denomination has its own spiritual garment. We are slaves to tradition much more than we care to acknowledge. A trip into a few other denominations will reveal just how much you love your garment. They will try to remove it and give you another one. Then you will see whether you are wearing the garment of the righteousness of Jesus or the garment of man’s tradition.
After having gone into several denominations of vastly varying beliefs, I was quite astonished by the fact they all were convinced they were Biblically correct in their views. How could one denomination claim baptism was essential to salvation while another using the same Bible, say that it wasn’t essential? These varying beliefs caused me to cry out to my heavenly Father from the depths of my soul. I think most Christians who are content to just sit in a comfortable pew one or two days a week and just accept whatever is taught by their pastor and denomination do not have the opportunity to experience this heart-wrenching cry, perhaps to their detriment. All these differences from the same Bible caused me to press into seeking the Holy Spirit for guidance in a depth I’m sure I would not have entered into if I was content with receiving what one sect taught on all the issues of Christian doctrine. Because many of these church leaders used the fear of possibly losing my salvation if I didn’t believe according to their beliefs, I took studying very seriously. (Please remember, all these various church leaders, with their greatly varying beliefs were all quite convinced they were Scripturally correct while the other denominations were in error.)
After many years of this kind of struggling, I finally came across some simple truths which were right before my eyes all along, but kept getting buried under the “tradition of the elders.” Spending much time studying the early church and doing word studies in the original languages was very helpful. Personally speaking with some of the translators of several of the leading English Bible translations also really opened my eyes to some of the shenanigans which go on in Bible translating. This allowed me to see why there are some clear contradictions in many English Bibles, while there is no contradiction in the Greek or Hebrew texts on which these translations are based. The “tradition of the elders” has penetrated much deeper than merely producing opposing sects of Christianity. The “tradition of the elders” has gone right into Bible translations themselves. (That’s for another article.) In this article I want to give the reader a key which I hope will bring great joy to your heart. I pray that it will set many of the readers free from all sorts of condemnation, guilt, and bondage to traditions of men and the doctrines of demons.
Trying to obey God in my walk while listening to all these “voices of religion” became impossible. These church leaders would present a voice of unity at the community Ministerial Alliance meetings, but in their offices when trying to get at what they really believed, they would acknowledge that the other pastors were in great deception. While these major differences among denominations and even differences between pastors of the same denomination caused me great grief and anguish (not knowing who to trust or believe), all of it actually worked to my good. This confusion among the various denominations caused me to pray more often and spend more time studying than I would have done If I had not been confronted with all these different views. In other words, this suffering, this confusion, their contradictions, the Bible contradictions among various translations—all these caused me to run to the place Jesus told me to go in the first place.
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:14-18, KJV)
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears he will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-14)
Some of you may not be able to comprehend the torment to the soul these differences among the denominations causes for someone sincerely just trying to obey His Maker. Some of these pastors actually maintained one’s eternal life was at stake if they were not baptized properly or into the right denomination. The two simplest rituals found in the New Testament, water baptism and communion, caused me great anguish due to the great variances of teachings among these teachers. The purpose of this article is not to discuss what I learned regarding all these variances. I just want to point out that even in the simplest and foundational doctrines, there are major differences of beliefs among the leading sects of Christianity. Furthermore, many of them teach that one’s eternal life is in jeopardy if one does not conform to their standards.
Jesus Christ spoke of suffering with Him. The gates into the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation are pearls. Pearls are produced when sand enters an oyster which irritates the flesh. It produces a secretion around the object of irritation which eventually becomes the pearl. Perhaps that is what all this turmoil was all about. I don’t know, but there was great suffering, much rejection, often I know my heart was misunderstood. There were times I was labeled a heretic, divisive or unsubmissive simply because I asked too many questions or could not accept a particular denomination’s whole package of beliefs.