The Harvest Is Past,The Summer Is Ended, And We Are Not Saved In my opinion, the best way for us to achieve authentic Christianity is by constantly reading the word of God and maintaining a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Main thing is to keep the Main thing The Main thing!
I've found over the last four years as I have been using a One year Bible, an excellent way to read through the Bible in one year, it is divided up into four parts: excerpt from the old Testament, new Testament reading, portion of the Psalms, and the portion of The Proverbs,that we should constantly fill ourselves with the word of God in order to discern between authentic Christianity and the counterfeit. This can only be achieved by having a working understanding of God's nature and ways as revealed in his Word. Anything that contradicts that is false.
It really only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to read your daily Scripture portion. It's great because it gives you in a years time complete overview of the Bible.
In addition to doing this daily Bible reading I encourage people to either purchase or download For free, especially the Alexander Scourby version, the Bible on MP3. If you just Google his name you be able to find for free King James version of the Bible in MP3 format. Just having that on in the background, as you're doing mundane housework chores, or if you have a job where you're able to listen to something, especially manual type labor, you can be filling yourself up with the word of God,is beneficial
It is important to note that in the early church the letters in the Gospels were read out loud. Majority of people couldn't read, and the only way they came to know the word of God was I hearing the word of God in their house church meetings.
My contention is that we, especially in the West, are influenced by our culture rather than allowing ourselves as Christians to be influenced by the word of God, and that would by its very nature will change our own personal culture. There's nothing wrong with culture per se, however, when any given culture contradicts the word of God—we must bow to the Bible–not tradition—not even our own cultural strongholds. Generally, we are unaware of her own cultural strongholds, but people from outside of our particular culture can see it quite clearly. That is where stereotypes are made of different people groups.
The early church listened to the preached Word of God, to the word of God being read out loud to them in their house church meetings, and watched the word of God being lived out in the lives of their leaders, and brothers and sisters.
They changed their culture according to where their culture conflicted with the words that they were hearing from the apostles, the disciples of the apostles,as well as their spiritual offspring that developed in the first 300 years of Christianity.
I think it's a mistake if we think that by having meetings in houses versus “church buildings”, or being relational or all of the other things that go along with trying to imitate the noninstitutional and organic nature of the early church primarily by imitating the scaffolding or structure that we see, is authentic Christianity.
The primacy of the early church was Jesus. The relationship that the church had with the Lord Jesus and their strict adherence to the “faith that was once delivered to the saints” vis-à-vis the preached word and the Bible, that letters of Paul, James, Peter, and John, as well of the Gospels being read out loud and their meetings.
The early church believed literally the words of the Lord Jesus. They literally lived the sermon on the Mount. Can we say that of the church today? Or, as I've heard too many times, “well, Jesus didn't really mean that!” And, “you got to be kidding–I don't believe that” or the all-time favorite of the modern worldly and culturally acceptable Christian, “that's not what the Greek means” or “that was for then–that doesn't apply now”
Jesus said that we will be judged by his word. If we reject the words of the Lord Jesus Christ he will reject us. There's nothing mysterious about the words of Jesus and his teachings. We don't need to go to seminary goer “cemetery” and study the Bible in the original languages and learn theology blah, blah, blah blah blah. I'm not against learning languages. I have studied five languages. That's not the point, what you need in my opinion, you need the Holy Spirit. If you don't have the Holy Spirit teaching you and all of your worldly knowledge of ancient languages is not able to help you to understand and more importantly to perform the words that Jesus commands us to follow. Jesus says that if we love him to keep his commands.
Without a living relationship with Jesus you cannot keep his commands—and if you don't know when his commands are, I'd venture to say, it would be difficult to keep something that you don't know. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing; and hearing the word of God.
The modern Christian likes the idea of being a Christian—but he doesn't like the idea of acting like Christ.
The modern Christian does not want to go to hell, in fact and reality doesn't really believe anybody goes to hell, especially his favorite movie idol or worldly music idol that he listens to as a feast upon that which has been offered the idols.
The modern Western Christian has a favorite preacher—she's a woman! And to top it all off, she is a prophetess! Her name is Jezebel.
The modern cool relevant church, the large mega-churches, preach a one-sided gospel–Jesus loves you. But the Jesus that they're preaching challenges no one to change their lifestyle. If most modern day pastors were to preach to their large, well fed, rich congregations the words literally to be taken, the literal words of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5, 6, 7, and warn people if they didn't heed the words of Jesus Christ they couldn't be a Christian, if they didn't live literally the words of Jesus in these chapters–they would not go to heaven. I venture to say most of the people would walk out of the church–immediately.
30 years ago a Christian could not divorce his spouse and be remarried and remain in fellowship with other Christians. Other Christians would've shunned them. That is because divorce and remarriage was not acceptable in the church 30 years ago. Jesus Christ taught that you couldn't get divorced and remarried.
The early church taught that you could not get divorced and remarried while your first spouse was alive. But now, since it is culturally acceptable for Christians, especially, who have a higher divorce rate than non-Christians, to divorce their spouses and find a new and better model!
This contradicts the clear teaching of Jesus Christ. Yet, how many of us know Christians that are on their third fourth spouse!? And they think they're going to heaven? The early church would've excommunicated them. The early church would've been very loving to these people by telling them the truth–that the lake of fire awaits them if they don't repent.
Western church pastors tell people what they want to hear not what they need to hear! Their favorite prophet is Hananiah not Jeremiah.
The early church taught—if you don't believe it look it up yourself—no remarriage while the first spouse is alive. This did not change until the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation when Erasmus came up with the idea that there were some exceptions where one could be divorced and remarried.
If I offend you into heaven—you'll thank me! But if I hold the truth from you, and you end up in the lake of fire, the cursed me!
The prophet Jeremiah said “how can you say, “we are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us”?… from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, “peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abominations? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall upon the fallen; when I punish them they shall be overthrown, says the Lord when I would have gathered them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them is passed away from them.”
Jeremiah 8: 1 , 10-13.
The early Christians also were pacifists until the Roman Catholic theologian Augustine introduced the idea of “Just War”
The Early Christians Literally Followed the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ, They Did Not Resist Evil, They Loved Their Enemies. Just as Jesus had taught them. They did not sue people. They were absolutely apolitical. They lived quiet and holy lives–they were good citizens of whatever country they lived in–they had no desire to rebel–nor did they seek to involve themselves in politics in order to force Christianity on the masses.
The institutional church was the direct result of the marriage of politics and religion. Christianity and Constantine. Up until then Christians were respected for their holy lifestyles, peaceful lives they lead, and charitable acts of mercy for the poor. They never tried to force their beliefs by any measure on other people. They preach the gospel with simplicity and sincerity, and in the words of St. Francis of Assisi, who said, “preach the Gospel always–sometimes use words!”
The center of the lives of these early believers during the crucial first 300 years of The Church, was the person of Jesus and their love relationship with him, and as Jesus had said that they would be known as his disciple by their love for one another, and their love for their enemies, the persecutors, those that slandered them.
It is my contention that the Christendom that developed out of the institutional church, albeit there were some godly leaders throughout the 1700 years of institutional Christianity that really did know the Lord Jesus and live holy lives, as well as true Christians within the institutional church, was the antithesis of what Jesus preached. Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world” and institutionalized Christianity says the opposite.
For further reading of what the early church was like I would encourage you to go to www.scrollpublishing.com which is a website that has an awful lot of great reading material, as well as audio, concerning Kingdom Christianity versus the institutionalized version of Christendom. Which in reality is a different religion, in reality a different faith. It is not the faith that was once delivered to the saints.
One caveat, many people who feel that they're part of the “Remnant” Church have an acrimonious and bitter spirit towards any kind of spiritual authority, any kind of biblical leadership, and even if some of their observations are true their bitter spirit poisons any waters that they offered others to drink. They tend to be isolated from the body of Christ. They tend not to want to go to church, because of all of the hypocrites. Or there lack of understanding of kingdom Christianity. They tend to be rebellious.
I honestly love the body of Christ. I understand that there are many true, loving, believers within the institutional church whether they are Catholic or Protestant. I am neither–I'm a Christian. And I can fellowship with anybody that loves Jesus. That doesn't mean I have to agree with all of their doctrines to fellowship with them. I can disagree without being disagreeable. And I think this is what happens to many, especially young people, is a find out about what authentic Christianity is like, if gets filled with pride, and become extremely critical of any other Christians. This is the antithesis of Kingdom Christian. The true Kingdom Christian should be humble. There go I. but for the grace of God should be our motto. It should never be arrogant or think were better than anyone else.
Throughout 2000 years of Christianity there's always been a remnant people of God in various church structures whether they be Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant.
And, we can actually learn from all these different Christians. Personally, I am mostly influenced by the Anabaptists, our churches more or less a Pentecostal Anabaptist church.
And, saying all that, just because we're trying to follow the literal words of Jesus in our trying to have church more in keeping with the nature of the early church in its organic expression, that doesn't mean that we love Jesus.If we don't love Jesus having correct doctrine means nothing. If we don't love one another having correct doctrine means nothing. if we are not returning good for evil then are orthodox doctrine means nothing if were not doing the word but just hearing it!
Look, I don't think I'm better than anyone else, and I don't claim to know everything, I'm just a simple follower of Jesus. And I'm able to love the body of Christ at large even those that are trapped within institutionalized Christianity. I am not to judge the motives of their heart. I am commanded by Jesus to inspect fruit. When I see the fruit of doctrines that are, in my opinion, demonic Am not going to reject them , I will pray for that that person, or persons, or church, in order to have a greater revelation of the word of God. But I refuse to be a schismatic debating type of Christian, always with an ax to grind! remember, in the book of Galatians, Paul warns us that people that are are divisive and schismatic, which is a work of the flesh, will not inherit the kingdom of heaven!
Let's return to apostolic Christianity.
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