A Churchless Christianity – Separating Christ and Salvation from His Church

Today, a TV preacher of a leading mega church in town was inviting everyone to the upcoming community Easter service.  They rent the sports arena at the local university and invite big name performers/musicians to entertain the thousands who flock to the entertainment.  He said the service is a community service and “it’s not about a particular church.”  His own church portrays itself as un or non-denominational.

As I reflected on this announcement that salvation is not about a particular church, and this whole concept of entertainment as worship and the glorification of celebrities as a pretext for celebrating Easter as a side-bar, I recalled looking at the website of this particular mega church some time ago.  On the website they spoke of baptism saying it is just a public testimony and has nothing to do with our salvation.

The Prevailing Heresies of our Day

This mega church and its teachings reflect the great and prevailing heresies of our day that has created something called “Christianity” but bears little resemblance to the historic Christian Faith of the Bible, the Apostles and the Saints, Fathers and Confessors of ages past.

What is Non-denominational?

First, there is the idea of a non-denominational church.  There is no such thing.  Every group has its body of tradition from which it interprets the Bible and every group has it doctrinal statements.  Or do they mean to suggest that they hold no particular doctrines as true or false – that they have no particular beliefs?  This is close to the truth since in actuality they don’t believe there is one true body of Christian truth.  They believe in relativism - that all or no one holds the full and absolute truth.  But when all is said and done, all such churches are either Baptist or Charismatic or a combination of both.  The claim of non or interdenominational is a deceitful claim but the unthinking masses fall for it.  It is akin to the cover up used by Mormons that cloak their real teachings for the purpose of disarming and drawing people in.

The Meaning of Baptism

To teach that baptism has nothing to do with our salvation except as a public act of obedience and witness, as it says on their website, is a clear and blatant denial of the teachings of Holy Scripture which they claim to honor and exult.  One has only to look up the word baptism in a good Bible Concordance and read all the references and it becomes very clear that baptism is not at all what contemporary Christianity is teaching.  Their vision is blurred by their human traditions, as was that of the Pharisees.

To stress there is no particular church is to replace the Church by something called Christianity.  It is the leading and prevailing heresy of our day, which separates Christ and Salvation from His Church and portrays the Church as invisible and indefinable and the local church as a man-made organization.  It is a denial of the doctrine of the Church that the Church has held from the beginning and is confessed and taught by the apostles, apostolic fathers and all the ancient creeds of the Church.  I know that some groups still recite some of the creeds (most often they make up new ones to their liking) but even those who recite the ancient creeds attach a different meaning to the words Catholic and Church than that which was held by the composers of the creeds.

The New Testament never refers to anything called Christianity but refers to the Church over 100 times.  Christ’s mission was to build His Church, against which the gates of hell could not prevail.  The Church is His Body on earth.  The Church is His Bride and He will return for His Church.  And no, His Bride is not invisible or undefined or composed of numerous and conflicting brides.  And no, the Church is not composed of all those who “believe in Jesus”.   Jesus Himself said that not everyone who calls Him Lord will enter heaven but only those who do the will of the Father.  The will of the Father is revealed in the Church that Christ founded, which is His Body on earth.  There is one Church, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism and one Spirit, according to the teachings of Holy Scripture. 

The Old Testament Church

In the Old Testament there was no churchless Israel or chosen people of God.  Their faith was clearly defined and the teachings and perimeters of that faith were clearly known.  To be a part of God’s chosen people you had to enter his “Church” and embrace that body of truth and that way of worship and that communion of obedience and way of life that God had revealed.  Such were called proselytes. There could be no little groups on the side ignoring the one true Church of Israel and still claiming to love and know God.  The Samaritans tried it with a reformed religion very similar and close to Judaism.  But what did the Saviour say to Photini at the well?   Did He say it is not about a particular church, or we all believe in the same God and same salvation? No! He said,  “You know not what you worship for salvation is from the Jews”.   There was no churchless Judaism or a hybrid brand separated from the one true Church of God.

The New Testament Church

The same is true in the New Testament.  There is no churchless Christian Faith and there is no separation of Christ or Salvation from the Church.  Anyone who believed in Christ came to the Church that was under apostolic authority, was baptized into that Church as the Body of Christ and partook of salvation within that community.  Each community had one apostolic Church outside of which it was understood there is no Church and no salvation.  In the creed of St. Athanasius that reflects the clear and universal teachings of the Church up to that time in the third century he stated:

Whoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic [meaning fullness of the faith held from the beginning] Faith.  Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.”

The idea that people can find Christ and find Salvation apart from His Church and then create their own churches according to their whims is totally foreign to all that the Bible teaches and all that the Universal Christian Faith has always taught.

First Sunday of Great Lent

Sunday of Orthodoxy