DIVISIONS OF CHRIST’S CHURCH Does  anyone  have  a  clue  as  to how many divisions there are among     people who all claim to be some kind of hyphenated-Christian?   Our God clearly is not the source for religious division and confusion.  “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches (congregations) of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33).  Satan often works against Christ’s congregations in a host of different ways.  Satan works by promoting error, apostasy, or false doctrine (2 Tim. 4:3-4).   Satan, also, works through pride and men’s egos where some think too highly of themselves (Rom. 12:3).  These often think of themselves as wise in their own opinions (Rom. 12:16) to the point they think they know more than God. Knowing how cleaver Satan is and always will be in his lying and beguiling  nature, we must have God’s help or else we will, also, be beguiled and led astray.  All  before God are presently “judging themselves” as either being worthy or unworthy of heaven.  The “worthy” judge themselves  by choosing to listen to God exclusively to the exclusion of sincere and well-meaning religious teachers today.  The “unworthy” also judged themselves such by choosing to be careless regarding what they hear and believe.  These often just believe only what they are exposed to and will not take on any personal initiative to see if the things they have been exposed to from their  families and culture are true as far as God is concerned.  These refuse to step outside of themselves and their will and their    comfort zone. Paul deals with such people in    Acts 13:46; and after preaching “the word of God,” they chose to reject God’s word and hold on to what they had.  Paul said of them that by doing this they did judge themselves as being unworthy of everlasting life.  That, as you can tell, is a rather serious thing for Paul to say.  The principle is true for God in all times.  Those who choose to reject, minimize, and devalue the word of God set their own eternal judgment into motion.   The night Jesus will be betrayed He will pray for the unity of all His disciples.  He will say, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be ONE as you, Father are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be ONE in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me”    (Jn. 17:20-21).   Jesus had taught and knew the world could and would believe in Him IF his disciples would maintain their ONENESS.  Today, the disciples have failed Jesus, for we have only a token and superficial oneness.  We all know this, and many are in some stage of denial.  Superficial oneness and a superficial Jesus will not cause this world to believe.  We must have a genuine Jesus and a genuine ONENESS!  Satan knows all this is true, which is why Christianity is today where it is in the spiritual battle for souls.   Now, I want you to meditate and reflect upon a passage of Scripture that sounds like it is impossible to fulfill.  I submit to you that this is impossible to fulfill without God’s intervening help.  This passage, remember, is as inspired and protected by the Holy Spirit as all other passages of Scripture.  Paul writes to a   fragmented and divided congregation in Corinth.  Some are following various personalities, and there are divisions within the congregation.   The apostle says, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you ALL SPEAK the SAME THING, and that there be NO DIVISIONS among you, but that you be PERFECTLY JOINED TOGETHER in the SAME MIND and in the SAME JUDGMENT” (1 Cor. 1:10).  From a human vantage point this does sound impossible; however, from a spirit that is ready to let the Lord have His way, we must acknowledge that this is possible.  The key to this reality is found among believers who believe “With God all things ARE POSSIBLE!”  (Matt. 19:26).  These things are possible when we humbly conclude that we want “God be true but every man a liar (Rom. 3: 4).  We must seek always God’s will to be done in all things relating to our own lives before Him. It has been hard work for the past 2000 years for the church that Jesus died for to maintain the ONENESS that Christ desires for all His disciples.  Church family, we must not be discouraged as we observe our extreme minority status on planet earth.  We must press on encouraging one another to simply believe and teach God’s will in all things be done.   Christians are to endeavor (work at it) to keep (not lose) the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). Satan works hard to make Christ’s church carnal and worldly in its organization, actions, thinking, and doctrine.   The spiritual have hard work to do to keep   Satan and his influences out of our personal lives as well as the entire body of Christ. For Christ to have His ultimate victory in us, His blood-bought church we must do His bidding.  This means we have to take a stand.  We must be ready to give an answer to any who may ask the reason we believe, live, and act as we do (1 Pet. 3:15).  The child of God must take one stand before the ultimate Judge Jesus Christ.  Our stand is not to please ourselves, our families, or our churches but only the Lord Jesus Christ who died and now lives.  We know He sees our hearts and knows if we are playing word games or trying to hold back from Him.  Let us honor Christ and promote His definition of oneness.