An angry black militant sneered, "If Christianity is a valid religion, why is it so divided?" While his question is not new, it deserves an answer. Christendom is divided into Protestant and Roman Catholic, conservatives and liberals. And even these groups are divided. Clearly, there is at best a cold war between some segments of the Kingdom. Why?
Perhaps the best answer is that God never intended the great message of salvation to settle down into one denomination, into narrowness or legalism. We must understand that religious organizations are the invention of man rather than the creation of God.
While religious organizations are often necessary and denominations provide valuable services, the believer must remember that the message of Christ crosses over manmade barriers to heal the hurt of humanity. Christ's ministry was to preach the good tidings to the meek, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, release from prison those who are bound, and proclaim the coming of His Kingdom. The wise believer understands that religious organizations are often very human and are only to speed the preaching of the great Gospel message. Too often, we feud over unimportant things. The believer patterns his ministry after that of his Lord and seeks to bring people together rather than separate them.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.”
Isaiah 61:1 NLT
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