A message to the true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one Body and one Spirit, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4.1-6)
A Prophetic message to Christians.
You who boast in Jesus Christ, who call yourselves Christian, why do you carve up the Body of Christ as if it were the carcass of a pig! For this hypocrisy, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles” (Romans 2:24)
If I were an artist, I would paint a mediaeval feast depicting Christian leaders from the past two thousand years seated at a huge banqueting table like powerful mediaeval lords.
Upon their banqueting table lies the crucified body of the Lord Jesus Christ, dressed up for the feast like a roast pig.
Around the table sit these hireling-shepherds who considered their petty orthodoxies more important than the glory of God.
The scene depicts a feeding frenzy as these Christian lords hack portions from the lifeless body of the Son of God.
Above this depraved feeding frenzy, I would paint the Risen Christ with arms outstretched towards a multitude of lowly disciples who, being excluded from this elite feeding frenzy, gaze in wonder at the appearance of their Risen Saviour.
Jesus Christ is Lord!
Who will put an end to the denominational sectarianism that infects Christianity?
Can Christianity be redeemed?
Christian leaders won’t redeem Christianity!
Two thousand years of sectarian disputes and division culminating in hundreds of sectarian denominations, is evidence enough that Christian leaders cannot put an end to the disunity in Christianity.
From a lofty pope to lowly parish priests and pastors, these sectarian leaders have far too much vested in their respective fiefdoms to change.
Defeat is in the air!
Europe has been a post-Christian society for centuries. Without state protection, Christian leaders were defeated by all things ‘science’.
Around the world Christianity has been retreating for well over a century as protestant leaders carve up their diminishing domains into ever-smaller sects. Many evangelical Christian leaders are beginning to recognise that we are living in a post-Christian society.
In the United States, over 64% of young people between the ages of 18 and 29, who grew up in Christian homes, have left Christianity.
Why are Christian leaders being trounced?
One word, INFORMATION.
The printing press empowered the Reformation leaders to break the stranglehold of Roman Catholicism; fresh information flowed faster and the Bible became accessible to increasing numbers of people.
Today it is the internet! The information super-highway has, once and for all, broken the power of Christianity’s professional priesthood; these hireling-shepherds can no longer hide the truth from spiritual seekers.
The hypocrisy of the professional priesthood’s anti-biblical doctrines and practices is being exposed for all the world to see.
But the force that breaks the power of the professional priesthood, liberates Christ's disciples!
Spiritual seekers can search for truth, and find it, as never before!
Christian leaders are being trounced because people are waking up!
True disciples of Jesus Christ can redeem the Gospel!
The only people who can put an end to the sectarian divisions that plague Christianity are the true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ acting in their local communities; where it really matters.
The vast majority of true disciples live in harmony with each other; they have no interest in the disputes that have occupied the minds of their power-hungry leaders for almost two thousand years.
Sadly, while many disciples willingly cooperate with each other in inter-denominational ‘lay ministries’, you still find most of them firmly wedded to their denominations on Sunday morning.
Most true disciples understand that love, not orthodoxy, is the true mark of Christ’s disciples.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you. The world will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13.34-35)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal ... or a blaring foghorn on a clear night! (1 Corinthians 13.1)
Christ’s love is the solid rock upon which his Church is built. Everything else is sand.
Christian, isn’t it time to practice what you preach?
Isn’t it time to “to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”?
Are you willing to say with Christ,
Father, not my will but yours be done!
The true Church of Jesus Christ.
The true Church of Jesus Christ is a family, a spiritual community, not a human organisation.
In the new covenant God promises to write his law on our hearts;
I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.
No longer will a person teach their neighbour saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest, declares the LORD. I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31.33-34)
In the true Church of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit is the Custodian of the Church and every disciple’s Advocate, Teacher and Guide; no hireling-shepherds required!
The true Church of Jesus Christ is a spiritual family;
Wherever two or three gather in my name, there I am in the midst of them. (Matthew 18.20)
The true Church of Jesus Christ is engaged in spiritual warfare in which every disciple is equipped for service; no spectators required.
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the spiritual powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in high places. (Ephesians 6.12)
The true Church of Jesus Christ has a mission, disciple-making;
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28.20)
The true disciple of Jesus Christ is on a mission; Christ’s mission!
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.14)
Questions for disciples to contemplate.
1. Is Christianity irredeemably corrupt?
Has Christianity, with its thousands of different sects and anti-biblical dogma, become a meaningless franchise?
2. What options do true disciples of Christ have?
Should a disciple stay in Christianity and work ‘within the system’ like the prophets of Israel in the Old Testament?
Or should disciples leave Christianity to create 'new wineskins’, new families? Should Christians leave the oppressive domination of the professional priesthood; those ‘hirelings shepherds’ and ‘prophets for profit’?
As for me.
I left institutional Christianity in 1987 and gave up the ‘Christian’ label in April 2005; after twenty-five years as a Christian.
I became a human being again and began a new search for truth. I studied other religions with an open and enquiring mind; I gained much value from some but could not validate their major claims.
Jesus Christ is the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life.
There is no other name under heaven by which a person can be saved. He is the Author of Life and worthy of our worship. Of that I am absolutely convinced.
In July 2022, after eighteen years in a spiritual wilderness, God began a new work in my life; Samson’s hair began to grow again! I began to search the scriptures with fresh eyes, seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance; slowly breaking free from the oppressive slavery of Christian dogma that had been deeply programmed into my brain; dogma that cause so much disunity and division amongst disciples.
As I edit this article in January 2025, I am reminded of Christ's words, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free".
Today, I am free, free at last!
As I see it, Christianity is a meaningless franchise but Jesus Christ is still Lord!
Christianity is dead! Long live the King!
Jesus Christ is alive and well and on his throne.
Christianity must die so that Christ’s disciples can grow.
There has never been a better time to be a disciple of Jesus Christ!
