What Should I Think of the Denominations Around Me?

Question

What should I think of the denominations around me? There are many churches in our neighborhood and I sometimes wonder about this.

Answer

It is true that there are many churches in our world. (Some say that there may be as many as 30,000 Protestants alone!) How are we to think about them and what should be our view of them? From where I live, only one mile away, I think of many different denominations, each having a reason for their existence. We can think of:

  1. An Assembly of God Church (It doesn’t go by this name).
  2. An Orthodox Church
  3. A Presbyterian Church
  4. A Mormon Church, called a “Stake”
  5. A liberal Church of Christ
  6. A liberal United Methodist Church
  7. A Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod)
  8. A charismatic Church
  9. A somewhat conservative Baptist Church
  10. A Roman Catholic Church
  11. An independent Charismatic Church

 

I may be overlooking one or two but these come to mind. And they all claim to have a reason for their being. But do they, really? Is God pleased with them, all of them?

We think of the following churches and a few characteristics of each of them:

Roman Catholic Church

  1. Idolatry, with numerous images prevalent.
  2. Prayer to the dead, especially to Mary, whereas she is dead.
  3. Purgatory
  4. The so-called “Pope.”
  5. Multiple offices
  6. Sadly, there are dozens and dozens of false activities and relationships.

Episcopal Church

  1. There are so many false elements regarding this denomination that we wonder where to begin..
  2. Sodomy and transgenderism is now prevalent.
  3. Infant baptism, thus most are not saved
  4. False organization
  5. Bishop system
  6. Feminism

Oneness Pentecostal Church

  1. Belief in Jesus alone
  2. Belief in God the Father alone
  3. Belief in churchianity
  4. Emotionalism
  5. Extreme feminism (especially in regular Pentecostal churches)

Methodist Church

  1. Many moral compromises
  2. Feminism
  3. False organization and the “bishop” system
  4. Churchianity
  5. Infant “baptism”
  6. We refer to the United Methodist Church” here.

Presbyterian Church

  1. Infant “baptism”
  2. Liberalism among many of them
  3. Churchianity
  4. False system in many ways

We know that it is impossible to list the massive false teachings and false practices on these churches. They would require dozens listed and not only 4 or 5 items.

For this reason, we must turn from the many denominations that we find all around us. Why? These are some of the reasons:

  1. They “profess to know God” but their deeds indicate otherwise (Titus 1:16). We acknowledge that there are positives but we also know that there are many negatives.
  1. They profess to have fellowship with Christ (Matthew 28:20), but, sadly, they fail to really follow this out.
  1. They profess to take their directives from the Bible (John 12:48) but, sadly, this is an outward profession and not a genuine and sincere desire to obey His Word in all things (Mark 7:6-15).

For these and other reasons, we must turn from them and find our blessing in God alone. He is our source of life and joy. Let us go on with Him!