14

 

I laughed when I read this one!  It IS FUNNY!!!  However, I could actually envision someone doing this.  Many people will try anything, do anything.  You just never know what some people will do next.  The same is true when it comes to matters regarding religion.  People do all sorts of crazy things; believe the most outlandish concepts and often are misled into error; Why?  The answer to that one is as varied as there are people, so I could literally spend years writing and never even begin to address everything.  Two things come time, though; first is that those in error forgot to make THE BIBLE AS THEIR STANDARD and second, they ignore the makeup of the church as it is found in the New Testament. So, this passage came to mind and I would like to share it with you.

WEB: Ephesians Chapter 4
[11] He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; [12] for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; [14] that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; [15] but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; [16] from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.

Where would we be without love?  Our lives would indeed be empty and devoid of meaning.  Love for God and our fellow human beings should be our motivation for action.  Someone once said: "Love God and do what you like".  With the idea being that if you truly LOVE GOD, then you will do what he wants you to.  For those who follow Christ, that means to study, study, study and LOVE.  To study means not only an intellectual understanding of HIS WORD, but a willingness to listen to the Elders, Preachers and Teachers that God has given us, so that we might understand what THE WORD SAYS.  Growing up spiritually will enable us to understand truth from error, so that we won't just believe just anything.  Not everybody will do this of course and then what do you have?  NUMBER 14, of course!!!!