Great Apostasy? 8-10
Morning, ya’ll. Ephesians 4:1-6; I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation to which you are called. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Word, and now starts my personal rant. I, also, want the body of Christ to unite and to stop the insanity of hate for our brothers and sisters in Christ over the interpretation/misinterpretation of a single verse of scripture. The late and not so great, in my humble opinion, Martin Luther divided the body of believers when he deleted books in the late 1500's from the original ratified bible. Arguably rightly so, but not many know he also added the word ONLY to make a verse read, “Saved by faith ONLY”. ONLY appears in italics in the KJV with most versions adding the footnote that it was added for clarity. Martin also wanted 5 or 6 more books removed because they read “faith without works is dead”, worded in various forms. His original followers disagreed and said they would be forced to start their own church if he did that. The rest is history as the last reported number, that I believed, was there are over 40,000 different Christian denominations operating in the world these days. Could that be called a great apostasy, that was foretold and then fore came? I am reminded to take each denominational doctrine with a grain of salt and then to trust God, that He has a plan to reunite us all under Him, even if the reunion comes after our first death.
PS: As I often state, if one person is motivated to open their bible to prove me wrong, I win. And I regrettably confess, and ask forgiveness for, misinterpreting the scriptures over the last forty years myself.