Who Is In Charge Of The Church?

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In Wales and the UK traditional churches are closing fast, especially since the big split of the Church of England along with the Church of Wales has taken place. The split is because the UK based denomination has decided to go against what has been written in the Bible and gone off on their own "Politically correct" tangent, and forced those that adhere to the Word of God to separate and come apart. It basically comes down to the closed churches are the people who believe the Bible is God's Word and the ones that remain open do not believe the Bible is true, and rather believe that people's collective opinions on what their faith should be is true.

I have oversimplified it a bit to get a grasp of what has been going on, but the split (Which is not just the Anglican based denominations but other chapel and church based denominations have also been split and have lost congregations and their leaders... Catholics are holding form so have not split as yet), but has also had the effect that large overseas regions of these denominations have also split away from the UK church, as they have decided they don't agree with archbishops decision.
One can argue that if one is a Bible believing Christian that this is a good thing as God said through prophetic word that He was separating the wheat from the chaff and that there will be a great "Falling away".
So who is "Falling away"?
One may assume it is the ones who have left the churches and chapels. But is it? Is it the other way around?

Ok. Put it in perspective. Who is in charge? God or man? (Man as in people? To those who believe there is no God does it matter? Actually to them, no! (Well, not in the short term as it will effect them eventually)).
If God IS in charge, the question then is "Is the Bible the Word of God?" If it is, then it is true. If it is not the Word of God, then one can preach and read a passage that clearly says one thing only to then say " What it ACTUALLY means is.... " and then preach something else entirely! (Generally known as false Gospels and false preaching which is why one needs to read the Bible for oneself if one believes the Bible is the Word of God).
So what about those who do not believe the Bible is the Word of God, or who "Pick and mix" scriptures at their hearts desire and reject the scriptures they don't like. There is a word for this in the past which was called "Sects". A sect has the form of a religion that it is a sect to, but it has branched off in its own direction as it does not adhere to the key fundamental beliefs of the religion. As far as Christianity goes, a sect is one which has a different view to the written Word of God, and often has altered that view and 're-written to form their own version of what they then call their "Bible".
The test is "Can one stand on what is written and know that it is true?" We know that people's opinions are not God's Word. That is what happened to the original Babylon and why God destroyed it! The foundational remains of the massive tower are still there today. What were the people doing that displeased God? Well. Got told them to go forth throughout the world and multiply. They decided not to and decided to build a tower towards God so they can decide what they want God to do. (Best to read it for oneself in the Bible).
What happened? God confused their speech into many different languages so they HAD to spread out and form their own people groups, and God destroyed their tower.
Now the Bible is a book that has areas of repeating significance. What I mean by this is some things written, when they happened they look as if they had happened, but the details work outwardly when thousands of years later they happen again. Example of what Jesus said about the "Last days"before His return to judge.. "Just as the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of reforming of the Son of Man". What happened in Noahs time? Sin reached up to Heaven and God could no longer ignore it. God was going to wipe every human off threads of the Earth but he found Noah as his family were righteous so God saved them. We know the rest. Even remote tribes cut off from the outside world knew about the floor and Noah. Why? Because they all were descended from Noah as only Noah and his family survived!

Anyway. This thread is about the shaking of the church. The shaking of the wheat from the chaff. The Bible tells us what happens to the chaff! It is burned!


Your thoughts? Before you answer realise that GOD LOVES YOU! What God is looking for are people who love Him in return! (Jesus is coming back for His bride! That's us! If you were Jesus, would you want to marry those who didn't love you in return? Neither will Jesus!)

If you want prayer just ask. Or pray yourself and ask Jesus into your heart before it is too late!

Hypocrites who enjoy virtue-signalling and exploiting the poor, the ignorant, and the lonely or insecure.

I have to express my feelings for this question through song.

https://youtu.be/0VyJPyIbl1k?si=hDI2j7J25RBKfZaK

Basically Cults

Cults are basically churches lacking in political clout.

Money.

And there's a specific archdemon for this known as "Mammon". How ironic...

https://www.britannica.com/topic/mammon

He kind of reminds me of the Roman Deity known as Pluto who was not only the King of the Underworld but also the God who ruled over all the riches that the earth could provide like precious metals, gems, cash crops, oil, etc.

Hence the term "Pluto"crats meaning a government ruled by the extremly wealthy (which is basically what my country the USA is but we are obviously not the only ones who measure power by wealth).

Different churches have different rules determining who is in charge of them. Ultimately, it's always people or a person.

what is the difference between Jesus' instructions and PEOPLE'S COMMUNAL OPINIONS? Is it just something like "instruments to be used in prayer"? God loves the world, and so does the collective.God will see sincerity if you really have it. As for the rituals, they're an excuse for God to give you a short break.Can anyone give me some details? About why they made such a big deal out of it.

I'm an omnist but I'd say my views align somewhat with deism (which is what America's founding fathers were and why they tried to seperate church and state before the far right started trying to turn us into a Christian Theocracy)

I believe that if the many Gods of our world created everything then they obviously have abandoned us at this point, and thar they are pretty indifferent towards the plight of us mortals.

There's way too much misery in the world for me to believe that any of our gods truly care about us. Even the Christian God of the Old Testament and parts of The New Testament was shown to often be a nasty piece of work.

The Greeks and Romans didnt even try to pretend that their Gods were loving with all the stories of how they raped humans and each other or how they would destroy lives over petty jealousy. They were like brutal tyrants who one would hope to stay on their good side.

And even in the earliest ancient civilization, Mesopotamia, it was believed that the Gods created humans to be their mere play toys and they didn't actually care for our wellbeing.

There is no love to be found in God or those Gods.

Maybe I'm really "out there" in my personal beliefs but I can see how the Gods are about anything but love. If they are real then to them we must be like nothing more than meaningless insects who get in the way of their grand scheme of things.

I am an arrogant atheist who believes that I can understand both believers and God. I think God initially just wanted everyone to develop slower so that their morality and lifestyle could match. Otherwise, they would lose their pursuit of beautiful things and just talk about money, just like part of rich Americans.
It's my intention to offend everyone

Pfft, wanna see me do better when I tell Christians and Jews that their God was really a combination of two different Canaanite deities? Yeah you read that right, the same Canaanites who "God" ordered the Israelites to commit genocidal warfare against because they were supposedly so evil

https://youtu.be/mdKst8zeh-U?si=nMHsu_ORoCx-Yb0v

Different Christians emphasize different parts of the Bible and interpret it in different ways.

Oddly, those Christians who insist most strongly on the Bible being the inerrant Word of God are all too often, in some ways, among the least faithful to Jesus's central teachings.

I would be interested in your comments on "Christians in the hands of an angry God" by Brad Hicks, 2004:

- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Part 4
- Part 5.

I feel like there's always been a lot of corruption among the priest class of any religion. In ancient times priests (and priestesses for non-Abrahamic faiths) weilded as much power as kings did, sometimes even moreso.

Because they weilded so much spiritual influence over people I can imagine how the power often went to their heads.

I read some of the first part and I do not share his views. Remember that the Bible had to be precisely copied word for word. The Old Testament Torah which is such an example as they found "The Bible code" in it. I don't know much about this other than it spelt out various words, but I remember thinking at the time why God may have told them to copy it out precisely.
God speaks to people. We know this. I have heard God speak. I have also had God speak through me and I have been listening to what He says!
The Bible is what I call a "Three dimensional book". I have never come across a book (Or correctly termed "A collection of books") quite like it, and this is even including when I have tried reading bibles from other religions or Christian based sects as they feel "Dead" to read and two dimentional. Is like drinking flat gone off cola compared to drinking fresh cola. There is no spiritual life flowing through other books. Some books I can sense an awful smell.
Reading the Bible is different. It has both a two and a three dimensional read flowing both at the same time complimenting each other as one reads. It is why it was not to be changed other than translation to other languages. (What good is a Bible if it is in a language one can't read!)

I have come across two types of people within the realm of Christianity where by they are missing out on the fullness of the faith. The first which take the scriptures in a non-spiritual way because maybe they have never had the spiritual birth of the Holy Spirit within them? The problem with this is they are not going to enter any spiritual battles. Is like a church leader who says "Let us enter into spiritual battle together" and then prays for the healing of someone's leg which is not relevant to what spiritual warefare actually is. (Not saying that praying for healing is wrong at all but it is not spiritual warfare though to someone who is Word based without the Holy Spirit, they make this mistake as to them they don't see the difference between the two. Is like someone who has umpteen different copies of car mechanics handbook and literature about how to drive and get has never actually driven a car. A bit like a car mechanic who has never driven a car so may know the cars in detail from a mechanical point of view, but it someone mentions how the cars actually feel like to drive they don't understand even though they "Think" they do.
At the other end of the scale there are those who go astray on the spiritual side because they are highly spiritual but not basing their spiritual element on the Word of God! The Bible is the ultimate handbook! While there will be areas that one may come across that one has no direction from the Word of God so one has to pray, such as a car mechanic who faces a situation not covered by the car mechanics handbook, so he has to find a more experienced mechanic to ask if they know what to do! But this does not mean we stray away from the handbook as our guide and our set of rules and principles!
But it is like someone who drives a car but does not have a clue how to maintain its mechanical parts! Sooner or later something is going to break down and we have disaster upon our hands. Such people can end up like that spiritually because they have strayed from the Word!

(I have used cars and car mechanics as an analogy to try to explain things. I hope I am making sense!)

The Christian faith is based upon the Word. The Word is Jesus! When we read our Bibles, we see the Word through them. The Old Testament pointed towards Jesus Christ. The New Testament identified who Christ is and lives Christ. The Bible is not a collection of meaningless stories. If one thinks that one has missed what it is all about!
The Bible is about Jesus and what He did for us! Jesus is the link that bridges us to God, as without Jesus making a way we have no access to God. Jesus is GOD who came to earth in the flesh.

... followed by a statement of your theological beliefs about the Bible, and about your own personal experiences and feelings. But none of that is relevant to the main point of the article, which has to do with what the Bible itself says on various moral issues, whether one believes in it or not, and regardless of how one feels about it.

I would be interested in your comments on the following, from Part 1: