Our INHERITANCE
1 Peter 1:3-4 "Praised, honored, blessed, be Yah and Father of our Master, Messiah Yahshua! By His BOUNDLESS MERCY we have BEEN BORN AGAIN to an EVER-LIVING HOPE through the RESURRECTION of YAHSHUA MESSIAH from the dead. BORN ANEW into an INHERITANCE which is beyond the reach of change and decay, IMPERISHABLE, UNSULLIED and UNFADING, RESERVED in HEAVEN for you."
:5-7 Which are BEING GUARDED by YAH'S POWER THOUGH your faith till you FULLY INHERIT THAT FINAL, SALVATION that is READY to be REVEALED for you in the last time. You should be exceedingly glad on this account though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, So that the genuineness of your faith may be tested, your faith which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire ....
:8 Without having seen Him, YOU LOVE Him; though you do not even now see Him, you BELEIVE in Him ..."
As believer in Yahweh-Yahshua ... our Messiah ... our spiritual INHERITANCE lies in Him. It is to RECEIVE an IRREVOCABLE GIFT when we are in a special COVENANT RELATIONSHIP with our Maker. It is an inheritance we receive ... by being His own ... where He bestows spiritual blessings on us inclusive of His promises - Him being our Provider and Protector while we are still here on earth ... a full inheritance that are waiting for us when we depart to be with Him ... a son-ship ... daughter-ship in His heavenly kingdom. How amazing is that!
How can there be UNITY in the BODY OF BELIEVERS with such great DIVERSITY of DISUNITY:
In Christianity - with its great diversity of more than 33,000 denominations around the world - all of them are functioning in own TRADITIONS in their RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES and DOGMA.
There are great disunity amongst them all ... with all of them functioning in their OWN particular rules and church-laws ... dogmatic differences OVERRULING YAHWEH'S WORD following the teachings of man instead ... the teachings of a 'great' founding "CHURCH-FATHER" or "FAHTERS) - ancient or not.
CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY with its TRADITIONS started with Constantine;
Out of Catholic Christianity sprouted ... PROTESTANTISM.
Out of Protestantism sprouted ...
LUTHERANISM that started with Martin Luther and his teachings;
CALVINISM started with John Calvin and his teachings and the the EVANGELICAL AND REFORMED MOVEMENTS - started with both of Calvin and Luther's and others' teachings;
METHODISM - a REVIVAL MOVEMENT WITHIN the 18th century CHURCH of ENGLAND - a movement with two viewpoints ARMINIAN and Calvinistic Methodist - started with John Wesley, George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley;
ANA-BAPTISM GROUPS (Mennonites - 2.1 million - The German Baptists - 1.5 million - the Amish - 300,000 and the Hutterites - 50,000) - that started with the Schwartenau Brethren [the German Baptist Brethren - Dunkers, Dunkards, Tunkers or simply the German Baptists believing in dunking - to dip - to immerse], Bruderhof and the Apostolic Christian Church - that again started with the "Radical Reformation" - Thomas Muntzer, Andreas Karlstadt, and the Zwickau prophets;
BAPTIST CHURCH - started with the English Separatist John Smyth.
Other religious movements also sprouted from both Catholicism and/or Protestantism such as ...
Anglicanism (the church of England) - Apostolic movements - Patriotic movements - all the "Rites" movements - Episcopal movements - Evangelical Lutheran movements - the Bible fellowships - Restoration movements - Seventh Day Adventism etc. all founded on man's teachings, viewpoints and perceptions.
1. CATHOLIC TRADITION (1.3 BILLION)
In Catholic Christian tradition there are more than 1.3 Billion members inclusive of ...
Eastern Catholic churches - 18 million
Byzantine Rite - 8.2 million inclusive of
Ukranian Greek - Melkite Greek - Romanian Greek - Rutherian Greek - Hungarian Greek - Slovak Greek - Belarusion Greek - Itali-Albanian - Greek Catholic church of Croatia and Serbia - Georgian Byzantine Catholic church - Albanian Greek - Russian Greek - Macedonian Greek - Bulgarian Greek - Greek Bysantine churches - East Syriac Rite - Syro-Malabar Catholic church - Chaldean Catholic church - West Syriac Rite - Maronite - Syro Malankara - Syriac Catholic - Armenian Catholic Rite - Armenian Catholic - Ethiopian Catholic - Society of Saint Pius X - Plilippine Independent Catholic church - Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association - Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church - Traditionalist Mexican-American Catholic Church - Old Catholic Church - Polist National Catholic church - Apostolic Catholic Church - Palmarian Catholic church and many many more ...
2. PROTESTANT TRADITION:
In Protestant tradition there are approximately - 900 Million inclusive of ...
Modern Protestantism - 400-500 million inclusive of
Pentecostialism - 280 million
Non denominational Christianity - 80 - 100 million
African Initiated churches - 60 million
New Apostolic churches - 10 million
Chinese-originated and Chines Independent churches - 10 million inclusive of ...
Historical Protestantism - (300-400 million)
Inclusive of ...
Anglicanism: (110 million)
Inclusive of Church of England - traditional Anglican - Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa - Pakistan - Ireland - Canada - West Africa - Melanesia - Episcopal Church in Philippines - Anglican North in North America - North India - South India - Australia and many many more ...
Baptists: (75 - 105 million)
Inclusive of Southern Baptist Convention (14.8 million) - National Baptist Convention USA (7.5 million) - Nigerion Baptist Convention - (5 million) - National Missionary Baptist Convention of America (3.1 million) - National Baptist Convention of America Inc. (3.1 million) - Baptist Union of Uganda (2.5 million) - Baptist Community of Congo (2.1 million) - Baptist Convention of Tanzania (2.0 million) - Brazilian Baptist - Progressive National Baptist - Council of Baptist churches in Northeast India - American Baptist Churches USA (1.2 million) - Baptist Bible Fellowship International (1.2 Million) - Lott Cary Foreign Mission Convention ... and many many more ...
Lutheranism: (70 - 90 million)
Inclusive of Evangelical church in Germany - Ethiopian Evangelical Chruch Mekane Yesus - Evangelical Lutheran church in Tanzania (6.5 million) - church of Sweden (5.9 million) - United Evangelical Church in India (4.5 million) - Church of Denmark (4.3 million) - Batak Christian Protestant Church (4 million) - Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (3.8 million) - Church of Norway (3.7 million) - and many many more ...
Methodism: (60 - 80 million)
Reformed churches (Calvinism): (60 - 80 million)
Seventh Day Adventist: (20 million)
Restoration Movement: (7 million)
Anabaptism: (4 million)
Plymouth Brethren: (1 million)
Hussites: (1 million) & Quakers: (0.4 million);
3. EASTERN ORTHODOXY - 230 million;
4. ORIENTAL ORTHODOXY - 62 million;
5. NON-TRINITARIAN RESTORATIONISM - 35 million;
6. MISCELLANEOUS BRANCHES - 2 million.
OUR religious INHERITANCE:
All believers that are born in one of these denominations - INHERIT the specific denomination's ways - soundly Biblical or not and are taught the specific church' ways from childhood stage when admitted into (Sunday) School ... right through to young adult stage.
It is because of this religious inheritance we receive that many believers get upset every time they are confronted with some dogmatic tradition issue - something that can easily be resolved by looking at what the WORD of YAHWEH say about that matter. IN ALL INSTANCES - ALWAYS FOLLOW the WORD.
Father, please help us to take our issues to You - to Your Word ... where we will find the TRUTH ... Help us to be the "clay" in Your hands ... to be molded according to Your plan for our lives. Help us to stay humble ... help us to never hardened our hearts to Your Word and Your teachings ... help us to FOLLOW YOUR WORD no matter what we were told ... Help us to FOLLOW Your EXAMPLE O YAHSHUA ... in YOUR wonderful redeeming NAME. Amen.