The title says it all "THE Church". There is only one church, not many but one; the one of Jesus Christ.

The problem is that we have been missing the spiritual side of the church and without the spiritual side it is only physical. Grace is of the spirit; law is of the physical so anything of the physical alone is of the law.

In a way the Catholic Church has it right; if they were to add the spiritual to what is in place it would be the one church.

In Revelation 2-3 Jesus addresses one of the churches that is missing the Mark that He is not happy with, a church that votes for pastors, elders, etc.

Let's look at the Apostles in Acts 1:

23. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and matthias.

24. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

25. That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

26. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

After this we hardly hear anything about matthias, remember they are choosing who will replace Judas who hung himself after betraying Jesus. Then later we find whom Jesus chose as the replacement for Judas. He was one who was as unlikely as the original twelve were and even more so, Saul who becomes Paul.

Acts 9

1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

2. And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

8. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

12. And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

17. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18. And imediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

19. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

20. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

21. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?

22. But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

The church is a revealed that knowledge from God the Father of whom Jesus is as The Christ and The Son of the Living God.

It is all based on hearing in the Spirit not of the flesh.

15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

A lot of confusion over these verses is caused because the Latin (Catholic) Vulgate used a proper name for Petros in verse 18 (Peter) instead of what should have been used "a piece of the rock".

Why they did this was to validate the Pope’s being of Peter and Peter’s being the church foundation. Now read it as if it had been "a piece of the rock" instead of "Peter".

18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art a piece of the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Jesus was sent to undo what Adam did with the original sin and that was to re-unite mankind to God the only way possible, via the Spirit.

23. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Satan has been here longer than all you know added together. He does his job well, too well. It can be overcome but only in the spirit.

Satan knows that the only way he can keep us from God is if he attacks us in our soul, but he does use the flesh for this as well.

3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

So Satan started planting lies in us, not always directly because he cannot and is not Omni-present with the ability to deal with us all as God does. So he uses those he sees that can reach the most people and who are the easiest to use by planting ideas in them and letting them carry them forward.

However once a person understands 2 Corinthians 10:5 and starts casting down imaginations that go against the knowledge of God and then starts taking every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ they find and learn the truth which Satan has hidden for almost 17 centuries.

It started in 3^rd century church and by the 4^th and 5^th the damage was done and it was mostly based on good intentions. Constantine, the ruler of Rome, met the Lord and decided that all of Rome needed to be of Christ. So he made a law stating that to own property or to have any power one had to be of Christ. But it backfired on him; instead of making people true followers of the Lord it just caused more non-Christians to be part of the church.

From there we had the dark ages, a time when anything not of God was destroyed and the world lost a lot of knowledge, art, etc. Now I agree that some was erotic and provocative and needed to be at the very least restricted, but not necessarily all destroyed. They even decided that since Egyptians worshiped cats, that cats were evil. Even to this day cats are seen as mediums to witches, warlocks, those of the occult to Hell itself. In the dark ages they decided to kill all cats not realizing they were killing themselves or at the very least many who lived then. With the reduction of cats the rat population grew and the plague came about and took many.

Then of course there were the Holy wars, the inquisition and the day when many broke away from the Catholic Church due to oppression and formed new religions. I believe one of the worst things that happened was the inquisition and I believe it was mostly a way for those in power in the church to do away with its enemies (any and all that did not think just like them).

In the early 16^th century Martin Luther got a hold of two books of the NT previously not read or allowed to be read by the lower end of the church. Once he read these two books he addressed a letter to the Pope calling him an Anti-Christ. The Pope excomunicated him and Luther was forced to stay vigilant to his surroundings because in those days excomunication meant death.

Luther never meant for a religion to be formed based on his teachings or his name. Over the next 500 years many new denominations, non-denominations, and religions in general would be formed based on interpretation of the word of God and not understanding. Satan did this all by helping a person here and there with an imagination that grew into a thought and eventually into an action.

Any and all churches teaching that we should hear from God and be taught everything by God that only get together to edify and uplift one another. This is closer to the truth than those who develop pew warmers and comittees to operate the church and seek tithe money.

There should be spiritual leaders. These should be apostles, not just in name but in spirit mostly. They should be known by their fruit as described in Gal 5:22-23 and in power and wisdom of God as described in I Cor 1:24.

22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

The wisdom as much if not more than the power should be evident in an Apostle and this wisdom should be greater than even Solomon's wisdom.

Then there should be Missionaries and Evangelists who go forth and bring the word to the furthermost reaches of the earth.

In the areas where the word is preached, those who are hearing God and guided by God and called by God (Missionaries, Evangelists and Apostles) should teach all to listen to and hear from God and God alone. Of course there will be a need to help all in their walk with the Lord that are not hearing and being obedient yet. There should be those guided by God who will take these by the hand and help them until they do.

Gatherings should be joyous and uplifting and edifying one another in the Lord.

All teachings, prayers, and comunion should be private and one on one between the person and God. Understand the true church is the individual in the Lord; it is a relationship a one on one. The word comunion means intimate relationship and no one has intimate relationships with a spouse openly, but in private.

6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Understand Satan has gotten us doing the same as the synagogues of the day when Jesus walked. We do as they did in rituals, traditions, tithing, offering our time and resources and attending services once or more a week to hear from a man of God. This is not what Jesus came to establish. The world already had this and it was not working.

He did come to bring a better relationship with God the Father.

Yes, fellowship is needed with like minded and spiritually alike people, not to learn or to worship as is done today but to edify and uplift one another, to be there to support each other in any and all ways.

In many of today's churches of this world there is more division than in the world itself. In my life I have attended many that have divisions in their congregations, little groups and cliques that get together. In some if you belong to one you cannot belong to some of the others. Then in these groups/cliques there is further division there; will be those who attend and those who are in charge over all that attend.

When churches of this world realize they do not have to count on man but God alone for all their needs they will change from developing memberships who join for life to those that develop the true church that will attend to share the blessings of God, and uplift each other.

Because the true tithe goes to where you are fed and if you are fed of God then it will go to where ever you were told and taught just how to hear and listen to God. And the tithe will continue there even after the person no longer attends and gathers with this part of the church. That is especially if they go forth and help others in the same manner.

Which makes more sense for the church?
1. To have to build larger and larger buildings to handle all that attend and pay higher utility bills, etc.

2. To teach all how to hear from God and let them go forth and never need a larger building. This group will have all tithing to it, 100% even though majority in time will go forth and there will be no need for larger buildings.

Between the two the first will cost more and never have more than 10-30% tithing and donating where the second will cost less and have 100% tithing.

What I meant earlier by saying that the Catholics almost have it right is that the church should have spiritual leaders, those who are hearing from God and the most obedient in Him, to lead by example as well as word those who do not yet hear.

Never should man vote for a leader of the church. That should always be left up to God.

Today many churches of this world are closing because many took their call to be of the church as to being a leader. In doing so, they failed because their ministry was of them and not the Lord. Many are turned off from God due to man; they do not realize they are judging God based on mankind. Many people are turned against churches/religions based on what they perceive when they attend. They see judging, condemnation, jealousy, envy, and un-forgiveness and not much love at all.

Whom do you think this serves the most God or Satan? If the churches/religions of this world returned to their first love (Jesus) those who ever had it would find more than they would ever imagine, especially Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faith and Self-Control.

The first verse I stood on to grow was Matthew 6:33. It would do most a great service if they did as well.

33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Understand I will not judge or condemn and if it seems I have I am sorry you have perceived it as such. I can truthfully say I am just stating facts not names or peoples but what the word says and what the world states you can decide.

Instead of attending a church, become the church.