There are currently 41,000 different Christian denominations

[Heart2Soul]

Then by 2025 it is said that the number of DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS will reach 55,000.
Okay I will make my point and question for this topic at the end of this...first here are the statistics I found and I looked at all the ones that came up on my web-search....I chose this one because it isn't written as a denominational perspective...most the others were from different denomination churches.
https://www.thoughtco.com/christianity-statistics-700533

by Mary Fairchild
Updated December 19, 2017
In the last 100 years, the number of Christians in the world has quadrupled from about 600 million in 1910 to more than 2 billion presently. Today, Christianity is the world's largest religious group. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, in 2010, there were 2.18 billion Christians of all ages living in the world.

Worldwide Number of Christians
Five years later, in 2015, Christians still comprise the largest religious group in the world (with 2.3 billion adherents), representing nearly a third (31%) of the total global population.

US adherents - 247 million in 2010
UK adherents - 45 million in 2010

Percentage of Christians Worldwide
32% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.

Top 3 Largest National Christian Populations
About half of all Christians live in just 10 countries. The top three are the United States, Brazil, and Mexico:

United States - 246,780,000 (79.5% of the Population)
Brazil - 175,770,000 (90.2% of the Population)
Mexico - 107,780,000 (95% of the Population)

Number of Christian Denominations
According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are approximately 41,000 Christian denominations and organizations in the world today. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions between denominations in different countries, so there is an overlapping of many denominations.

So my question for everyone to consider: WHY? Why are there so many different denominations in the Christian Faith?
I read along the lines somewhere that Christianity was a single religion for a thousand years...the there was a division as shown below...

Okay now to get to the bottom of all this....with all these different denominations....and each having their doctrine of faith to which they adhere to .....and each claim that their church is the true church pointing fingers at the other denominations accusing them of having it wrong and teaching false doctrine...yet they all teach out of the same Bible......
what kind of lunacy is this in our world?

Oh I thank God that He is restoring His Church as it was in the beginning...in one mind, one accord in the unity of faith.....
The way I see it as it stands now with all this division....when we do get to Heaven will we be totally shocked that none of us had it right since the split?
So with every split of the Christian faith from the first origin of it's birth the doctrines of faith become more corrupt and filled with false teaching by the day...to the point there will be no Word of God....it will be the Word OF MEN that teaches our young generation...
James 3
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Have faith fellow Christians....it's time to do some sifting and separating of the wheat and tares....AMEN

 

[Heart2Soul]

apparently you can't copy and post pictures of grafts...sorry

 

[Windmill Charge]

Then by 2025 it is said that the number of DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS will reach 55,000.

Where does it say that?
I've looked through the article and no where does it say this.

Also I would suggest accepting the stats very carefully.
The article said:-UK adherents - 45 million in 2010 as the population of the UK in 2010 was 62 million that would make over 50% of the uk Christian, if you trust what people tick on a cencus form.
A review of church membership showed only 11% of the uk population claimed to bel;ong to a church see https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html

While article like this seem good, once one digs into the figuers it isn't as good as it seems.

 

[Heart2Soul]

Where does it say that?
I've looked through the article and no where does it say this.

Also I would suggest accepting the stats very carefully.
The article said:-UK adherents - 45 million in 2010 as the population of the UK in 2010 was 62 million that would make over 50% of the uk Christian, if you trust what people tick on a cencus form.
A review of church membership showed only 11% of the uk population claimed to bel;ong to a church see https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html

While article like this seem good, once one digs into the figuers it isn't as good as it seems.

It was in the picture post I posted but it won't post....

 

[Windmill Charge]

It was in the picture post I posted but it won't post....

There weren't any graphs that I could see in the article.

That said raking around the internt and 41k appears to be theaceptednumber for denominatins in the world.

 

[APAK]

Then by 2025 it is said that the number of DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS will reach 55,000.
Okay I will make my point and question for this topic at the end of this...first here are the statistics I found and I looked at all the ones that came up on my web-search....I chose this one because it isn't written as a denominational perspective...most the others were from different denomination churches.
https://www.thoughtco.com/christianity-statistics-700533

by Mary Fairchild
Updated December 19, 2017
In the last 100 years, the number of Christians in the world has quadrupled from about 600 million in 1910 to more than 2 billion presently. Today, Christianity is the world's largest religious group. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, in 2010, there were 2.18 billion Christians of all ages living in the world.

Worldwide Number of Christians
Five years later, in 2015, Christians still comprise the largest religious group in the world (with 2.3 billion adherents), representing nearly a third (31%) of the total global population.

US adherents - 247 million in 2010
UK adherents - 45 million in 2010

Percentage of Christians Worldwide
32% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.

Top 3 Largest National Christian Populations
About half of all Christians live in just 10 countries. The top three are the United States, Brazil, and Mexico:

United States - 246,780,000 (79.5% of the Population)
Brazil - 175,770,000 (90.2% of the Population)
Mexico - 107,780,000 (95% of the Population)

Number of Christian Denominations
According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are approximately 41,000 Christian denominations and organizations in the world today. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions between denominations in different countries, so there is an overlapping of many denominations.

So my question for everyone to consider: WHY? Why are there so many different denominations in the Christian Faith?
I read along the lines somewhere that Christianity was a single religion for a thousand years...the there was a division as shown below...

Okay now to get to the bottom of all this....with all these different denominations....and each having their doctrine of faith to which they adhere to .....and each claim that their church is the true church pointing fingers at the other denominations accusing them of having it wrong and teaching false doctrine...yet they all teach out of the same Bible......
what kind of lunacy is this in our world?

Oh I thank God that He is restoring His Church as it was in the beginning...in one mind, one accord in the unity of faith.....
The way I see it as it stands now with all this division....when we do get to Heaven will we be totally shocked that none of us had it right since the split?
So with every split of the Christian faith from the first origin of it's birth the doctrines of faith become more corrupt and filled with false teaching by the day...to the point there will be no Word of God....it will be the Word OF MEN that teaches our young generation...
James 3
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Have faith fellow Christians....it's time to do some sifting and separating of the wheat and tares....AMEN

Most calling themselves Christians today or even hundreds of years ago in my view are and were not true believers of the faith. The true believers have been ‘underground’ or not political, never powerful or never worldly since the ‘wolves’ came in and replaced the truth after 100 AD. They have been moving throughout history basically in the shadows as individuals, being persecuted and abused (physically and mentally), and never rich in material things; only rich is spiritual treasures – wisdom, understanding and love of God.

Those statistics and many like them, as you quoted are useless to me. I would say that there are only about five percent of the planet’s population at most, that are true believers in Christ today. To me that is a sobering thought, if I’m even close to being correct.

The increase in so-called denominations these days does not necessarily increase true believer membership; it can only make more fake and confused Christians, in my view, as I see how human nature works.

In Luke’s gospel Christ queries whether he will find faith on this planet when he returns? I’m guessing he meant not much at all. Plenty of imposters though....

Bless you,

APAK

 

[Heart2Soul]

Where does it say that?
I've looked through the article and no where does it say this.

Also I would suggest accepting the stats very carefully.
The article said:-UK adherents - 45 million in 2010 as the population of the UK in 2010 was 62 million that would make over 50% of the uk Christian, if you trust what people tick on a cencus form.
A review of church membership showed only 11% of the uk population claimed to bel;ong to a church see https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html

While article like this seem good, once one digs into the figuers it isn't as good as it seems.

i really wasn't looking for this particular topic....what I intended was to see how many variations of doctrine are out there and they all claim their doctrinal beliefs are the correct ones and others have erred and yet as far as Christian denominations they all teach from the same Bible....it is just a spirit of division from the time of the first split....every day a new doctrine is popping up....

 

[Heart2Soul]

Most calling themselves Christians today or even hundreds of years ago in my view are and were not true believers of the faith. The true believers have been ‘underground’ or not political, never powerful or never worldly since the ‘wolves’ came in and replaced the truth after 100 AD. They have been moving throughout history basically in the shadows as individuals, being persecuted and abused (physically and mentally), and never rich in material things; only rich is spiritual treasures – wisdom, understanding and love of God.

Those statistics and many like them, as you quoted are useless to me. I would say that there are only about five percent of the planet’s population at most, that are true believers in Christ today. To me that is a sobering thought, if I’m even close to being correct.

The increase in so-called denominations these days does not necessarily increase true believer membership; it can only make more fake and confused Christians, in my view, as I see how human nature works.

In Luke’s gospel Christ queries whether he will find faith on this planet when he returns? I’m guessing he meant not much at all. Plenty of imposters though....

Bless you,

APAK

Thank you for your thoughts on the matter....I failed to drive my point in that how all these denominations preach and teach from the same bible (The Holy Inspired Living Word of God)....and each interpret the meaning so differently....and the reason I wanted to discuss this is because of a debate about the Holy Spirit, the gifts and such....one person says that was for that time only....same as miracles was for Jesus time only...anyway the way I see it is if it is a LiVING Word then it lives today the same as yesterday....sigh.....oh till we all come together again in one mind and one accord in the unity of faith....AMEN.

 

[Hidden In Him]

So my question for everyone to consider: WHY? Why are there so many different denominations in the Christian Faith?

James 3
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

It is primarily for two reasons, and by the way, your graphs show up just fine while I am including them in my quote right now, but they may disappear again when I actually post this.

But the reason is two-fold:
1. They were not governed by the Spirit of God, who would have arbitrated amongst their hearts as they were seeking to maintain the unity of the faith in discussing matters of doctrine. As commanded in Colossians:

"And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God arbitrate in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through Him." (Colossians 3:14-17).

2. They did not fear the Lord enough regarding His command that there not be many teachers (James 3:1). Had they feared this more, they would have sought to maintain the unity of the faith in prayer.

It will now fall to the end-time church, who will collectively have ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. Most of denominationalism, however, is marching towards a time when it will enter into its death throws. They just don't now it yet.

 

[Heart2Soul]

It is primarily for two reasons, and by the way, your graphs show up just fine while I am including them in my quote right now, but they may disappear again when I actually post this.

But the reason is two-fold:
1. They were not governed by the Spirit of God, who would have arbitrated amongst their hearts as they were seeking to maintain the unity of the faith in discussing matters of doctrine. As commanded in Colossians:

"And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God arbitrate in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through Him." (Colossians 3:14-17).

2. They did not fear the Lord enough regarding His command that there not be many teachers (James 3:1). Had they feared this more, they would have sought to maintain the unity of the faith in prayer.

It will now fall to the end-time church, who will collectively have ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. Most of denominationalism, however, is marching towards a time when it will enter into its death throws. They just don't now it yet.

okay yes, I agree.....and here is what is I discovered while trying to search statistics and data about the Christian religion....it is that it is continuing to have splits after splits after splits and with each split a new doctrine is established that continues to take the believers further and further away from the truth of His Word....I learned this morning there are a lot of denominations of the Catholic church .......

https://www.catholicconvert.com/blo...holic-convert-comdocuments33000-too-many-pdf/
Now, one question that comes up. Aren’t there 242 “Catholic denominations” mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary you quote? I am not sure of the actual number, but there are a good number of Catholic schisms that have broke with Rome and set up their own “popes” and continue to call themselves Catholics. So, yes, you can say there are a lot of Catholic schisms, or if you prefer, denominations, along with Orthodox, Copts and others. It is a shame on all counts.

No wonder our churches are such a mess....the more they split the more they water down the Word of God, have an epiphany that a scripture was interpreted wrong and that it really means...yayayaya.....that the Sabbath is Saturday and any one observing Sunday as the Sabbath will not go to heaven....oh it makes my head spin with what these people are coming up with...

 

[Hidden In Him]

No wonder our churches are such a mess....the more they split the more they water down the Word of God, have an epiphany that a scripture was interpreted wrong and that it really means...yayayaya.....that the Sabbath is Saturday and any one observing Sunday as the Sabbath will not go to heaven....oh it makes my head spin with what these people are coming up with...

It's called majoring in minors. @amadeus posted an excellent post the other day pointing out that there is little focus on the 1st and 2nd commandments according to our Lord. There is also little focus on stressing the manifestation of the Holy Spirit during meetings, i.e. the need for the church to manifest supernatural gifts. When such are discarded in favor of ritual, ceremony, liturgy and formalism, the result will be no hope of ever attaining unity in the Spirit. This is why denominationalism is now in danger. The farther they stray from the heart of God and what is most important to Him, the more they will fall increasingly susceptible to deception, not even realizing they are doing so.

 

[Enoch111]

So my question for everyone to consider: WHY? Why are there so many different denominations in the Christian Faith?

I believe that that figure of 41,000 is grossly misleading. There may be a total of about 30-40 broad Christian groups/denominations (excluding those who are cultic or heterodox).

As to "why" it should be clear that when the doctrines of men and/or heresies become a part of any group, then there will be divisions.

Bible-believing Christians should not get too concerned about these divisions. The focus should always be the true Gospel and Bible truth -- Bible Christianity. It is the Bible which is the Word of God, therefore the supreme and sole authority for all doctrines and practices.

 

[amadeus]

Most calling themselves Christians today or even hundreds of years ago in my view are and were not true believers of the faith. The true believers have been ‘underground’ or not political, never powerful or never worldly since the ‘wolves’ came in and replaced the truth after 100 AD. They have been moving throughout history basically in the shadows as individuals, being persecuted and abused (physically and mentally), and never rich in material things; only rich is spiritual treasures – wisdom, understanding and love of God.

Generally I agree although I am more cautious about agreeing on the specifics. People like being on the winning side. They like being assured of the best that God has for them with the least amount of effort or loss of what they would call "fun" things. They want to ride the fence while receiving the best of rewards. They don't know about, or fail to consider, or do not understand, what this verse means:

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Rev 3:15-16

The majority of those included in the statistics as "Christians" are probably, as I see it, either lukewarm or in delusion.

Those statistics and many like them, as you quoted are useless to me. I would say that there are only about five percent of the planet’s population at most, that are true believers in Christ today. To me that is a sobering thought, if I’m even close to being correct.

I would hesitate to put any number or a percentage to it but again I would generally agree.

The increase in so-called denominations these days does not necessarily increase true believer membership; it can only make more fake and confused Christians, in my view, as I see how human nature works.

In part you may be correct, but consider that when there are so few true believers even a rough and partially incorrect witness [available in many on these denominational churches which use the scripture] could still be a stepping stone for someone who is hungry and thirsty for something better to begin his climb up higher toward God. God is in control of the situation and his promises are in place even if there be few people willing and able to take the lead or live the witness:

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matt 5:6

In Luke’s gospel Christ queries whether he will find faith on this planet when he returns? I’m guessing he meant not much at all. Plenty of imposters though....

Bless you,

APAK

If most of the ones labeled as Christian really have no faith in God or are not manifesting by their witness any faith in God then it would mean "not much at all". As to imposters, we are warned against them but someone who is really hungry and thirsty for righteousness will be led rightly by God, wouldn't you say? How hungry are we? How thirsty are we?

 

[Willie T]

Some good reading here. But, I would question the way we seem to like to use the term, "Bible Believing" as though it definitively proves something. Most people in these berated "denominations" believe the Bible. The overlooked point is that they do not believe the Bible the same way a person demeaning them might read the very same words. And which among us is truly capable of saying "This is right, because I believe it to be... and that other therefore has to be wrong... since it is only YOUR belief, and not the "correct" view that I hold."?

 

[Willie T]

Yes, there may well be only ONE way to read the Bible. But, guess what? It might not be the way YOU read it... or the way THEY read it... Or even the way I read it.

 

[amadeus]

So my question for everyone to consider: WHY? Why are there so many different denominations in the Christian Faith?
I read along the lines somewhere that Christianity was a single religion for a thousand years...

Why are there so many people moving in all different directions with regard to the secular things as well as with regard to the things of God?

Why was it necessary to confuse the languages at Babel?

Why was it necessary to save a small remnant on the ark built by Noah?

People essentially have never changed and God most certainly has not changed at all. But God made a Way for people to join with Him eternally. Many like the idea, but are unwilling to give up much to get there. But... there have been and are a few. I would certainly hesitate to include every one bearing the label of Christian as being among them.

Okay now to get to the bottom of all this....with all these different denominations....and each having their doctrine of faith to which they adhere to .....and each claim that their church is the true church pointing fingers at the other denominations accusing them of having it wrong and teaching false doctrine...yet they all teach out of the same Bible......
what kind of lunacy is this in our world?

This is still man's lunacy as it always has been. But...

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt 7:13-14

Oh I thank God that He is restoring His Church as it was in the beginning...in one mind, one accord in the unity of faith.....
The way I see it as it stands now with all this division....when we do get to Heaven will we be totally shocked that none of us had it right since the split?
So with every split of the Christian faith from the first origin of it's birth the doctrines of faith become more corrupt and filled with false teaching by the day...to the point there will be no Word of God....it will be the Word OF MEN that teaches our young generation...

God is restoring His people, but even saying that and being correct is no assurance that you or me will be among them. The only assurance has always been the Promise of God. God is looking beyond the doctrines today as He was looking beyond the sacrifices and rituals of the natural children of Israel.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb 11:6

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts." Prov 21:2

 

[Truth]

Most calling themselves Christians today or even hundreds of years ago in my view are and were not true believers of the faith. The true believers have been ‘underground’ or not political, never powerful or never worldly since the ‘wolves’ came in and replaced the truth after 100 AD. They have been moving throughout history basically in the shadows as individuals, being persecuted and abused (physically and mentally), and never rich in material things; only rich is spiritual treasures – wisdom, understanding and love of God.

Those statistics and many like them, as you quoted are useless to me. I would say that there are only about five percent of the planet’s population at most, that are true believers in Christ today. To me that is a sobering thought, if I’m even close to being correct.

The increase in so-called denominations these days does not necessarily increase true believer membership; it can only make more fake and confused Christians, in my view, as I see how human nature works.

In Luke’s gospel Christ queries whether he will find faith on this planet when he returns? I’m guessing he meant not much at all. Plenty of imposters though....

Bless you,

APAK

I do Agree, Paul in some respect bring's this topic to bare! 1st Corinthians 1:11-15 - 11- For it has been declared to Me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Ces [household], that there are contentions among you. {Strife is there already}
12- "Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul" or "I am of Apollos," or I am of Cephas," or I am of Christ."
13- Is Christ Divided?? Was Paul Crucified for You?? Or were You Baptized in the Name of Paul??
14 - I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15- least anyone should say that I had Baptized in my own Name.

There is but One Body, One Savior, One Faith, any one choosing to separate themselves from Christ, through following man, or mans denominations is walking in a cult, Denominations do nothing to bring believers together, disputing over their individual Doctrines. Listen the the Savior, not man made doctrines.

 

[Willie T]

Yes, I expect very few to listen to this..... But, since Jeff is a personal friend, I am posting it. (In fact, I am listening to it in the background as I type this.) It might be interesting to one or two of you.

 

[Heart2Soul]

I believe that that figure of 41,000 is grossly misleading. There may be a total of about 30-40 broad Christian groups/denominations (excluding those who are cultic or heterodox).

As to "why" it should be clear that when the doctrines of men and/or heresies become a part of any group, then there will be divisions.

Bible-believing Christians should not get too concerned about these divisions. The focus should always be the true Gospel and Bible truth -- Bible Christianity. It is the Bible which is the Word of God, therefore the supreme and sole authority for all doctrines and practices.

http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/a106.htm
I believe the World Christian Encyclopedia includes any sect that claims to be a Christian religion or organization was included in this study...here is the breakdown...
The Facts and Stats on "33,000 Denominations"
by P
Now for a few facts and stats from the actual source: World Christian Encyclopedia by Barrett, Kurian, Johnson (Oxford Univ Press, 2nd edition, 2001).

The source does refer to 33000+ total "Christian" denominations, but it defines the word "denomination" as an organized Christian group within a specific country:

'Denominations. A denomination is defined in this Encyclopedia as an organized aggregate of worship centers or congregations of similar ecclesiastical tradition within a specific country; i.e. as an organized Christian church or tradition or religious group or community of believers, within a specific country, whose component congregations and members are called by the same denominational name in different areas, regarding themselves as one autonomous Christian church distinct from other denominations, churches and traditions. As defined here, world Christianity consists of 6 major ecclesiastico-cultural blocs, divided into 300 major ecclesiastical traditions, composed of over 33,000 distinct denominations in 238 countries, these denominations themselves being composed of over 3,400,000 worship centers, churches or congregations.' (Barrett et al, volume 1, page 16, Table 1-5, emphasis added)

So we have, according to Barrett's Encyclopedia:

• a denomination is defined as existing within a specific country
• there are 33,000+ total of these "Christian denominations" in 238 total countries

These 33,000 are subdivided into "6 major ecclesiastico-cultural mega-blocs", and ordering them by denomination size we have (I am rounding up or down slightly for convenience, using year 2000 figures) :

• Independents (about 22000)
• Protestants (about 9000)
• "Marginals" (about 1600)
• Orthodox (781)
• Roman Catholics (242)
• Anglicans (168)

So the 33,000 number is from the total of these 6 mega-blocs:

22000 + 9000 + 1600 + 781 + 242 + 168 = 33,000+

That's where the 33,000 figure comes from. If you count the "mega-bloc" of "Protestants" only it is 9000 / 33000 or 27% of the total. However, if you combine Protestants with Independents and Anglicans ( [22000 + 9000 + 168] / 33000) it is 94% of the total or 31,000+ . We will see below that most (about 97%) of the "Independent" churches are indeed Protestants. Now that we have that settled, I will examine what the source says about each of these "mega-blocs." All of the information below is found on pages 16-18 (volume 1) of the World Christian Encyclopedia (2001, 2nd edition).

 

[Heart2Soul]

Why are there so many people moving in all different directions with regard to the secular things as well as with regard to the things of God?

Why was it necessary to confuse the languages at Babel?

Why was it necessary to save a small remnant on the ark built by Noah?

People essentially have never changed and God most certainly has not changed at all. But God made a Way for people to join with Him eternally. Many like the idea, but are unwilling to give up much to get there. But... there have been and are a few. I would certainly hesitate to include every one bearing the label of Christian as being among them.


This is still man's lunacy as it always has been. But...

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt 7:13-14


God is restoring His people, but even saying that and being correct is no assurance that you or me will be among them. The only assurance has always been the Promise of God. God is looking beyond the doctrines today as He was looking beyond the sacrifices and rituals of the natural children of Israel.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb 11:6

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts." Prov 21:2

Yes I agree.....and to tell you truth I have been living in a very sheltered world.....my own bubble.....and living my life for God in a very small insignificant way and all the while this was going on and I had no idea how bad it really was....my eyes are being opened to things I never knew or saw until now....this is definitely the laying of the foundation for the rise of the AntiChrist to begin his temporary reign....and just last week the Holy Spirit had been leading me to specific scriptures and all of them were concerning false prophets, false teachers and to prophesy against such..now I understand why

Lord come quickly...I do not fear what man can do but I fear what You can do with my soul....purify me Lord....make me whole...cleanse of all unrighteousness....create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me revealing any hidden deceptions in my heart.....I will rise up for you Oh My Father and will become your intercessor warrior...I will obey Father to do all that you ask of me.....I trust You Father to equip me and my brethren with the weapons of our warfare...INCREASE our Faith to accurately represent you as a MIGHTY God....Powerful over all demonic powers....Father I ask that you send me help to war against my enemies...send me your warring angels assigned to fight this spiritual battle....
Put a hedge of protection around my thoughts and my heart that I will not be deceived as even the highest elect can be deceived if it were possible...Father help me to remain humble before you and my fellow brethren who have stumbled remembering where I once was...Let your commandments that My Lord and Savior Jesus gave us to First Love You and to Second Love my Neighbor as Myself be the foundation of what I live for daily....Father increase my knowledge and understanding of your hidden wisdom.....and to know the mysteries you have established from the beginning of creation....I lift my prayer up to you and lay them upon your alter and I am believing for your faithfulness to fulfill my requests in Jesus Name.....Amen...I declare these requests as done in Jesus Name....Amen...PRAISE AND GLORY TO THE MOST HIGH GOD... Elohim