Firstly, let me say I believe everyone should attend the church of his/her choice, and that there are genuine Christians in all denominations

However, I truly believe that organised religion will prove to be the mark of the beast. When people are trusting in church membership to save them, rather than in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, they are not born again by the Spirit of God, no matter how much they may look and sound like it. We cannot just accept Jesus Christ because that is what others say we should do - it must be a personal experience.

Throughout history, organised religion has always been antagonistic to the working of the Holy Spirit in the Church. In the 16th century, the Catholic Church opposed the Reformation led by Martin Luther. In the 18th century, the protestant Anglican Church opposed the move of God’s Spirit led by John Wesley. In the early 20th century, the established churches opposed the Pentecostal movement, although nearly 100 years later, the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement has influenced most denominations.

If God has a new direction for the Body of Christ, we can be sure that the organised churches will oppose it. Taking an overview of church history, we can see that light was gradually lost from the Church as it descended into the Dark Ages. When the Church began to re-emerge into the light 500 years ago, eventually bringing it back to its Pentecostal roots, it was resisted all the way by the established churches trying to protect the status quo.

The seal of God is the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 4:30). All those who do not have this seal will have the mark of the beast. The Catholic church is the original and mother of all denominations. This organisational structure is described as a whore and her daughters, the protestant denominations, are called harlots (Rev 17:5 KJV). There are approximately 2 billion Christians in the world, with half being Catholic and half being Protestant. I believe the ‘beast’ represents the catholic system headed by the Pope – the ‘image to the beast’ is the system of organised protestant religion.

The good news is that individual believers can walk with Christ in spite of the rigid organisational church structure that is resistant to the direction of the Holy Spirit.

I agree that the beast is the papacy or catholic organisation. Bible prophecy pin points it but the image of the beast is not the other denominations so to speak althothough there is some truth to it but rather something that other religions do that is a mark of authority from the catholic church and there is one thing that the catholic church laughs at other faiths for and that is the sunday sacredness which other churches follow. it came from the papacy not the BIble. and the Catholic system itself states over and over again that it is by their authority that the sabbath was changed and not the word of GOd. and that nayone who applies this teaching is giving authority to them. they even gave a challenge its called "Romes challenge" offering money to anyone who can prove with the Bible that the sabbath has changed and to this day not one person has done it. and clearly it is because it is impossible to do so. only the catholic church changed it and they claim it as a mark of their authority and laugh at other faiths who take sunday observence as their sabbath.

I believe organizations are bad, but that is my opinion. I go to an Independent Baptist church, which means we go by the Bible alone and no church doctrine and we aren't told what to believe by an organization.

Don/t you understand that that is what most if not all faith organisations teach. they have doctrines that they believe are Biblical and people chose weather to believe it or not. my organisation is SDA and they don't tell us what we have to belieive. Yes they have some doctirine outlines that are a statment of the faith they believe the Bible teaches but we are free to approach the BIble how we personally see GOd. the organization does not tell us what to believe but rahter tells us what beleafs fromed the organisation in the first place. whithout some kind of organisation there is no order or unity which is contrary to Christ. The apostles were organised and the churches had a faith statment which comprised of their beliefe. otherwise it would be caotic. im sure your church has some core doctrines which im suure you think and may well be based on the Bible im sure. so I don't see how it is different to the ones you are knocking. but hey I don't know your organisation or how it works so fell free to explaine and correct me if im wrong. blessings.

I said that because of cults like Catholics, Mormons and JW's. One time I went in a Baptist church and the preacher was preaching soul sleep. After church I showed verses to show that when we die, our spirit goes straight to Heaven. A couple of weeks later, that church had a revival and the visitor preacher preached on the verses I showed that pastor. I have also seen him pick up the church doctrine book and say, "this is what we believe." I just want to make my point that I don't care what any Baptist, Methodist, etc preacher says, we need to go by the Bible and not traditions or what people believe. I believe we should keep church in order, but when it comes to the beliefs, don't ever hand me a church doctrine book, I want to see what the Bible says and the Bible alone. I don't condemn anyone for being apart of an organized group. I just gave my thoughts on this.

God Bless you all

Ok I think I see where your going now cheers. but I have to respectfully dissagree with the notion that the Bible says we go straight to heaven when we die. but hey thats not what this thread is about. but if your interested I posted just today in "Bible studies" and the thread "straight to heaven" done by oh wait you lol oops so im sure youll see it lol. Blessings

Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands."

The real Church is the Body of Christ. Why do we need all these denominations? Why do we need these buildings which are mostly filled with non-believers? Everything we need from the contemporary church can be done outside the church building and should be done outside the building. The building means nothing to me, denominations means nothing to me. I fellowship with Christian friends, we study the Word together, equip each other to evangelize, worship together, and do everything that can be done inside a church building, except there are no rules and regulations and we are not limited to a certain day and time.

Yeah I know what your saying but organised religion done the right way can be good the reason I say that is what you just described fits to the church I go too. the building means nothing and stuff that you just said. so in my humble opinion organised religion is ok as long as it is done the right way. blessings

People may think they are free to believe what they like, but they would not be asked to take an official position in their church.

If you feel God is leading you into deeper Biblical truth, most times you will have to leave your present group.