<TITLE>04. Par 15-20</TITLE>L-15 So I'm thinking tonight to begin with, to start with, it seems to be the Lord lays upon my heart just for this subject, the--"Why Are We Not A Denomination?" The reason that... Now, we have nothing against other people who are denomination. We have nothing against them, but I want to explain why that we never went in with any denomination. I was ordained in a little Baptist church, as you know. And the Baptist is not a denomination, wasn't till just recently, and now it's becoming just as much denomination as the rest of them. But the reason that we never become a denomination...

L-16 Now, we are an organization. We are an organization, recorded here in the--in the courts as an organization, a group of people that's organized together to worship Christ, but we're not in a denomination. No one is going to dominate over us. You see? It's not a denomination. It's--it's just an organization of fellowship amongst Christian believers. People come here to the church, and this becomes their home church, if they wish to come as long as they live.

L-17 And they can come here and disagree with everything that we preach. That's perfectly all right. You still, as long as you are a Christian, you've got fellowship and a hand out just the same as the rest of them. See? If I said I believe in baptizing by immersing by water, and you believed in sprinkling, and stayed right on it, we'd still be just the same as we was if we both agreed. We might not be able to see eye to eye alike, but as long as you are a Christian brother or sister, you're perfectly welcome (See?), everybody.

L-18 So we don't have any denominations, because I think that denomination separates brotherhood. Some of them say, "Well, we ain't got nothing to do in that revival; that's a Methodist revival. Well, that's Baptist; we ain't got... We're Methodists; we ain't got nothing to do with that." Brother, if Christ is in it, we got--we got all to do with it. We got to put our... It--it's the body of Christ that is--is suffering. And I see that so much in the lands today, to how that we have...
Now, Christ never did at any time ever organize any denominational church. Now, just let that be well assured.

L-19 Now, now, I'm going to ask you tomorrow night, if any of these things you want to know, like some history that I'm quoting, or something another, I don't have time just to drain that through, I won't get to another subject, 'cause you could spend weeks on that very same subject... But if you want to know the place, anything, just ask me and lay it up here on the--on the desk, and I'll get it, answer it for you.

L-20 Now, the oldest denomination, and the first denomination church that we ever had, is the Catholic church. And it was organized three hundred and something years after the death of the last apostle. And that's right. You get it in the early Nicene Fathers, and you get it in this writings of Josephus, and, oh, many of the--of the great historians. See? And as far as in the--the--any of the church ages, down through until the death of the last apostle, and three hundred years the other side of the apostles, there was no denominational churches. And the Catholic was the first denomination of a church.
And the Protestant church are the denominations who has pulled out of a denomination. The first reformation come was Luther; after Luther come Zwingli; after Zwingli come Calvin, and just on down like that. And down to the Wesleyan revival, and on down to Alexander Campbell, John Smith, and whatmore (See?), on down. And the last movement that we have up now is the different phases of the Pentecostal age.


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