The Lack of Unity Brought about by the Numerous Divisions in Christianity, Stymies the Development of Christ’s Church!

26 Jun 2026 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Scrip-Bit   26 June 2026   Romans 16:17.

Romans 16:17.        Now I beseech you, brethren, mark (note) them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

And after the big midnight storm, Friday opened up somewhat cloudy, but by midday has turned into a hot, sunshiny day. That did not stop our Friday Mantra from rising up to heaven: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday and the weekend is here at last!’ We can’t seem to get away from that once the weekend looms near, neither can I seem to get away from these late buses in the last little while.

Today, I had some errands to run, and because I was up and about fairly early, I decided to do them sooner rather than later, however they took much longer than I expected. And brother, by 12 pm. the highways and byways were already clogged with traffic. I don’t know if that happened because it was Friday, but if it didn’t, I’m sorry for those of us who have to drive in the Greater Metro Area in the next few years, if they don’t first fix the current roads and then build some new ones, for everyday more cars and truck are coming on line, and the trucks are being driven like if they are cars.

But enough talk, let’s get to our topic for today. And it’s an interesting directive from Bruh Paul to the church at Rome, to avoid those who cause divisions. He writes: ‘Now I beseech you, brethren, mark (note) them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good (smooth) words and fair (flattering) speeches deceive the hearts of the simple (innocent).’ (Rom. 16:17-18)

Ah mih people, right down through the years they have been people who set out purposely to cause divisions in the church, for their own benefit. Just look at the amount of different denominations we have in Christianity. It’s estimated that the number of Christian denominations globally range from around 200 distinct organized groups to over 45,000. And why is there such a great discrepancy in numbers? It depends on whether you count broad global traditions or individual, independent churches categorized by nation.

The fragmentation of the Christian faith is largely rooted in historical, cultural, and theological differences over time. However, demographers and encyclopedists categorize these thousands of groups into a few major branches: Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Restorationism.  They each preach their own version of Christianity, and within those major groups, there are still many smaller divisions, each having some difference or differences to the overall teaching of the larger group.

So Christianity must be divided, which means it’s virtually impossible to mount a united army for Christ. For as Jesus tells us when the Pharisees claimed: ‘This fellow doth not cast out devils (demons), but by Beelzebub, (Philistine deity) the prince (ruler) of the devils (demons). And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?’ (Matt. 12:24-26)

It’s impossible when one section or sector is eroding whatever the other tries to build. That’s why Christianity with so many divisions cannot work together to bring Christ to the masses, as it ought to. Too many little fragments are trying to do their own thing, instead of having one great overall movement. Consequently, Satan does not even have to divide us, for we’re already divided, he only has to conquer, which makes it ever so easy for Him and His evil cronies.

And that’s why the Lord instructed Moses to tell the Israelites to destroy all the people in the Promised Land: ‘make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.’ (Deut. 7:2b-4)  

It’s like what happened to the people of Samaria, who were overrun by the Assyrians, and eventual intermarried with them and thus turned away from Jehovah God and worshipped all sorts of false gods. And another set of dividers in the early church were the ones called the Judaizers, who preached that according to the law of Moses, it was still necessary to be physically circumcised to receive salvation through Christ. But when they all got together in Jerusalem, Peter reasoned that because Jesus spoke of no difference between Jews and Gentiles, purifying the hearts of the Gentiles by faith, and through the grace of God all shall be saved.  (Acts 15:1:11)

Under the New Covenant of Christ circumcision is no longer physical but spiritual, with the heart being metaphorically circumcised. It’s like the Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel: ‘A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.’ (Zek. 36:26) That is also why John warned of the Antichrist; those who deny that Jesus is Christ, or that denieth the Father and the Son. (1John 2:18-22)

In closing, I don’t know what to say, to make Christians come together so we can fight the enemy as one. All I can offer is that we go to the throne of grace through our Friday Chant seeking divine help to make it come true. Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work. It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. You know our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving, and we desperately need your help to fix them. Heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. 

So please give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. And despite the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times, help us to be responsible, and get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that we can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out next week and further your glorious kingdom by the good example we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And as we keep saying, believers also need to wake up and smell the coffee, because out witness for Christ is not good enough! Much LOVE!

…as Christianity proves…divisions don’t help to put forward a unified story…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

The Overwhelming Importance for Christians to Realize that the Disunity in Christ’s Church is seriously hampering it from doing its Christian Duty!

10 Apr 2026 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Matthew 12:25.        ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.’

And then it was Friday; a cloudy and rainy day, but that didn’t stop us from shouting out our Friday Mantra: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday, and the weekend is here at last!’ And many of us are indeed overjoyed to welcome the weekend, be it rain, sleet or snow, so that we can get some much needed rest after the exhausting Easter celebrations and this daunting week of work. (smile)

But as usual, we don’t listen, we never introduced a modicum of circumspection in our celebrations, so when the work week hit us, shortened though it might have been, we still were not prepared to meet it with the necessary vim and vigour. Thus, we had to labour, drag ourselves through it, desperately hoping that we could make it until that day of release called Friday. Hopefully, one day we will learn though, not to behave like the world, seeking excess in everything, for that’s the road to certain destruction.  End of Sermon. (smile)

Now, since I had nothing to say in particular, I opened the Good Library for some inspiration, and lo, and behold, it opened at a rather interesting scripture in the gospel of John. It’s where Jesus declares to the disciples: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:34-35)

Yes friends, the crowning glory of discipleship in Christ is our LOVE for each other. At least it ought to be. But unfortunately, too many Christians today don’t share that attribute with each other. Just look at the numerous divisions, disputations and dissensions in Christ’s church nuh, even within the same religion. How can true LOVE flow from a group of supposed similar faith, when there is so much strife, envy, jealousy and backbiting clouding it’s spirit eh?

Let’s remember that the church of Christ is supposed to be one body, as specified by Bruh Paul in Romans: ‘For as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office (function): So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one (individually) members one of another.’ (Rom. 12:4-5) And this commentary explains it thus: ‘The church as “one body” is a central biblical metaphor (1 Cor 12:12-27, Romans 12:4–5) indicating that believers, though diverse in gifts and roles, are united in Christ. Christ is the head, leading the organism, while individual members function as interdependent parts, requiring cooperation to avoid dysfunction and ensure growth.’  

Yes my fellow believers, we are indeed supposed to be one body under the marvellous umbrella of the shed blood of Christ and His amazing resurrection. That tenet of our faith is so important that Bruh Paul again explained it to the church at Corinth. ‘For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond (slaves) or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.’ (1 Cor. 12:12-14)

Oh my people, Christ’s church can never be victorious if it’s filled with as much dissension and disunity as it now contains, for the ONLY thing that moves any body or organization truly forward is unity. That’s why in any war, the enemy always tries to disunite its foe, so they can be more easily routed. But sadly, the devil, our arch enemy, doesn’t even have to do that with us, because we do it ourselves. Why do you think there’s so much evil and ungodliness running rampant all over our world eh?

Because the body, Christ’s church, that is supposed to be championing goodness and godliness has apparently lost the will to fight the enemy, through fear or the desire for comfort and enjoyment of earthly pleasures, but it doesn’t stop them from fighting amongst themselves. Just look at the state of our world and of Christ’s church, and tell me if any visitor to earth would be able to differentiate the godly from the ungodly by their LOVE for each other, as Christ desires? Certainly not! They would most likely think that we’re all one ungodly, unrighteous bunch, because that’s the way we behave.

That’s why Bruh Paul, after saying: ‘For the body is not one member, but many,’  broke it down finely for the church in Corinth. ‘If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body (where would the body be)? But now are they many members, yet one body.’ (1 Cor. 12:15-20)

Yes my brethren, just as the Lord made man with one body, but many different parts with various duties, so has Christ has set many members in His body, the church, each with different responsibilities. ‘That there should be no schism (division) in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.’ (1 Cor. 12:25) Sadly though, Christ’s body is terribly divided, and until that division is mended, the church will not be able to perform the way it ought to.

For as Jesus Himself said: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.’ (Matt. 12:25)So let’s take serious heed of those words nuh, and do our best to correct the disunity in the church, so that we can follow Christ’s example and be His disciples both in word and deed, by  LOVING each other, the way that He LOVES us. Now let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Friday Chant, seeking help to do just that!

Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work. It hasn’t been easy but with your generous help, I made it through. You know our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving, and we desperately need your help to fix them. Heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. So please give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. 

And despite the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times, help us to be responsible, and get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that we can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out next week and further your glorious kingdom by the good example we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And though the Lord might acknowledge our prayer, He’s definitely looking for improvement in our Christian witness, before dispensing divine aid. Much LOVE!

…Christians badly need to get their act together…if they truly desire to make a positive difference in our world…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien