Church Unity

Jesus defines this Unity in John 17:21 (Amplified Bible) “That all may be one,[just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they may also be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.” This is the heart of Church unity.

Jesus refers to us identifying with Him just as He identifies Himself with the Father. It is this new identity is what  enables His Body –the Church- to evangelize the world. There is a necessary connection between unity and the ability of the Church to convince the world that Jesus is their Messiah and Saviour.

Do we believe Unity is Necessary?

Necessary (Webster’s Dictionary) that which is required, that must be, that which cannot be done without.

Contrast this definition with the usual church attitude. “Wouldn’t it be Nice if the churches got together and stopped ‘dising’ each other.” Nice , sweet, cute. That sentiment seems to be the highest desire we can muster when it comes to the Unity of the Church. It is right up there in seriousness with “Wouldn’t it be nice if pigs could fly.”

3 Necessities

I want to convince you of three things.

• 1) Unity is Necessary to the Church
• 2) Unity is Necessary to our ability to Witness to Jesus as Messiah
• 3) Unity is Necessary to offer Salvation in Hell

Unity is Necessary to the Church

There is no point in trying to intellectually reconcile the differences in church theologies. Until we have Committed to the fact that they all Will Be United/One it will not happen. Jesus asked the Father for it so it will happen but not in our time unless we believe and commit first.

Once we have fully accept that Jesus’ petition to the Father “Unity Be” has the same power and inevitability as the Father saying “Light Be” – then we will Desire Unity as an imperative instead of a wish. What was once ‘nice’ will become Necessary to us. Until Unity becomes Necessary to our life of Faith, it will remain a nice dream.

We must Say this word –‘Unity Be’ – and accept it as accomplished. The force of that Word will remake our thoughts and actions into the image of itself. As we conform ourselves to the Word, the Word transforms us. This is an action of our will, our faith. It is not an intellectual exercise. Saying, believing and acting comes before full comprehension. “Through faith we understand …” Hebrews 11:3. Only then, with the force of a Commandment – as a Law of God in Christ – will we be enabled to see through the fog of centuries of hateful, deceptive and deceiving words that Christian brothers and sisters have spoken about each.

Unity is Necessary to Witness.

Jesus petitioned the Father “that they all (altogether) may be one – so that they all may be one in Us.” John 17: 21. This request was granted.

The temporal unity, fellowship, communion of believers in Jesus is an essence of Jesus’ unity with the Father. In verse 20 Jesus prays “for all who will ever come to believe in Me through their witness (word and teaching).”

There is a sequential continuity here. Unity is our connection to the eternal.

Temporal (living) unity is essential to the maintenance of our connection with the Church throughout the ages. Disunity in the present weakens our connection to those who have gone before us in the faith as well as those who will follow us. In fact, disunity and division weakens our ability to witness to the truth of Jesus and to pass on that truth as well.

Presence of the Glory is linked to Unity.

“I have given to them the glory which You have given to Me – so that they may be one as We are one.” John 17:22

The shekinah, glory, presence of Jesus with us (Holy Spirit) has been given to the Church specifically to maintain the unity amongst us that is fully manifested in the Trinity.

The division and disunity that the Church has tolerated (allowed to continue unchecked) weakens and diminishes the presence of the glory in and with us.  If we divide His Body (the Church) by agreeing with Satan against Her, We do not shine with glory or lift up Jesus so as to draw all souls to Him

Verse 23 specifies that our unity is intended to bring about a witness to the Trinity. “I in them and You in Me in order that they may become one and perfectly united so that the world may know that You sent Me and You have loved them as You love Me.

Jesus specified that it was our love for each other which would identify us as His disciples John 13:35. Peter makes this a command “See that you love one another.” (1 Peter 1:22)

In the first three centuries of the Church this ideal was realized. The great ‘father of the Church’,Tertullian recorded that Roman citizens would exclaim about Christians “See how they love each other!” How far we have fallen. Why do we even wonder why our power to witness to Jesus is so weak? We are disobedient to the commandment to love even those who should be the easiest to love – our sisters and brothers in Christ.

Church Unity is Necessary to offer Salvation in Jesus

In order to understand Satan’s purpose for division in the Church we must stop dealing with specific accusations against the other members of Jesus’ Body. Instead we need to understand why these accusations ever arose in the first place.

Division weakens the presence of the glory of God in the Church. Without God’s glory the Church is no match for the wiles of the enemy. Division, hatred and misunderstanding severely weakens our ability to evangelize the world. In fact, the only way for the Church to lose its battle against sin and death is for us to fight each other instead of the real enemy.

Satan is a defeated foe but if we do not oppose him he will dominate the world anyway. If we are not doing God’s work – to love our neighbours and believe on Jesus – then we will be doing Satan’s work of hating our sisters and brothers and rejecting the nature of Jesus. We do Satan’s work through our wilful disobedience and evil words.

Unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ AND Obedience to the Word of God are the prerequisites of both God’s active Presence in our lives and Victory over Satan, sin and death.

Without the Presence of Jesus we will not defeat obstacles to our presentation of the Gospel to the living or to the dead in Hell. Preaching the gospel of love while ‘dising’ our own family won’t convince anyone of anything except the fact that we are hypocrites.

Love is Stronger than Death (Song of Solomon 8:6)

The power of the gospel is Love not ‘correct’ theology. The gospel is greater than death. Prejudice is not greater than love. The Church must wage war against her own prejudices if She is going to present a credible gospel in our time and within Hell itself. Our prejudice and hatred negates our witness.

Death is the Lord of Division

If we are not acting in the power of love then we are powerless against death. We need the power of love to be victorious over unbelief and sin. Division can only be overcome by love, which is the essence/source of Unity. Understanding does not defeat division because it is a force, which involves our emotions as well as our reason. Ancient biases, like curses, remain hidden in our hearts to destroy attempts at unity if we do not first root them out with love.

Salvation in Hell is incomprehensible without Church Unity

There is evidence of this revelation scattered throughout the writings of the whole church. We need to be united in faith and love to access all that information. Prejudice causes us to reject the very scriptures that would clarify things for us.

I present evidence  to substantiate and clarify the prophecies regarding the Church’s presentation of Salvation to those who died without ever receiving a credible presentation of the gospel in my books and on this site. That evidence is not sufficient to overcome the force that scatters and divides the Church. Only a Church restored to the Unity that Jesus has prayed for will be able to verify these prophecies and overcome the spirit of division.

It takes love to save.

If we do not focus on loving our sisters and brothers in Christ we will not present the gospel to the living or to the dead.