When I first read the verse mentioned above I could not understand what Christ meant by His’ statement. Now that I have had more years in thinking about it I have come to a conclusion of the meaning.“You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too.
They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.” Joh 10:16 (The Message Bible)
From our earliest years it is ingrained in us to fit people into different groups. We group children into different grades in school. We also group by the colour of the skin, the ethnicity, careers, and etc., Religion has done the same. Grouping followers by what they believe. Groups like Roman Catholic, Evangelicals, Protestants, and all manner of denominations.
We group without any fore-thought. So, this is the beginning early in life, a sort of racism.
When I was growing up we went to a full gospel church(Pentecostal in flavour). We would often hear from different people in the pulpit that The Roman Catholic church was totally wrong.
Now, I have grown up, left active ministry and began a long time research on many ideas and teachings. I began to realize that there are things taught by evangelicals that doesn’t have any basis in those things taught by The Son of God, Christ Jesus.
Just recently I began to search out the texts in the Catholic Bible which are not found in The King James Version.
During the first six decades of the 20th century there were those who went about from city to city holding so called “Miracle Services”. Alot of those preachers preached that going to the doctor was a sign of weak faith.
I have now found in those texts in the Catholic Bible(Douay-Rheims Bible) some verses found in the Book of Sirach. Here is what they say:
(Sirach 38:1-4 [DRC])
[1] Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him.
[2] For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king.
[3] The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised.
[4] The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them.
I totally agree with these verses. I now wonder how many of those listening to preachers who were against doctors have died pre-maturely.
Evangelical preachers taught from their pulpits a legalism gospel of do’s and don’ts. There are many issues which Christ never taught about. Issues such as the food we should eat. Divorce, division between ethnic groups.
However, the one issue He did attack was that of adultery. The elite teachers of the temple brought a woman to Christ and accused her of being caught in the act of adultery. Christ did not utter a word at the beginning, but, kneeled down and wrote something in the dirt. When he stood up He looked at the woman and asked her ‘where are your accusers’. She answered him and said, ‘ I have none’.
Some of the other do’s and don’ts preached about the sins of smoking and drinking. It was not because they were a medical danger.
Here is what Christ said:
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Mat 15:11 KJV
Evangelicals in my opinion have been doing things wrong. They are trying to clean the fish before they are caught. I am not about you, the reader, but I use to do lots of fishing and never once caught a fish that was already cleaned.
Because of these teachings people have felt unworthy to enter the doors of a place of worship because they feel they have to be clean before going. Not one of us grow at the same rate. I believe that the preachers and teachers need to change their teachings. They just need to preach one simple message. That is come to Christ just as you are. When they do people will come and it will be Christ that changes the person.
If you are struggling with things in your life and feel you are not worthy, think again. There is only one person you need to answer for. That person is you. Also, you cannot answer for anyone else. Not your partner, children, parents, etc.,
