It was recently alleged by a speaker at Melodyland that the local churches have called Melodyland, “Babylon.” I do not know where this can be found in print or when it was ever said. It may be that some irresponsible person said it, just as irresponsible people from Melodyland have called us a cult. Wherever the elements of Babylon are present, there is Babylon. If the elements of Babylon are present in Melodyland, Babylon is there. If the elements of Babylon are present in the local churches, Babylon is also there.
In the Bible, the word Babylon is equal to the word Babel. Babel is first mentioned in Genesis 11 where the tower of Babel issued in division and confusion. Many Christians today are in division and confusion. That is, they are in Babylon and do not even realize it. If you are in the division and confusion of today‘s present situation, you are in Babylon. Speaking of Babylon, Revelation 18:4 says, “Come out of her, My people.”
There are those who wonder why the local churches call the present Christian situation, Babylon. It is because the present Christian situation is filled with division issuing in confusion. In the New Testament the church was one. Today, however, the church has been divided into many different segments. These divisions have caused confusion. Whether they realize it or not, those who are in the divided situation are in Babylon.
First, we must ask, “What is a denomination?” A denomination begins as a division brought about by Christians exercising personal preferences. The preferences include certain leaders, doctrines, practices, association with a certain race, etc. Eventually those with like preference form a group and denominate themselves by taking a name. Thus, you have the Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church, the African Methodist Church, the Pentecostal Holiness Church, ad infinitum. All such denominations are unscriptural divisions of the Body of Christ. We will now prove this from the pure Word of God.
From the book of Acts through Revelation, it is a simple, obvious truth of biblical history that all the Christians in one city formed only one church. In Ephesus, in A.D. 60, it was absolutely unnecessary to consider which kind of church to join. All the saints there were one as the church in Ephesus (Eph. 1:1; Rev. 1:11). A first-century Christian, visiting the churches, would have encountered no division among Christians in a city until he came to Corinth.
Twenty years ago as a Baptist pastor, I questioned within myself, “Specifically what ‘body’ is it that Paul said should not be divided in 1 Corinthians 12:25?” The context of the chapter and the whole book makes it clear. It was the body of all the Christians in Corinth who daily functioned together as the one church in that city. Several facts prove this point. (1) The book was written to “the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2). This clearly includes all the believers in the city. (2) Paul had received a report of quarrels and divisions resulting from the saints’ preferences for various leaders (1 Cor. 1:11-12). (3) Paul rebuked the divisive ones on at least three major points. First, to divide the Body is to divide Christ (1 Cor. 1:13). Second, to be divisive is fleshly (1 Cor. 3:3-4). Third, by not discerning that the Body is one, they were suffering great loss at the Lord’s table (1 Cor. 11:18, 29-31).
In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul also condemns division as a work of the flesh, categorizing it with immorality and idolatry. The last two words of verse 20 should be translated “divisions, sects.” Since denominations, groups, centers, etc., divide the Body of Christ, they are works of the flesh. This is the inevitable conclusion from the Word of God.
Deep within him, every denominational Christian’s conscience testifies that he is, in fact, divided from other Christians by the organization to which he belongs. All agree there will be no denominations in the New Jerusalem. Even the unsaved recognize that the denominations are divisions. I have often been challenged by the statement, “If you are all Christians, why are there so many different ‘churches’ with some opposing each other?” In John 17:21, Jesus prayed, “That they all may be one...that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” This demands a visible unity of all Christians in a locality. Otherwise, the world sees not oneness, but division.
We in the local churches repudiate all division. After fourteen years’ experience in the local churches, I can testify strongly that we are not a division and we have no division among us. Neither are we dividing the Body of Christ as our opposers falsely accuse. Rather, we are open to all born-again believers.
We call upon all Christians to drop their sectarian preferences which bring about the formation of denominated groups and divide the Body of Christ. Drop your preference of denominational names, certain leaders, doctrines, practices, etc. All the saints in one city would then be one church without any element of division. One group of saints with the one Christ would form one unique church in a city.