Five Elephants

When I was in the eighth grade, my math teacher wrote the following on the blackboard:

5 elephants

Then he asked the class,  "What do you see on the blackboard?'

Of course, everyone answered, 'Five elephants.'

Then, he said, 'Wrong answer. What you see is a representation of five elephants. If it was really five elephants, there would be five real elephants in the room with us.' 

That was more that 30 years ago, yet it has stuck with me all these years.

That got me to thinking about Christians, doctrines, and deceptions. I think that sometimes we see the representation of of something, and think it is the real thing. Back in the middle 1800's, and onward through the early 1900's, a lot of  new doctrines,  denominations and interpretations of scripture came on the scene. Before that, there was a denominational growth back in the 1600's, and in the early 1500's. Since then, some of those beliefs and statutes have become mainstream, and are not questioned as to how they came into being.

Out of it all arose Baptists, Methodists, Catholic, plus many charismatic denominations, all founded on one person's  interpretation  of what the scripture they read, what language they read it in and, it seems, what someone else believed. They had a few followers, nailed up their shingle, and declared that their doctrine was the only truth, and here we are, hundreds of  years later, with churches on every corner, with people who won't associate because they come from different denominations. Where is Christ in that?

Are we being led astray by the interpretations of  men from the 1860's or '70's? Or the 1920's? Or 800 years ago? Are we not spiritually mature enough to read God's inspired word, and let the Holy Spirit reveal to us what the truth is?

Reading the history of certain denominations, and their  founders, is a real eye-opener. You look at the beliefs and doctrines,  and wonder 'How did they get that from that? Most denominations have a little bit of the 'truth', but are extreme in some aspect of interpretations of scripture, in one way or another.

In our journey over the last 2 1/2 years, being in 5 states and 34 churches, besides numerous homes, we have seen that about 98% of Christians identify themselves as 'Christian' by their denomination, not because they follow Christ. Does that not fall under the definition of  'idol worship'? Hmmmm. 

Are we going to heaven because we're Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalian, or Catholic? Or are we going because we have received Jesus into our heart, and we call Him 'brother' while He calls us 'friend'?

When did the denominations, doctrines and deceptions take the place of Jesus? Are we so deceived that when we see  '5 elephants' written on a blackboard, that we think it's the real thing?