It has been said that over time every church goes through the four "M's". It begins with a man, becomes a movement, over time this movement becomes a machine, which eventually becomes a monument. Many say this process takes around 50 years. The question remains what enables the movement to spread and how do we prevent it from becoming a machine? It seems that two extremes often lead to this unfortunate outcome: Many become apathetic to the perfect Word of God, others begin to elevate their opinion over the simple Word of God as pride enters the arena of theological debate. Mainstream Christian denomination has elevated the views of its leaders, as doctrine and man-made rules take center stage with the Word of God pushed to the side with the result being a movement farther and farther from the simple gospel truth.

Many see these hypocrisies and prideful stances and lose hope, becoming apathetic to the Word of God. History repeats itself, because man is so predictable. The cycle can only stop if we keep our eyes on the only One who matters, Jesus.

We read in Luke 6:1-2, "Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" Jesus then teaches them why. He then goes onto heal a man on the Sabbath in 6:6-11, as the Pharisees watched intently again to see if in their estimation, Jesus would once again break the Sabbath rules. When He healed the man, we read in 6:11 concerning the Pharisees, "But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus." What they didn't realize is that they were arguing their man-made theological opinion against Jesus, Who is the embodiment of truth. It was opinion vs. truth. What we know from Scripture in Exodus 20:8-10, is, ""Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work:...".

This was a gift from God to enable the people to rest from their work and enjoy Him. But man took hold of this simple commandment and made it a multi-volume set of rules as to what constituted work. As we move through the miracles in Luke 7, we see the recurring reference to the simple faith on the part of the recipient, concluding in 7:50, "Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

we disagree with one another on these theological points, we must not allow pride to rear its ugly head. We do need to interpret scripture however, in light and consideration of all other scripture. One scripture is not a full gospel. We need the whole counsel of God. What I know is He is always right, we are not, and I'm very comfortable with that. My trust is in Him and Him alone.