Despite a slow gradual revival since the Covid-19 lockdowns, occupation of church pews is at its lowest population in over 10 years---continuing an unbroken per-year drop in church attendance.

The following questions consider how the Bible reflects Church Unity and Catholic Universality

John 17:20-23: In His prayer, Jesus asks for believers to be united, just as He and the Father are One, according to which the world will believe in Him. This highlights the principle that the church's unity should consist of Fellowship between the Episcopate/Presbytery and the Congregation in that this homoouisious coequality within the people inside all churches also mirrors the Father-Son relationship.

Today, I will think and pray about my fellow church people, and:

A marked increase in the number of bishops, priests, deacons, and deaconesses, who have occasionally considered abandoning their churches, has been measured than had been assessed in recent years.

How the Comforter Embodies Unity in Truth (Church Unity and Catholic Universality, con'td)

John 16:13-16: Christ lays forth the significance of the Holy Spirit---the Comforter---arriving as the embodiment of Absolute Truth, by which its interpenetration with the Father and the Son (as three co-equals in Perichoresis, or Interpenetration of the Three) characterizes the Trinitarian relationship reflected by Church Unity and catholic universality.

Which of the following does not reflect a good reason to unite with other churches? Check one or more:

Ephesians 4:4-6: This passage connects Church Unity with the Trinity by stating:

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

Answer True or False to the following:

Because our church needs new energy, we can join with churches who are discreetly pro-abortion but only if they are also energetically opposed to mandatory pro-LGBTQ public-school programming and are against the abolition of the Second Amendment, and we can worry about their pro-abortion views later on.

Ephesians 2:18: This verse explains that believers can access the Father through Christ in the Spirit, showing how the Trinity unites people who were once divided.

Question: In being Ecumenical, is it not best to collaborate or partner up with a church that promulgates that Truth can only come through Jesus Christ? What kind of church would this be? Check one or more, wherever the words below are true:

During the last five years, more people, especially in the Millennial and Gen-Z more Internet-centric age groups, are open to becoming more "spiritual" than they are demonstrating interest in going to church.

All of the below verses chracterize Universal Truth (sometimes called "Catholicity") and are the main articles upon which our Faith which creates Church Unity is based---except for which verse(s):

Consider 1 Corinthians 12:4-6. When discussing the diverse spiritual gifts of "administrations" and "operations," Saint Paul emphasizes that they come from the "same Spirit," "same Lord," and "same God." Check which of the following "church jobs" or "ministries" is biblically sound and is not False Ecumenism:

Consider 2 Corinthians 13:14, whereby Paul's benediction connects Christian Fellowship to the "Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit." If you, along with anybody from your own Congregation, are getting to know a church whose members suddenly either stop attending services, are quarreling with each other, and/or are beset with scandal and discord, it is more appropriate to (check all that apply):

Isaiah 55:11 always holds true. It says, "[Just as the rain and snow fall] So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Thus, the Bible is inerrant and Real Ecumenism depends on it.

Sometimes, Scripture is just not sufficient enough to be thought of as being predominantly helpful or decisively motivating or inspiring. In other words, Proverbs 3:27 and Ecclesiastes 3:1 sometimes hold true when they are taken together, in that Christians should only execute Good Works during the very best of times when they are most equipped to go be saintly and when the people involved won't feel overly nudged; and, that there is a "season for every purpose under Heaven." Therefore, pulling together morally orthodox churchmen authorized by Sacred Scripture and Tradition, and sound Reason, only applies whenever the time is ripe for every person to be action-oriented and free to get into being "doers of the Word" (James 1:22-25), or else the time is just not yet going to feel right for so-called "moral praxis" (as it were) to take root. True or False?

Rev. John Dury was a 17th-century Scottish clergyman who dedicated his life to promoting unity between Lutheran and Reformed churches. What other churchman could be said to have strived to unite various sects, dioceses, or denominations? Click any or all that apply:

Churches that you and your Congregation might come across may evince that they have become religiously and socially crippled by wayward pastors and stale doctrine that was composed in the Spirit of variance, vainglory, and avarice. All churches in fact are struggling today because Mercy among misguided ministers and other worldlings---and sometimes even among the Brethren themselves---is sadly sorely diminishing, as current times are proving. Real Ecumenism, however, builds healthy new relationships, which make showing Mercy more enjoyable because Christ's burden is light and His yoke is easy (Matthew 11:30). But please do click the below passage whose exegesis does not belong in any church:

Because Traditionalism, Conservativism, and Moral Orthodoxy are vitally important for Trinitarians who strive toward Ecumenical Fellowship, a churchman, whose richness of Faith has led the Holy Spirit to bequeath him Agape Discernment, must be careful, picky, yet charitably faithful, when approaching or keeping friendships with outside Denominations and their ministers. Check whichever are true:

Rev. John Stott   was an Anglican theologian who was a chaplain to the Queen of England from 1959 to 1991. He interpreted Christ's Prayer for Unity in John 17, emphasizing that ecclesiological unity is central to how Unity is manifested in life. He believed in "Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3) and being generous toward those who are different. He encouraged a model of "generous friendship," bridging divides by building relationships with people from various backgrounds and institutions. However, in what way was Rev. Scott, although he was very eloquent about moral equity affecting the Church, he was also schismatic in terms of a certain factor affecting the orthodoxy, Sacred Tradition, and conservatism that ground Church Unity soundly overall. Check which one applies:

John Calvin:   Wrote that unity and truthfulness are inseparable, though conceptually distinct, whereas schismatics are those who break the Church's Communion. He wrote on this topic in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, in which he stressed the importance of maintaining Unity within the true Church and saw this unity in the body of Christ (i.e., the Church) as the restoration of what was lost in the Fall of Man. Which step below thus does not authenticate Real Ecumenism?

Consider Two Nonconformists: One Favoring Episcopates, the other Favoring Presbyteries. Both Trinitarians, who were opposed to the idea of a institutional ecclesiological-sociopolitical cabal

Anthony Burges authored Advancing Christian Unity, a 1664 book based on his sermons on John 17. As with John 17, Burges asks for genuine unity among Christians on the essentials of the Faith for the glory of God. Burges was a member of the Westminster Assembly, which tried to put England into line with the Scottish type of Puritans, known as the Covenanters. Raised a Roman Catholic and known for his lifelong Roman ecclesiastical mindset, he believed in having a House of Bishops as the Episcopate in England, but was nevertheless strongly opposed to the the Episcopate under Abp. William Laud.

Matthew Henry believed in a Presbyterian system of church government, where leadership was held by a body of presbyters rather than by bishops. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. In his commentary, Henry also argues that the terms "bishop" and "presbyter" were used interchangeably in the New Testament for the same office. Henry's great work was his seven-volume Commentary on the Whole Bible, or An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments. Although he did not live to complete it himself, his colleagues (ones both Reformist and Episcopal) finished the work from his notes and manuscripts after his sudden death in 1714. His Commentary, a detailed, verse-by-verse study covering the entire Bible. is still widely used today for its practical insights, devotional tone, and rich reflections.

Although it would appear ironic that a "Nonconformist" minister could be thought to epitomize Church Unity, please choose a true statement(s) about this brand of Faith that is helpful for grasping Ecumenism within a troubled Polity, after reading the below items.

A) Nonconformists were a kind of Puritans who were opposed to the Stuart Restoration (1660) and Acts of Uniformity (1662) which had set forth the conformity of institutionalized ecclesiology through the maintaining of the Episcopate, as it was led by William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Although Laud was important for permanently sustaining and systematizing true Apostolic Succession into England, his infamous Star Chamber often decreed torture and public executions to punish charges of heresy. Despite their devotion to hard work, temperance, frugality, and upward mobility, Nonconformists sometimes rejected the Doctrine of the Trinity, stating that Jesus was mostly a man. Many Nonconformists thus became the Unitarians. Matthew Henry, however, strongly believed in the Holy Trinity.

B) Many Presbyterians were Nonconformists, and they were a significant part of the original group known as the "Old Dissent" in England, along with Baptists and Congregationalists. While Presbyterians were a major Nonconformist group, especially in the 17th century, later groups like Methodists and Quakers also became Nonconformists, and the largest Nonconformist groups by the 19th century were Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists. However, most of the members in these mainstream denominations never abandoned the truth of the Holy Trinity but still continue to value many of the things said by brilliant Nonconformists, such as Henry and Burges.

C) Matthew Henry was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, as was his father, Philip Henry. Philip had been ejected from his Church of England ministry at Worthenbury in 1662 under the Acts of Uniformity. He shared his son's views against Episcopacy in favor of rule by Presbyters. In his Commentary, the younger Henry argues that the terms "bishop" and "presbyter" are used interchangeably in the New Testament for the same office. Although he disagreed with having Episcopates, his contribution to catholic Universality was very influential because he argued theological matters with charitable eloquent brilliance during a particularly virulent or violent era (noting the Bishop's Wars, etc).  Both Henry and his father, and Burges, were Trinitarian.

D) Whether Nonconformists were Ecumenical depends on whether, in one's polity's view, the institutional church may be judged heretical. The act of being a "Nonconformist" describes one's relationship to a specific established church (and dissenting from it), while "ecumenical" describes one's attitude and actions toward other Christian denominations in general (seeking unity and cooperation). Nonconformists had wanted to unify all the churches within a proposedly fairer version of the Church of England and so in this regard, they may be called Ecumenical. Not intending to be consequentialists while notwithstanding that many Nonconformists were not Trinitarian and had opposed Episcopacy, we can safely judge by looking at the advent of today's female and homosexual consecrations in England to rule that the Nonconformists were right about that institutional church being errant and should safely be referred to as being Ecumenical only within the world of non-Trinitarians.

E) There could be a lot of sense in a Christian's considering oneself a Nonconformist if he is worshiping within a religion that is statist and against the truths expressed in the Bible. This kind of Ecclesia is known as the "Institutional Church."  Such religious bodies align themselves with the demagoguery and menace imposed by governments who manipulate people rather than govern them and instead of standing up for their churches and Absolute Truth, their religious men waiver in cowardice. Even small non-aligned churches bend. Perhaps it is time to change one's church or reform one's present church. Those who stand up against the sanctions and mandates of an institutional ecclesiological-sociopolitical cabal may be free to call themselves Nonconformists, if their stance is intended with unbending Ecumenical courage to unify the Morally Orthodox Traditionalist Conservative Biblical ethos of our One true Church of Jesus Christ.

Peter J. Leithart, American theologian, in The End of Protestantism, argues that faithfulness to the Gospel requires the visible unity of all Christians and encourages churches to move beyond the contentiousness between distinct religious groups (i.e., denominationalism), in order to embrace a larger Faith tradition. Which below statement is true?

Edmund Schlink was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, who in Ökumenische Dogmatik (1983), said that Christians, who see the risen Christ at work in the lives of various Christians or within diverse churches, ought realize that the unity of Christ's Church has never been lost, but has instead been distorted and obscured by different historical experiences and by spiritual myopia. Both are overcome in renewed faith in Christ. Which statement would he agree with?

Which of the following church statements is forged?

1) Therefore we decree that in venerable churches consecrated without relics of the holy martyrs, the installation of relics should take place along with the usual prayers. And if in future any bishop is found out consecrating a church without relics, let him be deposed as someone who has flouted the ecclesiastical traditions. (Second Council of Nicaea; Canon 7; A.D. 787)

2) [Wrongful churches] be trimly decked in Gold, Silver, and Stone, as well the images of men, as of women, like wanton wenches (saith the Prophet Baruch) (Bar 6) that love paramours, and therefore can they not teach us, nor our wives and daughters any soberness, modesty, and chastity. And therefore although it is now commonly said that they be the laymen’s books, yet we see they teach no good lesson, neither of God, nor godliness, but all error and wickedness. Therefore God by his word, as he forbiddeth any idols or images to be made or set up: so doth he command such as we find made and set up to be pulled down, broken, and destroyed (Against Idolatry & Superfluous Decking of Churches; Second Book of Homilies; Church of England; 1571)

3) The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God. (Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion; Art. 22: Of Purgatory; Church of England; 1571)

4) It is, on this day, behelde as faste-forbidden and hence-knowneth at this houre duly decreed, that all renderings, forgings, fulsome creationings, sundry proliferations, church hangings, and disbursement of imageries and statues that are of tangible likenesse to reale or imagined Gryphons---those howler dastardry, whence whyche, be they painterly or brazen, of the bolde creature who is said Gryphon, shall be excised from all churches and chapels and shall be incinerated. That is, when being or purporting to beholdeth said Gryphon, whom lore holdeth to be that beast of legende with itself the body, tail, and hind legs of a lion, as it beareth the head and wings of an eagle with barbed talons on the front legs deemeth itself and of that lore as wicked and as a source of delinquency of worshippe and of worke, as when also this pretended animalus, who being assembled from limbes of critters strange and multifarious, hath been eat'n as the fire-singed Gryphon with matter of fermentable trout, halibut, and candied meats. (Synod of Warbucks; Decretal 7; Sec. 2; Wales; A.D. 982).

5) "However, to speak evangelically of images, I say and declare that no one is obligated to break violently images even of God, but everything is free, and one does not sin if he does not break them with violence. Nor would I condemn those who have destroyed them, especially those who destroy divine and idolatrous images. But images for memorial and witness, such as crucifixes and images of saints, are to be tolerated. This is shown above to be the case even in the Mosaic law. And they are not only to be tolerated, but for the sake of the memorial and the witness they are praiseworthy and honorable, as the witness stones of Joshua (Josh.24:26) and of Samuel (I Sam. 7:12)." (Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments; Martin Luther; Excerpt; 1525).

Did John Calvin agree with putting icons, images, or statues in churches? Which one of the below items is true?

Saint Ignatius of Antioch (A.D. ~108 died) wrote letters which strongly urged churches to maintain unity under the leadership of their Bishop and warned against the dangers of division despite despotic prohibitions by the Emperor. As his reward by the world, he was sent to be eaten by lions in the Roman arena but welcomed his martyrdom with joy.

Predictions by false prophets and toxic influencers: The "falling away" mentioned in Matthew 24 may be experienced by pastors in churches who need your cheerful help! In keeping their congregations together, they will need encouragement and praise for their patriarchy from the Brethren and their ministers and lay help need the same.  A kind of drop-off occurs whenever minds stray away from a pain-ridden persecuted or troubled church. The mind turns toward visionaries in media or actual live humans in hyped-up churches or sociopolitical areas, charmers, who strive to give strawman warnings about shunning their enemies and never disagreeing with them, as if they can predict future events. Such allure has plagued God's people since ancient times as these men "make merchandise" of the Faithful (2 Peter 2:1-3). Can the following essay be said to be False or True?

Many early Christian writers mention the Sibyl, the office of a female Oracle or soothsayer since the days of Moses. A syncretic amalgam of Jewish and Greek (and later Christian) beliefs, she was mentioned by Saint Clement of Alexandria, who, in his Protrepticus (Chapt.4; Line 71; A.D. 196), referred to her as the 'Jewish prophetess," who had predicted the fall of Egypt to the Persians in the Battle of Pelusium, in B.C. 586. However, Clement does not impose the idea that she possessed actual clairvoyance from God. Thus she can better be understood as distinguishing herself through a pagan prophecy that is informed by the devil, from the true Divine.

B) Un-Godly people who can peculiarly predict the future are said by the Bible to be of the occult (Deuteronomy 18:9-14) as "observers of the times," such as the slave girl with a "spirit of divination" in Acts 16:16-18. Examples also include those who perform "great signs and wonders" to deceive, as described in Matthew 24:24 and Revelation 13:13-14.

Saint Augustine of Hippo mentions the Erythræan Sibyl in The City of God (Book 18; Chap. 23; A.D. 420), to posit that her prophecies contained real portent about the Nativity and Salvation of Christ, while demonstrating her striking source of genuine, albeit limited and pagan, prophecy that can be interpreted carefully to align with Christian beliefs, although Augustine does not award her as showing actual Christian Faith and Discernment.

Prophetic and otherworldly prophetic charisma flowing through non-Christians that is not presented as genuine and/or which should be attributed to demonic influence or other ungodly practices, rather than true prophecy, are stealing away the Bible's attributions to God, Christ and the Prophets, the calling to mind of Nostrodamus, notwithstanding. Furthermore, pagan sources are not capable of refuting claims that Christianity was without precedent or divine inspiration, because they could also be predicting the coming of the Antichrist, Beast, or the False Prophet.

Instead, books of the Old Testament, including the books of the prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah, contain the true prophecies about Jesus. Key examples include prophecies about his virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14), His birthplace in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and His role as a suffering servant and ultimately a ruler (Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 53). Zechariah 14:4 predicts the Second Coming of Christ on the Mount of Olives, where the Messiah's feet will stand on the mountain when it is split in two.

The prophecy in Genesis that the Messiah will come from the line of Judah is found in Genesis 49:10. This verse states that the scepter shall not depart from Judah until "Shiloh come." Moreover, Psalm 22 is interpreted as a prophecy of the Crucifixion. Any prophecy, dream, or prediction, from the self, or from another human influencer, that does not come from the verses in the Bible must be discerned as requiring prayer for its understanding, or else an outcome similar to the "bad news" may occur as it befell King Saul when he forced the Witch of Endor to conjure the spirit of the prophet and judge Samuel---who told Saul he was going to die in battle on the morrow.

Moreover, although willful influencers would argue that neither the devil nor God need have nothing to do with their foresight, it should be remembered that even the demons "believe, and tremble" (James 2:19).

Can it fairly be said that modern influencers such as podcasters and politicians are having the kind of prophetic hold over Christians, old and young alike, who are unable to remove their eyes and ears from the Androids, iPhones, and computers, which presents the case for a calling to the altars and religious classrooms where strong Christian adults can teach and preach Truth?

Saint Irenaeus of Lyon (A.D. 130 born): Though known for his work Against Heresies, his writings on the unchanging traditions of orthodox/catholic Faith that was passed down from the Apostles also serves as a strong argument for Church Unity. He is considered a link of unity for both Episcopal and Reformist Christians, and, East and West Christians, because he exposed the wrongfulness of illicit doctrines used by various heretical presbyters and bishops to keep their collections of followers, to weaken the true Church.

A) "Collection" by which heretical churches hive together, is not Unity. It is management by man's deluded concupiscent authority, not Christ's.

B) Conservative or Liberal media commentators and politicians who use the Name of our Lord to underwrite their authority while promoting slander, gossip, and violence are not unifying the Faithful for the Church but are making their own filthy armies.

C) Many dualistic movements claim that Christ is a creation of God, and is not God Himself. They undermine or delete Saint Paul's epistles, because of his writings about the Trinity. They force their adherents to use only the Hebrew/Aramaic versions of the names of God (Yahweh); Jesus (Yeoshua); and the Holy Spirit (Ruach ho kodesh), lest members be accused of uttering the names of Greek and Cananite demons. Therefore, they are much like the Arians who called Christ a "creation" and the Gnostics who taught that personal vision and human wisdom cause Salvation. Many of them, along with Philo of Alexandria, say that the Demiurge of Plato's dialogue, Timaeus, made all of creation.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage (A.D. 258 died): Wrote On the Unity of the Church in A.D. 251 to combat a schism, arguing that there is only one true church and no Salvation outside of it. One of his famous quotes is, "No one can have God for his Father, who does not have the Church for his mother." This statement refers to:

A) How this Universal or Catholic Truth about there being no salvation outside true Ecclesia is also uttered in one Cyprian's other verisimilar aphorisms, "Extra ecclesiam nulls salus," the two maxims being in two different works: his treatise  (De ecclesiae catholicae unitate; A.D. 251) and in Epistle 72 (Ad Jubajanum de haereticis baptizandis); A.D. 256). The latter phrase means "Outside the Church there is no Salvation."

B) "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by me" (John 14:6). As such, Ephesians 5:23 establishes the parallel between a husband as the head of his wife and Christ as the head of the Church, just as Ephesians 5:30 goes on to say, "for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." Our Church Unity of real Ecumenism depends on the universality of this Catholic Truth in the Bible.

C) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:2). The book of Acts concerns the founding of the Church, which Christ had said was being wrought by Himself: "I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18).

D) "Thou shalt not give milke of flax to Chupacabra to drinketh, nor serveth brothe-of-the-bone of a Lebanese Bondegezou for a Deathe Worme to sup" (Booke of Upright Cryptozoologique; Vol. 29; Book III; Chap. 3; Florida, 1372).

C.S. Lewis wrote about Church Unity in the 20th century. In Mere Christianity, he uses the analogy of a house's hallway to describe the common ground of Christian belief, by which Christians occupy their "denominational "rooms" full time, while they instead ought, to spend ample time also meeting in the "hall" of core Christian beliefs are shared with other Bible-minded types of Christians. Which of the below scenarios is/are the least significant in terms of how the Ecumenist constructively meets with other churches outside of his own Denomination?

A) By the time Lewis was 22, Tractarian Anglicans had already transferred themselves to a different "room. The "Lambeth Appeal" of 1920 formally allowed churches in the Communion to retain their Roman ecclesiology minus any authority by the Pope of Rome. By 1978, many of these Romish-Catholic churches broke away from the Communion. They organized the Saint Louis Affirmation which along with more Reformist Anglican churches pioneered the creation of Continuing Anglicanism. But by 1991, parishes in the Anglican-Catholic Church (ACC) were coaxed by ACC to join the American Episcopal Church (AEC) but eventually defected to the newer Anglican Church of America (ACA) albeit eight bishops in ACA accepted Rome's offer of joining the Vatican's new Ordinariate in 2009. Finally in 2025, after many negotiations, the ACA merged with the ACC. Hard to follow the chronological flow chart, perhaps, but it is clear that the Anglican Catholics have always been willing to endure for long the rigors of latitudinal diocesan shifting rather than reunite with an institutional church, either the Church of England, or the Roman Catholic (via an ordinariate). In such old nests Biblical Truth would be violated instead of one's easily deniable natural hope for the subsidies (like the abundant cucumbers, melons, leeks, fish, onions, and garlic durin Egyptian bondage) given to parishes and dioceses back in institutional corrupt Ecclesia.

B) In 2009, by creating the Anglicanorum Coetibus within the Vatican's so-called Apostolic Constitution, Abp. Josef Ratzinger ("Pope" of Rome), allowed willing Anglo-Catholic churches to "return" to papal authority. This was prior to the regime of his successor, Abp. Jorge Bergoglio, whose Liberation-Theology and sexualized sensibilities projected a Marxist, pro-LGBTQ, feminist, climate-change slant which confused and offended many Ordinariate people who had come over since 2009.

C) Mega churches contain the quantity of members that would allow cross sections of internally emerging Faith varietals to segment themselves into new branches operating under their same Denomination, but producing new autonomous churches, which though autocephalus could all meet in a huge "hallway" or Synod annually, to discuss and even vote on matters. However, because this would entail the sacrifice of monetary profits that normally come under its singular leadership, the Mega Pastor and/or his/her church committee and/or board of directors tend never to vote to allow such subsidiarity to be written theologically, and so the body remains a monolithic "mega church."

D) Theologian Richard Hooker in 1594 had promulgated that individual churches should operate according to their own customaries while maintaining their subsidiarity of standing under a central theological authority. In keeping with this principle, theologian Abraham Kuyper affirmed that Denominational and Ecclesial matters should be handled at the smallest, lowest, or least centralized competent authority whenever possible. This central authority performs ordinations and consecrations, keeps the Body sustained within set formularies, and mediates any major diocesan concerns, but it largely stays out of the affairs on the congregational and parish level. The concept is practiced by the Anglican Church of America and Traditional Anglican Church of America and is referred to as Custom and Subsidiarity. This system permits the creation of centralized theological and general juridical documentation at the Chancery level so as to validate remotely the doings of the Word, the noble appearance of the churches, and Good Works such as the Ecumenical outreach that is ably handled by each subsidiary within its own geographical jurisdiction.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in Mystagogical Catechesis (A.D. 350), articulated that the Church is a Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which signifies its universal nature and denotes the unity of all believers as the Church. The word "catholic" is a Greek-derived term meaning "universal," and it was used in this ancient Christian text written during his early years as Bishop. While Cyril's complete Catechetical Lectures were given during Lent (of probably A.D. 349), the final five of those lectures, known as the Mystagogical Catecheses, were delivered to the newly baptized for the first time. He added, "The Church is called Catholic because it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally and without omission all the doctrines which ought to come to men's knowledge..." 

Please choose examples of things that are not catholic outside of its respective Denomination, but which are to be respected between churches who are practicing true Ecumenism, below.

Saint Maximus the Confessor:  This Byzantine theologian, taught that Church Unity is an orthodox union that shares the nature and will of Christ with the Faithful through Perichoresis (interpenetration and indwelling) that occurs during Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, and at our Salvation unto Theosis or ultimate oneness (Ecclesiastical Mystagogy; Chap. 1; A.D. 630).

In such extraordinary worship, the Church enacts its role as the "Eikon" (image) of Christ, by whose Grace believers are reborn and receive one catholic "divine form and designation," which is to derive their being and name from Christ. Which description of the ecclesiological background of the seventh century best sets the stage for the demands of Ecumenism at that time? 

Do the following points adequately summarize reasons why it was necessary during Maximus's life to empower Church Unity through the Ecumenism of the Church Council that was to follow?

A) The turmoil of Islam's spread and the sieges of Constantinople in A.D. 617 and 626; the conquest of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614 and by the Muslims in 628, all produced an unstable sociopolitical climate across the Byzantine Empire where Faith in in the Trinity was faltering.

B) Furthermore, as the heresy of Nestorius sharply penetrated this climate, there was an overall trend of transcending Hellenistic-Antiochian orthodoxy and Assyrian/Nestorian ecclesiology during the rebellion against Antioch by Eastern Syria. Maximus was hoping to shore up the divisiveness wrought between Monothelitism/Monophysitism (Christ having both God's and man's separate natures, but one Godly will) that was employed by Western Syria to push against the Chalcedonian Formula (of Christ and God being of one substance as Hypostasis), actualizing the complaints by the Nestorians and the Monothelitist Syrians against the Chalcedonian Christology of Byzantium that they considered mere Caesaropapism (virulently opposing the catholic Dyothelitism/Dyophisitism, which means Christ's possession of two separate natures and two separate wills, God's and man's). The question was how to reunite the opposing churches, or to provide a superior theological catholic universally-true system that diminished the significance of the heresies because doung so made the Chalcedonian churches stronger and more unified.

C) The Sixth Ecumenical Council (Third Council of Constantinople, A.D. 680–681) "managed" Monothelitism by officially condemning it as a heresy and affirming that Christ has two wills: a divine will and a human will (Hypostasis, Dyophysitism). This was achieved by affirming the sound catholic doctrine of His having two natures and two wills (Dyothelitism) as the true Christology. The Council asserted that the human will of Jesus was in perfect harmony with the Divine will. The council also anathematized several figures who had supported Monothelitism, including now-former Pope Honorius I.

D) Saint Maximus the Confessor's Ecclesiastical Mystagogythereupon summarizes the Church's Liturgy (Divine or Customary, but always Sacred) as a symbolic pathway to Theosis, viewing the church building, the cosmos, and the human body as all interconnected mirrors of Christ's Divine reality. Maximus was following Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's cosmology which describes a hierarchical universe flowing from God, the ultimate source of all being. Maximus's work systematically interprets the components of a church's truly Divine and thus-Cosmic Liturgy, as the Sacred Tradition of each church which connects it and all of creation's purpose (logoi) to the single Divine purpose (Logos), all of it together realized in the Incarnation of Christ; our Baptism and Holy Communion, which are the two key Biblical sacraments leading to oneness with the Godhead---whereof "you will judge the angels" (1 Corinthians 6:3; John 10:34; Psalm 82). The Liturgy thus leads the Christian to God's deification of his/her human nature and, consequently, calls him/her forward into the entire celestial order, from the Church's theological architecture to each saved person's Baptismal and Eucharistic Perichoresis, and ultimately his/her Salvational and Theotic climax. All these ontological graduations are symbols that initiate the faithful person into increasingly progressive spiritual realities towards becoming united with Christ, and each believer who is enjoined in this Perichoresis and finally enjoying the shared salvational unity of the Churchin Heaven, the "Church Triumphant," to be sure;. This is the mystagogical process that guides the believer from outward, sensory experience to inner, contemplative understanding of Salvation, spiritual transformation, and the Ecclesiastical Divinity of sharing Communion on Earth and then later in the New Jerusalem. And therefore, this is how Saint Maximus applied a unique and beautiful means of Ecumenically gaining peace between the Chalcedonians and the Monophysites/Nestorians---by supplying the cosmology which won the theological debate based on the pleasure of the Trinity to redeem sinners so that they can become One with God (Theosis). Maximus's theology of the Liturgy and of the Eucharist was so extremely important, that 18 years after his death, at the Sixth Ecumenical Council/Third Council of Constantinople, A.D. 680-681, his teachings decided the day.

E) Conclusion: Ecumenism sometimes means knowing how to win arguments with heretics by truly comprehending and passionately knowing and comprehending the theology taught at the Seven Ecumenical Councils, so that you can teach the lost through a modality of correction and Love.

Saint Clement of Rome (A.D. 99 died) wrote two letters to the church in Corinth to help resolve a rebellion against the elders. He was trying to restore unity, brotherly love, and peace. After two letters that were sent to Corinth 40 years earlier from the church's founder, Saint Paul the Apostle, had themselves strived to stanch the puncture against Church Unity (e.g., lawsuits and adultery), the ancient church of Corinth now continued to suffer ceaseless identity upheavals over time. Experiencing long periods of internal struggle, decline, schisms, it gradually enjoyed final integration into the greater Eastern Orthodox theology. While the original community had long had its ups and downs, and fell in and out of Communion with the rest of the ancient Pentarchy, or relayed between Byzantine and Roman forms, it ultimately fell under an entirely Orthodox ecclesiological paradigms. As "the Church of Corinth" is currently stable as the Greek Orthodox Church, what is the lesson for Ecumenism, here?

The ordained (anointed or consecrated) offices of Bishop, Priest and Priest (Presbyter), and Deacon, and of Appointed Deaconess, are all biblical offices. True or False?

It is most kindly and it deems you to be more approachable, to project with a soft demeanor that you believe that a given sinner can turn from his evil aways and adopt the narrow path, just as Saul of Tarsus did when nursed to health by Ananias and welcomed lovingly by the actual Christians he had once hurt. In fact, by considering Conference 13 by St. John of Cassian, we can avoid Augustine's comparatively severe interpretation by seeing Cassian's update of Augustine's soteriology:

"It cannot then be doubted that there are by nature some seeds of goodness in every soul implanted by the kindness of the Creator: but unless these are quickened by the assistance of God, they will not be able to attain to an increase of perfection, for, as the blessed Apostle says: Neither is he that plants anything nor he that waters, but God that gives the increase (Corinthians 3:7). But that freedom of the will is to some degree in a man's own power is very clearly taught in the book termed the Pastor [The Shepherd of Hermes], where two angels are said to be attached to each one of us, i.e., a good and a bad one, while it lies at a man's own option to choose which to follow. (The Conferences; Saint John Cassian; Conf. 13-On God's Protection; Chap. 12; A.D. ~428).

Do you feel that some churchmen, and even you, feel as if you have a good and a bad angel on either shoulder, between whose conflicting advice we must deliberate, although we are possibly confused between the two?  Which of the following would be plausible?

A) Cassian emphasized that these "seeds of goodness" remained in human nature after the Fall of Man, and that the exercise of Free Will in taking the first step toward God and His goodness is indeed possible, though Divine Grace is indispensable for spiritual progress and witnesses the will being often incapable of making a decision without "feeling" suddenly inspired by the Holy Spirit. This internal, personal Grace, aligns with the principle of Prevenient Grace, according to Saint Prosper of Aquitaine (The Call to All Nations; Ch. 8; Saint Prosper of Aquitaine; A.D. 529).

B) John Cassian should not be a saint because he is sounding as if he secretly still follows what Origen is said to have taught, which is that everybody will be saved, and is clearly implying the Semi-Pelagian idea that sinners can redeem and save themselves by their own wills.

C) There is no reason to wait around for, or pray to receive the inspiration that moves one's will to choose what is good. If God loves us, then surely He has created us to have all that we need to choose right from wrong and attain Salvation using our own brains' Common Sense.

In another dialogue, Augustine poses the question of why God's Grace is not given to all people equally, whereof the church doctor replies in terms of what certain Christians may rhetorically reiterate to advocate for the concept of Predestination, in their hopes to substantiate their individual claims to belonging to the Elect. Thus, in his analysis of Romans 3:20, Augustine bemoans the sinner's supposed inability to chose good over evil, due to the non-existence or irrelevance of his Free Will to resist his concupiscence to indulge his Total Depravity:

"We admit that what we do is evil and that we do not want to do it, but because there is as yet no Grace, we are defeated. In this state we discover how far down we lie, and when we want to rise up and yet we fall, we are all the more gravely afflicted" (Confessions; Romans 3:20; A.D. 398)

By citing this Augustinian language can hopeful Ecumenists usefully emphasize that the doctrine of Total Depravity proves the impossibility of Free Will? Does the inescapable circumstance of Double Predestination mean we cannot approach churches of Limited Atonement (i.e., God has pre-saved some humans but pre-damned all the others)? Or does it mean that regarding other churches who are holding to Single Predestination, it could alternately be hoped that these otherwise rigid "Augustinians" could be approached based on the hope that they would accept that God decreed the provision for Christ's atonement for all people equally, making Salvation hypothetically available to everyone on the condition of Faith, by anticipating that God, by another, special, and unconditional decree of election, has pre-chosen certain individuals (the Elect), but purposes to graciously work within them via the Holy Spirit to ensure they repent and believe---and thus that this "Elect" may include any one of us (presuming ourselves to be worthy)? 

As a side note---sometimes called "Four-Point Calvinism," Amyraldism is a theological view within Calvinism that teaches God's atonement for sin was intended for all people, but its benefits are only applied to those who are saved through Faith.

How would you say that this adjustment makes churches with such formerly austere soteriology now appear to be more conciliatory and approachable?

Please add your thoughts, below, and click NEXT  . . .

In his Conferences, particularly in Conference 13, Cassian strongly argued against a strict Augustinian view of predestination. He maintained that God has a universal salvific will, desiring all people to be saved. Augustine is said to impose Double Predestination, which is the principle that God has already set down at birth whether one will go to Heaven (being of the Elect); or, go to hell (being of the Reprobate). Free Will does not appear to matter in this Augustinian interpretation, in which the concupiscent indulging of one's Total Depravity cannot be resisted unless on is already predetermined to be in the Elect.

"Because God is merciful in choosing some for Salvation," Augustine argued, and, "Because God is a Judge" [in justly condemning the rest] (Predestination of the Saints; Saint Augustine of Hippo; Chap. 9/16; A.D. 422).

State whether you believe that an unchangeable Elect/Reprobate paradigm of Salvation is not at odds with Church Unity, in which most churches characterize catholicity as including the belief in the relevance of Free Will to choose to believe in the Trinity, as if Double Predestination with its Limited Atonement (or alternately Single Predestination, which is the conviction that while some people are chosen before birth to go to Heaven as the Elect, the others are passed over, left to condemn themselves) can be a catholic, universally acceptable inter-churchwide ecumenical doctrine held by all. Write your words in the input box below, and then click NEXT.

Saint John Cassian (~A.D. 360 – A.D. 435), was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern churches for his mystical writings. Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of early Christian monasticism to the medieval West. Cassian's writings do not focus on the administrative or structural "catholic universality" of the Church as an institution, but they are necessary to understand true Ecumenism. They actually explore the universal availability of Salvation by exemplifying the consistent traditions of monastic practice across different regions. In both the Institutes of Coenobia and The Conferences, he discussed the Universal Availability of Salvation. Why is this important?  Check any or one:

Saint Cyprian of Carthage wrote about catholicism, that is universality, through the lens of the Unity of the Church and the authority of Bishops. In his treatise On the Unity of the Catholic Church, he argued that the true Church is a single, united body with a unified Episcopate (the College or House of bishops) and that Salvation is found within this unified Church architecture. He penned "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus" in two different works: His treatise On the Unity of the Catholic Church (De ecclesiae catholicae unitate; A.D. 251); and Epistle 72 (Ad Jubajanum de haereticis baptizandis; A.D. 256). The phrase means "Outside the Church there is no Salvation" as the latter was written in the context of discussions about Church Unity in light of the validity of baptisms performed by heretics. With Ad Jubajanum, Cyprian wrote to Jubaianus to explain why it was necessary to re-baptize such persons. In paragraph 21, Cyprian states, "Salus extra ecclesiam non est," which is the original Latin phrase for "there is no Salvation outside the Church.' He adds "For we do not say that those who come from the heretics are re-baptized by us, but that they are baptized. For indeed they receive nothing there, where there is nothing at all; but they come to us that they may here receive where all grace and truth are. For this reason, moreover, by this those are not re-baptized, but baptized by us, who at any time come from the adulterous and unhallowed water to be washed and sanctified by the truth of the saving water" (Para. 1). He thus argued for the Unity of the Church to counter schismatics and believed that to be in communion with Christ meant being in communion with the Bishop, who represents the Unity of the Church. The tireless example shown by Saint Cyprian of Carthage would lead the Ecumenist toward doing and accepting one or more the following (click which apply):

Saint Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Three Cappadocian Fathers, wrote about Church Unity (Contra Eunomium [the Arian]; Book III; A.D. 383) by emphasizing that true Christians must be peacemakers who reject hostility and embrace reconciliation. Please check the Universal Catholic ideas that are remindful of Church Unity:

Saint Gregory Nazianzus, one of the Three Cappadocian Fathers, (A.D. 389 died), wrote about Church Unity, particularly emphasizing that unity must be rooted in a shared understanding of the Trinitarian Faith, which he described as a single Godhead with three co-equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His writings on Unity (Oration 21; Part 13) address how theological coherence---especially concerning the nature of God---is essential for the Church to remain One, and avoid division, which he saw as a threat to the "noble body of the Church." Please check off whichever passage(s) are relevant, below:

Shouldn't God Alone Unite Churches?

If Christ had only one will, God's, but has two natures, which were God's and man's, then how could human beings relate to his choice-making if we do not see him as totally human---in fact, as Mary's son, the "Son of Man?" How can we make a Godly decision to unite churches if we are nothing like Him? Surely, He must have both a human and the will of His Father.

Universalizing the alternate belief (that He had only one will, His Father's) would expose homes and churches to their highest level of amoral behavior. That is sinners, who, in seeing that they are not God or Christ, are suddenly not responsible for their wrongdoings, and therefore would act abominably while believing tcommitting bestialhat only Christ or God Himself could have the Free Will to resist sin, a self control entirely lacked by themselves to avoid immoral acts. However, the Sixth Ecumenical Council affirmed two natural wills, Dyothelitism, of Christ, and defined Dyothelitism to oppose Monothelitism as follows:

"And we hold that two natural wills [duas naturales voluntates] and two natural principles of action [naturales operationes] meet in correspondence for the salvation of the human race...those who dare to compose another faith, or to support or to teach or to hand on another creed...are deprived of their episcopacy or clerical rank, and if they are monks or layfolk they are excommunicated" (Council of Constantinople III; Exposition of Faith; A.D. 680).

Please choose the info below that is relevant to this decision.

A) Saint Maximus the Confessor heavily influenced this council by distinguishing human will with God's will. He said that humans, with their limited understanding that is sorely lesser than God's omniscience can at best deliberate between choices, whereas God would never have to. He wrote, “So if it be a gnomic will, it is derived from a prior gnomie [God], and if it be so received, then that gnomie, as the original form from which it is derived, is an essence” (The Four Hundred Chapters on Love; Saint Maximus the Confessor; Third Century; No. 77; A.D. 662).

B) As the Confessor added, “Thus, those who say that there is a gnomie in Christ, as this inquiry is demonstrating, are maintaining that He is a mere man, deliberating in a manner like unto us, having ignorance, doubt and opposition, since one only deliberates about something which is doubtful, not concerning what is free of doubt" (Disputation with Pyrrhus; Para. 75; Saint Maximus the Confessor; A.D. 662).

C) Maximus asked, "Do we choose for ourselves, voluntarily and deliberately? Or, involuntarily and without deliberation?" Pyrrhus answered, "Obviously, voluntarily and deliberately. Maximus concluded, "So then, the Gnomie is nothing else than an act of willing in a particular way, in relation to some real or assumed good" (ibid, No. 83–85)

D) Saint Augustine had long ago finally admitted that Free Will is necessary but not sufficient for Salvation. He talked about Saint Paul's exhortation to Saint Timothy, "Keep thyself continent," which was God's Grace speaking through the fatherly voice of Saint Paul, without which Saint Timothy could not have chosen continence by engaging solely his own volition without God's help. "Now they to whom this is not given either are unwilling or do not fulfil what they will; whereas they to whom it is given so will as to accomplish what they will. In order, therefore, that this saying, which is not received by all men, may yet be received by some, there are both the gift of God and free will" (Retractions; Saint Augustine of Hippo; Book II; Chapter 66: On Grace and Free Will; Sec. 7: “Grace is Necessary Along with Free Will to Lead a Good Life”; A.D. 427).

Just one more thing about Saint John Cassian... Regarding his convictions on the Universality of monastic tradition, in his works, Institutes and Conferences, Cassian sought to transmit the universal, or "general rule," of the ancient and widespread monastic practices of the Egyptian desert to the Western Church. He stressed the importance of following the traditions "which a long standing antiquity and numbers of the holy fathers have passed on by an unanimous decision," rather than individual innovations (The Institutes; Saint John Cassian; Book 1; Chap. 2; A.D. 420).

This implicitly highlights a sense of a consistent, universal tradition within the Christian community (not merely the monastic community) that transcended geographical boundaries. How can we improve our Ecumenical Movement?  Click all that apply ...

Different from Saint Augustine, Saint John Cassian cited Scripture to support the idea that God "wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4) and "does not delight in the death of the living" (Wisdom 1:13). Cassian believed that the idea that God arbitrarily chooses only some to be saved was "grievous blasphemy." He wrote, "For if [God] wills not that one of His little ones should perish, how can we imagine without grievous blasphemy that He does not generally will all men, but only some instead of all to be saved? Those then who perish, perish against His will, as He testifies against each one of them day by day: Turn from your evil ways, and why will you die, O house of Israel? [Ezekiel 33:11]" (The Conferences; Saint John Cassian; Conf. 13-On God's Protection; Chap. 7; A.D. ~428).         ... Which is truer:

A) It would be harder to convince a Christian holding fast to a Predestination paradigm of Salvation to seek Fellowship with a poor church or to help serve charity with/to another party, because the lesser and worrisome things of life would signify to him that his Election was not assured. He would probably say, "no."

B) The above is not correct because as St. Hilary of Poitiers said about the two sons (Matthew 21:27-31), whose father gives them work in the vineyard, the younger son verbally obliged his father but did not do the work, whereas the older son did the work after firstly saying he could not. Poitiers explains, "In other words, the younger son professed obedience, although he did not then bring it to realization because Faith alone justifies. For this reason, publicans and prostitutes will be first in the kingdom of Heaven" (Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Matthew; Saint Hilary of Poitiers; On Matt. 21; Sec. 15; A.D. 356). Therefore, in the column next to any grouchy Augustinian whose doctrine on Predestination would make "no" be his knee-jerk reaction to an offer of Ecumenism or shared charity venturing, there may be twenty catholic types who initially said "yes" but do not take action, while the grouchy man would be the first person in line to collaborate, having initially said "no."

Matthew Henry gave commentary on Jeremiah 2:13: "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Click all that apply:

Matthew Henry, British Nonconformist and Presbyterian minister (1714 died) in Commentary on the Whole Bible, wrote about the universality (or catholicity) of the Church in terms of its being the entire, global body of believers throughout history, as distinct from individual local congregations. His perspective, consistent with Reformed theology, emphasizes the Church as a spiritual entity with a universal scope to concentrate on eternal glory above earthly pursuits. "He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave," said Henry. Check all that apply:

Saint John Chrysostom produces incredibly beautiful words that help the Ecumenical Mission of Christians. The idea here is that no matter price of having to help somebody, remember that you were given priceless gifts by God who exacted no price, and that you should pass along the thoughtfulness freely to others. You'll help people in your own church and in others by initiating interaction between all types of Christians. Let us break up his Sermon into segments.

Please indicate which statements jump out at you with inspiration by checking each one off (you'll get extra points for this part, because all the answers below are correct---so just check them each off, after y0u've read each.

Saint John Chrysostom preaches on the importance of Faith, humility, and love in the Christian life. He emphasizes the need to focus on spiritual virtues rather than seeking after fame or miracles. How should the Ecumenist be like Chrysostom in seeking to instill spiritual virtues in people of other Denominations? Check any or all:

Saint Basil the Great, one of the Three Cappadocian Fathers, critiques visible church disunity in On the Holy Spirit by lamenting the hatred and division among believers. In what ways did Basil remark about the weakening of catholic unity through non-traditional, immoral, and unorthodox spirit of variance among members? Check what applies:  

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Romans 5:8
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Please add your personal testimony:

Romans 10:12:
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all, and richly blesses all who call on Him.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 17:11
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Colossians 3:11-14
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Please add your own personal testimony:

1 Corinthians 12:12
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 17:21
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 17:22-23
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Philippians 1:27
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.

Please add your own personal testimony:

1 Corinthians 12:25-27
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Please add your own personal testimony:

1 Corinthians 12:25-27
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Romans 12:5
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Ephesians 4:3-6
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Philippians 2:1-6
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Acts 4:32
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 10:30
I and my Father are one.

Please add your own personal testimony:

1 Corinthians 1:10
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 10:38
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Please add your own personal testimony:

John 17:8
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Zechariah 14:9
And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

Please add your own personal testimony:

1 John 5:7
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Ezekiel 37:16-19
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
Please add your own personal testimony:

John 14:9-11
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Jeremiah 32:39
And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them.

Please add your own personal testimony:

1 Peter 3:8-9
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

Please add your own personal testimony:

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". This passage indicates that scripture is a "God-breathed" source that provides guidance and wisdom for teaching, convicting, and correcting individuals to live a righteous life.

Please add your personal testimony.

Genesis 18
And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.

Please add your personal testimony.

John 17:25
O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

Please add your own personal testimony:

Acts 2:46
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.

Please add your own personal testimony: