THEY DID IT ANYWAY!

Moses was very specific as to what the children of Israel would do AFTER God gave them the land [as HE promised to Abraham].

Deuteronomy 31:16-29

16 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. 19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxed fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. 21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. 22 So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. 23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee. 24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, saying, 26 Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. 27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah; and how much more after my death? 28 Assemble unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

This is APOSTASY, forsaking God and breaking the terms of His covenant. It is a returning to the practice of sin. It occurs when the doctrine is perverted in ways that will allow the practice to be condoned.

Despite the warning, they forsook Jehovah and worshiped idols. They DID IT ANYWAY!

The apostle Paul likewise spoke of this very thing in regard to the doctrine of the Lord's church in his meeting with the elders of the church of Christ at Ephesus. He then wrote to Timothy of the same.

To the elders, Paul wrote in Acts 20:28-30 - Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall men arise, SPEAKING PERVERSE THINGS, to draw away the disciples after them.

Despite this warning, IT HAS HAPPENED ANYWAY!

To Timothy, Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 - But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of MEN THAT SPEAK LIES, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;

IT HAS HAPPENED ANYWAY!

This is how the numerous denominational bodies have came into existence, as we see today. It is APOSTASY from the PATTERN!

There was a remedy for the children of Israel...give up their idolatrous practices and return to the pattern of worship as commanded at Mt. Sinai.

There is a remedy for denominationalism today...return to the worship as commanded by the Lord thru the apostles.

This is why the pleas are made to return and continue "in the apostles' doctrine" as the first Christians did.

Acts 2:42 - "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching..."

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