Jerry C. Brewer
There is not a single denomination on earth that can find itself in the New Testament. Every one of them had its origin this side of Pentecost and was established by men. When we teach that truth and point out the one true church which Jesus promised to build (Matt. 16:18), we are often met with the statement in our title.
No one denies that there are “good people in all denominations.” It goes without saying that there are good people in all religious groups. It is just as true that there are good people who belong to no religious group. We also believe that there are honest and good people who would at once renounce denominational error and become simply Christians if they would learn the truth.
It is not “goodness” that saves, but obeying the will of the Lord (Matt. 7:21-22). Cornelius was a good man—perhaps one of the best of whom we read in the Bible—but he was lost and needed to hear the Gospel, believe it, and obey it in order to be saved (Acts 10:1-2; 11:13-14).
The problem with good people in denominations is that they are led astray by the hireling clergy—the denominational leeches on the backs of their parishioners. Many of those preachers and priests know their doctrines cannot be found in the Bible, but continue to deceive their people with those teachings. Like the ancient Pharisees, they “compass land and sea to make one proselyte,” and in so doing, “make him twofold more a child of hell” than themselves (Matt. 23:15). Week after week these denominational clergymen line their own pockets at the expense of “good people” who trust their very souls to them. Of them, Paul wrote, “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom. 16:17).
“Good people in all denominations?” Without a doubt, but good people who are blinded by the devil’s ministers in Catholic and Protestant robes.
