In Mt. 6:33 Jesus stated in the great sermon on the Mount, “But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  What is the context for this statement?
In Mt. 6:19-34 the whole point is made. (v.19) “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; (v20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (v21) for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.”  Here Jesus teaches a lesson on the heart which emphasises the importance of one’s heart toward God and the most important thing in life, what man was put on earth for.  Too many peo;e are interested in carnal things of life.  Jesus teaches the spiritual things such as treasures in heaven are much more important.  Carnal things don’t last long compared to spiritual things which are for eternity.  Too many people seem to think riches are the most important thing in life, much more important than the spiritual things like serving God and growing spiritually.  Mt. 6:33 plainly teaches to put the spiritual FIRST.  Few believe it, however, and do not believe it denies what Jesus said.
V.24, “No man can serve two masters:  for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”;  Some may try to serve two masters equally, but it is impossible.  The verse teaches you love one MORE than the other.  Which is it, GOD or MAMMON (def. “riches”)?  As our children grow up we need to teach them WHICH is the more important, and we do that by being an example to them of which really is the more important.  GOD! (v25) “Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, which ye shall put on.  Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?  (v.26)  Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them.  Are not ye of much more value than they?  This teaches the providence of God.  If we love God and keep his commandments, God will surely  care for us.  God cares for the birds and we are more important than birds.  In Psa. 37:25, David made this observation.  “I have been young, and now am old;  Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.”  This implies God’s providence for His people.
v28, “For the lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever; but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.”  This again shows how God loves His saints.  In Romans 1:6-7, “among whom are ye also, called to be Jesus Christ’s:  to all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be SAINTS; Grace to you and peace from God or Father and Lord Jesus Christ.”
When we put God first in our lives, it seems the Bible teaches God will be with us and things will work out to have faithful lives serving God and a good life in this world.  God loves the whole world Jn. 3:16.
TRUTH IN LOVE, Vol. 6, No. 12 December, 2013

​

Ron Halbrook
Xenia, Ohio
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. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you`! or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor. 1:10-13)
The first Christians claimed no human merit and were forbidden to exalt my human leaders (Matt. 23:1-12). The “worthy name” of Christ was a sufficient banner and the only badge of identification (Jas. 2:7). Jesus Christ had shed His blood and sinners received the benefits of that redeeming . blood when they were baptized in His name. Christ is not divided – His people must not divide. Since the Bible teaches this so plainly, we may well wonder why there are so many denominations today. A world which accepts this situation might be shocked to learn what God thinks of it. The more we study what the Bible says, the more ,we will understand the dangers of denominationalism.
Why So Many Different Denominations?
Modern denominationalism ranges from the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) which emphasizes traditional creeds, to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) which is so broad as to include the likes of the now-defunct Peoples Temple with its communistic-style leader Jim Jones. Jesus Christ warned that during the first century false Christs and movements falsely claiming to be His own would arise (Matt. 7:13-23; Acts 15; 1, 2, 3 Jn.). Counterfeit Christs and churches multiplied after the first century but were overshadowed from about the 600s to the 1400s by the monolithic power of Roman Catholicism. Most dissenters from Catholicism during these Middle Ages were adopted into the Catholic fold, persecuted out of existence, or else died a natural death.
Beginning in the 1500s, several efforts were made to remove the most extreme corruptions from Catholicism, but it rejected from its fold the reformers instead. Reformation movements were inaugurated under Martin Luther (1483-1546), Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), and John Calvin (1509-64) – resulting in Lutheran, Reformed, and Calvinist crusades. Lutherans were based largely in Germany. Reformed and Calvinist groups, based in Switzerland, often converged and formed various phases of Presbyterianism. While Lutherans and Presbyterians spread their teachings in Europe and sought political power, more radical reformers who were generally labeled Anabaptists (because they re-baptized people who had been sprinkled as infants) attempted to reproduce the New Testament church in strict detail. The visions and experiments with that restitution concept varied and were sometimes bizarre, but seed was sown contributing to the rise of such bodies as Mennonites; Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and several varieties of Brethren. King Henry VIII (1491-1547) engineered a break with Roman Catholicism that resulted in only mild religious reform but in a separate Church of England or Anglican Church. Overall, the Protestant Reformation changed the religious landscape of the West from one dominated by Catholicism to one dotted with nationally established churches in competition with smaller parties.
The major churches of Europe were to be represented in America: (1) Roman Catholic; (2) Lutheran; (3) Reformed and Presbyterian (including mixed groups of Puritans, Separatists, and ., Congregationalists); (4) Anglican (Episcopal in America after the Revolution, and the Anglican offshoot Methodism); and (5) assorted radical reformation groups such as Baptists, Quakers, and others. Some of these major groups were further divided internally along lines of national origin, language, and culture (for instance, Lutheran, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches were splintered). The process of division has continued in America as well as in other countries. A summary on the origin of some major groups formed since 1500 and found in modern America is provided on the chart (Time, Place, and Founder).
Time Place Founder Church
606 Rome Boniface III (first “universal bishop”) Roman Catholic
1520 Germany Martin Luther Lutheran
1534 England Henry VIII Episcopal
1536 Switzerland John Calvin Presbyterian
1550 England Robert Browne Congregational
1607 Holland John Smythe Baptist
1739 England John Wesley Methodist
1830 America Joseph Smith Latter Day Saints (Mormon)
1830 America William Miller Adventist
1866 America Mary Baker Eddy Christian Scientist
1872 America Charles T. Russell Jehovah’s Witnesses
The number of divisions is difficult to compute, depending on how many fringe elements, factions, cultists, and self-styled religions are included. The standard Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches lists 296. Arthur C. Piepkorn’s seven-volume Profiles in Belief (issued by Harper & Row) enumerates 735 North American groups, but J. Gordon Melton’s new Encyclopedia of American Religions (Consortium Books; $75) counts 1,187 denominations in the U.S. alone!
Prominent Characteristics of Modern Denominations
Historians and other analysts have made a few generalizations about the confusing medley of churches arising after 1500. Some appearance of unity with each other and even with Roman Catholicism centers around certain themes deemed the core of Christianity: “namely, the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus” (Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity [New York: Harper & Bros., 1953], p. 1472). Many of the groups have continued to acknowledge a few post apostolic age formulations of faith such as the so-called Apostles’ and Nicene creeds. “However, a minority either rejected these, or, endeavoring to go back to the primitive church and its beliefs and practices as pictured in the New Testament, declined to be bound by creeds” (Ibid., p. 996). All the groups can be identified negatively by their rejection of the Pope and “the corruptions for which the Pope stood,” including the invocation of the saints, the cult of the Virgin Mary, indulgences, and the obligatory celibacy of the clergy (ibid.). Positively, a few distinct ideas widely held include: (1) appeal to the Bible rather than tradition, Pope, or the Roman Catholic Church as the authoritative revelation of God’s will; (2) salvation by faith – generally understood as “faith alone”,- rather than by the works stipulated by Roman Catholic leaders of the Middle Ages; and (3) the priesthood of all believers, rather than the dominant role of the priestly hierarchy in Roman Catholicism. These generalizations have been complicated since about 1875 by the development of Liberalism or Modernism which rejects all external authority – Bible, Church, Pope, creed, or any other. Latourette summarized,
Indeed, what we call Christianity changed from time to time. In most of its forms what came from Jesus and his apostles was regarded as primary and determinative, but other contributions entered, among them the cultural background of individuals and groups, the personal experiences of outstanding leaders, and inherited religions and philosophical conceptions (p. 1472).
A modern denomination is an organized form of religion that begins with some things taught or practiced by Jesus and His apostles, but changes those things by the application of human conceptions. The changes are made in the name of progress, service, peace, love, or some other positive sounding term. A denomination is not an individual Christian. It is an organization larger than the local church to which local churches belong, but usually does not claim to be the whole body of the saved. Denominational boundaries are determined by such factors as a human designation or name which is worn, a creed composed by men, some favorite doctrine emphasized to the exclusion of other truths, close adherence to one or more human leaders, and institutional loyalty.
Typical institutions generating denominational loyalty are the parent body which receives local churches, missionary boards, educational bodies such as colleges, publication houses, journals which attempt to speak for the denomination, summer camps, hospitals, old-age homes, apartment complexes, retirement centers, orphanages, and assorted humanitarian service organizations. The individual member of some denomination very often identifies such institutions with the church. He experiences a sense of pride and loyalty centered in them. Once the approved leader, parent body, or other important institution rules on a matter of faith or practice, the denomination as a whole tends to “line up” and to throttle any further open debate. Dissenters are seldom tried before ecclesiastical courts any more, but such people are easily labeled and their influence isolated by the bureaucratic machinery of the denomination.
The most widely held view among denominations of all sorts is: it is not essential to a person’s salvation for him to join any denomination at all so long as he in his own way respects, serves, or worships God. If he wishes to honor God or serve humanity by joining one of the myriad denominations, one church is about as good as another. That is, God accepts and approves them all.
With this background we may readily understand why there are so many denominations. The question is, does God really accept modern denominationalism?
The Shocking Truth
Most religious people today would be shocked to learn that, no, God does not accept modern denominationalism! We cannot wave aside the question by saying that religious people should not question one another’s faith and practice. Christ and His apostles spent much of their time challenging and teaching other religious people. We cannot wave aside the question by saying that we should “leave other people alone” in our preaching. In calling gospel preachers “Back to the Old Paths,” C.R. Nichol said,
Exactly what will one teach and “let others alone”? If one preaches “God is,” the atheist cries: there is no God, let us alone! If you preach that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Savior, the Jew raises his voice, saying: “Let us alone.” If you preach that faith in Christ is necessary to salvation in this life, the Universalist insists that you leave him alone. If you teach that one must live the faithful Christian life, the Baptists declare you should let them alone, for they declare it IS NOT necessary to salvation to live faithful! If you teach that believers only are subjects of baptism (immersion) the Methodists and Presbyterians insist you let them alone. What can one preach and “let other people alone?” (Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures 1952 [Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publ. House], pp. 97-98).
The question, “Does God accept modern denominationalism?” must be faced.
All who claim to serve the God of the Bible must go to the Bible to learn what He does and does not approve. What man’s eye, ear, and heart cannot of natural power know – i.e. the wisdom of God – He Himself has revealed in the words of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:9-13). All who claim to respect the Bible as God’s Word are obligated to test every religious practice by the Bible. Knowing that false teachers abound, we must test every teaching by the apostolic word (1 Jn. 4:1-6). All who claim to believe in Jesus Christ must follow His word in all things and shun “the voice of strangers” (Jn. 10:4-5). Jesus asks, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Lk. 6:46).
In the excellent little book Can We Trust the Bible? (Earl D. Radmacher, ed; Wheaton, III.: Tyndale House, 1979), Edmund P. Clowny speaks precisely to the point:
The authority of Scriptures cannot be separated from Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord bears witness to the Lord of the word (p. 39).
If we lose the Lord’s Word we lose the Lord (p. 41).
We cannot separate the Lord Jesus Christ from the Bible. If we turn away from the Scriptures, and suppose that we are turning to Christ, then what we turn to is not the Christ of the Scriptures but a myth of our own imagination (p. 53).
Other writers in the same little book underscore the close connection between God, His Son, and His revealed Word:
Just as Christ himself is Life and Light, the words he has spoken are Spirit and Life (Robert C. Preus, p. 58).
But just as Jesus Christ is God’s Son for the world, so Holy Scripture is God’s Word for the world . . . . Because the Bible is the Word of God, it is utterly trustworthy and utterly authoritative for our lives – not just relatively so, as being the best source we have, but absolutely so, as being God’s pure word of address which stands for all eternity (James I. Packer, p. 24).
The Bible is the focal point both of God’s authority and of all that man can know about what God approves and accepts.
What the Bible Says
Ephesians points to salvation in Christ, the one head of one body, as God’s plan from eternity (1:4, 22-23; 3:8-11). Through Old Testament promises and prophecies, God unfolded this plan for salvation in Jesus Christ the seed of Abraham, in His kingdom alone, or under this one shepherd in His fold alone (Gen. 12:3 & Gal. 3; Isa. 2:1-5; 11:1-12; Dan. 2:44; Ezek. 34:23-26 & Jn. 10). In John 17, Jesus prayed for the unity of those disciples He personally selected and “for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one” – a unity to be based upon the word of truth (17:17-21). That prayer became a reality when, on the first Pentecost after Christ arose., Peter proclaimed the resurrected Savior. When thousands “were pricked in their heart” and cried, “What shall we do?” Peter told them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized . . . . And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2). All were added to the same thing, to the one church, to the Lord’s body.
This glorious gospel, this perfect salvation, this unity in Christ spread throughout the world with the same result. Upon hearing and believing the word, lost souls repented of sin, confessed Christ, and were baptized in water. Their sins were forgiven in the Savior’s blood and these precious souls became one in Him. They were known as “believers,” because they believed in Christ (Acts 5:14); “disciples,” because they were learners and followers of Christ (6:7); and “Christians,” because they belonged to Christ (11:26). These early Christians were without exception undenominational Christians. They belonged to Him without joining or taking the label of any other group, party, sect, religion, division, name, institution, or organization! We, too, can be Christians only, as they were.
God planned for Christians to keep this unity in Christ in love and peace by serving Him in a local church (with no hierarchy or additional structure other than local elders, deacons, evangelists, teachers, and other saints working together; Acts 14:23; 1 Tim. 3), in a spiritual mission of spreading the gospel and in a simple worship (songs, prayers, Bible study, and “upon the first day of the week” the Lord’s Supper and fellowship in giving for the work of the church; Acts 2:42; 20:7; Eph. 5:19; 1 Cor. 16:1-2). Any tendency toward division through exalting human leaders was strictly forbidden (1 Cor. 1:10-13). Division through the formulation of human doctrines was also forbidden (Matt. 15:8-9; Gal. 5:19-21). “There is one body,” unity of organization; “and one Spirit,” unity of life; “even as ye are called in one hope of your calling,” unity of desire and expectation; “one Lord, ” unity of authority; “one faith, ” unity of message; “one baptism, ” unity of practice; “one God and Father of all,” unity of worship (Eph. 4:4-6). Those who refuse to abide in the doctrine of Christ destroy their unity with God and His people, and therefore must be rejected (2 Jn. 9-11). God does not, nor should we, accept denominationalism because: (1) God is undenominational, (2) the Bible is an undenominational book, (3) Jesus Christ is an undenominational Savior, (4) the gospel is an undenominational message, and (5) the New Testament church is an undenominational body.
To resist the dangers of denominationalism, we must resist both without and within the church popular denominational concepts: God accepts any denomination, salvation by faith alone, unity in “gospel” with diversity in “doctrine,” various schemes of unconditional grace, creeds of men, fear of open debate, human organizations attached to the churches, and institutional loyalty. Let us maintain unswerving loyalty to Christ and uphold New Testament Christianity. This alone, God has revealed. This alone He accepts.

​

Keith Cathey preached most Sundays.  Todd Banning, Harvy Fails, Kerry Arnold, and Coy Baldwin took turns preaching each Sunday.  Morris Watson taught the Bible Class.
The orginal members ot the congregation were as follows:
Keith and Judy Cathey
Heather Gordon
Sharel Roth
Alma Rickman (passed away in November 2018)
Lelia Cathey (passed away in January 2014)
Morris and Rita Watson
Cliff and JoAnn Chandler
Important Dates:
February 2012 –  the congregation was formed and met in the afternoon at the Kiestview church of Christ building.  After a few weeks, a building was rented on Osprey Drive in DeSoto, TX.  Antonio Montenz preached for us some after the congregation started.
November 2012- Nov. 2013  – Todd Banning preached for us on Sundays
August 2013 –  the congregation moved to 2130 N. Hwy 67 in Midlothian, TX .
January 2014 – Kerry Arnold started preaching for us on Sunday mornings.
January 2018 - Kerry Arnold left the congregation and Keith Cathey began preaching. Morris Watson began teaching the Bible Classes.
​

The matter of silence in Bible authority is just as important as the matter of God’s voice. What God says will not matter if we do not respect his silence equally. As many religious errors result from abusing God’s silence as result from disregarding his voice.
These simple statements deserve much elaboration and this edition of “Solid Food” will be occupied  with their consideration. What does God’s silence on any given question imply?
What Does Silence Mean?
Before the Protestant reformation, John Wycliff was a very influential reformer of the apostate church. Among his followers was Bohemian John Huss (1373-1415), who, earlier than Luther, opposed the papal sale of indulgences and use of armed force. Huss’s own followers, though, were deeply divided into two camps.
One group known as the “Utraquists” forbade only those practices specifically condemned by the Bible, thus tolerating anything without explicit condemnation. The other group, known as the “Taborites,” rejected all practices for which express warrant in the Bible could not be found, thus rejecting transubstantiation, the worship of saints, prayers for the dead, indulgences, priestly confession, dancing, and other such amusements.
In a war that broke out between the two factions, the Taborites were defeated in 1434 and almost swept away. The Taborites, however, had been on the right track, regarding the importance of the silence of God’s word. But when Martin Luther came along and made forceful objections to papal tradition, he validated by his influence the idea that the silence of the scriptures on any given matter was implicit authorization.
Luther, reacting to the extreme conclusions of his more radical disciples, declared that “what is not contrary to Scripture is for Scripture and Scripture for it.” The application of this principle was that anything which was not expressly prohibited in the Bible was therefore implicitly authorized. That influence continues to be felt today in most every Protestant denomination.
There was a third reformer, however, who stands out: Huldreich Zwingli, the foremost leader of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, was born January 1, 1484, seven weeks after the birth of Martin Luther.
While a student at the University of Basel (1502-06), an instructor impressed upon his mind the sole authority of the Scriptures. Zwingli’s approach to Bible authority was far narrower than Luther’s; he believed that authority existed only for that which clear authorization could be identified in the scriptures. As a result, he rejected the papacy, mass, intercession by the dead, monasticism, purgatory, clergy celibacy, relics, images and instrumental music.
Luther and Zwingli agreed on many points, but the silence of the scriptures in authority was not one of them; to Zwingli the will of God as set forth in the Bible, and conformity to it, was the ideal of religion, while Luther tended more toward emotionalism and subjectivism.
Some of Zwingli’s followers did not believe even he went far enough in applying the principle of the silence of the scriptures. They began to doubt also infant baptism and started practicing full immersion as they saw in the scriptures. Their views spread and they became known as “Anabaptists,” or “rebaptizers.” They also supported a common observance of the Lord’s Supper and congregational autonomy, in deference to the silence of the scriptures concerning the usual practices of their day.
Two Viewpoints
Thus two viewpoints emerged through the reformation, with one of them continuing to this day to define denominationalism, while the other caused people to tend toward restoration instead.
The first perspective on scriptural silence, held by Luther and modern Calvinists, is that silence is implicit authority.
The second perspective, held by Zwingli and later by Campbell, Stone, et al., is that scriptural silence is no authority at all.
But what do the scriptures say?
Six Scriptural Considerations
Silence is the Absence of Authority
Hebrews 7:13-14 states “For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe, Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.”
In discussing Christ’s priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, the Hebrew writer concedes that under the law of Moses, Jesus could never be a priest, for the Old Testament only expressly authorizes descendants of Levi to serve in that office. Verse 14 is then an argument from the silence of the scriptures that authority was absent and liberty extinct. Moses spoke nothing concerning a priest from Judah; thus it was unauthorized and impossible.
Today, people demand to see an explicit condemnation of any act to which we object and yet the Hebrews were satisfied that God’s silence was the lack of authority. “The New Testament doesn’t say not to,” they contend, extending this weak authority only so far as their opinions and imaginations take them.
When a school teacher today tells a student he may be excused to go to the restroom, his silence regarding a trip to the cafeteria, pay phone and parking lot is not considered authority to do all those things, but is considered to be the lack of authority and grounds for punishment on the basis of presumption. Is a school teacher then higher authority than almighty God; is His silence not worthy respect instead of presumption?
Pious Intent is No Excuse
Concerning David’s presumption to build God’s temple, 2 Samuel 7:7 reports God’s reply: “Have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel … saying ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'”.
David’s intention was to build God a temple, and his plans were noble, but misguided and presumptuous. God’s reply is an appeal to silence: “When I have ever spoken a word” regarding this project?
Folks today will defend their projects and intentions against accusations they are unauthorized by boasting of their good intentions and even results. You cannot object to church sponsored orphanages, old folks’ homes or colleges without hearing this refrain. The trouble is, good intentions have never been a substitute for Bible authority and God’s silence on any matter is an invitation to abstain, not presume.
Worship Innovations Unwanted
When the priests, Nadab and Abihu offered profane fire before God in Leviticus 10:1-3, they were punished and killed for their presumption. What made their fire “profane”? It was worship “which he had not commanded them.”
All these priests wanted to do was offer God something different; perhaps they were weary of the same old worship and figured that God must be as well. God, however, did not want their worship innovations, for man’s creativity was not evidence of growing piety, but shrinking reverence for God’s explicit revelation and his thundering silence.
The innovation of New Testament worship: emotionalism through testimonies and dimming of lights, instruments in music and applause, etc. is supported today as evidence of a filling with the spirit and a deeper feeling of love and praise for God. Yet, Nadab and Abihu would testify that God has no desire for man to improve upon the divine pattern and that approaching him with such innovations is regarding him as unholy.
Speak What You Read, Not What You Feel
The apostle Peter wrote, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11).
If we limit ourselves to speaking only as God’s recorded oracles reveal, we will eliminate much of what passes for religion today. Everything that intrudes upon God’s silence will be done away with and only those things with firm foundation in book, chapter and verse will remain.
Instead of standing on thin ice or shifting sand, we will be founded upon a rock of certainty. We must learn to speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent.
No Creed But Christ
Revelation 22:18-19 warns against adding to or taking away from God’s revelation to John.
The creeds of men are designed to clarify the supposed confusion of God’s word and improve upon his communication to us. Like the traditions of the Jewish elders and opinions of the scribes and Pharisees, however, they erect a wall of doctrinal disunity that is not easily shattered, a wall which God did not build. The creeds encode their own forms of “Corban,” loopholes and justifications for dismissing the weightier parts of the law, when found inconvenient or impolitic (Matt. 15:1-9, 23:23-24).
To invade God’s silence and speak in its place one’s opinions is to invite a dismissal from the book of Life. Today, Christians are pressured to bring the Bible up to date by removing any reference to gender roles and condemnation of homosexuality and fornication. God’s word, however, abides forever and is only tampered with at man’s risk.
Don’t Cross That Line
John warns against giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the cross as he addresses the elect lady in 2 John 9-11. We must learn to abide in the doctrine of Christ‹to live there and never travel beyond it. As for those whose wanderings take them beyond Christ’s doctrine, we should have no fellowship with them, but rather expose them (cf. Eph. 5:11 and 2 Tim. 2:17-18).
Not abiding in Christ’s doctrine is going beyond it: going beyond what is revealed to that which is not and asserting that one can take advantage of God’s silence to authorize anything not specifically condemned. The principle is clear: going beyond what we can read is sinful; God’s silence is golden and must be revered and not broken.
Conclusion
It is clear how your interpretation of God’s silence will commit you to many things. These six passages, and no doubt many more, establish the fact that God’s silence is golden and is not wide-open authority, but implicit prevention.

There are so many churches today that it can be confusing to know what the Lord wills. We are interested only in being a member of the church that Jesus purchased with his own blood (Acts 20;28). We have no desire to be a part of or to promote any denomination. We are not interested in inventing our own faith or building our own religion.
True discipleship means abiding in the words of Jesus (John 8:31,32). The Lord says that God will uproot every tradition planted by men (Matthew 15:14). It does little good, then, to follow after contemporary, community churches that are patterned after modern, American culture rather than to follow what the Lord teaches in his Word.
The church described in the New Testament uniquely belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the head of his church (Ephesians 1:22,23) and the Savior of his body (Ephesians 5:23). None other can take his place or serve in his stead. “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). If one can set aside the teaching of the Lord to embrace popular thinking, one is really replacing the Lord’s way with self-made religion.
When the Lord saves a penitent believer who has been immersed in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins, he adds that person to his church (Acts 2:38-41,47). The Lord does not add him to any denomination. The New Testament never speaks of denominations or the concept of denominationalism. The Scriptures are not merely undenominational, they are anti-denominational, in that they speak against human traditions and the division that denominationalism tolerates.
The church presented in the New Testament only knew one body, one faith, and one baptism (Ephesians 4:4,5). Those who hold to multiple bodies, multiple faiths, and multiple baptisms cannot “abide in” the words of the Lord Jesus but go beyond the teaching. The Christianity of the New Testament had only one gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). Some people today have deserted the purity of that one gospel for a hybrid version, blending some gospel with lots of popular thinking.
To find the Lord’s church, we must return to the New Testament alone and follow the Lord’s teaching. All else is a plant that will be uprooted.
Devadas Prakash