About 2,000 years ago a religious organization permeated the nation of Israel. What had begun as a people chosen by God and formed by His laws, commandments and statutes had grown into a religious system made up of sects such as Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes who established a mountain of manmade rules, regulations, rituals and traditions. This was the Judaism religious system at the time Jesus ministered in Israel. And it was a system so deeply entrenched it orchestrated and manipulated the crucifixion of Jesus who repeatedly and openly rebuked the religious leaders of that day.

Now, 2,000 years later another religious institution has emerged. It too is founded on God’s laws, commandments and statutes with one striking difference … it was established on the shed blood of the Messiah, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ. It has grown to be much larger than the Jewish religious system of the past. This system has spread around the globe. Today’s religious system is called the Church, that is, the entire group of Christian organizations, often referred to as the Universal Church. This institution claims to be the body of Christ. But when you look at this body’s organizational structure, the sects which  are now called denominations and especially the myriad of self-made rules, regulations, rituals and traditions one cannot help but see an uncomfortable similarity with the religious system of the Jews 2,000 years after God cut His covenant was with Abraham.

Neither the Jewish nor the Christian religious systems were intended by God to be fractured and divided as they are. God’s plan was for them to have one heart and one way, that is united.

The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 30:12)

38 “They shall be My people, and I will be their God;

39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.” (Jeremiah 32:38-39)

“And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19)

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. (Acts 4:32)

And Jesus prayed to the Father that the people of God would be one, united in every way.

“I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” (John 17:11)

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; [This includes all believers in Christ from then to the present day.]

21 that they may ALL be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;

23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-23)

God’s plan always has been for His people to be one, to have one heart, to be united.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

Paul uses the word, one, seven times in these three verses.

The question one must ask is how does the Church measure up if compared to God’s mandate for oneness? One Heart attempts to make the comparison. The premise for One Heart can be expressed with this question:

Is the Church just as much off the mark 2,000 years after Pentecost as Judaism was by the time of Pentecost, which was 2,000 years after God made the covenant with Abraham?

The mission of One Heart is to make an unbiased comparison of the Church and the body it claims to be in the hope of answering this important question: Is the Church actually the body of Christ as it claims?