While TMSW’s Free eBook Store offers a limited number titles there is no shortage on fresh, insightful, challenging and meaningful content. If you are a person who asks questions when you read the Bible, or if you are interested in exploring topics generally considered to be taboo for a believer in Christ, you will find much to dig into in the Free eBook Store.

At TMSW’s Free eBook Store you can download eBooks in EPUB, MOBI or PDF formats that can be read with just about any reader. I started the eBook store to make available books I had written at no charge to TMSW visitors. Some time later, I decided to add classic Christian books if there were no copyright restrictions. The goal is to continue to expand the store with additional titles. I am open to your suggestions for classic titles that could be included.

The books available in the Free eBook Store though few in number are packed with major themes and frank, straightforward discussions of topics not usually covered in sermons or Bible studies. Even though these topics are largely ignored they are vitally important to a successful walk in the Spirit.

As an example, a topic that should be taught in every church is that the Church and the body of Christ are not one and the same. They are two entities. That is to say the Church is not the body of Christ and the body of Christ is not the church. The Church’s claim that it is the body of Christ is easily shown to be false by pointing to the multitude of divisions in the Church. These include Catholicism and Protestantism and numerous Protestant denominations as well as a multitude sects within each denomination. And that is most likely only some of the divisions in the Church. I once heard a prominent evangelist say there were more than 4,000 Christian denominations. I don’t know if that is an accurate statement. But even ten percent of that number is 400 denominations, and one percent or 40 is still a lot of denominations for a Church that is supposed to be one body. The Bible tells us:

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)

One means one, singular, not 4,000, 400 or 40. But one means more than being singular. Not only is the body of Christ singular, it is also united in every way. Christ’s singular body is united in covenant unity as Paul indicates:

16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 

17 Since there is one bread, we  who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

This is reference to the bread and wine shared by Christ’s disciples during the covenant-making meal, we now call the Last Supper.

Being one, united body means all of the members are in total agreement. They are not trying to agree on all their ideas about various manmade doctrines, but on the entirety of God’s word. That’s what Paul was speaking of when he wrote in his letter to Galatian believers:

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

And Paul continued to warn Corinthian believers about having differences and dividing into separate camps:

11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 

12 Now I mean this, that  each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of  Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” 

13  Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you  baptized  in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)

In verse ten, Paul exhorts believers in Corinth to all be in agreement. To exhort is to: strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something. He states that they should all be of the same mind and judgment. Paul is not speaking about being in agreement about things like clothing or living accommodations, but rather about agreement on the word of God. In other words, to be in complete agreement with God. In verse thirteen Paul uses a rhetorical question, “Has Christ been divided,” to strongly make the point that Christ, and I would add His body, cannot be divided.

Paul speaks again about the unity of the body of Christ in chapter twelve of the same letter.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)

And again he writes to the Galatians about the unity of the body:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is  neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

And we learn that Christ’s body is one just as He is:

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one [united] body, so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)

Paul speaks of the body being one yet having many members. But as the above verse clearly states, the many members are to be in complete agreement with no divisions. The idea that of the body of Christ having many members is often taken to mean that there are also many differences in opinions and doctrines. This is said to support the fact of there being many divisions in the Church. However, it is not that way with the body of Christ. There are many members but they make up one, united body. The members of the body of Christ are all be in agreement and united over the word of God. That simply is not the case with the many divisions of the Church. Therefore, I must conclude that the Church and the body of Christ are not the same.

Though the large amount of division that exists in the Church should be conclusive evidence that it is not the body of Christ, there is yet additional compelling evidence. These arguments are set out in my two books, One Heart and Born In Sin.

If you are interested in exploring these and many other important topics, please visit the Free eBook Store and download the books in the format of your choice.

May you blessed with wisdom and understanding as you seek the truth,

Peter Giardina