2) It would be approving the denominational order that has no biblical basis.

Second, by attending a denomination we would thereby be having fellowship with it, and therefore sanctioning and approving the things done in that place that are clearly outside the Word of God. We can be sure that the Lord would not be pleased with us if we acted that way.

There is a figure in the Old Testament that illustrates this point well. Let us read the passage in 1 Kings 13, for I believe we can learn something from it.

And behold, by the word of the LORD, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said: Altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, whose name shall be Josiah, and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and men's bones shall be burned upon you. And he gave a sign that same day, saying: This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be split apart, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out. And it came to pass, when the king heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar of Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying: Seize him! But his hand, which he had stretched out against him, dried up, and he could not draw it back to himself. And the altar was split apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. Then the king answered and said to the man of God: Entreat the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. Then the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as before. And the king said to the man of God: Come home with me and refresh yourself; and I will give you a gift. But the man of God said to the king: Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. For so the LORD commanded me by His word, saying: You shall not eat bread or drink water; and you shall not return by the way you came. So he went by another way; and he did not return by the way by which he had come to Bethel. Now an old prophet lived in Bethel; and his sons came and told him everything that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and the words that he had spoken to the king; and they told them to their father. And their father said to them: By what way did he go? And his sons showed him the way by which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. Then he said to his sons: Saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it. And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak, and said to him: Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said: I am. Then he said to him: Come home with me and eat bread. But he said: I cannot return with you, nor enter with you; nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. For it was commanded me by the word of the LORD: There you shall not eat bread or drink water; nor shall you return by the way you came. And he said to him: I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying: Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water (but he lied to him). So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water. And it came to pass, as they were sitting at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back. And he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying: Thus says the LORD: Because you have been rebellious against the command of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God commanded you, but you turned back, and ate bread and drank water in the place of which the LORD said to you: You shall not eat bread or drink water; your corpse shall not enter the tomb of your fathers” (1 Kings 13:1-22). Well, the rest of the story we all know: a lion found him on the way and killed him. What a sad end to his life! There are some valuable lessons we can learn from this. In chapter 12, Jeroboam had set up two altars rivaling the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem.

They denied the unity of God by having two calves to represent the one God of Israel. “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut. 6:4).

They denied the truth of the single center for offerings and sacrifices by making Bethel and Dan alternative places of worship. “Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose” (Deut. 12:11).

• They divided the people of God, whom God wanted to be united as one

people. “...and they shall become one in my hand” -- this was God's original desire (Ezek. 37:15-19).

In response God raised up a testimony against those false centers of worship and sacrifice. “A man of God” was sent from Judah (where God's center was) to protest against the false position established by Jeroboam in Bethel. He went “by the word of the Lord”, which shows that the testimony against the lack of Scriptural foundation for those false altars came from God. In a similar way, the position of separation from everything that is not biblical -- which is the position the saints gathered to the name of the Lord take in Christendom -- is in reality a biblical protest coming from God. It is significant that the man of God “cried out” against the altar, but “entreated” for the king and the people who were offering their sacrifices there (verses 2, 6). Likewise, this biblical protest of the saints gathered to the name of the Lord is not against the dear believers who worship in their denominational churches, but against the system in which they are involved. We do not criticize our dear brothers and sisters who are in denominational churches; we love them and pray for their good and that they may be blessed. The fact that the king stretched out his hand against the prophet shows that there are reproach and persecution connected with the position of separation that we take, and we need to be prepared for that. “Let us go forth therefore to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach [shame or disgrace]” (Heb. 13:13).

After the king's hand was restored, those who were in Bethel made a double attempt to involve the man of God in a false association with them in that place. There was the offer of a gift from the king so that he might gain some advantage in this world, and also an invitation to go to the king's house to recover from the journey. This was an evident attempt to divert the servant of God from the path of obedience to the Word of God. The attempt was frustrated by the man of God's obedience to what had been told him by the word of the Lord (vers. 7-10). This teaches us that, when we are tested, we must hold fast to the principles that have been taught us by the Word of God and let ourselves be guided by them.

Having failed in his first attempt, the enemy attacked the man of God in a much more subtle way. The old prophet in Bethel approached the man of God and told him a great lie to try to make him return and have fellowship with him in that false position. To convince the younger prophet, the old prophet used what he claimed was the word of the Lord. It is sad to have to admit, but his stratagem worked and the man of God was deceived into returning to Bethel to eat bread with him (vers. 11;32). This teaches us that we must remain on guard against our fellow servants who distort the Word of God to persuade us to walk the wrong path. Many sincere Christians have been persuaded by their brothers and sisters to act on some false principle regarding fellowship, and so ended up being diverted from the Lord's table to some false position. Let us be alert against this. You will notice that the old prophet of Bethel strove hard to compromise the man of God and convince him to have fellowship with him in his false position. He desperately wanted to make him eat and drink in that place, which expresses fellowship. Evidently the old prophet was aware that he was in a position without foundation in the Scriptures and wanted others to be there with him to ease the burden on his conscience.

The man of God failed by not departing from the place against which he had been sent to testify (vers. 16). He walked a short distance and then sat under a tree, but he was still in Bethel. Perhaps the old prophet would not have reached him if he had kept walking. His delay in leaving there allowed his fall. It is very clear from this passage what God thinks of those who are in His divine center and maintain fellowship with those who are in a false ecclesiastical position. I believe this answers the question of whether the "gathered saints" should attend a denominational church. In summary, three things occurred as a consequence of the man of God having returned to eat and drink with the old prophet of Bethel. In doing so he:

Placed his approval on that place of sacrifice that did not have the Lord's approval. Placed his approval on the infidelity of the old prophet who occupied that false position.

Nullified his own testimony against the lack of foundation of the false center, and thus ended his history of testimony of the only place chosen by God.