No. Although the sentiment, “Join the church of your choice” is very popular today, the current denominational system could not be pleasing to God. It is not possible for all of the denominations to enter into the kingdom of God because of the wide diversity of teaching among the multiplied hundreds of religious groups. While some teach that Jesus was the Son of God, others teach that He was really only a good teacher or prophet. Some teach the the Bible is sufficient for understanding the will of God, while others teach that there is a need for continuing modern revelations, or one must follow the teachings of other men and women such as Joseph Smith, or Ellen G. White. Some groups teach that baptism is essential to salvation, while others teach it is optional or entirely unnecessary. Some teach that baptism is immersion, others say it is sprinkling. All of these ideas cannot be right!

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane preparing to go to the cross, He prayed, “Neither pray I for these [the apostles] alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20-21). The denominational system makes a mockery of this prayer, because it was the Lord’s will that all of His followers be united.

It is clear from reading Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth that it was tragically divided by this denominational spirit. Some claimed to follow Paul, some claimed to follow Apollos, and others claimed to follow Peter. But Paul wrote to them, “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” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The only way to be united is not by “agreeing to disagree,” or by saying that doctrine [the teachings of the church] just doesn’t matter, but by looking to the Bible as our only source of authority.

Some have thought that Jesus’ parable of the vine and the branches in John 15 is a description of the denominational world, with Jesus as the true vine and the various denominations as the branches coming from the true vine. But Jesus was addressing His disciples, not the denominations when He said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5). He then said, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:6). It is the man who abides in Christ, not a denomination. 

If the branches were the various denominations, it would be a very strange vine. It would be like a vine that would bear grapes, watermelons, peaches, and apples, all at the same time. This cannot be! A “denomination” is just another word for division, and the Lord wishes that there be no divisions among those who profess faith in Him. Real unity among all people can come only by discarding denominational labels and doctrines, and following the pure revealed Word of God.