Have you ever wondered
why there are so many different denominations, teaching
so many different ways of salvation and adhering to so
many different forms of doctrine and moral ethics? This
is what happens when men fail to believe EVERY Word of
God.
Proverbs 30:5 Every
Word of God is pure.
II Peter 1:20 No prophecy of the Scripture is of any
private interpretation.
These verses affirm that the Scriptures have only one
true meaning. When man begins to privately interpret the
Scriptures, culling those which he prefers not to heed,
and establishes a denomination, he cannot truthfully lay
claim to this denomination being a true Church of Jesus
Christ.
Anyone who is sincere can quickly discern between our
Lord's Church and a church born out of the ideas of a
mere man.
Christ's Church adheres to His teachings (doctrines).
Christ is their Head and His Word is their ONLY rule of
faith and practice.
Since it is His Church, it must have begun during His
earthly ministry. Most folks today believe that "The
Church" was begun on the day of Pentecost BUT what did
Jesus say?
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto
thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.
Jesus said to Peter, "Thou art
Peter (petros-a piece of a rock)
and upon this rock (petra-a
mass of rock-Christ) I will build
MY CHURCH....."We must conclude that Jesus did
what HE said He would do-build HIS CHURCH.
But what KIND of CHURCH did He build?
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God whose name was
John.
John, of course was sent by God to be the forerunner of
Christ. He was sent to prepare the materials (the
people) who would constitute the first Church. Jesus
calls John " the Baptist "
Matthew 3:1 In those days came John the Baptist,
preaching in the wilderness of Judea
His name was John and Jesus referred to him as "the
Baptist".
We are not saying that every church which refers to
itself as "Baptist" is our Lord's Church, but we are
saying that those Churches which continue in Christ's
doctrine are His.
Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism
Today there are many lords, many faiths, and many
baptisms, yet only one TRUE
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