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The Bible answers our question with a
resounding NO! Jesus built one church. That one church is
His body. He is the head over one church. Each congregation is made
up of individual members, but they all have the same mind. Different
denominations have different minds; therefore they cannot be part of
the same church. One cannot "join" the one church built by
Jesus. Only Jesus has the authority to add new members to His
body. These new members are added only after being saved!
Before one is saved, one must obey the commandments necessary for salvation
recorded in the New Testament. Salvation occurs only after
baptism; therefore one cannot become a member of the one church built by
Christ without submitting to water baptism for the remission of sins.
Recall how Jesus adds to the church, "such as were being
saved." Not only is salvation necessary to enter the
church, salvation is not found anywhere other than the one church
established by Jesus. Any church which invites you to "join"
its membership, teaches salvation prior to baptism (or any doctrine other
than that found in the Bible), allows instruments of music to be played
during the worship, partakes of the Lord's supper less often than every
Sunday, prohibits certain members from partaking of both the bread and the
fruit of the vine, or allows women to teach, preach, serve as
"pastors", elders, or deacons, or in any other way exert authority over
a man is not the one body of Christ. Anyone who is a member of such an
organization is not saved!
In the introduction to this study I asked
the questions, "Is God pleased with the results of our liberty?
Did God intend for the "Christian" religious world to be so
diversified and confused?" We see clearly that God is NOT pleased
with our abuse of the liberty we've been granted in America! We should
be using our liberty to worship Him freely in the way He wishes to be
worshipped. Instead, we use our freedom to devise our own ways to
worship God. Freedom of religion should mean nothing more than our
ability to meet every Sunday and follow exactly the pattern authorized by God
without fear of retaliation. It does not grant us the authority to
worship in any way we please. Never forget the example of Nadab and
Abihu. I'm sure many people consider their alteration to God's pattern
of acceptable worship to be insignificant. It is that belief which has
trapped millions into the snare of Satan and eternal destruction should they
die in such a belief.
I am writing this article as a
warning. It not God's will that anyone should perish. He wants
everyone to come to repentance (2
Peter 3:9). However, untold millions will refuse to repent.
These people are lost! God has given us all we need to know His
will and to be pleasing in our service to Him. If one is lost, it's
nobody’s fault but his own. On the day of judgment we will all be judged
by the word spoken by Jesus (John
12:48). In our earlier studies we have established the fact that
the word spoken by Jesus is the Bible. Therefore, the scriptures will judge us in the last
day. Are you obedient to that by which you will be judged? I pray
that you are. If you aren't, I pray that you will determine TODAY to do
what is necessary to receive forgiveness of your sins and the hope of eternal
salvation.
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