A comment put to me: “If I could only be sure I was in the right church, I would feel secure; but there are so many different churches that I get all confused and upset.”
My response: The church is not the ark of safety. The church is the aggregate of all who believe in the Lord Jesus and who have therefore been baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body. This is not a mere organization, however ancient and venerable. If you were sure you were in the right church (some earthly organization) and trusted in that for salvation, you would be forever lost! Your trust must be in the Head of the church, the risen Christ. He is the only Savior. All ecclesiastical pretension is vain, and to rest in any kind of church membership is an empty deception. Christ alone is the ark that will carry you safely through all the storms of judgment. No matter what denomination you turn to, you will never find salvation in allying yourself with it, but when you come to Jesus, you are then prepared to enjoy fellowship with His people.
I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode,
The Church our blest Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.
(photo: bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)
Curious where the street evangelist sends his tithes too?
Denny,
There are situations where a person or family cannot move and for various reasons may not be able to start a church. Sometimes options such as finding an online church to partake of or fellowshipping with a small group of other believers by phone or in person are the only ones available. And there are also times when someone does not even have those options. In any case, whether it’s attending an actual church or finding fellowship in a less conventional way, it is wonderful to know that the Lord promises never to leave us or forsake us, and we have the wonderful privilege so far in this country and many other countries to read and study His Word. When the apostle Paul exhorted believers not to forsake gathering together, we can also surmise by all his other teachings that he would not tell believers to attend unbiblical and wayward churches. These are difficult times, and oh, how we need the Lord to lead us and guide us.
true, only Jesus saves. only bible is the truth.
but Jesus command us to gather as a church, which is His body.
so if we cant find a good biblical church in your area, the choice is either start one or move to nearest bible church.
hebrew10:25
Ed, thanks for your input and for simply speaking the truth about “churches.” Interestingly, I have the same approach about not referring someone to a church, but I rather refer them to fellow born-again believers.
Bless you, brother, and may the Holy Spirit convict the souls with whom you share the word of God.
It’s a different era now. As a street evangelist in South Florida, I can not risk sending the lost people I talk to to a local church because most of them (yes, most of them because it is my business to know) are heretical, being prosperity, Calvinist, or Uber charismatic. That’s why I love putting the word of God in people’s hands for free. I tell them to start in John and keep going. Thy word is truth. Churches and pastors often lie and abuse the flock, as I have seen in over 6 years of daily street ministry.
I do have a list of good churches in case I am in an area near one. The only inoculation against error is scripture.