LTRP Note: The following is from Harry Ironside’s book Full Assurance.
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)
To Jeanne. Why? Where is the error?
I’m heart broken that so many women are turning to Sarah Young’s book for encouragement instead of the wonderful Psalms/Bible.
I was having a very hard time that week and a gal tried to encourage me with a readings from S.Young.
As soon as she started reading it I said’ “Is that from Sarah Young?
She said I think so why?
I said if I were you I’d do some research because that sounds like a book someone gave me about 20 years ago.
Following week she said she couldn’t find any warnings re
S. Young.
So I did some research and was happy to find “Another Jesus calling”.
I presented her the Book In a loving manner and spoke to her gently warning her.
She didn’t want anything to do with the book or the warning. She was greatly offended.
I was greatly disappointed and shunned by others.
Because I was newer at The church she told on me to others including the pastor.
I’m also grieved, our Head of Bible Study supports it too.
I’m an outsider amongst my own. May the Lord protect them. I’ll continue to pray for them.
I’m desperately hoping to find real fellowship as the Born Again women in my family have gone to be with the Lord a head of me.
Im moving soon, hoping to find a uncompromising fellowship that lifts one another up in scripture alone…
Yes! The True Church of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, is not a literal building but made up of all those who believe and trust in the perfect work of Jesus; who follow His teaching and live for and serve Him daily.
Finding a gathering of believers can be challenging.
My current ‘church’ is being led by a man who plagiarizes his messages and does not seem to have a strong understanding of Scripture. Very sad.
I have been a long time Methodist. They went off the reservation. Then I attended 3 Baptist churches. All too twisted up in doctrine. Now, going to a nondenominational church. So far, so good. I am used to being a part of a church, serving and active. The Baptist churches were so closed and cliquey. Self righteous. The nondenominational one is not bogged down in who fits in which group.
Christ did not build Christianity, rather the early churches did so and selected which scriptural books formed the Bible…all whose actions were inspired by Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps keep Matthew 18:20 in mind when bedside bible reading Christians become wary of attending church.
Matthew 18:20 KJV: For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I find here in the UK, the majority of churches are either in poor teaching or real heresy like Replacement Theology. I recently attended a wonderful series based on scripture once a month, and I thought that if these continue, i could come along once a month and get fed and fellowship. The last in the series included a very firm stance against Israel, vitriol even, and that we had replaced them. That’s it. I haven’t had the chance to meet with the speaker to even broach the subject.
The real problem of conflicting views in churches is the failure of leadership to recognize the place the Lord Jesus Christ gave to the Apostle Paul.
First, he was chosen by Christ to be an Apostle, and secondly, he is the major conduit of the full revelation of the church. These truths were formerly “hidden in God, a secret, not known by the Old Testament Prophets”.
The major deniers of Paul’s crucial message to all Christians are found, ironically, in the leadership of the Reformed-Calvinistic sect, and sect they are, however many true Christians they have ensnared with their mixture of Law and grace.
Want to have 20-20 spiritual vision? We must prioritize the Apostle Paul’s writings which are just as autoreactive as Christ’s own and as desperately needed by malnourished believers.
We know God knows our heart. We will continue to pray for discernment, search the scriptures as the Bereans did and pray for these lukewarm churches.
We want to be in a strong local church, sure. But if we find ourselves in an unfortunate place, we can also step up there and try to influence people back toward truth. I don’t claim to know where the line is, exactly, on when to leave such a place. But it would be good to self-evaluate and make sure we’re not cowardly slipping away merely to avoid awkward conversations. Part of a believer’s role is to help others stay true and grow.
Wonderfully put, Terri. Thank you.
Wherever you look, there are so many compromised churches. It is almost impossible to find one that just preaches and teaches book by book and verse by verse.
Yes, trust only in Christ. Abraham believed God, and it was counted for him for righteousness. That is not a quote but from my memory, but the key is that we must believe God. The Bible tells us about God, and the Bible is the true record we must believe. Believing Christ is the only way to approach the Father and the only path to eternal life. Churches made up of humans fall short, and not all churches’ doctrines tell us to believe God. Believing in God’s Son, knowing who He is, and that He died to pay for our sins is the way of salvation, and there is no other way to Heaven. Knowing Jesus rose from the dead leads us to know we will also rise. What a joyous hope we have in Christ. All our sins are then paid in full from the day we were born through the day we die by His one sacrificial act on the cross. When we believe in Christ, He gives us the free gift of eternal life with no strings attached, by grace, and with it comes eternal security, because since He paid for our sins, we have no sins left to pay for, past, present, nor future, so we can be clean in the sight of God through Jesus’ righteousness and thereby made acceptable to go to Heaven, and He will not take that away from us, ever. Praise His glorious name!
Thank you for this. I struggle with the church we’re in. I’m concerned about the leadership’s discernment. There are few other churches around here that we would attend. I’m trusting God
Strongly disagree