Featured Guest Article

The church which belongs to Christ represents the last, best, greatest, and only hope for the salvation of mankind. This is true not only in relation to the next life; but in this current world as well. For the sake of his continued existence on earth; not to mention his eternal destiny; Man cannot continue to live only for himself, oblivious to and unconcerned with the will of God and His Word; and for the spiritual and general welfare of his fellow man.

We have seen, in this country especially; the results of every man seeking after his own desires and having things his own way. Similarly, we have reaped the fruits of our slavish devotion to what we have been led to believe is our God-given "right" to do as we please in all things, Most tragically; this also involves matters of how we will serve God.

Despite what the traditional records of American History may appear to indicate; our Founding Fathers were NOT necessarily seeking the night for EVERY man to worship according to his own conscience. Many of them actually only concerned with having the right for THEMSELVES to worship or have the freedom to practice THEIR OWN faiths as THEY SAW FIT.  Additionally, a good number of them did not even believe in the concept of a personal God.  In fact, the idea of a Supreme Being who is actively involved in and concerned with the ethical and moral behavior of the individual would have been ridiculed by some of them as silly superstition.

Hence, even though they paid lip service to the concept of freedom of religion for all in order to be allowed to go their own ways in matters of personal faith; their lack of care for the religious behavior of the rest of the citizenry has had unintended, long-reaching, unforeseen results.  I am referring to the development of a perverse application of 'Freedom of Religion" and the attendant insidious, soul-endangering blasphemy known as "Join (Attend) the Church of Your Choice”.

Today; to some; this so-called "right" is considered so sacred as to cause anyone claiming one true faith or church to be thought of as an anti-social crank; a misguided fool; or worse yet, an actual threat to society.

We who claim to be the church which our Lord; through his death, burial and resurrection; established on the Day of Pentecost; hold that such a "freedom" or "right" finds no support in His revealed Word. We believe that only One True Church was established in Jerusalem on that day and that, only in it will man find salvation. Indeed; as a result; many of us are viewed as cranks, fools and threats to society. Perhaps, even more importantly; to varying degrees; many children of God are content to do little other than accept and benignly ignore such labels.

However, there is only one choice to be made. Either we serve God, and living as His children in His blood-bought kingdom; serving as members of His church - - the one He sent His Son to give His life to establish - -  the church which belongs to Christ - - the church of Christ; or else choose to ignore what we find in scripture and exercise our erroneously-supposed God-given "Freedom of Religion" and be part of a man-made church of our own choosing.

Too many have made the wrong choice in the past.  Too many are making the wrong choice today. Too many will make the wrong choice in the future. And, too many children of our Lord; too many members of the church which is His; the church of Christ: are doing little more than accepting that situation as if it was a completely-inescapable, written-in-stone fact of life.

It may be a "hard saying”, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ - - but, this does not bode well for us; nor does it speak well to the future growth and stability of the Lord's church. Likewise, we may find the eternal consequences are not pleasant to contemplate, either.