Where Is the True Church of God?

“Where is the true one?”

Atheism is growing in numbers. Yes, it is growing across the globe.

Church attendance also is in decline and many people are giving their full-time to secular work, recreation and love life, and it seems good enough if he/she has a minute of conversation with God. The prophetic lines of the psalms of David are now fulfilling,

“God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

Everyone of them is gone back; they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Psalms 53:2-3)

One of the primary reasons that makes people to cease from looking for truth lies upon the popping out of various religious denominations with various theological views but have the same claim of being the true Church founded by God. Being confused and exhausted from false hopes that their churches promised to them in exchange of their intense physical, mental, and financial devotion to its cause, people decided to stop the quest for truth. While ministers and pastors are becoming more wealthy, church members were left into dissatisfaction and despair, until they decided to take no more time for religion which they regarded as foolishness.

Falsehood is a deadly virus that arising today and kills the spiritual life of a person. The Bible speaks the truth, and it tells about the true Church. But the truth that was being said in the Bible was covered by the clouds of falsehood that arising today. Ephesians 5:2 says;

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.”

Christ is the savior of the body which is the Church.  But where is that Church that He’s going to save? Is it among those more than forty-two thousand Christian  denominations now registered in different parts of the globe? Founded by those people who said to be called by God to restore humanity unto Him? The Holy Scriptures speaks clearly;

“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” (Psalms 127:1)

Logically speaking, every house has builders. And these builders are their owners. In the Bible, God has His own, too. And of course, He was the builder of His own house. What then is the house of God?

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (I Timothy 3:15)

The house of God is His Church; the Church which was headed by His begotten Son, Jesus Christ. So, those denominations claiming to be of God but ruled and headed not by Christ but by their founders are false and deceptions.  To consider a church to be of God, it must be built by God. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”, according to the Bible. Hence, if a particular Church was built by man, it’s considered nothing.

Then, where is the true Church of God in our time that those people who really care for the truth will finally take their rest from this quest? How do we able to identify if such Church is the real one or it’s just one of those vain churches scattered all over the surface of the earth? Apostle Paul said;

“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” (I Corinthians 12:28)

Of course, we are speaking of those true apostles of God, true prophets, true teachers of the gospel, true miracles, true gifts of healing, true government of the gospel, etc. These elements were installed only in the true Church. And where is that true Church? Obviously speaking, that was the Church built by Christ more than 2000 years ago in Jerusalem. Other than that Church, there’s no truth. And don’t be deceived by some preachers of religion saying that the Church founded in Jerusalem was already apostatized or fallen or destroyed. The Lord Jesus Christ has a promise, saying;

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29)

The true Church will never perish but it will stand until the day of judgement. It will remain a light unto the world and vessel of truth that will enlighten the world in the midst of its darkest days. Christ was its founder, so we should not think that it will fall as a house built in the midst of sand. In it, all that will be saved shall be baptized. But how we will be part of it? How we will have fellowship with those members of the Church founded 2000 years ago, like the apostles? is it possible? Of course, it is possible. John said;

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;…
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” (I John 1:1,3-4)

“The Church endured spiritually, and the Bible is the only access to that Church.”

To be part of the only true Church where God put His elected apostles, John said, “that which we have seen and heard (the word of life) declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.” Through faith with those words they declared in their epistles and letters, man may have fellowship with the true Church. We don’t need to see the apostles personally, or return to their age literally. We can become members of the Church founded in Jerusalem by simply upholding with those words preached by the apostles. We don’t need to look for those churches claiming to be the restoration of the 2000 years old Church because nothing was restored. The Church endured spiritually, and the Bible is the only access to that Church.

The reason why so many religious people ended into infidelity after a long long time of quest for truth lies to the fact that they look for truth with those churches or organizations built by human in our time, rather than seek it in the Holy Scriptures which is the sole record of all godly truth specially about the Church of God. Thus, everyone who seek the truth should return to the Bible. This is the only access that will connect us to the only true Church founded more than 2000 years ago in Jerusalem.

Who Is the Liar?

 “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist,”

I John 2:22

"On August 19, 2005 – at exactly 12:00 noon on a Friday, the same day and hour that Jesus was crucified – Benedict XVI arrived at the Jewish Synagogue and then took active part in a Jewish worship service. Along with John Paul II’s 1986 visit to the Synagogue, this was certainly one of the most scandalous events in human history – the alleged leader of the Christian Church, after the promulgation of the Gospel, traveling to the Jewish Synagogue (the Temple of those who reject the Messiah), taking part in their worship ceremony, and thus attempting to validate the Jewish religion."

When Cardinal Arturo Medina Estevez, the Cardinal-priest of San Saba, began to announce the election of the new pope with the famous Habemus Papam, a great sound of joy from the throng that flocked before the St. John Lateran suddenly burst upon the air. The joy that buried for a short but painful period of loss of the one whom the world regarded as the “man of the century” was finally broken as the Vatican revealed the name of their new head bishop. Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, the subject of this Catholic rejoice, was named Benedict XVI as he assumed the papacy as the 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

Joseph Ratzinger, as Cardinal, was the most influential Catholic churchman before and after the death of John Paul II. On November 1981 he was named as the Head or the Cardinal-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Office of the Holy Inquisition, the authority that decides all Catholic teachings. Being the head of this congregation, Ratzinger is the most important voice for interpreting the doctrines of his Church and he make sure that they were upheld – fitted enough to be called as “the right hand of the pope”. During this year, Ratzinger authored number of books that displayed the kind of theology that brought this man into the position of honor above the rest of his fellow cardinals. Some of his books contained his views regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, and perhaps, if Catholic faithfuls will have the opportunity to read these writings along with deep understanding to what are contained here, they will notice something is happening wrong.

In 2001, the Pontifical Biblical Commission released a book entitled The Jewish People And Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible. This was authored by the one who presently rules the Vatican. According to this book,

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According to this Vatican book which was authored by the presently called Benedict XVI, Christians can and ought to admit that the Jewish reading of the Bible is a possible one! What a statement from the one who professed to be the Lord’s representative! This is anti-christ. A same denial of Christ was also written in a book “God And the World, also authored by Ratzinger. In page 209 says;

God and the World p.209

The quotation above is perfectly against the teachings of Christ Himself which says; “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39) And in verse 45 and 46 it says; “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. ” But Benedict XVI stated that all these words might be wrong. And again in the same book, God and the World, he continues…

God and the World page 151

This is a total rejection of the biblical teaching that Christ is the only way to salvation both for the Jews and Gentiles.

Uttering blasphemous things is already a trademark of the papacy. This was not only foretold by the Biblical prophecies  but historically, speaking of blasphemy conjoining with the display of pomp and influence made the papal institution to survive for more than a thousand and a half years. If people will only be taught to submit themselves into the authority of the gospel that was written in the Holy Scriptures, millions of Catholics around the world will clearly see that what the world glorifies is an abomination unto the Lord.

Benedict XVI is the 256th in the line of the history’s renowned blasphemous religious leaders. And as the Bible declared that the world loved darkness rather than light, he was welcomed by a tumultuous shouts of joy and heart-warming applause from the Catholic throng and once more, Jesus Christ was profaned in the midst of the humanity that He wants to be saved.

Explaining the Two Covenants

Many religious apologists and preachers wrongfully elaborated the meanings of those two covenants made between God and His people. In fact, the doctrines about these two covenants are included among those mis-understood doctrines of the Holy Scriptures. These teachers of religion carelessly concluded that every scriptures written during the time before the birth of Christ were all part of what we called as “the Old Covenant”, and since they were all part of that old stuff, they’re nothing to do at all with the teachings of Christianity. Furthermore, by ignoring the differences between laws and statutes, and between statutes and judgment, the commandments of God were completely abandoned in the period of what they called as “the period of grace”. By mis-understanding the Old and New Covenant, the law and grace became two contrasting factors instead as twin teachings of the Scriptures.  As result of these careless explanations, the doctrine of an eternal covenant described in the Scriptures was almost forgotten and have cut-off from the fundamental Christian teachings today.

But the Bible didn’t missed anything about its teachings. It was those religious teachers who failed to comprehend those teachings of salvation. Paul said;

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. (Romans 10:3)

Before the foundation of the world, God already established His own government in eternity. This government is perfect as God who established it. Love was its foundation, with justice and mercy as its pillars.  The psalmist declared;

Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. (Psalms 89:14)

We all know that there’s no justice unless someone was aggrieved by sin, and there’s no mercy unless somebody sinned. The law of God bringeth justice and His mercy bringeth forgiveness and justification. Also by mercy that the world found the grace of God which brought us into the new life of holiness and righteousness according to the will of the Almighty. Therefore, the teaching that the law has nothing to do with grace is totally an invented teaching; because if there’s no law, there’s no sin. When there’s no sin, there’s no need of forgiveness; if there’s no forgiveness, then no need of mercy… and God’s merciful character is in vain.

The everlasting covenant was established before the world was created and founded upon the same principles of God’s government. Justice and mercy are two great factors of the everlasting covenant. While the world was saturated by sins and evil pleasures, God abounds His mercy which could be attained only through faith in His Son. But God will not always strive for man. There will be a time of vengeance when those who accept not the gospel shall be punished. While those who abide in the will of God by faith and keeping their self from being untouched by the sins of the world is the reward of eternal life in the place prepared by God, the wicked shall bring into a horrible end. The everlasting covenant is that we should abide in the will of God and that the Lord will provide anything to keep us in the right path. The Hebrew writer described;

But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

The New Covenant is not a brand new thing. It may be new in the sense that God did not fully unfold its mystery during the time of patriarchs and prophets. By its nature, the New Covenant was more ancient than our planet.

What about the Old Covenant? Not all scriptures and revelations given before the birth of the Savior were part of the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant is the agreement between God and the people of Israel in Mount Sinai. The provisions and laws of this covenant were written by Moses in a book called “the book of the covenant“. This book contained the statutes and judgment given by God to Moses for the House of Israel. When the Old Covenant was about to be ratified, Moses sprinkled the book with a hyssop dipped in the blood of the animal. The Hebrew writer stated;

Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,

Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. (Hebrews 9:18-20)

 

Ratification of the Old Covenant

Therefore, the Old Covenant was not about the Moral Law which God engraved upon tables of stone, because the laws of this covenant were contained in that book written by the hand of Moses, not of God. In fact, Moses sprinkled it with the blood of the victim and then declared; “This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.” The Ten Commandments or the Moral Law is a part of the everlasting gospel by the fact that it was not abolished but magnified by Christ in the gospel.

The Constitution of Eternal Life

Constitution of Eternal Life

Every country in the world have their own set of laws which reflects the principles of their government and culture of its people. These principles were contained in an organized body of national law called constitution. The constitution, therefore, is the written will of the people and the compiled voice of their national sovereignty. But constitution is not only for worldly purpose, but more important for the government that rules our souls. The government of God which rules over the hosts of heaven and all creatures in earth unites them under the holy constitution founded upon the words of God in the Bible. The people of God and those who professed to believe in Christ should cling to the words of God written in the Bible. The Bible itself is not the word of God, but the principles of His government were recorded in this Holy Book.

Also recorded here are the journeys, the afflictions, the conversations, and victories of those ancient people who dedicated their lives for the sake God’s will.  Apostle Paul said to the Christians of Rome;

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

The history of man’s fall into sin was recorded here. The life of God’s friend, Abraham, and the meekest person of the ancient times – Moses, were all described in the Bible. The most important history of salvation – the life of Christ, was also recorded here. Even the story of rebellion and the plans of the Great Adversary were told in this book as a warning for those who choose not to follow the principles of the Creator. All in all, the Bible is the complete record of doctrines, admonitions and laws that will make man perfect before the eyes of God. Paul stated;

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. ( II Timothy 3:16-17)

The way of peace , cleanliness, sanctity, morality, diligence, charity, and discipline are completely described in the Bible which made it worthy to be called as the “Constitution of eternal life“, like what Christ said;

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39)

Believing to what were written in the Bible means not to become extreme or a  “picky learner” among its teaching. Perfection will only attain through perfect obedience to the words of God. Our study should be no more, no less. Paul stated;

And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. (I Corinthians 4:6)

In these last days, the people of God should lean upon the teachings of the Holy Writ. It is the only safeguard where we can rely against the wiles of Satan. The Holy Scriptures already foretold the plans of the Evil One and it is of great importance that we should become more focus to what were written than blindly follow the inventions of mortal and impotent mind of men.