I nt rod uct ion
Christianity’s bewildering variety of customs and teachings faithf ully
represents those of Jesus Christ?
Remember,Jesus not only promised He would build His Church,
but He assured His disciples that His Church would not perish. Is thedivided Christianity we see around us that Church? Only the HolyScriptures can provide a reliable answer to this question.
If Christ’s promise that “the gates of Hades shall not prevail”
against His Church should be considered a guarantee that those whobelieve on His name could never be misled or corrupted,then we
would have every reason to accept the collective sum of the various
divisions of Christianity as the Church that Jesus built.
But He guaranteed no such thing. Instead,He warned His disciplesthat “false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and
wonders to
d eceive,
if possible,even the elect”(Mark 13:22,empha-
sis added throughout). Later the apostle Paul expressed his concernto Christians in his day that their minds could be “corrupted from
the simplicity that is in Christ”by the preaching of “false apostles”
(2 Corinthians 11:3,13).
Jesus spoke even more plainly,explaining that
“narrow is the gat e
and
d i fficult is the way
which leads to life,and
t here are few who find
it .
Beware of false prophets,who come to you in sheep’s clothing,but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their
f ruits”(Matthew 7:14-16).
In these pages we examine the fruits Jesus and His apostles saidwould identify His Church. We look at the contrasting fruits that iden-tify those who are influenced by a different spirit and preach a differ-
ent gospel. We will learn,not from human tradition or opinion butdirectly from God’s Word,how we can distinguish “the church of the
living God”(1 Timothy 3:15) from those who follow “false prophets”
in sheep’s clothing.
3
The Church Jesus Built
Introduction
“... I write so that you may know how you oughtto conduct yourself in ... the church of the living God,the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
J
esus Christ proclaimed,almost 2,000 years ago,
“I will build Mychurch.”
He declared that His Church would never die out,promising
that “the gates of Hades [the grave] shall not prevail against it”(Mat-
thew 16:18). He assured His disciples that He would guide and pre-serve His Church until His return,promising them,“I am with you
always,even to the end of the age”(Matthew 28:20).
What happened to the Church Jesus built? An eyewitness tells usthat,immediately after Christ ascended into heaven after His resurrec-
tion,His apostles “went out and preached everywhere,the Lord
working with them and confirming the word through the accompany-ing signs”(Mark 16:20). The Church had a powerful beginning.
Millions of people profess Christianity; they claim to be membersof the Church Jesus founded. But Christianity is a divided religion,
composed of hundreds of denominations and schisms. Through thecenturies,most of Christianity’s branches have assimilated many non-
biblical traditions—philosophical,cultural and religious—into their
teachings and practices,spawning even more variations.
How can we account for the explosion of contradictory practices
and conflicting factions in the world of Christianity? Is it possible toreconcile competing denominational groups with the standards andob jectives Christ established for His Church? Can we know whether
2
For clarity throughout this booklet, the word
Church
(with a capital
C
)refers to the faithful Church that Jesus Christ founded. The word
church
(with a small
c
) refers to local groups of believers or other physical organi-
zations. Since
church
is not capitalized in the Bible translations quoted, allscriptural quotations—whether referring to the Body of Christ or a local
congregation—use
church
with a small
c.
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