Which is the true church? Are you in this true church? What is - TopicsExpress



          

Which is the true church? Are you in this true church? What is the true remnant church? Is it important to be in the true church for salvation? Can we identify this church from the Bible? For many, the church or denomination, which they belong is an emotional thing. Their parents were a part of it. But should this be the reason for being a member of a particular church? Some may think, because their church is thousands of years old, it will be the true church. Don’t forget that, there are religions older than Christianity. The antiquity of a church or religion may not guarantee the truthfulness of its faith system, even if they claim that this church existed from the time of the apostles. Some choose their church based on popularity, beauty of the building or by the melodious music the choir sing. Remember, choosing your church is not a matter of popularity. It is vital for your spiritual growth and salvation. For the truth seeker, to find the true church, is the most demanding and frustrating thing. We can hear conflicting voices from every sector. Denominations, sects, and cults make persuasive claims based upon emotional interpretations of some isolated Bible texts. Is there some method to identify the church which is nearest to the biblical standards? If God has a special church in the world today, He should reveal it clearly and explicitly in His holy Word. This information must appeal to the human logic also, rather than some vague expressions. Our search for the true church focuses on the 12th chapter of Revelation. A woman, is a very familiar symbol, used both in the Old Testament and New Testament, by God to represent His people. Jesus as a bridegroom is married to the church. Paul writes “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). God said in the Old Testament “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman” (Jer. 6:2). Here the church is called Zion, and God compares it to a beautiful woman. The chosen Israel people, were considered as married to God, throughout Old Testament. The woman of Revelation 12th chapter vividly represents the pure body of believers (church) at the time of Christ. The clothing of sunlight typifies the glorious New Covenant of grace, and the twelve stars represent the twelve apostles or the twelve tribes in case of the pure Jewish religion. The moon under her feet represents the foundation of the Old Testament (old covenant). Although this woman may partly represent Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a member of the pure Jewish religion of Jesus’ time, when we take the entire prophesy concerning this woman, it surpasses Mary, and continues with the church composed of both Jews and gentiles, who accept Christ as their savior, as the true Israel of God. As we follow the unfolding of the future of this true church of Jesus Christ, we can find out where that woman can be found today and trace the successive changes in the true church right down to the present day. “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth… And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads . . . and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne” (Revelation 12:2-5). There is no confusion about this man child, who was destined to rule all nations. Only Jesus Christ can meet this description. Who does the dragon represent, who tried to kill Christ, immediately after His birth? It was Herod, the representative of Rome, who sent out soldiers to kill all the babies of two years and below. Usually in the Bible, the dragon is used as a symbol of Satan, but in this case, since the devil worked so closely with the Roman power to kill Jesus, the dragon also symbolizes Rome. We all know how Jesus escaped the diabolical plan of Herod. Being warned of God in a dream, Joseph fled to Egypt with Mary and infant. Only after the death of the tyrant, they returned to Nazareth, and settled there. Even though Satan was foiled in his initial attempt to kill Jesus, he never abandoned his evil pursuit. Repeatedly, he tried to take the life of Jesus, and finally, he managed to bring Him to that mockery of a trial where He was tortured, crucified, and buried. But the grave could not contain the Son of God, and on the third day He burst out of the tomb, alive. Later, He ascended to heaven, to be by the side of His Father. With no direct access to Jesus, the dragon (Rome) now turned his fury against the followers of Christ, the church: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child” (Revelation 12:13). These words only faintly hint the horror of the violence which broke forth against the apostolic church. Practically all the early disciples and church leaders were martyred for their faith. Cruel Roman emperors turned the sporting arenas and coliseums into theaters of death for those who followed the true gospel. Soon pagan Rome gave way to papal Rome, and the persecutions continued with even greater force. Millions died under the terrible inquisitions, which sought to eradicate all opposition to the papal system. Historians estimate that during the Dark Ages more than fifty million people laid down their lives rather than yield up their true faith. The prophetic outline, tells us as to what happened to the true church, when the persecution built up to a climax. “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” (Rev. 12:14). In order to escape extinction, the faithful refugees fled into the Alpine mountains and valleys holding onto the true faith of Jesus. These Waldenses, Huguenots, and Albigenses refused to surrender their faith during those centuries of fierce oppression. Sometimes the pursuing armies of Rome were cut off by mysterious avalanches and rock slides. At other times the mountain streams were reddened by the blood of those faithful ones. How long was the true church to remain out of sight in the wilderness? The prophecy declares it would be for “a time, times, and half a time.” What does this time period mean? “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (v 6). One verse says the woman was in the wilderness for 1,260 days and the other verse says she was there for “a time, times, and half a time.” These two periods are equal. A “time” is one year in prophetic symbolism, “times” is two years, and “half a time” is half a year. When we add up we get 3 and a ½ years, which is equal to 1,260 days, according to Jewish 360 days to a year. In symbolic Bible prophecy a day always stands for a year. You will find the key for that principle in Ezekiel 4:6: “I have appointed thee each day for a year” and “. . . forty days, each day for a year” (Numbers 14:34). Remember, a day is used for a year only in an obvious prophetic setting. Thus the true church could not appear in the world until the end of 1,260 years. Did such a thing happen to the true people of God? Did the papal authority suppress the true faith for that period, using her religio-political power? There are some amazing things in history. In AD 538, a decree by Emperor Justinian, assigned absolute spiritual preeminence to the bishop of Rome, over bishops in other parts of Europe and Asia. Gradually, the kings of Europe were brought under the control of pope. This authority remained in force until the year 1798, till the time of the French Revolution, which swept across Europe. In 1798, General Berthier, sent by the French Directory, marched to Rome and captured the pope. The papal dominion was abolished through a decree, and papal property was confiscated. Thus, rule of the papacy ended exactly 1,260 years after it began in A.D. 538, as prophesied. Thus the true church was to remain in hiding until the end of the 1,260 years, and that “wilderness” period ended in 1798. This is one of the most amazing marks of identification of the true church. Simply, she could not make her appearance, until the inhibiting papal opposition was moved out of the way. Now we are brought to an actual description of the great conflict between the remnant seed of the woman (true church), with Satan, sometime after the year 1798. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17). This is one of the most crucial text in the entire Bible. This is a concise description of the last-day remnant of the original apostolic faith, as it was preserved through the ages. We will analyze every word in order to extract the full meaning. “AND THE DRAGON…” Regarding dragon, there is no doubt. As Rev. 12:9 says dragon is the “the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world.” “WAS WROTH…” What does that mean? “Wroth” is the old English word for “angry.” It simply means that Satan was angry. Whom was he angry with? “…WITH THE WOMAN…” Who was the woman? We have already found that she is the true apostolic church, representing the great, original teachings of Jesus. “AND WENT TO MAKE WAR WITH THE REMNANT OF HER SEED . . .” Satan is going to fight against the remnant of the true church. What is a remnant? It is the last end piece on a bolt (roll) of cloth. It is exactly like the first piece that came off the roll, but it happens to be at the very end and is always a small piece. It is the last part of the true church, at the very end of time, which will be holding the exact same doctrines as did the early, apostolic church. “WHICH KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. . .” What commandments would this be referring to? No doubt, this refers to the great moral law written by the finger of God on tables of stone - the Ten Commandments which reveal His will for all His creatures, and form the basis for all morality and true worship. “AND HAVE THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST”- another characteristic of the true remnant. What is the testimony of Christ? We shall see how the Bible defines this expression. The definition is found in the word of an angel sent to John. “I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). Without any doubt, now we know that the testimony of Jesus is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. The remnant church should possess all 3 of these biblical tags: 1. Arise after 1798 2. Keep all the Ten Commandments 3. Have the spirit of prophecy A fourth crucial mark of identification can be added to the list. We have found this church to be the last, end-piece of the historic truth. It will be proclaiming the final message of God just before Jesus returns. If God has any kind of special warning for the world at the end of time, He would surely give that message through His last-day remnant church. Does God indeed have such a message? Jesus indicated that the proclaiming of a certain definite truth would immediately precede the conclusion of human history. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). The last sign of Christ’s coming will be a worldwide preaching of the “gospel of the kingdom”, after which the end will come. John actually saw in vision the fulfillment of Christ’s words. “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice . . .” (Rev. 14:6, 7). Then almost immediately John says, “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle . . . and he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped” (Rev. 14:14-16). Therefore the end comes just as soon as this particular “gospel” message has gone to every nation on earth, just as Jesus said in Matt. 24:14. What does this final warning contains? John spelled it out clearly, “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come” (Rev. 14:7). See, a part of this last call of God is announcing that the judgment has already started, “is come” not “will come.” The next part of the first angel’s message is this: “And worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water” (Rev. 14:7). Does that sound familiar? It is quoted almost word by word right from the Fourth Commandment of the Ten Commandments, which strongly indicates that teaching about Sabbath will be a part of the “gospel” proclamation which must go to the whole world just before the end. Now the question is, how do we worship God as the Creator? Right in the heart of the Ten Commandments, God wrote: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Ex. 20:11). Therefore true worship originates from a recognition of God’s creative power and authority, and the Sabbath is God’s own established sign that He is the maker of everything. Over and over throughout the Bible God claims worship because He created all things. “Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: FOR THOU HAST CREATED ALL THINGS.” (Rev. 4:11). God challenged the false gods because they could not create. “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth…” (Jer. 10: 11, 12). “God himself . . . formed the earth and made it . . . I am the Lord; and there is none else” (Isa. 45:18). The Creator God set in motion the arbitrary cycle of the seven-day week to mark off the true Sabbath, so that the world would be without excuse in knowing whom to worship and when. Thus the first angel’s message call for men to “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea”, is a final call for true Sabbath keeping. The second and third angels’ messages can be summarized as, “Babylon is fallen . . . If any man worship the beast . . . and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God” (Rev. 14:8-10). This plain and bold preaching of the beast message is included in this end time warning. Warnings against the mark of the beast will be announced to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, “THEN THE END WILL COME”! Thus the specific characteristics of the present day true church are: 1. Arises after 1798 2. Keeps all Ten Commandments 3. Has the spirit of prophecy 4. Preaches the message of three angels (Rev. 14) on a world-wide level To have arisen before 1798, eliminates most of the great popular churches of the world. Secondly, it would have to be a church which keeps all the Ten Commandments. At first glance, all of them would appear to teach and practice obedience to the law of God. But really are they? The fact is that very few denominations even lay claim to keeping all the Ten Commandments. Most of them admit freely that they do not observe the seventh-day Sabbath required by the fourth commandment. What is this “spirit of prophecy”, which is very important in the sight of God? We can examine the full context of the statement. An angel appears to John, and John falls upon the ground in awe and admiration. “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus…for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). In this verse, John’s “brethren” are identified as having the testimony of Jesus or the spirit of prophecy. Now we must seek for some further information as to who John’s brethren were. The Word does not fail us. In Revelation 22:8, 9 John repeats the story of the angel and adds a little more detail. “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets...” John’s brethren were the prophets, who have actual ability to prophesy. Paul also supports it (1 Cor. 1:5-7). This gift will be in operation at the return of our Savior. When Jesus returned to heaven He left certain special “gifts” or abilities with His people on earth. In fact, they are named: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). These gifts were given “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). All the gifts which Christ placed with His church were to continue operating until the very end of time. In all the churches we can see teachers, pastors, evangelists and apostles (this word literally means missionaries). But what about prophets? Practically no church claims them as a part of its ministry. It was certainly counted so in the early church. According to the book of Acts. “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers…” (Acts 13:1). Here we have evidence that two of the gifts, teachers and prophets, were a part of the church at Antioch. Again in Acts 21:9 we read that a “man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” Therefore the early church had the spirit of prophecy. Then why did the gift of prophecy seem to drop out of sight after two or three hundred years into the Christian era? This is not the first time that the spirit of prophecy had been removed from among God’s people. God deals with the church in the same way He had always dealt with His people. In the Old Testament times God led and taught them by two divine agencies—the law and the prophets. Through the prophet Jeremiah God spoke, “If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you . . . Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth” (Jer. 26:4-6). Not only do they refer to the writings of Scripture, but they also refer to the two means of divine guidance. “Keep my law and hear my prophets” was the requirement of God. And the sacred record indicates that if they rejected one of those divine agencies, God would remove the other also, because they were actually rejecting His leadership. On numerous occasions, when the children of Israel turned away from the law of God, they found the prophetic voice silenced also (Lam. 2:9; Ezek. 7:26; Prov. 29:18). In times of open disobedience of His law, God used the prophets only to rebuke and to call back, not for counsel or guidance. A perfect example of this is given in Ezekiel 20:3. When the people came to inquire after God’s counsel. “…says the LORD God; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, says the LORD God, I will not be enquired of by you.” Why would He not answer them in this case? Verses 11-13 give the answer: “And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them…the house of Israel rebelled against me…walked not in my statutes…which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted…” Now the question is, what happened to God’s law in the church after two or three centuries? The history of that early period shows that the Sabbath was set aside in favor of the pagan day of the sun. A disgraceful compromise with heathen sun-worship led to an open rejection of the true seventh-day Sabbath. And when this happened, God withdrew the guidance of the spirit of prophecy, exactly as He had always done before, when His people turned from His holy law. This leads us to a challenging question. If the church restores the law and begins to observe the Sabbath again, will God also restore the gift of prophecy to the church? This leads us right back to the prophecy of Revelation 12 and God’s description of the true remnant. Now, we can see the full significance of that 17th verse, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Thus the law, so long neglected, is right back where it belongs - in the church. And hand-in-hand with the law is the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. Think of it! The law and the prophets get back together again in the last remnant piece of God’s true apostolic church! All the gifts are again operating in harmony as in the early church, before the apostasy. Remember that a remnant has to be exactly like the original except that it is on the very end, and a small piece. This fantastic prophecy reveals that there will be an end- time restoration of the faith of the apostles. The same Sabbath will be restored. The same gifts of the spirit will be manifested, and all the great apostolic doctrines will be purified from the effects of 1,260 years of apostasy. This church is identified again by John in these words: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). These commandment-keeping saints are empowered to do so only by trusting in Jesus, without boasting of their righteousness, or depending on their good works to save them. They will have a loving, personal relationship with the Savior. You may be thinking now, whether any church in existence can meet these specific conditions. Many claim to be the true church. We may be able to find only one church in the world today which meets all these criteria. It would have to be a comparatively small church to meet the criteria of “remnant.” Jesus said the way of truth was narrow and “few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26). The saved will be a smaller number compared to the majority like the eight souls which entered the ark. Truth has never been popular, especially towards the end time. The true church of the last days will be looked upon by the world in the same manner that Jesus and His followers were evaluated in their days, with scorn. Since the remnant is merely an extension of the great original, it will be despised by the majority, counted as peculiar, and persecuted. The book of Revelation exposes a diabolical plan of the end-time “beast” power to enforce a mark on every individual, and those who will not receive that mark will be condemned to death. Again, it must be emphasized that all those who belong to the remnant church will not necessarily be saved. Like all other churches it consists of ordinary people who must maintain a constant saving relationship with Jesus Christ. It is undoubtedly true that there will be people saved and lost out of all denominations and sects. Every person will be judged on the basis of revealed truth, and how he obeyed what he knew. Members of the remnant church will have great light, and they will be judged accordingly. Now you have to do some homework. 1. Look for a church which originated after 1798 – only a minority of churches include in this category. 2. How many of the above minority keep all the Ten Commandments including the Sabbath – very few. 3. How many of these few also have the spirit of prophecy? 4. Finally who proclaim the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 in all the countries and languages of earth? The name of the church you have to find out. This write up must not look like some sort of a canvassing for that church. Still if you cannot find out, then send a private message in Facebook. It will be surely be answered. May God bless you to find out this great truth and be a part of this great end time adventure in service of Christ! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). Welcome to this page for more messages https://facebook/SomeTruthsThatYouShouldNotMiss
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 19:45:08 +0000

Trending Topics



Recently Viewed Topics




© 2015