Where I live, only a few hundred yards from a non-denominational church, I can hear church bells all through the week. On various days, religious songs ring out across the landscape from a modern “bell tower,” equipped with loudspeakers. Come Thou Almighty King is played, along with The Old Rugged Cross, and other religious favorites.

East Texas is festooned with churches. New ones are being built as I write. Along my route to town, I can easily count more than fifteen churches.

It is the same all over the United States—especially in the “Bible Belt.”

But not all churches are so benign as they might seem. Here and there are small groups of survivalists, dressed in camouflaged military clothing, listening to their leaders invoking the names of Samson, King David, and Jesus Christ, yet preaching survival and resistance. They are armed with semiautomatic rifles, deer rifles, and shotguns. They believe they will be the very last defense against a “new world order” they believe is poised to take over the United States. The “sermons” they hear are talks about resistance; about tactics and fighting. Are these groups, though few, also bona fide churches?

In addition to all the church buildings, there are thousands of groups meeting in rented halls, private homes, or tents. Why all these churches? Why are they different? Do they all offer the same thing, but by a different method, or system of belief? Are all their members “going to the same place”? Is a church a halfway house to heaven? Must you belong to a church in order to be saved? Can you be saved no matter which church you attend? Is church attendance required for salvation, or can a person forego attendance at any church, and live his own life quietly, and still be admitted into God’s kingdom?

You will be astonished when you read the plain truth about WHY Jesus Christ said He would build His church. Millions of churchgoers flock to the pews each week, and yet do not know the real reason Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples!

It will astound them to learn that Jesus Christ trained His disciples to become future kings and priests, rulers with Him in a coming new government, which will indeed be a “new world order.” But it will not be the result of Christ’s people trying to physically overthrow existing governments!

Organized Confusion

Everyone knows about religious differences. From our earliest recollections of our own church experiences, or from our civics and history books in school, we learned that Jews and Christians are different; that the Jewish race, generally speaking, reject Christ as the Messiah, while nominal Christians believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

We know there are Buddhists, Shintoists, Taoists, Confucianists, Hindus, and adherents of Islam. We know about most of the major denominations; Roman Catholicism, the Anglican Church, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Nazarenes, Church of Christ, First Christian Church, Pentecostal churches, and dozens more. It requires a sizeable book or a large section in an almanac just to list them all.

It is plain, from simply informing oneself about how many different churches there are, that they are not all together. They hold different beliefs and customs. Does any one of them believe they are wrong? When thousands of people find their way to their neighborhood church building each week, are they entering a building and participating in a worship service they believe is wrong? No, of course not.

But can all of them be right?

Obviously not, for they are deeply divided, and ne’er the twain shall meet. There is deep-seated division between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Division which caused the shedding of much blood; division which tore nations apart. Very large history books detail how and why the Church of England rejected the primacy of the popes in Rome, and how the Anglican church was formed. There is a vast amount of literature available about the Protestant Reformation; how many millions of members in dozens of denominations refused to submit to the popes in Rome.

Clearly, if any one of these churches is 100 percent right, then all the others are wrong. There simply cannot be different churches, teaching different doctrines, with different customs and practices, who are part of an undivided church.

Some believe in baptism by immersion. Others believe in “baptism” by sprinkling, or pouring a little water over the repentant believer. Some believe in the “christening” of a tiny infant, and others refuse to baptize children. Some believe the only proof of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues, while others completely reject this doctrine.

How many believe they are in an intensive training program to help Jesus Christ rule the world for one thousand years? How many believe they will soon be involved in abolishing crime, carrying out the death sentence for murderers, outlawing divorce and abortion, and effecting massive, revolutionary changes in nations all over the world? How many believe they are learning how to govern under Christ?

After all, one of the important prophecies about Christ was that a future government would be on His shoulder: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David [an earthly throne], and upon His kingdom, to order it [to set up Christ’s new world order], and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Eternal of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9: 6,7).

Christ is prophesied to inherit an earthly throne, and to rule this world with a rod of iron: “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him

the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob [ten-tribed Israel] for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:30-33).

Christ’s end-time disciples are looking forward and praying continually for Jesus Christ to return to this earth, and to set up His world-ruling government here below. They know this will be done by divine miracles, and the awesome power of God, not by any human governments, or by any human organizations of any kind. Some, however, believe they will bring about these massive changes by force of arms; that they will be the only survivors following a holocaust, the collapse of all civilization, and the death of hundreds of millions.

They are wrong. A new world order is coming, but it will not be brought about by human governments, or human churches, or human organizations such as militias. It will come about only as a result of direct, divine intervention of God; by the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, there is nothing but confusion among the churches. Few see themselves as trainees for the Kingdom of God.

Many years ago I was told the following story by a young man from Canada. It seems he lived in one of the prairie provinces, and was trudging down a country road one Sunday morning, headed toward his neighborhood church, which was perhaps a mile or two away. A neighboring farmer came along in an old automobile, stopped, and asked the lad if he wanted a ride.

Grateful, the boy hopped in, When his neighbor pulled into the church yard and allowed the boy to get out, the boy looked at him curiously. Obviously, he was dressed in his “Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes, and was intending to go to church.

Here they were in front of a church.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” the boy asked.

“Oh, I couldn’t do that,” the neighbor replied. “My church is a couple more miles down the road.”

The boy thanked his neighbor for the ride, and then, puzzled, watched him as he drove out of sight. It was some years later before the boy came to understand there were differences between those two churches out on the Canadian prairie—differences wider than the few miles that separated them by road.

Is the church of which Jesus Christ is living Head divided?

Most, including the leadership and the members of dozens, if not hundreds, of churches and religious organizations would say, “Absolutely not!” Most of them know the scriptures about division in the church. But, deep down inside, there are reasons why they are not unified with other churches or religious organizations. In each case, they feel those reasons are more than ample to justify their separate existence. Their reasons may range from minor doctrinal disagreements to administrative policies, to anger or miff over personalities.

God’s Word asks, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1: 13). Thousands of professing Christians, divided into dozens of different churches and religious organizations, answer “No!” Yet, they belong to groups that have split off from other groups that may have split off from still a larger group, or they belong to a group that was formed as a separate church or ministry. Of course, each will be allowed to explain the rationale for such divisions to Jesus Christ at His return, but don’t believe for a moment that they do not have a ready-made answer concerning division in the church—why they are “independent,” or why they will never reunify and cooperate with the group from which they came.

It is all a bit puzzling, a bit confusing. Continually, I receive letters and telephone calls from people who want to know how to find the true church. A few years ago, it was somewhat simpler for these searchers to find what they believed to be the true church. Today, it is a bit more difficult, for the choices are many.

One True Church Built On A Rock

Jesus Christ did not build two churches, or three, or five. He built one true church. He said, “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter [Greek: Petros, a pebble, or stone], and upon this ROCK [Greek: Petra, a large rock] I will build my church; and the gates of hell [Greek: hades, the gravel shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

As you will read later on, Jesus called Simon by this “nickname” only twice in all the Gospels. The name was not a lofty title connoting great strength, but a name placed in opposition to the ROCK which was Christ; a name meaning “little pebble” by comparison; a name connoting weakness, not strength.

This one verse is easily the subject of a very thick book. Millions believe Christ was building His church on Peter as the first pope, the “chief apostle.”

Millions more know better. The Rock upon which Christ was to build His church was Jesus Christ Himself Jesus Christ is the living Head of His church, and not any man.

Jesus Christ was set at the right hand of God the Father, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church, Which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:21-23).

Paul wrote to the Colossians, “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist [study John 1 with Hebrews 1]. And He is the Head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1: 17,18). Peter did not have the preeminence, and was not the head of the church. Jesus Christ constituted His church, and has always been, as He is today, at this moment, the true Head of that church!

The “Rock” of which Jesus spoke was Himself, not Peter. The word He used for “Peter” is Petros, which means a pebble, or a stone, like one might pick up along a stream bed. Because Peter was to become one of the chiefest (not the chief!) apostles; because he had dynamic personality, and was a leader among the three leading apostles, Jesus Christ endowed him with an affectionate “nickname,” Petros. His given name was Simon.

The Greek language has masculine and feminine gender, as do the Romance languages. In Spanish, “a table” is feminine, la mesa, introduced by the feminine la, and ending in the letter a. “The roof” is masculine, el techo, introduced by the masculine el, and ending ino.

Petra, in Greek, means a very large rock, a mountain of rock, or even a mountain range, whereas Petros means “pebble.”

Jesus was saying, “You [Peter, or Petros] are a stone; but upon this ROCK [Myself! Petra] I will build my church!”

Christ is the Rock, not Peter.

“He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

“Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee” (verse 18).

David wrote, “The Eternal is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:2). Later, in the same chapter, “For who is God save the Eternal? or who is a Rock save our God?” (verse 31).

David refers to the Divine Sovereign God as His Rock more than fifteen times throughout the Psalms.

He wrote, “He only is my Rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalm 62:2).

When God caused Israel to trek through the wilderness for a testing period of forty years, He performed awesome miracles to feed them, and provide them drink. He brought water out of a rock for them. Paul wrote, “Moreover, brethren. I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were baptized unto Moses and in the cloud and in the sea [this is spiritual metaphor, a type]; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10: 1-4).

Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the “Rock” upon which He built His church. No human being has ever been given headship over the true church. Halley’s Bible Handbook, speaking of the Catholic claim of Peter’s “primacy,” says, “The Roman Catholic tradition that Peter was the First Pope is Fiction pure and simple. There is no New Testament hint, and no historical evidence whatever, that Peter was at any time Bishop of Rome. Nor did he ever claim for himself such Authority as the Popes have claimed for themselves. It seems that Peter had a divine foreboding that his ‘successors’ would be mainly concerned with ‘Lording it over God’s flock, rather than showing themselves Examples to the flock’ (1 Peter 5:3)” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, P. 768).

Church history proves that many centuries passed before any claim was made that one man was head of the church. “Silvester I (314-335) was Bishop of Rome when, under Constantine, Christianity was virtually made the State Religion of the Roman Empire. The Church immediately became an institution of vast importance in World Politics. Constantine regarded himself as Head of the Church. He called the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), and presided over it, the First World Council of the Church. This Council accorded the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch full jurisdiction over their Provinces, as the Roman Bishop had over his, with NOT EVEN A HINT that they were subject to Rome” (ibid., p. 769).

Peter was never the head of God’s true church. Paul, who was the apostle to the gentiles, wrote to the church in Rome. The book of Romans makes no mention whatever of Peter; his name is not included in the lengthy personal greetings Paul includes in the sixteenth chapter.

Paul insisted that he was in every way Peter’s equal! He wrote, “For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles [note the plural!]” (2 Corinthians 11:5). He said, “I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing” (2 Corinthians 12:11).

Who were the “very chiefest” apostles” They were James, Peter, and John. It was these three who were allowed to see the Transfiguration. James made the final decision at the Jerusalem conference about circumcision (Acts 15:13-19).

Peter was an apostle among equals, as the Bible makes clear. Notice how, when Philip preached the gospel in Samaria, and great miracles occurred, word reached Jerusalem. “Now when the apostles [note the plural!] which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, THEY SENT unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:14,15).

Notice who was sent. Peter and John were sent to Samaria. By whom? By other apostles who were at Jerusalem, without doubt including James, who was Jesus’ half brother. Peter did not do the sending. He was not the “chief apostle” at all. He was sent by others.

The word apostle is not a lofty title. It connotes no special authority, or “rank.” It is a very humble word which connotes a function of service, not an “office.” The word merely means one sent.” Bear this in mind when remembering the commission Jesus Christ gave to His disciples. He SENT them into all the world to preach the gospel.

What IS the Church?

To ask “What is the church?” seems elementary. Yet, look at all the confusion concerning the answer to such a question.

To millions of human beings the church is a building, such as a cathedral, a basilica, or a lofty structure of stone with tall steeples and signs of the cross. When one says, “I am going to church,” he implies he is going to go to services in a building called a church.

To millions more, a “church” is a denomination, or a religious organization.

But the original Greek word means no such thing.

Jesus said, “I will build my ekklesia…” In the Latin languages, the similarity to Greek is more obvious. In Spanish, the word for “church” is iglezia. In French, it is Iglize. A more obvious English word is “ecclesiastic,” or having to do with the “ecclesia.” The original word means nothing more than “assembly,” or “group.” As Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance explains, it also connotes a “calling out.” The expression “called-out ones” is entirely appropriate.

How different this expression is from our commonly-used English word church.

Jesus Christ did not intend to build a large, political organization which would become involved with the governments of this world.He had called His disciples out of this evil world for a great purpose: “I have given them thy word; and the world [the present evil society, or social system] hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16).

Jesus promised His disciples they would be persecuted in this world: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Christ’s fledgling group of “called-out ones,” who were to form the nucleus of His church, were continually warned about false apostles, false teachers, persecutors, and detractors. They were warned that performing Christ’s commission might result in their deaths in some cases.

“They shall put you out of the synagogues [churches]: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (verse 2).

One of the main thrusts of Jesus’ message to His disciples was to avoid being part of the world. John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world. the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:15-19).

Paul warned the Ephesian elders with similar words: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the church [assembly of called-out ones] of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:28-30).

Always, Jesus Christ described His church, or His fledgling group of specially-called disciples, as a “little flock,” which would be persecuted by the world. He said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). The Bible characterizes the great, politically powerful churches as “Babylon the Great” (Revelation 17:15). He commands His people, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

As Halley says, “The Church was founded, not as an institution of Authority to Force the Name and Teaching of Christ upon the world, but only as a Witness-Bearing institution to Christ, to hold Him before the people. Christ Himself, not the Church, is the Transforming Power in Human Life. But the Church was founded in the Roman Empire, and gradually developed a form of Government like the Political World in which it existed, becoming a vast Autocratic organization, ruled from the top” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 767).

There is a vast amount of literature available in libraries and bookstores about “Babylon the Great,” or the apostate, visible church. Hislop’s The Two Babylons is among the best, but the Critical and Experimental Commentary by Jamieson, Faucet, and Brown is also a good source, as is Halley’s Bible Handbook.

Never did Jesus Christ intend for His true church to become involved in politics. Never did He intend for it to become a powerful geopolitical organization, wielding control over people’s individual lives, and over governments. Rather, His group of called-out ones was to carry the message of Christ’s soon-coming, world-ruling government—the Kingdom of God—as a witness and a warning! His group would be like “ambassadors” of a yet future government which would bring this world peace at last.

What is the church? It consists of a group of people called out of this sin-sick, evil world; a group of people who will be engaged in fulfilling the commission Jesus Christ gave to His original disciples! It is only possible to understand what the church is when one understands what Jesus Christ told the church to do—what it was to accomplish!

How Jesus Christ Trained His Disciples

Jesus Christ trained His disciples for three and one-half years for a vitally important purpose. His time with them was not merely for their personal inspiration. It was not because He wanted to enjoy their company, or because He was lonely, or because He wanted protection.

He called and specially chose each of His disciples, including Judas Iscariot, for a great purpose.

He said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you” (John 15:16).

Every parable, every healing, every example, every lesson, every rejoinder or rebuke, every miracle during those three and one-half years was intended by Jesus Christ to be remembered by His disciples so they could put those teachings and examples to work!

Christ’s teachings and examples were not for their “spiritual benefit”! He did not intend for them to bask in His friendship, enjoy His fellowship, and then sink down into their own narrow lives and go nowhere and do nothing! He did not call His disciples so they could begin twelve different, bickering, disagreeing, competing church organizations!

No, He was training a special cadre of men for a great purpose, for a transcendental calling and commission!

From time to time, perhaps more than two hundred men followed along with Jesus Christ. Even after many left Him during His ministry, there were still one hundred and twenty who were His disciples at the time of the choosing of Matthias (Acts 1: 15-26).

Peter said, “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us at the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection” (verses 21,22).

Since there were still one hundred and twenty disciples who had faithfully companied with Jesus from the beginning, and yet many “went back,” as we shall now see, that means a much larger group of men were accompanying Jesus Christ than most have understood.

Christ sent out His twelve disciples (Matthew 10: 1; Luke 9: 1), giving them power to heal, and power over demons. This was for their training, for their experience. They would learn many important lessons during this arduous journey. Read both chapters in their entirety. Matthew’s account refers not only to the journey of the disciples then, but to the time in which we live, now, for he wrote, “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come” (Matthew 10:23).

Shortly after having sent out the twelve leading disciples, “the Lord appointed other seventy, also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, whither He Himself would come” (Luke 10: 1).

Christ was preparing His disciples—eighty-two of them in these accounts. He was training and teaching them, and sending them out so they would gain invaluable experience.

What were they to do? “Therefore said He unto them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest.…and into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you’”(Luke 10:2-9).

Jesus Christ mapped out extensive trips in which He would visit many, many towns and villages. He sent out disciples in advance of His arrival so they would preach the good news of the coming Kingdom of God!

Christ was building His church. He was teaching and training those who would become part of the foundation of His church (Ephesians 2:19-22), and teaching many other disciples who would help form the nucleus of that church on the Day of Pentecost. Some of these men are mentioned in Acts 6:5: “And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch….”

When we read of the great hearings and miracles of Philip and Stephen, we need to remember that these men knew Jesus Christ personally, and were no doubt among the seventy disciples He sent out a year or two earlier.

Jesus knew that many of His disciples were accompanying Him for the wrong reasons. He knew Judas would betray Him, and He understood how God would allow Satan to bring about His death on the stake. He knew Matthias and dozens of others.

For the first part of His ministry, Jesus knew that many of those who followed Him were disloyal; that they had their own ideas and concepts. Read the entire chapter of John 6. When Jesus spoke metaphorically of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, some of His detractors began to talk among themselves:

“Many therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, ‘This is an hard saying: who can hear [believe] it?’ When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, ‘Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth [makes alive]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not.’ For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. And He said, ‘Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.’ From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (John 6:60-66).

There is much insight available in this account. First, Jesus Christ was not precipitating a crisis among His disciples by calling a special meeting and informing them He knew that there were many who were merely “camp followers,” or who were “hangers-on,” following Him about because of their own vanity, or their own hidden agendas. That this is true requires no great grasp of history or human relations.

No, Christ was contending with the Jews—some of the same people from among the five thousand who had been miraculously fed only the day before! Study John 6:1-52.

Jesus did not precipitate a defection among His disciples. They reacted to some powerful statements He made to the general public, the Jews.

But some of those who followed Jesus Christ were smitten with their own grandiose ideas of their special relationship with God. Some of them wanted to get close to Him so some of His luster would “rub off” on them. Perhaps they could then go out and enjoy the power they felt when large crowds gave them their undivided attention. Perhaps they could become a prophet, or a prophetess. Perhaps they would soon lead a group, and bask in the admiration of followers.

Instead of going humbly to Christ and asking Him about His statements concerning His flesh and His blood, they murmured among themselves, talking, reasoning, drawing aid and comfort from seeing there were others who felt the same way they did. Now, they had their excuse!

Now, think about what you know of human nature. Do you suppose these disaffected disciples simply went back to their homes, hitched up the mule, and started to plant crops?

Oh, no. These people were following along with Christ for apurpose. But their purpose was selfish, vain, carnal! They wanted to share in the “limelight” for a time, but in hopes they would be center stage at some time in the future.

It is far more logical to assume these dissident disciples went about telling everyone they could, “Oh, Him! Yeah, I was with Him—I knew Him well! Why, I’ve talked personally with Him many a time. I remember one time, I really put some hard questions to Him! But when He started in on that flesh and blood thing, well, I knew right then I couldn’t stay with that man. So I voted with my feet. I just got up and left.”

Don’t think for a moment that all those dissident former disciples simply went back to their homes and said not a word about their experiences, or did not attempt to justify their positions or explain why they left Jesus Christ!

Today, it is so very much easier for people to justify “leaving.” Today, one can become angry with a mere man, or become “upset” over some corporate policy, or the real or imagined sins of human beings, and easily Justify their decision to get up and leave this or that church, or religious organization, or small, in home fellowship group.

Many search high and low for a perfect human leader, one who has never sinned, or, if he has, he repented long, long ago, and they do not know how he sinned, or what particular sin, other than a “bad attitude,” he may have committed.

Many cling to a human leader only insofar as they can believe he is better than they are, intellectually and spiritually; that he is closer to God than they are, or probably ever can be.

Most of us believe we would never have left Jesus Christ Himself! Most, perhaps all, of us firmly believe, no matter what decision we may have made concerning this or that church or religious organization, that we have not really departed from Christ.

No, we believe we have merely left a group which was not as close to Christ as we are, or as is the human leader of our new group.

For decades, I have received letters and telephone calls from, and have spoken personally to, people who have been members of many different churches; have gone from denomination to denomination searching for something that satisfied their feelings—their search for a “church home.” This is commonplace throughout Protestant nominal Christianity. Like the “drifters” of the old West, many people drift from this group to the other, searching, comparing.

Most are looking for a man, a human leader, to follow. To many, associating themselves with a man requires a deep spiritualendorsement of that man. Should that man ever disappoint them, they fail to look to Jesus Christ directly; to look past a fallible human leader to Christ, but instead decide to go look for another man to follow.

How instructive it is to realize there were those who followed Jesus Christ personally; who looked into His eyes, heard His voice, saw His examples. They knew exactly what He looked like, how He conducted Himself They were familiar with His stature, the color of His hair, His walk; and yet, in spite of all this, they turned away from Him, and left Him in scorn.

Most of us would believe, in our heart of hearts, that we could never turn away from Jesus Christ personally! We believe that if we had been there we would not have abandoned Him the way some of His own disciples did. Would God that were true but, sadly, in every case it is not. Familiarity, after all, does breed contempt.

Today, you and I can understand that Jesus Christ was speakingmetaphorically about His fleshly body, and about His blood. We know He said, “I am that bread of life,” and that He is symbolized by the unleavened bread we eat during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Not only this, but we see many scriptures which tell us we must take in Christ, and allow Him to live His life over again within us, as well as deeply understand that He said the “bread” from heaven was “my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

Today, we know the blood of Jesus Christ was shed on the stake for the sins of all mankind; that the “life is in the blood thereof” (Leviticus 17:11,14), and that Christ died by the shedding of His blood. We can see and understand the type of the Passover lamb, and how Christ is called the “Lamb of God.”

But then, many, not a few, of His disciples seized on this “hard saying” to abandon Jesus Christ. They simply left Him on the spot!

Jesus turned to the twelve, and asked, “‘Will ye also go away?’ Then Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?’ He spoke of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray Him, being one of the twelve” (John 6:66-71).

Nothing hurts quite so much as rejection. Most of us want to be loved. We do desperately wish to be liked, admired, accepted. When people we love reject us, the pain we feel is like the stabbing of a knife deep into our vitals. The most painful rejections come from close family members, or from a spouse, or from close friends and associates. When you have known and loved someone, shared many hundreds of hours with them, traveled together, enjoyed wonderful meals together, played sports together, talked together, and then they reject you, and never speak to you again, it hurts.

Is anything more painful than a divorce? When two people, who used to look into each other’s eyes and say, “I love you,” are now hateful, angry, spiteful, bitter—when love has been replaced with rage—it is painful beyond our ability to describe. When a beloved family member turns against a father, or mother, a sister or brother, a son or daughter, it hurts worse than any physical wound.

When you have known someone intimately, and that person completely abandons you—shunning you when you need him or her the most—it causes one of the deepest, most agonizing pains. This is true suffering. It does not truly dull with the passage of time—it is something that lasts for life.

Our Savior has been there. He suffered all these things for us, to set us an example. His church was founded through suffering, not through happy, ebullient committee meetings, or board resolutions, or organizational conventions.

“Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Eternal revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:1-4).

Jesus Christ poured out love upon His disciples! He loved this world enough to die for it! He lived a sin-free, flawless, perfect life. Yet, He was despised and rejected of men! Is it perhaps a requirement Jesus Christ lays upon His disciples that, unless they, too, have experienced the suffering of rejection, of hatred, of having beloved brethren turn away, they cannot be truly qualified for His work?

The hammer, the anvil, and the forge that pounds malleable human character into a useful instrument in God’s hands is sometimes the hammer of hate, pounded out on the anvil of rejection, in the fiery forge of trial.

Is it because Jesus Christ knows that His true servants will need the courage of David, the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon, and the love and mercy of Jesus Christ to overcome the terrible trial of martyrdom, if that is to be their fate?

Must they be tempered like the finest steel through fiery trials and suffering to be prepared for what awaits them?

Jesus Christ said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than His Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also … He that hateth me hateth my Father also … but this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause’” (John 15:18-25).

Jesus Christ was hated without a cause. But suppose you or I provide haters with what they believe to be a cause? Are they then justified in their hatred?

God hates sin, but He loves sinners! Thank God, and great praise to His Holy Name, that when we go to Him in heartbroken repentance, with tears streaming down our faces, and bodies wracked with sobs and crying, He does not say to us, “Well, I have no problem with forgiving you. I just don’t trust you anymore. I want nothing further to do with you.”

What if God Almighty were to say that to every human being who ever sinned after being baptized? Would there be any who would make it into God’s kingdom? What if God Almighty applied the kind of selective judgments to we stumbling, failing, fallible human beings as that are applied by the modern Pharisees of today?

Jesus Christ prepared His disciples for rejection.

How? By causing them to deeply repent of their own rejection of Christ!

Why They All Forsook Him and Fled

If you were the president of a company that manufactured a special product that could save human life, like an artificial heart or a breathing machine, wouldn’t you want the engineers and designers, the specialists working on the various parts, and the salesmen who demonstrate your product to know the product? Would you want them to be meticulously careful in the delicate manufacture of each part, because you knew that some day a human life would depend on the functioning of your machine?

How would you find such people? You would be especially selective in looking at their resumes, would you not? Wouldn’t you want to know about their education and former work experience? Wouldn’t you want to know if they were highly skilled and capable of being trained to manufacture this new machine you had thought out and designed?

Wouldn’t you want those who were going to the clinics and hospitals and doctors’ offices to really believe in the life-saving capabilities of your machine, and to enthusiastically sell it to them?

What if you had a worker on the assembly line who was very careless; who was only there for the money; who was indolent and lazy; and who allowed defective parts to slip by? What if you had a salesman who was selling a machine of his own in direct competition with your machine, when you were paying him to sell your machine?

You would weed out such people, would you not? Yes, you would, especially in today’s environment of gigantic malpractice insurance settlements. If the family of a loved one who died sued and won a judgment against you for millions of dollars because your machine proved defective, your entire business could go bankrupt and you would be ruined.

Jesus Christ was carefully training His disciples. Like a Master Builder, He was painstakingly building into each one of them special qualities, unique experiences, poignant memories, knowledge of the Scriptures, which would cause them to fulfill the great commission He would lay upon their shoulders.

Jesus did not “fire” a one of them! No, some of them left Him, and even the most loyal eleven disciples, following Judas’ betrayal, fled out of sight on the night of His arrest; utterly forsook Him! Why?

There were many times when Jesus Christ saw carnality among them; jealousy, spite, many different human weaknesses, including being overcome with sleep. He saw them angry, wanting to cause fire to come down and destroy people in a horrible death; saw Peter’s lack of faith when he nearly drowned; saw their tears at Lazarus’ tomb; saw them openly arguing over who would be “the greatest” in His kingdom—just when He was greatly burdened with the nearness of His own torture and death.

He saw all their carnality, all their vanity and ego, and all their mistakes. Yet, His Word tells us, “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13: 1).

Then follows the account of the “Lord’s Supper,” Judas’ betrayal, and all the events of the night of Christ’s arrest, His torment, and His death on the stake the following afternoon.

Each disciple saw and heard the events of that night from his own perspective, from his own point of view. Each sat in a certain place. Each saw and heard what took place from a different vantage point.

Have you ever been out to dinner with a group of at least thirteen? If so, then you know that such a group will tend to break up into smaller groups for conversation; that some will be talking together about one subject, and others will be discussing other subjects. Not everyone can hear all the other conversations at once. We cannot know all that was said and done at the Last Supper, but God’s Word informs us of the essential knowledge we need to know about that great historic night.

Two days earlier, Judas’ constant influence with others of the disciples resulted in a minor disagreement, one which Jesus had to settle: “Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as He sat at meat. But when His disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, ‘To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.’ When Jesus understood it, He said unto them, ‘Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always”‘ (Matthew 26: 6-11).

When He said she had used the ointment in anticipation of His burial, Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests, and agreed to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver!

When the night of the Lord’s Supper came, Judas had already covenanted with the priests to betray Christ. Now, he was merely waiting for the right opportunity.

Jesus spoke aloud of the fact that there was a traitor in their midst. John leaned over on Jesus’ bosom, and Jesus told him, as he dipped slivers of meat and juice into a sop, that it was the one to whom He handed the sop. He then handed it to Judas.

Just before this happened, Christ had said, “‘But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed!’ And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing” (Luke 22:21-23).

As Jesus handed Judas the sop, Satan entered personally into him. Jesus then said, “That thou doest, do quickly!” (John 13:27).

The others, further away, did not know what had happened. “Now no man at the table knew for what intent He spake this unto him. For some thought, because Judas had the bag [carried their common purse], that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor” (John 13: 28,29).

Of course, Judas was a thief. He was entirely dishonest about money, and so, to quiet his own conscience, continually complained about Jesus’ “extravagance,” and attempted to influence the other disciples about how money was being wasted.

You and I both believe we would never have judged or criticized Jesus Christ! We believe, from our vantage point of history, that we would have been in awe of Him; loving, respecting, worshiping Him as the very Son of God!

But familiarity breeds contempt. After describing demonic men who were “crept in unawares,” and who were “ungodly men,” Jude wrote, “These are murmurers [some of the disciples, led by Judas, murmured against Christ!], complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaking great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of [in order to gain] advantage” (Jude 16).

Sycophants “cuddle up” to people in positions of authority—those who have power, or money—in order to gain advantage. There has never been a powerful politician, a wealthy man, or a religious leader who has not experienced Sycophants trying to flatter him in order to gain advantage for themselves.

Judas judged Jesus, because Judas himself was a thief! His screaming conscience could only be quieted when he pointed the finger away from himself—at Jesus Christ!

He was envious of Jesus. He wanted His power, His position among the disciples. A typical sycophant, Judas continually attempted to solidify his position with Christ, all the while undermining Him, criticizing Him, vilifying Him before the others!

Christ knew what Judas was, and that further galled Judas, because Judas knew that Christ knew!

At the Last Supper, when Jesus spoke openly of his impending betrayal, Judas snippily spat out. “I suppose it is I!” (Matthew 26:24,25). Jesus calmly said, “You have said it,” indicating that the language would have been more like our English retort, “I suppose it is I?” as said sarcastically.

But Jesus also knew that all His disciples would forsake Him at the last moment.

“Then saith Jesus unto them [on the Mount of Olives, following the Last Supper], ‘All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, “I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee” (Matthew 26:31,32).

Why should the disciples be “offended,” when it was Jesus Christ who would be arrested, and beaten nearly to death, and then hung on the stake? This is a vitally important point!

These men had eagerly anticipated Jesus Christ taking over the government, overthrowing the Sanhedrin, raising vast armies from among the masses, ejecting the occupying Romans, and seeing Christ ascend to the throne of Judaea, and all the provinces of Palestine.

Only when you understand the attitudes of these young, would-be revolutionaries can you truly comprehend the events of the night of the Last Supper, their watch in the garden, Jesus’ arrest, and why they all forsook Him at the last minute.

During the supper, as an example, Jesus had spoken of selling one’s cloak and buying a sword, saying “that this that is written of must yet be accomplished in me, ‘And He was reckoned among the transgressors’: for the things concerning me have an end” (Luke 22:37).

They did not understand that He was saying there needed to be swords present among the disciples to give His persecutors and murderers an excuse to call Him an armed criminal. to reckon Him among the transgressors.”

There was not a one of them who did not know of Judas Maccabaeus, or of Theudas, who gathered a band of four hundred insurrectionist, only to be hunted down and killed, and his disciples scattered; or about Judas of Galilee, who led a tax revolt at the head of many people, who was also killed, and his followers scattered (Acts 5:36-38).

Attempts against the government were not so unusual. Those men lived in the “here and now” so far as their lives were concerned. At the feeding of the four and five thousand, an attempt was made to hoist Christ upon the shoulders of the crowd, and march on Jerusalem. Christ put a stop to it, much to the disappointment of the crowd and the disciples.

At the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when Jesus rode on the white foal whose hooves were not allowed to touch the ground; with vast crowds shouting that He was the King, His disciples must have believed this was, at long last, the final moment; that He would ascend to the Temple, overthrow the religious leaders, the puppet government, and then eject the Romans (Luke 19:28-46).

Their spines must have fairly tingled when He went into the Temple and cast out the moneychangers for the second time (Luke 19:45,46). But instead of setting up His kingdom right then, He merely “taught daily in the Temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy Him” (Luke 19:47). This was not the only occasion when His disciples thought the moment had come.

Continually, for three and one-half years, His disciples assumed the moment had come for Him to establish His kingdom over Israel. They saw His powerful miracles; saw how vast crowds gathered, and were astonished by what He did. To them, it would be at the next Passover, when huge masses of people from all over the Mediterranean world would be collecting in Jerusalem; or it would be at the Feast of Tabernacles, when the same thing would happen. Jerusalem had a population of about 100,000, which was swollen to twice that size during major annual feast days.

They argued over which one would have the highest office in His government! Not for a moment did their minds interpret His statements about His kingdom as a very distant prophecy, not to be fulfilled for perhaps two thousand years!

No, to them, it was here and now! To us, from our modern vantage point, it was “then and there.” We tend to think of the apostles as elderly men with long beards, probably because of religious art and sculptures. But this is a totally false concept. They were called in their prime, in their late twenties and early thirties. Some were professionals, like Luke the physician, or Levi (Matthew), who was a tax collector. Some were working men, like Peter, who was a commercial fisherman.

They lived in a time of terrible oppression and overtaxation. Their land was occupied by a foreign power. Poverty, squalor, sickness, and disease were rampant. When Jesus Christ called them, they believed they were part of something which was destined to replace the existing government in Jerusalem! He continually spoke of His kingdom, and they did not for a moment expect to live into their 80s or 90s, die as old men, or as martyrs, and then molder in their graves for over two thousand years while the Dark Ages came and went; as the Renaissance occurred; as the Industrial Revolution took place; as the world struggled through World War I and World War II: as nuclear weapons were invented.

Not a one of them foresaw such a scenario. No, they fully expected to become co-rulers with Christ over an earthly kingdom during their physical lifetime The absolute proof of this is inescapable, as you shall see.

When Jesus spoke enigmatically of His disciples buying swords, some of them, not named, said, “Behold, here are two swords. And He said unto them, ‘It is enough… (Luke 22:36-38).

One of those who spoke had to be Peter, for he used his sword in an attempt to kill the servant of the high priest only hours later.

Obviously two swords were not “enough” to fight so much as the palace guard, let alone an army! He said it was “enough” so that the prophecy, would be fulfilled that He would be “numbered among the transgressors.”

Now, think! Remember! During the famous Last Supper, Jesus had spoken of a traitor in their midst. He had given Judas the sop, and Judas, with a spiteful remark, had suddenly gotten up and departed.

Jesus Christ was becoming increasingly burdened as the hour of His arrest and horrible scourging approached. True to human nature, His disciples failed to see His terrible heaviness; were unable to truly empathize with Him in His hour of great trial. Instead, they thought of themselves.

“And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And He said unto them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship [domineering autocracy—headship] over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as He that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me [many had left!] in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”‘ (Luke 22:24-30).

This gentle rebuke about “lording it over” one’s subjects did not dissuade them from assuming He was speaking of a kingdom which would be set up very soon!

It is only with this understanding that one can comprehend why His own beloved disciples, including John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” would flee into the night and utterly forsake Him after He was arrested!

To them, Jesus had let them down! To them, He could have used His mighty power as did Elijah upon the captains of fifty (2 Kings 1:9-13). Instead, He meekly allowed them to arrest Him.

“As Jesus returned the third time [from His agonizing sessions of prayer to His Father], He heard the clatter of an approaching group, and saw the torches they carried as they forded the creek below. He cried, ‘Get up! We’d better be going, because the one who will betray me is right here!’ He had no sooner finished the statement to Peter and John when Judas materialized out of the dancing light of the torches held by the nearest of the group, followed by a large number of others, including the chief priests and elders, a number of soldiers, the officers of the Temple, all of them obviously heavily armed, carrying the lengthy lances, Roman short-swords, and some wearing helmets and breastplates.

“It was well known among the disciples that Jesus resorted to the area of Gethsemane, and Judas knew precisely where to find Him since he had heard Jesus discussing His plans for the later evening.

“Jesus stepped out from the gloom into the flickering glare of the torches and lanterns and said, ‘Who are you looking for?’ “Those in the nearest ranks answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ “Jesus said, ‘I am He!’

“When those words came out of His mouth, the strangest phenomenon you could imagine occurred!

“Several ranks of the group seemed to quickly stumble backward and actually toppled over and fell to the ground! A babble of excitement went rippling through the crowd as they tried to disengage themselves from each other. One or two leaped about, slapping wildly where a torch had touched their garments!

“While reasonable order was being restored to their ranks, Jesus waited. He then asked them again, ‘Who are you looking for?’

“Again, one of them said loudly, ‘Jesus of Nazareth!’

‘Fine,’ He said, ‘I told you I am He, so if I’m the One you’re looking for, then let these others go,’ indicating His frightened disciples standing nearby. ‘Let these go their way.’ John later wrote that Jesus said this to fulfill the word that He had spoken in His prayer when He said, ‘Of those whom you had given me I lost not one.’

“About that time, Judas came directly up to Jesus and in the most cheerful possible fashion said, ‘Hello, Rabbi!’ And, taking Him by the shoulders, kissed Him quickly on the cheek.

“Jesus stood rigidly, looking at Judas in scorn and hurt, and said, ‘Judas, do you mean to tell me you would betray the Son of man with a kiss?’

“Peter and some of the other disciples had drawn protectively about Jesus, as if to try to conceal Him from the leaders of the mob; Peter said, ‘Lord, shall we attack them with these swords?’ “Several of the soldiers leveled their pikes and spears, and one of the officers of the high priest made as if to seize Jesus. Peter took a step backward, and the whisper of his sword coming out of his sheath had barely been noticed when the flashing blade descended with a vicious arc through the air!

“The servant of the high priest dodged nimbly, or Peter’s Roman sword would have split his head open like a ripe melon! The priest’s officer stumbled backward, and Peter’s blade barely sliced through his ear, completely severing it from his head! Peter was raising the blade for a second blow as a wild yell went through the crowd behind.

“Jesus quickly spoke with great authority, saying to Peter, ‘Put your sword away into its sheath! All those that take the sword will perish with the sword! Don’t you think that I could turn to my Father and beseech Him and that He could send me more than twelve legions of angels?’ Saying this, Jesus stooped down to the ground, picked up the officer’s severed ear, and touching it to his head, spoke briefly. The officer, amazed, put his hand to his ear and found it as whole as the other! Peter, mumbling, put away his sword and stepped back with the other disciples.

“Jesus said, ‘Have you come out here to arrest me as if I were some robber? Do you believe you have to be heavily armed with swords and spears to seize me? Here I was, sitting daily with you in the Temple, teaching, and you didn’t arrest me; but this is all being allowed to happen that the scriptures the prophets wrote might be fulfilled: but this is your hour and the power of darkness and desolation shall prevail. However, your time will be short.’

“The mob moved forward with several of the soldiers trotting quickly left and right with their spears at the trail, intending to surround the whole group. Quickly, the disciples all melted into the darkness, and fled as fast as they could.

“Years later, young John Mark (the author of the second Gospel), admitted that he had been among the group when he wrote about a ‘certain young man’ who had followed along after them, being clothed only with a linen cloth about his naked body, and when they mistook him for one of the disciples, grabbing at his clothing, he left the linen cloth and fled away naked (Mark 14:51,52).

“This took place probably either a little before or a little after midnight.”

Peter’s actions in attempting to kill Malchus, the officer of the high priest, are only understandable in the context of Peter’s frustration at seeing Jesus allowing Himself to be arrested. Always boisterous, brash, displaying a rough and ready bravado, Peter had vowed He would go to the death with Jesus if necessary! Peter had been frustrated time and time again when it seemed as if Jesus would seize a certain, wonderfully appropriate moment to begin His coup d’etat, and set up His kingdom.

His actions are also understandable when one considers the words of Christ only hours earlier, just after the disciples’ argument over who would be greatest in the kingdom.

“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have You, that he may sift you as wheat [a satanic winnowing,” in opposition to the “winnowing of the chaff” accomplished by the Holy Spirit; this in reference to Satan’s desire to completely corrupt Peter]: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted [Peter was yet carnal; he did not have God’s Holy Spirit], strengthen thy brethren.’ And he said unto Him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison, and to death.’ And He [Christ] said, ‘I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me”‘ (Luke 22:31-34).

This is exactly what took place (Matthew 26:69-75). Three times, Peter cursed and swore, denying that he had ever known Jesus.

“Then began he [for the third time] to curse and to swear, saying, ‘I know not the man.’ And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, ‘Before the cock crow, thou shall deny me thrice.’ And he went out, and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75).

Each one of the disciples experienced his own broken-hearted chagrin after Christ’s resurrection. Remember, “then all the disciples forsook Him, and fled” (Matthew 26:56). Even John, that “disciple whom Jesus loved,” forsook Jesus and fled.

As Jesus Christ was dying, He saw John and the others standing well back in the crowd. Mary, His mother was there, as was her sister, and “Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved [John], He saith unto His mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ Then saith He to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home” (John 19:25-27).

What was going through John’s mind? What were the thoughts of all His disciples? We can well imagine the feelings of guilt, remorse, and self-doubt, as well as their conflicting feelings of fear, for they did not want to be arrested and murdered. We can imagine their terrible shame, for they must have felt that they had shown themselves cowards.

So it was that Jesus Christ called, shaped, molded, trained, and tested His disciples. He knew the terrible trials they would face. He knew, and plainly prophesied, that some of them would meet horrible deaths, even as they would kill the Savior of the world.

By all these tests, Christ was hammering, shaping, tempering the spiritual character that would form the building blocks of His “church,” or group of specially “called-out ones.”

The Great Commission To the Group

At the time of Christ’s resurrection, the disciples were incredulous. None of them truly believed He was alive. They were unwilling witnesses, having to be truly convinced that Jesus Christ had indeed risen from the dead.

The evening of the first day of the week following His resurrection, Christ materialized before His disciples inside a room where the doors had been shut, because they feared discovery and arrest.

“Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, ‘Peace be unto you’”(John 20:19).

Later, when Thomas heard of it, for he had not been there when Jesus appeared, he said, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe. And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut [He was now born of God by the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20,23; Romans 8:29), and was able to literally dematerialize into spirit, or materialize into His physical form!], and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace be unto you.’ Then saith He to Thomas, ‘Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said unto Him, ‘My Lord and My God!’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”‘ (John 20:26-29).

Jesus had appeared earlier to Mary, near the sepulcher. He appeared to two of the women, one of whom was Cleopas, on the road to Emmaus. They sadly related to Him all the events of the past days, not knowing Who He was. “Then He said unto them, ‘O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses [the first five books of the Bible] and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27). When He opened their eyes to understand who He was, He “vanished out of their sight” (verse 3 1).

Christ instructed them to go to Galilee, saying He would see them there (Matthew 28:10). The account of this third appearance to a sizeable group of them is given in John 21. Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John, and two others were offshore in the Sea of Galilee, fishing. “And that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, ‘Children, have ye any meat?’ They answered Him, ‘No.’ And He said unto them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.’ They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes” (John 21:3-6). Read the entire chapter slowly. Peter finally recognized Jesus, cast himself into the lake, and swam rapidly to shore, to find Jesus standing over a fire, with fish already cooking.

Then follows the moving account of Jesus asking Simon Peter three times whether Peter loved Him, and three times saying to Peter, “Feed my sheep!” Christ also prophesied that Peter would be martyred (verses 18,19), and that John would live into his old age (verses 20-24).

Later, on a mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, perhaps the site of His “Sermon on the Mount” three and one-half years earlier, Christ appeared to His group of men, and gave them the Great Commission.

“Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted [not all had been present in the boat; not all had seen Him each time—some few still doubted, even now]. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach [enlist as students: make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son. and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [Greek: aeon, meaning age”], Amen”‘ (Matthew 28:16-20).

What had He taught them? A massive amount of information’ Notice, “And He said unto them, ‘These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms [writings], concerning me’” (Luke 24:44).

The books of the Old Testament are arranged in this precise order in the “Hebrew Old Testament.” The Law, or the “Torah,” the Prophets, and the Writings. The proper ending of the Old Testament should be 2 Chronicles, not Malachi.

How many churches and religious organizations pay any attention to the Old Testament today? Yet, these were the only Scriptures extant during the life of Christ, and for about twenty-four years after His resurrection.

Christ opened their understanding concerning all the prophecies in the Bible about Him! That means He expounded to them such prophecies as Daniel 2, 4, 7, 11, and 12; Isaiah 2 and 11; Micah 4 and Zechariah 14, as well as many other prophecies in which Jesus Christ and His coming world-ruling government are the central theme!

He showed them that He, Jesus Christ, is the “Stone that was cut out without hands” that is to smash the final, ten-nation, world power at the time of His second coming (Daniel 2:44). He showed them that He will rule all nations with a rod of iron; that He will put an end to war (Isaiah 2:1-5; Micah 4:1-5). He would have expounded to them the wonderful good news of how the whole world would be changed during His millennial reign on earth (Isaiah 11: 1-16); how He would gather all the ” outcasts of Israel” from around the world, and how all the gentile nations would seek Jesus Christ (Isaiah 11:10-12). He would have expounded Daniel 12, about the Great Tribulation and the resurrection of the dead; about the “abomination of desolation,” and the time of God’s intervention into human affairs.

Christ’s commission to His group of specially called-out ones was not a brief statement. It may have consumed many hours of intensive instruction! There is a great deal of information concerning Christ and His kingdom in the scriptures He expounded to them!

These men knew the true meaning of the “GOOD NEWS” Christ was instructing them to preach. They had been trained, educated, tried, and tested. They had been shamed and humbled by their rejection of Him at the moment when He needed them most. They had been made deeply repentant as a result of their experiences. Remember, these men never heard the word gospel. Jesus spoke to them in Aramaic, not in English. The English language was not to emerge for many centuries. Our English word gospel comes from two old Anglo-Saxon words. It means, simply, “good news”!

Notice Mark’s account of the Great Commission: “And He said unto them, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned [Judged, or condemned] “‘ (Mark 16:15,16).

Today, the word gospel is almost universally misunderstood. To millions of professing Christians, it means the story about Jesus Christ; that Christ died to save sinners; that we must believe on Him to be saved.

But this is only a part of the good news Christ brought. There is a vast difference between the message Christ brought from His Father, and a message about the Person of Christ! Neither can be left out!

Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples to preach the message He had delivered to them. What was that message?

The Real Gospel

After John’s ministry, when he had been cast into prison, Jesus Christ began to preach. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, ‘REPENT: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”‘ (Matthew 4:17).

Mark’s account says, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel [good news] of the kingdom of God, And saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: REPENT ye, and believe the gospel [good news]”‘ (Mark 1: 14,15).

Luke wrote, “And He said unto them, ‘I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent”‘ (Luke 4:43).

Mark, Luke, and John all use the term Kingdom of God, while Matthew used the term Kingdom of Heaven. All wrote of the same thing. Jesus Christ spoke of His coming kingdom, which is to be a world-ruling kingdom (Isaiah 2; 11; Micah 4).

Briefly, any kingdom must consist of at least four major parts. It must have a king who rules over his kingdom. The King of kings and Lord of lords who will rule for one thousand years is Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:4). It must have territory over which the king rules. Christ’s territory will be this good, green earth (Isaiah 2; 11; Micah 4; Zechariah 14:4; Revelation 2:26; 5:10; 20:4). Many chapters of the prophecies of your Bible describe conditions which will prevail on this earth when Jesus Christ sets up His kingdom. His kingdom will indeed be a new world order, for Christ will completely reorder civilization!

Next, it must have subjects over which the king rules. The subjects of Christ’s kingdom will consist of all nations of the entire world! “And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall RULE them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:15,16).

“And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south … And it shall be in that day, that living waters [Ezekiel 47:1-12] shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea [Mediterranean], and half of them toward the hinder sea [the Dead Sea]: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD and His name one” (Zechariah 14:4-9).

There are dozens of scriptures—whole chapters of your Bible—describing the millennial reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings on this earth. It will be a totally autocratic government, but in the hands of very God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth and His born-again brothers and sisters, members of His own divine family, who will be ruling over towns, cities and countries with Him (Revelation 2:26). It will be a kind and gentle government, yet a government which will enforce its laws—one which will bring true justice for all.

Finally, a kingdom requires a king who rules over His subjects by law. What will be the laws by which Christ rules?

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain [a symbol of a government] of the Eternal’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills [lesser nations]; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peopleshall go and say, ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths’: for out of Zion shall go forth the LAW, and the word of the Eternal from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

There will be no more nuclear weapons. No chemical and biological weapons. No SCUDs or long-range nuclear bombers or intercontinental ballistic missiles! There will be total world disarmament! The King of kings will outlaw all war, and all war-making technology will be destroyed, and forever banned!

God will punish the sinning nations of this world because they have broken His laws! Jesus Christ will govern and rule by imposing God’s holy and righteous LAWS upon all of mankind.

“Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My words, nor to my LAW but rejected it” (Jeremiah 6:19).

The good news Jesus Christ taught His disciples was a vast, globe-girdling message of mind-boggling, awesome proportions! He spoke of a time of the complete destruction of civilization as we know it; the time of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21,22), the Day of the Lord, and His second coming to rule all nations with a rod of iron!

It is the good news that Jesus Christ died to save all mankind from the penalty for sin, which is death by Gehenna fire! It is the good news that God is a loving, merciful God, who will forgive us when we repent, who will beget us as His children, who will admit us into His great, world-governing kingdom when Christ returns.

What good news it is to the teeming populations of Zaire, China, India, Sudan, Iraq, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Russia, Bangladesh, Bosnia, the United States—all the nations of the world—that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is soon going to return to this earth, this time in the power and majesty of Almighty God!

You cannot think of a terrible problem Jesus Christ will not solve! Today, we live in a world of tragedy, accidents, infant mortality, crime, drugs, divorce, sickness and disease, squalor, poverty, brutality, and war! Our daily news is heartbreaking! The problems of the world are simply too big to be solved by any government of man!

But none of this world’s problems are too big to be solved by Jesus Christ! He has unlimited power. He told them, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [age]. Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Christ’s great commission to His group of called-out ones came in two important parts. First, they were to announce the good news—meaning preach the gospel—to all the world as a witness. Second, they were to feed the flock, to care for the church that would be formed as a result of repentant believers.

The book of Acts is a history of the growth and development of the early church

It details how they were virtually overwhelmed with thousands of newly converted believers on the Day of Pentecost; how there had to be organization to care for these people, especially the widows and the elderly (Acts 6:1-7).

Today, God’s church continues to perform both of the two-part commission Jesus Christ gave it. We strive to preach the good newsof Christ’s soon-coming kingdom as far and as wide as possible, within the means God Himself makes available.

Then, we strive as best we humanly can, with God’s loving and patient help, to care for the church.

God’s true church has come out of this world. It is “apolitical,” in the sense that it does not attempt to influence government; it has no lobbyists in Washington or anywhere else; it does not attempt to influence the outcome of elections: it does not plot to intervene in the human governments of this world.

God’s true church will never be involved in violence! It will never stockpile arms, or engage in “paramilitary” maneuvers, or be involved in any attempts to overthrow the government by force, whether local, county, state, or national governments!

God’s people are commanded to pray for their leaders, not become engaged in conspiracies to overthrow them by force! Even during the cruel days of the Roman Empire, Paul, writing to the church in Rome itself, said, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation [judgment]. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister [servant] of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Romans 13:1-4).

The heart and core of Christ’s teaching was to love even your enemies, to “turn the other cheek,” and to pray for those that would despitefully use you and persecute you.

Jesus Christ did not come to forcibly, overthrow the governments in Palestine during His physical life. He has never intended His own “called-out ones,” who form His true church, to be involved in armed violence of any kind!

Instead, He commissioned His apostles to go into all the world and announce the good news (preach the gospel) that Jesus Christ Himself will return to this earth, and rule it with a rod of iron!

As such, God’s church is the instrument in His hands to do His work!

Finally, when Jesus Christ decides His witness and warning message has reached enough people—when He decides to intervene in human affairs—He will return to this earth in all the power and glory of God.

John saw this happening in vision: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall RULE them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS … And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were case alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth [by divine fiat, or command]: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:11-21).

Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth at the head of vast millions of angelic hosts. He will catch up His saints to meet Him in the air(2 Thessalonians 4:17). His feet will stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). He will smash the ten-nation combine (Revelation 17:12-14) that is the beast power, and establish His kingdom on this earth, in His new world capital, New Jerusalem!

The work of His church is to prepare the way for this globe-girdling, awesome event; to announce this great, wonderful, good news to the suffering millions of this earth!

Never forget that our Savior commanded us, “WATCH ye therefore, and pray always, that ye might be accounted worthy to escape all these things [the things of the Great Tribulation] that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).

He told us we are to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations 
freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post The Church and the New World Order first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“I will build my church,” said Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18). Jesus described His church as “a little flock“ (Luke 12:32), a group that would be persecuted, maligned and attacked by the world. He said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In His final prayer, just before His crucifixion, He said of the apostles, “I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world“ (John 17:14).

His church would not be of the world.

Earlier, He had predicted, “They shall put you out of the synagogues [churches]: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think they doeth God service” (John 16:2).

Thus, Christ described the group of “called-out ones” (for that is the meaning of the word “church”) who would form the “ekklezia” (church); He said they would be a small, persecuted group of individuals. Some would receive martyrdom for remaining faithful to the calling and commission Jesus placed before them.

Never did Jesus indicate His true church was to become a powerful, influential, politically oriented organization which would become part of this world; having concourse with this world’s government and governmental leaders, becoming a large, visible church, capable of influencing legislation, wielding political power through numbers and financial resources!

True to Jesus’ predictions, major persecution set in against the true Church of God from the very moment of its inception!

The first few chapters of the book of Acts show the furious attempts of the Jewish religious leadership to stamp out what they considered to be a dangerous new religion, and history is replete with examples of massive persecutions throughout the Middle East, and the Roman Empire, which, for all their ferocity and brutality, failed to stamp out the true Church of God.

Jesus had promised that “the gates of the grave [Greek: hades] shall not prevail against it! ” (Matthew 16:18).

Did Jesus Put Peter in Charge?

When Jesus established His true church, did He intend to relinquish control of it—giving the total headship of the church into the hands of one of the apostles?

Let the Bible answer. Jesus said, “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter [Greek: Petros, meaning a ‘pebble’ or a small ‘rock’] and upon this rock [Greek: Petra, meaning a whole mass of rock, like a craggy cliff or mountain] I will build my church; and the gates of hell [Greek: ‘hades,’ meaning the grave] shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Peter had two “nicknames,” one in Greek and the other in Aramaic. Jesus supplied Peter this name when He said, “Thou art Peter” (using the Greek, “Petros“) and said He would make Peter a “fisher of men.” The other is “Cephas” (pronounced KE-fus), which is the Aramaic equivalent to “a stone.”

The fact that Jesus called Peter a “little pebble,” or a small “stone,” did not indicate He was placing a TITLE on Peter’s name. Names have meanings. Titles are added to names. If Peter had been given a “title,” it would have been obvious, for Jesus would have called him “Peter Primus “ or “Peter the First. ”

Those who argue that Peter’s name meant he had the “primacy” OVER the other apostles—that they had to be subject to him—are in error. Peter himself was to write that each minister—whether apostle, elder, or whatever—was to be “subject to the other”! (1 Peter 5:5).

This change of name is not uncommon, for God changed Abram to “Abraham,” meaning a “father of many nations,” Jacob to “Israel,” Saul to “Paul,” and so on.

Jesus said He would build His church “upon this ROCK”! Who did He mean?

When Jesus said, “Thou art Petros, and upon this ‘PETRA’ I will build my church, ” He used, first, the masculine ending of the root Greek word which means “a rock” When He said “upon this rock“ [Petra] I will build my church, He used the feminine, which has a different meaning.

Those who are familiar with the “romance” languages (based upon Latin, such as French and Spanish, etc.) know that articles, including physiological and topographical objects, have “masculine” and “feminine” gender. Thus, in the Spanish language, a “mountain” is “la montana.” Our western state, in the United States, of “Montana” means, literally, “mountain.”

The “a” on the end of “montana” demands a “la” (feminine) at the beginning of the phrase.

All objects, such as the house (la casa—feminine) or the automobile (el automobile—masculine), have feminine or masculine gender.

Jesus changed the gender of the root Greek word deliberately.

The first, the masculine petros, means “a rock, ” but it means a much smaller rock, like a chunk of rock or stone taken from a much larger piece of rock. When He used the feminine gender in the second case, “PETRA,” He meant the craggy side of a cliff, a great monolith, or a mountain of rock!

To what—or to whom—did He refer? Let the Bible answer!

Notice: “…And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of the spiritual ROCK that followed them: and that ROCK [Petra, in the Greek] WAS CHRIST! (1 Corinthians 10:4).

This very important scripture refers directly to Jesus Christ, that member of the godhead who was continually with the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness.

Notice what David wrote, in the Psalms: “O come, let us sing unto the Eternal: Let us make a joyful noise to the ROCK of our salvation” (Psalm 95:1).

“But the Eternal is my defense; and my God is the ROCK of my refuge” (Psalm 94:22).

“He is my ROCK” (Psalm 92:15).

“You are my ROCK and my fortress” (Psalm 71:3).

“He only is my ROCK and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; The ROCK of my strength, and my refuge, is in God” (Psalm 62:6, 7).

“He only is my ROCK and my salvation; He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalm 62:2).

Notice the important chapter of Deuteronomy 32!

“Because I will publish the name of the Eternal: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the ROCK, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

Later, God says, “. . . Then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the ROCK of his salvation … of the ROCK that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hath forgotten God that formed thee” (Deuteronomy 32:15-18).

Five times in this chapter the God who is the Creator (who became Jesus Christ—Hebrews 1, John 1) is described as “the ROCK.”

Notice! “How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their ROCK had sold them, and the Eternal had shut them up? For their rock is not as our ROCK, even our enemies themselves being judges” (Deuteronomy 32:30, 31).

Jesus said, “Upon this ROCK I will build my church,” NOT meaning Peter (Petros), whom He called a “pebble” or a “stone,” but upon HIMSELF! He, CHRIST, was to head it!

Did Jesus Give the “Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” to Peter?

Some, in attempting to prove one-man RULE over the church, cite the remainder of the passage in Matthew 16: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

However, Jesus was speaking to all the disciples at this moment (read the entire chapter in context), and only two chapters later tells all the disciples, “Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

“Again I say unto you [emphasizing that this is at least the second time He has given them this charge], that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

“For where TWO or THREE are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:18-20).

Jesus did NOT say where “Peter” is—there am I with Peter; that I only work through, in and by this ONE MAN!

No, He required checks and balances in His early church government, plainly saying it required at least two of the disciples (apostles) or three to be in complete harmony and agreement and THEN Jesus would be in the midst of them.”

Notice He did not say He would be with ONE—but said “there am I in the midst of THEM”! (Matthew 18:20).

When Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you alway,” He plainly revealed that HE would remain the active, living HEAD of His true church!

Millions are under the impression that “God has gone way off somewhere,” and see the Eternal Creator God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth—the Head of His church and our High Priest in heaven—only in the vaguest, ethereal, unreal, dreamlike terms.

They are not aware of an active, LIVING, dynamic and all-POWERFUL Jesus Christ of Nazareth who makes daily intercession for His people, and who, through the power of His Holy Spirit, is fully capable of leadership.

Through the centuries, men have tried to usurp the office of Jesus Christ!

MEN (or, in some cases, women) have become the leaders of various and sundry “churches,” man-made religious organizations which, through the sheer numbers who willingly flock to some charismatic, dynamic leader, can become quite large. Some such religious organizations become politically powerful, and wealthy.

But all such churches are churches of this world, man-made, and are not a part of the true body of Jesus Christ! They were not founded by Christ, and they are not GOVERNED by Christ, but by their human founders.

Jesus Christ is the HEAD of His true church!

“And He is the Head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18).

Notice how Paul, in speaking of marital relationships, said, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church ” (Ephesians 5:23).

He also wrote that the church must “…grow up into Him in all things, which is the HEAD, even Christ!” (Ephesians 4:15).

Oftentimes, men give “lip service” to the Headship of Christ, and claim merely to be the “second in command, underChrist,” but, since they are the only visible head, and since there are no other “checks and balances” in the structure of their organizations, such men (or women) usually wield absolute and TOTAL power and authority over doctrine, policy, procedure and administration, as well as total authority and CONTROL over the lives of their members.

How Do Human Leaders Gain Control?

Once such an individual has achieved the absolute pinnacleof psychological, financial and legal power over such a church hierarchy, none in such an organization ever daresclaim that the human leader of said church organization does not receive every thought, doctrine, teaching or administrative policy or procedure directly from Christ! Any who challenge such control or authority are quickly disposed of.

Subtly, gradually, men have managed to convince their followers in literally hundreds of organizations down through the centuries that to question them, the human leader, is to question Christ!

How do they deceive their followers?

It is all a very simple process, really.

There is much said about church government in the New Testament! Read Ephesians the 4th chapter, 1 Corinthians the 12th chapter, 1 Timothy 3, 1 Peter 5, and others. All deal with CHURCH GOVERNMENT.

The apostle Paul said a great deal about “those that have the rule over you,” and spoke of settling church difficulties with “a rod.”

By the simple process of continual preaching, teaching and repetitive emphasis on “authority”; by emphasizing the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in preaching, teaching and Bible study; a powerful, charismatic, persuasive religious leader is able to convince his followers that, when he stands in the pulpit, he is speaking “under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,” and is therefore BEYOND QUESTION! Gradually, his followers begin to believe they are hearing virtually firsthand, directly from GOD.

There is an outstanding example of human arrogance and vanity, and God’s terrible judgments for such conduct, in God’s Word.

“And when Herod sought for him [Peter], and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death.

“And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and having made Blastus the king’s chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king’s country.

“And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.

“And the people gave a shout, saying, ‘It is the voice of a god, and not of a man,’ and immediately the angel of the Eternal smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost [expired, died—Greek]” (Acts 12:19-23).

Of course, Herod was not a religious leader, even though he exercised control over the religious leaders.

He was an arrogant, pompous, power-crazed human leader; a totally corrupt individual, who had the literal power of life and death over his people. The jail keepers could not prevent Peter’s release, for an angel had performed a miracle to free Peter Nevertheless, Herod had them killed!

He delighted in his exalted power; so, when the ignorant masses indulged him, by loudly shouting he was a “god” when he spoke to them, he reveled in their adoration!

People were beginning to WORSHIP A MAN! They were ascribing to a mere mortal godlike qualities; beginning to believe on his every pronouncement; to claim when he spoke they were hearing directly from a divine source.

But the Eternal Creator God of heaven hates this ridiculous, egotistical and empty vanity of pompous men—and God struck Herod dead! He was “eaten of worms”; dying a HORRIBLE DEATH for his vanity!

Today millions of humans, in MANY different nations, and in MANY different religions (think of the Ayatolah Khomeini, of Iran, as an example), WORSHIP MEN!

Jim Jones’ followers came to WORSHIP the man—believing he was directly inspired of God. They so gave their own minds over into the hands of this mentally deranged, egotistical man that they became conditioned to do ANYTHING he said—NO MATTER WHAT!

How shocking that gullible human beings can literally so give themselves into the hands of a human religious leader that he can tell them to murder—or to kill themselves—andthey immediately OBEY!

It is a false and ridiculous concept that a mere MAN can be so divinely inspired as to be answerable ONLY TO GOD, and NEVER answerable or accountable to ANY OTHER HUMAN SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES.

Carried to its ultimate extreme, this concept has led to the declaration of papal infallibility for the popes in Rome!

The Catholic Church teaches that, when a pope speaks from the “Holy See,” in the Vatican, he is infallible!

The Catholic Church places at least Two sources of supposed “authority” on an equal level with the Bible!

The first is the pope himself, when making official pronouncements from the “Holy See.” Such pronouncements carry the weight of Scripture with Catholics, are said to be absolutely inspired, and are considered infallible!

Also, the traditions of the church—those procedures, doctrinal tenets, teachings and administrative and organizational systems which have been gradually established over centuries and centuries of historical development—are considered to be inviolable, “cast in concrete,” and on an equal par with Scripture!

Monstrous abuses are cataloged, in literally scores of history books, concerning the wielding of such awesome power by a tiny handful of individuals, headed by only one man at the very pinnacle of power in a large, wealthy church organization.

The Protestant Reformation was as much a protest against hierarchical abuses of power as it was a protest against doctrine.

Strangely, as the centuries have passed, many organizations which sprang up following the Protestant Reformation have themselves drifted into a similar type of hierarchical structure as the organization they left, in protest.

But did Jesus Christ ever intend exalting only one man to the position of “No. 2” under Jesus Christ?

In short, was it Jesus Christ as the Head of the church in heaven—but PETER, having the “primacy,” as the “No. 2” individual in the church hierarchy (meaning the No. 1 on this earth)—who was OVER all the other 11, over all the prophets, evangelists, pastors of churches, deacons and others?

Was it ONE MAN, plus 11 others who were under him?

Let the Bible, the sacred Word of God, which is going to JUDGE,. us, answer!

Peter Arrogated No Unique Office to Himself

First, remember Jesus warned, “You know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over [lord it over] them, and they that are ‘great’ exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be ‘great’ among you, let him be your minister [servant]; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant [minister]: even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-27).

Jesus told Peter “Feed MY sheep“ three times, when He reminded Peter of his denial of Christ even as He was being beaten, tried and crucified!

Three times, demanding to know if Peter truly “loved” Jesus, He charged Peter, “Feed MY sheep!” He did not say, “Feed your sheep,” but emphasized, clearly, they were Christ’s flock—that Peter was merely a shepherd caring for the flock that belonged to Jesus Christ!

Peter, himself, certainly never tried to assert himself as a “chief apostle.”

NEVER did he claim to be “the one and only apostle,” or “the leading apostle,” or “the chief apostle,” or even THE apostle!

Did he feel such a claim would be blasphemous? After all, it is only Jesus Christ who is called THE APOSTLE in the Bible!

Paul calls himself “an apostle,” as does Peter. But notice what the Bible says of Jesus Christ: “. ..THE apostle and high priest of our profession. . .” (Hebrews 3:1). Christ, ONLY, is called “THE APOSTLE.”

Peter never took such office to himself

He wrote, after describing himself as “an apostle” (which merely means “one sent”), “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: feed the flock of God … neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the CHIEF SHEPHERD [referring to Jesus Christ, not himself!] shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away” (1 Peter 5:1-4).

Peter plainly referred to himself as an elder This merely meant an older, more mature and more experienced person spiritually—usually an older person in physical years—and was a term which found its way in the early New Testament church directly from the status of the “elders” in village and tribal society in the nations of Israel and Judah!

The “elders” of a village were the older, wiser men—”sages,” to whom the younger generation sought for wisdom.

Often they formed a body of elders, not unlike a town council of today, and carried certain authority in the village and town structure.

When these “elders” were first converted in the early New Testament church, they continued to be “elders” so far as their physical age, maturity and experience were concerned, and, as they now grew in spiritual wisdom and knowledge, were looked upon as “elders” in the church!

It is nonsensical to “ordain” young boys, immature, young men perhaps below the age of 30 (and some churches have ordained “elders” in their 20s!) and call them “elders.”

It is quite likely that, in the early New Testament church, the title “elder” was already attached to an older gentleman who, upon conversion and baptism, would continue to be viewed as “an elder” among members of the church.

By the time Peter wrote his letter (1 Peter 5), he may well have been in his 60s or 70s.

He was probably about Jesus’ own age—perhaps in his 30s—at his calling. No doubt, with the passing years, Peter’s physical appearance had changed markedly; no doubt his hair had grayed. Now he was not only one of the original 12 disciples; one of the original “foundation stones” which formed the underpinnings of the New Testament church, but he was an older, wiser, more mature, seasoned “veteran” in God’s church; having suffered persecutions, traveled many hundreds of weary miles, preached, taught, counseled, prayed, spent himself—through year after year in the service of God’s people—and could humbly refer to himself as “an elder.”

This was not an exalted title—and Peter’s statement to other older, mature leaders in the church, calling them “elders,” shows he viewed himself as being on an equal footing with the other leaders he had addressed!

He said, “Likewise, you younger [elders—for he was writing to the ‘elders of the church’], submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. . .” (1 Peter 5:5).

Peter urged absolute equality (each being subject to the other); unanimity, and Christian humility.

This letter, written from Babylon (1 Peter 5:13), was long after Peter had learned quite a bitter lesson himself!

God used another apostle, one who was “begotten out of due season,” who came along years after the original 12 apostles, to humble Peter!

Read the first two chapters of Galatians!

Peter had allowed feelings of racism to creep into his heart. The confrontation you read of in the second chapter very probably occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles, or another annual Holy Day!

Quite a number of leaders were present; a number of mixedconverts representing both gentile and Jews were also present. The area in the province of Galatia to which Paul writes included the congregations of converted Christians at Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

In the important second chapter, you learn a great deal about God’s government in the true church!

First, you notice the apostle Paul continually reinforcing his absolute equality with the other apostles! In the first chapter (please read it all!), he clearly shows that he did not “confer with flesh and blood” or “go up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before him” but that he was directed by Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 9:l; 15:8).

In chapter 2, verses 1-9, you notice the apostle Paul encountered party spirit in Jerusalem; and also an obvious beginning of an ugly political “pecking order.” He scathingly said, “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference [in concert; as a group, plotting to usher circumcision back into the church!] added nothing to me” (Galatians 2:1-6).

Notice the order in which the apostle Paul lists the “chiefest apostles” (remember, that is a plural term; there were several who were “chiefest“): “And when James, Cephas [Petros‘,Peter] and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas [who was also an apostle!] the right hands of fellowship; that we should go to the heathen, and they to the circumcision” (Galatians 2:9).

Now read from verse11 to the end of the chapter!

“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

“For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

“And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation” (Galatians 2:11-13).

Several authorities urge the understanding that “those certain” who “came from James” does not apply to Peter, but certain other men. This is strengthened by the use of the pronouns: “But when they [these other men who came from James] were come, he [Peter] withdrew …

Now notice how the apostle Paul, Peter’s absolute equal, stood up to one of the “chiefest apostles.”

“But when I saw that they walked uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, ‘If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the gentiles to live as do the Jews?”‘ (Galatians 2:14).

Read the rest of the chapter, and you will see that the rest of the entire dissertation, including Paul’s moving statement “I am crucified with Christ,” continues with first-person quotation as spoken to Peter in the audience of a large group!

Notice that Peter did not “mark” Paul, rising up in arrogant wrath and saying, “How dare you embarrass me in front of these underlings?”

Neither did Peter embark on a hate campaign to “get” Paul; to assassinate character, or attempt to create a division in the church.

No doubt Peter was hurt by being soundly rebuked in front of others, including other apostles, elders, and laymen!

There is no “rank” at work here. No hierarchy; no pyramid form of government,” in which Peter, on the top of a step-ladder, like a general of the army who had just been insulted by a colonel, takes out his wrath on Paul, who had affronted him!

Paul plainly says he was one of the “least” of the apostles, and claimed he was not “fit to be called an apostle” (1 Corinthians 15:9), yet ye said, later, “. . . For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles”! (2 Corinthians 11:5).

Again, note the use of the plural.

There is no use, ever, in the Bible of “chief apostle,” or “only apostle.”

When Paul said he was not a whit behind the “chiefest apostles,” he obviously meant those same “chiefest apostles” he clearly identifies in their appropriate order to the Galatian churches; namely, James, Peter and John.

Consider for a moment the book of Romans.

In this first epistle, and one of the lengthiest, following the book of Acts, the apostle Paul addresses the large church in Rome.

If tradition and Catholic claims are correct, WHY did this apostle to the gentiles dare address the large church in Rome, yet never mention Peter’s name?

Not only does he not address Peter at the beginning of the letter, but in the lengthy 16th chapter, containing many personal salutations, including the mention of a woman first, one cannot find the name of Peter!

What? Surely, if Peter were the “chief apostle”; if he were the “first pope” in Rome—then this would have been a colossal insult; sufficient to have had Paul put out of the church!

But the truth is otherwise.

Peter was NOT a “chief apostle,” he was NOT in Rome!

Paul was the apostle to the gentiles—Peter wrote from far in the east portion of the empire, from Babylon, where there was a large colony of Jewish converts.

All claims of the “primacy of Peter” by the Catholic Church or anyone else are FALSE! The hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church was many centuries in the building.

In the first two centuries, there was a gradual development from bishops in larger cities to “metropolitans” (bishops over the largest population centers), and, finally, the emergence of five “great patriarchs” in principal cities of the Middle East and Europe.

Finally, through attrition, largely as a result of wars, there were only two “great patriarchs.” One was in Rome, and the other in Constantinople.

Study history carefully and you will find there were times when there were “two popes,” each angrily “disfellowshipping” the other!

No, the claims of the great “universal” church of “Peter’s primacy” are absolutely FAISE, and a blatant, blasphemous effrontery to the humble, spirit-led equal attitude Jesus Christ urged among the human leadership of His church!

Jesus Christ remains the living Head of His true church!

In times past, He has caused deacons and laymen (like Apollos) to become powerful speakers, evangelists, preaching the Word of God!

He has given the gifts of prophecy (including inspired speaking) and other spiritual gifts to individuals, regardless of so-called “rank” within the church!

That same Jesus, the REAL JESUS, guides, controls, inspires and corrects His true church TODAY!

As the Great Shepherd, who tenderly leaves the ninety and nine, earnestly and carefully seeking the restoration of “the one,” Jesus Christ shows us He hates vanity, arrogance, police-state tactics, dictators, “spiritual policemen,” and the pompous, egotistical human desire to exercise POWER over others’ lives!

Jesus Christ seeks those who are willing to be the servant of all; who are willing to be corrected, taught from the Word of God, and who will always keep their eyes directly on Jesus Christ!

In the true Church of God, a statement from anyone that he or she will “follow a man, AS THEY FOLLOW CHRIST,” is certainly always good enough!

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post Did Peter Have the Primacy? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It’s time you saw the answer to all this from your own BIBLE.

Does it really matter whether you go to a church or not? Do you need to “belong” to a church to be saved?

Any number have boasted, “I am not a churchgoing person, but I know I am as good or better than many of the so-called Christians I see going to church.”

Others are convinced it is only by “having their letter” in a church – having their names on the church rolls, taking their families and going regularly, dutifully every Sunday to church – that they can be saved.

Are you one of these? When the church bells toll on Sunday morning, or when you see other people going by dressed “in their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes,” does it nag at you with a twinge of guilt, make you wonder whether you should “be in church”?

We are all familiar with the great evangelistic campaigns. Famous evangelists command audiences up into the tens of thousands at huge outdoor football stadiums and arenas – all of this carefully prepared and rehearsed months and months before the event.

Usually, dozens of local church congregations take part, sparking membership drives, donating countless hours of time, contributing members for a massive choir, and enthusiastically involve themselves in a campaign to ensure the visiting evangelist has a tremendous turnout.

The ostensible reason behind much of this is to reach the “unchurched.”

On many such occasions, a spirit of ecumenism prevails.

After a fervent appeal to “come forward,” the penitent who have been moved by the evangelist’s sermon are then directed to any number of “counselors,” who are wearing name tags, representing this or that local church. The people are urged to “go to a church of your choice!” When one reads the Saturday church page or church directories, one frequently sees the invitation, “Come worship with us.”

In the thinking of many millions of churchgoing, professing Christians, it is as if there are “many routes” to “heaven,” which they imagine is the reward of the saved. The only considerations may be the location of the church, the size of the choir, the ability of the preacher, the parking lot, the organist, the soloist, or perhaps where members of their own family and/or friends attend.

Millions of churchgoing professing Christians are utterly ignorant of the true doctrines of the church they attend. For that matter, many a pastor may not be all that skilled in the intricate doctrines that form the basis of his denomination.

One could go to Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Congregationalist or other denominational churches and hear their sermons, and yet be struck by the marked similarity of the fare they hear.

That’s because most church messages tend to be on “neutral subjects,” do not necessarily rebuke, exhort or admonish the congregations, and tend to stay away from strong, hard, doctrinal truths and real “meat” of the doctrinal beliefs of that church.

Isn’t it time you understood what is a church, where God’s church really is, what that church is like, what it is supposed to do, and how you can get into it?

“Church” – Just What Is It?

Most would answer “a building,” or “a denomination of believers,” or a “religious organization.”

Gradually, over the years, the original Greek word “ekklesia,” which meant “called-out ones,” has changed in meaning to become a building in which people meet!

Actually, the Greek word means a collective group of individuals who are called out from this present evil world by the process of repentance, conversion, water baptism, and the laying on of hands for the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit.

Jesus promised us, “I will build My church”! (Matthew 16:18).

Jesus said He would remain the living HEAD of that church; governing and ruling over that church in loving kindness, mercy, boundless forgiveness and tender care. He promised, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”

Jesus Christ made it very clear He would NEVER leave the governing and headship of that church to any man!

Notice Jesus said He would build His church! He did not promise He would build a church named after a particular form of church government; after the day of the week the church kept; after a female prophetess, after the practice of “speaking in tongues,” or after John the Baptist, or any other individual, method, mode of baptism or religious-sounding jargon.

If you count up the number of times the true Church of God is mentioned in the New Testament, you will see the expression “Church of God” far outnumbers the other descriptions of the group of called-out ones who formed the early church.

The name of the true Church of God is just that: “the Church of God”! Sometimes different appellatives were added before or after, which were merely descriptions of a particular local congregation such as “the church which is in their home,” or “the Church of God which is at Corinth.” However, the main term which is used most often in Holy Scriptures, giving us positive proof of the name God ordained, is always “the Church of God.”

What really is that church?

By analogy, it is called “the body of Christ,” “the bride of Christ,” “His wife,” and by many other terms.

The following analogies are used of the church: a “little flock,” “the diaspora” (those of the dispersion, or “scattered ones”), “pilgrims,” “sojourners,” “the house of God,” “God’s temple,” “Christ’s body” and various other descriptive analogies.

An analogy is not the TRUTH. It is an illustrative story designed to help one understand a certain truth, but quickly break down, and so are not always applicable in every point. It is very clear that the true Church of God is spoken of as “one body.”

Notice! “There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

However, remember that the church is spoken of as a scattered group of “called-out ones,” individuals, in whom is the Holy Spirit of God.

Please bear in mind the question of as to whether Ephesians 4 is trying to tell us that only one incorporation of man, a political entity sanctioned by a materialistic state government, can be the “one body” of Jesus Christ, or whether this expression is to be taken spiritually, meaning there is only one collected SPIRITUAL body, but composed of sometimes scattered, persecuted individuals who are called, collectively, “the body of Christ.”

There are those who trade on this scripture, trying to use it to justify a closed church, or a closed system of government, or an exclusive organization of men to which you must give your fealty and loyalty, saying the only door to the Kingdom of God is by “belonging to” that organization!

This is blasphemous on its face, and flies directly in the face of Jesus’ statement that there is “no other name given under heaven” whereby men may be saved and that HE, only, is the “door of the sheepfold” and that any man trying to steal in by any other method is a robber and an intruder.

It is just not possible to “incorporate” the totality of the body of Jesus Christ in its true spiritual meaning!

An Evangelistic Association

Believe it or not, the early apostles would have been thunderstruck and dumbfounded if they could have entered a time machine and been plummeted forward to this modern 20th century to be taken on a tour of a Bible Belt city and to have seen dozens of buildings, representing dozens of different congregations and organizations, all purporting to be “the church.”

Why? Because Jesus Christ did not tell them to build different churches, but gave to them the GREAT COMMISSION: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature!” He told them, “You shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”

Luke 24:47 gives a very succinct summarization of the “GREAT COMMISSION.” Notice they were to be witnesses unto Him – HIS NAME was to be primary!

They were to go, preaching a message of repentance (Matthew 4:17, Luke 13:3, 5, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) and commanding people to come out of sin (Revelation 18:4), and be baptized in water (Acts 2:38, Romans 6) for the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit!

They were also to give powerful warning (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) of the terrifying and troublous times that lay just ahead, crying out, “Watch and pray always that you might be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).

The purpose for which the church was commissioned was to preach the gospel. It only began to dawn on the early apostles that they lacked certain organizational patterns when it became noticed (Acts 6) that the widows were being neglected in “the daily ministration.” At that time, only after this neglect had been brought to their attention, the apostles had to solve the problem by ordaining deacons to serve the physical needs of the growing congregations.

How tragic and ironic it is that, as the centuries have passed, this organization of seeing to the physical needs and creature comforts of human beings has tended to supersede and completely blot out the primary purpose for the calling and commissioning of the church in the first place!

Today, one sees great, moneyed organizations of men, with elaborately intricate and detailed liturgical services, special organizations within the organization, plenty of “rank consciousness” and political structure, like a giant bureau of a huge government, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the scattered group of persecuted, spirit-led, preaching and witnessing apostles who went about “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,” and who said, “We ought to obey God rather than men,” and who preached powerfully of the person, the death, burial and resurrection and the second coming of Jesus Christ, even in the face of threats to their lives – and martyrdom!

The early church was a group of absolute equals (12 of them) who were organized for the purpose of preaching the gospel.

As such, that first-century fledgling group far more resembled an “evangelistic association,” a group of people who were associated together by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of preaching the gospel, than it did “a church” in the modern sense of the word.

Where is the true church today? Jesus Christ built His church – just as He promised He would. There are many proofs as to where that church is, what it is doing, how one may enter into that church, and how it can be recognized.

First, let’s follow the simple process of elimination.

The only recognized Bible name of the church is “the Church of God.” Presto! In looking over the handbook of denominations, one can safely eliminate literally hundreds of denominations and organizations which do not have that name.

Next, look at the body of beliefs, identifying signs and important scriptural truths surrounding that church.

1. Jesus Christ, not any man or organization of men, would continue to be its spiritual Head!

2. That church would be organized and governed exactly as Jesus Christ said to His disciples. He explained how the kings and potentates of the gentile nations enjoyed “lording it over them,” and said, “It shall not be so among you”! Jesus went on to explain that those who would be “the greatest” should become the servants of all. In the true Church of God, one will not find rule by fear; threats, coercion, hatred, strife, the wielding of frightening power over private, individual lives.

3. The true church will be preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God as a warning/witness to the world! Read Luke 24:47. That gospel, while it is the message of the soon-coming, world-ruling government of God; a message about the governing, ruling family of God, into which governing, ruling family we must be born, is nevertheless a message which must never OMIT THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!

That true church will never be ashamed of the name of Jesus Christ – not ashamed of His name before government leaders, kings, presidents, premiers, people of any stature, great or small, rich or poor, Jew or gentile!

4. The true church will understand the truth about the weekly Sabbath! It will also understand the truth about God’s annual Holy Days.

5. The true church will understand the truth about the pagan holidays of this world.

6. It will understand the truth about the false doctrines of the pagan churches, including the false doctrines of the rapture, an ever-burning hell, the Trinity and dozens of others.

7. The true church will have, safely intact, the body of doctrine Jesus Christ of Nazareth Himself delivered. It will be striving to “get hack to the faith once delivered to the saints,” by recapturing the true understanding as well as the spirit of the early New Testament church!

8. It will he structured as closely to the structure of the early apostles as possible – meaning a sense of teamwork, of absolute equality among apostles, and an open, friendly spirit of give and take in doctrinal and procedural discussions (see Acts 15).

9. That church will be humble, led of the spirit of Jesus Christ which is “goodness, mercy, forgiveness and faith,” and will be striving to emulate Jesus Christ the Lord.

There are hundreds of identifying marks one may wish to apply to the true church. Every doctrine, small or great, could be applied – as could the attributes of the Holy Spirit of God, of “love, joy and peace,” and most especially the absence of hatred, rancor, avarice, cunning, greed, politics, party spirit, strife, brute force, cruelty, and a hierarchy attempting to carry out the punishments for sin. Such would be pharisaical, cultic and not of the true Church of God!

Now, following your process of elimination, how many churches do you have left who fit the foregoing description?

It is not for any one organization to boast that it, and it only, is “the true church,” for history proves that there have been scattered individuals, as well as contemporary groups, which have existed side by side, whose members have both been converted, spirit-led, baptized members of “that one body,” which is the body of Jesus Christ!

It is impossible to “incorporate” on a legal piece of paper filed away in a secretary’s file in the office of the secretary of state in some state capital the very body of Jesus Christ!

The true Church of God is a spiritual organism, and is a body you cannot join.

No. God must put you into it by giving you a calling, granting you repentance, baptism, the laying on of hands and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. God then inducts you into that true church.

On the Day of Pentecost in 31 A.D., Peter preached a powerful sermon about repentance. The people answered, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

Peter, unlike many modern evangelicals, did not say, “See a counselor, or join the church of your choice,” but told them, instead, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

And then what happened? They became members of the Church of God by being baptized into that one body!

“By one spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Remember! You cannot be in the Kingdom of God without having received the Holy Spirit of God! God will only give that Spirit to those who are willing to obey Him! (Acts 5:32). ‘When you receive the Spirit of God you are receiving the spirit of a sound, sane mind (2 Timothy 1:6,7), which is the very mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and you are then “added to the church” because God says you are among those who “should be saved” (Acts 2:47).

Notice how it was done. Following that early experience at Pentecost, “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women” (Acts 5:14).

Make no mistake! No one can arbitrarily “join” the true Church of God. Jesus Christ says expressly, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

Yet, this does not mean Jesus does not want to call you – does not mean He is being exclusivist or restrictive – for He also said, “Come unto Me all ye that are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” and He also said, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

If you are one who has been repentant of your personal sins, meaning the transgressing of God’s holy law (1 John 3:4), then Jesus Christ tells you to be baptized (Acts 2:38, Romans 6) and have an authorized representative of God’s true church lay hands on you for the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit.

From that time on, you need no membership identification card, no “letter” sent to and kept in church files, and no material, man-made recognition whatever. From that time on, you are automatically inducted into the “one body of Jesus Christ,” which is the true Church of God!

That true Church of God will be zealously attempting to do the work of God!

It will be preaching the same gospel Jesus Christ of Nazareth gave to the disciples. It will be a church in which is found the Spirit of God; the spirit of brotherly love, harmony, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, meekness, gentleness, faith and understanding.

It will probably be quite small, perhaps looked upon as weak and ineffective, even persecuted, widely scattered, and will not be a vast organization of this world!

Yet it will be “rich in faith,” crying out daily to Almighty God for every need.

If you have repented, been baptized and received the Holy Spirit of God – if you know and understand what sin is, have repented of all those sins, and cry out to Jesus Christ as a daily High Priest making intercession for you if you stumble and sin as a Christian, and if you are zealously, eagerly and enthusiastically supportive of the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God as a last-minute witness and warning to a dying, sin-sick world – then you are a member of the true Church of God!

If you are not, you should be!

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post Must You be a “Member” of a CHURCH to be Saved? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The closer you look at things man has made, the more chaos, irregularity, and imperfection you see.  For example, even the period at the end of this sentence, if seen under a powerful microscope, would show as a series of tiny dots, some clearer than others; a fuzzy, irregular bunch of splotches on rough fibers which are the paper upon which it was printed.  But the closer you look at what God has done in nature, the more beauty, the more intricacy, the more perfection.

Inspect the petal of a flower, or the wing of a bird, or even the molecular structure of quartz under that same microscope, and you will see symmetry, harmony, beauty, intricate organization!

The first great independent was Satan the Devil.

Not that Satan was “against” organization — with him it was merely a question of “whose”?

The same is true of those who rail against “organized religion” today — as if all religious activities should be bereft of any structure; independent, disorganized, anarchistic.

Satan resented God’s power.  He became insanely jealous of God.  He resented God’s laws, His government, His rules and regulations.  After countless periods of time, Satan had imbued his angels with his same evil, rebellious spirit.  Finally, Lucifer felt the time was ripe for a takeover!

Christ said, “I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:17).  Symbolically, in vision, John saw the same thing: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

“And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9).  The result of the great “star wars” of billions of years past is readily visible today.  All about us, so far as we can peer with modern technology such as the Hubble space telescope, we see wreckage.  Huge, poisonous clouds swirl in monstrous storms on the planet men named “Jupiter.”  Billions of misshapen rocks hurtle in all directions as meteors and asteroids. The lifeless, rock-strewn face of Mars and our own moon attest to countless impacts of huge meteors.

When God decided the time had come to create man, and commence His plan of reproducing Himself through the human species, He came down to see a “void, empty, waste, chaotic” world, covered with tossing, stygian seas, where not a single ray of light had shown for perhaps millions or billions of years.  This is the force of the Hebrew words “tohu and bohu”, translated “without form, and void” or empty.

All was confusion.  Satan’s handiwork always tends toward confusion; chaos; anarchy. But “…God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

God began RE-creating the earth, and when He had finished, all was spectacularly beautiful.  Man was created; then Eve — two perfectly-formed and shaped human beings, made in the very image of God.  They were placed in the midst of the most beautiful garden place in all history; brooks and rivulets, streams and rivers; countless shrubs, trees of every variety; teeming with life. Do not suppose Eden was like a few acres of landscaped garden in the back yard of some palatial estate.  No, it may have been several thousand square miles — an untrammeled, breathtaking scene of fabulous beauty.

But then Satan came on the scene, and deceived Eve.  Her husband followed her in her doubting of God, and the two of them broke God’s laws by lusting after the forbidden fruit, then stealing it, and in so doing disobeying their only parent. By doing so, they broke four of the Ten Commandments.  Immediately, a great curse came upon them, and upon all nature.  “And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent [Hebrew: “nachash,” meaning “whispering enchanter”]beguiled me, and I did eat.

“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel [the first shadow, or type, of the promise of the “seed” of the woman, which was Christ, and Satan’s part in His death].

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children [Eve saw her firstborn murder his own brother] ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

“Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:13-19).

Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, to live lives as described above; hard-scrabble existence by the sweat of their brows, finding that nature itself seemed to have turned against them.  Such is the result of the first great rebel; the first great “independent” who set himself against God.

The term “pandemonium” aptly describes what it is meant to imply: “all demonism,” or “demonic abandon everywhere.”  Where there is no order; where there is no system, no rules and regulations, no law, there is chaos — pandemonium.

Divided Churches — Scattered Sheep

Today, thousands of God’s people are divided and confused.  They fit the description of God’s sheep who wander without a shepherd: “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

“Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.

“The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

“And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

“My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them” (Ezekiel 34:1-8).

Frightened by cruel “shepherds”, or disillusioned with the human frailties of their leaders,  many huddle together in little groups.

Opportunists, seeing the fragmented groups, eagerly desire to gather them together.  Some, hoping to appeal to their disillusionment and fears, trumpet the voice of “independence.”  They eagerly  attack all “organization.”  Suddenly, organization; laws, order, rules, regulations, are of the devil, and not of God.  Now, they assert that God is the Author, NOT of rules and regulations, but of independence!

Not that THEY, the preachers of independence want any of THEIR followers to be “independent” of THEM, the leaders — oh, no, of course not!  No, they want to attract a following.  And when such a following begins to meet with such a person, will there be a complete absence of all rules and regulations?

Will they meet together?  But how, if each one of them has a different idea about whether to meet in the first place, on which day, at what time, and where?  And if they resolve all these necessary arrangements, which requires some organization, who will speak?  All of them?  All at once?  Who decides?  Can women preach?  Can children?  Or should there be some rule applied, based upon the Bible, which prohibits such things?  Shall those attending sit down, or mill around with cups of coffee or beer (and if there is no rule against it, who is to say?) while the would-be leader tries to get their attention?

Who should be in charge?  Should they incorporate?  If so, who should be on the board?  Who will draft the constitution and by-laws?

There are those who vigorously attack organizations.  They speak disgustedly of “organized religion.” But did not Jesus Christ say He would build His church?  Did not Paul speak of how it is to be organized?

The Modern World Of “Churchianity”

There are hundreds of churches to choose from; dozens of smaller religious organizations. Must you belong to one of them in order to be saved? According to some leaders of these organizations, if you are not a member of “their” church, you will not be allowed into God’s kingdom.

Some make the ludicrous claim that THEY, meaning their own legal and political organization are the ONLY “true church.” They preach that unless you belong to THEM; to their group, you are not going to be in God’s kingdom.

In recent years, some pastors have complained about religious programming on television, saying too many people are staying at home watching television preachers, and believing that is all the religion they need. They say it is necessary to attend a church in order to be saved. Is this true? But, if you decide to “join the church of your choice,” how do you make that choice? Which church is the right one?

The American Handbook of Denominations lists more than four hundred different churches.  Over the more than two decades during which the Worldwide Church of God broke up into many different churches, it is alleged that more than two hundred separate groups have eventually formed.  There is plenty to choose from, even among Sabbath-keepers.

However, whether you think of a small hosted fellowship group of only five or six individuals, or larger churches of several thousand people, there must be some kind of organization.  Those who preach against any organization are themselves eagerly desirous for becoming the head of a new organization!

When you think about it, any church; any religious organization which seeks to preach the gospel to the world, or which merely seeks to pastor a small congregation of people must, to some degree, be organized.

How else could such a group own or rent a building or a hall?  How could they maintain a simple membership list? How could they defray their expenses for such things as utilities, or supply materials for their members, such as children’s books, song books, or simple weekly printed announcements? How could they maintain a bank account, no matter how small, so they could pay their workers or their pastor? How could they maintain their building, or water and mow the grass without some degree of organization? Who would make even the simplest of decisions?

Is God the Author of anarchy; of each individual doing whatever he or she chooses, irrespective of the common good?

No, God is the Author of the very opposite of anarchy. He is the Creator of the universe, and of the incredible complexity of our ecosphere, which is orderly, systematized, intricately organized.

Neither the largest denominations nor the smallest religious organizations can carry out their primary purposes without some degree of organization. For one thing, if they are financed by freewill tithes and offerings, and, for the benefit of their donors, wish to have a legal status of a non‑profit religious organization or church, they are required to keep records and report to the IRS. For another, if they desire to broadcast their message over radio or television, and to send out literature or cassette tapes, they might want to maintain a mailing list. How else would they respond to the very people they are attempting to reach? Is it wrong to preach over the electronic media; to print and publish the gospel; to send out literature or tapes; to respond to people who are hungry for God’s truth?

Obviously, since it is not wrong to do this, how can it be done without organized effort ? Can it be done by just one man, with no staff; no help of any kind?

It is one thing for a small corporation to proclaim itself independent of other churches. It is another for a small corporation to claim it is not “organized”.

Why Did Christ Build His Church?

Why did Jesus Christ say, “I will build My church…?” What is the church supposed to do? Was it to be organized; structured, or was it a loosely‑affiliated group of small independent groups or individuals who studiously avoided any attempt at organization?

Every serious student of the Bible knows Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to preach the gospel. Every Bible student also knows that Christ commanded His disciples to care for those who would heed the gospel; those who would repent, ask for baptism, and receive God’s Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ called, trained and commissioned His disciples. He then organized them into a small, twelve-man body of believers; a cadre of apostles.

Twelve is the Biblical number for organization, as well as a number signifying organized beginnings!  It is a perfect governmental number, used time and time again by God to indicate how His world-ruling government will be set up.

God insured there were twelve tribes in ancient Israel, which were organized into a nation by God Himself.  Christ could have called and trained only eleven disciples, or thirteen, or nineteen. But He didn’t. He called and trained exactly twelve. He promised His disciples they would sit upon twelve thrones in His Kingdom, governing the twelve tribes of Israel.

Before Christ had ascended to heaven in the sight of His startled disciples, He commanded them to wait in Jerusalem until they were imbued with “power” from on high. He would send the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost to build His church. But just prior to that Pentecost, Christ inspired Peter to stand up in the midst of the disciples and inform them that the Holy Spirit had revealed in the scriptures that Jesus Christ wanted a certain definite numberto form the fundamental cadre of leadership in His church: “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty [which is ten times twelve!]),

“Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

“For he was numbered [counted] with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

“Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst [he hung himself, and the body became terribly bloated when the rope broke, allowing him to fall], and all his bowels gushed out.

“And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, ‘Aceldema,’ that is to say, ‘The field of blood.’

“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.’

“Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that our Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

“Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained [one, not two, or three, or fourteen more out of the one hundred and twenty–only one, so there would once again be twelve original apostles] to be a witness with us of His resurrection.

“And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias” (Acts 1:15-23).  They wanted to choose only one.  However, in their discussions, when considering the qualifications of the two men mentioned above, they were so similar; so alike in their qualifications, that the disciples could not finally decide by themselves.  They wanted the intervention of God.

Notice what happened: “And they prayed, and said, ‘Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two Thou hast chosen,

“‘That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

“And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:23-26).

Christ was determined that His church would begin with God’s perfect organizational number; the number of “new beginnings,” which is twelve.

The disciples had been instructed to wait in Jerusalem until they were imbued with God’s power.  Notice again what happened: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

“And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire [flickering ‘tongues’ of flame, equally distributed among them], and it sat upon each of them.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues [languages], as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

Each, in his own turn, began speaking to the startled crowd. They did not all begin to babble at once. There was order here, not confusion. God says, “For God is not the Author of confusion [chaos, anarchy], but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33).

Also, notice that the spiritual gifts of God’s prophets and apostles are subject unto them. “And the spirits of the prophets [spiritual gifts] are subject to the prophets” (1 Cor. 14:32).  Paul instructed the Corinthians, some of whom possessed the gift of speaking with other languages, to control such a gift in an orderly fashion.  Paul laid down rules and regulations to the churches under His care.  He said, “If any man speak in an unknown [the word is italicized, indicating it has been supplied by the translators.  It does not belong in the text, since the languages being spoken were not “unknown”, but understood clearly by those whose native tongue it was] tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

“But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God [he could control the gift with reason and discretion — it did not control him, as in an outburst of passionate emotion!].

“Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

“If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.

“For ye may all prophesy one by one [one speaking at a time] , that all may learn, and all may be comforted” (1 Corinthians 14:27-31).

Clearly, Paul was laying down orderly instructions for the peaceful conduct of worship services.  In order to avoid chaos; in order to avoid letting unconverted visitors think they were all “crazy” (read the entire 14^th chapter), Paul made these rules.

Following the miraculous events at Pentecost, which was the “birthday”of the church Christ said He would build, thousands were baptized and added to the church.  This required organization! When many people decided to remain in Jerusalem, selling properties in order to defray their expenses, the apostles decided to distribute the money in organized, orderly fashion: “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

“Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostle’s feet: and distribution [an orderly process of disbursement according to each special need] was made unto every man according as he had need.

“And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabus, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

“Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:33-37).

Someone had to be made responsible for these large amounts of money. Honesty, integrity and fairness were involved. In order to insure each family received aid “according to his need,” there had to be someone in charge; a responsible person overall, who could decide how others would carry out a fair distribution. Assignment of responsibilities had to be accomplished by the apostles.

As the early church encountered such sudden and inspiring growth (Acts 2:41,47; 5:14), there was need for more organization. Study Acts 6, where we learn how many widows were being neglected in the enthusiastic crush of the crowds. The apostles asked that the others choose seven men “…of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business” (Acts 6:3). These seven were chosen from a group of one hundred and twenty who had been with Jesus since His baptism by John, some of whom had no doubt been John’s disciples previously.

Obviously, there had to be discussion. Suggestions were made. Men’s names were put forth. The eleven apostles received the suggestions and caucused together, discussing the merits, character and ability of each one.

Here was order. Here was mutual respect.  Here was the government  in God’s church in action, so as to prevent unconscionable neglect of widow ladies; to prevent chaos and anarchy. Thus, the “diakonate” (deacons; meaning “servants”) was chosen, whose task it was to take care of the physical amenities necessary in such large-scale meetings (Acts 6:2).

Some years later, a major controversy arose in the church over the issue of circumcision. Some of the converted (?) Jews, many of which had been Pharisees, began insisting that the Gentiles who were being converted should be circumcised.

So vehement and tenacious were those of the circumcision that it became a requirement to go to the headquarters of God’s church to settle the matter.

Here was dissent!  Here was confusion!  The Apostles recognized that racism was involved; that the “Jew-Gentile” controversy had boiled over until people’s prejudices were involved.  They knew such a thing could split the church!

“When therefore Paul and Barnabus had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabus, and certain other of them [those representing the opposite point of view], should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question” (Acts 15:2). Read the entire fifteenth chapter of Acts for this historical insight into how God’s government in His true church functioned in the first century.

There was order. There was an orderly, logical progression of events. The disputers presented their case, and one by one the leading apostles refuted it. James, who was obviously in charge, waited until Peter had finished his dissertation, and then arose to address the crowd.

Read it, in Acts 15:13-21. James said, after recapping Peter’s words, and adding his own quotations from the Old Testament prophets, “Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God…” (Acts 15:19).

This major challenge to church doctrine and practice was handled in a systematic, orderly fashion. It required order, not chaos. It was not accomplished by a number of fiercely independent, unorganized, suspicious, resentful individuals who refused to have anything to do with “organized religion!”

Once the entire subject was reviewed by those in authority in Jerusalem, and once James had “given his sentence,” the apostles then traveled about through the cities and “…delivered them the DECREES for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles [twelve of them!] and the elders which were at Jerusalem” (Acts 16:4).

What was the result of this Jerusalem conference? What were its fruits? Remember, Christ said “ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16). “And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily” (Acts 16:4).

The fruit born by the Jerusalem conference was the settling down of people; the resolution of a major difficulty; the establishment of sound doctrine which was bound by the leading apostles and rendered as a decree. As a result, the church grew every day!

Jesus Christ was fulfilling His promise, “Lo, I am with you always!” He was directly inspiring His apostles in organizing the work He had given them to do of preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world, and feeding the flock that came into the church.

God’s Kingdom Will Be Perfectly ORGANIZED

When John saw in vision the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven to earth; the “holy” Jerusalem which is metaphorically called the “Lamb’s wife” (Rev. 21:9), He wrote that the city “…had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

“On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

“And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:12-14). And whose name was number twelve? Matthias, not Judas! It was very important to Jesus Christ and God the Father that there be exactly twelve apostles in Christ’s organization of His church! Christ promised that those twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones; twelve kingships, ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel during the millennium!

Continue, “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal” (Rev. 21:15,16).

This is a picture of the headquarters of the universe; the very holy city of God Almighty, from which Christ will rule over the whole earth for one thousand years, and on into eternity! God has determined it shall have all these many dimensions of twelve!

Now, notice further: “And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones…” (Rev. 21:19). Then follows a detailed description of twelve precious stones! Then God describes how each gate into the city; twelve gates, is made of one giganticpearl, making twelve pearls in all: “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [there are twelve streets leading into it from each of the twelve gates] was pure gold, as it were transparent glass” (Rev. 21:18-21).

Notice how God describes the “pure river of water of life” which proceeded from beneath His throne (Rev. 22:1,2). The same river is described in Ezekiel 47, which shows how God will divide up the land which is watered by the great river into twelve parts, dividing it equally among the twelve tribes of Israel (Ezek. 47:1-13).

John saw in vision the tree of life in the midst of the city: “In the midst of the street of it, and either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month [twelve times per year]; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:1,2).

Such is the awesome, breathtaking picture of the New Jerusalem, the Holy City, which will be headquarters of Christ’s kingdom on this earth. It is positively laden with the number twelve, which symbolizes God’s perfect government, and organized beginnings.

Christ Is The HEAD, and Chief Corner Stone Of The Church

Christ told Peter and the apostles He would build His church: He said, “…thou art Peter [Greek: “petros,” a pebble, or a stone], and upon this ROCK [Greek: “petra,” a very large rock, such as a monolith, or a mountain of stone] I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:18,19).

These are profound and far‑reaching words, spoken to His disciples nearly two thousand years ago. First, as you read above, it is important to know Matthew’s gospel was written in the Greek language, and that the Greek words used convey a different meaning than one might assume, reading the English.

Jesus Christ was not saying He was building His church on Peter, as if Peter would be the head of the church, or the “chief apostle.” Christ plainly said Peter was a “pebble,” but Jesus Christ was establishing His true church on the ROCK that was Christ.

Notice the many Bible proofs: “Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect…then he [Israel] forsook GOD Which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation…of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful” (Deut. 32:1-18).

Paul showed how Israel’s walk through the parted waters of the Red Sea typified baptism; how God provided them drink and food for forty years. Metaphorically, he showed how that “Rock” that followed them was Jesus Christ: “And did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ“ (1 Corinthians 10:4).

Christ was the “Chief Corner Stone,” the Rock on which He founded His church, not Peter

“…He raised Him from the dead, and set Him [Christ] at His own right hand in the heavenly places,

“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.

“And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church,

“Which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:20-23). Jesus Christ is the Head of His true church, not Peter!

A few verses later, Paul writes to the Gentiles, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone;

“In Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord.

“In Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).

Notice the language of God’s word. God’s church is to be “fitly framed together,” not haphazardly slapped together as if in indifferent, slipshod manner.

If you were blessed to be able to build a new home, would you want those who framed and poured the foundation to follow the plans of the architect? Would you want the framers, roofers, plasterers and cabinet-makers to fitly frame together your home?

How ugly, chaotic, and uninhabitable your home would be if each laborer refused to cooperate with the others; if each one pounded boards in any way that suited him; if the house ended up looking like a nightmare of odd-shaped doors and windows, sagging, unsafe roof, and lumpy, cracked driveway!

Building a house takes planning. It takes hard-working professionals; framers, cement finishers, plasterers, roofers, electricians and plumbers, to work together, to cooperate fully, to fitly frame together a new home!

How much more should the church of God require unified cooperation, so it is built up into “an holy temple unto the Lord.” When Paul reminded the converted saints at Colossae about Christ’s Headship over His church, He told them that Christ was also the Creator of all things, just as John’s first chapter explains: “For by Him were all things created that are in heaven [an orderly intricately organizedplace], and that are in the earth [an organized ecosystem], visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:

“And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

“And He is the Head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:16‑18).

Time and time again, the Bible shows that Jesus Christ is the Head of His church; that He never turned the headship of the church over to Peter, or any other man. He told His disciples, “…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). The main thrust of the entire book of Hebrews is to show that Jesus Christ is a Living High Priest, sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, making daily intercession for His saints; guiding, directing, ruling over His church. For a complete understanding of these and other essential points, write or call (903) 561-7070 immediately for your free copies of “Where Is The True Church?” and, “Did Peter Have The Primacy?”

It stands absolutely proved from the pages of your own Bible that Jesus Christ retained the Headship over His true church. He never gave it into the hands of Peter, or any other human leader.

Jesus Christ organized His church by establishing it with exactly twelve apostles. He intervened when the eleven could not decide between the two they had chosen, indicating His choice was Matthias. Christ then inspired His apostles to place orderly system within His church so that large sums of money could be equally and fairly distributed; so widows would not be neglected; so deacons could be selected and ordained; so His apostles could go out and preach the gospel of the kingdom to the world.

Who IS Jesus Christ? He is the Creator of the universe! Study John’s first chapter once again. Is the universe organized? Is our solar system organized? Look at all the myriad life forms on this earth; our incredible ecosystem–from microscopic bacteria to elephants and great blue whales–what do you see?

You see mind-boggling organization. The closer you look at what man has done, the more imperfection you see. The closer you look at what God has done, the more harmony, symmetry, order, and organization you see.

One of the main analogies used by God’s word to help us understand His church is that of the human body. Study Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, chapter twelve. Here, Paul shows how each part of our body; the eye, ear, nose, hand or foot, is vitally necessary to every other part.

Is your body organized? If it weren’t, you could not walk, or talk, or convey food to your mouth, or swallow a drink of water. Our bodies are an awesome masterpiece of miraculous engineering–made in the very image of God.

If our vital organs shut down, such as kidney failure, or heart failure, we will soon die, without emergency medical help, or a miracle from God.

God says all the bodily parts are tempered together “…that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another” (1 Corinthians 12:4-25). This is an obvious analogy for the church which Christ organized.

Paul wrote, “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.

“Now ye are the body of Christ [metaphor for the church], and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:25,26). Are the members of your body attached to each other? Of course! And so should each member of God’s true church; each converted, baptized person be attached to all the other members!

God’s word makes plain that every converted memberof His true church is a part of the spiritual “Body of Christ.” It is God’s perfect will that all these members be joined together in beautiful harmony; organized together in a smoothly-functioning body, in order to accomplish the work of God’s church on this earth!

When you or I somehow damage our bodies; either through wrong diet or the ingestion of harmful substances; whether through contracting a disease, or being involved in an accident, the whole body suffers. If one of our major, vital organs ceases to function, the body dies!

If you are truly converted, then you are automatically a member of God’s true church. God says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into ONE BODY, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

“For the body is not one member, but many” (1 Corinthians 12:13,14).  It is positively foolish, and totally contrary to God’s will and His written word, for any person to think they will enter into God’s kingdom if they are “independent” of the body of Christ.

And why did Christ build His church? To do the work of God! He commissioned His church to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world as a witness! Write or call immediately for your free copy of our booklet, “WHY The Church?”

Now, how will Christ and His church rule all nations during the millennial reign of Christ?

How Will Christ And The Saints Rule?

God’s church represents those “called-out ones” who are going to inherit eternity with Jesus Christ; who will rule with Him for one thousand years (Revelation 2:26; 3:21; 20:4). How will they rule?

What will this earth be like during the millennium? Will there be hundreds of governments as there are today? Will chaos, violence, hatred, racism, anarchy, and war prevail? Absolutely not! As we have seen, God’s perfect government will be established on this earth, and Christ, together with the twelve apostles, and perhaps millions of others who will have been born of God by a resurrection or instantaneous change from human to spirit (1 Corinthians 15:50-52) will rule with Him over the entire earth.

How did God rule over Israel? He established order; He established a government, with Moses as His representative, and handed down laws Israel was to obey for their own good.

Ancient Israel was a Theocracy under God. He gave them commandments, statutes, and laws to regulate what should have been an orderly, peaceful, productive society.

But Israel rebelled. They murmured against Moses and against God. Time and time again, God carried out the death penalty on those who rebelled against Him. There were dozens of laws handed down; laws concerning physical health for their well-being, and that of their children; laws concerning the land; how to raise their herds and crops without pollutants, so their food would be healthy and nutritious. God gave them laws about honesty and fairness; laws about wills and inheritances; about landmarks and respect for another person’s property; about how to rear their children to be happy, healthy, and obedient.

God’s government was organized under Moses and Aaron. God inspired Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, to inform Moses he should set up a system of judges to hear difficult grievances, because Moses simply could not handle it all alone.

Thus, God showed Moses how he needed help in governing so many people; that there needed to be organization. In every facet of the theocracy of Israel; from the order of march (Num. 10:1-10) to their observance of God’s seasonal Holy Days (Lev. 23), there was order, system, organization!

When Korah assayed to overthrow Moses; to declare himself equal with Moses, and take unto himself power and authority God had not given, he was destroyed with all his family and co-conspirators (Numbers 16).

God severely punished the evil spirit of independence among Israel when it reared its ugly, chaotic, rebellious head. He was the Ruler, and He intended that Israel obey His laws for their own good (Deut. 5:29-33; 28:1-14).

What Will The Kingdom Of God Be Like?

Will chaos reign during the Kingdom of God on earth? Will there be millions of those who have been inducted into the ruling Family of God who will maintain a fierce kind of haughty independence from their own spirit-formed brothers and sisters?

During the kingdom of God, will very members of God’s own family say to each other, “Well, I have no difficulty forgiving you, but I don’t want to have anything further to do with you”?

Will there be tens of thousands, or millions, of completely independent members of God’s own family, who will shun anything to do with an “organization” in the millennium?

Of course not! Such would be utterly impossible, for God’s great plan and purpose here below is to recreate after His own Kind–to enlarge His loving, merciful, creating Family! There is no greater love in the universe than the love shared by Jesus Christ the Son and God the Father. When Christ comes to rule this world with a rod of iron, and to share that rulership with His own beloved brethren and sisters who will then be born of God, there will be fantastic, wondrous harmony; agreement, unanimity of purpose–perfect organization.

The most perfectly-organized, most beautifully integrated, smoothly-functioning government in the history of the universe will be in place on this earth. It is only those who have come broken-heartedly to God in soul-wracking repentance of sin; who have then humbly submitted to god’s rule in their lives; who have asked Jesus Christ to become their Boss, as well as their daily High Priest, and their soon-coming King, who will BE in the kingdom of God!

As we have seen, God’s own throne, in the midst of the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, will be positively festooned with various jewels, foundations and gates which represent perfect government; perfect organization; organized beginnings–the number twelve.

How will Jesus Christ rule? Will His rule be a reign of randomness; of chaos and confusion? You know better! No, it will be a reign of love, of order, harmony, and of peace. Everything will be perfectly organized in the millennium.

Think of one major reason why this is so. Satan the devil is the author of confusion! He is the architect of destruction; of chaos, of ugliness, of a proud, arrogant, independent spirit which hates government!

The devil is responsible for the wreckage we see on the lifeless faces of our moon, and the planets. He tried to wreck God’s creation in the garden of Eden. He inspired Cain to kill his own brother. He utilized a tornado, and terrible boils, to destroy all of Job’s family and possessions, and to torture Job. He was present at Christ’s birth, to influence Herod to brutally murder thousands of innocent male babies in an attempt to kill Christ! He was present to tempt Christ in the wilderness; urging Him to commit suicide! He entered personally into Judas Iscariot to kill Christ, and then abandoned Judas, who, beside himself with horrible guilt and grief, hung himself!

The devil is the original INDEPENDENT!

Satan would not obey God. He did not want to remain under God’s government with Michael and Gabriel, and all the millions of righteous angels. Instead, he plotted and planned; he schemed and influenced his angels until the moment came when he tried to overthrow God from His throne.

Satan, who was “Lucifer,” the “bright shining star of the dawn,” or “lightbringer,” was not satisfied with being in charge of the beautiful world God had given him to rule. No, he wanted to mount up to depose God, and take over the entire universe!

Study Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, which reveal how Lucifer was in the “garden of God” (Eden) long before the Adamic creation. He went about as a “trafficker,” or as a salesman, trafficking in his perverted ideas he was using to influence the angels under him.

The Bible does not reveal how long this process continued. Satan has his own twisted agenda. It galled him that God was Supreme; that He, Lucifer, had only the earth to rule. He desperately wanted to overthrow God.

Satan has influenced the minds of countless thousands of men down through history to attempt the same thing. Coups and counter-coups; revolutions; violent overthrows of government have occurred too many thousands of times to begin to recount.

Even before the Bible was completed, Jude wrote of such men – men who use religious doctrines and politics to gain power: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God [His gracious forgiveness–unearned pardon] into lasciviousness [license, or permission to do evil], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ…and the angels [those who followed Satan] which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation [they attempted to overthrow God from heaven], He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 3-7).

Here, Jude likens evil men to the demons who followed Lucifer in his rebellion. Demons are fallen angels who are forced to remain on this earth until the time of judgment, when Satan and his cohorts will be cast away from the earth (Rev. 20:1-3).

Demons are given over to caprice; to chaos, confusion, and perversion. One has only to look at some of the so-called “art” that has been produced by demon-possessed “artists,” or listen to some of the screeching, moaning, wailing, insane so-called “music” produced by those so influenced to see an illustration of this.

The word “pandemonium” means total chaos and confusion. The prefix “pan” means, all, or everywhere. “Demonium” means just what it says–demonism! So “pandemonium” means demonic chaos and confusion! Without order and organization, whether you consider a backyard barbeque or a church service, pandemonium sets in.

God does not intend that His church resemble a day care center for undisciplined little children, running in all directions, screaming, yelling, engaging in unbridled behavior.

Jude continues describing those who hate God’s government; hate God’s laws; “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities…Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain [who killed his own brother out of jealousy], and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward [their god is money; they are “for sale” so they can gain material wealth in this world], and perished in the gainsaying of Core [Korah; study Numbers 16].

“These are spots in your feasts of charity [love feasts], when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; clouds they are without water, carried about of winds [unstable, capricious, following every rumor, every new “doctrine”]; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

“Raging waves of the sea [inwardly, they are bitter, angry, raging], foaming out their own shame: wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever…these are murmurers [whisperers, back-biters, tale-bearers, gossips, whose sole mission in life is to gripe and complain!], complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage” (Jude 10-16).

What a perfect description of those who, influenced by Satan, seek only their own gain; sycophants, they “butter up” those in positions of leadership so they can “gain advantage.”

Now, notice the culmination of Jude’s striking warning: “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

“How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

“These be they who separate themselves [they become separate; independent!], sensual [emotional, reacting only carnally; of the physical senses and emotions], having not the Spirit.

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 20,21).

Jude urges converted Christians to build up themselves in God’s church and fellowship–not to be like those  who separate themselves!

The Great Commission To Christ’s Church

Jesus Christ did not tell His apostles to each go his own way! He did not found His church on the concept of chaos, rebellion, independence, and pandemonium! As we have seen, He saw to it His true Church would begin with exactly twelve apostles, a perfect governmental number–the number of organized beginnings.

Then, He gave them a vitally important JOB to do.

There was a plainly‑stated purpose for Jesus Christ to tell Peter and the disciples what He did. Following His resurrection, and His many appearances to them, Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples.

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.

“‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

“‘Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [Greek: “age”]. Amen'” (Matthew 28:18-20).

The command to “GO” was explicit! Christ enlarged on this command to a great extent, leaving no doubt whatsoever in His disciple’s minds what He meant. He meant for them to travel to the distant lands of the earth; to go from Jerusalem, teaching and preaching the good news of Christ’s life; His death, burial and resurrection, and the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom He had taught them.

This was a vast and awesome challenge! The whole world lay before them; a world filled with ignorance, superstition, poverty, squalor, disease, crime, and war! Today, conditions are far worse than before! The most desperately needed news this sin-sick world could hear today is the GOOD NEWS about the soon-coming government of God; the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, to put an end to human suffering!

Jesus Christ had taught His disciples for three and one-half years. But they were carnal during that time; they didn’t truly understand. It was not until He appeared to them time and time again following His resurrection that they finally understood what it was they were to do.

Luke wrote, “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures [the only “scriptures” extant at the time were the scriptures of the Old Testament],

“And said unto them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

“‘And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem.’ And ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:45‑47).

The first part of the Great Commission Christ gave His group of called‑out ones was to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world.  But there was a second part to the Great Commission, and that second part, just like the first part, would require organization.

In His final appearance to His disciples, Jesus told Peter three times, “Feed My sheep!” (John 21:15‑17). Peter had denied Christ three times, as Jesus predicted he would. Then, Christ made Peter repeat three times how he would faithfully care for those who would be converted and baptized: “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonas, lovest Me more than these?’ He saith unto Him, ‘Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love thee.’ He saith unto him, ‘Feed My lambs'” (John 21:15).

Christ emphasized to Peter that his responsibility was to care for Christ’s flock by forcing Peter to repeat his love for Jesus Christ three times. Each time, Jesus told Peter to feed His flock!

The Great Commission of Jesus Christ was two‑fold. One part of the commission naturally led to the other, for when the apostles preached Christ’s gospel to the world, it was inevitable God would call some of them; that He would draw them to Jesus Christ by His Spirit.

Mark’s gospel account says, “And He said unto them, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

“‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned [condemned; judged]'” (Mark 16:15,16).

When people hear the gospel of Christ and are convicted by it, they are led to repent, receive baptism, and to be saved. It is not in God’s intention that they should then be abandoned by the very preachers who were used as an instrument in God’s hands to call them in the first place!

Christ’s final words to His disciples are recorded in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:7,8).

Again, Christ made it clear that He expected His disciples to go into all the world, preaching the good news of His resurrection, and the good news of His coming kingdom.

Inevitably, as He clearly told them, their message of joy and hope; their message of witness and warning, would result in some repenting and asking for baptism. If you were such a preacher, and thousands of people asked for baptism, would it require any organized effort on your part to baptize them, and then to care for them as a church?

Of course it would! First, it would require a place for the newly‑converted people to congregate. God’s word commands that His people assemble together to worship Him; to hear His word preached; to fellowship. Someone would have to be responsible for setting up a place for the church to meet; establish a time for services, and arrange that worship services are conducted in an efficient, orderly manner.

Traditionally, music forms part of the service, so songbooks and a songleader, together with a pianist or organist, would also have to be present. Is it important for the people attending church services to hear what is being said? Certainly! Therefore, if the meeting place is large enough, modern means of communication, such as microphones and speakers, would have to be in place.

All of this would require a certain amount of organization. Someone would have to either own, or rent, the meeting place. Someone would have to provide the songbooks, the piano or organ. Someone would have to insure there was ample seating and other amenities, like restrooms; perhaps a sickroom, a mother’s room, or a nursery. It might be necessary to provide a baptistry, or a place to baptize newly repentant believers.

On feast days, when converted brethren come together for the purpose of sharing in a “potluck” meal, it might require that an adequate kitchen of some size be provided.

Imagine a congregation of one hundred or more, which would include several elderly persons and small children, which has none of the aforementioned amenities. Where would they congregate? Where would they sit? How would they hear? How would they sing without song books, a piano or an organ, and someone to play it?

In the first few days and weeks of the early church, the apostles had to learn that the second part of the Great Commission to the church requires some careful planning; some organization.

Order And System In God’s Early Church

Notice what happened on the Day of Pentecost; the birthday of the true Church [assembly of “called‑out ones”].

Following the impassioned sermons of many of the apostles, Peter spoke powerfully of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After the huge crowd had seen the miracles of the flaming crowns of fire atop the apostle’s heads; had heard the miracle of each one of the apostles speaking in perhaps fifteen different languages, they were astonished. Many of them were deeply stricken with guilt and fear. Luke wrote, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’

“Then Peter said unto them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy spirit’…And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this untoward generation.’

“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls…And the Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved” (Acts 2:37‑47).

This was the first part of the Great Commission of Christ in action. Please write or call for your free copy of our booklet “The Miracle of Pentecost” for a thorough understanding of the awesome events of that Day of Pentecost.

For some time, these enthusiastic, euphoric new converts remained in Jerusalem. Acts 4 tell us how they began to be persecuted; threatened not to preach in Jesus’ name any further. Acts 4:34 to Acts 5 tells us how they were sharing their money and substance, so that all could continue to hear the apostles; how Annanias and Sapphira lied to the Holy spirit, and were struck dead; how even the shadow of Peter, passing over the sick, instantly healed them.

Once again, from Acts 5:17 to the end of the chapter, God tells us how the apostles were arrested, beaten, and threatened again not to preach in Jesus’ name.

Now, notice what happened: “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily ministration” (Acts 6:1).

“The daily ministration” means the daily service. So ecstatic were these newly‑converted brethren; so eager were the growing number of disciples to learn from the apostles, they were meeting daily! This meant they were spending several hours each day in large meetings; in fellowship; listening to various of the apostles preaching and teaching. Invariably, there had to be foodstuffs provided. Luke tells us what happened:

“Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, ‘It is not reason that we should leave the word of God [abandon our preaching and teaching], and serve tables'” (Acts 6:2). The tables were for people to use in sitting down to eat their meals; to visit among themselves; to listen to the apostles.

“Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

“But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

“And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

“Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them [this was an ordination to the office of “deacon;” the original “diakonate” of the church].

“And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:1‑7).

Notice carefully the real purpose for the ordination of these seven men. Plainly, it was to care for the widows, and to wait on tables.

Already, a problem had arisen; human feelings were involved. The Grecians began “murmuring,” meaning criticizing and complaining against some of the Jews, because they saw widows being neglected. Hearing of it, the apostles called a meeting of the larger group of about 120 (Acts 1:15). There was no specific scripture to which Peter could point which told them to ordain seven men as deacons.

The word “deacon” merely means “servant.” Peter and the apostles faced a problem. Emotions were involved. People were talking openly about the widows being ignored. Seeing the need, Peter and the others pondered how to deal with it. What did they decide? Surely, they must have known of how Jethro told Moses the burden he bore was too great for him; how Moses had appointed counselors to help. Surely they knew, from the pattern of the temple itself, as well as many local synagogues, that there had to be orderinstead of confusion; that it was not the way of Christ for elderly widows to be left to fend for themselves amidst a large crowd of hungry people.

Jesus Christ had plainly told them He had given them the power to bind or loose; to make certain binding decisions for the good of the church (Matt. 16:19; 18:18).

Therefore, because the fledgling church needed more organization and less confusion, Peter and the other apostles appointed seven deacons to help with the physical amenities at their meeting place‑‑to assist the widows, seeing they had comfortable seating, and sufficient food.

God added remarkable spiritual gifts to at least two of the original “diakonate,” or the deacons. Stephen’s impassioned witness, and his murder by stoning, are set forth in Acts 7. Philip’s preaching at Samaria, and his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch are detailed in Acts 8. However, it is plain that the purpose for the ordination was to care for the widows, and to wait on tables. God can give His spiritual gifts to any person, regardless of any such appointment.

It remained for the apostle Paul, many years later, to list the qualifications for those who would serve the church as elders and deacons (1 Tim. 3).

The Church Is The Body Of Christ

God’s word contains many analogies to help us understand what the church is; what it is supposed to do. The church is called the “bride of Christ” (Rev. 19:7‑9). It is likened unto a “temple” (Eph. 2:21). It is called “God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). It is also likened unto a human physical body, and called, by analogy, the “body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27). Each of these analogies, and others, such as “Ye are God’s husbandry” (I Cor 3:9), are to show how Jesus Christ dwells in His true church; how He cares for it, as would a Shepherd.

There is no more perfectly organized or flawlessly designed entity in the universe than the human body. As God’s created beings, we are awesome living organisms. Any serious study into physiology and anatomy; into the function of your brain, your digestive system, your eyes, your ears, your senses of feeling, taste and smell, is an amazing journey of discovery. Truly, the human body is a miraculous creation.

Is it organized? If it were not, you could not walk. You could not pick up a spoon or a fork, and convey food from your plate to your mouth. You could not think, or talk. When terrible diseases like multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease strike human bodies, they become disorganized. Tragically, the miraculous, smoothly‑functioning coordination of the mind and body are impaired.

God uses His marvelous masterpiece of creation, the human body, as an analogy of the church.

Paul wrote, “For as the body is one, and hath many members [such as our arms and legs], and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body [by analogy, into the church, for the church is the “body of Christ”], whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

“For the body is not one member [independent of all the others] but many.

“If the foot shall say, ‘Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body;’ is it therefore not of the body?

“And if the ear shall say, ‘Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body;’ is it therefore not of the body?

“If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

“But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him.

“And if they were all one member, where were the body?

“But now are they many members, yet one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12‑20).

Each member of your body is an individual member. You have a right hand, a right eye, and a left foot. But each member is connected to the body; supports the body, makes the body a smoothly‑functioning organism.

Paul continued, “And the eye cannot say unto the hand, ‘I have no need of thee:’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’

“Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary” (1 Corinthians 12:21-22).

The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write these words. He was appealing to the Corinthian church to be truly unified, and not divided (1 Corinthians 1:11‑13). The last thing Paul wanted for the church was for various ones to become imbued with party spirit, choose a human leader, and go off in different directions, independently of the body.

Why did Jesus Christ want His true church to remain truly unified, and not divided into pieces?

We have already read it. Jesus commissioned His apostles to preach the gospel to every creature, and to feed the flockthat would be converted and saved as a result! For them to fulfill this two‑part commission, it was necessary for them to be organized!

Paul wrote, “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

“And God [not man] hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues [languages]” (1 Corinthians 12:27‑29).

God is not the Author of confusion, but of order. Creation is an orderly place‑‑the universe and the solar system are an awe‑inspiring example of order, not of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).

When we read words like “first, secondarily, thirdly,” and then read, “after that,” and “then,” we are reading how Paul said God had placed gifts and callings in His church in an orderly manner. That this is not intended to indicate “rank,” but function, is made plain by the same apostle in his letter to the Ephesian church:

“And He [Christ] gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11). Here, Paul describes the same three functions of Christ’s ministry as he did to the Corinthians, adding the descriptive word “pastors” to the word “teachers.” The word “pastor” means “shepherd,” or caretaker.

Now, why did God appoint these different functions within the church? “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

“That we henceforth be no more children [spiritually], tossed to and fro, and carried about with even wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:12‑14).

This is a clarion call for unity among both the leadership and the laity of the church. It is also clearly describing the various functions of Christ’s ministry. Notice that Paul told the Corinthian church that God had placed “helps,” and “governments” within the church.

These are not descriptive terms for independence, chaos, and confusion. They do not provide sanction for individuals who proudly shun fellowship with God’s church, proud in their own self‑righteousness. No, they are Spirit‑inspired descriptions of an organized church, with appropriately designated servants fulfilling different functions for a purpose.

How Would YOU Preach The Gospel To The World?

Suppose you felt called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the general public. How would you go about it?

There are a number of methods that might occur to you. The first, requiring no “organization” of any kind, would simply be to accost individuals on the street, and begin to “witness” to them, attempting to get them to stop and listen.

Among the dozens who would hurry by as if they hadn’t heard; those who might spit at you, or curse, or make an obscene gesture, or those who might complain to a policeman, suppose one person finally stopped to listen. Then what? Is it “mission accomplished” for the day? But suppose they were desperately poor, and asked you for food or clothing? Suppose they said they had hungry children, and had no home‑‑would you take them in? What if six, or ten, or twenty such people responded to your personal “witness” in only one day? Would you begin to realize you might need some help to care for them, if this is your goal? Supposing you find a benefactor‑‑an almost impossible scenario‑‑and you began to accumulate hungry, homeless, destitute people. Then what? What do you do for them the following week, and next month, and next year?

And if you do succeed in caring for a very few people in a huge city of several million, have you then fulfilled the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to preach the good news of the coming kingdom of God to the world? Or have you, instead, made one very small contribution among only a tiny number of people in a vast population of perhaps millions?

Quickly, one might discover that one’s original goal of “preaching the gospel to the world” was abandoned, and that one had, instead, gone into competition with dozens of local, county, state, and federal agencies and the government itself, with its various welfare programs, not to mention many churches and charitable agencies which are established for that very purpose.

Caring for a few people would be fulfilling; a charitable, caring thing to do, but it would not accomplish the goal of preaching the gospel to the world.

Another method one might use, if one were determined to avoid any kind of organized effort, is simply to go from house to house, knock on doors, and attempt to preach to those within. This is done, of course, by a number of large churches. However, they are organized, and their “missionaries,” or “witnesses,” are supplied with literature, and instructed in techniques.

Most of the time, any such attempt would be met with stolid indifference; with annoyance at being interrupted and accosted. Doors would be firmly slammed shut. Some might curse those who uninvitedly called on them. Others might physically attack them. Fairly often, we hear of a youth who became turned around, drove down a neighborhood cul‑de‑sac, and was shot to death by gang members, who viewed any stranger as an invader of their territory.

To increase one’s audience, one might roll up a newspaper or a magazine, and shout at passers-by in their automobiles, or on foot, from a busy city street corner. How many would park illegally, get out of their car, and sit down for an hour’s “Bible study”?

Suppose a would‑be non‑organized, one‑man evangelist decided to utilize some the mass media to get out his message? Instantly, he faces the prospect of financial capability. Ads in newspapers cost money. Printing even small, one‑page flyers for placing in mail boxes or beneath windshield wipers in parking lots cost money.

If such a person had the money, would his message ad contain an address? Would he want a response from the people he is trying to reach? What if he could afford to print a thousand flyers and distribute them, and perhaps six people responded? To what are they responding? Has our one‑man, unorganized evangelist already written a book, or booklet; an article, or a brochure that he is advertizing, hoping a few people will respond, and want to look into his message a little deeper?

Again, if he has gone to such an effort, it will have cost him some money. Suddenly, he has a mailing list. Now, he is collecting names and addresses. He will have to keep track of them somehow. A personal computer, perhaps? A simple 3×5 card file? In either event, some money is involved. And something more. Organization. He would probably want to alphabetize his file; presumably send the respondents some literature.

Once again, money will have to be spent, for computers cost money; paper costs money; printing costs money; postage costs money.

Another method an unorganized, one‑man would‑be evangelist might use is to buy a tent, find a vacant lot where he could obtain a permit to erect it, put up a sign in front of it, and hold a nightly evangelistic campaign. He might also want to knock on doors (making sure to avoid the wrong kinds of neighborhoods), distribute flyers, or take out an ad in the local newspapers. Again, money is involved. The tent costs money. Chairs cost money. Lights cost money. Flyers and ads cost money.

What if a number of people show up, and a would‑be evangelist is so successful that some of them want to be baptized? Does he send them to the nearest Baptist church? Or would it be unthinkable for him to baptize them himself, and then assume the responsibility for their care, as Christ commanded His disciples? If he is now becoming the pastor of a small flock, do they have a name? Does he want to meet with them regularly? If they wish to contribute to his work, and it is obvious he has a number of expenses to defray, should he keep records of how much they give? Does he need to report it to anyone?

What would an unorganized, would‑be evangelist call such an “unorganized” effort? “The Independent, Unorganized, Unilateral, Unaligned, Non-involved, Anarchistic Church?”

Suppose such an independent, unorganized, would‑be evangelist decides to reach hundreds of people, or even thousands. Radio and television stations are not in the habit of clearing time and selling it to private citizens with no corporate identity; no corporate backing; no legal status. They require bona-fide organizational backing for those they allow to purchase air time, in case complaints are made to the FCC, such as demands for “equal time” from detractors.

Furthermore, radio and television time is very expensive. An  independent, unorganized, would‑be evangelist would discover that it would cost him several thousand dollars to purchase only one half‑hour on one television station in a large city. The Evangelistic Association must pay $4,500.00 for one half hour on WGN, Chicago at the very early time of 6:00 AM, Monday mornings, which is 5:00 AM Central – virtually useless to us except for the Eastern Time Zone. Now, via radio and/or television, our evangelist is able to reach thousands of people. Same man, same message! But instead of accosting one person at a time, he can be invited into the intimate environment of thousands of living rooms via radio or television, and speak to vast audiences with the same amount of effort!

Which is the most effective? Which comes closer to fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission to His church, which was “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature?”

Obviously, it is far more effective to reach large massesof people, instead of one person at a time. The bottom line is that such an independent, would-be evangelist would find out very quickly that he was forced to organize, after all!

Once he does this, he is the leader of an organization,whether the word appeals to him or not.

What Is Sinister About A Corporation?

The word “corporation” comes from the Latin “corpus,” which means “body.” A synonym is to “embody.” Put simply, the term means a group of people, organized together into a legally responsible entity to fulfill a purpose. We speak of the “major corporations” when we speak of such giants as General Motors, Ford, Boeing, or IBM. There are tens of thousands of minor ones, including families who have incorporated in order to run in‑the‑home businesses.

From your local quick‑food stop to the filling station; from your local shopping mall to MacDonalds, you are dealing with corporations. There is nothing evil, or sinister about corporations or organizations.

Here is what the dictionary says about the word “Corporate:”

“Of corporare; to make into a body. 1. a: formed into an association and endowed by law with the rights and liabilities of an individual; relating to, or formed into a unified body of individuals; society.” The word “Corporation”is defined as follows: “2: a body formed and authorized by law to act as a single person although constituted by one or more persons and legally endowed with various rights and duties including the capacity of succession” (Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary, p. 292).

Just as your hands and feet, and various “members” of your physical body are organized into a single entity; a human, physical organism, so any number of individualsmay form themselves into a “corporation,” or a united body, in order to accomplish stated goals and objectives.

Thousands of local, independent churches are incorporated. Why? Because they desire to share collective ownership of their church building, their chairs, sound system, kitchen equipment and the like, instead of allow it to be owned and controlled by only one individual.

Obviously, a primary reason such corporations are formed is financial considerations, such as keeping careful records of tithes and offerings, maintaining official control of a corporate bank account, and asking for tax‑exempt status from the IRS.

The Intercontinental Church of God was originally formed as a corporation in Texas, in 1998. The ICG is recognized as a bona‑fide church by the Internal Revenue Service. It is authorized to purchase and construct the physical facilities necessary to carry out its primary goals. It is governed by a Board of Trustees which oversees the corporate responsibilities of the church. Its primary goals are made eminently plain in its Constitution and By‑laws, which explain much of the secondary commission of Christ — that of feeding the flock of God.

The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, which was first incorporated in 1979, exists solely to accomplish the Great Commission Jesus Christ gave to His church; to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world, and to feed the flock.

The two legal corporate entities are mutually supportive of each other; work in perfect harmony and cooperation to accomplish Christ’s two-part Commission.

The Evangelistic Association, as a result of the freely‑given tithes and offerings of its fellow‑laborers with Christ and faithful members of the church, is able to purchase time on a number of television stations. It sends out tens of thousands of books, booklets, brochures and sermon tapes each year, as well as publishing, from time to time, “Twenty-First Century Watch,” and its church newspaper, “The Intercontinental News.”

The two corporations each maintain a web site. Approximately one thousand visitors each day visit the Evangelistic web site at “garnertedarmstrong.org/.”

The headquarters of both corporations are located in our own new building, at 17444 Highway 155 South, Flint, Texas, 75762. The telephone number, advertised over television and in our literature, is (903) 561-7070.

The Intercontinental Church of God maintains over 100 chartered churches and smaller, hosted study groups, providing each with video taped sermons each week. We send out ministers to counsel with and baptize those who are being called of God; who wish to repent, have their sins washed away, and become a child of God by receiving His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

If you want information about the church or study group nearest your home, please call or write immediately. We will supply you with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of our nearest representatives.

Complete, detailed information about the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association is available on our web sites.

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post Should You Avoid All “Organized Religion”? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Look at organized religion in the world today. Hundreds of religious radio programs promote this or that belief; dozens of television programs, some of them professionally tailored, with immaculate backdrops of beautiful buildings and auditoriums, prayer towers, handsome young people singing, guest stars, and personal testimonies reach millions upon millions of people each Sunday morning – the “electronic church” is big business!

Churches dot the landscape; their steeples looming above neighboring buildings; their somnolent, stately, stained-glass dignity exuding a quiet air of permanence.

All of these radio programs, telecasts, and local church denominations have one thing in common – they are in the business of religion.

But beyond some of the fundamental beliefs, such as the belief in Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, one discovers a remarkable divergence of structure, organization, system of doctrine and practice.

Why all this confusion?

Why are the churches so divided? Is this what Jesus Christ really had in mind when He said, “I will build my church”? (Matthew 16:18)

Paul asked, ”Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13) and urged the Corinthian church to speak the same thing – to avoid splits and divisions.

Before answering some of the major questions, we need to see, from the Bible, what the church really is.

What is the Church?

Today, millions believe the church is a “building.” They might ask, “Where is your church?” meaning, where is the building in which you meet? But the original word for “church” has nothing to do with a building. The word “ecclesia,” appearing in Matthew 16:18, means, “called-out ones; chosen ones; separated ones; group,” or a number of specially chosen people. “An assembly” is a good definition. The church consists of people who collectively form the “church” and who may meet in a building. Through the years, that building in which the called-out ones have met has gradually been referred to as the “church building,” and, finally, referred to as a “church.”

But the Church Jesus built owned no building.

Let’s look at the Bible concerning Jesus’ own true Church – letting the Word of God teach us the truth on this vital subject.

When Jesus Christ first began His public ministry, He chose a group of students, or disciples, that He intended teaching. Millions are familiar with His famous statement to Peter, “Come, and I will make you a fisher of men.”

However, few realize there were more than one hundred and twentyof those disciples; that many of the original disciples left Jesus Christ following a particularly strong statement about His being the “bread of life” (John 6:44-69). Why did Jesus choose “students,” or disciples?

First, He called them to be trained; to learn, as students sitting at His feet.

The whole purpose for Jesus calling and training the twelve was to deliver to them a message which they would in turn carry to the whole world!
He said, “…my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).

Jesus insisted His Father had commissioned Him; sent Him to accomplish a work, and to call others to Him as His disciples – training and teaching them to continue the work He began!

“But I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me” (John 5:36). Later, He was to explain how the Father had given Him specific instructions on what He was to preach!

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath One that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (John 12:48-50).

Notice how Jesus taught His disciples: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom… and there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain; and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: and He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying, …” (Matthew 4:23 to Matthew 5:2).

Then follows the beautiful teachings of Matthew 5, 6, and 7. including the “beatitudes.”

Jesus avoided big crowds and went up into a mountain, outdistancing those who would follow. Only His disciples were with Him, at first. Perhaps others gradually arrived, and the crowd may have numbered a few hundred by the time His famous “Sermon on the Mount” was complete, but the Bible says He “taught them,” meaning His own disciples.

During His three and one-half year ministry, Jesus was to continually teach these men. He taught by analogy; by simile and parable, and by plain speech. He taught them through gentle rebuke and admonition; by instruction, and especially by example.

He explained that His message was concealed from the masses, and revealed only to His specially-chose “students,” who were to form His group of called-out ones to finish the great work He was beginning!

On one occasion, His disciples wondered about a parable He had related concerning the sower, who scattered seeds on good ground, stony places, and by the wayside. “And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given… for in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, ‘By hearing ye shall hear, and shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing, ye shall see, and shall not perceive’: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:10-15).

Read that again. This is a shocking opposite to that which most believe! Most assume Jesus tried to convert people whenever He could. Most people assume Jesus was striving to reach every deceived, lost person – that He would never turn away from a single person. They assume He was trying to SAVE THE WORLD THEN!

Yet, He said to the Syro-Phonecian woman that His message was not given to any but the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” and said it was not fit to take the children’s meat and give it to “dogs.” Had it not been for her own outstanding example of faith, He would have turned away, and ignored her request that her child be healed.

But she persevered! She told Him, Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat of the scraps that fall from the children’s table.” He granted her request as an exception to the rule. Had she not demonstrated her faith and humility, He no doubt would have gone His way. No, Jesus did not come to heal every sick person He could find; to “save” everyone He could; to save the world – THEN!

Clearly, He said it as “not given” to the masses to be converted THEN; to be healed, THEN!

See the proof from His own words! “…LEST at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should BE CONVERTED, and I should HEAL them!” (Matthew 13:15).

Jesus DID NOT COME TO SAVE THE WORLD THEN!

Yet, God says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise… but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

It is God’s perfect will that all mankind be saved:

He says, “And so ALL ISRAEL [including the Jews] SHALL BE SAVED!” (Romans 11:26).

This eleventh chapter of Romans explains the time sequence of God’s plan; explains how the “natural branches” (the Jews – Jesus came “unto His own, and His own received Him not”) were “cut off,” and the others (Gentiles) “graffed in,” as a different kind of fruit tree might be grafted onto the trunk of another.

God says, “For God hath concluded [shut them up – allowed they to be blinded, spiritually] them all in UNBELIEF, that He might have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:32).

So God is determined to SAVE THE MAJORITY OF MANKIND! Yet, Christ did NOT TRY to SAVE the world, then! He will set His hand to save the majority of mankind – but that time is not yet!

WHY Did Christ Come the First Time?

There are several profoundly important reasons why Christ came, in the flesh, as the humble carpenter from Nazareth; WHY He called and trained His students; WHY he avoided the masses when He could; WHY He did not go out of His way to heal or convert as many as possible – THEN!

First, Christ came to die for the sins of mankind – YOURS AND MINE! “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to SAVE SINNERS; of whom I am chief!” (1 Timothy 1:15). But Paul goes on to explain the prophetic sequence of events to Timothy; “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern [as an example] to them which should hereafter [from that time to this – and into the future!] believe on Him to life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:16).

Sin is the transgression of the TEN COMMANDMENTS; God’s law (1 John 3:4). The result of sin – the “payoff,” or the “wages” of sin is DEATH (Romans 6:23). Because Christ’s one life was worth more than all other human life put together, for He was the CREATOR of humanity (Hebrews 1st chapter; John 1st chapter), His death atoned for the sins of all!

“So Christ was ONCE offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation!” (Hebrews 9:28).

Christ also came to QUALIFY to be future WORLD RULER! He said, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I OVERCAME, and am set down with my Father in HIS throne!” (Revelation 3:21).

Satan was the original WORLD RULER. As a created, angelic being, he occupied the most exalted spiritual office on earth. (Ezekiel 28:12-17). He attempted to overthrow God from His throne in heaven (Isaiah 14:13, 14), and was, instead, hurled down to this earth as a twisted, perverted, diabolical adversary (Revelation 12:4, 9; with Luke 10:18).

Now, Satan is called the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). and the “prince of the power of the AIR” (Ephesians 2:2), which is a part of this physical earth.

As such, he still reigns as the present evil WORLD RULER! He has been completely DISQUALIFIED, but he has not yet been REMOVED! That will not be accomplished until the time of the second-coming of Christ! (Revelation 20:1, 2).

Christ QUALIFIED to become “KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16), but He has NOT YET SET UP HIS KINGDOM!

Today, God is NOT governing here on this earth! This is SATAN’S world, not God’s!

The purely mythological notion that pictures a great, spiritual “tug of war” between the forces of good and evil; between God and Satan, with God, through all these confused churches, trying to “save the world,” while the Devil is trying to keep the world lost is nonsense! Further, it depicts Satan as more powerful than God – for, after all, who is really WINNING?

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post What is the Work of the Church? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

To millions, churchgoing is an essential part of life-a long-remembered, traditional custom. To millions more, churchgoing is tedious, boring, time-consuming and unnecessary. But many of those who drive by the crowded parking lots of churches on Sunday, en route to the golf course or the lake, experience little twinges of conscience. They have tiny doubts that nag at the corner of their minds, wondering if, just possibly, they might be better off when this life is over if they would just stop, park and go inside.

There are thousands of church buildings and hundreds of denominations. There are hundreds of ads in the Saturday church pages of big city newspapers, including locations of buildings belonging to the larger denominations. There are Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Christian Scientists, Lutherans, Quakers, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and many, many more. Then there are the so-called “sects” and “cults.” And, according to the large, mainstream denominations, even some of those listed above would qualify as a “sect” or “cult.”

Each claims to have the truth.

Every one of the churches, including the many differing, divided, arguing, hostile divisions of the mainstream denominations, believe they have the truth, the right system of belief and worship.

But, with such a dizzying array, the average layman is faced with a choice not unlike that of the housewife shopping the supermarkets for bargains. If the housewife is to believe all the ads, she is left with total perplexity, a completely insoluble dilemma. Consider soap and detergent ads.

All week she sees dozens of ads over television, in magazines and newspapers, and perhaps receives gift certificates and soap ads or samples in the mail.

Each one of these claims to get Mrs. Housewife’s clothes sparkling clean. Some claim hypersuperlative performance which is totally impossible, such as “cleaner than clean”. As the years pass, the housewife is told that the marvelous product she was using last year, advertised as the very most effective, is now obsolete, since the company has brought out a “new improved” version of the same detergent.

Religious claims are much like these soap ads.

Each church claims to have the inside track to eternal rewards, happiness, success, solutions to problems, spiritual understanding and the salvation of the soul. If all truly deliver all they claim, then it really makes no difference whatever which one you join, since all do the same thing: a marvelous job of getting your spiritual life “cleaner than clean.” If such were true, then people would choose a church in much the same way they choose a detergent. They like the packaging: the buildings, the stained glass, the organist and the choir and the accessibility of the parking lot. Or they like the way it is advertised, the preacher or the evangelist, the attractiveness of the literature and the doctrines.

Does It Really Make Any Difference?

All churches have a fair amount of truth; many are quite similar in certain broad categories. So, since there are such similarities, does it really matter which church one chooses?
Yes, it does.

If “choosing” a church were as casual as choosing a soap, there would be nowhere near so much internecine squabbling, bickering, arguing, fighting, dissension and division. Is there any church body in modern times that has survived more than two decades without a major split over doctrine, policy, leadership or how the money was being spent?

Choosing a church affiliation is done with great caution by most people. And, once done, breaking with the church is painful and traumatic. Some may say, “I’ve never been inside a church, but I feel I am as good a Christian as anyone else!” But most professing Christians feel church membership and attendance are obligatory.

What about you? Do you attend a church? If so, which one? Why? Rave you carefully proved to yourself, from the pages of the Bible, whether the church you are attending is the right one or not?

What Is a Church?

Actually, the word “church” is mostly misused today. Millions think of a church as a building, a place where people meet. Many think of it as a human organization, a corporation or denomination. Others know Jesus said it was a body of believers!

“I will build my church!” said Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18). The word Jesus used was a Greek word, ekhlesia, meaning “called-out ones.” It comes from a root word meaning “to call out” or to separate. Also to assemble.

The church Jesus said He would establish was intended to be a group of especially called-out persons, a body of believers in the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and is called “Christ’s body.”

The church, or group of people who believe Jesus Christ and who are submissive to His government, was established by Jesus Christ on the first day of Pentecost, after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, probably in June, A.D. 31. By sending the Holy Spirit to empower His original disciples and give them the charge of apostleship, Jesus built His Church, just as He said.

Paul wrote, “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many” (1 Corinthians 12:13, 14).

He said, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27).

But in our modern society this concept of Jesus Christ, of calling a specially prepared group of converted people to do His work, has largely been lost.

Today most believe a church is a large, man-made organization of buildings and facilities, with thousands or millions of members and with all the trappings of huge corporate structures, businesses or even governments.

The Catholic Church is like a state, a completely separate government on this earth with its own government headquarters. Its leader, the pope, is called a “head of state” by his followers. He consorts with the kings of the world (Revelation 17:2), and major nations send ambassadors to the Vatican. The Catholic Church wields vast power through its millions of members, huge assets, tens of thousands of priests and other officials and its spiritual influence in the lives of whole populations of many countries.

The major Protestant denominations are dissimilar in many ways and similar in others. Some are state religions, in a sense. The British church is “Anglican,” and the head of the church is, technically, the queen of England. In Germany the official religion in the north is Lutheran, and in Bavaria it is Catholic.

The Dutch Reformed Church is prominent in South Africa, and other major Western religions, such as the Methodists, Baptists. Episcopalians and the Church of Christ, wield certain political, cultural, social and legislative powers.

Though the American system of government is supposedly founded on the concept of the separation of church and state, many states still have “blue laws” wherein Sabbatarians are penalized in running their businesses by being required to remain closed on Sundays while their religious beliefs require their closing on Saturdays, thus losing two business days each week (Saturday oftentimes being the busiest of all in many communities) to the Sunday keeper’s one. The political power of denominations which eschew the use of alcoholic beverages and vote in various “dry” states or counties is well known.

So churches today appear to be quite different from what Jesus had in mind! Christ said, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16).

Today people choose a church of “their choice.” When a large evangelistic campaign comes to their city, the evangelist may be cooperating with any number of other churches in an interdenominational sense, and members of many denominations may be urged to attend with their whole congregations.

At the conclusion of an impassioned appeal, the evangelist may invite believers to come forward as a profession of their faith and to “receive Christ.” Thus the believers today are usually led to believe it is up to them to “choose Christ,” and not up to Him to “choose them”!

Present at the altar call, or perhaps occupying booths in the auditorium or tent, would be representatives of several different denominations. Thus the believers are led to assume that, even though they believe they are “receiving Christ” and becoming Christians, it is perfectly right and normal to “choose the church of their choice” following such an experience.

But Jesus did not describe His church as many differing denominations He inspired Paul to write, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

Jesus described that body as a “little flock” and said, “If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you …If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” (John 15:18-20).

He said, “It is through much tribulation that you shall enter the Kingdom of God,” and warned, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yes, the time comes, that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service” (John 16:2).

Do any of these descriptions of the church Jesus said He would build really fit all the various churches of this world today?

Notice further! Jesus said, “In the world you shall

have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33). In His final prayer to His Father just before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed, “I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16).

Jesus said His true church would be a little flock, having but little strength (Revelation 3:8); that it would be continually persecuted, despised by the world and the powers of the world, but that it would be empowered by the very Holy Spirit of God!

If you are going to find that true church, you will have to look in the Bible for the description Jesus gave it-for the kind of church it would be; the doctrines and policies it would follow; the programs and objectives it would try to accomplish; the way it would be governed; and the whole “flavor” and spirit of that “body of Christ” that He established.

Remember! Somewhere, somehow, that church does exist. It is here, on this good green earth, right now! It is doing the same work Jesus commissioned it to accomplish. And it will have the same spirit, the same attitude, the same goals and objectives as the early apostles!

Jesus said,”. .1 will build my church; and the gates of hell [hades, meaning the grave] shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

He said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” And in giving His great commission to His church, He said, “Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, l am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19,20).

At the conclusion of his Gospel, Mark said, “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen” (Mark 16:20).

Jesus continued working with His early New Testament church and directing the 12 apostles! He placed His government within His church. And, when you find that church, you must find that government at work!

Who Is the Leader of the Church?

Jesus said, “I will build my church!” The most oft-repeated descriptions of the name of the true church in the Bible include the words “the Church of God”! Yes, there are other references, but the majority of times the name is “the Church of God.”

Jesus Christ told Peter that he, Peter, was a petros, a little pebble or stone. Then He said, “And upon this rock [Petra: large rock] I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

The Catholic Church believes Christ relinquished leadership over the church and gave that leadership into the hands of Peter, whom they say was the “chief apostle” or the first “pope” of the Roman Catholic Church.

This “chief apostle” theory led to the “Petrine doctrine” of the Catholic Church, or “primacy of Peter,” and resulted, finally, in the declaration of “papal infallibility.” Thus the Catholic doctrine states that as the result of an election a man, a human being like all the rest of us, can become “infallible,” when speaking ex cathedra (from his throne).

But was Peter really the “head” of the church? Was he even the second in command under Christ and over all the other apostles?

When Jesus said “upon this rock I will build my church,” He was referring to Himself!

He was that “Rock” which symbolically followed the Israelites in the journey through Sinai. Paul wrote, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

He is referred to as the “Rock” of our salvation by David in the Psalms.

“He only is my Rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalms 62:2).

“He only is my Rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the Rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God” (Psalms 62:6, 7).

“You are my Rock and my fortress” (Psalms 71:3).

“He is my Rock” (Psalms 92:15).

“But the Eternal is my defence; and my God is the Rock of my refuge” (Psalms 94:22).

“O come, let us sing unto the Eternal: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation” (Psalms 95:1).

Jesus Himself referred to one of David’s analogies of Christ as the Rock. “Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?” (Matthew 21:42).

David had said, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalms 118:22).

This was reference to Christ’s headship over the church. Peter knew this, and Peter never claimed any “one and only apostle” theory, even though Jesus Christ spoke His famous passage of Matthew 16:18 directly to Peter! Peter said, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner!” (1 Peter 2:7).

Christ is referred to as this Rock that was to become the “Chief Corner Stone” of His church in Deuteronomy 32:4, 15,18 and 30.

Paul said, “And he [Jesus Christ, not Peter or any other apostle] is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18).

Paul also wrote, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church” (Ephesians 5:23), and, in speaking of the church, said, “. . . May grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

Jesus Christ only retained the headship-the leadership-over God’s church. He and He alone is called “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession” (Hebrews 3:1).

Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the living Head of His true church. He rules over it in tenderness, compassion, meekness, gentleness, goodness and, when necessary, in loving firmness. But He never rules His flock by lording it over them.

He said, “You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion [lord it over] over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-27).

The kind of government Jesus established in His church was government from the spirit of love, the spirit of gentleness, goodness, meekness and forgiveness! At no time did Jesus intend His ministry to carry out the punishments for sin or exact vengeance, for “vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.”

They were to become “helpers of their joy,” not “policemen over their faith.”

But did Jesus Christ delegate any authority to one apostle over another or over all of them? Was Peter really given the “primacy,” as the Catholic Church claims?

Peter the Apostle

Peter was never aware of any special “primacy” over other apostles. He humbly acknowledged Jesus’ supreme rulership in his life and His position as the living Head of the church! “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,” he wrote, introducing himself in his first letter. Notice, “an apostle,” not “The Only Apostle” or “The Chief Apostle,” but the simple and humble statement “an apostle” (1 Peter 1:1).

Later Peter made it plain how he felt. One can see the spirit of meekness and humility with which Peter accepted the responsibilities of his life’s work. “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God. . . Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd [Christ, not Peter!] shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away” (1 Peter 5:1-4).

Peter knew Jesus Christ was the “chief shepherd” and that he, Peter, was merely another of many apostles. He knew an apostle was “one sent,” and he recognized that those who did the sending included other apostles, prophets and brethren in unanimous and harmonious agreement.

We will soon see just how the apostles were “sent.” The very meaning of the term “apostle” merely means one sent for the purpose of preaching the gospel, and never carried the connotation of “rank” in the sense of “outranking” all other ministers. Rather it had to do with function and with service.

Notice Peter called himself an elder. This was a more experienced person spiritually, usually an “older” person in physical years as well as being more experienced in knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

Peter applied to himself the designation of “elder” (1 Peter 5:1). Notice whether he felt superior in any way toward the other elders: “Likewise, you younger [elders], submit yourselves unto the elder [elders]. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

That meant Peter, too, was willing to be subject to all the others, “preferring one another” before himself. Peter never tried to “lord it over” the other apostles. It never entered his mind that others would come along centuries later and take to themselves great, swelling, egotistical “offices” on the false, pompous claim that Peter was the “chief apostle” over all others.

“Never did Peter, or any of the other apostles, claim to be the only ones to “set doctrine,” or to finalize every decision, or to give orders to the others. Peter was subject to the others from the very beginning!

Notice: “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John” (Acts 8:14).

Several other apostles, not named, were at Jerusalem. They probably included at least two of Christ’s own half brothers, James and Jude. They may have included others of the original 12 who had not yet left the area because of persecutions.

Was Peter in charge? Did he have the “primacy”? No. That Holy Word of God says “they,” several unnamed apostles, sent Peter and John. Peter was taking orders from others in a united, brotherly effort to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Deacons and How They Were Selected

But let’s backtrack a little and investigate the circumstances that brought about the decision of these apostles to send Peter and John to Samaria; back to some of the cities Jesus had visited during His ministry.

Read the first 13 verses of Acts 8.

Saul (who became Paul the apostle) was persecuting the church. And “. . . they [the church, including lay members!] were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1). Notice verse 4! “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.”

What? How did they dare? Your Bible says plainly the apostles stayed behind in Jerusalem, but that “they,” the church, including those of the diakonate, who had been ordained as “deacons,” were scattered abroad and began preaching the Word.

Philip was such a deacon.

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them” (Acts 8:5). But Philip was no apostle, and he was never ordained to any so-called “rank” which connoted the responsibility of preaching. Still, he preached!

Let’s backtrack still further.

Philip was ordained as a “deacon” (diakonos). When a problem arose over the neglect of the widows in the “daily ministration,” the 12 apostles called all the remainder of the original 120 that had been with Jesus and said, “It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look you out from among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2-4).

In this initial flush of growth, there had been no time to establish outlying congregations as yet. These events took place as a part of that continuing burst of growth and excitement that had begun on the Day of Pentecost a short time before. All the apostles, and all the original disciples, were still in Jerusalem. There were no churches in Asia, in Greece or in Italy-only this excited, zealous, growing group of newly converted Christians in Jerusalem.

Notice that the diakonate, or those original men ordained as “deacons,” came from among the “multitude of the disciples,” and notice, too, the method of selection.

“Wherefore, brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report,” said the unnamed spokesman of the 12 equal apostles. How? How were these many disciples of Christ to “look out from among themselves” only seven?

Let’s be honest with God’s Word. You cannot find any indication of some head disciple calling out the names of seven he and he alone had chosen. There simply had to be some system for such “looking out from among them” these seven men.

Perhaps all 120 were asked to submit a name orally or in writing. Perhaps a committee of 12, or some other number, was chosen by mutual agreement to make the selections. Perhaps some men even volunteered for the responsibilities, and the others agreed. But, in whatever fashion it occurred, there had to be some method that was far more “democratic” in form than a dictatorial selection by one man.

After this mutual search for seven candidates, the whole group of 12 equal apostles said they, all of them, would appoint these seven.

“. . . Whom we [all 12 men] may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

“And the saying pleased the whole multitude [of the disciples]: and they chose [by some method of making their preferences known] Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

Whom they [all 120 of them] set before the apostles [all 12 of them]: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them” (Acts 6:1-6).

Though these men were originally ordained to see to it the needs of the widows were not neglected, a persecution soon occurred which caused them to be scattered!

God then added to their spiritual gifts, and, without any further “ordinations” or “advancement in rank” (since the concept of rank is not found among Christ’s ministry), these men, like Stephen and Philip, began to speak. Stephen began performing many wonderful miracles, so a conspiracy of the “Libertines” in the synagogue arose, and those from Cyrene, Alexandria and Cilicia and Asia paid false witnesses to try to have them killed. His inspired sermon can be read in Acts 7, and ends in his death.

Stephen was ordained, probably, as a “deacon.”

Yet he was preaching about Jesus Christ! He began doing the work of an evangelist though there is no record of his being “ordained” to the “rank” of an evangelist.

Here was no narrow hierarchical structure with one man, as a dictator, bearing rule and authority over all the others.

Did Philip find himself crossways with “authority” because he dared to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unbelievers? Was he somehow “unauthorized” to preach? Did he lack “credentials”?

No.

Remember, there were about 120 disciples who companied with Jesus throughout His ministry. Though a large number defected after His statement about His flesh and blood (John 6:44-59), others were later added, bringing the number back to about 120.

Probably Philip was among one of those two groups. However, the language of Acts 6:1 is also instructive. Remember, a part of the great commission Jesus gave (Matthew 28:19, 20) was to “make disciples of” those who believed.

The term “disciple” means one who is a learner, a follower or a student, a believer in the doctrines of the teacher. Those who repented and came to Christ were not differentiated from any others. All were called, equally, “disciples.”

You have seen that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Living Head of the true church, and that He never relinquished that authority to any other person.

You have seen the biblical proof that there was not one apostle who was the “Chief Apostle” who gave orders to all the others. You have seen the fact that the 12 were “subject to one another,” and even the diakonate and local lay members were involved in determining the needs of the church in those days.

Jesus Himself claims the title “God’s Apostle” (Hebrews 3:1), and it is blasphemy against the sacred Word of God for any fallible human being to make such claims. All other apostles were merely “an apostle,” as Peter said, and as Paul wrote. They claimed no lofty titles.

You have seen that Peter felt humbly equal with the other apostles and urged all of them to be “subject one to another.” Yet we know there were some of the apostles who were called “the very chiefest” (note the plural word) among them, as Paul referred to James, Peter and John. This was not “rank” in a vertical sense, as if designated by Jesus Christ, but the natural consequence of differing degrees of gifts, speaking ability, personality, experience, zeal and administrative ability. In any collection of different human beings with different personalities and different backgrounds, there is not true “equality” in the sense that some of them will tend to defer to the natural leadership of another.

But Peter claimed no primacy!

Paul showed they were equals in their calling. He even stood up to Peter in public. Peter is mentioned behind James. Does that make James, then, the “chief apostle” over Peter? Apparently not. But the other apostles deferred to Jesus’ half brother, now converted and an apostle in Jerusalem. James made the final decision at the Jerusalem conference, and Paul said Peter “came from James.”

The apostles were different individuals. They received different gifts and different callings. Peter went to the Jews; Paul to the gentiles. Peter was married; Paul had “no necessity.” Paul wrote much and traveled much, and apparently Peter traveled little and wrote much less.

Neither was “over” the other. Actually, they each complemented the other by their different areas of responsibility!

Next let’s consider Paul’s apostleship-and especially Paul’s relationship with Peter!

“Paul, an Apostle”

Never in his lifetime did Paul refer to himself as “God’s Apostle,” or attempt to take authority over the other apostles.

On the other hand neither did he submit to other apostles, including Peter, when they were clearly in the wrong spiritually.

At the introduction of each of his letters, he generally referred to himself as “Paul, an apostle,” or simply as “Paul” without any title as in 1 Thessalonians 1:1).

Paul went to great lengths to prove equality with Peter and with the other so-called “chiefest” apostles. But Paul didn’t really appreciate the idea of various ministers allowing themselves to be held in esteem by the lay membership above others.

Further, Paul’s reference to the “chiefest” apostles might have been as much mild sarcasm-a gentle lampooning of the whole concept of one apostle being “chief” over another- as it was Paul’s own idea of how the various apostles related to each other!

The most outstanding example of Paul’s complete equality with all the other apostles and the proof that Peter was not in a position of “primacy” over the others is found in the book of Galatians.

Paul begins the second chapter by saying, “Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.”

Notice that Paul went up “by revelation”! He was not “summoned” by Peter or some “higher authority” but somehow, either in a dream or vision, or perhaps because one of the prophets had told him something-Paul had it revealed that he should go to Jerusalem.

Barnabas was also an apostle, and, because of Paul’s prominent mention of Sylvanus so often, even in salutatory portions of his letters to major churches, many scholars have believed Sylvanus was also an apostle. Therefore there were as many as 15 or 17 or more who were called “an apostle.” For example, see also Philippians 2:25, “Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. . . your messenger [same word in the Greek as apostle],and he that ministered to my wants.”

Remember, there were the 12 original disciples. Judas Iscariot was replaced by Matthias. Yet, later, we see at least two of Jesus’ half brothers, James and Jude, with an apostleship. That makes 14. Paul and Barnabas make 16. Sylvanus makes 17.

Some were martyred, and so the number may have remained closer to 12, but there was no restriction on the number of apostles in the church ever revealed.

Paul and his fellows came among the leaders in Jerusalem and found controversy and politics. Notice: “But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was cornpelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage” (Galatians 2:3, 4).

Paul saw immediately there was a movement within the church in Jerusalem to enforce circumcision again. He knew this would be a terrible stumbling block to the gentiles who were beginning to come into the knowledge of God’s truth, and among whom he and the others with him had been teaching.

Though discussions took place, and Paul was placed under pressure from some of these men to have Titus circumcised (or he wouldn’t have mentioned it), he said, “To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you” (Galatians 2:5).

No, Paul did not submit to this pressure. And he did not docily place himself in “subjection” to these others in Jerusalem.

Notice how the evil politics were becoming obvious, and Paul’s reaction to such. “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it makes no matter to me: God accepts no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference [meaning they had ‘conferred’ or were in an association together, were in agreement in their opinions] added nothing to me: But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)” (Galatians 2:6-8).

Notice again that Paul said these people who pretended to have some important office-false brethren in league together to enforce circumcision-added nothing to him; he didn’t care one way or the other for their politicking, and it made no difference to him.

“And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision” (Galatians 2:9).

Were James, Peter and John among those who “seemed to be somewhat”? Perhaps. At least, so far as Paul was concerned, it was for them to discern what God had given him, Paul-not for Paul to recognize their “authority” over him. Notice the order in which he lists the names!

“James, Cephas, and John,” wrote Paul.

God places names in order for a purpose, usually. Even in the order of the books of the Bible, God saw to it that Peter’s book was many books after those written by Paul, and then used the same order revealed here, “James, Peter and John,” in arranging the “general epistles” following those of Paul. Paul said James, Peter and John “seemed to be pillars” when writing to the Galatian churches. He had earlier used the phrase “seemed to be somewhat” concerning “false brethren.” His purpose in explaining the politics of the situation he encountered in Jerusalem is plain. He didn’t want the Galatian people to be enamored of “rank,” or be bedazzled with the other apostles from Jerusalem, having their heads turned with doctrines that were not true.

Peter was wrong!

He had allowed his own natural prejudices against gentiles to creep into his mind and had allowed others to help influence him. Therefore Paul is subtly using the phrase “seemed to be pillars” and yet establishing his own absolute equality with those three.

Notice how Paul stood up to Peter!

“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision” (Galatians 2:11, 12).

We learn much in this brief statement. First, we learn that another apostle, Paul, who came along many years after the original 12 [it had been 14 years since Paul had seen Christ personally], could stand up in public before the church and openly disagree with Peter.

We know by this that Peter had no “primacy” among the other apostles, that he was not the “chief apostle,” and that Jesus Christ did not relinquish the headship of His church to any one man.

Notice that James sent Peter. “For before that certain [Peter] came from James” (verse 12). There was no other reason implicit in Paul’s including this statement than Paul’s own desire to show Peter was one under the apostle who was presently in Jerusalem, James. It was James who was the half brother of Jesus, who wrote the book of James and who gave the final decision, or summarization, at the Jerusalem conference (Acts 15:19).

You will also notice that there is no mention of any response from Peter.

Peter may not have entirely agreed with Paul on the subject at that point in time, but he did not answer back. Paul was in the right, and he stood up to his equal, Peter, and told him so.

This is the very essence of “let each of you be subject one to another,” as Peter was to write later.

Peter didn’t “mark” Paul, or embark on a hate campaign to “get” him and have him removed from his calling, blackballed before the church and excommunicated. Later he was to write about his “beloved brother Paul” and speak of his writings as on a par with Scripture.

Bible proof abounds showing Paul, though coming along much later, was an absolute equal with Peter and the other apostles. Yet Paul felt humble about his great calling and did not vaunt himself:

“And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:8, 9). Yet, Paul explained, it was by God’s grace, and by no merit of his own, that he became an apostle. He then said,”. . . But I laboured more abundantly than they all” (verse 10), meaning he worked harder than the other apostles.

Paul had serious problems with the gentile converts in Corinth. Not the least of these was their innate suspicion of Paul himself and of his desire that they should support the work of the ministry financially.

Paul was faced with the problem of combating the influence of other teachers who were turning the heads of the Corinthian church.
Consequently he was forced to defend his own calling and position as a genuine apostle of Jesus Christ. Read all of 2 Corinthians 11. It is the core of this difficulty. Note especially verses 4 and 5! “For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.”

Then there were several apostles whom the membership thought of as “the chiefest.” This is plural term; No one ever used the description “chief apostle” or “only apostle” or any other swelling, egotistical terms for claims to high office.

Paul says he was not a whit behind these “chiefest” apostles. probably meaning the same ones he had identified in order to the Galatian churches: James, Peter and John.

Paul. then, claims complete equality with these several apostles. who were viewed as the “chiefest” among all the other apostles. The commentators acknowledge Paul was speaking ironically of those who decried him, that their words “chiefest apostles” were not acknowledgment from Paul that they were “chiefest;” but an ironic “put-down” of those who would so pose.

The Catholic Church claims Peter had the “primacy” and that he was the first pope-in Rome. Yet when Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, writes to the church in Rome, he never even mentions Peter’s name. This not only proves the church at Rome was not “under” Peter it indicates they didn’t even know him!

Notice Romans 16. It contains many personal salutations at the close of this important letter! “I commend unto you Phebe our sister,” Paul begins, mentioning a woman first. Then comes mention of many persons prominent among the brethren. Priscilla and Aquila, Epaenetus, Mary, Andronicus, Junia, Amplias, Urbane, Stachys, Apelles. Aristobulus, Herodion, Narcissus, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, Philologus, Julia, Nereus, Olympas, and then many others, like Timothy, Lucius, Jason and more!

Here are all these Greek and Roman names, and not a breath or whisper of Peter. What? If Peter were the “chief’ apostle, if he were the “first pope” in Rome, then he would have been the leader of the church there.

Yet, in Paul’s lengthy letter to the church in Rome, he never even mentions Peter’s name and does not include him in the salutations at the end of the letter. Peter was not the “chief apostle,” and he was not in Rome!

Remember, Peter never claimed any “primacy” for himself, but made it plain he was equal with the other elders and apostles. Paul claimed complete equality with all others and said he was not a “whit behind” them!

Paul withstood Peter publicly, and Peter never even answered back because he was in the wrong.

Those who make great, swelling claims of “Peter’s primacy” today are twisting the sacred Word of God, which will judge them, in order to make great claims for themselves.

There was no “rank” among the apostles. But notice that Paul, albeit using sarcasm perhaps, talked of the “chiefest” apostles. No doubt Peter was quicker to speak and to act than some others. Paul was apparently more conservative, more in control of himself. Each of these men was a different personality. They affected the people differently.

The people would naturally tend to favor one man over another; perhaps prefer to hear one man speak, or teach, than another; go to one man for solutions to a problem above another. That is a natural result of people “relating to” different people, striking a chord of mutual understanding.

It is normal and to be expected. The problem is not so much the tendency of the people to look up to this or that human leader above another, but the tendency of the various “officials” in the church to “lord it over” the people or each other.

Christ said he that is greatest is the servant of all.

We have seen that the church Jesus built was built on Jesus Christ himself as the “chief corner stone,” the foundational Rock upon which the church was built.

But that foundation consisted of many other equal apostles, all below Christ, who worked with them and directed them, each “subject to the others in spirit-led humility.”

The foundation of the church included both Old and New Testament prophets, as well as all the apostles.

Notice: “. . And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).

Imagine each of the apostles and the prophets (such as Agabus and others who are not named-Acts 11:27, 13:1) as analogous to a one foot cube of solid granite. They are all exactly the same size, showing equality in forming a part of the foundation of God’s church. You lay them out along the ground as the platform upon which the building is to be built. But you very carefully avoid placing any one of these equal, one foot cubed stones atop another. In the spiritual organism that is the church, there was to be no “chief apostle” lording it over all others, shouting commands, demanding instant, absolute, quavering, servile obedience under the threat of “heading straight toward the lake of fire” if there was the slightest hesitancy.

In the true Church of God, that spiritual organism that is analogous to the “Body of Christ,” there is no such office.

Now, with all of your equal one foot cubed stones lying conformably side by side, you place the beautiful corner stone at the “head of the corner,” a large, flawless, white block of marble or other expensive stone. That is the analogy used by the Word of God, not a vertical structure, like a tower.

Is There No “Government”?

Does this equality of the original apostles, and Paul and Barnabas, who came along later, mean there was no government in the church, no system or method for keeping order, deciding doctrinal questions, administering the affairs of the local churches or doing the work?

Definitely there was government.

Notice! “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” (1 Corinthians 12:28).

God is responsible for setting various functions within His church. It is not the lay membership or the men themselves who created the functions and set them in His church.

He had set, first, the 12 equal apostles! Together with the Old and New Testament prophets, they formed the foundation of the “church, with Christ as the chief corner stone.”

Secondly, the prophets were acknowledged as serving God’s people by either the inspired foretelling of events (as in the case of Agabus), or by inspired preaching. The orderly exercise of their gifts for inspired preaching is defined in 1 Corinthians 14:

“Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. For you [prophets] may all prophesy [preach, or foretell events] one by one [one after another, in orderly fashion],that all may learn. . . For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:29-33).

The “teachers” defined in 1 Corinthians 12:28 are further explained by Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “And he [Christ] gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ . . .” (Ephesians 4:11, 12).

“Pastors and teachers” are the same. An ordained minister of Jesus Christ who is shepherding a flock is a pastor. “Pastor” is not a rank between “evangelist” and “elder,” but is a function, an assignment or responsibility to “feed the flock.” When Peter wrote to the other elders, he exhorted them to “feed the flock of God which is among you,” and even referred to himself as an elder (1 Peter 5:1), as did the apostle John (2 John 1, 3 John 1).

Since an older, more mature man who is ordained is called an “elder” (1 Timothy 5:17), we see that the term “elder” was never intended to connote “rank,” such as an ordained person inferior to pastors and evangelists but above deacons. Since apostles are also elders, and pastors of churches are elders, and there were those who were not required to preach, but were to be “apt to teach,” we see the term “elder” is a descriptive word used of older, more mature ministers universally. It can apply to apostles, or it can apply to older, ordained men.

Originally the “elders” were those of the Sanhedrin. When the church swelled by thousands in only days following Pentecost, some of these older leaders among the Jews were converted and baptized.

The very first time the word is used in the Christian church is found in Acts 11:30: “Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.”

The Greek word used is presbuteros, from which “presbytery” comes.

Luke uses this word to include the apostles, even as Peter and John both referred to themselves as “elders.”

The elders who met with the apostles (Acts 15:6) were older, mature men who were no doubt elders even prior to their conversion, and the term naturally found its way into the new Christian church, which recognized their age, maturity and wisdom.

They were given the honor of sitting with the apostles in considering the question of circumcision. When the decision was finally made, the elders were included. “Then pleased it the apostles and elders, and the whole church” (Acts 15:22).

When the decrees were sent out, they wrote, “The apostles and elders and brethren send greetings… ” (Acts 15:23).

It is obvious that elder was not a rank in the ministry, since it included apostles and other ministers with other functions.

Whether people were ordained “to the office of elder,” or whether men who were already elders were ordained, should be studied. Paul wrote to Titus, “For this cause I left you, in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.”

Paul was not instructing Titus to ordain men of whatever age or maturity to the “office” of an “elder”! He is instructing him to ordain elders -men of maturity, experience and wisdom-to the ministry. These men were already elders, in the sense that, in any given local congregation, there would have been older, more mature, wiser and more experienced men, men of stature in their community and with the respect of the others in the congregation who were “elders.” These men were to be ordained to the ministry.

Then, depending on function, not depending on “rank,” they became either “bishops” (or “overseers”) of several churches, “pastors” (or teachers) of an individual flock, or, failing any specific pastoral responsibilities, simply ordained men who were referred to as “elders.”

That elders and “bishops” of the flock are one and the same is made very clear in God’s Word. Notice this. “And from Miletus he [Paul] sent to Ephesus, and called the elders [presbuteros] of the church” (Acts 20:17).

Read the warnings Paul issued to these ordained leaders of the big church in Ephesus in the succeeding verses. Finally, Paul says, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [episkopos, elsewhere translated “bishops”] to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

These “elders” (presbuteros) were all ordained ministers and were considered the spiritual elders of the Ephesian church. But their function, or their office, in the church was that of episkopos, a bishop or “overseer” of the church.

This was no pyramid structure of “pecking order” or “rank” in the ministry, but a group of spirit-filled, spirit led equals, dedicated to the common cause of preaching the great, exciting, fabulous truth that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was alive, that through Him we can have our filthy sins washed away, that He can save our lives from destruction.

An older, more experienced man may not be able to preach or to be sent out before the general public. He has not been given that gift. But he is to be respected as an “elder,” and honored by the other ministers, not looked down upon because of inferior speaking ability. The early church had to feel their way along, with the help of Christ directly, appointing men to fulfill various responsibilities as those needs became evident.

At first, there was no need for the diakonate. But, by reading Acts 6, we see the development of, the need and then the provision of officials to satisfy that need.

Read the whole chapter. The widows were being neglected, and, as was covered extensively earlier, the entire group of new “disciples” chose out from among themselves seven men with the required qualifications. Those seven were ordained by the 12.

Why seven? Because it took seven men to care for the number of widows. A larger number of widows might have required them to ordain 20 or 30 or 50.

When these men were ordained, they were “appointed over” what was called “this business,” or this function, of seeing to the physical needs of widows. But the ordination of such men as Philip and Stephen was not to a specific “rank,” and it was not a “limited” ordination, in the sense of locking these men into some purely “physical” office.

These men were not ordained merely to become parking lot attendants for those wealthy enough to drive chariots, to set up chairs, wait on tables and assist elderly ladies up and down stairs.

Notice that both Philip and Stephen began to preach. God added the spiritual gifts to the qualifications already present in these men who were ordained to the diakonate. The diakonos is not limited to one ordained to assist in physical ministrations only, but is used in a broad sense to include the ministry.

The word is even used of Jesus Christ (see Romans 15:8, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister (diakonos] of the circumcision for the truth of God”).

Diakonos means minister or servant. It had no limitations concerning function. One appointed to minister to another might serve in many different ways. That method of service, or area of responsibility, could be defined by other descriptions (helps, governments, teachers, etc.), but one who was among the diakonate was really a minister.

The word diakonos appears eight times in the Gospels and is translated “servant” six times and “minister” twice (see Matthew 20:26 and Mark 10:43). It appears 22 times in Paul’s writings and is translated “minister” nearly every time, except in Romans 16:1 (“servant”), and in Philippians 1:1,1 Timothy 3:8 and 3:12 (“deacon”).

The word diakonos certainly connotes an ordained function in the church, either that of a minister, or servant in some other fashion, but it was never limited to physical function alone.

Timothy is referred to as a diokonos. and the word in one form is used as the “service rendered” by a diakonos and is even translated “ministration” or “relief,” in one instance.

When the original seven were “appointed over this business” they were ordained to the service of the church. There is no set office or official title that is used in the account in Acts 6.

We must wait for the government of God in His true church to develop various “offices” within the diakonate (servants, or those who “ministered” in various ways to others) as the needs arise.

By the time of Paul’s pastoral epistles, it becomes evident that Paul prefers using the term diokonos to refer to an office or function that was that of episkopos or “bishop.”

Read 1 Timothy 3. First, Paul described the qualifications for those functioning as “bishops,” or overseers,” of the flock. Next, he discussed those who must “first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon [diakonos], being found blameless” (1 Timothy 3:10).

The bishops, or overseers, could have been pastors in function, or, if not designated as the pastor of a local congregation, merely an “elder,” an ordained minister (episkopos) who carried the wisdom and understanding of maturity and spiritual growth.

There was definitely church government functioning in the early church, as there has been church government from that time to this. But the needs of the church have varied, and the functions have necessarily had to vary.

Several important points should be noted here.

1. An apostle was never an office of absolute, dictatorial authority over all other apostles, but was “one sent” to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God to a large area. As such, it was a calling and a commission to do God’s work, not a lofty rank. Peter, an apostle, was also an “elder.” So was John.
2. Prophets were either inspired foretellers of events (such as Agabus) or powerful preachers who could preach and teach within the church (1 Corinthians 14).
3. Evangelists were ministers who preached to the unbelievers, while prophets apparently preached mostly to the believers. An “evangelist” was a minister who had been given the special gifts of inspired preaching of the gospel, and who was under an apostle. Timothy was such an evangelist, and it is obvious that he was subject to Paul, who was a kind, loving, easy-to-be-entreated, fatherlike figure to Timothy, a kind of “mentor” who gently instructed, admonished and encouraged the younger man in his duties.
4. Pastors were shepherds of the flock. They could have come from the episkopos or the diakonate. Paul began using the term episkopos to connote a “bishop” who could be over one, or several, churches. Deacons worked under the pastors and served in various ways-not limited to “physical” duties only.
5. Teachers were those who were “apt to teach.” Paul
had linked the description of “pastors and teachers” together, as if the function was performed by the same man.
6. Elders usually meant an older person physically as well as more mature spiritually, and, though used in reference to all the ministry, including apostles, was later used by Paul to connote those among the congregation who were already elders and who should now be ordained in recognition of such.
7. Deacons were servants of the church who could help in many ways not limited whatsoever by “rank,” but only by the gifts of God’s Spirit. Philip, though one of the diakonate, became an evangelist, not through a subsequent ordination to “higher rank,” but by the added power of God’s Holy Spirit and God’s special gifts.
8. Deaconesses were the wives of the diakonate (as Priscilla) and served in the church among the women.

There was a vast difference in the organization of God’s true church as it began and the various forms and organizations of branches of the 20th century church.

Doctrinal questions were solved in open forums, including the presence of the “elders” and even local lay members as well as apostles (read Acts 15).

One apostle could openly disagree with another apostle without fear of retaliation or being “put out.” Paul rebuked Peter. Paul and Barnabas disagreed over a personnel choice and split up in anger, yet the work got done and neither tried to “put out” the other (Acts 15.39, 40).

The evangelists, such as Timothy, Titus, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, and others, usually labored under the instructions and authority of the apostles. The classic example of this is found in Paul’s encouraging and instructional correspondence with young Timothy.

Pastors of churches were ordained from among the elders of the congregations, and were called “bishops” or “overseers” (episkopos) as well as “elders” (prebuteros) (Acts 20:17).

Yes, there was government, but the governmental aspects of the ministry emphasized service more than command; gentle encouragement more than rebuke; being “helpers of their joy” more than policemen over their faith; visiting, counseling, anointing, encouraging more than criticizing or condemning; seeking those who were straying rather than threatening the weak with excommunication; building up faith, not instilling fear.

Never did the ministry of Jesus Christ assume its responsibility was to administer the penalties for sin.

The ministry of the church was seen as a lifetime calling, a profession which God placed upon a person. It was God who “set some in the church,” not any man.

There were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, elders and deacons-but not always necessary in that order.

An ordained minister who served as a pastor, for example, was a pastor as long as he continued to function in that capacity. If he became too old for the duties, or moved away, he was still in the presbutero or the diakonate, he was still an ordained minister, but would now be referred to as an “elder,” rather than “pastor.” The various “titles” were not decorative, to connote rank, but descriptions of functions.

During this exciting period of beginnings in God’s work, when the first apostles were zealously preaching the fabulous miracle of Christ’s resurrection, some of the people were amazed at the power with which they spoke, the miracles and fabulous signs and wonders being accomplished.

Some were excited beyond words about the way the people reacted.

Many of the people began to look up to the apostles They quickly began to espouse various points of view, choose favorite men to follow, talk endlessly about which personality, which appearance, which mannerism appealed to them the most.

Many wanted to have an active role in this new organization rapidly springing up, some through a sincere desire to serve and some through the lust for capturing those adoring looks of the people-promoting themselves, catapulting themselves into a “position” of power and authority so the masses of people would follow them!

Paul saw this developing in many areas, especially Corinth and Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. He wrote, “For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you says, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas [Peter]; and I of Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:11, 12).

Those who purported to reject human leadership, and claimed to be “of Christ,” are lumped together with those who claimed to be followers of men. Why? Because even such a statement as “I am of Christ” was being used in a divisive sense. It was being used in argument, as a “posture,” not in humble, gentle sincerity.

Paul then asked, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:13).
The letters to the churches in Revelation reveal many different teachers, including one woman, Jezebel, that were drawing away disciples after themselves and after their spurious doctrinal ideas.

The New Testament abounds in warnings about false Christs, false apostles, false teachers, false doctrines. Paul warned Timothy about the people who “have itching ears,” and warned the Ephesian elders about men arising “also of your own selves” (Acts 20:28-30) to lead away people after them.

Why?

Vanity. Ego. Greed. Desire for recognition, for vindication-a completely carnal, self-centered, pompous desire within different ones to have the limelight, to be the “leader,” to be “in authority.”

But nowhere else in New Testament literature is so blatant, crass, downright mercenary example of a lust for this power and authority made plain as in the case of Simon the Magician (Acts 8).

Simon the Magician
Prior to Philip’s arrival at Samaria, Simon was enjoying a vast and glowing reputation. He was continually talking about himself, bragging about his powers of divination and perception and his ability to use sorcery.

People continually talked of Simon. They called him by the title “This man is the ‘power of God’ that is called ‘great’ “!It is not often when a human being is so revered in his own lifetime that duped people use the very titles that belong to God and apply them to a man in pompous blasphemy.

Notice. “But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries” (Acts 8:9-11).

Simon was basking in the adoration of the mob. He loved the admiring looks, the greetings in the public places, the cloying, sidelong glances of the women, the importance, the pomp, the glamour. He was making a comfortable living, was a household name in the city.

And then one day his little world was shattered!

Here came Philip, newly ordained to the diakonate, apparently, and “preached Christ unto them.”

But Philip did more than speak powerfully. He backed up the word with great miracles. “For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city” (Acts 8:7,8).

Suddenly Simon’s luster had dimmed. He was thunderstruck. He had been the one receiving acclaim in the local area. He was the most respected, famous, admired worker of signs and wonders.

Simon looked on and shook his head in wonderment.

He couldn’t gainsay the miracles. He knew, deep down inside, that Philip had a genuine gift of God. He knew, in the depths of his heart, that he could not duplicate them, even as Jannes and Jambres had to tell Pharaoh at the miracles of Moses and Aaron, “This is the finger of God!” Simon watched the people flocking to hear Philip, saw the people clamoring to be baptized. Here was something new. Here was something exciting, an opportunity to be involved in something that was growing like wildfire.

So Simon himself “believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done” (Acts 8:13).

For days, perhaps weeks, the powerful preaching continued. Flocks of people came. People had time to get loved ones and relatives and bring their friends to be healed. Many were being baptized.

At length the apostles arrived from headquarters in Jerusalem-the apostles there decided to send Peter and John to Samaria when they heard of Philip’s great success (verse 14).

Philip’s knowledge was limited. He had not known he should lay hands on the people after baptism, knowing only that he should baptize the people when they repented and confessed Jesus Christ as their Savior.

But now the two apostles from Jerusalem began laying hands on the people and praying. The people were rejoicing, some praying, and others being given the gifts of healing and of working miracles.

When Simon saw that the apostles’ prayer and the ceremony of the laying on of hands resulted in this newfound confidence and power, he said, “Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit” (verse 19).

But Simon was not converted. Oh, he believed Philip. That is, he was convinced Philip was not faking the miracles. He believed Philip’s message, but his heart was not right. He didn’t want to humbly repent of his own filthy past and ask for forgiveness so the power of God’s Spirit could cleanse him in the sight of God. No, he wanted a “partnership” with the apostles. He wanted “a piece of the action.”

To Simon’s carnal, power-hungry mind, these glowing faces, these excited people, these sincere believers rejoicing in love represented the audience of Simon’s own private stage. They were his idol, his lust, his desire. To have their adoration, their admiring looks, their respect, and even fear-that was the thing!

He coveted the “position” of being the “leader” among them!

When Philip showed up, Simon’s own livelihood was virtually wiped away; his black magic and demonic trickery were “kid stuff” compared with the wondrous miracle of instant healing. He was suddenly in the shadows, and there was Philip, and now Peter and John, out there before the people, getting all the kudos, the applause and the respect.

Thinking they were men like himself-plotters, politicians, power-hungry promoters whose goal was “office” and the admiration of people-Simon tried to go about it in the only way he knew. He offered them a bribe.

“And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit” (verses 18, 19).

But Peter had the power of discernment. With the Holy Spirit now in his mind, Peter could see through the rotten greed, the petty vanities, carnal lust and swelling ego.

Peter said, “Your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter. for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity!”

Peter saw Simon was “posturing.” He had been “continuing with Philip” for those many days. He had been up there in front, trying to be noticed. His “body English” and his manner were very plain: He wanted a “piece of the action.”

He was, in effect, trying to buy an apostleship. Otherwise Peter would not have said he had neither part nor lot with them. “Part” would have meant he had not been chosen by Christ, and “lot” meant he was not one of those selected afterward, and then chosen by lot, as was Matthias. Peter was referring to the methods used in selecting the apostles- and showing Simon his pretentious claims to “high office” were nothing but ego and vanity.

When Simon heard Peter’s rebuke, he could only rage inside.

But he had to pretend to be “Christian” to the others, so he said, “Pray you to the Lord for me, that none of these things which you have spoken come upon me.”

Translated? That meant, really, “Oh, poor me. Look, people, at the way this terrible man, Peter, is misunderstanding me, mistreating me. He is in the wrong. Here I am, only trying to help, offering to serve and to help God’s people, and Peter is threatening me. I’ll ask him to pray to God that none of his jealousy and his hatred toward me -asking God to punish me-could ever happen, so all the people will get the message. They’ll see Peter as a person threatening violence and harm to me, and see me as the humble, gentle, forgiving Christian in this exchange.”

Simon was not a bit repentant. His heart was wrong. But he knew how to “posture” and to pretend to be Christian. He assumed the posture of the hurt, bewildered, misunderstood martyr, hoping it impressed Peter and the people.

Yes, there are those who see a church congregation as an actor sees an audience, as an insurance salesman sees 100 live contacts, as a politician sees votes, as a burglar sees an unlocked window. It is their opportunity, their chance for glory, for the “leadership” and for the power and authority.

The entire history of God’s church, even in the early New Testament, was one of power struggles, false brethren, false ministers, false apostles and false doctrines. And sometimes the false ones remained on the inside and the genuine ones were “put out.”

John wrote about such a person: “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, receives us not.”

What did this man love? He loved the “position” among this local congregation. John said, “Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and forbids them that would, and casts them out of the church.”

This man was totally corrupt, devoid of the genuine meekness and humility of Christ. He only wanted the power and authority, the respect and admiration of other human beings. So he threw out of the church those who “would,” who really wanted to be humble Christians, and kept inside the church those who would continue to bow to his dictatorial leadership.

The church continued its drift into apostasy in that first century. And church literature at the time is the record of that apostasy. Apostates aren’t accidents. They were plotters who are devoid of the true spirit of meekness, goodness, gentleness and faith; devoid of the love of the Holy Spirit; possessed instead with avarice, greed, cunning and ego.

Jude wrote of these same men, saying, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities . . . These speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruits withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 8-13).

Greed, desire for position and “title,” lust for authority and pomp: These are the drives and motives of such men. Jude said, “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of[in order to gain] advantage!” (verse 16).

Favoritism, party spirit, politics: These were the nature of Simon the Magician. Since he would have taken a bribe-because power and sway over people were his motive and he had no special conscience as to the manner in which he achieved it-he tried to bribe Peter and the others.

Since he was totally corrupt and dishonest, he could only assume others in a position of admiration and authority were the same.

Simon epitomizes the attitude of those who see God’s people and God’s church as something to be exploited: a ready-made group of “dumb sheep” who will plod along after some great leader if only they can capture their love, admiration and loyalty.

No wonder God’s Word warns those who would be ministers: “My brethren, become not many of you masters, or teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment” (James 3:1, paraphrased)

Simon is dead, but his attitude and spirit live on in the minds of other men who would seek to exploit God’s people only to satisfy their incredible ego.

The Purpose for God’s Government

Yes, there is government in God’s true church, but it is not a dictatorship of harsh, brutal, unthinking authority that threatens to smash your eternal life, consign you to Gehenna fire at the slightest intimation that you are not blindly following a human leader.

Never would the true ministers of God claim Paul’s statement, “Follow me as I follow Christ,” is not good enough!

But when will people come to see the difference between the spiritual organism that is the church and the human organization that must function as the vehicle to fulfill the great commission?

Today the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God must be done by the means of the mass media: through radio, television and evangelistic campaigns; through booklets, periodicals and magazines; through Bible study courses and cassette tapes. All of this takes organization. And, as in any organization, someone has to be in charge.

There is nothing evil whatsoever about organization and nothing evil in an organizational structure which plainly shows who is “over” whom for the purpose of getting a great work done. It is the abuse of authority, the abuse of power, the abuse of office, the abuse of God’s people that is the shame.

Why should there be organization and church government?

Let God answer.

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect [mature] man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).

The ministry exists for the perfecting of the saints and for accomplishing the work of the ministry.

That work is the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God to all the world as a witness unto all nations, baptizing those who believe and teaching them to observe all things Jesus Christ taught His disciples.

To do that great job, there must be organization. There must be government. But let that government be the very government of God Almighty, who “gently leads those that are with young” and who is “easy to be entreated” and who is filled with “goodness, meekness, gentleness, faith,” and who has unbounded, unlimited, perfect love toward those being governed.

“He is governed best who is governed least” is a true statement.

God is self-governed. He rules Himself. He will not let Himself sin, or “miss the mark,” or stray from His great purpose. The church Jesus Christ built failed to capture and maintain that perfect government in the first century. Another phase or branch of God’s church has allowed that beautiful kind of church government to disintegrate into calloused brute force, heartless, unthinking, uncaring threats-rule through fear! God says, “Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat, and you clothe you with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and cruelty have you ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. . . Thus saith the Lord Eternal; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them” (Ezekiel 34:2-10).

But the government God is now establishing with this branch of His church is not that kind. Its greatest desire is to do the work of God-and to feed the flock!

Its hope and desire is to be “helpers of their joy,” and to serve the people of God as Christ directed.

The organization that God is building within The Intercontinental Church of God, is one of fellow laborers, partners in the faith, dedicated, converted, Spirit-led men and women who stand shoulder to shoulder, side by side, and who unitedly look up to Jesus Christ of Nazareth for His leadership in their lives.

This branch of the Church of God is alive. It is growing. A work is being done, and that work is growing every day. Thank God Jesus Christ said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” and that He promised, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

That same Jesus Christ administers His tender love and mercy, His admonition and correction, His teaching and example every single day within His work!

Remember, Jesus Christ said He would build His group, His “called-out ones.” He then commissioned those He had called out of this world to do a work. He said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19, 20).

Jesus’ intention clearly showed He constituted His group (ekklesia, meaning “church” or a body of those who believe in Jesus and believe in doing His work) for a purpose.

That purpose was to fulfill His charge, His commission!

“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name [and, if His name is omitted, it cannot be the true gospel of Christ] among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47).

Jesus built His “church” to be far more of an “association” or an “organization” to conduct the work of evangelism, of preaching the gospel to the world, than He did to merely establish a group of local congregations enjoying weekly fellowship!

The work of Jesus’ ekklesia is preaching the gospel.

Then, when people who hear the gospel repent, asecondary part of that work is to “feed the sheep”! How ironic that some of those who were converted as a result of hearing the work of God being done turn back and want to sink down into a small local group and not be involved in doing the work -the very work by which they themselves were called! But those whose hearts are fully set on Christ Himself will be faithfully striving to do His work! That is why the church exists!

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post Where is the True Church? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Is there any more familiar sound than the mournful tolling of church bells on a Sunday morning – any more familiar sight than people filing into a church on a prominent street corner?

There are tens of thousands of churches in the United States; tens of thousands more in England, Canada, Australia, South Africa – across Europe. There are huge cathedrals, basilicas, abbeys; buildings of all sizes and descriptions, including the largest church “building” in the world near “El Escorial” in Spain; a monumental cathedral hollowed out of solid rock in a mountain which could swallow up St. Peter’s basilica in the Vatican.

There are Catholics, Anglicans, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalian, and hundreds more – enough sects and denominations to require a sizable book just to list them, including groups calling themselves by such names as “Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists.”

WHY? What are they supposed to do?

Must You Belong To A Church To Be Saved?

Unless we really think about it, asking why a church seems a ludicrous question. Everybody knows churches relate to heaven the way a thrift store relates to clothing; the way a sporting goods store relates to tennis racquets. One goes to a candy store to buy salt-water taffy, and one goes to a church to get to heaven, right? One goes to a church because one is “saved,” Or wants to be; because one wants one’s family to experience the same rewards.

Many years ago, a young boy in a prairie province of Canada was trudging down a dusty country road on Sunday morning, headed toward his neighborhood church, about a section and a half distant. His farm neighbor came chugging along in a Model A Ford, stopped, and asked if he wanted a ride. Grateful, the boy hopped in. When his neighbor pulled up in the church yard, and the boy was getting out, a thought came to him.

“Why don’t you come on in here?” he asked.

“Oh, I couldn’t do that,” his neighbor replied. “My church is a couple more miles down the road.”

Puzzled, the boy shrugged, thanked his neighbor for the ride, and went inside. It was several years before he came to understand that one church is not just as good as another.

Are they all the same? No. Otherwise, they would all belong to the same organization – would believe and preach the same doctrines.

It is amazing how disparate some can be. Others are almost undiscernably similar, so slight are the differences. But so what? Aren’t they all headed in the same direction, but by different routes?

No.

Christ said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). He did build His church; call out His special ekklesia, or assembly of “called-out ones.”

Is Christ the living Head of all these differing, bickering, disagreeing denominations? Only half of them? Only a few of them? Paul asked, “Is Christ divided?” urging the Corinthian church to admit the obvious, biblical answer, “no.” He insisted God was not the Author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33), and said there was only “one body” of Christ, which is that one true church.

If Christ is not the Head of all these different religious organizations, is He the head of any of them?

Did Christ Build His True Church? If So, Where Is It Today?

Christ promised, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). If He kept this promise, then His church must be in existence today, for He promised the gates of the grave would not prevail against it; promised He would be with that true church always.

The Greek word for “church” is wholly misunderstood today – misapplied in the English-speaking world. Millions think “church” means a building, or a denomination, or an organization. Few understand it applies to a scattered group of individuals in whom is God’s Holy Spirit – a spiritual organism of called-out ones who may not even know one-another, and who do not necessarily “belong” to the same political organizations!

Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: noman cometh unto the Father but by [through] me” (John 14:6). He described the way into the Kingdom of God as a sheepcote. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

“But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

“To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

“And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.

“And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:1-10).

Christ is that unique and only door through which we may be saved! There are not many routes to salvation – only one! Christ said, “Enter ye in at the strait [narrow, difficult!] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and MANY there be that go in thereat:

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13,14).

Christ promised to establish HIS Church on this earth. He did so on the Day of Pentecost, probably somewhere near June 16th or so, in A.D. 31. This miraculous occasion is described in the first two chapters of Acts. Christ had promised, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever:

“Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you…the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14: 16-26).

God’s Holy Spirit was “poured out” upon the disciples on Pentecost with audible and visible manifestations of the sound of a tornado, and flames of fire settling down on each of the twelve apostles like brilliant crowns.

God’s Word describes the receiving of the Holy Spirit as a spiritual begettal, analogous to human conception. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” ([Peter 1:3). James wrote, “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth [metaphor for the Holy Spirit – God’s method of spiritual begettal], that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18).

The apostles did not decide to form a corporation. They did not hold a conference, file documents with the Roman government, or apply to the Sanhedrin for permission to form a “church.” They did not draft by-laws, adopt a constitution, or draw up organizational charts. They did not make a formal declaration that they now constituted a “church.”

Rather, by the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit, God the Father begat each of them as His son. Now, joined by God’s Spirit to the True Vine which is Christ (John 15:1-8), they were put into the spiritual assembly of “called-out ones” God was choosing.

You cannot “join” God’s true church. God must PUT YOU INTO it by His Spirit.

Notice, “…And the Lord added to the church [ekklesia:“assembly of called-out ones”] daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47).

Paul wrote, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized [immersed; plunged into, wholly and fully] into one body [the church, called the “Body of Christ”], whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Paul also wrote, “…Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9).

Today, millions see billboards or television advertisements, “Join the church of your choice.” Counselors at large evangelistic campaigns, in a spirit of ecumenism, tell people to “select an appropriate church.” When I was very young, I once dated a girl who thought we should be religious. She wasn’t too particular. She said, “Well, I think we should have some faith, or other.” To her, it didn’t matter which, so long as it was “respectable,” meaning one of the recognized, “mainstream” fundamentalist churches.

Surveys have proved people “choose” churches for varieties of reasons: the location in the neighborhood, size of parking lot, the beauty of the building, the choir, the local programs and activities, the soloist, the talented speaker. Most, of course, go to the denomination of their family. Some, dissatisfied, drift from one church to another, looking for a church “home,” where what they see and hear squares with their own convictions; where they can feel comfortable.

Some choose carefully, depending on how closely that church’s doctrines match their own personal Bible study. Others search the Scriptures prayerfully, trying to find the very church Jesus Christ built – the church of which He is, even today, the living Head.

The apostles were drafted into Christ’s service. He told them, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained [set apart for a special purpose] you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” (John 15:16).

What was this “fruit”‘ the evidence of their labors they were to produce?

Christ’s Great Commission

When Jesus Christ appeared to His apostles following His resurrection and ascension to heaven, He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

“Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of; enlist as students, or learners] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [age]. Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Jesus did NOT say, “Establish many local church organizations; build bingo parlors, family life centers, featuring ping pong tables and bowling alleys; conduct cookouts, potlucks and barbecues; have athletic contests; make cheerleading costumes for your daughters; choose a charity; sponsor a mission field; form a choir; buy an organ; erect a steeple …”

Instead, He commanded them to go into all the world, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God as a witness. Christ prophesied, “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall he preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). So the work of the assembly of called-out ones was, first, to preach the Gospel to the world as a witness!

What was the second part of Christ’s commission to His apostles? “Feed my lambs!” (John 21:15-25). Three times, Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, using a more powerful expression each time. When Peter embarrassedly had to confess his love, smarting in shame and remorse over his three-time cursing denial of Christ as He died, Christ said, each time, “Feed my sheep.”

Naturally, as we read in Acts the second chapter of the apostle’s preaching on Pentecost, the fruit of the preaching of the Gospel is converts, disciples for Christ.

These are “added to the church” by the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit. But, as newly-convicted, converted, baptized members are added, it is NOT God’s intention they divert the work of the church AWAY from the first commission, demanding so much attention, so many activities, that the church abandons its vital preaching of the Gospel as a witness and a warning, and sinks down in upon itself as just another of the churches of this world!

Just before Pentecost, Christ said to His apostles, “…ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:87). These were the very last words Christ spoke on this earth!

Now, what IS the “Gospel of the Kingdom of God?”

The Real Gospel

The English word “gospel” is much misunderstood, often misused. Today, we hear of “gospel music,” or “gospel singers,” or preachers allegedly delivering the “gospel.”

To millions, the Gospel consists of a brief statement: Christ died to save sinners. You are a sinner. Confess your sins, call upon Christ; receive Him as your personal Savior, and you shall be saved.

This message is repeated tens of thousands of times in thousands of ways; embellished with stories, testimonies, examples, similes and analogies -told and retold in thousands of churches, and over thousands of television programs each week.

But the old Anglo-Saxon word “gospel” comes from two words, which meant “good news.” The terms “glad tidings,” or “joyous announcement” are equally applicable.

But joyous announcement about what?

Millions have supposed that brief statement above pretty well sums up the Gospel. Millions have heard, interminably, a message “about Jesus.” They suppose this is the Gospel. But, while the entire life’s purpose, example, death, burial and resurrection of Christ is very much a central focal point of the Gospel, there is MUCH, MUCH MORE included in the Gospel.

Paul put it this way: “Moreover, brethen, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

“By which also ye are saved [this is saving knowledge!] if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

“And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

“And that He was seen of Cephas [Peter’s name, pronounced “KEEphas”], then of the twelve:

“After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present…” (1 Corinthians 15:l-6).

Surely, then, Christ’s death, burial and resurrection arc absolutely central to the Gospel.

Christ came preaching the Gospel, and said He was delivering a message from God the Father; that His Father inspired that message; that He spoke not of Himself, but that the Father spoke through Him, did the works through Him. He said, “…the words that I speak unto you [the Gospel] I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works” (John 14:10). Christ insisted that He brought a message – the Gospel – from His Father in heaven to deliver to mankind. The Gospel must therefore include the message Christ brought, and is not exclusively a message about the person of Christ. It includes everything about Christ. But it also includes the message He delivered.

That message is called “the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.”

Notice, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel!” (Mark 1:14,15).

Time and time again, the Bible describes the message Christ brought as the Gospel of the “Kingdom of God.”

Christ promised that kingdom will be established on this earth; that it will rule over all nations for one thousand years: that those who repent, and live a life of overcoming, will have a part in ruling the world!

How many people are told the Bible teaches that Christ brought a message about CO-RULERSHIP OF THE WORLD? Where does the fanciful notion about “going to heaven” fit into this Bible truth?

You will see proved that Christ is coming to inherit an earthly throne -the throne of His “father,” David. You will see the promises about rulership over the nations of this earth for the saints – not heaven! A sample: “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works [Christ Himself is speaking] unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations and he shall RULE them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father” (Revelation 2:26).

The Gospel message Christ brought is very much prophetic in nature. Christ was the greatest of all prophets. His “Olivet” prophecy (Matthew 24; Mark 15; Luke 21) is the framework through which Daniel and the Revelation must be viewed. This famous prophecy gives a step-by-step series of overlapping events from the first century until the time of Christ’s return. It is like an outline for all prophecy.

Only when you study this gripping prophecy can you come to understand the real meaning of Christ’s commission to His disciples. He did not intend for them to establish the large, visible churches of this world at all – He intended for them to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God as a witness and a warning to all the world before the end of the age!

Always, that first part of Christ’s great commission to His church was paramount!

Notice Paul’s example near the end of his life, during his Roman imprisonment. Luke writes, “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the Kingdom of God. persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:23).

Here is Paul, expounding things concerning Christ as future KING OF KINGS, ruling over the Kingdom of God on this earth. He teaches these people daily, and takes all daydoing it.

What were his texts? The Old Testament of your Bible, just as Jesus Himself quoted from the prophets; from Moses, and from the Psalms concerning God’s Kingdom and Christ’s mission on this earth!

Notice further: “And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,

“Preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him” (Acts 28:31). So closes the book of Acts – just as it began. It begins with Christ’s commission to go to the furthermost parts of the earth with His Gospel of the Kingdom (Acts 1:4-8), and it ends with the testimony that Paul, near the end of his life in the flesh, was preaching the Kingdom of God in Rome, the seat of the Beast power, the Gentile world-ruling kingdom; witnessing not only to many of the population, but to Caesar’s own household servants (Philippians 4:22).

So what did Christ command His newly-commissioned church to do? To preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to all the world! Secondly, if and when some were converted, those newly-converted disciples became a part of that growing church, to continually become more effective in preaching the Gospel!

WHY did Christ call out His own “assembly” of disciples (His church)? As a human instrument in Christ’s hands to preach the Gospel!

Did Christ Establish the Church As a Social Club?

Look carefully at the many church organizations in the “churchianity” of this world. How many are lost in a melange of social occasions; potlucks, dances, parties, field trips, picnics, sports events – a continual round of physical food, drink and entertainment – to keep the people happily ensconced in that church?

How many members of churches find themselves literally cut off from any outside contact – isolated, cloistered, involved in a continual, year-in, year-out merry-go-round of church activities?

How many sink down into a comfortable “us, them” concept of spiritual identity, spending their energies, thoughts, and money on an endless round of internal church pursuits?

But the church is not for the purpose of providing a “comfortable church ‘home'” to religious hobbyists. It is not established for the purpose of making this world a better place in which to live!

Think about that statement for a moment.

Is it not a major goal of most churches to be an “influence” in their own communities? Do not religious organizations often attempt to influence politics, circulate petitions, picket abortion clinics, or even field presidential candidates?

But God commands His “called-out ones” of His church to “come out” of Babylon (Revelation 18:4), which includes the “churchianity” of this world!

This world will pass away, and all that is in it. A part of this world is its religions. They, too, shall pass away, and be replaced by the true worship of the true God and the Father of Jesus Christ when Christ comes to RULE this sin-sick world at last.

The church is not here to provide a Millennium-like life style for a few. It is not “God’s government in action” on the earth. It is not commissioned to dispense “good housekeeping” seals of recognition for herbs, diets, vitamin pills, home remedies, poultices, cures; or to proscribe white bread, white sugar, soft drinks, and beer! The church is not an exclusivist, secretive cult of hideouts who cannot be found. The church is not an oasis in society for wayward youths; a bridge-back, or half-way house for drugs; a center for feeding all the poor of the world, providing houses for the homeless, and refuges for battered wives and unwed mothers.

To be sure, God fully intends converted people in His church to help the poor among them, and to he empathetic toward all those whose sins have wrecked their lives, offering them whatever help is available.

But God’s church is not a maelstrom of activities, activities, activities.

The more programs, the more activities, the more material pursuits, the less the church works at its main, chief GOAL of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God as a witness and a warning to all the world.

Actually, the legal description of an “evangelistic association” (a group formed for the purpose of evangelizing, or preaching the Gospel) more closely resembles what Christ established than does the legal description of a “church” in today’s usage of the English language.

So, WHY did Christ say He would build HIS one true church?

He plainly said He did so to form a cadre of dedicated believers who would “Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel unto every creature.”

Today, many large churches spend only a tiny fraction of their annual incomes on their various “mission fields,” and much of the time these do not include preaching the Gospel, but the maintenance of orphanages, hospitals, schools, and the like. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, if the church does not abandon the FIRST and most IMPORTANT part of Christ’s commission in favor of ancillary facets of the second part.

The church can no more right all the wrongs in society than the United States can absorb all the squalid, sick, starving populations of the Third World countries on earth!

God did not intend for the church to attack the monumental, impossible task of somehow establishing the Kingdom of God on this earth by itself.

CHRIST will take care of that part!

It is the job of the church to WITNESS to people that God is the Ruler and Lawgiver; that His Son Jesus Christ died because of the sins of mankind; that we may have forgiveness through His shed blood, and that Christ IS COMING AGAIN.

This time, He is not coming as a humble carpenter from Nazareth, but as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!

It is the responsibility of the assembly of “called-out ones”, Christ calls to carry this powerful message to the world!

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post WHY The Church? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.