What Church?
Introduction
Christians have a big problem in this world. How
do they know
that what they believe is right? How do they know that what their
church teaches is right? How do they know that Islam is not right?
Of course, Christians go to the Bible to find the answer to these
questions. This is their ultimate authority. But there are so many
churches that claim to hold to the truth of what the Bible teaches, and
yet they are all different. Which one of these do we choose?
Well, the truth is that none of them are completely right. None of them
have a monopoly on the truth, just as no one individual person knows
everything either. Let us begin there. Many churches are followed
simply because they are large and impressive. Many men are followed
simply because they are eloquent speakers with the power of persuasion.
Realising at the outset that none of these are going to be completely
right, stops us from on the one hand worshipping a church, and on the
other hand worshipping a man. We need first of all to bring man down in
his
own estimation, and only then can we begin to start examining the
subject rationally.
“If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing,
he
deceiveth himself.” (Galatians 6:3).
“Every man at his best state is altogether vanity”
(Psalm 39:5).
“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for
wherein is he
to be accounted of?” (Isaiah 2:22).
In this world, the Christian life is one of growing in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). We are
sanctified through the truth. God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). As we
grow in the faith, we should be continually changing our beliefs in
order to more and more conform to the truth as we come to know and
understand more of what we read in the Scriptures, which is our only
source of truth. So whilst we should not be forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25) and therefore should be trying to
seek out a church to join ourselves with; yet, how can we, who are
constantly changing, find a home in a church, an outward, visible
organisation which, in comparison to our growth, seems constantly the
same?
This series of essays – each of which stands alone – has been written
as a result of thinking on these things. A
summary of each article appears here, to access
the full article, please click the appropriate button on the
left.
Please be warned that most of these articles seem to be of a
rather condemnatory tone when speaking of the church or church leaders.
Please understand that this is not a deliberate attempt to smear the
church or its leaders unduly. Some church leaders do an excellent job.
But by nature of the case, true
Christians, who have had their hearts renewed by the Holy Spirit,
would want to nurture the fruits of the Spirit, which include
gentleness, meekness and humility, and would tend not to seek after
high office. On the other hand, if there are
going to be hypocrites in the church, i.e. people who profess
Christianity but without a regenerated heart, they are still going to
be nurturing the fruits of the natural man which they are born with,
which are self-centredness,
aggression and ambition, and these are the ones who will tend to get
into high
places in the church. Christ warns us against them (see Matthew 23),
the apostles and prophets warn us constantly about them. We ought to be
aware of their existence too.
"whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted." (Matthew 23:12)
The Great Dilemma
This article shows the impossibility of there being a perfect church in this world, whether in doctrine or in all true believers being members in it. The problem of the church today is that some people lust to be followed, and most of the rest lust after someone to follow. Nobody seems to want to rationally do neither. The article ends with some questions for discussion on these matters.
The Reformation of Preaching
This article shows how the word "preach" has changed in the English language. We think of it as an authoritarian man shouting from a pulpit at people to tell them what to believe, with no recourse for them to respond or ask questions. This article shows that that was not the idea of "preaching" at all in Biblical times. The fundamental purpose of preaching was to make sure the hearer understood what was being said, which by nature of the case includes a two-way dialogue. We also find out in this article some evil techniques of persuasion used by modern day "preachers" in order to get to themselves a following.
Beyond Cheesy Grins and Fellowship Teas
This article has been produced to try to show the true Bible-believer, the genuine God-fearing Christian, the problems of the Independent Evangelical Church scene, despite its apparent outward attractiveness; and then to show him or her the right way of true religion, that he or she may seek this, and not be side-tracked into blindly following something other than what the Bible actually teaches.
Leadership: A Lust, Not a Gift
Most people think that leadership is a gift, and that only a few have been given it. Here we see that far from being a gift from God, it is a lust of the natural man, always wanting to be in control himself, and is the cause of nearly every church split that ever has been.
The Church Has Forgotten
This tract gives us nine things that are completely missing in the church today. This is why God is not worshipped as He should be, and why we are so ignorant of Him. This article is from our "Tracts" page and can be downloaded for printing and mass distribution from there.
Personal Testimony
The personal testimony of Mr Paul Hayden, who has been a true Christian, born again of the Spirit of God, for 34 years.
Buy the Book
A book is now available containing most of the above articles.
£5.00 plus postage
