Confirmation Sunday No Bibles Required

Our local paper has an article in it this week by a woman pastor/preacher from one of the nearby denominations entitled, "What is Confirmation?" which she wanted to explain since they have a confirmation Sunday planned. Needless to say, since I have never read of such a thing in the Bible and have known many people in this particular denomination over the years I ended up reading the piece knowing all the while that the silence of the Bible on a subject has never stopped a denomination from its own inventions and desires as pertains to its faith, worship, and practice.

After reading the article I went to my e-sword concordance and searched on the word "confirmation." I did find it in 2 locations. Paul spoke about "confirmation of the gospel" in Philippians 1:7 and the writer of the book of Hebrews spoke of how an "oath for confirmation" (Heb. 6:16) is for men an end of all dispute making an observation about secular matters among men to make a greater point about the confirmation God has made to man. Another search on the word "confirm" only brought up 2 hits (Rom. 15:8 and 1 Cor. 1:8), and like the references above, neither has relevance for the practice of a "confirmation Sunday," a thing unknown in scripture.

So what are we doing here? Are we free to just make up worship practices to suit ourselves? The lady says in her article, and I quote directly from it, "Confirmation is a rite done in the church during worship." You cannot find such an animal in the New Testament, but you can find it in this denomination which went outside the New Testament for its practice and authority. Who has such authority? I would think it would take a bold person to say I'll bring into the worship whatever I want whether I can find it in the New Testament or not.

Jesus himself said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24 NKJV) Since God's word is truth, "your word is truth" (John 17:17 NKJV), and I "must" worship in truth, it seems to me I need a little truth (word of God) for what I practice in worship to God. Where is this truth, confirmation, found in God's word? I looked for it but could not find it. Am I to assume this group does not care about finding any word of God for their practice?

The lady attempts to give the history of confirmation so people like me can get a handle on it, but guess where she starts with that history. Are you guessing the New Testament and the first century? Better guess again. She starts not in the first century but in the third, approximately 200 years after the New Testament was signed, sealed, and delivered as God's new covenant or law for man "once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 3 NKJV) She thus goes outside the word of God to the word of men to get her “confirmation Sunday.’’ Of course, I already knew it was not in the New Testament, as you also know if you have ever read it.

The lady says in the early church, early perhaps but not in the first-century church, not in the New Testament church, confirmation was associated with baptism. I understand from what she wrote that a bishop would confirm a new convert after his/her baptism, and sometimes quite a long while after that baptism. Confirmation consisted of some formula of words a bishop would utter in some kind of formal church setting or service, according to her, to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit in baptism and says it involved laying on of hands and anointing with oil.

I did a ChatGPT search on the topic and it seems to agree with what she said. I quote it: “The sacrament of Confirmation involves a person, often a young adult, receiving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by a bishop or a priest, usually accompanied by anointing with chrism (sacred oil).’’ The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “It increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us.” At a site called aboutcatholics.com, I found this, “It is the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.”

No, it is not. Confirmation does not grant you the power to speak in tongues, perform miracles, or teach infallibly, let alone raise the dead.

The lady goes on to say, "Up until the Reformation the Church retained Confirmation as a sacrament but gave, over the centuries, many explanations." Amen to that. I doubt not the truth in that. When you invent ways to worship unknown to the word of God many explanations as to what you are doing and why are likely. God is owed an explanation as well as man. If you are giving many stories (explanations) how do you decide which one to give to Jesus on the Day of Judgment when he asks you what this was all about and why?

The lady preacher (???) goes on to say that in her denomination that confirmation has become an educational event. It is a rite done in worship she says. I ask by whose authority, man's or God's?

The Bible says, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17 NKJV) It is a little hard to see how one can do things in the name of the Lord Jesus about which the Lord Jesus said nothing. Can we invent things to do in the name of the Lord Jesus? Can we just make up things in our worship and say we are doing those things in the name of the Lord Jesus and have his approval? Is that how it works? It is certainly clear historically that Confirmation was a man-made invention. It did not come from scripture. However, if you can just make things up and claim you are doing them in the name of the Lord Jesus I guess anything goes. Perhaps we can have Christian ballet or Christian pantomime and who knows what else.

She says it is a public expression reconfirming the baptism received as an infant. Book, chapter, and verse, please? Don't hold your breath waiting for scripture. You will die of old age before you ever get scripture for this, for it does not exist in the word of God.

As for infant baptism, it is another topic for another day. If an infant can be baptized scripturally I do not see why Tator, my basset hound, cannot be baptized as well, for there is as much Bible authority to baptize him as there is an infant who can know no more than Tator does about what is going on and why. The Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." (Heb. 11:6 NKJV) The infant cannot go to God in faith or act by faith nor does he/she need to as one is accountable for sin only when he/she has sinned.

The infant is born sin-free, not born in sin. If you say the baby is a sinner, name the sin. Sin is not inherited. “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father.” (Ezek. 18:20 NKJV) An infant can inherit a lot of things, but sin is not one of them.

There is sin involved in baptizing the infant, but not on the infant's part. It is on the part of those who put the infant through this and then allow him/her, when they come to an age of accountability, to be deceived into thinking they obeyed God in baptism. You lie to them. The child never obeyed anything as an infant, nor could he. It was impossible, and what is impossible God does not require. Yes, God requires baptism but not of babies.

I have no idea why people want to be in a denomination that has no more respect for the Bible than this one. The reality is they do not need a Bible for they have created their own religion and just adopted as much of the Bible as they want, leaving the rest alone, and have added the commandments of men to what they have adopted.

As for the lady preacher, Paul said (but does it matter with them?), "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." (1 Tim. 2:12 NKJV) Yes, everyone is entitled to their own religion but just be truthful about it. Don't say it is Bible based when it is not. At least the Catholics were honest enough to try and burn Bibles and those who translated them, or in some cases those caught with them. There is some consistency there. As for me, I want nothing to do with either the denominations or the Catholics. "And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:7 NKJV)

(This was written many years ago, revised just a tad, a little added, but still as applicable today as when it was first written.)

[To download this article or print it out click here.]

Saved By Jesus Outside The Church

It is not uncommon to hear people express their opinion that organized religion (the church) has nothing to do with salvation; all that matters, it is said, is whether or not one has a personal relationship with Jesus.

I do not know where this "personal relationship with Jesus" language came from for if you type in the phrase in any online Bible concordance you will not get a single return. It is a man-made phrase that is not found anywhere in scripture. I am not fond of terminology that cannot be found in scripture. Why not express biblical concepts in biblical language?

All of that aside, I want to deal with the idea that one can develop this relationship with Jesus on a personal level that will save himself outside the church. If a person means they can be saved outside the Catholic Church, I agree. If they are saying they can be saved outside of a denominational church, I agree. If, however, they are saying they can be saved outside the church one reads about in the Bible and outside of any association whatsoever with other Christians in an organized manner (a congregation) when such association is possible (that is such congregations exist in the area where one lives) I disagree.

Here is the problem with this whole concept men have that salvation is possible outside the church -- God adds to the church every person who is saved. All the saved are in the church and none outside it. That does not mean that every man in the church is saved for backsliding into apostasy, unfaithfulness, and such like enter into the equation. The Bible does not teach once saved always saved. That being said, if you find a saved man he is going to be found in the church and not outside it.

Scripture is what counts, not what man says, so what does scripture say? It says that "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:38 NKJV) This is the church of which Jesus said, "I will build my church." (Matt. 16:18 NKJV) If you are saved you cannot help but be in the church for the Lord does the adding at the time one obeys the gospel and he adds only the saved and none who are not saved.

You do not join the church, though many have the misconception they do, but if you obey the gospel in all sincerity of heart the Lord adds you to his church. This adding is to the church universal which consists of all true Christians all over the world wherever they are found and consists both of the living and of those now dead but who died as faithful Christians.

Paul, in writing to Timothy, speaks of "the house of God, which is the church of the living God." (1 Tim. 3:15 NKJV) He told Timothy he was writing "so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God" (1 Tim. 3:15 NKJV) thus he expected and knew Timothy to be in that house (the church). If you read the book of 1 Timothy you will readily see Paul was not just talking about the universal church. He was instructing Timothy how to conduct himself in an actual organized entity (a church, a congregation) existing on earth. In that entity (an organized church) he gives Timothy instructions on how bishops (or elders, they are one and the same) and deacons are to be appointed (their qualifications) and how widows are to be provided for so that the "the church" be not burdened unnecessarily (1 Tim. 5:16 NKJV), etc. The point is that we are talking about the necessity of a congregation and organized religion in what Paul wrote to Timothy.

If you desire to be saved by the blood of Jesus but stay out of the church you are seeking to do the impossible. In Acts 20:17 Paul called for the elders of the church of Ephesus and then encouraged them in Acts 20:28 to "shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood." (NKJV) This church had an actual earthly existence in the city of Ephesus in an organized body of saints (Christians) over which these elders were to shepherd. In the book of Ephesians, Paul says, "Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it" (Eph. 5:25 NKJV) which is to say he died for it.

Let me ask a question. Could you have lived in the city of Ephesus as a resident back in those days and been saved by "a personal relationship with Jesus" while not a member of the church there, the church over which the elders were to oversee or shepherd? In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said to them, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Eph. 1:7 NKJV) Who is the "we" in that passage if not the church (the brethren) there? That is who Paul was writing to. But, we know that the brethren there were an organized body overseen by elders (Acts 20:28). Yes, certainly that text has an application beyond just Ephesus but it certainly includes the Ephesians in the church there.

In Heb. 13:7 we read, "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account." (NKJV--see also Heb. 13:7, 24) Who are these men who must give an account? It is the same men whom Paul gave Timothy the qualifications to meet (1 Tim. 3:2-7) in order to qualify them as bishops in the church (a bishop and an elder are the same entity in the New Testament). He said, in part, "If a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?" (1 Tim. 3:5 NKJV) What is the point?

It is this--Christians are to be in organized bodies (congregations) overseen by men Paul was speaking of whom the Bible calls elders, bishops, shepherds, and overseers (all the same referring to the same men and the same work). How does the man who claims to be saved by "a personal relationship with Jesus" separate and apart from an organized body of believers (a congregation) obey the injunction given him to obey and be submissive (Heb. 13:7)? By refusing to join in with fellow disciples in such a body he separates himself from them and disobeys God.

The truth is every Christian is a living stone (see 1 Peter 2:5) in the spiritual house of God, both in the universal church and the church on the local level if he is living faithfully. The church is made of individual members called by Peter "living stones" which he says "are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5 NKJV)

There was no such thing in the New Testament as a Christian living separate and apart from a local congregation when such a congregation existed. Certainly, the apostles traveled around along with other evangelists and were not tied to a specific location but when they were in a locality and a congregation was established there it is obvious they made themselves a part of it. One cannot read the New Testament and deny that. They did not try and live off by themselves, as Christian hermits, apart from the brethren and claim no fellowship or association with them. That said, an apostle was over an elder in terms of God-given authority.

Look at the epistles. To whom are they addressed? When not to an individual was it not generally the case that it was to a church in a particular locality? It is "to the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor. 1:2 NKJV), "to the church of God which is at Corinth" (2 Cor. 1:1 NKJV), "to the churches of Galatia" (Gal. 1:2 NKJV), "to the saints who are in Ephesus" (Eph. 1:1 NKJV), "to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons" (Phil. 1:1 NKJV), "to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse" (Col. 1:2 NKJV), "to the church of the Thessalonians" (1 Thess. 1:1 NKJV), "to the church of the Thessalonians in God" (2 Thess. 1:1 NKJV).

Since one is not required, according to some, to be a member of a local congregation, an organized church as it is often put, what does one do with the epistles written to these churches? Do the messages contained therein not apply to us since we can be saved, it is said, by "a personal relationship with Jesus" separate and apart from the church? Can we just toss these epistles away?

To whom did Jesus have John write in Revelation chapters two and three? Was it not to the angels of the seven churches of Asia? The messages were meant for seven churches. We can learn from them even today but, at the time, they were specific to seven congregations or churches. Read those two chapters. You will see some churches were in pretty bad shape but Jesus was still interested in them. However, we are told today the church doesn't matter. It mattered to Jesus so why does it not to the persons who believe all that matters is a "personal relationship with Jesus?"

The church consists of brethren united in faith, worship, labor, and love. One of the great messages of the New Testament is love for the brethren. How do you love the brethren when you want no part of them for they are found in the church and you want no part of the church? How do you encourage them? How do you worship with them? How do you help them when you won't even associate with them long enough to know who they are or what their needs are?

It is a sin to try and be saved by a personal relationship with Jesus separate and apart from the church (from the brethren). "Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, … for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries." (Heb. 10:24-27 NKJV) One who thinks he has a personal relationship with Jesus while ignoring his brethren and thus being disobedient to God's commands is self-deceived.

It is mission impossible to be saved outside the church. Sardis was an example of a church where few inside it were going to be saved (Rev. 3:4), that is unless they repented, but nonetheless, all in Sardis who were going to be saved were in the church there. Jesus "is the savior of the body" (Eph. 5:23 NKJV) and the body is the church (Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:18, 24). One is either in that which Jesus is going to save or he is not in it. It is that simple, even black and white.

I make one point of clarification as I am drawing to a close. Sometimes it is not possible, at least for a time, to have membership in a local congregation. Why? It may not exist, the Ethiopian eunuch’s situation being an example. Or, the local church may be in apostasy so that to join it would be to promote error of the most serious nature. In such cases the individual makes up the local congregation and the job is to evangelize and establish a body of believers in the area. Every Christian is a part of the universal church and he/she needs to be a part of a local congregation as well if at all possible.

I advocate for a return to New Testament Christianity and that can only be done through restoration. The New Testament is our pattern, our blueprint, for what it takes to make one a Christian and what it takes to remain faithful. The same is true of the New Testament as a pattern and blueprint for the church.

I know many do not believe in the concept of restoration. I would simply say to those people that to be consistent they ought to never again use a blueprint or pattern for anything. Why? Because they have just confessed that to them a pattern or blueprint is worthless.

There is nothing illogical in the concept of restoration. The problem is not in the concept. The problem is that New Testament Christianity is a radical religion that places stringent demands upon humanity and few want to be bound by its cords. Men would rather do it their way than God's way. If we lived in Noah's time and place we would tell God we will build the ship as long as we do not have to use your pattern and can build it the way we want to.

The concept of restoration is right. It is the right idea. There is a pattern God has given and we ought to try and live by it both as individuals and as organized congregations.

[To download this article or print it out click here.]

 

Jesus And The Furnace of Fire

Hell is not real for most people. They think little about it and do not believe if there is such a place they will end up there. Hell, if real, would only be reserved for characters like Hitler, Himmler, Stalin, Pol Pot, murderers, child molesters, etc., the very worst society has to offer. It is not a place for the average man or woman is the general thinking.

The Bible teaches no such thing. What it does teach is that it is very possible for you and me, your wife, your husband, your daughter, your son, your mother or dad, your neighbor, your friend, some of the best people you know to end up in what the Bible calls the furnace of fire. And what people cannot comprehend and refuse to believe is that Jesus will put them there.

Hear Jesus, "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Mat 13:41-42 NKJV)

Many people who think they know Jesus would say, "No, he would never do that." Well, if not, he is a liar. If he is a liar you cannot depend on a single word he ever uttered for who would know when he was lying and when he was not, but God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

Let us take a closer look and see who it is that will be cast into this furnace. It is "those who practice lawlessness." (Matt. 13:41 NKJV) I know vast numbers of people, while good in many respects, many proclaiming that they believe in God, who never make any effort to obey Jesus and thus they practice lawlessness. The New Testament is the law of Christ, the law he gave, the law he is talking about in the passage under discussion.

Have they ever been baptized for the remission of sins? (Acts 2:38) No! Do they intend to? No! Do they worship God? No! Do they "forsake the assembling of ourselves together?" (Heb. 10:25 NKJV) Yes! Have they put on "the whole armor of God?" (Eph. 6:11 NKJV) No! And the list could go on and on. Just common ordinary day folks. Where are they headed? You say don't judge. I am just quoting Jesus. He is the one who said that those who practice lawlessness will be cast into the lake of fire. I just happen to know what lawlessness is, it is disregarding his word.

Paul, for example, gave us a list of sins in Gal. 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (NKJV) Paul says, "and the like" meaning this is only a partial listing of sins. There is another long list that can be found in Rom. 1:24-32 and then we find this in the last verse there, verse 32, "those who practice such things are worthy of death." (NKJV)

Sin is lawlessness, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4 NAS) It is those who practice lawlessness, Jesus says, who will be cast into the furnace of fire.

To be saved a man must love Jesus. "If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed." (1Co 16:22 NKJV) "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me," says Jesus. (John 14:21 NKJV) The apostle John says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:3-4 NKJV) "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" says Jesus. (Luke 6:46 NKJV) If Jesus is not your Lord (he is not if you are not obeying him) how are you going to avoid the furnace of fire?

But people say I know what the word of God says about this or that but I know how I feel in my heart. Thus the standard for being saved and for living a faithful obedient life, for determining what is and is not sin, ceases to be what the book, chapter, and verse of the Bible teaches and becomes instead the feeling in the heart. That feeling becomes the standard for salvation and the word of God is cast aside. Commandments no longer matter, especially if they prove inconvenient or troublesome.

I love God. I will be saved. How do you know? My heart tells me so. Just as long as your heart tells you so it makes it so? Well, Jacob felt Joseph was dead, felt it in his heart, but that did not make it so. "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9 NKJV) People head to death and judgment with faith built on personal feelings (quicksand) rather than on the word of God (a solid rock).

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." (Matt. 7:24-27 NKJV)

There are so many who consider themselves saved that never even enter a church door and many more who enter it only occasionally. They do not know God's commandments and make little or no effort to learn them. They rarely, if ever, read the Bible and have no desire to study it. The Hebrew writer tells us that there is a time when we "ought to be teachers." (Heb. 5:12 NKJV) There is no way most people can obey that directive for they have never studied enough to even think about being a teacher.

They have never made any effort to "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15 KJV) Other versions read a little differently but the same idea is in them all. Their indifference to the word of God is great but they are still going to heaven according to the consensus of the public.

I write this article because I am fearful. I am scared for people I know and love. I am scared for the many who are likable, kind, and caring people -- we would call them good people by our worldly standards. I am scared for they are not scared, not at all. They do not know enough to be scared. Like an infant running toward the busy highway, having no concept of the consequences that await them, they go day by day walking toward the precipice from whence, once the last step is taken, there will be no return, the final step into hell.

I am scared because their indifference is great. I am scared because they presume, just presume. I am scared because they have no interest in searching the scriptures to see what they need to do and how they need to live.

Should a man fear God? They do not. If a man has no fear of God it is not likely he will ever repent. That is one reason so many today can go on day after day, month after month, year after year, living carelessly and indifferently. They believe God will save them the way they are and have no fear that he will not. Hear the Bible on the subject, "By the fear of the Lord one departs from evil." (Prov. 16:6 NKJV) "The fear of the Lord leads to life." (Prov. 19:23 NKJV) When you do not fear God, you do not worry a whole lot about keeping God's commandments.

There is a real furnace of fire, or else Jesus lied about it. It may or may not be like what we would think of as being a furnace of fire but the effect on the soul will be that of extreme pain and suffering such as physical fire brings to the body. There will be little to no difference in the intensity of the suffering else the analogy fails.

In the book of Revelation, in John's vision, he saw the great Day of Judgment. "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books." (Rev 20:12 NKJV)

His vision of judgment day closes with verse 15, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:15 NKJV) I cannot imagine such a horror. That does not mean I do not believe it, but the horror of it is more than the mind can grasp. Can you imagine the fear, the terror, the panic, the hysteria, when one realizes this is his or her fate?

No wonder there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." The phrase "weeping and gnashing of teeth" is used 4 times in the book of Matthew (Matt. 8:12, 22:13, 24:51, and Matt. 25:30 NKJV). In each instance, the phrase is used by the Lord Jesus himself, in red print in your Bible. Does Jesus lie? When was the last time you had pain so bad you had to gnash your teeth? Could you bear that for eternity?

Hell is a place of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48). These are the words of Jesus himself. Paul, in a passage that is talking about hell, speaks of God's "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil." (Rom. 2:8-9 NKJV) Is a man stronger than God who created the millions of stars in the universe? Can a man withstand God's indignation and wrath?

Jude speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah and says that they were "set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jud v. 7 NKJV) The Hebrew writer spoke on the topic saying, "For we know Him who said, 'vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb 10:30-31 NKJV)

Peter says, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now 'if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?'" (1Peter 4:17-18 NKJV)

We have become so accustomed to talking only about the love of God, of his mercy and grace, of his forgiveness and salvation that we scarcely can comprehend anything else from him. However, God is also a God of justice, holiness, and righteousness.

What kind of a Father would God be if he said, "Okay, so I sent my son into the world to suffer and die for you and you rejected him and made his commandments of no account, paying no attention to them and caring less? You did your own will rather than mine; it is okay, you come on up into heaven with us anyway and we will forget all about it. What is a little spilled blood even if it was my son’s?"

If God were to say a thing of that kind what kind of God would he be? Would he be good? God cannot be a good and just God and let man get by with man despising his son. Jesus cannot be Lord of our life if we are the Lord of our life. God cannot be God if we are going to play God ourselves.

Paul wrote in language so fearful I find it hard to read when he wrote in 2 Thess. 1:8-9 of Jesus' second coming and said of it that his return would be "in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." The phrase "in flaming fire" catches my attention every time I read the passage. Terror will be a mild word to use when that day comes. Are you prepared?

Can you see in your mind's eye that day coming and perhaps for the first time in their life your son or daughter, your husband or wife, your mother or your dad, realizing the horror that is about to befall them? Can you see in your mind's eye the hysteria, the panic, the terror that will be on their faces? Can you see them weeping and sobbing uncontrollably and you are unable to do a thing about it? As I said earlier we ought to be scared as we see how people are living so indifferently to God. Are you one of them? Is one of your family one of them?

Many are lukewarm, maybe a step up from indifference. Is that a big enough step to avoid the furnace of fire? Hear Jesus in the book of Revelation speaking to the church of the Laodiceans remembering that the church is the people who make it up. He says, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." (Rev 3:15-17 NKJV) What kind of a Christian are you?

The only good thing that can be said for the Christians in the church at Laodicea was that God was going to allow them a little more time to repent. He says, in verse 18, "Be zealous and repent." If you are reading this today it means you are being granted some time to repent if you need to do so. You have now, today, with no promise of a tomorrow.

If you have family who are still alive as you read this, it means they still have time, "if" they will use it, time to bring their life into accord with God's will to avoid the furnace of fire. Maybe you can help them. You can pray for them and ought to do so earnestly time and time again.

It distresses me to write an article like this for I know few listen. As I said earlier, the assumption is that all is well, everything is fine, it is okay, and we are all saved. Jeremiah wrote words that I fear are going to end up applying to our generation as well as to his, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" (Jer. 8:20 NKJV) Is God first in your life or is he thirty-first, forty-first, fifty-first, or just not there at all? Is he just a Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and Easter Day God in your life? If so, it is time to make some changes. There is a furnace of fire.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Prov. 1:7 NKJV)

If this article has been useful download the article, print it out, and give it to someone you know who needs it.

[To download this article or print it out click here.]

Jesus The Rock The Church Was Built On

The reader is likely aware that the Roman Catholic Church does not believe the church was built on Christ but rather upon Peter. In this article, we will examine what the Bible teaches and then let the reader decide whether to follow the Bible or the Catholic Church.

After Jesus' arrest he was brought before the Jewish council where he was asked, "'Are you then the Son of God?' And he said to them, 'You rightly say that I am.'" (Luke 22:70 NKJV) This fact was earlier confessed by Peter in Matt. 16 when he said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt. 16:16 NKJV) Jesus, being the Son of God, is the rock Jesus built the church on. No one can enter the church built by Jesus who does not believe this foundational doctrine, that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus, as the Son of God, built the church upon himself.

Jesus is described by Peter as a living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious (1 Peter 2:4). He goes on a couple of verses later to say, "It is also contained in the Scripture, 'Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.'" (1 Peter 2:6 NKJV) The chief cornerstone (a rock) is a reference to a man. I ask the reader to decide for themself whether this man Peter is describing, that if a man believes on him he will not be put to shame, is meant by Peter to be a reference to himself or to Jesus. The church cannot be built on both Jesus and Peter. Both cannot be that rock upon which the church is built. Who did Peter consider to be the chief cornerstone, himself or Jesus?

But let us compare 1 Peter 2:6 just quoted above with Isaiah 28:16 where God had said hundreds of years before Peter's time, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily." (NKJV) The stone God laid was Christ, not Peter. Isaiah was not prophesying about Peter.

But what does it mean when the text says "whoever believes will not act hastily"? The idea that both Isaiah and Peter present is that the rock God laid in Christ is so solid and so secure under the feet of the true believer that there is no insecurity. The rock you stand on when you stand on Christ is solid and secure, safe and reliable, and will not fail you. Some translations instead of “not act hastily” use the phrase “not be disturbed” (NAS), “never be stricken with panic” (NIV), or “will be unshakable” (CSB).

If Peter is the rock does this sound like Peter, you stand on Peter as the rock and you become unshakable. No, I think we would all rather stand on Christ than on Peter if we were to be unshakable.

Very early in the history of the church when Peter and John were taken into custody, a consequence of their teaching at the temple, and were placed before the Jewish rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as the high priest and as many as were of his family, Peter testified of Jesus saying, "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other." (Acts 4:11-12 NKJV) In verse 10 Peter names Jesus as being the one of whom he speaks.

“Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.

“This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ ’’ (Acts 4:10-11 NKJV)

Does that sound like Peter was declaring himself to be the one upon whom the church was built as the Catholics claim?

Paul said of Jesus, "No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 3:11 NKJV) The foundation of the faith, of the church, the spiritual body of Christ, is Jesus--Jesus not as a man per se but as the Son of God. In writing to the Ephesian brethren Paul says they were members of the household of God (Eph. 2:19) "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone." (Eph. 2:20 NKJV) One has his choice--he can either believe the Catholic Church that Peter is the rock upon which the church is built or he can believe the Bible which makes it plain that Jesus as the Christ, as the Son of God, is that rock.

Yes, Peter is a stone in the church but so is every other Christian. Hear Peter, "You also, (he says speaking to Christians--DS) as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5 NKJV) The church is the spiritual body of Christ, a spiritual building being built up. Peter is a stone in the church just like every other Christian but he is not the cornerstone, the stone upon which the church was built.

The church is Christ's body--"his body, which is the church" (Col. 1:24 NKJV - see also Eph. 1:22-23 and Col. 1:18). "He is the Savior of the body." (Eph. 5:23 NKJV) This is the body which he sanctified and cleansed "with the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26 NKJV), a reference to baptism, so that "he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:27 NKJV)

Paul calls the church "God's building" (1 Cor. 3:9 NKJV) and says he laid the foundation to that building. He did so by preaching Christ and him crucified. "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Cor. 1:22-23 NKJV) If a man is going to be laid as a living stone into this spiritual building called the church, which Jesus has built and continues to build by adding new stones onto it, then he must be laid on top of this foundational rock that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world as the lamb of God to give his life as a sacrifice for all of mankind's sins to bring salvation to all who will believe and obey the gospel message.

What kind of building is the church? Paul describes it as "the temple of God" (1 Cor. 3:16 NKJV) and says that the Spirit of God dwells in it (1 Cor. 3:16) and says it is "holy" (1 Cor. 3:17 NKJV). In Ephesians he describes it thus, "the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit." (Eph. 2:21-22 NKJV)

Paul makes a statement in connection with the church being God's temple that ought to frighten all those who think they are free to tinker around with doctrine and practice in the church. He says, "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him." (1 Cor. 3:17 NKJV) He says it is holy. One has to remember who built the church. Jesus said, "I will build my church." (Matt. 16:18 NKJV) He did this by his sacrifice on the cross making the church possible and then through the medium of the Holy Spirit in the Spirit's teaching the word (the gospel) through the apostles and New Testament prophets.

The work of building continues today and will until the end of time not by means of inspired men still living but of inspiration completed and placed in the book we call the New Testament. The Holy Spirit continues the work of preaching the gospel and building the church every time the word is read or accurately conveyed in teaching and preaching.

The church was built up by men and women and boys and girls of accountable age (old enough to be responsible) hearing, believing, and obeying from the heart the gospel of Christ. Every time such an individual obeyed the gospel another living stone was added to the building of the church and such building continues on today. Shortly after Pentecost the Bible says, "The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47 NKJV) Now note who was adding to the church. It was the Lord; the Lord built the church and continues to build it yet today in the manner previously described.

But I want to go back to something mentioned earlier that needs more emphasis. I speak specifically of the great danger inherent in defiling the church, the temple of God, of which Paul says that the one who does so God will destroy (1 Cor. 3:17). God (Jesus) built the first century New Testament church. Do we think we can do better than he did? Men are trying continually to change the church from what it was in the first century and modernize it. Do we think that is wise? How do you know as a mere man that the changes that seem good and right to you or me are fine with God? Jesus is a perfect builder. Can you do better than he did without defiling the church? Remember the penalty for being mistaken is severe, not a slap on the wrist.

We might respond and say I have read the New Testament and I know not all of the churches back in the first century were what they ought to be. True! The church at Corinth had all kinds of problems and then we can read about the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 2 and 3) of which most had one thing or another wrong with them. Yes, that is correct but we also see in our reading they were rebuked for their error and told what to do to get their house in order. In other words, we were given a blueprint for what the church ought to be. Who among us believes that any of those congregations could have continued in error forever without eternal consequences? The rebuking was to bring about repentance and thus salvation.

Here is our situation today. We are not going to get a letter to our church, the congregation of which we are a member, directly from the Lord or an inspired apostle. When we start deviating from the blueprint (New Testament teaching) deceiving ourselves that all is well with what we are doing there is not going to be a rebuke directly from inspiration other than from the New Testament itself. If we are or have deviated from the teachings of the New Testament we have convinced ourselves it is okay, we have justified ourselves in doing so. This makes it nearly impossible to repent, impossible because we have convinced ourselves we are doing the right thing.

No religious group knowingly goes into error. God's people in the Old Testament went into all kinds of sin and even into idolatry. When they were going down that path did they go thinking I want to commit spiritual suicide? They did what they did because they had convinced themselves it was the right thing to do and all of God's prophets could not keep them from it. They saw their error as not being an error but as being their salvation. They had gradually lost their faith in God's word until there was no faith left in it at all save on the part of a tiny remnant of believers.

How does one defile the temple of God, the church? I know of no other way other than by departing from that which governs the church -- the word of God. When a group of people (a congregation or church) begins to practice things not found in the New Testament, allows liberties God does not permit in his word, begins to teach things contrary to the direct word of God, adds to the worship things unheard of in the pages of the new covenant, tolerates sin in the church winking at it or worse begins to call sin righteousness then I would fear being a member of such a congregation. God doesn't just talk to be talking or because he is bored. He said he would destroy him who defiled the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:17) and I for one do not want to be in the vicinity when that happens, do you? Do you want it to be said that you went along with the defiling even if you did not initiate it?

Christ built the church. He is the head of the church (Eph. 5:23). The church is to be subject to Christ (Eph. 5:24). Those things being true then if I come into your worship service and you are doing something I cannot find in the word of Christ (the New Testament) I want to know why you are doing it and upon whose authority. Don't tell me it does not matter for "whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." (Col. 3:17 NKJV) How do you do a thing in the name of the Lord Jesus when the Lord Jesus has never said a word about the thing that you are doing? Do you think you a mere man can take the authority upon yourself to initiate things into the worship service unknown to the word of God? The sad truth is yes most in Christendom believe that very thing. The church cannot be defiled by doing what the scriptures teach but it certainly can by adding things not found in scripture.

In closing, Jesus is the foundation of the church, the rock upon which the church was built but it is his church, not mine, not yours. He built it and he built it the way he wanted it and not the way you or I might like it to be. It is what it is. Our choice is to accept it, reject it outright, or defile it as many have done. The church belongs to Jesus. If we would remember that we would perhaps quit trying to make it ours. We get to be a part of it, a living stone, but we do not own it or rule it and we have no part in making rules for it unless we want to get into the defiling business.  

[To download this article or print it out click here.]