What makes a church Scriptural?

I am not even talking about teaching good deeds. I guess by your own definition Paul corrupted the gospel message as he went beyond "you are a sinner"

I am not sure you understand what good theology is. Good theology always leads to the cross. BTW the Lutheran church does make a clear deliniation between justification and sanctification.

 

Greetings

Context answers your rather obtuse statement. When Paul talks about justification to sinners he does not go beyond simple faith in Jesus Christ. When he addresses believers, he is able to cover the entire panorama of sanctification.

Really, you need to understand the differences of justification and sanctification even as you see fit to malign those who disagree with you. If you did so, there would be a lot less confusion here.

When you lump sanctification issues in with justification it is I who doubts whether you understand good theology. Yes. The Cross leads to justification. Make sure that you go no further with the unsaved. Issues of sanctification are irrelevant to the unsaved. Stick to these issues with the saved. Justification is the Cross; not the Cross plus sanctified works.

BTW Luther got it right. Today, at the grass roots, the teaching of infant baptism, confirmation, and works righteousness has replaced Luther's grand teaching on the central issue of the Church. I'm an ex Lutheran preacher who well knows the distinction between Luther and the Lutheran Church. If Luther were alive today, he would not be a Lutheran.

Aparently, you are unaware that the Lutheran Church has been subsumed by the Episcopal Church. Apparently, you are unaware of the Lutheran stance on perverts. Apparently, you are unaware of the Joint Declarations on justification made with the Roman Catholic Church. Please, do not further embarass yourself with such unfounded untrue comments.

Lloyd

 

Lloyd,

FYI, there are other Lutherans out there that are not liberal like the ELCA. There is the Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synod, neither of which has sold out to liberalism like the ELCA.

Not sure what Chemnitz is though, but I have a feeling he is not ELCA.

 

Ah yes - I see in Chemnitz's profile he is Missouri Synod - a solid denomination, if you're going to be Lutheran.

 

Thank you Andy

Lloyd, please do not confuse me with those who merely call themselves Lutheran but really are not. The LC-MS is not in fellowship with the E?CA nor do we support the actions they have undertaken in the past 60 years (first as LCA and ALC then as ELCA).

"When Paul talks about justification to sinners he does not go beyond simple faith in Jesus Christ."

The problem with this statement is that everybody including believers are sinners. Even Paul called himself chief of sinners.

If you knew Luther as well as you claim then you would know Luther placed a great deal of emphasis on infant baptism.
"The fact that infant baptism pleases Christ is amply proved by His own activity, that is to say that the Lord sanctified and gave the Holy Spirit to many who were baptized as infants." Luther's Large Catechism
or
"I still maintain, as I have maintained in the Postil that the surest Baptism is infant Baptism. For an old person may deceive, may come to Christ as a Judas and permit himself to be baptized. But a child can not decieve. It comes to Christ in baptism as John came to Him and as the little children were brought Him, that His Word and work may come over them, touch them, and thus make them holy. For His Word and work canno pass without effect; and in Baptism they are directed at the child alone. If they were to fail of success here, they would have to be entire failures and useless means which is impossible" Luther's Works vol 26, p157

 

Greetings

Yes - I'm familiar with Luther's view on infant baptism. What a shame. He started with such a great penetrating view of justificationn: simul justus et peccator (simultaneously righteous and sinful). With this great truth in mind, it is hard to see how he could have stumbled over something so easy as infant baptism.

So while you correctly discuss believers as saved sinners, you changed the context from the saved to saved sinners. This is terminology drift that you have introduced that I now reject.

When you deal with the unsaved, the gospel message of faith in Jesus Christ is required. Intense teaching of sanctification issues should wait until Christ's righteousness (justus) is imputed to the sinner.

I have a hard time understanding why you so firmly cling to sanctification in the face of your claimed understanding of Luther's statement. You apparently know about both justification and sanctification. Why then would you wish to blend them in practice?

The beginning of this post addressed issues that made a church scriptural. Churches fall from correct theology at any moment they put sanctification on par with justification. If you wish to discuss sanctification, it should always be on the basis of justification. While sanctification is important; justification is primal.

Lloyd

 

I didn't introduce it. You did when you made the statement when talking to sinners you must stay only with the Gospel. Which by the way is not true many times you have got to start with the Law when they don't know they are sinner.

The very fact that you call infant baptism a matter of sanctification proves that you do not understand Luther on Justification because baptism is at the heart of Justification according to Luther's teaching. This merely proves my point that if you do not have sound doctrine you cannot preach and teach justification with out screwing it up.

 

Say what? I have never heard of any church that called itself Lutheran with such a practice.

 

What happens when we die?


There are quite a few things that make a Church scriptural or unscriptural.

God specifically warns of the Church in the last days before the second coming of Christ being ignorantly involved in "Babylon" and He calls them to come out of the deceptions they are under. Rv. 14:6-12;18:4

Paganism began to be slowly brought into the early Church, in the form of the Papacy and Spiritualism. 2 Thess.2:1-12. The Apostle Paul had said the mystery of iniquity had already begun to work.

Christianity had unwittingly adopted some major pagan beliefs and put a "Christian" spin on them. One of these teachings is that man has a natural immortality of the soul... which actually came from the Greeks. The truth is that when we die, we are in the grave, with no consciousness, and do not awaken until the second coming of Christ. Unfortunately, modern Christianity teaches that when the Christian dies he goes straight to heaven or "hell". This of course lays the foundation for Spiritualism, or and talking to the dead. Closely related to this very serious error in doctrine is the idea of an eternally burning "Hell". You see, only Christians who are saved receive eternal life... not the wicked. The wicked do not receive eternal life in hell, for the wages of sin is "death"... let's start with what happens when we die:


What happens when we die?

By what figure does the Bible represent death?
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." 1 Thess. 4:13 (1 Cor. 15:18, 20) (John 11:11-14).
NOTE. - In sound sleep one is wholly lost to consciousness; time goes by unmeasured; and the functions of the mental organs are suspended for the time being.

Where do the dead sleep?
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." Dan. 12:2.

How long will they sleep there?
"So man lieth down, and riseth not, till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job. 14:12.

What must take place before Job could expect to awake?
"If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will wait, till my change come." Job 14:14.

Where does he wait?
"If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness." Job 17:13.

While in this condition, what does one know of those he has left behind?
"His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:21.

What becomes of man's thoughts at death?
"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:4.

Do the dead know anything?
"For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Eccl. 9:5.

What part, if any, do they take in earthly things?
"Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Ecc. 9:6.
NOTE. - If one continued in consciousness after death, he would know of the promotion or dishonor of his sons. But Job says he does not know this, then if, as stated in the last text quoted, in death one loses all the attributes of his mind, as love, hatred, envy, etc., it is plain that his thoughts have perished, and that he can have nothing more to do with living objects. Again if man in death prolongs his powers of thought, he lives; and if he lives he must be somewhere. Where is he? Is he in heaven, or in hell? If in either place immediately after death, what is the necessity of a judgment in the end of the world to decide his case? Is there a possibility that some have at death gone to the wrong place, and must needs be sent to the other, after having been in bliss or torment for ages, perhaps?

What does the psalmist say about the dead praising the Lord?
"The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17.

How much does one know of God when dead?
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee." Ps. 6:5.

But are not the righteous dead in heaven?
"For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:34.

If the dead cannot praise God, what must take place to enable them to do so?
"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Isa. 26:19.

What was the only thing with which David would be satisfied?
"As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness." Ps. 17:15.

If there should never be an awakening of the dead, what would be the result?
"For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. 15:16-18.

When does the resurrection of the righteous take place?
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Thess. 4:16 (1 Cor. 15:23).
NOTE. - If, as we have learned (Eccl. 9:5), the dead know not anything, then they will certainly have no knowledge of the lapse of time. A thousand years will be to them a day or a moment. To go down to the grave, and wait till the resurrection, even though it be a thousand years, will be to those who experience it like a sudden transition from this life to the next. It ought to be a consoling thought to one whose life has been filled with anxiety and grief for loved ones who persist in wickedness, to know that they will in death be spared torment. Again, it would mar the felicity of one's enjoyment in heaven if he could look upon earth, and see his friends and relatives maltreated by strangers, or suffering from cold and hunger. It is wise that God has ordered it as expressed by the patriarch: "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:21.

 

Fate of the Transgressor


As I said in my last post, another very unfortunate teaching that has entered the Christian Church which too had it's origin in paganism is the idea that the wicked burn forever in Hell. One reason this is so unfortunate is because this terrible view of God has turned countless unbelievers away from accepting Christ. They cannot reconcile this teaching with the idea of a "loving" God. Most all modern day Christian Churches have adopted this teaching of "Hell".


Regarding the wicked, what question does Peter ask?
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" 1 Peter 4:17.

What does Paul say is the wages of sin?
"For the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23 (Eze. 18:4). NOTE. - Die. - To cease to live; to expire; to decease; to perish. - Webster.

What will be the character of this death?
"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 2 Thess. 1:9 (Acts 3:23) (Matt. 10:28).
NOTE. - Destroy. - To kill; to slay; to ruin; to put an end to. - Webster.

What does the Saviour say will befall those who do not repent?
"I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all like wise perish." Luke 13:3 (1 Cor. 1:18) (Job 20:4-6). NOTE. - Perish.- To die; to lose life; to wither and decay; to be destroyed; to come to nothing; to be blotted from existence. - Webster.

In what condition does the apostle say they shall thus perish?
"But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." 2 Peter 2:12.

To what are the wicked in their punishment compared?
"But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20.
NOTE. - Consume. - To destroy by separating the parts of a thing by decomposition, as by fire, etc.; to bring to utter ruin; to exterminate. - Webster.

What will be the results of this punishment?
"As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation." Prov. 10:25.

Will any part of them be left?
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

What will then be their condition?
"For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." Obad. 1:16.

Where will the place of the wicked then be?
"For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Ps. 37:10.
NOTE. - It would be difficult to keep the wicked in eternal torment without any place even, in which to exist.

The earth in its present condition is and has been the place of the wicked. Where will they receive their recompense, death, which is the wages of sin?
"Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner." Prov. 11:31.

How is this accomplished?
"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20:9

Do the wicked go directly to this punishment at death? If not, when do they receive it?
"The lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Peter 2:9 (Job 21:29, 30).

The earth, the sinner's "place," has been cursed with sin. To what is that reserved?
"But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7.

What will be the result of this fire on the earth?
"Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." 2 Peter 3:12.

What does our Saviour call the earth when in this condition?
"The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire." Matt. 13:41, 42.

After the burning of the earth, what is to come?
"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13.
NOTE. - The "place" of the wicked no longer exists. That, too, will be gone.

But where will the righteous then be found?
"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. 13:43.

What promise of the Saviour's will at that time be verified?
"Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5.

What universal song will be sung?
"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13.

 

Everlasting Punishment (part 2 on "Hell")

When the wicked have once received their punishment, how enduring will be its effect?
"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46.

What is the punishment for sin?
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.
NOTE. - This is the very opposite of eternal life. Everlasting punishment, then, is everlasting death, a death that lasts forever.

How many deaths are there for the wicked?
"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murders, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." Rev. 21:8.
NOTE. - Good and bad men are alike subject to the first death, but this is a temporal death, which lasts only till the resurrection. After the cases of all men are settled in the judgment, the wicked then die the second death, which is eternal in its effects.

In this fire will there be torment? and how long will it last?
"He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever." Rev. 14:10, 11.
NOTE. - The Greek term translated in this text "forever and ever," has different meanings; according to the connection in which it is used, such as, duration, finite or infinite; unlimited duration, past or future; time, age, lifetime; the world, universe. Greenfield.

How is the term understood in the case of certain Hebrew servants?
"His master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever." Ex. 21:6.
NOTE. - He could not serve his master longer than he lived.

For how long a time did Samuel's mother lend him to the Lord to serve in the temple?
"I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide forever." "Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." 1 Sam. 1:22, 28.
NOTE. - In this case it is definitely stated to be ''as long as he liveth." Had Samuel lived only a week or a month, the "forever" would have been limited to a week or a month. It is evident that the term "forever" often means "limited duration."

How long was Jonah carried in the whale's belly through the depths?
"I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever." Jonah 2:6.
NOTE. - In this case "forever" is limited to three days.

What is the nature of the fire into which the wicked will finally be cast?
"Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, De- part from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.

What is said of this fire in another place?
"He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12.
NOTE. - The fire is said to be everlasting because it is not "quenched." If fire is quenched after taking hold upon a house, the structure is saved; but if the fire is unquenchable, it does for the house just what the last quoted text says it will do with the chaff (the wicked) namely burn it up. Such a fire is called "everlasting," because it lasts as long as there is anything for it to prey upon, and because its results are everlasting.

Has everlasting or eternal fire ever been visited upon men in the past?
"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 7.

What was the result of this eternal fire upon those cities?
"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." 2 Peter 2:6.
NOTE. - "Everlasting" fire converted these cities into ashes, and the apostle says they were made an ensample to those who should after live ungodly. We cannot for a moment suppose that those cities are now burning; for the saline waters of the Dead Sea rollover the very spot where they stood.

What will be the final effect of this fire on the wicked?
"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 2 Thess. 1:9.

 

The Ten Commandments and the Change of the Sabbath Change of the Sabbath

The Bible clearly teaches that Christians must keep the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, many Christian Churches have adopted the error that says the commandments were abolished at the cross. They misunderstand the New Testament. This is why the keeping of the commandments is a prominent theme in the Book of Revelation. God knew that this was going to happen.

But God commands us to keep ALL of the Ten commandments including the 4th, which is the Sabbath commandment. Most of Christianity today has once again adopted pagan teaching and Sunday keeping as a holy day which was derived originally from the pagan celebration of the "Venerable Day of the Sun". The practice is not biblical at all.

Rv:12:17: And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Rv:14:12: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Rv:22:14: Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.


According to the prophet, what was to be Christ's attitude toward His Father's law?
"The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable." Isaiah 42:21.

How much of the law did He uphold?
"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:18.

How were those to be regarded who should break one of these commandments?
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:19.

How much of the law did Christ say is suspended on the two great commandments of love?
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:40.
NOTE. - The entire code of ten commandments is clearly binding on Christians. From the above texts we learn that Christ had no thought of changing any of them. One of these commands the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But the practice of most Christians is different; they keep the first day of the week instead, many of them believing that Christ changed the Sabbath. But we see from His own words that He has not attempted such a work.

What is said of the power represented by the "little horn?"
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Daniel 7:25.

What power claims authority to change God's law?
The Roman Church.

What part of the law has this power thought to change?
The fourth commandment.
NOTE. - "They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the Church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments." Augsburg Confession, art. 28.
"It [the Roman Church] has reversed the fourth commandment, doing away with the Sabbath of God's word, and instituting Sunday as a holy day." N. Summerbell, in History of the Christians, page 418.

Who first enjoined Sunday keeping by law?
Constantine the Great.
NOTE. - "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerable day of the sun), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor." Encyclopedia Britannica, art. Sunday, ninth edition, 1887.
"Constantine the Great made a law for the whole empire (321 A.D.) that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest in all cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow their work." Encyclopedia Americana, art. Sabbath.

What did Constantine's law require?
"Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines; lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by Heaven." Translated from the original edict in Latin, now in Harvard College.
NOTE. - It will be noticed that in this edict no sacred title is given to the day to be observed; it is called simply the "venerable day of the sun," and was enforced only as such. Constantine, like his ancestors, was a worshiper of the sun. The first day of the week had for ages been dedicated to that worship, and from that fact retains the name Sunday. See Webster. But on acknowledging Christ, Constantine refused to surrender the venerable day of the sun, and brought it into Christianity with him, and thus it was handed down to the Christian church.

When and by what authority was Sunday first enjoined upon Christians as the Lord's day?
Prynne says: "The seventh-day Sabbath was... solemnized by Christ, the apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did, in a manner, quite abolish the observation of it... The Council of Laodicea [364 A.D.]... first settled the observation of the Lord's day." Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath, page 162, 1633.

What did this council decree about the Sabbath?
"Because Christians ought not to Judaize, and to rest in the Sabbath, but to work in that day... Wherefore if they shall be found to Judaize, let them be accursed from Christ." Ibid, pages 33, 34. The foregoing are Protestant testimonies.

But do Catholics themselves acknowledge their meddling with the Sabbath Commandment?
They do.
"Question. - How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
"Answer. - By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church." Abridgement of Christian Doctrine, page 58.
"Question. - Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
"Answer. - Had she not such power, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority." Doctrinal Catechism, page 351.

To whom do people really pay homage?
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Romans 6:16.

What kind of worship does the Saviour call that which is not according to God's commandments?
"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:9.

What was the difference between Elijah's faith, and that of the other prophets of his day?
"Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men." 1 Kings 18:22.

Who was the Baal of the heathen Hebrews?
"Baal, or Bel, the principal god of the Phoenicians, Chaldeans, and Carthaginians, is regarded as a personification of the sun... The worship of Baal prevailed among the Jews in the time of the prophet Elijah and earlier," Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia, art, Baal.

What appeal did Elijah make to the people?
"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word." 1 Kings 18:21.
NOTE. - If one becomes a servant to whoever he obeys, and he obeys the dictates of the Roman Church, knowing them to be such, would he not, in the sight of Heaven, be regarded as a servant of that church instead of a servant of God? How appropriate, then, are the words of Elijah (with a slight change) to those who learn the origin of Sunday observance: "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if the Roman Church, follow it."

 

There of course are additional teachings that make a Church scriptural or unscriptural, but I have listed some of the major ones.

But on the other hand, there are many loyal, loving sincere Christians who are involved in these various deceptions who do not realize it and that is why in the Book of Revelation God refers to them as "My people" ... "Come out of Babylon MY PEOPLE". Rv:18:4: And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.


You can read more on the topics of what happens when we die and "Hell" here, if you want to know what I believe in unscriptural about what most Christian Churches today teach on these doctrines:

[ August 18, 2005, 01:14 AM: Message edited by: DHK ]

 

Baptist types dedicate their children but not their paychecks. Why? Doesn't cost them anything.

 

By your very question, you have provided the answer. They must do what is found in the scriptures, whether it is a direct command, an approved example, or a necessary inference, to be scriptural.

There is but one Church or body (Eph 4:4). That body is not to be divided (I Cor 1:10), but to all teach the same thing.

If a group does not follow the New Testament pattern given in the scriptures, it is not scriptural. It does not matter what any man thinks, or likes. True worship MUST be according to truth. Truth is God's word. Therefore, true worship is according to God's word.

Anyone truly seeking the truth will find it. Those who are not seeking truth, will never find it.

 

Avl:
Follow the pattern of the new testament this makes a congregation scriptural. There is more to beign scriptural than justification and the trinity. II Tim. 3:16,17.