Where Is the True Church of Christ?

Is It, Or Can It Be Found In Christendom?

According to the Bible, we may all find the answer we are seeking — an explanation of what and where is the true Church. In the Scriptures it is described as “the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23; Rev. 21:27; Luke 10:20). Will anyone in the denominations of Christendom claim that their church roll corresponds to that written in heaven in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Would anyone in the churches of Christendom’s varied and numerous denominations, groups or sects dare to make such a claim? Most assuredly, No. We all realize that at very most the various groups and organizations of Christendom are composed of wheat (the true followers of Christ) and tares (all others), and that, as far as human judgment can discern, the tares are vastly in the majority. (Matth. 13:24–30).

The Scriptures declare that the Lord knows them that are his! (John 10:14, 27; 2 Tim. 2:19; Matth. 7:15–21). The intimation is that no one but the Lord certainly, truly, knows which are the true sheep and which are the goats or wolves (Matth. 7:15; 25:32). We are exhorted not to judge one another. “Condemn not that ye be not condemned” (Luke 6:37; Matth. 7:1). Each heart is Scripturally exhorted to have its own fellowship with God, not through synods or presbyteries, not through priests or popes. Every branch is to be vitally united to the Vine; every Christian, every member of the true church, is to be vitally united to Christ! (1 John 1:3; John 15:1–6).

In that very parable (John 15:1–6), our Lord declares that every branch in him that bears no fruit will be cut off (verses 2 and 6). Thus, from the standpoint of divine wisdom and knowledge, the Church of Christ on the earth (during the Gospel age) is composed only of those who have fled away from sin (Rom. 13:12–14; 1 Tim. 6:11–12), who by faith have laid hold upon the Redeemer (1 Cor. 16:13; Phil. 1:27; 1 Tim. 6:11–12; Rom. 13:12–14) and have consecrated their lives unto death in the service of the true Truth through Christ Jesus unto God (Rom. 6:3; Phil. 1:9–11; John 12:26).

So, then, without attempting a personal identification of the “branches” of the Vine, we may surely know that they are very few. We may surely know that the nominal membership of the various denominations, groups, or sects contain comparatively few of these saintly ones, who alone have divine recognition as being “the church of the first-borns whose names are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23) — fruit-bearing branches in the true Vine, living stones in the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16–17; Eph. 2:20–22), active members in the Spirit-begotten body of Christ.

To this conclusion the words of the Scriptures agree, assuring us that “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life [life as a member of the true body of Christ], and few there be that go in thereat” (Matth. 7:13–14; Luke 13:24). They assure us again that these favored few number not many great, not many rich or learned, but chiefly the poor of this world, rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom — heirs with Christ (1 Cor. 1:26–28; James 2:5; John 12:26; 10:4–5, 27). They assure us that this kingdom class must all be footstep followers of Jesus; as he said, “If any one would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, that where I am, there shall my disciple be” (Matth. 16:24). And again he said, “Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32 — as joint heirs with him).

Christian Union Never Lost

From this standpoint we perceive that the great masses, Catholics and Protestants, are not, and never were, the Church of Christ; they deceive themselves. They have been children of the world, not spirit-begotten new creatures in Christ; they have not been living stones in the temple, not branches of the true Vine, not members of the “little flock”. They have been worldly people with religious sentiments and good desires who misunderstood that great teaching of the Bible — that only those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus: are the true saints of God, are the true and only members of the Church of Christ.

What has been done by these large numbers of well-meaning but mistaken people in the way of organizing churches, lodges, etc., had nothing whatever to do with God’s great work of bringing into being the CHURCH OF CHRIST by way of the “high and holy calling” through HIS holy Word effective throughout the Gospel age. (Jude 1; Heb. 2:11; Phil. 3:4; 2 Tim. 1:9).

The true church has never been divided, because each member of it is united with the Lord, the Head, and, through him, united to every other “member of his body, which is the church”, the “little flock”. In this one church, there has always been maintained one Lord Jesus, one faith, his Word of promise, one baptism — the baptism of consecration into his death — to suffer with him that, by and by, we may reign with him. (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 6:15; 12:12; Eph. 4:4–6; Rom. 6:3–6; 8:16–17; 2 Tim. 2:11–12).

The Hidden Mystery

Does some one say, Where is the history of this church? We answer, in the language of the Apostles, that: “the world knoweth us not, even as it knew him not” (1 John 3:1). The world of Jesus’ day were the professed religionists; yet they knew not the great religious Teacher and Redeemer whom God had sent, and they crucified him. Similarly all the way down, the great religious teachers of the various systems have not known, have not recognized the “members of the body of Christ” a bit more than the Jews recognized the Head of that body.

This is the very point which the Apostle Paul emphasizes. He declares that the fact, as well as the philosophy, of the church being members of Christ is to the world — both the religious and the irreligious world — a HIDDEN MYSTERY; it is outside of their philosophy, their theory, their understanding. (Eph. 1:9–13; 3:3–7; Col. 1:26–27; Rev. 10:7). Hence it is that the most saintly characters, both in Catholicism and Protestantism, have been martyrs, as Jesus was, as Stephen was, as all the Apostles were, and all the faithful during the intermediate centuries were, and as some may yet be if an outward union be effected such as once prevailed — in the “dark ages”.

Counterfeiting the True Church

If now we declare that, to a certain extent, the true church has been counterfeited, both by Catholics and Protestants, let no one take offense and suppose that we are wishing to speak unkindly. We do not charge that these counterfeits of the true church were made knowingly or intentionally, but merely that the church, coming under the control of brilliant minds not spirit-begotten, not heaven-enlightened, misread the Word of God, misinterpreted it, and followed their misinterpretations.

Notice, for instance, the Roman Catholic church. The average Roman Catholic does not know that he is not a member of the church, that its most explicit teaching is, that: the church is composed of the pope and the other religious instructors — Cardinals, Bishops, etc. — and that the common people are not members of the church, but, as they style them, “children of the church”.

Thus, the Catholic church appropriates to itself the words of Jesus respecting the “little flock,” etc.; they apply those Scriptures to the clergy, and not to the congregation. This is the secret of Papacy’s great mistake. In their ecclesiastical system they have a counterfeit of the true church. And because the Scriptures declare that the Lord’s faithful “little flock”, “the church of the living God whose names are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23; Luke 10:20; 1 Tim. 3:15), will reign with Christ, therefore Papacy claims, on the strength of that promise, the right to reign with imperial power and heavenly authority over its kingdoms of earth. And it has been Papacy’s endeavor to carry out this erroneous reasoning, and to make good its counterfeit of the true church and her work, that has led to so many grievous difficulties, persecutions, wars, turmoils.

The True Reign of the Saints

If Papacy has the counterfeit of the true church and the counterfeit of the true reign, what does the Bible teach respecting the genuine? This: That the faithfulness of the unknown, disesteemed, rejected of men, saintly followers in Jesus’ footsteps, constitutes their schooling, testing, preparation for a share in the kingdom with Christ their Lord. (1 Pet. 1:3–7; James 1:12).

When the full number of the elect church, predestinated of the Father (God did not predestinate the individuals of the church, but that there will be a select company of a fixed number: the “little flock”, the “bride of Christ”), shall have been thus gathered out of the world and finally glorified (Rev. 14:1, 3; 7:4), then the kingdom to which they are heirs will be established, and they shall be joint-heirs with Jesus Christ their Lord (Rom. 8:17), King of kings and Lord of lords. His kingdom will rule the world, not by guns or swords, not by racks or burning at the stake and inquisitionary torments, but by heavenly power, which then will have full control of earth’s affairs (Matth. 6:10; Is. 26:9; 28:17), with righteousness and just judgment (Is. 42:1–4; 28:17).

Children of the Church

What the Roman Catholic church has (what the Papal system has) is merely a counterfeit of the truth respecting the church as a mother and certain children. The Scriptures teach that, in the new order of things — during “the times of restitution of all things” — when Christ shall have to himself his great power and institute his Messianic kingdom for the blessing and uplifting of mankind, he will have a bride — the church — “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” (Matth. 25:1; Rev. 21:9). And the Scriptures further represent that the glorified Jesus, who is the heavenly Bridegroom, and the glorified church, who is the heavenly bride, will, figuratively, beget children. That is to say, all through the Messianic kingdom of “the times of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21), all through that reign of righteousness, the glorified Jesus will be the everlasting Father, or Giver of everlasting life, on the earthly plane to Adam and all of his children who will accept it on the terms of the kingdom (Is. 9:6; 1 Cor. 15:21). Then the church will be the mother or nourisher and caretaker of all mankind to uplift them, instruct them, develop them, in the ways of righteousness — to bring as many as will (prove willing) up to the full perfection of human nature and life everlasting. All refusing this uplift, and rejecting the grace of God, will be destroyed in the second death; that is: they will be cut off from life for ever, they will go into non-existence. (Acts 3:22–23; Is. 35:8–9).

Are There Protestant Counterfeits?

Although Protestants repudiate the Roman Catholic idea that the clergy alone constitute the church, and that the people are the children of the church, nevertheless in many denominations we see this insidious error in a slightly different form. This is notably true of the Episcopal church, which puts everything in the way of government into the hands of the clergy and treats the laity, to a considerable degree, as though they were children unable to comprehend spiritual things. The Methodist Episcopal church follows closely in the same line of procedure. The Presbyterian and Lutheran systems also quite particularly differentiate the clergy from the laity, even though the laity be given some apparent recognition on the ecclesiastical boards. This is done usually for a reward or for the purpose of securing financial or legal advice. But the laity is not supposed to have an equal standing with the clergy in respect to spiritual things.

Congregationalists and Baptists and Disciples most nearly recognize an equality between the clergy and laity and that the entire church of God, whoever they may be, are a royal priesthood. Yet even with these congregational bodies there is an attempt made to separate between clergy and laity, and to hold all the spiritual power and authority in the hands of the clergy. This is done along financial lines in the Congregational church through the so-called Congregational Union.

In the Baptist church the ministers combine in what is known as a Baptist Ministers’ Association, which holds the reins over the people as parents over children, and tells them whom they may call for a pastor and whom not — whom the Association is willing to ordain as their pastor, and whom it will refuse. Thus the same spirit is manifested in all these earthly systems, and by it they are all distinctly different from the true Church and her Scriptural regulations, which declare, “All ye are brethren” — “and One is your Master, even Christ, and One is your Father, even God.” (Matth. 23:8; Acts 7:26; Luke 8:21 — not the Pope, or any ecclesiastical group, neither the leader of any sect whatever he may call himself).

[The foregoing is part of an article written in the Christian Herald’s monthly of Feb. 1st, 1911]

“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matth. 13:9, 43), and, of course, also: “Who hath eyes to see, let him see.”

A Supplementary Comment with Regard to What Really the Individual Members of the True Church of Christ Must Be Like!

The Bible, the holy Word of God, very clearly declares and points out the requirements of such a one who would, or will become one of those who are being selected to make up “The Bride Of Christ”, “The Little Flock”, “The Members Of The Body Of Christ”, “The Joint-Heirs With Him”. They are:

  • those to whom the Apostle Paul’s words apply: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:1–6);

  • those who earnestly and with great zeal practice to: “grow up into him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:15);

  • those who do not “conform” to the world, but are “transformed” by the “renewing” of the mind, to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2);

  • those who are with Christ — in Christ — and: “are called, and chosen, and faithful” to their calling (Rev. 17:14);

  • those who worship God “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24);

  • those who take these words very seriously: “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);

  • those who: “prove all things” (1 Thess. 5:21) to themselves from the Scriptures and do not just accept what is being taught, preached and required within all of Christendom; and especially not by the so-called Televangelists with their display of theatrical performances (movements, both with their body parts and facial mimics);

  • those to whom Jesus refers in the parable of the true shepherd (Christ Jesus himself) and his sheep (his true followers) in the 10th chapter of John: “… for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow …” (v. 4–5); “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (v. 14); “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (v. 27);

  • those to whom Jesus refers with these words: “He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matth. 7:21);

  • those to whom the words of Jesus apply: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

  • those of whom God speaks in this way: “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (Mal. 3:17);

  • “those that have made a covenant with me [with God] by sacrifice” (Ps. 50:5);

  • those who understand the full meaning of these words: “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay” (Eccl. 5:4–5).

And Be it Noticed Also That:

All those others — all the rest of the Adamic race: are not going to Purgatory or “Hell” for an eternity of torment, as one of Christendom’s invented doctrines states and declares (invented, because it is not Scriptural, not a doctrine of God). Oh no, God’s Plan of Salvation is not just for a special few, not just for a specific group, not just for a portion of the Adamic family. It is: for Adam and all his posterity! That is what the Scriptures declare, proclaim and teach, as for instance:

It is God’s will to “have all men [all people] to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth [God’s truth]” (1 Tim. 2:4). Therefore, during God’s true Kingdom under the reign of the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (that is, during “the times of restitution of all things”), God will provide for all that “the earth [then] shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:1–9).

“For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited … Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return [everything pertaining to his glorious Plan of Salvation for Adam and all his posterity, at the end of which the result will be], That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [confess]” (Is. 45:18, 22–23; Rom. 14:11).

That is the reason why we read: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).

That is the reason: “that he [Jesus] by the grace of God should taste death for every man [for every one of the Adamic race]” (Heb. 2:9).

On this basis, the Apostle Paul elaborates: “Therefore as by the offence of one [by Adam’s disobedience to his creator] judgment came upon all men to condemnation [Adam’s fall from perfection was before any of his children were born]; even so by the righteousness of one [Christ’s righteousness and obedience] the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life [in God’s due time] … that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:18, 21).

“For since by man [Adam] came death, by man [the man Christ Jesus] came also the resurrection of the dead [and will take place in due time according to God’s “times and seasons”]. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21–22).

This is why Jesus said: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming [that is, the time will come — namely, during “the times of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21)], in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his [the Redeemer’s] voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [all those who will receive their approval of God during this Gospel age, as well as those Worthies of the previous ages of which the Apostle Paul gives some examples in the 11th chapter of Romans]; and they that have done evil [all the rest of mankind] unto the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28–29; and note that the word “judgment” is improperly translated as “damnation”). This judgment is, of course, the judgment spoken of in Is. 26:9, where we read: “… for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness”, and which is the same time of which Jesus speaks in Matth. 6:10: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is [done] in heaven”, all of which does take place during “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began [Adam’s world]” (Acts 3:21).

In Gen. 22:16–18, we read: “… By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD … In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed …”, and in Gen. 12:3 the words are: “… shall all families of the earth be blessed”.

And since God “cannot lie” (Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6:18) and does not “change” (Mal. 3:6): “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14).

Who is man to contradict God’s holy Word? But from God’s Word we have also this statement: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent [those who are looked upon as wise and prudent from the human standpoint, those who use worldly wisdom and appear to be prudent]” (1 Cor. 1:19).

“Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder [not a miracle, but an astonishment to the people]: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid [shall be obscured, specially applicable to the ecclesiastical representatives, the religious teachers and preachers]” (Is. 29:14).

To Conclude, These Statements from the Scriptures:

“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Is. 66:1), “… and I will make the place of my feet glorious” (Is. 60:13).

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).

“And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed [the glory of God’s Justice, the glory of His Wisdom, the glory of His Power, and the glory of His Love toward His creation “man”], and all flesh [Adam and all his posterity] shall see it together” (Is. 40:5). In due time, during “the times of restitution of all things”: they shall experience it, shall recognize it.

“And it will be said [then] in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him [we have hoped for such a God in the far corners of our heart, of our mind], and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him [in spite of all the madness, deception, hypocrisy, oppression, etc., etc., etc., which is manifested and practiced by the people of the human race], we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Is. 25:9).

“O THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! HOW UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGMENTS, AND HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT! FOR WHO HATH KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HATH BEEN HIS COUNSELLOR? OR WHO HATH FIRST GIVEN TO HIM, AND IT SHALL BE RECOMPENSED UNTO HIM AGAIN? FOR OF HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, AND TO HIM, ARE ALL THINGS: TO WHOM BE GLORY FOR EVER. AMEN.” (Rom. 11:33–36).