The apostle Paul wrote: “The churches of Christ salute you … mark them that are causing divisions contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them … by their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the innocent” (Rom 16:16-18). All religions have some kind of distinctive plea that makes
Corrective Training is seldom practiced, and even more rarely is it carried out by scripture plan. Sadly, when a member of the church is “not living according to the teaching” (2 Thes 3:6), elders normally avoid the command of corrective training (discipline) by ignoring it or advising the accused to “go find another place to
Church history is a history of the kingdom of God. He promised that even the “gates of hades” would not prevent its establishment, nor shall it ever cease to exist (Mt 16:18; Dan 2:44; Heb 12:28). Governments and denominations of men rise and fall, but Christ’s true church will never be destroyed! At the end
There are two directions which can be taken: The road to restoration, or the road to apostasy. The road to restoration means a return to the narrow way, the faith of the New Testament church. The road to apostasy means to depart from the “faith once and for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).
“By what authority are you doing these things?” The chief priests and elders asked Jesus this question (Mt 21:23-27). Jesus replied by asking them a question: “I will ask you one question … John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?” Since they could not answer Jesus, neither did He
“Do Not Go Beyond What Is Written” (I Cor 4:6). This command was written to the church in Corinth. They had trouble with division because some did not hold their teaching, their behavior, their worship to the “pattern of sound words” (2 Tim 1:13). Unity among Christians is only achieved and maintained by “speaking the
When the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome three years before he arrived, it was nothing like what he had expected when he wrote the letter. He wanted to come with joy and find rest with Christians (Romans 15). But Acts 28 tells how different it turned out. He wanted to appear as
JUST WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? With nearly 1200 religious groups recognized by the IRS, one probably knows little about any particular church. Just what is distinct about the church of Christ? Are they worldwide? What is their message? How are they governed? About half of the 27,318 congregations are in the USA and the rest
Thank you for your letter last week. You say the Catholic Church was founded by Christ and then gave us the Bible. If that be true, is it not strange that the Roman Catholic Church is never mentioned in the Bible? Nor any pope, hierarchy, ecumenical council, unmarried bishops or clergy, infant sprinkling for baptism,
Peter asked Jesus, “How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Mt 18:21). Peter knows Jesus had compassion and mercy. He thought his question would impress Jesus about how merciful he was, to forgive others seven times! But Jesus’ answer was shocking: not seven times but seventy