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If we are to abide by the old adage, ³*ive the devil his dues,” then we should hang a blue ribbon on old 6atan for having been such an excellent salesman in duping the masses into believing that one church is as good as another. If we are wrong in ascribing this idea to the devil, we shall be most happy to learn of such and will welcome the opportunity to repudiate our own mistakes. +owever, our investigation of the word of *od fails to reveal one single verse that even implies that such is true, on the contrary, we find ample evidence that leads us to conclude that such an idea is false.

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If the Lord Jesus &hrist built a church, it must be a better one than man can build, unless man is as proficient in such things as the Lord. %ut did the Lord build a church? In 0atthew : after 3eter had confessed Jesus to be the &hrist, the 6on of the living *od, Jesus said, ³8pon this rock the fact that he was the 6on of the living *od I will build my church.” If the Lord never built his church, then he did not do what he promised that he would do. 'id he break his promise? No, for in Acts 2:47 we find those being saved were added to the church. The saved could not be added to something that did not exist, hence the church was in existence at the time the things of Acts 2:47 took place. 6ome time between 0atthew : when Jesus said, ³I will build my church,” and Acts 2:47 the church of &hrist was established and people were being added to it.

Acts 2 :2 says the Lord ³purchased the church with his own blood.” Would you say that the church which &hrist built, which cost him his own blood, is no better than one built by man? To say that the church of &hrist is no better than a man-made church is to reflect upon the intelligence of &hrist and accuse *od of trickery.

*od sent +is 6on into the world to purchase man’s redemption. The church was in *od’s divine arrangement for man’s salvation. According to *od’s purpose, &hrist died a cruel death on the cross, and purchased the church with his shed blood in order that man might be saved. And after all this had been done, he suddenly learned that *od had deceived him, because his church was no better than a man-made church and his blood was shed for nothing, if indeed one church is as good as another. In light of clear %ible revelation who could believe such?

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The only way one church could be as good as another is for &hrist to have built all of them or none of them. If he built all of them, then of course one is as good as another. If he built none of them, then we would also concede that ³one is as good as another,” since we have no reason to believe one when left to human wisdom would do any better Mob in building a church than another. %ut we have already seen that Jesus did build one church, so that eliminates the second alternative by which one church could be as good as another and leaves only the first.

'id he build them all? There are hundreds of different churches, different religious bodies in America. Is &hrist responsible for all of them? 'id he build them all? 6ince we know that the Lord did some church building, if he did not build them all, how many did he build? Any attempt to answer these Tuestions on the basis of opinion, or what we think, or what we believe about it, is as worthless as no answer at all. The only consideration of value is, ³What does the %ible say?” Let us see.

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(phesians 4:4- says, ³There is 21( body, and 21( 6pirit, even as ye are called in 21( hope of your calling; 21( Lord, 21( faith, 21( baptism, 21( *od and )ather of all.”

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(phesians :22-2 reads: ³And hath put all things under his &hrist’s feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” What is the body? It is the church. Listen again: ³And he is the head of the body, the church«”

&ol. : . The church is the body; the body is the church. +ow many bodies. Just one. +ow many churches? Just one. 6ince there is one body and the body is the church, the Lord does not have but one church. +e never built but one. +e never promised to build but one. +e did QRW say, ³8pon this rock I will build a church.” +e did not say, ³I will build my FKXUFKHV” or ³RQH of my churches.” %ut he did say, ³I will build 0< church”²singular.

In (phesians :2 -2 the relationship between &hrist and his church is likened to that of a husband and wife: ³)or the husband is the head of the wife, even as &hrist is the head of the church; and he is the saviour of the body.” +ow many wives is a husband supposed to have?” We are not asking how many some have, we are asking how many is he VXSSRVHG to have? Well, that is how many churches the Lord has. +e is no spiritual polygamist. 9erse 2 says, ³+usbands, love your wives, even as &hrist also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” +e did not give himself for WKHP. +e gave himself for LW. Now, how many are ³it”? Well, the singular ³it” is how many churches &hrist gave himself for. There are those who may never accept believe this, but, no one can honestly misunderstand this %iblical revelation.

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If there are different churches in this country, and &hrist built only one, then if any one of the belong to &hrist, 4 are not his and men are responsible for them. They are QRW as good as the Lord’s. 6alvation is in &hrist’s church. There is no salvation in man-made churches. They are not as good as the Lord’s church. +e adds the saved to +LV church. 6ince &hrist has but one church, and there are about others, how may we know which one is +is? We are in sympathy with the honest inTuirer and know he can find no help from denominational preachers. If he made the rounds, asking each preacher if the church of which he was a member was the Lord’s he possibly would receive all affirmative answers and would be no better off than when he began.

The way to find out which is the Lord’s church is to take your %ible and get acTuainted with the church of the New Testament. Learn about its builder, its name, its creed, what people did to become members of it, its worship, organization, and mission. Then find the one today exactly like it, and you will have located the Lord’s church. If, in your investigation, you find the church of which you are a member has in its worship things which the New Testament church did not have, wears a name unknown to the New Testament church, and offers salvation on terms which the New Testament did not offer, then you will know that you are not a member of the church of &hrist.

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It is our sincere desire and prayer that you obey the gospel today and be saved. 5emember the words of Jesus, ³Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my )ather which is in heaven. 0any will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniTuity”

0atthew 7:2 -2 .

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If you are not a &hristian you can be by obeying the gospel. Jesus says, ³+e that believes and is baptized shall be saved” 0ark : . 3aul said; ³)or I am not ashamed of the gospel of &hrist: for it is the power of *od unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the *reek” 5omans : . The words of Jesus teach us that to become a &hristian one must:

‡ +ear the gospel John :44-4

‡ %elieve in Jesus as the &hrist John :24

‡ 5epent of all sins Luke :

‡ &onfess &hrist as Lord 0atthew : 2

‡ And be baptized to be saved 0ark :

‡ After baptism remain faithful to *od. 0atthew :22

If we do Must what our Lord commanded we know that our salvation is certain and we will hear +im say ³Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the Moy of thy lord” 0atthew 2 :2 . Let us go back to the %ible, back to &hrist and +is church and do exactly what +e commanded. 3lease let us help you in your obedience to the gospel before it is eternally too late.

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