“But I believe ….,” or some variation thereof, is the usual retort when a life-long Christian is shown what God wrote in His Book.  Invariably, His Word refutes a so-called “Bible truth” espoused by the churchite, which is the point at which “But I believe ….” enters the conversation.  The Introduction to this website lists a number of such “Bible truths” that are universally believed.  Each is a heathen belief or practice that professing Christianity has embraced as a command of the Biblical God and made a foundation “stone” upon which “the faith” is built.

In the series titled “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?” I prove Scripturally that “No man is an island” in the spiritual sense.  God’s Very Elect are indeed our brother’s keeper.  His true saints cannot influence our family, neighbor or associates if we isolate ourselves from them and refuse to associate with them on the social level.  As the Apostle Paul said, we are in the world but not of the world.  We are in the world in order to manifest what Jesus said about Himself.  We are to conduct our lives so that when men see us they see the Father.  Our lives and words must be the template that guides those who see God in us and desire to become what they see.  For that reason we must obey the Words of God, as did our human example–Jesus of Nazareth.  In order to do this we must “walk even as He (Jesus) walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) by being as pure as He is pure (1 Jn. 3:3) and by overcoming Satan in the same was as Jesus overcame (him) (Rev. 3:21).  Notice that, for those who seek only to please their Lord, there are no alternatives, no partial obedience to command, no participation trophy.

There are those who have created private, individualized rules that have supposedly produced their personal salvation.  This is the same power the Serpent offered Eve in the Garden of Eden.  He convinced her that, while continuing to recognize her Law-giver as her God, she could decide whether to obey His commands.  After all, she had the Serpent’s word that He would not punish her for disobeying Him.  Eve embraced Satan’s lure and persuaded Adam to follow her lead.  The rest is history.  The promise of individualized Christianity is the most powerful, most desirable lure the Conventional Church has to offer salvation seekers.  Touting the lure as “a personal relationship with god,” the mantra was eagerly embraced by those looking for the “wide gate” and “broad way” leading to salvation (Mat. 7:13,14).  The popular lie has corrupted the spiritual dna of many generations of church people.  It is true that we can have and should have a personal relationship with the Lord because we are personally responsible for our spiritual condition.  Note that the epistles written by the apostles were in most cases written to churches, not individuals.  Christ said that He would raise up His CHURCH, and that the gates of hell would not prevail against IT (Mat. 16:18).  He views His church as a single entity–one family.  He asked the Father to make the 12 disciples “one,” even as He and the Father were “one,” meaning one in spirit, mind, will, words, thoughts, deeds, etc. (Jn. 17:22), which perfectly describes His church.  In John 10:30 He confessed that He and the Father were indeed “one.”

God, Christ and their true saints are a family known Scripturally as the church  Spiritual family members are all on the same page of the same Book which the head of the family has written.  In John 17:23 Jesus said that the disciples (then and now) could be made perfect only as one single entity.  The Lord said that a house divided will fall.  God’s true family will not fall because we are all “one” together and, as a group, one with Him.  He is that One after Whom each member patterns him/herself, our big Brother Jesus being our example.

The Lord’s family members are united by belief in and obedience to His Word.  It is through His Word that His family members are sanctified–set aside for holy use.  Jesus said in John 17:17 that His disciples can be sanctified only by God’s Word.  His Word can sanctify an individual only if he/she believes and obeys it.  Adam and Eve had God’s Word.  After Satan injected his word into the mix they had to choose whose truth they would believe and obey.  All people have to make that same choice.  Those who choose God’s Word and obey it comprise His church, His family.  And they are “ONE.”  “But I believe ….” plays no part in the lives of family members because they all believe the same thing–God’s Word as written.  There are no Catholics and Protestants, no denominations, no faiths, no orders, etc. within God’s church/family.  There is only “ONE” church and she has no other label.  She is The Church of God–not to be confused with the denomination of that name.  Because she has one Head–Christ–her globally-scattered bodies are referred to as “the churches of Christ” in Scripture–not to be confused with the denomination of that name.  These groups, along with all other Catholic and Protestant groups, are false churches offering a false god, a false messiah, a false gospel and a false salvation.  The same is true for the individual who refuses to be a part of a true church body if such a body exists in his/her vicinity.

A common refrain heard when individualists are told that they must become part of a church body is: “But God tells us to “work out our own salvation.”  This Truth is found in Philippians 2:12: “Whereas, my beloved (fellow saints), as you have always OBEYED (the Lord’s Words) … work out your own salvation WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING.”  This is done by aligning our beliefs with God’s written will.  If we are allowed to form our own gospel, what is there to fear? why would we tremble?  In his epistle to the CHURCH at Ephesus, Paul told servants to be obedient to their earthly masters with fear and trembling.  If human servants are to obey (the words of) their human masters with fear and trembling, should not God’s servants obey His Words with even more fear and trembling?  Notice that in both letters Paul was writing to a CHURCH body, not to an individual.  A church is made up of individuals.  God’s attitude toward those individuals and the church they comprise is summed up in Isaiah 66:2 where He says through the prophet: “… to this man will I look, even to him who is of a contrite (humble) spirit and who TREMBLES AT MY WORD.”  We must work out our own salvation according to god’s Word and tremble lest we fail to do so.  His Word is the same to everyone, at all times, in every place.  Everyone in an area who believes and obeys that Word comprises a true church–the Church of God.  God’s church works out its salvation by agreeing with His Word and obeying it.  Since Eden man has had two choices relative to Truth: God’s Truth and Satan’s truth.  Few choose God’s Truth, which He prophesied would be the case in Matthew 7:13,14.  Many, He said, would choose Satan’s more self-serving way.

I was once told by a self-professed Christian that he knew for a “fact” that “Each person has the right to interpret the Bible for himself.”  This in spite of the “fact” that “The Scriptures are of no private (personal/individual) interpretation” (2 Pet. 1:20).  THE BIBLE INTERPRETS ITSELF.  Interpretations of God’s “headlines” is found, not in the mind of man, but in His “fine print,” which the mind of man rejects.  By depending on his hirelings to take care of the details, the individual becomes low hanging fruit for Satan’s false prophets who also refuse to study God’s “fine print.”  When they are confronted with the Lord’s interpretation of a headline, they respond with with the same talking point–“But I believe ….”  They believe what they “… have always been taught” by people who  also refused to study, believe and obey God’s “fine print.”

It is through God-appointed leaders of His church that He explains His headlines.  The religious loners who make up the Protestant religion’s many cults make a target rich environment for Satan’s false prophets who gladly teach them what they–the leaders–were taught.  In this way Satan’s lies continue to be accepted as God’s Truth generation after generation.

God’s Truth is taught through the church.  In those cases where there is no church He will either make available an individual who knows His Truth, or will provide it through the air.  This work is being read by people all over the world, many of them in areas where there are no ordained leader to teach Truth seekers.  Ironically, communist China provides the second highest number of readers of this website.  If people want God’s Truth, He will provide a way for them to have it.

Church leaders are led by the Holy Spirit that abides within them and through which the Lord “speaks” to them.  Followers of those leaders are led by that same Holy Spirit to believe what they are being told.  Both leaders and followers are empowered by the Spirit to obey what God tells them.  Only those who are led by (obey) the Holy Spirit are true sons of God (Rom. 8:14).  Only those who follow God’s rules for Bible study found in Isaiah 28:9-13 can learn the Truths found in God’s “fine print,” which Headline hunters reject.  For this reason they are “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth (2 Tim. 3:7).

In closing I will remind the reader that: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all and through all and in you all” (Eph. 4:4,5).  Beware of the lures of the Counterfeit Church which Satan has designed to lead salvation seekers through his wide gate and along his broad way.  Read Bait and Switch.  Key word–Switch.  L.J.