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tells T imothy that he is writing to
tell him how to conduct himself in
" the house of God , whic h is the
church of the living God, the pil–
lar and ground of the trutb."
Throughou t t he New Testa–
ment , in
12 distinct passages,
the
true C hurch is called " the church
of God," " the churches of God,"
"the church of the Thessalonians
in God," and, at pagan Ephesus
where s tood the idol to the god–
dess Diana, "the church of tbe
living God."
Always, Goo's
name
is attached.
Andas Christ
is
God (John 1:1), so
in one or two passages the appella–
tion "church of Christ" is also
applied.
Often, in business or industry,
the founder's or owner 's name is
given to an enterprise as an identifi–
cation of ownership or cont rol: The
Bank of Morgan, Lever Brothers,
for example.
One of the absolute prerequisite
identifying
S IGNS
of th e true
Church is that it
must bear God's
name!
The name
a/one
is not absolute
proof of identity. There are always
those who would seek to use the
same name. But , taken together
with the other identifying signs
that we are now discussing, it is a
vital designation . For God names
thi ngs what they are.
In fact, just before his crucifix–
ion , J esus prayed for his followers,
" Holy Father,
keep through thine
own name
those whom thou hast
g iven me, that they may be one, as
we are" (John 17:1 1).
111. Willing to Acknowledge Error
The apostle Paul wrote of another
evidence of the t rue Church of
God: "Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Chris t , be is none of bis"
(Rom. 8:9). And again, "For as
many as are
led by
the Spirit of
God, they are the sons of God"
(verse 14).
So to be truly Christian and an
heir of God, one must be filled with
and led by the Holy Spirit.
Now notice how the Holy Spir–
it works! J esus said, " Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, be wi ll guide you into all
truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he sbal l
hear, that sha ll he speak: and be
September 1983
will shew you things to come"
(J ohn 16:13). Note tbat the Spirit
guides the Church of God into al l
t ruth and he lps its members
unde rstand prophecy-"things to
come."
It is a process of growing and
c hanging. A process of becoming
more and more Iike God in c har–
acter, tboughts and habits. Perhaps
the apostle Peter expressed it most
clearly: " But
G ROW
in
grace, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviou r J esus C hrist " ( 11 Pe.t.
3: 18 ) .
The Church of God is made up
of
converted
people who are cer–
tainly being changed by the power
of God's Holy Spi r it. As each indi–
vidual must grow in grace and in
Which Church truly
grasps why humans were
boro and put on
this earth? What is
the incredible
human potential?
knowledge, so the united body of
those individuals- the Churc h–
must also grow.
For instance, Daniel was given
awesome vis ions a nd d r eams
involving events to take place on
ear th at tbe end of man's civiliza–
tion. He asked, "O my Lord, what
s h a ll be the e nd of these
things?"
And God's angel answered , " Go
thy way, Daniel: for the words are
closed up and sealed till the time
of the end" (Dan. 12:8-9). Now,
with the capacity to destroy al l life
from the planet , we are certainly
in the prophesied " t ime of t he
end" of man's civil ization, a time
when God must soon intervene in
wo rld affairs to save huma nity
from nuclear holocaust (Matt.
24:22).
But, at th is time,
is
there a
Church tbat has such knowledge
and understa nding of the Bible
prophecies? Do you know of any
Church that has been wi ll ing to
admi t error and cbange and grow
in to increasingly deeper under–
standing of tbe master plan God is
wo r king o u t h e r e below ? A
C hu rch that tru ly understands
where we are headed? And why
the Uni ted States and Britain are
slowly but inexorably sliding from
thei r pinnacle of greatness? And
how
and
why
a powerful union of
nati o ns resto ring the anc i ent
Roman Empire one last time will
soon become
the
force to reckon
with?
Whi ch Churc h tr ul y gras ps
WHY
humans were born and put
on this earth ? What is the incred–
ible human potential? And
W HY
God has not been trying to "save"
the world during these near 6,000
years when, as the
Almighty
God,
he clearly has the
POWER
to do so
if he wanted to?
Do you know any C hurch that
understands
these matters and can
give
clear bib/ical answers
to these
most basic quest ions? And a
C hurch tbat keeps on learning and
growing in such vital knowledge
and understanding?
Well , there
is
such a Church!
It
just happens to be the Cburch that
publi sh es thi s magazine.
Jt
is
called by
God's name.
Re mem ber, mos t C hr is t ia n
groups seldom
1j
ever
cbange or
grow in knowledge . And when
they do change, it is nearly always
in the direction of secularism–
"water ing down" what little bit of
biblical trutb they may once have
had .
But the t rue Church o f God
grows continually into a deeper
and fuller understanding o f tbe
Bible, of the great
P URPOSE
being
worked out here below and of the
exciting fulfillments of biblical
prophecy now under way on the
world scene.
IV. Commissioned to Do the
WORK
of
GOD
J esus announced that one proof
that his return would be imminent
- his return to reign over this
earth and restore the government
of God-is tbis: " And tbis gospel
(Continued on page 34)
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