The Unity of the Faith 6

The Unity of the Faith, 6

Treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; (II Timothy 3:4—NASB)

The teaching of the pre-tribulation rapture is an unscriptural, self-seeking, self-centered vision pitched toward today's pleasure-loving "believers" who are living in the soul rather than the Spirit of God. They are eternal babies and would be about as useful in installing the Kingdom of God on the earth as a baby would addressing both houses of Congress on the subject of immigration.

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:22,23—NIV)

The Church is the Body of Christ. The Church is the Fullness of Christ. It is through the Church that Christ will fill "everything in every way."

Now we see why it is so terribly important that we come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to maturity as measured by the full stature of Christ.

If our goal were to sit in Heaven and worry about the weather it would not be important for us to come to such maturity. But because our goal is to be a perfectly functioning member of the Body of Christ, then such maturity is absolutely required.

God never changes. The Word of God never changes. The Lord Jesus will return with a Body made up of members who have come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. This is going to happen. The only question is whether you and I will be part of the returning Christ. We will be part of Christ when He returns if we are willing to put all else aside and lay hold on that for which we have been grasped. But if we persist in the unscriptural grace-rapture teaching, maintaining that Jesus did it all for us and all we have to do is "believe," and never get past the baby stage, we simply will disqualify ourselves from participation in establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth.

It will be our own fault. It is up to each one of us to search the Scriptures for ourselves. We cannot blame our Pastor or the evangelist if we miss God. It is our responsibility to establish our own relationship with Jesus Christ. If we give our spiritual proxy to another person, and he or she is wrong and we miss God's will for our life, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Test the apostles!

To be continued. The Unity of the Faith 7