Warnings to the Church

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After the original apostles died, the great, false universal church did come in and largely destroy the visible Church. Because of persecution, often including threats, imprisonment, torture and death, most people gave in and departed from the truth of God’s Way and therefore from the true Church. This period is often called “The Lost Century.” Yet, as Christ promised, His Church has always survived. It has never completely disappeared or been destroyed—though it has certainly remained a “little flock” that has kept His Word, and the Church that has always been kept in God’s name.

Peter warned, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” (2 Pet. 2:1-3).

Before his death, Paul explicitly warned the Ephesian elders to understand what would happen after he was gone. Notice: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the Church of God.… For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:28-30). History records that this is exactly what happened during (and after) The Lost Century.

We read that Christ promised that when false leaders, whom He refers to in John 10 as “thieves and robbers,” have been able to get into the Church, “the sheep hear His [Christ’s]VOICE: and He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out.” His voice is plainly defined in Scripture as “the truth” (John 18:37).

He went on in John 10:1-41 to add, “He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His VOICE. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:3-5). Christ continues by describing certain ministers: “The hireling flees, because he is an hireling, and cares not for the sheep” (John 10:13). This remarkable promise shows that Christ will never abandon His sheep and will always protect those who hear His voice and willingly follow Him when they are in danger of false doctrines!

God’s Church does not compromise on even one of His true doctrines. Just as Christ foretold, it is a small, hated, and persecuted “little flock” that God has kept in His name. It is doing God’s Work—taking the true gospel of the kingdom of God to the world before this age ends. Its fruits are evidence of God’s blessings. It is growing and has members scattered in countries around the world. The fact that you are reading this book means that you have come in contact with it—just as I was privileged to come into contact with the true Church and learn the truth in 1966 for the first time.

The Church Is an Organized Body

God wants His sons to understand His purpose. He has given a basic analogy that is easy to grasp. He compares His one Church—His true Church—to the human body. We just read that “For as the BODY IS ONE, and has many members, and all the members of that ONE BODY, being many, are ONE BODY: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into ONE BODY …” (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

Colossians 1:18 and Ephesians 1:22-23 revealed that “body” means the Church. There is only one Church and, like the human body, all parts are connected. Head, eyes, ears, fingers, toes, arms, and legs are different but integrated parts of the human body.

Notice, again, what Paul added in chapter 12: “Now YOU are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God has set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers …” (1 Cor. 12:27-28). The Church is organized, structured—it has God’s GOVERNMENT!

God-plane Marriage and Family—the Church

Throughout the New Testament, God depicts Himself as a Father with many “children”—those of His Church. Christ continually referred to the other Person in the Godhead as “Father.” He understood that He was a “Son.” Now that Christ, no longer flesh (Rom. 1:1, 3), has been resurrected from the dead, He has become a divine Son (Rom. 1:4; Heb. 1:8). Carefully read Romans 1:1-4 to see that Christ was, in fact, a descendant of David—a fleshly human—through His mother.

Christ had a human mother, Mary. He has a Spirit Father. (Of course, Joseph was not His actual father.) Think for a moment! God sired Christ in the womb of a human woman. This is an extraordinary statement to understand. Grasp what it means: The God kind (the Father) reproduces like any other kind. God selected a virgin human (one made in “His form and likeness”) to bear His Son. Yet, this was not in any sense “improper,” because God was not reproducing outside of His own kind. Remember, God ordained that all animals and humans—all living things—reproduce after “his kind” (Gen. 1:25). The Father’s (spirit) begettal of Christ in a (physical) human defies any other explanation.

After His death and Resurrection, and return to being Spirit, Christ became the “firstborn [Son] from the dead” (Col. 1:18). He experienced a second birth into the Family of God—by a Resurrection. Romans 1:4 says that Christ was “the Son of God … by the resurrection from the dead.” This is what made Christ a Son. And it represents how human beings are saved.

Many verses show that Christ is God. He is a divine Son, a member of the divine God Family. Hebrews 1:8 makes this clear. There, the Father refers to His Son—Christ—as God. Notice: “Your throne, O God [Christ], is forever and ever” (Heb. 1:8). Grasp these verses. Christ is a born Son by resurrection from the dead.

Let’s tie this understanding directly to the Church.

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