J O H N W. M O O R E

'JOIN THE CHURCH OF YOUR CHOICE'

Among many religionists, I often hear or read of these kinds of phrases: "Join the church of your choice"; or, "One church is as good as another;" or, "It doesn't matter what church you are a member of, because we all worship the same God." Certainly it comes as no surprise that our denominational friends have continued to uphold this type of philosophy. But, what is even more disturbing, and will continue to be disturbing, are those individuals who, while professing to be members of the Lord's body, espouse such a damning doctrine.

What on earth is one thinking of when he or she makes such an anti-scriptural statement as "Join the church of your choice?!" Have they not read that Jesus promised only to build His church (Matt. 16:18), and that one cannot "join" the church, but rather he or she must be added to the church by the Lord (Acts 2:47). Have they not read that those being added to the church are individuals who are saved, and that those who are saved are those that have been immersed for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:37,38,41)? Have they not read that when one is immersed, it is to be understood that he or she is being brought into the fellowship of one body (1 Cor. 12:13), and that the one body is the church of Christ (Eph. 1:22,23; Rom. 16:16)? Have they not read that there is only one body (church, Eph. 4:4), and that Christ condemns all religious division which is brought about by human doctrines, creeds, and philosophies (1 Cor. 1:10; Col. 2:8-10; John 17; Mark 7:7,9)? Have they not read that Christians are to be organized in worship and are to be called only by that which is authorized in the sacred text (Col. 3:17; Heb. 8:5)? Have they not read? Have they not studied? Have they not considered what apostatizing words they utter when they even but silently mention that "one church is as good as another" or "join the church of your choice?" Honestly, what have we come to?

The only real choice to be made is to choose whether or not we are going to serve the Lord by doing the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21-23). To do the will of the Father is to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, by His authority (Col. 3:17). Therefore, we must conclude that emphatically we cannot join the church of our choice, for to utter such a statement is to utter that which God condemns. May we never be found guilty of compromising the fundamental doctrine of the one true church.