Monday, October 22, 2007

THE PRESENT DAY TRUTH CHURCH (part 1)

THE PRESENT DAY TRUTH CHURCH (part 1)


The church that Jesus Christ is in the process of building can be compared to the St John River. The headwaters are in northern Maine and it empties into the Bay of Fundy through the narrow Reversing Falls Rapids. Along the way many tributaries empty their flow into the main stream, such as the Tobique, the Aroostock, the Oromocto, etc. Each of these smaller rivers contribute their particular flow of water, which becomes mixed in with the water in the main river. So the water that goes out to the Bay of Fundy through the Reversing Falls is a mixture of all these rivers, and cannot be separated!

In like manner the church had its beginning at Pentecost, and continues into the 21st century. As you study the history of the church, you find it deteriorated during the “dark ages” until God started a restoration process with a man named Martin Luther in 1517 AD. He restored the truth of Justification by faith, and began what has been called the Protestant Reformation. This was followed by many different moves of God, each bringing a particular truth that had been lost through the dark ages, back into the church. A study of church history will reveal the main tributaries to the main flow, such as the Holiness movement, the Pentecostal movement, The Latter Rain, and the Healing / Evangelist movement, the Charismatic movement etc. right up to the present day.


Each of these movements was a true work of God, designed to restore a particular truth that had been lost, back into normal church life. The chief problem with each new move was that the people, who had been part of the previous move, resisted the new thing because they felt the truth they had received was the final word from God, and they felt that they must protect it at any cost! This is as ridiculous as the Tobique River refusing to allow its crystal clear waters to mix with the water in the main river, and somehow trying to keep them from becoming “contaminated”. This way of thinking has resulted in the formation of many separate independent groups that became different “denominations” over the years.


I’m sure that God would desire a “Present Day Truth Church” that would incorporate all the various items of truth that He has faithfully revealed to the church through the years. Like the various tributaries to the St John river that are part of every drop of water that flows into the Bay of Fundy, so this church is composed of the truth that every move of God has produced over the years, and this truth cannot be separated from the whole!

More to follow in (part 2).

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp

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