THE ETERNAL CHURCH (part 6)

We ended the last segment in this series by mentioning the "religious system" which has always opposed the true Church that Jesus has been in the process of building for some 2000 years now. This religious system was in force through the Jewish leaders during the time of the earthly life of Jesus, and then during Paul's ministry. They were afraid of losing their position of power, and fought hard to prevent the Kingdom of God from being established. Later we saw that the Church of Rome did the same thing, trying to protect their position of power. History proves that this same type of opposition occurred whenever God revealed some truth that had been lost during the dark ages of the Church. The former group always felt they had received the final word from God, and severely persecuted those with the most recent revelation from God!

After Luther restored the truth about "Justification", many other men were given further revelations of truths that had been lost, such as "Sanctification", or "Holiness Teaching" by groups like the Wesley brothers. Then the teaching on "Divine Healing" by men like A.B. Simpson and others. The "Pentecostal Movement" brought back an emphasis on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the early 1900's, and was not well received by the holiness groups. Then in 1948 a move of the Holy Spirit was poured out on a group of students and teachers in a newly formed non-denominational Bible school in North Battleford Sask. in Western Canada. The truth restored in this move centered around the "Gifts of the Holy Spirit", and how they were to be received by the laying on of hands, by a "Presbytery" of Elders. Also "Singing in the Spirit" by an entire congregation was restored to the Church at this time. With each new restoration of truth came some fanatical teaching that was a "counterfeit" of the real truth, and brought some confusion. This always caused some people to reject this new truth, for fear of getting mixed up with the counterfeit. And of course others followed the counterfeit and ended up in extreme error. Jesus warned us to beware of false prophets and teachers that would come in the last days. (Matt 24:4-5, 11) Paul cautioned us in (1 Thess 5:19-24) to beware of false prophecy or teaching, and to test everything we hear with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit! God is faithful to lead us into all truth, because He wants a Church that is "without a spot or wrinkle, or any other blemish" (Eph 5:27), and moving in "Present Day Truth"

Sincerely in Him.

Gramp