As we look about in the religious world today we see many
different churches with different doctrines and beliefs.
Among these churches we find various ways of becoming a
member of them. Some require one thing and some another.
To become a member of some churches you must sign a card
adhering to their particular doctrine; others, you shake
hands with the preacher, or you make an intellectual
confession of Jesus and are accepted upon the approval of
the remainder of the members or by some method that
particular church has devised itself, but all are foreign
to the method God has used for centuries. Dear reader, you
may join any or all churches of the land and yet not be a
member of God's church. In midst of all the so-called
churches and their various ways of becoming a member, God
has a church, and there is only one way to become a member
of it. If you have an honest heart and want to go to
heaven when this life is over, you must be a member of
God's church, for it is the one that will be accepted on
the day of judgment. The people who have joined by the
hand-shaking method or by signing a card or merely making
an intellectual confession of Jesus will be disappointed
on the last day when they are turned into outer darkness.
To become a member of God's church
we must find the door and the requirements for entrance
through that door. To climb up some other way is to be
classed as a thief and a robber. Jesus says, "I am
the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be
saved"(John 10:9). Jesus is the door to God's church,
and to become a member we must come to him and be saved
from sin. There is no other way into the church of God,
which is God's church on earth. No preacher has the
authority, nor is it possible, for him to take members
into God's church. You often hear some preacher say he is
going to open the doors the church. Beloved, he may open
the doors of some man-made organization called a church,
but he cannot open the doors of God's church; so remember,
when meet some man's requirements to become a member you
are not becoming a member of God's church. Now we have
found the door, let's look further into the requirements
of entrance into that door. Jesus, says, "I am the
door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.Ó He
must enter in by Jesus, not the preacher, and as he enters
in he is saved; and when he is saved, he enters in. Both
take place at the same time when he passes through the
door. It is evident from this scripture that to enter into
Christ is to enter into his church; therefore, no other
procedure, such as putting your name on a church book,
shaking hands with the preacher, or anything else is
necessary. You become a member of God's church when you
become a member of Christ. You are born into it, it is not
a joinable institution.
To become a member of Christ means
to forsake sin and repent and be born of the Spirit of
God. The people of God are a holy people; they have
forsaken all sin and given themselves unreservedly to the
Lord Jesus Christ and are serving him. They have come to
him and repented of their sins and have been born from
above. Born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. When they repented of
sin they were saved and entered into Christ and also into
his church. "And of Zion (church) it shall be said.
This and that man was born in her. the Lord shall count ,
when he writeth up the people , that this man was born
there.Ó (Ps. 87:5-6) From this passage of scripture we
see the Lord is going write up the people, and he will
write only those who been born (spiritually) in her. This
is the only method God uses to bring members into his
church. He doesn't recognize those so-called members who
have signed a card, shook hands with the preacher, nor
those the preacher said he took into the church. God must
be the one who takes them in before they are recognized by
him. They must be "born again.Ó
Many have forsaken sin and been
born of God an thought it necessary to join some church.
They united with some church and took upon themselves a
fictitious name which was displeasing to God. He is
jealous of the family name and wants all of his children
to use that name. Why should God's children use some other
name when the Bible tells us Jesus purchased the church
with his own blood, (Acts 20:28). If you have been born of
the Spirit of God and are living a holy life, God wants
you to use his name only, not some fictitious name. You
need not join some church either, for when you repented of
sin and entered Christ, you became a member of his church.
The question may arise in your
mind, "How can I worship at such and such a church
and not join; they insist on everyone joining the church
before they are recognized as Christians?" If you
have forsaken sin and repented and are living a holy life,
you are accepted of God, and he wants you to use His name
only. He also wants you to come out from among the people
who insist on your joining church, and worship with his
true children. In the midst of all the denominations God
has his true people who are separate and are standing upon
the word of God as their only governor. In his Word he
also issues a call for you, Christian, to "Come out
of her, my people that ye be not partakers of her sins,
and that ye receive not of her plagues." God is
calling his people out of the babel of confusion that
exists in denominations to walk with him according to his
word. If that particular church insists on you joining,
they are teaching something, that is foreign to the Bible;
therefore it is false doctrine, and God wants you to leave
it and find his true people. He is now gathering the
scattered saints from all divisions and bringing them
together to compose one true church which will constitute
his bride on the last day, a body of people who have been
"born again" and are obeying the word of God.
They are members of God's church by virtue of the new
birth and not some method of joining which they have
adopted.
Even though you have repented and
been born of God, yet insist upon staying among people who
teach false doctrine and live sinful lives, you will soon
lose your spiritual experience. God says, "Be ye not
unequal yoked together with unbelievers. Wherefore come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive
you" (II Cor. 6:14, 17). God does not want his
children to be yoked together unbelievers or anything that
is unclean. He wants them, to come out of all these things
and be separate, and he will receive them. To be
"born again" and be entangled with sinful church
members (those who met the so-called church's requirements
but not the Lord's) is to displease God. 'Therefore to be
a member of God's church is not only to be "born
again" and live holy, but it is to come out of all
the denominations and be separate from and from all that
is unclean. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body (the church) , whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have all made to
drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13) All the
different denominations are displeasing to God and are
man-made; therefore God is calling his people out of them
to constitute the one body in which their experience of
salvation has made them a members. Reader, have you
repented of your sins and been born of God? Are you living
a holy life? If you are, you should leave denominations
and find God's true people, God's true church and worship
with them that you may be accepted of him on that last
great day.
