Visitors since May 27, 2001
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Properly Defining the Term "Church"
There should be no misunderstanding when I use the term "The Church" in my title that I am referring to a local, autonomous, indigenous, independent, New Testament, soul winning, King James Bible only, BAPTIST church. I also want to make it clear that collectively, I am referring to local Baptist churches (plural), not the erroneous universal church doctrine that comes from the Catholic Church, or the term "invisible church" used by evangelicals. This will be clearly proven in this study as revealed in the Scriptures and in historical documentation.
The term "the Church," when referring to the Universal Church ("catholic") is a common term which originated with the Vatican, and has trickled all the way down through her family tree to the neoEvangelical, interdenominational, nondenominational, and "Bible church" crowd. Even fundamental Baptists are guilty of using this erroneous term.
I am not hateful toward any of these people, for there are some who are true born-again Christians who, like myself, would make the switch to being an independent Baptist if they were properly instructed. With this study, you will clearly see that the philosophy of all believers forming a universal or invisible church is unscriptural.
The error filled Roman Catholic "Church" can claim to be the one and only true church, that the pope is the vicar of God and no one complains; but let a fundamental Baptist proclaim that the only true church (or in the correct context, "churches") on this planet came from the church in Jerusalem that Jesus started after He was baptized by John the BAPTIST (not John the Baptizer), and the world goes crazy, and we are accused as being hate mongers!
You know when you are preaching the truth because truth ruffles Satan's ecclesiastical feathers. Satan doesn't like to be exposed. He wants the world to live in darkness and ignorance of the truth. If Satan can deceive the world into accepting perverted Bible doctrines, then he can destroy God's work and lead people to Hell when they think they are on their way to Heaven.
When you go with the status quo, and kiss the pope's big toe, you are loved by everyone; but when you stand alone and resist the majority and popular liberal theological way of thinking, you are labeled as a cult member, a hate monger, a right-wing extreemist, or as many say "anti-Catholic."
Yes, fundamental Baptists are anti-Catholic in the sense that God is anti-Catholic, because we are against the false and anti-biblical doctrines she teaches that are sending people to Hell; but because we love the truth and hate error (as God hates it) we are truly showing love toward those who have been deceived by Rome. Every week hundreds and perhaps thousands of Catholics are won to Jesus worldwide as soul winning Baptists and preachers proclaim that true salvation comes only through the grace and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and not through Mary, penance, indulgences, baptism, Communion, obsolving of sins by a priest, etc., etc.!
Jesus was only popular when the Jews thought He was going to overthrow the shackles of Roman bondage and become king; but when He talked about being crucified, the people weren't interested and encouraged Pilate to crucify Him. Jesus was popular when He performed miracles and fed thousands, but when He talked about their forsaking all and following Him, they forsook Him and fled.
Even so it is with doctrinal truth. In this post-Vatican II ecumenical generation, when a Baptist preacher contradicts modern theological thinking, he is labeled as a hate monger, and accused of not loving other religions, being intolerant, and even endangers himself with a lawsuit or imprisonment. Even Rome excommunicated Galileo and branded him as a heretic because he, along with Copernicus, theorized that the earth revolved around the sun, when the popular Roman thought of the day was that the sun revolved around the earth. Later, "infallible" Rome had to "recant" as she realized she had been wrong.
What people don't realize is that you do love someone when you tell them the truth. Real hate lies to people; but most people do not have the ability to discern the difference between true love and hate. Most people would rather have their ears tickled with lies than hear the unpleasant truth that their sins are sending them to Hell.
The careful Bible student knows that it was religion that crucified Jesus and let Barabas the murderer go free. It is no different today than it was in Jesus' day. Human nature hasn't changed, only the tools of mass communication have become more sophisticated.
Out of necessity, in order to reveal what a genuine New Testament church is, I have to spend much time exposing false religion, primarily Satan's counterfeit for God's New Testament Baptist church: the Roman Catholic Church. A monstrosity as large and influential as the Roman Catholic Church cannot and must not be ignored. Click on "What is a Church?" in the menu above.
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