How do you identify the true church?
Question:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your response to various questions. I have learned so much from the La Vista Church of Christ's website, and I want to let you know. I really want to join a true church of Christ.
I have two questions:
- How do you identify a true church?
- Is Christ coming back? Or does the rapture happen when we die?
I wait urgently for your insightful response.
Answer:
The answer to your first question is simple, but it requires effort. You need to check the things a church teaches and practices against what God has said. You need to be like the Bereans, "for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11).
See:
- Identifying a New Testament Church
- If Christ Built Only One, Where Did They All Come From?
- Blueprint of a Biblical Church
One attribute of God is that He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). He always keeps His word. "And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him" (Hebrews 9:28). So, yes, Christ is coming back. However, he is not coming back to set up a kingdom in this world. He is returning to bring the world to an end. "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up" (II Peter 3:9-10).
Because of this, the idea of a rapture is incorrect. See "What Is the Rapture?"
