The number of new churches started by men and based upon a human standard has grown rapidly over the past century in this country. Their creation and continued existence reflect the unbelief and arrogant self-will of their builders, and the gullibility of those who have joined them. Apparently, the church of Jesus Christ is unknown to them, or they value their own wishes above the desire of Jesus Christ that all His followers be united (John 17:20-23). They reject the only standard by which unity can be achieved as God planned it, that standard being the New Testament and also designated as the New Covenant (Ephesians 4:1-6; Hebrews 8:8-13).<\/p>\n
Catchy names and loose and liberal practices appeal to the self-indulgent and those ready always to follow some new thing (II Peter 2:18,19). Cowboy Church, Bikers’ Church, Church for Men, Homosexuals’ Church, National David Spiritual Temple Of Christ Church Union (Inc.), U.S.A., Willing Workers Fellowship, New Vision Ministries, Destiny, Peace, or whatever name one may choose to distinguish his new creation, all such plants which the Lord did not plant will be rooted up (Matthew 15:13). God’s Word still stands as a light to a dark world.<\/p>\n
Jesus built His church (Matthew 16:18), purchasing it with His own blood (Acts 20:28). He set the conditions for membership (Acts 2:41; Mark 16:16; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Galatians 3:26,27). He gave it His Law, the Gospel of Christ, the Law of Liberty (John 8:31,32; James 1:25). He authorized its form of worship (John 4:23,24) consisting of prayer, the Lord’s Supper, singing, giving, and instruction in the Word of God. He assigned the church its mission and revealed its work. He gave it local organization and only local organization (Acts 20:28; I Peter 5:1-4; Philippians 1:1). There are no archbishops, cardinals, popes, patriarchs, presidents, or any other officers over the universal church. Christ is the Head of His Body, His church (Colossians 1:18) He is the Savior of His body (Ephesians 5:23). Only those obedient to Him have His promise of salvation (Hebrews 5:8,9; II Thessalonians 1:3-10). Does this teaching appeal to you? On what is your mindset (Colossians 3:1-9)?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Gilbert Alexander The number of new churches started by men and based upon a human standard has grown rapidly over the past century in this country. Their creation and continued existence reflect the unbelief and arrogant self-will of their builders, and the gullibility of those who have joined them. Apparently, the church of Jesus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,1277,192],"class_list":["post-58325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-denominationalism","tag-liberalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61054,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-churches-of-christ-differ-so-widely\/","url_meta":{"origin":58325,"position":0},"title":"Why Do “Churches of Christ” Differ so Widely?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sewell Hall via\u00a0Biblical Insights, February 2012 A sign reading \"Church of Christ\" in front of a building tells you very little these days. Most any doctrine or practice may be found inside. This is frustrating to many people. Outsiders make fun of the situation, saying, \"You preach unity but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59218,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-all-the-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":58325,"position":1},"title":"In All the Churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton In the first century, you had churches in different locations, but all the churches were taught the same thing and practiced the same thing, and if they drifted away from that teaching they did not have God (II John 9-10; I Corinthians 4:17; 7:17). There was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29780,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/identifying-a-new-testament-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":58325,"position":2},"title":"Identifying a New Testament Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Dewhirst Sentry Magazine, December 2002 Traditionally, we gospel preachers have spoken of \"identifying the New Testament church\" in an effort to distinguish it from the sects roundabout. But in so doing, we have sometimes obscured the true nature of the body of Christ. We begin to preach about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Magnifying_glass_with_focus_on_paper-300x169.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33635,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-congregationalist\/","url_meta":{"origin":58325,"position":3},"title":"What is a Congregationalist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I stumbled across a site that listed the signers of the Declaration of Independence and their respective denominations. I noted quite a number of the signers as Congregationalists. What is a congregationalist and what are their beliefs? Answer: Congregationalism has its roots in the days of Queen Elizabeth the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19287,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-all-churches-of-christ-teach-that-the-ten-commandments-were-nailed-to-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":58325,"position":4},"title":"Do all churches of Christ teach that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I\u00a0stumbled upon\u00a0the La Vista Church of Christ web site in the course of searching for an answer to the question, \"Were the Ten Commandments Nailed to the Cross?\"\u00a0\u00a0Simply stated,\u00a0your answer\u00a0is \"Yes,\" and I\u00a0fully agree with every single comment\u00a0I found on your web site regarding\u00a0the answer to this question -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35424,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-reformation-and-the-restoration-a-tale-of-two-movements\/","url_meta":{"origin":58325,"position":5},"title":"The Reformation and the Restoration: A Tale of Two Movements","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor The New Testament repeatedly warns about drifting; in particular, drifting away from the faith. This can be done either individually or collectively. The Hebrew writer warned the Christians to whom he wrote that they \"must pay much closer attention to what [they had] heard, so that [they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}