The TRUE One True Church

A young man recently informed me that I was, “doing a good job presenting your religious (radio)  program every Sunday.”  Upon thanking him, I asked him if he was a Christian.  Quickly he responded, “Of course.  I am a Catholic!”  I then asked him if he personally knew the Lord Jesus for himself and going by the strange look I was now receiving, I decided to re-phrase the question.  I asked him, “Have you ever personally received the Lord Jesus into your life as the Savior of your soul?”  With a strong expression of annoyance he said, “Yes, I receive Him every time I go to holy communion.”

With that he quickly followed up with, “Ours is the one true church.  Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, he was the first pope!”  There was nothing new to my ears here of course, there are no practicing Roman Catholic people who would not say the same thing.  The conversation ceased there, but driving home I got to thinking about words and language and communication – or rather, miscommunication.  The young man and I were engaged in “Christian-speak” but we were not communicating. Why was/is that?  The answer is – same words, different meanings.

Take the words receive and received the Lord Jesus.  A Bible-practicing Protestant Christian uses such words in the context of having been first; personally convicted of his sinful state by the Holy Spirit, second; the Holy Spirit awakens his spirit to the reality of his need to turn away from his sin and third; turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for a once-and-for-all deliverance from his sin, and fourth; fully surrender his whole being to the Lordship of Jesus Christ from thereon in.  The immediate result of such a decision means, he is now a new creature, the old has gone, the new has come 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Included, he now becomes God’s property to do with what He will; no more his own property.  As he grows in the biblical knowledge and grace of God, “nobody tells me what to do” ceases to be part of his belief system.  The opposite takes place as he studies the Bible, whereby he lives no longer for himself or any other man, religious system or philosophy.  He only lives to more and more discover and embrace the will of God for his life.  He lives the eternal life in Jesus’ name  – God’s quality of life – not the (man-inspired) religious life.

As a born again Christian studying the Bible, he will also discover within its pages that there is absolutely no New Testament evidence that the apostle Peter even visited Rome, let alone become the first bishop or pope of that church.  He’ll discover as well, that Peter is given no special place of authority in the New Testament.  But he will discover that Jesus treats all apostles as equal in authority and responsibility Matthew 28:16-20.  Should this born again person happen to be a Roman Catholic, he will be most surprised and perhaps shocked to find this out.

But as he continues to yield to the Holy Spirit he will reject all religious teaching that does not align itself with New Testament Christianity.  Roman Catholic or not, he will learn also, that it was James (another son of Joseph and Mary – the Lord’s half-brother), not Peter, who moderated at the only church council mentioned in the New Testament Acts 15:13-21.  Then when he turns to the apostle Peter’s first epistle he will read of him declaring that it is Jesus Christ alone who is the chief cornerstone of the church 1 Peter 2:4-8.  He will find the apostle Paul declaring the same in Ephesians 2:20 cf. 1 Corinthians 3:11.

This same born again Christian will learn that “The One True Church” by biblical definition, is built on Jesus Christ, and all members are those who confess Him as Savior and Lord, just as the apostle Peter did.  In this TRUE One True Church, all members are born again, all possess repentance towards a holy God, all express faith alone to Jesus alone, all seek holiness of life, all hate sin, all love God, all love Jesus and all love His written word, the Bible.  As a result, all will be despised by the religious and non-religious alike.  They will be persecuted, labeled or branded as narrow minded, unloving, fundamentalist and……

No matter how much this TRUE One True Church values and honors its true leaders, absolutely no dependence is placed upon any one of them for salvation, assurance of salvation, assurance of heaven, or – assurance of anything else.  Both the leadership and members of the TRUE One True Church know that it is the leader/s’ job to lead all on to the Lord Jesus Christ and into spiritual freedom and liberty.  To witness each other being set free from all hindrances to growing and maturing in Christ, and being conformed to His image, is the objective of this Church.

The members of this TRUE One True Church know that they do not literally “receive the Lord Jesus” when taking the bread and wine at what is called holy communion or the Lord’s Supper.  But they do know they spiritually eat Christ’s body and drink His blood every day of their lives and that no man, minister, reverend, priest, elder, bishop, or church denomination can ever prevent them from doing so.  Such men can (and do) exercise power over who comes and goes in their religious systems, but they are powerless when dealing with TRUE One True Church members.  Why?

Because this Church is not some humanly designed system, denomination or organization.  It is “the body of believers” – an organism.  It does not depend on nor care too much about buildings, religious forms and ceremonies or holy day observances – nor does its leadership jockey for positions and titles to cement its spiritual authority. The apostle Peter loved this church.  He tells its members that they are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s own special people 1 Peter 2:9.  Most don’t physically know one another in this TRUE One True Church because as members, they are scattered all over the world.

Some members dwell high in the mountains, or low in the valleys and wildernesses of remote areas.  Others dwell high in the sky, or low in the suburbs and slums of the largest cities of the world. They will never know one another this side of eternity. But they have unity, nevertheless! Take a member from remote New Guinea and place him with another member in not-so-remote New York and even though they may not understand the language of man, they will have no problems with understanding the language of God.  They will not argue as to whether the Bible is God’s final authority, they know it is by their daily experience of yielding to the living and powerful words within.

So what about the keys of the kingdom?  It belongs to this church only and to no other.  This is not a matter for argument.  New Testament Romans 14:17 tells us clearly that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  No other church has this, so their “keys” are useless.  If they were useful, evidence would be demonstrated in the lives of all their members.  But it is not.  Besides, if they were useful, pedophilia and sexual immorality would not be the problem that it is in the church that claims to be the One true….nor in the religious institutions that make no such claim.

1 Corinthians 4:20 tells us that the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.  Once again, this is not a matter for argument.  Arguments consist of words – volumes of words and the church system is full of them.  But when they come up against the power of God they too become useless – every one of them.  So again, this renders their “keys” useless.  If it were not so, the evidence would be there to inspect.  But it is not. The TRUE One True Church too, is the only one that the gates of hell cannot prevail against.  This is the Church Jesus spoke to Peter about in Matthew 16:18-19.

Yes, Peter was given the keys of the kingdom, as were the rest of the apostles.  But the effectiveness of those keys were and are demonstrated only in the TRUE One True Church that is portrayed in the New Testament and written about in this post.  The reality of this will be experienced in all people who are willing to lay down their lives before God and seek THE TRUTH, regardless of all cost.  For such a person, God Almighty in Jesus’ name, will shift heaven and earth to ensure that this is so.  “Coming to Him as a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  1 Peter 2:4-5.