Questions & Answers
Good News Magazine
April 1974
Volume: Vol XXIII, No. 4
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Questions & Answers
Good News Staff  

   QUESTION: "It seems of late I have been blessed with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Your television program set me going along these lines many months ago. My wife and I are mainstream Christians. We accept that these must be the end times; but where do we go for salvation? How do we join God's true Church? By that I mean - logical though your fine articles are - how do we know that mainstream Christianity is at fault and that yours is right? Could it not be that yours is the false church spoken of as misleading people in the end times?
   "Please don't be offended by these questions. They are sincere and we are sincerely trying to find the truth. I hope you will have some material available that can ease our minds. It seems to me that what you report is correct, but what if you are wrong and I am misled? That's what I can't get out of my mind. It is important to myself, but what about my family? I believe that God will lead me in the right direction, but surely He expects me to do some work towards uncovering the truth. This letter comes from the heart."
Mr. M. J. R. G.,
Rexdale, Ontario, Canada

   ANSWER: Our answer is from the heart to some very fair and logical questions, and we are certainly not offended.
   You specifically asked: "How do we join God's true Church?" The answer is one cannot decide to join the body of Christ. It is something God must put you into. We are instructed by the Apostle Paul that "... now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (I Cor. 12:18; also see Rom. 12:4-5).
   It is God alone who decides who will compose the body of Christ. It is God who adds to the Church those whom He chooses to be saved: "... And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47).
   How, then, does God add a member to the Church? Is it a matter of signing on some dotted line? What is it that signifies membership in the Church of God?
   Paul informs us, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13).
   It is the Holy Spirit - which is the power of Christ (Acts 1:8) - which puts us into the body of Christ. We are immersed or plunged into the Church by the receipt of God's Spirit. (Read our free article entitled "How You Can Be Imbued With the POWER of God." Also read our free booklet titled All About Water Baptism.)
   One cannot put himself into the Church by "deciding to join." When he becomes a son of God, by having and being led by the Holy Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14), then God has put him into the Church.
   This is explained further in our free booklet Where Is God's True Church Today?
   Chapter one ("The Salvation Supermarket") of this publication examines the panorama of prepackaged Christianity. Chapter two ("Why So Many Denominations?") shows how, when and where this religious babylon of multiple denominations got started.
   Chapter three ("What Is the Church?") shows what constitutes the Church. It explains that the Church is not a building, but the members of the body of Christ.
   Finally, chapter four ("How to Find the True Church") gives several biblical qualifications identifying the true Church. It lists the twelve places in the New Testament where the true Church is actually named.
   We suggest read Where Is God's True Church Today? Then do as the Bereans did - search the Scriptures (in this case especially those quoted in this booklet), whether these things be so (see Acts 17:11).
   If you do, we are confident that you will come to the same exact conclusion that the Bereans did. "Therefore [as a result of their diligent checking and searching] many of them believed..." (verse 12).

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Good News MagazineApril 1974Vol XXIII, No. 4