Which Door Leads to THE Faith?
OK, we all know how confusing Christianity can be. A church on every corner and the phone directory is full of choices and invitations to "come worship with us".
Some claim to be THE faith of Christianity, and others are ALL-inclusive accepting anything and everything that calls itself "Christian".
One approach in solving the mystery "which faith" we hope to point you to, is a look at what Jesus said to His disciples. Yes, they only had the Old Testament, the Law, and the prophets untill Jesus began to teach and minister. We know He spoke and demonstrated Father's Will and Word, and He gave us a NEW Covenant upon His death..
Luke 22:20 ... This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you.
Hebrews 12:24 and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant
Hebrews 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.
Hebrews 9:16 - For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Who wrote the New Testament?
No, it was not Jesus. it was His disciples, the holy men given Him from the Father, and later filled with his Spirit which was given after the resurrection.
They wrote for us the words of the Covenant and they spoke and demonstrated the Faith Jesus had given them.
Jesus told us to believe on Him "as the scripture hath said" -John 7:37
Now right about there you should start questioning some of the church lingo like "mass", "trinity", "purgatory", "oneness", and the Titled church positions.
Believe the Word, NOT what someone says about the Word. Next, we will point out that the New Testament church had a beginning.
Luke 24:47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
And as Peter gave the gospel to the gentiles, he reaffirmed how he and the disciples had received the Holy Spirit "at the beginning".
Acts 11:15 And as I began to speak (to gentiles), the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning
Now we can see clearly there was a "beginning" of the gospel after Jesus' death and resurrection.
Next we will give you a measuring rod to help you determine more truth.
Jesus gave His words to His apostles, to do, to speak, and to write what would become the words of our New Testament. Proper use of this tool will help you cut out a lot of false words and ideas.
John 17:20 Neither for these only (the apostles) do I pray, but for them (everyone who believes) also that believe on me through their word.
The Tool is spoken of as Jesus prayed for those that will believe in Jesus through the Words He gave the apostles, which became the words the apostles gave us, in scripture.
The apostles would give us the New Testament scriptures.
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 BTW, what Paul wrote the churches is scripture.
This was acknowledged by the church in Acts, by Jesus Himself, and by Peter in 2 Peter 3:15
... even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you;
16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood,
which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction
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We are forming our foundation in the New Testament that what Jesus said, and what the apostles wrote is scripture. If we can trust the New Testament as scripture (see the links to "Scientific proof of the Scripture) then we can begin to "rightly divide the Word of Truth" as they gave us.
Eph. 2:20 Ephesians 2:20 Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone.
Note: the apostles were all well-read in the Old Testament and knew the law, the prophets, and the prophetic scriptures. They, as men filled with the Holy Ghost were commanded by Jesus to give us the "faith once delivered to the saints".
What they wrote was what God wanted us to have.
One clear example was in Acts 15 at the council of the church elders and apostles. They, through the Holy Ghost, they decreed what parts, if any, of the old Testament laws, statutes, and ordinances were to be kept and or observed by the churches.
It was a lively discussion and it resulted in what was said in Acts 16:4 And as they went on their way through the cities, they delivered them the decrees to keep which had been ordained of the apostles and elders that were at Jerusalem.
At this point, we can begin to sort through many of the modern, apostate, practices that have filtered into the church world. The apostles did it for us and what they wrote and ministered is the tool we measure with.
If the apostles commanded (in the decrees) tithing from our income, let's tithe.
If they taught praying the rosary, then we better pray it.
If they elected a pope or a District Superintendent or President, let's follow him.
If they put a hired pastor in charge of the local churches, let's follow suit.
If they ordained fundraisers and building programs, let's build.
If they had the typical church "service" programmed out, let's follow.
If they ordained women into pastors and bishops, give her a Title.
If they said "accept Christ" as savior and "asked Jesus into their heart", preach it.
If they testified of gold dust and getting "slain in the spirit", then get some.
If they had choirs and "worship leaders", celebrated christmass and easter, or mentioned their clergy robes and outfits, then do it.
If the disciples sold "stuff', had bake sales, and made building pledges then we have precedent.
If they practiced AND commanded sabbath keeping and observing the 7 feasts of Israel, then let's do that too. If they told us to keep the law of Moses and carefully did so, and instructed the churches likewise, let's keep all of the Law (even though it is quite impossible).
If they taught, baptized by immersion, healed the sick, cast out devils, spoke in tongues, and had signs and miracles, then we should too.
If they forgave, showed love, and were not covetous, then we are to be likewise.
If Paul told the bishops of Ephesus and other churches to work and support the weak like he did and said, then maybe we ought to re-examine the hired clergy. (Acts 20)
All of this will take careful study of what our New Testament role models did and did not and requires careful study of the book of Acts.
Now here comes the "clincher".
Since the New Testament gives us the terms and living examples of our covenant, for starters why not rely on what they gave us? Here is why we should:
Acts 1:1 ...all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,
2 until the day in which he was received up, after that, he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
Do you see it?
Jesus continued giving commandment to the disciples and churches through the Holy Spirit and they wrote what we have received in the New Testament scriptures.
Once you understand that the New Testament gives us the terms of the faith, it becomes much simpler to find what is and what is not New Testament faith. The "faith" that they began to proclaim beginning in Jerusalem when the Spirit was given.
They "rightly divided the Word of truth" for us.
Rev. 22:18 If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book
This part of our journey began when we went to the Lord asking Him to prove tithing as we had done for 24 years. The Lord spoke to me "start reading the New Testament', and the day came when we realized there was no command given to any church or saint to tithe.
So if the church you attend has strayed from what the apostles wrote for us, maybe it is time to step back from church as you thought it was supposed to be, and take a few weeks or months to simply stay home and read your New Testament prayerfully for the truth, asking God to show you any error.
You might just find yourself in the company of all the disciples of scripture who left their synagogues (churches) in order to find the Jesus of scripture. "wherefore come out from among them...."
