More than once, I've been asked the question: "What is your criteria of a good church?"
While it is not possible for me to address this question in full in this little post, I will however, discuss a couple of key things.
Contrary to the prevalent Christian view today, a good church is not defined by the people in the congregation. A congregation of seemingly nice harmless friendly people does not make a church good because there is none good, no not one. The church is comprised of people, but it is not the people who build the church that makes it a good church. God must be the one who builds it.
Psalms 127:1 "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
Christ the living God is the one who builds the church. The Word of God is the one who builds the house of the LORD.
Matthew 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rockI will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Peter was the “rock” that Christ has build his church upon.
The living God is the spiritual form of the written Word, and the written Word is the physical form of the living God. One cannot be decoupled from the other. A good church is the handiwork of God. While the church is a congregation of born again bible-believing Christians, the word of God is the "seed" (the DNA) that produced these believers.
1 Timothy 3:15 "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
The church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. So, if the church that you are attending is not standing on "the truth" and the truth alone, the pure words of the LORD in the 66 books of the Holy Bible, then it does not qualify as the pillar and ground of the truth.
Today, we have hundreds of different bible translations in the English language. Do all these bibles qualify as the Holy Bible? I do not think so. To me, the Holy Bible is the 66 books of the pure word of God in the 1611 King James Bible. The word “holy” means pure and spotless. Anything less than the pure words of the Lord, it is not the Holy Bible.
The truth cannot be compromised, not even by one jot or one tittle. So, if your church is not faithfully preaching from the 1611 King James Bible, adhering to every word of God, then it does not qualify as the pillar and ground of the truth, strictly speaking.
Luke 8:11 "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God."
1 Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
Notice the words “not of corruptible seed”, referring to the “seed” which is the word of God? Can one be born again of corruptible seed? Well, not according to Apostle Peter.
Now, there are also churches that use the King James Bible but doubting the words therein. Very often, we will come across pastor so-and-so saying something like "Now, a better translation of this word should be XXX according to the Greek." These are not true bible-believing churches either. In fact, they are more dangerous than churches which outright deny the words of the LORD.
"What is your criteria of a good church?"
"What is your criteria of a good church?"
"What is your criteria of a good church?"
More than once, I've been asked the question: "What is your criteria of a good church?"
While it is not possible for me to address this question in full in this little post, I will however, discuss a couple of key things.
Contrary to the prevalent Christian view today, a good church is not defined by the people in the congregation. A congregation of seemingly nice harmless friendly people does not make a church good because there is none good, no not one. The church is comprised of people, but it is not the people who build the church that makes it a good church. God must be the one who builds it.
Christ the living God is the one who builds the church. The Word of God is the one who builds the house of the LORD.
Peter was the “rock” that Christ has build his church upon.
The living God is the spiritual form of the written Word, and the written Word is the physical form of the living God. One cannot be decoupled from the other. A good church is the handiwork of God. While the church is a congregation of born again bible-believing Christians, the word of God is the "seed" (the DNA) that produced these believers.
The church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. So, if the church that you are attending is not standing on "the truth" and the truth alone, the pure words of the LORD in the 66 books of the Holy Bible, then it does not qualify as the pillar and ground of the truth.
Today, we have hundreds of different bible translations in the English language. Do all these bibles qualify as the Holy Bible? I do not think so. To me, the Holy Bible is the 66 books of the pure word of God in the 1611 King James Bible. The word “holy” means pure and spotless. Anything less than the pure words of the Lord, it is not the Holy Bible.
Is there such thing as a perfect Holy Bible?
The truth cannot be compromised, not even by one jot or one tittle. So, if your church is not faithfully preaching from the 1611 King James Bible, adhering to every word of God, then it does not qualify as the pillar and ground of the truth, strictly speaking.
Notice the words “not of corruptible seed”, referring to the “seed” which is the word of God? Can one be born again of corruptible seed? Well, not according to Apostle Peter.
Now, there are also churches that use the King James Bible but doubting the words therein. Very often, we will come across pastor so-and-so saying something like "Now, a better translation of this word should be XXX according to the Greek." These are not true bible-believing churches either. In fact, they are more dangerous than churches which outright deny the words of the LORD.