The lesson text quoted Jesus, Himself, as saying upon this rock I will build My church. The church that came into being on the Day of Pentecost; the church that the inspired apostles explained and taught to the multitudes gathered on that day; the church to which God added those that obeyed the gospel invitation and were baptized into; this, indeed, was Christ's church which He built on the foundation laid by the inspired apostles teaching that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Savior of the world. We can say with assurance that no church can be scriptural unless it was built, or founded, by Jesus Christ. With the same surety, we can say that any church founded on another doctrine after the Day of Pentecost, A.D. 33, is unscriptural.

Churches having their origin at later dates, and having builders (founders) other than Jesus Christ, are without question human institutions, and not scriptural churches of Christ. Although they may have been sincere in their ideologies, men such as Martin Luther, King Henry VIII, John Calvin, John Wesley, Joseph Smith, Jr., Mary Baker Eddy, and many others are considered, by religious historians, to be founders of "religious bodies," and having their personal tenets, or doctrines, on which denominational "churches" were founded. This we know: these "religious bodies," as well as others not mentioned here, and the various religious principles on which they were founded, had human origin; they were devised and constructed by men based on human wisdom. Jesus Christ did not build them. Catholicism had its beginning around650 A.D. Eastern Orthodoxy separated from Catholicism as a new religious sect around 1054 A.D. Once again, relying on religious historians, here are a few of the thousands of religious bodies in the world today that were established and had their beginning in later years: Lutheran, 1517 A.D., Presbyterian, 1560, Baptist, 1605, Amish, 1693, Methodist, 1744, and Unitarian, 1793. Also, the Moravian Church had its beginning in 1727, while the African Methodist Episcopal Church was started in 1787. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began in 1830, and soon after, in 1832, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) had its beginning. The Seventh Day Adventist Church began in 1863 while Jehovah's Witnesses became a separate religious body in 1870.

Although these dates are historical approximates, the fact remains that they were founded by individual men and women of the world, or by numerous human conventions, and had their beginning at much later dates than Christ's church, which was founded on the Day of Pentecost, 33 A.D. From God's word we know that the Patriarchal Dispensation was the original religious order that God required. Later we also find the Mosaic, or Jewish, Dispensation, was established and ordained by God. The Christian Dispensation began on the Day of Pentecost. To bring salvation into the world through His Son, Jesus Christ, was God's plan from the beginning of time. The body of Christ, His church was indeed founded and built, without human hands and without human ideologies, by the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Referring to those that sought to "reform, or change" the Jewish religion from what God had originally established, Jesus said this, Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up (Matt. 15:13b). God's ordinance against changing His will - against altering His church and its New Testament doctrine, is the same today as it was during all other religious dispensations ordained by God. God's will is to stand firm; to remain unchanged by mankind. Man is to neither add to, nor take away from God's will as revealed in His Holy Word (See Rev. 22:18-19). The saved, through obedience to His will, He adds to His church, founded on the Day of Pentecost, 33 A.D. This is the religious body, the only religious body, which God recognizes today. It was designed and built by His Son, Jesus Christ.

Go to part three

By Keith Holder from his Rays Of Light Bible Lessons website

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