The "Christian Herald," a common theological publication which publishes statistics regarding all the churches, determines that the total fellowship of the churches of Christ is now 2,, There are over 7, men who preach publicly. Membership of the church is largest in the southern states of the United States, especially Tennessee and Texas, though there are congregations located in each of the fifty states and in over eighty foreign countries.
In each congregation, which has endured long enough to become sufficiently organized, there is a group of elders or pastors who serve as the governing authority. These men are chosen by the local congregations on the foundation of qualifications established in the scriptures 1 Timothy Serving under the elders are ministers, teachers, and evangelists or missionaries.
The following do not have authority equal to or exceeding that of the elders. The elders are caretakers or supervisors who serve under the command of Christ according to the New Testament. Churches of Christ regularly teach that the process of salvation comprises the subsequent actions:.
According to the Church of Christ 's Internet Ministries, the word baptize originates from the Greek word "baptizo" and precisely means, "to dip, to immerse, to plunge. Furthermore, only immersion corresponds to the representation of baptisms as given by the apostle Paul in Romans where he describes it as a burial and resurrection.
As an outcome of the distinguishing plea of the church - a return to New Testament Faith and practice - acapella singing is the only music utilized in worship. This singing, unaccompanied by inanimate instruments of music, corresponds to the music used in the apostolic church and for numerous centuries thereafter Ephesians It is believed that there is no jurisdiction for involving in acts of worship not found in the New Testament.
This belief excludes the use of instrumental music, along with the use of candles, incense, and other comparable elements. The Churches of Christ have a distinctive plea for spiritual unity based upon the Bible. In a segregated religious world, they believe that the Bible is the only plausible commonality upon which Christians can unite.
The objective of their plea is religious unity of all believers in Christ following the basis of the New Testament and the method of the restoration of New Testament Christianity. Churches of Christ in America make up slightly less than half of its worldwide membership. There are more than 1,, members of the Churches of Christ in Africa, roughly 1,, in India, and 50, in Central and South America. All my favorite songs and stories ended with some powerful, and in many cases tragic, moment of catharsis.
I wanted college to end like that. I had always imagined my life in terms of a story, and now Tyler was offering me the chance to be part of one. He said the five of us had been chosen for a dangerous but important mission: changing the nature and understanding of Christianity on our campus.
Like the character Morpheus or Hagrid, he became our escort into a secret community where evil was battled at close quarters and darkness lurked around every corner. That first semester was exhilarating. Our prayer experiences were very emotional; sometimes we wept. It felt like being in an epic adventure, in which each of the main characters bravely faces his or her own weaknesses while bonding together in the heat of battle.
Bethany continued to be my closest friend in the group. We confided in each other—including our mild doubts about the group. Near the end of November, she admitted she had feelings for Tyler. She said God had told her they were going to be married once he was fully healed of his struggle with homosexuality. During vacations, we would discuss this for hours.
She cried regularly. At the four-day gathering in Kansas City, Missouri, where the movement is based, he joined 25, other young people to pray for spiritual revival on college campuses throughout America. After Tyler returned from the conference, his experiences with the supernatural seemed to intensify dramatically. As we walked across campus, he would see an army of demons carrying banners in front of the library. We never went back. I began to seriously consider the possibility that we were living in the last generation.
The teachers and staff all had a message for the students: Everything we thought we knew about the world was wrong. Before joining the prayer group, I had been a fairly tolerant person. Now I was different. I was belligerent toward my gay and atheist friends. I picked fights and insulted them viciously. As the prayer group expanded, it became an enchanted sphere where supernatural things seemed to be happening all the time.
I began having ominous dreams in which the school was flooded and taken over by monsters. Once, we found a candy wrapper in the ceiling of one of our members, Micah Moore; we burned it because God showed us that it had been used to practice witchcraft. In the everyday college world of exams and choir concerts and dining-hall meals, these episodes seemed outlandish—and to outsiders, maybe even disturbing.
But within the Gnostic dreamworld of our small charismatic enclave, they seemed perfectly normal. By the end of the next semester, several of us were already making plans to move to Kansas City.
I was kicked out of the prayer group for the first time a year and a half later. Roughly two dozen of us were now living together in group houses in Missouri, sharing our money and working part-time jobs while we attended classes at IHOP University.
Three nights a week, we worshipped together. I continued to live in the house, but I was completely isolated. Why did I stay?
I was conflicted. All of my friends said I had a serious problem—so serious that I had been effectively quarantined.
These were my closest friends in the world. I began to wonder whether they might be right. Maybe I truly was hateful, malicious—wicked. I no longer trusted my own instincts. Biblically, it is the responsibility of the church community to judge the teaching that they are hearing. The Bible was given to the members of the church, and it is expected to be interpreted by them.
In our fellowship, after each teaching, we open up the floor for comments and questions. And in many cases, people who share ask challenging questions, and at times challenge something the teacher has said. We feel that it is healthy to hear discussion and even dissent on difficult topics.
Cults often try to exclude members from their family so they can foster even greater dependence upon the cult. The Bible explicitly teaches that we should love and honor our parents Exodus ; Ephesians Instead of abandoning our families, the Bible teaches that we should reach our families with the love and message of Christ.
Often times, there is tension between commitment to Christ and commitment to our own families. Jesus taught that we should love God more than anything else in our lives, including our own families Matthew ; c.
But the crucial way to identify a cult is the teaching of the group. Instead of being forthcoming about their beliefs and goals in the organization, they retain information and often lie about their motives.
He is also given every opportunity to withdraw. In our fellowship, we post virtually everything about our church on our website, including our classes, teachings, and beliefs. If a church is operating honestly, why would they feel the need to hide information?
This is a sure sign of suspicion. Cults rob people of their lives and souls, and they should be battled by Christian believers. Consider counterfeit money. With this in mind, we believe that there are at least two central ways to combat cultic practice:. The NT teaches that false teachers will arise in order to confuse the truth of Christ Matthew ; Romans ; 1 Corinthians ; 2 Corinthians ; ; Galatians ; ; Philippians ; Colossians ; 2 Thessalonians ,2; 1 Timothy ff.
With so many biblical passages, we should be well warned of false teaching! In fact, warnings against false teaching occur in 17 out of the 22 letters of the NT if we include the letters to the churches in Revelation. False teaching is surely a strategy of Satan to disguise the truth of Christ. Satan does this by disgusting people with aberrant versions of Christianity. Thus, when we finally hear about the real message of Christ, we often regard it alongside the bizarre claims of cult groups. Cults often have similar features to Christian churches, and this makes the genuine truth blend in with falsehood.
Therefore, if we allow cult groups to make us cynical of the truth, then they will have accomplished their mission: keeping us from the truth and love of Christ. Second, develop an intellectual depth to your biblical study. Moreland argues that two of the great Christian cults were started on the heels of the great American revivals.
Paul predicted that the false teachers in Ephesus would actually arise from within the church itself Acts Therefore, in the modern church, we need to learn how to interpret and read our Bibles with clarity in order to combat false teaching like this. To illustrate this principle, my cousin worked at a bank years ago, handling money all day long.
Since she was so familiar with real money , she had developed an acute skill at identifying counterfeit currency. When a fake bill was handed to her, she could identify it almost immediately. Similarly, when we have been steeped in the word of God, we become more effective at identifying counterfeit Christianity.
Delashmutt, Gary, and Dennis McCallum. Geisler, Norman L. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, The Kingdom of the Cults. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, Rhodes, Ron. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, Ron Rhodes is an evangelical Christian who is an expert in comparative religions and cult groups, authoring several books on the subject.
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