The Church Of God's Choice

Felix O. Aniamalu
God created man and gave him the freedom to make choices. This freedom does not, however, mean that man is justified in God's sight if he makes a wrong choice. To ensure that man cannot hold Him accountable if he makes wrong choices, He always made His desire or reqirements known to him (Micah 6:8). Man rejects God's offer to his own destruction. For instance, Adam and Eve had the freedom to either eat of the forbidden fruit or to abide by God's law that forbade them from eating it (Genesis 2:16,17) but they willingly chose to disobey God (Genesis 3:6-13). "...I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19), Moses at one time told the children of Israel. To choose life and blessing, Israel had to obey God otherwise they would have chosen death and cursing. Like his predecessor, Moses, Joshua challenged Israel to make a choice as to whom they would serve (Joshua 24:15).

The prophet Jeremiah acknowledged that man cannot successfully direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23). This is true considering the deceitfulness of the heart of the unregenerate man (Jeremiah 7:9). This is also shown in God's message to man through His Prophet Isaiah: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). It's little wonder the wise man states in Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

There is multiplicity of churches in the world today. One of the churches owes its origin to Christ while the rest (denominations) originated from man. Churches of men tell their prospects to accept Christ as their personal Saviour through a human-devised system and then join the church of their choice. Christ, however, promised to build only one church, His own church in Matthew 16:18. The book of Acts made us understand that He built it and adds those being saved to it (Acts 2:47), leaving no room for them to choose the church to belong to if they truly obey the gospel with the desire to worship Him in spirit and in truth (Acts 2:38, 41-42, 47; John 4:24).


MARKS THAT IDENTIFY THE CHURCH OF GOD'S CHOICE
  1. The Builder of the church is Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 16:18).

  2. Christ said it belongs to Him and so it is designated "the church of Christ" (Matthew 16:18; Romans 16:16).

  3. His shed blood was to purchase the church (Acts 20:28).

  4. The church is described as His bride (Romans 7:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:22-32).

  5. Christ, not any human living or dead, is her head (Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:23; Colossians 1:18).

  6. It is a Kingdom over which Christ is the King (Matthew 16:18-19; 1 Corinthians 15:24-25).

  7. The church is only one and has no earthly headquarters; it is registered or enrolled in heaven where Christ her Head resides (Ephesians 2:16, 4:4; Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 12:23).

  8. Its terms of entrance remain the same as it was on the first Pentecost after Christ's resurrection as shown in Acts 2. They include the following:
  9. Items that accompany her worship include:
  10. It does not allow women to teach or have authority over the men, hence women evangelists or elders/pastors have no place in it (1 Corinthians 14:34; 1 Timothy 2:8-15).
No church founded by man adheres to the whole marks identifying the church of God's choice, the church of Christ (Romans 16:16). If the church of which you are a member does not conform to the marks outlined above, then you need to rethink because it is not the church of Christ.



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