Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
As I was in prayer early Sunday morning, February 13, 2000, the Lord put it
in my heart to write about the seven lies His people believe. I had no idea when
I began to write what even the second lie would be, much less the third or fourth.
I just knew they would come to me as I went along if it was indeed the Spirit
of God that prompted me to begin writing. And they did. Here is the first
of the seven principal lies that Christian ministers have persuaded God's children
to believe.
This is Satan's most successful lie in human history. With this lie, he deceived us all until Jesus rescued us; with this lie he has destroyed the unity of the saints; and with this lie he has built for himself an imitation kingdom of God. If the children of God would only realize that the religion of Christianity is not the family of God, they could be delivered from a thousand wrong ideas about their heavenly Father. It is the saints' allegiance to Christianity, thinking that it is God's way, that has frustrated them in their desire for unity. We have done it to ourselves, believing that Christianity is the family of God.
The difference between Christianity and the family of the Lord is made plain by the asking of two simple questions: First, "How does one become a member of God's family?", and second, "How does one become a member of the religion of Christianity?" If the answers to those two questions differ, then Christianity cannot be the family of God.
The answer to the first question, "How does one become a member of God's family?", is "by baptism in spirit". Paul wrote, "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body" (1Cor. 12:13). Yes, it is the holy Ghost baptism that makes one a member of the body of Christ (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), which is also called "the body" of Christ (Col. 1:18 ), or the family of God (Eph. 3:15).
Next we must answer the question, "How does one become a member of Christianity? Does the answer to this second question differ in any respect from the answer to the first one? Be honest with yourself. Keep it simple. Does Jesus baptize people with the holy Ghost into the religion of Christianity? Or is it not rather that God's children join that religion, thinking it is God's way? Isn't it true that while God baptizes us with His Spirit into His family, we have to join Christianity in order to become a member of it?
The baptism of the holy Ghost is the "new birth". We are born of the Spirit into the family of God; it is the work of God in our hearts. We cannot join God's family any more than we joined our natural families. Joining a church is neither the work or will of God; it is of the will of man and the flesh. So, if one can join Christianity, which one can certainly do, but one cannot join God's family, which no one can possibly do, then Christianity and God's family cannot be the same institution.
That Christianity is God's family is the first of the Seven Lies that God's children believe.
For more information, check our web site for tract #59, "Christ or Christianity?".