INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
“I have just come through one of the most incredible journey’s a Christian could ever come through. Imagine being a member of an old covenant practicing Christian Church-looked upon by other Christian Churches as a cult. You are a loyal member for over 26 years. You admire and follow that Church’s past leader. Then he dies. That leader had preached a prophetic version of the gospel not much unlike what the Old Testament Prophets had preached to the Jews about a glorious conquering Messiah who would come, conquer their enemies and usher Israel and the world into a golden age of peace and prosperity such as the world has never known. Then the successor of the founding leader of this old covenant Christian Church, appointed by him just before his death, takes over, and little by little discovers that this Church has been living in the wrong covenant. Just nine short years from the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, Joseph Tkach Sr. courageously takes the final steps which bring the Worldwide Church of God into the new covenant and new covenant Christianity. As a part of the massive changes made, Mr. Tkach discovered we had neglected the gospel of Christ which Paul and the early Church of God had preached. He then switched the Worldwide Church of God over to preaching the gospel of Christ exclusively.”
Background information for understanding the Worldwide Church of God
Some
Christian fellowships are hesitant to accept other fellowships who differ from
them in doctrine. They're even hesitant to accept former members who come to
them from fellowships who differ significantly from them doctrinally, unless
these prospective members are willing to give up all their old beliefs. How
should we be treating Christians who differ from us and our own fundamental
beliefs? The apostle Paul says some very interesting things dealing with this
subject of acceptance of Christians who differ from us significantly in
doctrine.
When a Christian sins against you the Bible has a recourse.
It is found in Matthew 18:15-17. If you realize you have sinned against your
brother the Bible also has a course of action found in Matthew 5:23-24 (use
wisdom in applying this). But what do we do when we are not sure--what should
we do when the Bible is not all that clear about an issue? The Bible says
nothing about smoking. Nor does it condemn moderate consumption of alcohol.
What is sin to one man's conscience is O.K. with another's conscience--and when
the Bible is mute on these matters what should we do? What does the Bible say
about these gray areas? Paul shows us in Romans 14. Paul shows how we are to
handle these disputable matters of conscience. Paul lists 6 reasons why we're
not to dispute on gray issues of conscience which the Bible hasn't really
legislated on one way or the other. Paul shows what we should do.
In
verses 1-2 Paul sets the overall principle that he whose faith is strong (about
a particular freedom in the Bible to do something) should
not look down on the guy whose faith isn't strong in
that area. For example, in the Church of God in Rome, the population in the
Church was just about split down the middle, half being Gentile Christians, and
half being Jewish Christians (who probably had been baptized that first
Pentecost in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 disciples). Many
of these Jewish Christians still adhered to the old covenant Law of Moses.
Their conscience wouldn't allow them to eat pork. The Gentiles, knowing that
eating of pork or shellfish was not forbidden in the new covenant, had no
problem eating such food. It is a matter of conscience now. But even so, should
a Gentile sit down next to his Jewish Christian brother and consume a ham
sandwich? In modern days, if you think nothing is wrong with popping a big fat
stogie in your mouth and firing up, but your brethren from your church don't
believe it is proper to smoke, would you fire up at the Church picnic among
your brothers? Would that be an acceptable thing to do? Romans
14:1-2. "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable
matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose
faith is weak, eats only vegetables." Why only vegetables?
Because in Rome, the capitol of the Gentile Roman Empire, almost all the meat
was unclean according to the Law of Moses. The Jewish Christians had been
brought up under the Law of Moses as children. It was deeply imbedded in their
consciences. Proverbs states, 'Train up a child in the way that he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it.' These Jewish Christians had
been trained up in Jewish homes which strictly followed the Law of Moses. They
would never have been in Jerusalem for the Passover/Pentecost Holy Day season
and witnessed the miracle of the Holy Spirit descending on the saints and
apostles and been baptized on that Pentecost just fifty days after the death
and resurrection of Jesus had they not been brought up in the strictness of the
Law of Moses--so much so that they thought it of extreme importance to observe
the Holydays in Jerusalem. We see historic evidence of this recorded in Acts
2:1-11 which states, "Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat
upon each of them. Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak with other tongues [foreign languages], as the Spirit gave them
utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every
nation under heaven [obviously temporarily dwelling in Jerusalem for the Spring
HolyDay season of Passover/Unleavened Bread/Pentecost]. And when this sound
occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone
heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled,
saying to one another, 'Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is
it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?' 'Parthians
and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia. Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining
Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--we all
hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.'" These Jews
from Rome were devout Jews, devout in the law of
Moses. Now go forward in time. The Church of God at Rome is composed of two
groups, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians had
been devout Jews, devout in the law of Moses. When Paul wrote to them the
counsel at Jerusalem in Acts 15 had already occurred. They all understood that
the old covenant had been declared obsolete, no longer in effect for new
covenant Christians. Think about that for awhile. Paul had already taught and
declared the new covenant freedom from the old covenant Law of Moses, but this
declaration could not erase the childhood programming which remained imbedded
in the Jewish Christian mind. To obey or not to obey the tenants of the old
covenant had been made totally optional for all Christians at the counsel of
Jerusalem in Acts 15. But in the conscience of the Jewish Christian, it was not
an optional matter--gray for the Gentile Christian was black and white with no
in-between for the Jewish Christian. Verses 3-4 continues the
thought: "The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not,
and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for
God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own
master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him
stand." Paul is saying in essence, 'Whatever these people are
doing, they're doing it to the Lord.'
Understanding that the whole
context of Romans is between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians
who made up the Church of God at Rome, the next verses are clearly addressing
the observance of the Sabbath and Holy Days which had been commanded in the
books of Leviticus [23] and Exodus and Deuteronomy, under the old covenant.
Paul is getting into a pretty heavy area in the Jewish religious
conscience--the observance of the Sabbath and Holy Days--which is now optional
under the new covenant. Romans 14:5-6. "One man considers one day
more sacred than another [i.e. the Sabbath which the Jews, Jewish Christians,
and many of the early Apostolic Churches of God observed on Saturday]; another
man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own
mind. He who regards one day as special, does it to the Lord. He who eats meat,
eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to
the Lord and gives thanks to God."
In the last part of
verse six Paul tells us what our motive should be for whatever we do, whether
to follow old covenant tenants we we're brought up under, which are not wrong,
but now are totally voluntary, or to not follow them, which is O.K. also. 'He
who eats meat, eats to the Lord...he who abstains, does so to the Lord...He who
regards one day as special, does it to the Lord...He who considers every day
alike--does so to the Lord. Paul now expands on this theme in verses 7-12, and
then gives us the command in verse 13 to stop passing judgment on our brothers
who are acting out of conscience for doing or not doing what they do.
Romans 14:7-13. "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of
us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we
die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the
Lord.
For this very reason, Christ died and
returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your
brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: "'As
surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue
will confess to God. [Isaiah 45:23].'" So then, each of us will give an account
of himself to God. [Mt. 12:36]
Therefore let us stop passing judgment
on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or
obstacle in your brother's way."
In verses 14-17 Paul takes
all of this to the next level. The following verses are a barometer of our
Christian maturity. Verse 15 shows that you're not acting in love if by your
practicing your freedom it is making another stumble. If you have a freedom and
you know it is right, but your brother doesn't have the faith or understanding
to believe this freedom is within God's law, don't treat it as a license to
stumble your brother. Don't let your freedom cause others to stumble. Verse 17
puts it all in perspective, 'The kingdom of God is not of the material things,
but the spiritual things.' Romans 14:14-18. "As one who is in the
Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself [i.e. the
old covenant food laws, as the old covenant itself, is null and void]. If your
brother is distressed because of what you eat [your Jewish brother brought up
under the strict Orthodoxy of the Law of Moses], you are no longer acting in
love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not
allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is
not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God
and approved by men."
"Do not by your eating destroy your
brother for whom Christ died." This is being addressed to the Gentiles who were
threatening the spiritual consciences of their Jewish Christian brothers, and
thus threatening their spiritual lives. [The Worldwide Church of God was an old
covenant Christian Church, weak in the knowledge of the covenants, but strong
in faith and overall knowledge of God's Word. By the standards of Romans 14:15
just quoted above, the Jewish Christians, and also the old covenant Christians,
are just as much a part of the "body of Christ" as any other Christian
fellowship which possess the indwelling Holy Spirit. And this criteria also
fits the splinter groups that split off the Worldwide Church of God because
they, out of sincere conscience sake, couldn't make the journey from old
covenant Christianity into new covenant Christianity--but remained behind in
the old covenant. They, by the definition of Romans 14:15, are Christ's also,
though they may not think we are. God is good. He holds us responsible for what
we do understand, not for what we don't understand. They're simply old covenant
Christians, just as the Jewish Christians were in Rome of Paul's day. They're
Christ's as much as we are. I don't like the term legalist's because it's a
derogatory label. They're obeying God as they understand just as we are. Old
covenant Christians are what they are, legalist is a label (whether it is
accurate or not). I wouldn't hesitate to say to friends I have in one of these
Churches 'You're an old covenant Christian. But I wouldn't think of telling
them they were legalists to their face. So why say it behind their backs? Who
knows what I'm saying in private, you ask? God knows. That's not following the
sensitivity lessons Paul taught in Romans 14.
Some Christians
fellowships have called the Worldwide Church of God a cult. I think in light of
their recent past changes we ought to be very careful of statements and
accusations like that. 49,000 members out of this 89,000 member Christian
church followed the lead of the Holy Spirit within them through an often
painful and yet courageous journey from old covenant Christianity to new
covenant Christianity. If the Worldwide Church of God were truly a cult--and
not simply an old covenant Christian Church--how could the Holy Spirit possibly
lead forty-nine thousand loyal members into the truth of the new covenant (in a
church of 89,000)? This is a good question, and it ought to make us extremely
cautious in our labeling other Christian fellowships cults. (Such wrong
labeling amounts to libel. Funny how you that there is only one letter
difference between the two words, and a wrong label can amount to libel.) Let's
leave that job up to our boss and Savior Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church.
He will certainly make it obvious enough in due time who the cults are and who
they aren't. We can do more damage than good when we try to take over the
Lord's responsibility in this matter. Along this line of thinking I have a
perfect example of the type of reference other Evangelical Christian leaders
often make toward our past while praising our courage of coming into the new
covenant. But they do it in such a was as to paint all our past beliefs in a
very dark and negative way. To call the Worldwide Church of God before the
"changes" were made a cult not only hurts many loyal members who came through
those changes inspite of loving Mr. Armstrong, but is considered by these same
members as accepting a compliment which has been embedded in a slanderous lie.
In my opinion, our leaders in the Worldwide Church of God also ought to stop
accepting such tainted compliments, and even call such ones giving them, and
demand that they stop. The example I give is a comment written or given by
Richard J. Foster, author of "Celebration of Discipline" and "Streams of Living
Water", commenting on Mr. J. Michael Feazell's new book "The Liberation of the
Worldwide Church of God. He states: "We believe in the life-changing influence
of grace and truth. Rarely, however, do we see it demonstrated with such
explosive power as in the case of the Worldwide Church of God. [So far, this is
highly complimentary] Told by one of its top leaders, here is the remarkable
inside story of what happened when a well-known cult grappled with the truths
of the New Testament. "The Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God" is far
more than the fascinating account of a church's journey from darkness to light
and from bondage to grace [now while I'm extremely glad to have the far greater
understanding of God's grace and of the new covenant, I don't recall being in
such darkness and bondage, and I take that as an insult] It is a blazing
testimony to the gospel's matchless power--a power able to transform hearts and
lives that seem beyond reach...and fully capable of changing us. [May I say
this about that, had we not been previously transformed by the indwelling of
God's Holy Spirit, 49,000 of us would never have made the transition or as he
calls it, the transformation, into the new covenant.]" That is as much of his
"compliment" as I wish to repeat. When our very own leaders and those of us who
have been a part of the Worldwide Church of God for many years all say the same
thing--that we were cult-like, but we were not a cult--it is high time we
stopped accepting the accolades of those who want to label us (or libel us),
before the changes were made, as a cult. It isn't good for our members or good
for fostering healing within our denomination between those who loved Mr.
Armstrong and made the changes nonetheless, and those who didn't particularly
like Mr. Armstrong.
Vs 19: Make every effort to do what leads to peace
toward another believer. Romans 14:19. "Let us therefore make every
effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual
edification."
Verses 20-23: If your liberty is causing a
brother to stumble it is sin. Keep your liberty to yourself if it runs contrary
to what others believe is right. "Do not destroy the work of God for
the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything
that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine
or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
So whatever you believe about these things keep
between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by
what he approves. But the man who has doubts [say about eating pork for a
Jewish Christian] is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from
faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin."
That sums up the background information, using Romans
14 to help lay the groundwork for a better understanding of the Worldwide
Church of God prior to 1995. Now for the transformation.
I
have tried to put this study on Romans 14 into it's true historic perspective
because the Worldwide Church of God in its' past has had such a close
ideological/doctrinal resemblance to these early Jewish Christians. I wish to
transform Romans 14 back up to it's true intent, as spiritual instruction for
Jewish and Gentile Christians and how they ought to treat each other because it
has a direct bearing on how we should be treating our brother and sister
Christian denominations and fellowships--and those that come into our midst
from these other fellowships. Back then they were in one Christian Church,
which comprised the body of Christ. Now many denominations and fellowships make
up the body of Christ. Some of these fellowships are strongly linked
spiritually and ideologically to the ancient Jewish Christians Paul wrote to in
the Apostolic Church of God in Rome. The Worldwide Church of God had this
ideological/doctrinal/spiritual link right up to 1995, when they recognized the
relevancy of the new covenant. But the proper application of Romans 14 can now
help us bring a form of Godly unity to our various Christian fellowships, just
as Paul was trying to forge a unity between the Jewish and Gentile Christians
within the early Church at Rome.
Just for an example, brethren from the
two separate fellowships of Calvary Chapel/Horizon Fellowships and the
Worldwide Church of God before 1995 were united under Jesus Christ in much the
very same way as Paul described the early Apostolic Church of God in Rome. i.e.
They are united in the belief that Jesus Christ is their personal saviour and
His blood has covered and sanctified them, covering their sins and purchasing
them for God. But in many other areas of doctrinal belief these groups differed
significantly--but Paul says in Romans 14 that BOTH
groups are Christ's servants, so who are you to judge the servant of
another?
Recently the Worldwide Church of God came into a very clear
understanding of the relevancy of the new covenant. And yet those in the
Worldwide Church of God had been--up until 1995--following a fundamentalist old
covenant application of the Law of Moses much as the Jewish Christians did in
Jerusalem and even in Rome itself! They had been following old covenant
practices for over 50 years (since 1934). Their collective and individual
Christian consciences have been molded and set in a similar fashion as Paul
described in Romans 14.
Paul was trying to teach Christian sensitivity
to the brethren at Rome who had been made up of two greatly different groups,
Gentile and Jewish Christians. Just how does one become sensitive to another
person? Don't you attempt to understand them--to understand what they believe
in and why--to understand what they've been through? You can't be sensitive to
another individual or a whole Church of individuals until you know a bit about
them, their beliefs and what they've been through in their own particular walk
with Jesus Christ. Let's start with our brothers and sisters in Christ from the
Worldwide Church of God since they so closely mirror the Jewish Christians at
Rome during Paul's life. First, I want you to come to understand the massive
spiritual and doctrinal change the Worldwide Church of God just went through in
1995. This will help us see what these Christians believed before 1995, and
what they now believe in doctrine. These Christians are a very unusual group of
Christians, whose belief in following where Jesus leads them is very strong
indeed. Let's see just how strong this belief and faith is for them.
Mr. Tkach Jr. (Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God) said
recently in the February number of the 1996 Plain Truth Magazine, in the coming
to a good understanding of the new covenant..."resulted in our abandoning past
requirements that Christians [in the Worldwide Church of God] observe the
Seventh Day Sabbath as "Holy time," that Christians are obligated to observe
the annual Festivals commanded to Israel in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, that
Christians are required to triple tithe and that Christians must not eat foods
that were "unclean" under the Old Covenant...Gone is our long-held view of God
as a "family" of multiple "spirit beings" into which humans may be born,
replaced by a Biblically accurate view of one God who exists eternally in three
persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit...yet our progress has not
been without costs. Income has plummeted costing us millions of dollars and
requiring us to lay off hundreds of long-term employees. Membership has
declined. Several [three major ones to be exact] splinter churches have broken
off from us to return to one or the other of our previous doctrinal and
cultural positions. As a result, families have separated and friendships have
been abandoned, sometimes with angry, hurt feelings and accusations..." That
was Mr. Tkach Jr.'s description of what we as a Church just went through. The
July 15, 1996 magazine Christianity Today ran a very good article about the
Worldwide Church of God titled, "From the Fringe to the Fold, How the Worldwide
Church of God discovered the plain truth of the gospel" by Ruth Tucker. I am
going to quote from page 31 of her article here to show just how costly these
changes we just went through were. It is no easy thing to change a Church's
long held doctrinal beliefs, regardless of whether the change is from error to
Biblically accurate and provable truth. There is a cost. So what would Jesus
advise?
And
that is just exactly what we did under the courageous leadership of Mr. Joseph
Tkach Sr. Here is a further description of that cost. "By January of 1995,
there was a clear consensus at the top--and among many pastors and laypeople as
well--that there was no turning back. It was then that [Mr.] Tkach Sr., issued
a document on the "new covenant" that would enunciate for any still in doubt
that the church had departed from [Mr.] Armstrong's teachings. Here, among
other things, he focused on the Sabbath: "There is nothing in the new covenant
that says we are required to keep the Sabbath according to the rules of the old
covenant...Being Sabbath keepers does not make us more righteous than other
Christians."
1995 became a tumultuous year. The "new covenant"
proclamation unleashed pent-up emotions that had been, in some cases, simmering
for years. Pasadena headquarters was suddenly inundated with protests and
resignations, including that of David Hulme, television host for
The World Tomorrow. In his letter of resignation, he
asserted that the "so called 'new truths' were in fact rather old errors," and
accused Joseph Tkach of already believing these new truths when he succeeded
[Mr.] Armstrong in 1986.
The trickle out of the church seemed to turn
into a flood in 1995. At a conference in Indianapolis in early May, the United
Church of God (UCG) was formed and, unlike previous splinter groups, posed a
serious threat to the WCG. Former WCG directors and pastors were among the 150
"elders" who gathered in Indianapolis to select a board and name David Hulme,
who had also served the WCG in public relations, as chairman.
By year's
end, the number of those affiliated with the movement was estimated to be
17,000 far exceeding the size of any of the other splinter groups. They
justified the new movement, saying: "Long-held beliefs members have dearly
sacrificed for have been officially negated and replaced by doctrines that are
diametrically opposed to the teachings that led members into the church."
In the end, more than a third of the ministers left the Worldwide
Church of God [closer to 50% in the United States!]. The west coast of Florida
was one of the hardest hit regions of the country, but other areas experienced
similar turbulence. In Sedona, Arizona, Pastor Rand Holm and his wife, Beth,
tell of the wrenching pain they felt when a sizable group of faithful
churchgoers left their congregation.
The losses in Florida and Arizona
have been reflected in membership losses throughout the country.
U.S. membership in 1986 stood at 89,000. Today the membership is
49,000 [a 45 percent loss!]. "So that shows," laments Joseph Tkach Jr., "that
40,000 people no longer attend with us. It is the price we've paid to make
these changes."
The loss of leaders and members has
resulted in financial loss. Church income has dropped 50 percent in 1995.
Severance pay arrangements for administrators and local ministers who have left
the church combined with the decrease in giving has required painful cutbacks
that are as wrenching as were the church ruptures. Many long-time, faithful
employees are no longer on the church payroll.
Adding to the wrenching
pain, uncertainty of finances, and fractured friendships and churches, Pastor
General Joseph Tkach Sr., himself was experiencing pain and uncertainty as he
battled cancer. At the very time the "changes" were coming to fruition--at the
peak of his ministry--it appeared doubtful whether he would live to enjoy the
"Golden Age" that he had set into motion. And on September 23, 1995, he died at
age 68.
Greg Albrecht's prayer at [Mr.] Tkach's memorial service sums
up the profound influence of this man who rose out of obscurity to change the
course of church history: "We will leave his body behind, but we will take his
memory and his legacy with us. We will, in his words, not only keep the faith,
we will share it and we will spread it. We will proclaim Jesus Christ and the
gospel of salvation; the good news that we have in Christ, the new life we have
in him."
That was quoted from page 31 of Christianity
Today from an article by Ruth Tucker. Mr. Tkach Sr. was obviously
following Jesus Christ. The article by Ruth Tucker is quite a good one. Very
honest and worth reading. Christianity Today can be found in most libraries,
and they may carry back issues.
As you just read, 40,000 members of the
Worldwide Church of God are now either in some splinter group which sprang off
the Worldwide Church of God, or they are homeless Christians--Christians who
belong to no Church or particular Christian fellowship. Some of these
Christians, stuck somewhere between old covenant and new, may show up in your
fellowship and congregations. How should you treat them? Didn't Paul just tell
us in Romans 14? Sincerely try in brotherly love to understand their doctrinal
differences in belief so as to be able to properly apply the spirit of Romans
14 to them --and most of all, nurture and feed them in the precious Word of
God. These people will, for the most part, prove to be valuable assets to your
fellowship and congregations.
It very well may be that Romans 14 could
be one of the most important chapters in the Bible--coupled to Ephesians
4:11-16--pointing the various Christian fellowships in the right direction
toward unity within the entire body of Christ. It is a deeply spiritual chapter
which demands spiritual maturity of us all.
If Jesus dwells in you
through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (John 14), then the sensitivity
lessons of Paul in Romans 14 will become a way of life for you and your
Christian fellowship.
I believe--no matter what Christian fellowship we
belong to--we ought to extend the right hand of fellowship to these Christians
at Worldwide in recognition of the courageous journey they just made from old
covenant to new covenant. Many of their people are spiritually hurting from the
rapidity of the changes, and need spiritual nurturing and revitalization in the
Word of God--and they need our encouragement to stay the course at the
Worldwide Church of God, for Jesus has truly begun a Good Work in them.
To quote a famous 1960’s tune, “The times, they are a changin”. After September 11, 2001 we have all become aware of the fact that the world has become a more dangerous place to live in, even within the borders of the United States. September 11th should be a wake-up call for all Christians and those who think they are Christians. If you were to die today-tonight-would you be assured of your place in God’s heavenly kingdom, a recipient of eternal life? The words of the apostle Paul ring out across the centuries asking this age-old question “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates.” Dr. Charles F. Stanley poses this same eternal question in his sermon “What Does It Mean To Believe In Jesus”. And he gives three essential criteria that will help you answer that question in your own personal life. The assurance of your eternity is worth confirming. http://www.unityinchrist.com/faith/whatis.htm to find out if “Jesus Christ is in you.”
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