December 12, 2014
Lost
Mormons refer to the LDS church as the “true
church” and most of us are familiar with the dogma that Joseph Smith received a
revelation and restored the church. However, during my recent visit to an LDS
church I was surprised to hear more than one member give Joseph Smith credit for
restoring the church that was “lost for centuries.” Really? In my college
studies of theologians and their writings no one wrote of a lost church,
or grieved over the lost church. Speaking to Peter Jesus said, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matt 16:18 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----And thus, the Roman Catholics are sure THEIRS is the “true church”, since of course it was built upon Peter, the rock. Or was it? Peter, the rock, is masculine in it’s Greek form, connoting a “piece of rock”. But this “rock” Jesus said He would build His church upon is feminine, meaning “a mass of rock”. Or more conceptually stated, which the Greek language was great for so stating, Jesus called Peter a “particular rock” while He called what He would build His church upon “rock type stuff”, more commonly called “the bedrock”. Just a little detail, there, maybe a bit smaller than the one of no missing church, but equally affective all the same.
-----And I love little details. They’re little wrenches capable of stopping massive complexes of gears. Obviously God loves little details, too, because He scatters them around easy enough for those who love the truth to find, but obscure enough that those who love themselves won’t even notice their existence.
-----Do you love the Lord? Did you come calling Him the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Do you so testify today because that is the truth from which you will not be moved? Then like Peter, you are a particular rock built upon this bedrock. Truly, you can even be said to be “a chip off the old block,” if recognizing the old block to be the bedrock proclamation of Jesus’ true being. And we have thought into all that from just a little detail regarding the effect of gender upon Greek word meanings.
-----Then being a chip off the old block, do you feel lost? I know we all do sometimes, but our feeble minds churn up some down moments having little to do with the glorious truths building within them. For as Christ assured us all, not one of His will be lost. Not one! So, if there is any sense of a “lost church”, it is in the sense that no one can know the hearts of others while the only real church is the aggregation of all souls truly calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ from a sincerely repentant heart thirsting and longing for the perfect righteousness of the Almighty God. Nobody can “see” that church because nobody can “see into hearts“. So, if we must “see” a church for it not to be lost, then the real church would be lost. But “seeing” it has nothing to do whatsoever with it’s being. The church is of all those who call upon Christ from a sincere heart.
-----No. I don’t feel lost, either. Nor have the millions who’ve lived and died in the Lord before us felt lost. And though we can not see us all, God can. His sight counts, not ours. His church has never been lost. It has always been right there in His sight. Bless His Holy Name!
-----And for those treacherous Mormons, amongst them are scattered some chipped of the bedrock. Just like some are scattered amongst the treacherous Presbyterians, and the treacherous Baptists, and the treacherous Campbellites, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., and yes, more etc’s. For a man does not rise to membership in the church by his associations with anyone else except Jesus Christ Hisself. And from that he gets his associations with the rest of the little rock bits. It’s kind of like a little detail thing, you know.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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