By Brother Chuck

Do you attend a Christian church or an almost Christian church? Is your church or denomination the one true church that Jesus is building... or something else? Is your church a pretender? A cult? Can you tell the difference?

Friends, there is but one true church, one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and father of all who is over all. (See Ephesians 4:4-6 NLT) Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." (Matthew 16:18 NLT) Notice the word "church", is singular and not plural. He's only building one church, that is one body of believers; one body of Christ. This one body is following the one and only God incarnate, Jesus the Christ (or Jesus the anointed one). This one fellowship of believers are known as Christians. It doesn't matter your denomination or non-denomination or affiliation. There's only two categories of people in the world; Christian or non-Christian. Christians are going to heaven and non-Christians are going to hell. There is but one church, one faith, one God.

Christian? ...or almost Christian?

So let me ask you again. Do you attend the one true church? Or is your church or denomination a pretender, or a cult? The cults are easy to recognize. So let's start there. When we think of a cult, we often think of satanic worship, animal sacrifice, participation in some sort of evil, bizarre, or pagan ritual. But that rarely describes a cult. Oftentimes cults call themselves Christians. They knock on your door and share Scripture. They're sort of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Although they themselves have been deceived. They quote, manipulate, alter and misrepresent scripture. They claim to be Christian, but are far from it. They will always deny one or more tenants of Christian faith. Denial of any one or more tenets of faith listed below categorizes them as a cult or "Christian" cult because they call themselves Christian, but are not. They are, however, the mission field.

One teaching of a Christian cult is that Jesus is not God. Another is that salvation is not by faith alone. They deny Christ' deity. The result being Christ' death and resurrection was insufficient to pay for our sins. The denial of salvation by faith teaches a work based salvation. In 1 John 4:1-3, John said to test the spirits to see if they are from God. John's test for godly doctrine was "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" See also 2 John 1:7. With so many religions and faiths in the world, one doesn't always know who he's dealing with. So John's litmus test comes in quite handy. I simply ask, "Who do you say Jesus is? Is He God in the flesh or just an ordinary man or teacher?" You'll know very quickly what they believe which will allow you to open scripture and show them the truth.

Perhaps the two best known examples of cults today are the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. Both claim to be Christian, yet both deny the deity of Christ and both deny salvation by grace through faith.

The following tenets of Christian faith are essential to Christianity. None can be denied.

Tenets of Christian Faith

1. The Deity of Christ - or simply put, Jesus is God (John 10:30)

2. Salvation by Grace - which means, salvation by unmerited favor. There is simply nothing you can do to earn God's favor or gain access to heaven apart from His grace. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

3. Salvation Through Jesus Christ Alone - The bible clearly teaches us that it is only through Jesus that we might be saved. There's no other way. (Acts 4:12; John 14:6)

4. The Resurrection of Christ - The resurrection of Christ is the most significant event in human history aside maybe from His birth and death. For without it, our faith is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV)

5. The Gospel - How important is the gospel to embrace and share with others? (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Galatians 1:8-9) The gospel is Christ' death on the cross for all sinners and His resurrection to everlasting life. This is central to the Christian faith.

6. Monotheism - Simply put, there is only one God and there is no other. (Exodus 20:3; Isaiah 43:10; (1 Corinthians 8:5-6).

7. The Holy Trinity - God is triune. He is one God made up of three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Although the word Trinity is not found in the Bible. The triune Godhead, is described frequently throughout Scripture (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; John 14:16-17; Matthew 3:16-17)

The pretenders and impostors are a little more difficult to recognize because some of these movements e.g., Methodism have been trusted and in existence since the time the Church of England had its beginnings in the 18th century. Some have strayed away from the Word of God. The one true church that Jesus alone is building must have an allegiance to the Bible. A church or denomination that declares itself Christian must be committed to the inerrancy and the authority of Scripture as the inspired Word of God. God's Word is unchanging (Matthew 24:35). It hasn't changed since the days when holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to speak (2 Peter 1:21) and they put pen to papyrus or parchment and wrote what God had said. "All Scripture is God-breathed..." (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV) God is the author of Scripture! He is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8). His Word is unchanging.

Early Church Fathers unanimously regarded the Scriptures as holy, sacred, and divine. Therefore, they considered Scripture to be absolutely authoritative and being the very words of God Himself. Clement of Rome advised the Corinthian church, "Look carefully into the Scriptures, which are the true utterances of the Holy Spirit." Yet knowing all this, some denominations have changed their minds and decided to ignore Scripture and now many mainline denominations allow same-sex marriage and/or abortion contrary to the Word of God. If you attend one of these churches, run from that church as fast as you can and find a bible-believing church or denomination.