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It Isn’t in The Book
The popular idea in religion today is that "one church is a good as another" therefore everyone "should join the church of his choice." That leaves the Church that Jesus built, designed by the God of Heaven and dwelt in by the Holy Spirit on the level with religious institutions that men have designed and built with no superiority at all over them. It also leaves out God in the matter of "choosing what church we should join." Does God have the right to a choice as to what we should be in religion? One would think so but a lot of people do not seem to consider it that way. Where in the Bible do we read of Churches? All of us who have read our Bible any at all know that "churches" of different kinds or order are not found in the Bible. Congregations of the some faith and order like the "seven churches of Asia" or the '"churches of Christ" that sent greeting to the Church in Rome through Paul in his letter are found in the Word of God but these were all planted by the same Gospel, had the same faith, had obeyed the same commandments, worshipped God in the observance of the same ordinances carried on the same work, and were organized in the same manner exactly. They were "churches" in the sense that they were different congregations of the same faith and order located in different localities.
Jesus said, "I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). Paul wrote to the '"Church of God" which is at Corinth. People who heard the Gospel, believed and obeyed it were added "to the church" - not to churches. When the great meeting on Pentecost had concluded, they did not take all those who had been converted aside and let them "join the church" of their choice. Rather God added them to The Church of His choice (Acts 2:21; 2:47) In Acts 2:41-47 we learn that people receive the Word and were baptized and being saved were added daily to the church. All of this means that because the Bible does not contain the idea of many churches and says not one word about "joining” any church, these are false notions for which God is not responsible. They belong to the doctrines and commandments of men and are therefore wrong. They are not in the Book.
