The Book of Acts is an almost daily chronicle of the history and happenings of the church, the true church, the church led and fed by God’s apostles and miracle-working servants. And there is something very surprising in that account, especially in its early days. Coming in to the church, joining themselves with the followers and disciples of Jesus Christ were Pharisees, Sadducees, temple priests, Levites, ordinary Jews, and Gentiles, former pagans (worshipers of such deities as Zeus, Aphrodite, Diana of the Ephesians, etc.). Now stop and think a minute. These folks didn’t come to see eye-to-eye and agree on all points of doctrine overnight. Yet they were all members of God’s true church. (If there ever was what could be called a “true” church it was the church whose history is given us in the Book of Acts). All of them had been washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, yet for quite some time they were diametrically opposed in some of their beliefs. They were all, as it were, “saved,” and heirs of eternal life. And this explains why you will find truly converted men and women in denominations that differ remarkably as to what they believe and teach.
Could that plain clothed Amish man driving a horsedrawn buggy be a truly converted, forgiven, Holy Spirit endowed child of God? Of course! How about a Lutheran? Sure! How about a Roman Catholic? Yes! How about Billy Graham, or Jimmy Swaggart, or that tongues-talking Pentecostal pastor across town? Yes, yes, yes. But they must all give account to God for just why they believed as they did. Great eternal rewards can be lost or forfeited. Did they fail to follow the apostolic command to “prove all things” of a spiritual nature. Did they hold to a course they knew was unscriptural out of fear of losing their position, their pulpit, their following? Did pride prevent them from saying, “I have been wrong!”
Never forget that every person you have ever met or ever will meet is either a potential child of God or already is a true child of God who says “Vengeance is mine. I WILL repay those who offend or harm you.” That is why we must show respect and compassion toward all men. Failing to do this, we tread on dangerous ground. God help us to understand.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley