The One True Church

The believers in the Lord who led me to Him in the late 1970s urged me to join a church, emphasizing that it was essential to my faith for me to do so. They further emphasized the point by saying that any church was better than not going to church. Specifically, they quipped, “Don’t look for the perfect church, because you’ll never find it; and, even if you do find it, don’t join it, ’cause you’ll ruin it.” It was a wise and funny line and I took it to heart. True to the saying, none of the three churches I successively joined over the course of the following 15 years was perfect; and, even though none was perfect, I still managed to make each one of them worse by joining it. By the end of my time with the third, I realized that there has been on this earth only one true church: the one that was led by the apostles in the 1st century, the one that received and passed on the writings of the apostles who led them. We should imitate their faith – not their form. In other words, if we don’t feel the need to sacrifice animals in Jerusalem like the ancient Jews, why should we feel the need to partake of sacramental gatherings like the ancient Christians? Instead, we should read the Bible, find Jesus…and follow Him. That’s what godly Jews and Christians from ancient times would want most for us to do today.

Every church since that first one has been of a different breed – a man-made breed. The New Testament church had miracles and it had apostles appointed by Jesus. All churches since then have been self-appointed and without Jesus-appointed apostles. Why? Because the Second Coming of Christ occurred late in the 1st century, just when Jesus said it would. That brought in the kingdom of God, which rendered the church obsolete.

A 3rd-century Roman bishop named Cyprian famously said, “No one can have God for his Father who does not have the church for his mother.” This holds true ONLY if it’s the one true church we’re talking about.

The one true church consisted of those 1st-century people who gathered and continued to gather because they believed the apostles’ preaching about Jesus and were looking for His Second Coming in their lifetime.
The one true church treasured and preserved the writings of the apostles – what came to be called the New Testament.

If you believe in Jesus because of the New Testament then you have the one true church for your spiritual mother.

The one true church is the greatest generation of all…is the church Jesus said He would build (“I will build My church” – Matt 16:18)…is the one we read about in the New Testament. No other church can compare. As there is one true God, there is one true church. Let us imitate their faith, not their form…lest we be like the Egyptians.

(Hebrews 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.)

10/14/25