House Church Talk - Re: Biblical reasons for leaving IC's

[RoyalHeirling at aol.com]

All,

I think the HC has been going and growing through an important experience of 
rediscovering who we are and what God's will is for His church. This has been 
written to express another view of this experience, to attempt to scripturally 
validate the coming out, and to encourage continued study, discussion, and 
growth. I am eager to see how this is received and interpreted by the body. 
Forgive me, I am not the best writer, but the message is important.

       "My heart is inditing a good matter: 
       I speak of the things which I have made 
       touching the king: 
       my tongue is the pen of a ready writer."

If it is as David suggests, that the body is dispersed all over the world and 
that there is no requirement for this body to interact physically with one 
another then it is also true that while God knows those who are His, we do not. 
Nor can we say that those who meet under differing circumstances than we do 
are not members of the same body. Because the body is not composed solely of 
those who fellowship bodily with one another, but as it is written, "Other sheep 
have I which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear 
my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 

What is this voice of God that calls His sheep into the one fold but, "I 
heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, my people, that ye be 
not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.'" Now if it 
matters not how we believe or worship as long as we all worship God, then why 
does God call them out of Babylon, a false system of worship? It is because 
they cannot develop a right relationship with God while holding onto these false 
concepts (doctrines, teachings, beliefs) of God's character and purpose and 
will. If they do not know, they cannot believe. And to know correctly requires 
they hear the truth. For there will be those who suppose they know His perfect 
will, and Him, but to their dismay He rejects them in the end. As it is 
written, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father." They cry that they have 
done His will as evidenced by their prophesying, casting out of devils, and 
many wonderful works in His name. But His reply to them is, "Depart from me, ye 
that work iniquity." "I never knew you." 

So some may say that these represent legalists trying to earn heaven by their 
works. But I say they could also represent the sincere but deceived. After 
all, there will be many who worship the beast and receive his mark. These are 
they who wonder after the beast with the whole world. They think they are 
worshipping God but they are really worshipping the dragon which gave power unto the 
beast. [Rev 13:2-4]. This means they are not worshipping God at all, but they 
are really worshipping Satan. "The dragon was cast out, that old Serpent, 
called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." Note that Lucifer 
wanted to be like God and sit upon His throne. It only makes sense that he 
would establish a counterfeit system similar to God's plan but giving worship to 
himself as a god. So the call to God's sheep is to come out of this false 
system of beliefs which deceives the whole world.

Let's take a quick look at the reason why all professing Christians won't see 
the error or hear the message to come out. It must be because they "received 
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." God will allow them to 
believe the lie. They will actually believe that they are right and that the 
true followers of God are deceived. And people say it is not as important what 
we believe as who we believe in. I say we cannot worship God according to our 
own ideas but we must worship Him according to His methods and will--be it HC 
or IC. This is what we hope to discover here. 

So, then, as an HC we should be calling people into the truth. But we cannot 
give this call unless we ourselves know the truth. Now here is where many will 
be offended. We all like to think we have the truth. But the only truth we 
can be sure of is that we don't know all the truth. We each know some of the 
truth and some of what we know is distorted because we have learned it from 
Babylon's teachers and preachers who work for this false religious system that the 
Bible says is inhabited by devils and every foul bird and which deceives the 
whole world. These are our roots. This is where we came from with all the 
trimmings. 

Does separating ourselves physically from the IC constitute a coming out? 
Yes, in a physical sense. But a geographically dispersed "church" which is of one 
spirit and one faith, and thus one Lord, is also of one body. The unity is in 
the spiritual fellowship and not in the proximity of the believers. Else, how 
could the HC, which is geographically dispersed, World-Wide, be of one body, 
one spirit? So then the "coming out" cannot be merely a physical removing but 
it must be a coming out of that false body by leaving behind any half-truths 
learned along the way. This alone will severe the spiritual oneness and severe 
the ties to the body. Then we may join a new body, the spirit of Truth. Partly 
we have done this by refusing to allow that hierarchical characteristic of 
the IC to establish itself in the HC. 

My desire for the HC is that it become the pioneer of truth and bring the 
message that "the bride groom cometh" to a waiting world. This will awaken the 
sleeping "virgins" to trim their lamps and go forth. And I think this can happen 
if we will take everything we learned in the IC and put it under the scrutiny 
of scripture to see if that is actually what the Bible teaches. This is the 
voice of God in our hearing. This is the message I see in Revelation's call to 
come out. Come out of the error and learn to love the truth. Search for it 
daily. Don't be willing to hold onto any cherished belief simply for pride's 
sake. We need to love truth more than we love ourselves. As Venning said, "Those 
who never retract their opinions prove they love themselves more than truth." 
We should be ever so willing to let go of anything and everything not sustained 
in scripture. 

I become very upset when I hear Christians scorn the truth, saying, "It's not 
so important what we know. Knowledge won't save us. Our relationship with 
Jesus is all that matters." This has some elements of truth to it. Our 
relationship with Jesus is most important. And, knowledge cannot save us. But, Jesus is 
the truth, and knowing Him is knowing Truth. We cannot worship the true God 
unless we worship Him in ways He prescribes. Outside of this we worship a false 
god. In the end it will be known whether we worship the beast, a false god 
with a false system of worship, or the true God, the creator of Heaven and Earth. 


The Jews were God's chosen people. Yet, they were involved in a false 
religious system. Jesus came to this Earth to give them a correct view of God so that 
they might have eternal life.

       "And we know that the Son of God is come, 
       and hath given us an understanding, 
       that we may know him that is true, 
       and we are in him that is true, 
       even in his Son Jesus Christ. 
       This is the true God, and eternal life." 

We know the outcome of that era. "He came unto His own, and His own received 
Him not." They could not hear God calling to them to "come out" of that false 
system because they were too proud to humble themselves and learn from so 
lowly a commoner as Jesus. 

To summarize; if the HC is truly different from the IC, then it should have a 
different faith than the one the IC has. A different spirit, a different Lor
d, a different body. Physical separation does not severe the body parts, as we 
have learned. The unity is made or broken by Truth and error. If the IC is 
wrong and in error, then why should we hold onto their system of beliefs? Why 
forsake just the hierarchy? Why not forsake the beliefs which fostered that 
system? When we fellowship in the truth, then we will be among that body which 
fellowships in the spirit of truth. Then we will be of a different body for 
certain. I think the HC is going through this experience in many faucets with 
discussion of leadership, deacons, elders, tithing, etc. Let this dialogue continue 
and let it expand to encompass everything we were taught by the IC. Let's 
revisit everything we believe and see if scripture supports it. If not, let us 
abandon it. If so, then let us hold it fast.

May God be our only Guide!

Jeff L in Richmond.


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Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that 
it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in 
order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down 
to us, but brings us up to Him.
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