is a church considered genuine simply because?

Question

they quote scripture??

how do you know if your church is really filled with Gods spirit
or merely men quoting scripture to get your tithe?

Answer 1

Who speaks the truth? Which Protestant ministers are we to listen to? Lutherans, Calvinist, Amish, Anglicans, Methodist, Church of God, Church of Christ, Quakers, Episcopalian, Salvation Army, Adventis, Presbytarian, Shakers, Wesleyan, Brethren, Church of Nazarene, or one of hundreds of splinter denominations from these?

The splintering of so many different denominations believing differently on key salvific issues is an important factor in showing the most obvious problems of finding the one who is truly speaking God’s Word (Issues like “what kind of faith saves? Is baptism necessary? Needed? Is baptism for infants? Must baptism be by immersion only? Can one lose salvation? How? Can it be gotten back? How? Is the Real Presence true? Are spiritual gifts like tongues and healing for today? For everyone? What about predestination? What about free will?).

There seems to be two possible solutions to this dilemma, one is to be sent by extraordinary means and the other by ordinary means. Let’s look at the extraordinary means. This method entails the individual to be sent by God personally. Seeing as there is a definite possibility that many will be deceived into believing they were sent by God there must be a way to verify there ‘pedigree’ as you can appreciate the difficulty in finding someone teaching God’s Word amidst a sea of different ideologies and beliefs. Indeed, we find many instances in the Bible where these individuals sent directly by God performing supernatural signs to prove they were speaking God’s Word (Exo 8:16-19; 13:7-16; 1 King 18:36-39; 2 Kings 4:15-17; Acts 13:6-11; Acts 3:5…). Most notably in John (3:2; 9:16; 11:47; 12:37), even Jesus admitted “Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father." (John 10:37-38)

But what about false teachers? They too will perform miracles. There’s the problem, how can we discriminate between a true prophet and a false one? How are you to decide that question? The person who authenticates that prophet needs to be authenticated himself, and this authenticator needs to be authenticated as well all the way down the line. So who can decide whether a prophet is true or false? Well, the answer to that question is pretty straightforward: It’s those who are placed in the ordinary capacity as God’s teachers.

To understand how this came to be, we need to look back at John 21:15-17

“Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?" "Yes, Lord," he answered, "you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."
A second time Jesus said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Lord," he answered, "you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."
A third time Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" and so he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!" Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.”

“Feed my sheep.” These words are full of profound meaning. All through His Passion and up to His Ascension, Jesus seems to be acutely concerned of the future of His fragile little flock. On the night of His betrayal we find Jesus “deeply troubled”, He lifted His eyes to heaven and called out a great high-priestly prayer for this ragged band of working men: “While I was with them, I kept them in thy name…But now I am coming to thee…Sanctify them in the truth.” (John 17:13a, 17)

Sanctify them in the truth. Jesus has come to give humanity the words of truth given to Him by His Father. But now that the Son is going back to the Father, how will the world know that He was ever here? And that He really was sent by God? How will His work be preserved and continued?

It has been too little commented upon, but when Jesus made the simple statement “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11), He made one of His most startling claims to divinity. Every Jew in Palestine would have been familiar with this ancient prophetic statement.

“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. "I will look for those that are lost, bring back those that wander off, bandage those that are hurt, and heal those that are sick; but those that are fat and strong I will destroy, because I am a shepherd who does what is right…But I will rescue my sheep and not let them be mistreated any more. I will judge each of my sheep and separate the good from the bad. I will give them a king like my servant David to be their one shepherd, and he will take care of them. I, the LORD, will be their God, and a king like my servant David will be their ruler. I have spoken.” (Eze 34:15, 16, 22-24)

It was in this context that we find Jesus, the humble carpenter, saying :

“I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep. When the hired man, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees a wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away; so the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. The hired man runs away because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. And I am willing to die for them. There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them, too; they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)

But what happens to the flock once the shepherd returns to the Father? “I did come from the Father, and I came into the world; and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father" (John 16:28). As we wondered before, how will Christ’s work be continued? If God’s sheep starved for truth at the hands of false religious teachers under the Old Covenant, will not His New Testament flock again be defenseless after the Shepherd ascends back “to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17)

The answer, according to the testimony of the early Church, lies in these words, spoken of the Good Shepherd to Simon Peter, representative of a simple band of Galilean fishermen:
“Feed my sheep.”

And what about a few years down the road, when there were wolves in sheeps clothing preaching in Jesus’ name a different Gospel? In the years of Peter we find another shepherd tirelessly working among God’s lost sheep. Like Peter, his given name is Simon, Simon Magus, he is the founder of the ancient heresy called Gnosticism, Christianity’s oldest and most obstinate rival. Former disciple of Philip the evangelist, Simon apostatized to become the first person in recorded history to teach falsehood in the holy name of Jesus. He was in fact, the original fulfillment of one of Christ’s darkest warnings: “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. You will know them by what they do.” (Matt 7:15)

But what about the ordinary believers, how would they have reacted to a second set of “Christian” apostles preaching on their streets? Would it have been obvious that there was a wolf under the sheepskin? Yes, Jesus had said that we would know them by their fruits – but what if the fruits themselves can be counterfeited? Recall that Simon Magus had many “miracles” to his credit and a large number on converts as well. The Apostle Paul seems to be addressing this very dilemma when he wrote: “false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:15)

The predicament was very real, if the prospective shepherds all look like angels how are they to choose between them? How on earth does a common Roman laymen in AD 50 – only just hearing of Jesus Himself for the first time – supposed to know which are His true disciples and which the false? Do not underestimate this problem, we may casually imagine that these early believers had only to pull out their pocket New Testament to send these dangerous pretenders packing, tails between their legs. This was completely impossible; the Church had been preaching the gospel for at least 10 years before a single line of the New Testament was written. She had been doing these things for over fifty years before the final line was completed. And even then some may have been introduced to Matthew’s Gospel and perhaps one or two letters from Paul – but even these would have been circulating as loose individual works; over 300 years would pass before they ever came to be bound together in one authoritative canon.

The solution is quite simple. When confronted with two conflicting stories, all one needed to do was find the “…man [that] was with Jesus of Nazareth” (Mat 26:71). He had simply to ask to traditional question: Which men had been with Jesus? That fact alone, once truly established, banished all doubt.

Jesus Christ appointed twelve apostles to teach His doctrines and exercise His authority once He ascended into heaven (Matt 28:16-20). He gave them specific authority to speak and teach what He taught (Eph 2:19-20, 1 Thess 4:2, 2 Pet 3:2), and He warned all of His followers of the consequences of private teaching outside of the Church (Matt 18:16-17, 1 Cor 5:5, 1 Tim 2:20, 2 Pet 1:20-21). Most importantly, however, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to guide the Apostles in truth (John 14:16-17), which would distinguish them from the false prophets who would later introduce false doctrines and heresies (2 Pet 2:1). This is the reason why St Paul described the Church as the ‘pillar and foundation of truth’ (1 Tim 3:15), and not the bible which can be twisted by the untaught and unstable (2 Pet 3:16). The only way that any group can claim to have the truth is if they teach what the Apostles taught, either written or oral (2 Thess 2:15).

But this begs the question: what happens after the original Apostles die? Is the Church not to continue the way Jesus established it in its hierarchical structure? If Jesus’ words were not meant eternally and were to be understood simply in His time, then the authority of the Apostles which Christ instituted would have died with the last Apostle. This would leave the Church without leadership and in total confusion when serious doctrinal questions and problems occurred, which, inevitably, they did. (No point in relying on Scripture since many of the heretics used Scripture to defend their positions.) The other option, the much more likely and divinely consistent one, is that the Apostles would choose successors, passing on to them what they learned from the Lord, and in turn giving them not only the authority to teach but also the divine promise to correctly interpret God’s written and inspired word. We know that this is the way it was done from the beginning by reading some of the Early Church Fathers.

God Bless
Robin

Answer 2

No i wouldn't consider a church genuine because they quote scripture - or read from the Holy Bible as i would say...
I would just say this - trust your inner voice - it's usually the Holy Spirit guiding you. If something makes you feel uncomfortable - it's best to leave - and some things might be revealed to you later why it didn't feel right.
God Bless and Guide You.

If i can just add on tithing -- there is a scripture that says "if your heart is glad in giving then give" can't remember where at the moment -- tithing was actually for the Jewish ppl - it isn't a command for Christians - although some believe it is. If you are giving an offering - if you have joy in your heart then give - it's up to you to choose which organization you want to support - best not to be pressured into giving - again, listen to your heart - and you won't go wrong.

Answer 3

I am afraid the only way to know is to study the scripture for yourself. Find out what they believe, and what scripture they use to justify it, and then open up your Bible and see if you agree with their interpretation.

Prayer is also important. Ask God to help you discern the truth.

Edit: There were people even during Jesus' time who did not have contact with the Apostles or any kind of "Apostolic Succession", but still were followers of Jesus (Luke 9:49-50).

Also, Paul rebuked Peter to his face (Galations 2:11-12) about a big mistake he had made. To me, this would imply that even IF Peter were the first Pope as some people say, he was not infallible.

Edit 2:
St. Ignatius of Antioch: "No Bishop, no Church."
Jesus (Mat 18:20): "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them."

Answer 4

The church has no potential and not in any respect will. The church is the place you bypass to with a view to get enlightment relating to the bible and non secular suggestions that are in no way taught by way of the RCC which you like plenty. all of us understand that the RCC has held itself larger than Yahweh Himself - this is actual documented - in basic terms devil tries that trick so examine merely 2 paragraph down from the 1st verse you quoted: Mat 28:20 coaching them to show screen all issues by any potential I easily have commanded you: and, lo, i'm with you alway, even unto the tip of the international. Do you, possibly, word that we at the instant are not allowed to make our very own regulations yet in basic terms stick to what has been commanded individuals? Secondly, once you worship in a satanic, even white magic environment, wager what? Your prayers are neutralised or havent you spotted? There are 7 motives for going to church and the church having potential isn't one in each and every of them. we could continually talk them in specific circumstances so the veil over your non secular eyes could be bumped off. this is sparkling that neither you nor Fr Joseph understand non secular suggestions in the different case you may understand the importance of Paul's utterances approximately 'fake apostles' and the importance of the prophetic action while the temple curtain tore on the crucifixion, we've direct get entry to to the Throne Room and have no % for self-appointed apostles to mediate between us and Jesus - fairly those of Zoroaster. devil can't justify himself to a Holy Spirit led individual and you could't accomplish that on his behalf.

Answer 5

The church I attend is very lively. There is wonderful worship at every service event, whether for youth or all people. I believe that the church really does have God's spirit and his word. The two are very important.

Answer 6

Because if they really are you will be able to tell by the fruit of the church,, ( What are they doing to show Gods love ??) Fruits of the spirit,, Love,Joy,Peace, Kindness, Long suffering, Goodness, Faithfulness,, Galatians 5 : 22

Answer 7

No. The "genuine" part comes from God and is preserved in the Apostolic Succession (also called "The Traditional Episcopate".) by the laying on of hands.

As St. Ignatius of Antioch said: "No Bishop, no Church."

Answer 8

How do you tell if a church is "really filled with god's spirit"? It's all fake--there is little difference between these men who are quoting scripture to get your money and the church to which YOU are giving your money and time.

Answer 9

a church is genuine when they live scripture, not quote it.

Answer 10

No it's not

Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Answer 11

There is no way to prove or disprove it. That's why religion is based on faith.