The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message Blog

Acts 10:9-16

On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

Christ did away with the old law. This includes many traditions. When we follow Christ we don’t have to follow the old law or manmade traditions. We only have to follow the teachings of Christ and the word that he has given to us.

2 Timothy 3:1-7

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

There will be so much evil in the world that it will be hard to find the good in the world. We are at that place today. Evil is around us everywhere. We must find the truth in the word. We cannot use our friends, our traditions, or our wants to decide what is right. We must only use the word of God.

2 Timothy 4:1-5

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

In this letter we learn that the church “will not endure sound doctrine” but go after the lusts of their hearts. It is very plane to see that this has happened. Look at what people do today in the name of Christ. We cannot be persuaded by the wants of our own minds, but must believe what is written in the word of God. The word is the standard.

Acts 20:28-30

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

In these verses we start to learn how the church will fall away from Christ’s teachings. The devil will infiltrate the church and lead it astray. Because of this falling away Christ is required to send his messenger to restore all things. This is happening today. The messenger has come and will continual to come. Will you follow the truth or the traditions of man?

3^rd Nephi 27:1-12

And it came to pass that as the disciples of Jesus were journeying and were preaching the things which they had both heard and seen, and were baptizing in the name of Jesus, it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and fasting. And Jesus again showed himself unto them, for they were praying unto the Father in his name; and Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them: What will ye that I shall give unto you? And they said unto him: Lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter. And the Lord said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, why is it that the people should murmur and dispute because of this thing? Have they not read the scriptures, which saith ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is in my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day; And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day. Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake. And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church, or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel. Verily I say unto you, that ye are built upon my gospel; therefore ye shall call whatsoever things ye do call, in my name; therefore if ye call upon the Father, for the church, if it be in my name the Father will hear you; And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it. But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return. For their works do follow them, for it is because of their works that they are hewn down; therefore remember the things that I have told you.

The way you know if a church is of Christ is not the name of it, but its actions. Our Church is called the Church of Christ, but that is not why we are his church. It is because we follow the gospel of Christ. We make an effort to always follow the truth and not let tradition of man creep in. We read and study the word of God and try to apply them to our lives. We are not perfect at follow Christ, but we strive to be. Only the people who follow his plan will stand by him in the end.

Message 84:3

Let the Church and all men respect the resurrection, for with it there is hope for all mankind. Come together and worship on the first day of the week—but remember God always. Keep the Lord’s day holy.

There are four places in the messages that John tells us that we should worship on Sundays. Any other idea is of the devil and causes confusion.  Don’t be tripped up by the ideas of man. Stay grounded in the truth that is Christ.

Mark 16:9

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

Christ rose on the first day of the week. This is why we worship him on Sundays. As Christians we celebrate the gift of everlasting life that Christ brought to us. This gift was completed when he arose, hence the reason that we worship him on Sundays.

1 Timothy 4:1-6

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

The bible warns us that there will be some who will follow the ideas of man and fall away from the true teachings of Christ. We can see this all around us in the world today. Are you following the ideas of man? Will you come to learn the truth?

Message 84:20-21

When mankind will learn of me, he shall be lifted from darkness unto light and power—and hearing me I will hear him and heal your souls and your lands. You will see many fall on the one hand and many more on the left because of the works of Satan. They will not hear because of the teachings and pride of men, the traditions of men, saith the Lord.’

Don’t let the ideas of man cause you to miss Christ. Satan is very good at pulling people away from Christ because of the ideas of man. We cannot fall for it though. Stay true to word of God and you will be blessed.

Message 115:4

Behold. There are many almost persuaded to come into this work knowing the Lord has spoken and speaks the assured way. Deliverance will only come to those that believe, enter this truth, and endure to the end. Eternity with God will have place for all such—this is God’s planning.

If you are thinking about joining the Church, what is stopping you? There is only one way and it is up to you to follow it. I know it can be hard to leave the traditions of man behind, but that is what God wants you to do. He wants you to follow him his way. You will be blessed by it.

Timothy 4:1-3

“Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”

The word of God tells us that the Lord’s Church would fall away from the true doctrine of Christ,  that men would begin to teach man-made doctrines, and that they would lead many away from the true doctrine of Christ.  Christ’s Apostles understood this well and they taught it to the people. In Timothy we learned how man would add their own traditions to Christ’s teachings leading many away from the truth. We must only follow the truth of Christ, not manmade traditions.

Message 75:5

Let not division come among you. For the old law and its traditions are finished and is not a part of the gospel of Christ, in its sabbaths and burning of bloods—but forgiveness, humility, and sincerity, in the humble way of the Lord in obedience to the words Christ spoke in his gospel.

We must hold firm on the truth of Christ and his gospel. We cannot add or subtract from it. Christ’s gospel is the foundation of the church, and if we change it the whole thing is will crumble. Let us keep the traditions of man out of our worship and focus instead on Christ.

Message 43:12

Read the words I send unto you by my messenger. Study them and obey my will fully, and eternity shall have place for you.

We have to follow all of God’s words, not just the ones that we want to. We cannot pick and chose the ones that we want. If you want to know if what you believe is of God just research it in the scriptures and ask God for his sprit to lead you.  It takes both to find the truth.

Message 73:5

“Let the faithful take courage and lift up, for the authority and trust is placed upon you and you have not denied. But those that are full of doubts, fears, envy and revenge shall not stand. Those that speak lightly of the words I bring shall not be numbered with you. Let their names be removed for they are not a part of those that love truth. Yet they say, ‘We love the Lord,’ and do scatter seeds of evil all the day long. They worketh to destroy and know not the Lord’s words and will. Their minds are darkened and they see not because of their traditions. Therefore the traditions and sins of men have ruled their lives and do destroy them because they will not repent.”

We must walk the walk and not just talk the talk.  Our actions speak louder then any of our words do.  We can follow both man and God, one or the other.  Lets follow God.

Galatians 3:1-3

“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

The law had become full of man made tradition when Christ  was born.  But he removed us from the law and allowed us a way to heaven through him.  How ever since Christ set up his gospel, man has once again added his own tradition.  For what gain? Did Christ make a mistake when he set it up.  I don’t think so.  Why do people feel the need to follow tradition over the truth? Is the ideas of man going to save them? Do they not trust God? Are they afraid what others will think? Like Christ said “the truth will make you free”

Message 19:17

“Separate yourself from all those, and have no part with their works. If you will seek the Lord in prayer often, he will give you the light you need. Save your strength. Be humble. Be wise in your work. Use love in your work, but yield not to the traditions of men.”

God is telling us how to do our job. First we have to have love in our work.  It is imposable to do God’s work without love.  Second we need to be humble.  If we thing our success is our doing it will not last very long.  Third we need to pray to the Lord often.  This direct line of communication is important for us know what to do.  We need to separate ourselves from others who have added traditions into God’s work.  These traditions are not the workings of God and will destroy those who follow them.  But remember, we still must love everyone.

Message 24:7

Therefore, heed ye the warning I have sent, and repent ye, and keep the commandments, for Christ’s coming is near at hand, and destruction will come upon the earth. Follow not after the traditions of men, for they will not save you.

We have to follow the directions of God, not a man maid faith.  It is easy to lace God’s plan with the ideas of men, but this will not allow us to get into heaven. Only God’s way is the correct way.

Alma 37:9

“Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are
on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousand of
the Lamanites of the incorrect tradition of their fathers; yea, these records and their words
brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord
their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.”

All things we do, must be based on scripture.  If things are not based on scripture, then they are the ways of man.  There are somethings that we do that are tradition, like singing at the beginning and end of services, but they are not related to the gospel. If we stopped singing, it would have no affect of our beliefs or our salvation.  We have to separate man’s tradition and God’s tradition.  The first can change, but the second can not. We can not be caught up in man’s tradition that we lose site of or change God’s tradition.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ”

In our search for the truth, we must be careful of who we listen to.  There are many people who are doing their best to follow God, but if someone’s actions or words do not follow the teachings of God, we must not listen to them.  There will be many people who say they are following God and doing his work, but if listen and watch closely, they are not preaching the word of God.  Only follow a man as long as he follows God. If a person that you looked up to turns from God and starts to wonder away, you need to stop listing to them.  I know it is hard, but it is better to lose that person then you salvation.