What does the Body of Believers look like?

     The following quotes are from the book, The Torch of the Testimony  by John W. Kennedy. This history of the believers who simply meet around Christ, is the torch, or light of Him that they carry. The author shows how this testimony met with resistance with the ecclesiastical systems in the past, and how they still do today. It is a paramount account of the "remnant" through the generations. What I am sharing of his writings from the book, I believe, is hallmark in describing the "true church," and it is my sincere conviction that all who call themselves His, read it and measure their life in Christ by it.


"Christ dwelling within human beings makes up the church, and however solid the beginning, the human element within the church allows for the dire possibility that what has begun in the Spirit may, after a short time, end up in the flesh. Whatever remains is but a human organization, and not the church of Jesus Christ."


"The tragedy of Lutheranism's early spiritual collapse throws into relief a lesson of vital importance, the necessity of balancing the preaching of faith by the preaching of works. Scripture gives no place to a faith which is simply a cold belief in a doctrinal statement with little of not effect upon daily living. The Epistle of James was written to emphasize the poignant fact that 'faith without works is dead'. The basis of the church is not faith; the basis of church is spiritual life; and spiritual life is the result of the impact of faith upon the daily walk in relationship to God and man; spiritual life is the life of the one who is inevitably made a new creation through faith in Christ."


That is all for now. I will continue to post more of what I discern by the Spirit as truth from this book. For now, this is enough for us to ask the Holy Spirit about for our own lives, to "see if we are in the faith." God bless.