As you contact other Christians, you must be calm and sober and ask them two important questions. Firstly, ask them why they have different names that cannot be found in the Bible. Ask them why they have chosen these names for themselves. Tell them that in reading the New Testament you find no trace of these names. Ask them what name they have. Since they consider themselves to be scriptural, why do they not forsake these unscriptural names? Instead of giving you a straight answer, they may twist things in an attempt to excuse themselves.
Secondly, since they claim to be the church, ask them how many churches there should be. No one would say that there should be more than one church. Rather, everyone would say that there should be just one church. But in saying this, they are caught. Then you should reply, “Since there is only one church, why are you here as a ‘church’ and someone else is over there as another ‘church’? You have so many so-called churches in one city. Since you are all in Anaheim and even in the same neighborhood, why don’t you all come together? You claim that you are the church and that there is only one church. Why then will you not be one? We all hold the same Bible, believe in the same Lord Jesus, and live in the same city. You all claim to be the church, yet you refuse to be one. What is this?” If any would say that it is not convenient to come together, you should reply, “In the early days in Jerusalem there were tens of thousands of believers who met in houses. But Acts 8:1 speaks of the church, not the churches, at Jerusalem. In the Bible there is only the city church, not the street church.” If any would attempt to justify the existence of denominations, we should point to the four divisions named in 1 Corinthians 1 and ask whether they are positive or negative, whether they are approved by the apostle Paul or condemned.
Thus, we must ask about two matters: unscriptural names and divisions. These questions need to be answered. We have no particular names, names that are not in the Bible. We are not divisive; we are prepared to be one with all believers in Christ. Thus, we are on the proper ground as the church. If we are not the church, then what are we?
If you bring all these matters to the Lord in prayer, you will clearly see that God has chosen only one ground, the ground of unity. The principle is found in Deuteronomy 12, 14, and 16, where God charged His people again and again to care for the unique place chosen by Him. As far as the public worship of God’s people is concerned, none of us has the right to select the place of our choice. Deuteronomy 12:8 says, “Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.” In these chapters Moses charged the people to do what is right in the eyes of God, not to go any longer to the place of their choice and not to offer their burnt offerings in the place of their preference. Rather, they had to take heed to the place that God should choose. They had to learn how to worship God. They had no right to choose a place. The unique place is the ground chosen by God. This was true in typology, and it also must be true in reality.
We have seen that the people of God were degraded, and that furthermore they were scattered due to their degradation. During the captivity, they did not have the ground for the building of God’s temple. After the years of their captivity were ended, God called them to go back to Jerusalem, back to the old ground, back to the original site, the unique place God had chosen for the rebuilding of His temple. A number did return, and they rebuilt the temple. Due to this, God’s glory returned. Many of the children of Israel remained in the place of their captivity, unwilling to pay the price to return to Jerusalem. They had become settled in Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Those who went back could claim that they had God’s temple. In a very positive sense, they themselves were the temple of God.
Let us suppose those who remained in Babylon, Egypt, and Syria said, “You say that you are the temple of God and that we are not. But are we not the people of God?” Those who had returned to Jerusalem would reply, “Yes, you are the people of God, just as much as we are. But there is a difference between us. We have returned to the land of our forefathers, but you still remain in captivity in the Gentile world. We have God’s presence in His temple, but you do not have it.” Yes, we admit that all real Christians throughout the world are truly the people of God. But so many of them are still in captivity and do not have the church life. Hence, they are not the temple with God’s presence and God’s glory. If we see this matter clearly, then we shall know where we are and what the Lord’s recovery is today. Hallelujah, we are in the Lord’s recovery! The Lord’s recovery is to bring us back to the original ground that His temple might be built so that we may have His presence in His glory for our enjoyment. Today we are enjoying this glory. We have the boldness to say that the church is here. You cannot find the church life in denominations and free groups because the Christians there have lost the ground and are still in captivity.