By Ken Blue
The question is not, which church is the glorious church, but rather, what constitutes a glorious church. What makes the church glorious? Of course, the answer is in the word usage, and the context itself. We will discuss that later.
The first thing to establish is what the text is not teaching. It is not suggesting that a glorious church is a religious denomination that adheres to a set of theological tenets. That is obvious from the text.
The glorious church in the Bible is not built on tradition, or religious history. Reading church history books is like reading books on science from Darwin to the present. Each writes forms his conclusions from his own prospective.
The glorious church is not one that fits a set of doctrinal statements. Right here is where the problem starts. It is a slippery sloop, and I am not sure those who assume their church is that glorious church understand what they are doing.
One may conclude that he knows the starting point of the church. Then he will search from Genesis to Revelation for passages he assumes that address the church. These will be inserted into his theology. Note, theology is created by men. Therefore, it is the hunt and search method that is used to prop up doctrines, they assume, makes a church glorious .
The glorious church is not one who practices replacement theology. Simply stated, replacement theology take passages from the Bible that are for Israel, and applies them to the church. This is done when one believes that the body of Christ, the church, is found in the four gospels, Matthew through John. Therefore, the parables are taken from Israel, and are ascribed to the church. That is replacement theology.
The church that is glorious does not mix the Kingdom of Heaven gospel with the gospel of grace preached by Paul.
Pastor Ken Blue was born in Boswell, Ark. In 1955 he accepted Christ as his Savior. He and his wife Joyce were married in 1955. They have 5 children. He graduated from Midwestern Baptist Bible College in 1969 and started the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Wa. where he pastored for 39 years. Because of health issues (ALS) he was forced to resign as pastor. It is his desire to continue to be used of God to help pastors and believers through this ministry.