Birth of the Church

Dear Editor,I have a question about who exactly is included in the Church/ Bride/Body of Christ. Does it include all who believed Christ, or only those after some point in time such as Pentecost? Is the believing thief on the cross part of the Church? Does the Bible say when the Church began, or is Pentecost just a traditional notion? -B. Knapp, OH


Arno's Answer:


The birth of the Church is recorded in Acts 2. From that point on, all who believed were born again of the Spirit of God and belong to the Church. The key is belief. Adam and Eve believed the serpent and fell into sin. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, the Perfect One, accomplished perfect salvation. He admonishes us to believe.

I see no reason why the thief on the Cross should not be part of the Church because he was saved by his confession to Jesus.

Midnight Call - 07/2015

Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.

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