The Foundation And Cornerstone

In the Holy Bible, the true Church of God (see What Is The Church?) is likened to a building - a single structure, built of many parts, standing upon the foundation and cornerstone of Jesus Christ.

"^3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. ^3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. ^3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:9-11 KJV)

"^2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. ^2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; ^2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; ^2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ^2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 3:18-22 KJV)

"For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building"

Historically, divisions in the true Church were the result of a party (as in a-part and part-ing) spirit - people choosing to follow, in effect, their favorite preacher, rather than Christ. It's a carnal struggle over who is going to take (as in seize) charge of the house in which Christ alone is the Master (see Firing The Founder).

"^3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. ^3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. ^3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? ^3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

^3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers [Minister means nothing more than a servant] by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? ^3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. ^3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. ^3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. ^3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

^3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. ^3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ^3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; ^3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire [see Baptism Of Fire and When Will You Be Judged?; also Could Christ Return Tonight?]; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. ^3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward [see A Reward For Everyone]. ^3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1 Corinthians 3:1-15 KJV)

No one can be a true Christian without The Holy Spirit (see The Cure For The Carnal Mind); thereafter, "^3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV). It's that spiritual Temple that Christ is ultimately building (see Physical and Spiritual Temples).

"^3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? ^3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are [see also Abomination of Desolation - Where?].

^3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. ^3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. ^3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. ^3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; ^3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas [i.e. Peter; see Peter's Ministry], or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; ^3:23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:16-22 KJV)

Fact Finder: What happens when people make their "church" their religion?
See Is Your Religion Your Religion?; also What Did Jesus Christ Say About Those Stones?

This Day In History, June 11

1184 BC: According to calculations by Eratosthenes, Troy was sacked and burned on this date during the Trojan War.

1346: Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected Holy Roman Emperor in Germany.

1488: King James III of Scotland was murdered after his defeat at the Battle of Sauchieburn. He was succeeded by his son, James IV.

1509: King Henry VIII of England married the first of his six wives, Catherine of Aragon (the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, the employers of Christopher Columbus). It was Henry's later divorce of Catherine that triggered the break from the Church of Rome and the creation of the Church of England.

1727: King George I, the first Hanoverian king of Britain, died and was succeeded by his son George II.

1770: English explorer Captain James Cook ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

1847: John Franklin, British explorer, died in the Arctic after his ships became frozen in the ice. The details of his death were in a note found by a search party in 1859.

1903: King Alexander and Queen Draga of Belgrade were assassinated by members of the Serbian army.

1920: During the Republican National Convention in Chicago, party leaders gathered in a hotel to decide on their candidate for the presidential election. As first written by the Associated Press, it produced the political term "smoke-filled room."

1963: Quang Duc, 66, a Buddhist monk, committed suicide by burning himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest treatment of Buddhists by the U.S.-backed Diem regime. The picture was front-page news around the world the next day, and was followed by other monks in the weeks afterward.

1967: Israel and Syria accepted the terms of a U.N. ceasefire.

1987: Margaret Thatcher won her third consecutive term as British Prime Minister.

1997: An official Italian commission approved a move to allow Vittorio Emanuele, son of Italy's last king, to return home after 50 years of exile.

2001: Timothy McVeigh, 32, was executed at a U.S. Federal prison at Terre Haute, Indiana. The U.S.-born terrorist confessed to the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19 1995 that killed 168 men, women and children. It was the most deadly act of terrorism in the U.S. prior to the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington.