True Church vs. Counterfeit Churches – Series

Part 1: The Bible’s Tests for a True Church

Many groups today claim the name of Christ. They use Christian words, read from the Bible, and talk about “faith,” “grace,” and “salvation.” Yet Scripture warns that not everyone who speaks in Christ’s name teaches Christ’s truth.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
(Matthew 7:15)

“If someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed… or a different gospel… you put up with it readily enough.”
(2 Corinthians 11:4)

“There are some who… want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”
(Galatians 1:7–8)

This series is about how to recognize the true church of Christ and how to discern counterfeit churches—including the Prosperity Gospel, Mormonism (LDS), Jehovah’s Witnesses, theological liberalism, and Roman Catholicism’s official system of doctrine.

Before naming any group, we must ask:

According to the Bible, what makes a church “true” or “false”?

In this first part, we’ll look at four biblical tests.

---

1. The Test of the Gospel: How Is a Sinner Made Right With God?

This is the most critical question. Every church answers it somehow:

• What is the gospel?
• How can a guilty sinner be accepted by a holy God?

The Bible’s answer

Scripture teaches that we are:

• Justified by grace alone
• Through faith alone
• In Christ alone
• Apart from works of the law

Consider these passages:

• Romans 3:23–24, 28 –
  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
• Romans 4:4–5 –
  “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
• Galatians 2:16 –
  “…we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ…”
• Ephesians 2:8–9 –
  “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Imputed righteousness

At the heart of the gospel is imputed righteousness:

• Christ’s perfect obedience and atoning death are credited to the believer’s account.
• We stand righteous before God not because of anything in us, but because of Christ’s righteousness counted as ours.

Key texts:

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 –
  “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
• Romans 4:3–8 –
  Abraham’s faith is “counted to him as righteousness,” and God credits righteousness “apart from works.”

Any system that makes human works, rituals, or inner moral change part of the ground or cause of our justification is contradicting the gospel of grace and falls under Paul’s warning in Galatians 1:6–9.

Test 1:
Does this church teach that sinners are justified solely by God’s grace, through faith in Christ, with His righteousness imputed to them—apart from works?
Or does it add works, sacraments, obedience, or religious performance to the basis of our acceptance with God?

---

2. The Test of Christ: Who Is Jesus?

Many groups talk about “Jesus,” but Paul warns about “another Jesus” (2 Cor 11:4). The question is not only “Do you believe in Jesus?” but “Which Jesus?”

The Bible’s answer

Scripture reveals that:

• Jesus is fully God and fully man.
• He is eternal, not created.
• He is the Creator of all things.
• He is to be worshiped as Lord.

Key passages:

• John 1:1–3 –
  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
• Colossians 1:16–17 –
  “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth… all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
• Hebrews 1:8 –
  Speaking of the Son: “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…’”
• John 20:28 –
  Thomas answers Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
• Philippians 2:9–11 –
  Every knee bows and every tongue confesses that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Any group that teaches Jesus is a mere prophet, moral teacher, created being, or lesser god is denying the biblical Christ.

Test 2:
Does this church confess the eternal, divine, incarnate Son of God—Jesus Christ, true God and true man, worthy of worship?
Or does it reduce Him to a created being, a lesser “god,” or merely an inspiring human?

---

3. The Test of Scripture: What Is Your Final Authority?

Everybody appeals to something as their final authority: church tradition, a prophet, inner experience, “science,” or the Bible—often in combination.

The question is:

When there is a conflict, what wins?

The Bible’s answer

Scripture itself claims to be:

• Breathed out by God
• Sufficient for faith and life
• The final test of all teaching

Key texts:

• 2 Timothy 3:16–17 – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
• 2 Peter 1:19–21 – Scripture is not man-made: “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
• Acts 17:11 – the Bereans were noble because they tested teaching by the Scriptures.
• Mark 7:6–13 – Jesus rebukes religious tradition that nullifies God’s Word.
  

A true church treats the Bible as God’s Word written—not as a flawed religious record to be corrected, and not as something that must be completed by later prophets, visions, or an infallible institution.

4. The Test of Grace and Works

A crucial point of confusion is the role of obedience, holiness, baptism, communion, and other practices.

The Bible’s answer

• We are justified by faith apart from works (Rom 3–4; Gal 2–3).
• Yet saving faith is never alone—it produces good works (Eph 2:10; James 2:14–26).

A simple way to say it:

• Works are the fruit of salvation, not the root.
• Works are evidence of genuine faith, not the basis of God’s acceptance.

Two texts that belong together:

• Ephesians 2:8–9 – saved by grace through faith, not works.
• Ephesians 2:10 – saved unto good works: “created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

When a church teaches (explicitly or practically) that you must earn, keep, or complete your justified status by your performance, it turns the Christian life into a treadmill and shifts confidence away from Christ’s finished work.

Test 4:
Does this church teach that works flow from justification and union with Christ? Or does it teach that works (or rituals) are necessary as the ground of being right with God?

Putting the Four Tests Together (A Quick Diagnostic)

When evaluating any church, group, or teacher, ask:

1. Gospel: How is a sinner justified before God?
2. Christ: Who is Jesus—eternal God the Son, or something less?
3. Scripture: What is the final authority?
4. Grace/Works: Are works the fruit of salvation or part of the basis?

Where a group departs on these, it’s not merely “a different style of church.” It’s often another religion wearing Christian vocabulary.

A Note on Tone: Truth With Love
This series is not written to mock individuals. Many people in counterfeit systems are sincere, moral, family-oriented, and religiously devoted. But sincerity cannot make a false gospel true. The most loving thing we can do is hold up the biblical Christ and the biblical gospel clearly.