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The American Restoration Movement

This page has to do with the religious movement that began in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the United States. The participants in this movement recognized that denominationalism and Roman Catholicism were contrary to what the Bible clearly states about religious unity (1 Corinthians 1:10) and religious division (Romans 16:17):

instead of being known by terms fashioned after men (e. g, Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, etc.), they wanted to be known simply as "Christians" (Acts 11:26b; 1 Peter 4:16);
instead of wanting to be known collectively by manmade religious terms (e.g., The Roman Catholic Church, The Baptist Church, etc.), they preferred a Bible term "the churches of Christ" (Romans 16:16);
instead of teaching the creeds developed by man (The Apostle's Creed, The Baptist Handbook, etc.), they insisted on book-chapter-and-verse for all that they were asked to believe and practice (1 Peter 4:11; John 17:17), and
instead of different ways by which men could be saved, they taught and believed that those who will spend eternity in heaven (the saved) MUST hear the gospel preached (Romans 10:17), believe what the gospel says (Mark 16:16), repent of past sins (Acts 2:38), confess Christ before men (Romans 10:9-10), be baptized, which in New Testament times was immersion (1 Peter 3:21), and do that which the gospel teaches (Luke 6:46) and live according to the gospel (Titus 2:11-12) until death (Rev. 2:10)--then, and only then, do the saved have a hope of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Please note that the things Christians do are not works of personal merit (Ephesians 2:8-9); rather they are works of faith (James 2:24) and obedience (John 14:15; Romans 6:17 & 1 Peter 4:17). Then, after we've done everything the Bible tells us to do (Luke 17:10), it will be through His grace through faith that we are saved (Gal. 2:8a). "...if the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" (Prov. 11:31 quoted in 1 Peter 4:18).

If you'd like more information on this, you can take a look at The Visiting Preacher web site.

Created
Updated

Jan. 21, 2010
Mar. 8, 2010