All over the world people of all races and cultures are familiar with sowing and reaping. They
know that if there is no seed planted, there will be no harvest. Even in fertile, well prepared soil
with moisture, no seed means no harvest. Similarly, if the word of God is not planted, there can
be no harvest of Christians. Prayers, good intentions, personal experiences, desires for miracles,
etc., are no substitute for the seed. The word of God must be planted and sinners must hear,
believe and obey it.
When an apple seed is planted, it always produces only an apple tree; an acorn grows only an oak.
There are no exceptions to this because God ordained all plants to yield after their kind (Gen.
1:11). Likewise, when the seed of the kingdom is planted in the hearts of men, it always produces
only Christians. It produces only after its kind - that which is identical to the primitive church. If
a person is something religiously about which nothing is said in the New Testament, some
doctrine has been planted besides the pure and simple word of God. Taking some of the New
Testament, mixing it with human teaching, and planting it in the hearts of men produces a human
religion, not the kingdom of Christ.
In our world of religious division and confusion, many ask, "How can I know which church is
right and which is wrong?" We ask, "How would you know whether a tree is an apple tree or an
oak? If a tree has apples on it, you would know that it is an apple tree. Likewise, when a church
is identical in name, faith, and practice, etc., to the early church, it is the church of Christ. It is
not a matter of finding something similar to the New Testament church, but building and
maintaining that same institution. To be the New Testament church, it must be identical in every
detail to the church of the New Testament.
In New Testament times when people in any given community received and obeyed the word of
God, they collectively constituted the church or kingdom in that place. They then submitted
themselves to the law of Christ in all matters relative to the church. Even so, in modern times, if a
religious body is governed by the same authority, has the same name, organization, worship,
work, requirements for membership, etc., as did the original church, it is without question the
same church.
There is no need to have a church succession back to the original church. We need only to plant the seed of the kingdom once again. Wheat seed found in the ancient pyramids of Egypt, though thousands of years old, when planted, germinated and bore the same wheat grown in that ancient time. So today, when the seed of the kingdom is planted, it will again produce after its kind.