The churches were bursting with visitors on September 14. In some places, there were lines just to get in the doors, and attendance exceeded that of Christmas or Easter. Why? Because four days earlier, Charlie Kirk had been murdered.

Americans saw a man killed because he had spoken out for family, responsibility and tradition—not merely as “conservative values” but as binding biblical principles. He stood up for what he believed, and people across America thought, I should be like that.

Kirk’s widow, Erika, urged millions of viewers two days after his death: “Most important of all, if you aren’t a member of a church, I beg you to join one, a Bible-believing church.” The qualifier at the end is important because an awful lot of religion doesn’t come from the Bible but from human tradition.

Charlie Kirk respected the Bible and strove to follow its commands more than perhaps any other mainstream commentator. In fact, he held several biblical views that are rejected by many who consider themselves Christian.

For example, Kirk accepted plain biblical instruction on family government, including unpopular admonitions for wives to voluntarily submit themselves to their husbands. He observed a Friday-sunset-to-Saturday-sunset day of rest. He believed the devil is a real, active being. He believed there is such a thing as sin. He believed biblical commands against homosexuality and transgenderism. He provided scriptural justification for denying “woke” Christianity and actively engaging in America’s culture war.

If you recognize Kirk’s death as a prod for spiritual revival, you should use the Bible as your guide.

Are you a Christian? Are you a churchgoer? Should you be? Many people call themselves Christian even though they rarely or never attend a church service. What actually makes a person Christian?

Does God care which church you join, or whether you join any at all? Does He lead all of them? Does He lead any of them? Are some churches false churches?

The Bible answers all these questions.

Yes, Go to Church … But

The Bible is clear that people should regularly attend church services. But knowing which church requires biblical understanding and discernment.

Jesus Christ, whom all Christians claim to follow, promised, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Not only did Jesus found a church, He also said it would never die. That means the church He founded still exists today!

The Old Testament established not only that people should worship God each week but also that they should do so in a “holy convocation.” God instructs true Christians not to forsake the assembling of themselves together (Hebrews 10:25). The New Testament records true Christians meeting together in fellowship with other believers. Yes, for numerous reasons, the Creator of human beings wants us “going to church.”

Further, the Bible says clearly and repeatedly that true Christians must “speak the same thing” and have “no divisions among you,” and that they must be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” God does not have His followers dispersed among various groups with conflicting beliefs. He requires them to be united—as unified as God and Jesus Christ are! Read Jesus’s prayer in John 17.

This is a very different picture from the reality of “Christianity” today, which is splintered into tens of thousands of denominations.

This does not make sense until you realize that the Bible repeatedly warns about false Christianity.

The Apostle Paul spoke of “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13). Scriptures warn that there will be many who rightly teach that Jesus is the Christ—yet at the same time deceive many. Some of them willfully deceive; many more are themselves deceived. Jesus Christ Himself warned about false Christianity! (see Matthew 7, 24; Mark 13:21-22; Luke 21; John 10; Revelation 2-3).

Not only does God warn about false churches, He forbids you from joining in worship with them. Do you know how to tell God’s true Church from a false church? If not, you are susceptible to making a serious mistake.

These are easily provable truths in your Bible that disprove what a great many people carelessly assume about church attendance. The fact is, most people simply do not study deeply into what the Bible says. What about you?

Can You Join God’s Church?

Perhaps you want to attend God’s Church—but where is it? How can you join it?

Believe it or not, the Bible says you cannot simply decide to “join” God’s true Church!

Jesus Christ said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him …” (John 6:44). The Apostle Paul wrote, “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him” (1 Corinthians 12:18). This means it is impossible for you to choose to join the true Church of God. God the Father must specifically call you—draft you—and set you in the Body of Christ!

In fact, the very word the New Testament uses for “church” is the Greek word ekklesia, which means a group of called-out ones.

These are just a few of the most basic things you must prove to yourself—straight from your own Bible—before you start attending a church!

The questions of whether you should attend a church and which church is the true Church of God are much deeper and much more important than the vast majority of Christians assume.

You must prove to yourself the answers to these vital questions. You must use the Bible and the words of Jesus Christ to understand the truth.

If God is drawing you, calling you, then you must respond. We have a new booklet, Can You Prove Which Church Is God’s?, that will help you find and prove the answers to these questions—and to find and prove, based on the truths of the Bible, which church is truly God’s.