What we believe and teach - Exposed very briefly - |
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THE BIBLE
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The Bible
is the Word of God. It is composed of sixty-six holy books whose names are
these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges,
Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra,
Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (or The
Song of Solomon), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea,
Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2
Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1
Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation. All these books are
holy – that’s why they are called ‘Holy Scriptures’ or ‘Holy Scripture’ –
because they are God-breathed (that is, they are given by inspiration of
God), for they were not written by the will of man but holy men of God wrote
them as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Therefore whatever these books
say and teach is true because it comes from God, who cannot lie. Therefore we
trust in the Bible with all our heart. The Bible does not contain errors or
contradictions. |
The Holy
Scriptures are complete because they contain all the things those who live
far from God need to know to be saved from their sins and be reconciled to
God, as well as all the things we Christians need to know to conduct
ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel (that is to say, to live
righteously, godly and soberly), while we wait for the blessed hope and
glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. |
The Holy
Scriptures are the final and absolute authority in faith, conduct and morals.
All teachings, all revelations, and all prophecies, must be examined
carefully in the light of the Holy Scriptures to see if they are sound (in
this case they must be accepted) or wrong (in this case they must be
rejected). Any earthly authority that expressly commands us to break the Word
of God must not be obeyed. Therefore, for instance, if the governing
authorities command us not to pray God in the name of Jesus Christ or they
command us not to preach the Gospel of the grace of God, we must disobey
them. |
By the Holy
Scriptures we are comforted, encouraged, taught, corrected and rebuked, led
in the paths of righteousness, and made wise for salvation through our faith
in Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Therefore we exhort the saints to meditate
on the Word of God continually, to put it into their heart, and to have it
ready on their lips, so that they may comfort one another with it and may
teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. Furthermore we exhort them to
divide the Word of God rightly, that is to say, to interpret it correctly,
lest they give place to false doctrines and be put to shame. |
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GOD
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There is
one God, whose name is YHWH (Yahweh), which means ‘I am who I am’. He is the
first and the last, and apart from Him there is no God. God is a living and
intelligent Being, with a will, reasoning ability, and emotions. God is spirit, no one has ever seen God or can see Him. He is the
Everlasting because He had no beginning and He will have no ending. He
inhabits eternity. God is holy, righteous, wise, good, slow
to anger, merciful, faithful and truthful. God is love. In this the love of
God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into
the world, that we might live through Him. |
God is the
Creator of all things. He created them through His beloved Son, and for Him.
In wisdom God made them all and He upholds them by the word of His power. He
is the Ruler of the universe, and nothing happens in the whole universe apart
from His will. The heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them
were made by God in six days (one day = 24 hours). We reject the evolution
theory and the gap-theory. God is Omnipotent because He can do anything. He
is Omniscient because He knows all things; and He is Omnipresent because He
is everywhere, even though His throne is in heaven. Furthermore, God is
unchanging: He has always been the same, and He will be always the same. |
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JESUS CHRIST
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Jesus
Christ was born in |
Jesus was
brought up in Nazareth of Galilee, that’s why He is called the Nazarene. When
Jesus was about 30 years old, He came from |
After
Jesus was baptized, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and then He was led
up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty
days and forty nights, and when those days had ended, the devil came to Him
and tempted Him in order to cause Jesus to sin, but Jesus firmly resisted the
devil, who (when he had ended every temptation) departed from Him until an
opportune time. Then Jesus began to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom in the
cities and villages of |
Then they
handed Him over to Pontius Pilate, the governor of |
But the
third day God raised Him from the dead for our justification, and He appeared
to His witnesses; He ate and drank with them and talked with them after He
arose from the dead. Between His death and His resurrection, Jesus, by the Spirit,
went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient,
when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark
was being prepared. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a bodily
resurrection, which means that He took back His body
with which He had died, for when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His
resurrection the body with which He appeared to them had the nail marks in
the hands and in the feet. However that body was immortal, glorious and
powerful. Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. |
Forty days
later Jesus was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the
Father. He is still there, where He makes intercession for us because He has become
High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. He, because He
continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood,
therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God
through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. |
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The Christ of God
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Jesus of
Nazareth is the Christ of God, that is, the Anointed One of God, of whom
Moses in the law, and also the prophets wrote, who was to come into this
world to die for our sins and to rise for our justification. Here are some of
the biblical predictions, concerning the Christ of God, which were fulfilled
in Jesus of Nazareth. |
He was
born in Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, just as the prophet Micah had said;
He was born of a virgin, just as the prophet Isaiah had said; he grew up and
was brought up in Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets ‘he will be called a Nazarene’; when he was about thirty years old
He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and began to preach the Gospel and to
heal the sick so that the words of the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled; He
spoke to the crowds in parables that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by
the prophet Asaph; He committed no sin nor any deceit was in His mouth, just
as the prophet Isaiah had said; He was hated without reason and He was
betrayed by one of His disciples, just as it was written in the Psalms; two
robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left, so
that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled; not one of His
bones was broken so that the words of David might be fulfilled; the roman
soldiers divided His garments among them and cast lots for His tunic, so that
the words of David might be fulfilled. He bore our sins, just as the prophet
Isaiah had said. His body was placed in a tomb which belonged to a rich man,
just as the prophet Isaiah had said; but the third day He rose from the dead
and a few weeks later He ascended to heaven at the right hand of the Father,
so that the words of David might be fulfilled. |
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The Son of God
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Jesus of
Nazareth is the Son of God who, before He took the form of a bondservant and came
in the likeness of men, existed from all eternity in the form of God with God
the Father in heaven. Therefore when we say that Jesus is the Son of God we
don’t mean that there was a time when He did not exist and then God created
Him. Jesus was God before He came down from heaven, and He remained God in
the days of His flesh, for He forgave people of their sins and He was
worshipped. On several occasions He confirmed that He was God, on one of them
He said: “Before Abraham was born, I AM”. It pleased the Father that in Jesus
Christ all the fullness of the Godhead should dwell. |
The Son is
at the right hand of the Father and all the angels of God, as well as all the
saints who are in heaven, worship Him. This confirms that He is God and He
will be God forever. Therefore He is worthy to be worshiped like the Father,
and we who are His disciples worship Him. To Him be
the glory now and forever. Amen. |
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The Son of Man
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Jesus of
Nazareth was a real man. However He was born without sin that He might die on
the cross for our sins. Being a real man, He needed to eat, to drink, and to
rest. He needed also to be anointed with the Holy Spirit. Being a real man,
He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. He rejoiced in the
Spirit, but He was also exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Jesus Christ
felt pain in His body when He was scourged, when He was struck on the head
and in the face, and when He was nailed to the cross. While He was hanging on
the cross, blood and water came out of His body. |
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The Lord
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God made
Jesus of Nazareth not only Christ but also Lord. Therefore He is Lord of all.
Because He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the
death of the cross, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father. |
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The prophet
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Jesus of
Nazareth is the prophet about whom Moses spoke to the Israelites, saying:
‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren.
Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be
that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed
from among the people”. He, being the prophet of God, spoke the words of God, no man ever spoke like Him. He predicted many things,
among which there are many events which will happen before His second coming. |
Jesus
Christ, therefore, is the prophet raised up by God in the last days and in
Whom a man must believe to be rescued from the coming wrath of God. |
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A warning
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If anyone
comes to you and tells you that Jesus Christ did not exist before He was
conceived in the womb of his mother, or that He was not born of a virgin (because
God the Father united Himself with Mary), or that He did not come in the
flesh, or that Jesus also sinned sometimes, or that He got married, or that
He was not the Christ, or that He was not God, or that He was the Son of God
by adoption, or that He took on the nature of Satan, or that He was born
again, or that He is at once the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; or
that He did not feel pain when He was flogged and crucified, beware of such a
person and avoid him, for he is a deceiver. |
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THE HOLY SPIRIT
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Jesus
Christ, on the night He was betrayed, said to His disciples that after His
departure He would send the Holy Spirit to them from the Father. The Holy
Spirit would abide with them forever, He would guide them into all truth, He would
tell them things to come, He would teach them all
things and bring to their remembrance all things that He had said to them,
and He would convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
And shortly before He was received up into heaven, Jesus said to them: “You
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”. That is what happened
a few days after His ascension, for Jesus, having received from the Father
the promised Spirit, poured out the Spirit of God on His disciples. On that
day (the day of Pentecost) the promise which the Father had made through the
prophets of old and confirmed through Jesus Christ was fulfilled. |
The Holy
Spirit is a person and not a force, for He speaks, He teaches, He guides, He
reveals hidden things, He can be grieved and resisted. He is eternal, good,
righteous, and holy. He knows everything, He can do anything, and He is
everywhere, therefore He is God. The Spirit gives His gifts to each one
individually as He wills. We can call God ‘Father’ because the Holy Spirit,
whom God sent forth into our hearts, cries out, ‘Abba, Father’. The Holy
Spirit does another very important thing, that is to say, He makes
intercession for the saints according to the will of God. In addition to
this, He transforms us into the likeness of Christ because we who are sons of
God were predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, that He
might be the firstborn among many brethren. Every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven men. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, he is guilty of an eternal sin. The Holy Spirit
is called also Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Spirit of Jesus, Spirit of
the Lord, Spirit of grace, Spirit of truth, and
Spirit of adoption. We do not pray nor sing to the Holy Spirit, for we don’t
want to go beyond what is written. |
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THE TRINITY
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God the
Father and His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are one God. Therefore
the Godhead consists of Three Divine Persons who are distinct yet, at the same
time, united. This does not affect at all the oneness of God because the
oneness of God, of which the Scripture speaks, is a composite oneness (or
compound unity). |
Even
though the word ‘Trinity’ is not written in the Bible, the concept of Trinity,
that is, the concept according to which God is ONE and TRIUNE, is widely
confirmed by the Scripture. The divinity of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit (that is to say, the fact that each one of them is God)
shows clearly that besides being ONE, God is also TRIUNE. Jesus said to His
disciples that He would pray the Father and He (the Father) would give them
another Comforter, that is, the Holy Spirit; and He commanded them to make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
dwell in all those who are sons of God. |
Therefore
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three titles of the only
true God, or three manifestations of the only true God, but THREE DISTINCT
PERSONS who have their own personality and individuality. |
Whoever
denies the Trinity is an idle talker and a deceiver,
whose mouth must be stopped and of whom we must beware. |
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ANGELOLOGY
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Angels are
heavenly beings who were created by God. They are holy and powerful and they
obey His word. Angels exist in exceeding great number; they worship God and
the Lamb who is at the right hand of God. They are ministering spirits sent
to serve those who will inherit salvation, for God uses angels to keep the
saints, to guide them, to supply their needs, to bring them some special
messages, to encourage them and to comfort them, and to deliver them from all
kinds of dangers, etc. However we must not worship nor invoke angels; we must
worship and invoke God. The angels of God may appear to men. Some people, by
entertaining strangers, have entertained angels without knowing it. |
God
created also cherubim and seraphim. The Scripture speaks also of an archangel
called Michael. |
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DEMONOLOGY
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Satan
(that is, the devil) is a wicked spiritual being which keeps all the world under his power. He is served by wicked
spiritual beings, which are these: the principalities, the powers, the rulers
of the darkness of this age, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places. Satan is a liar and the father of lies; he is a murderer; he
hates mankind and he always pursues what is evil for mankind deceiving men
into breaking the commandments of God (that’s why he is called the spirit who
now works in the sons of disobedience). |
Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, through His death, destroyed Satan; He triumphed over
Satan and all his ministers (the above mentioned spiritual beings) by the cross.
Therefore, by faith in the name of Jesus Christ, men can be delivered from
the power of Satan. |
There are
many people who are possessed by demons, that is, evil spirits. Evil spirits
cause demon-possessed people to act wickedly against their own bodies and
against the other human beings. Demons give supernatural powers to some
people, so that they may perform signs and wonders. In the name of Jesus
Christ we can cast out evil spirits. Evil spirits know that when they are
rebuked and ordered in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of the bodies
where they dwell, they must obey. There are some evil spirits that do not go
out except by prayer and fasting. |
Satan
tempts us and he fights against us in order to lead us astray and to cause us
to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. In order not to fall victim to the devices of
Satan, we must watch and pray without ceasing and we must submit to God and
resist Satan; if we do these things, Satan’s devices against us will be
unsuccessful. We must not make fun of Satan. |
One day
Satan and all the spiritual beings which serve him will be cast into the
everlasting fire, where they will be tormented forever. |
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MAN AND SIN
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Man was
made by God on the sixth day. God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. God made
man in His image and likeness. After God made man (Adam), He made a woman
(Eve) from a rib He had taken out of the man and He brought her to the man.
God put man in the Garden of Eden, which was in the East. In that Garden were
all kinds of trees, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food,
but God commanded man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, for in the day that he would eat of it he would surely die. But Adam
disobeyed God, for he ate from that tree, and in that day he died
spiritually, just as God had said to him. By that disobedience sin entered
the world and spread to all men, who are therefore sinners, slaves of various
lusts and pleasures. Men give themselves over to evil, and the imagination of
man’s heart is evil from his youth. There is no one who does good, no, not
one; there is no one who seeks after God, there is no fear of God before
their eyes. Therefore men are under God’s condemnation. They are on the way
which leads to destruction. |
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SALVATION
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Men, being
sinners, are slaves of sin (which is the transgression of the law), therefore
they need to be saved (or to be set free) from their sins, which are like invisible
but powerful chains which hinder them from pleasing God. Being sinners, men
are dead in their sins and trespasses, so they need to be regenerated
spiritually, so that they may have fellowship with God. Being sinners, men
are in debt to God, who is angry with them because they have broken His Word,
and therefore their debts need to be remitted so that they may be reconciled
to God. Being sinners, men deserve to be punished with everlasting torment,
and therefore they need to be justified so that they may escape the
everlasting torment, for when one is justified he receives eternal life. |
Salvation
from the bondage of sin, spiritual regeneration, remission of debts and
justification, can be experienced by men only through repentance and faith,
that is to say, only if they repent of their sins and believe that Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins and was raised to life the third
day for our justification. Good works, sacrifices, and mortifications, cannot
save man from his sins, nor can they regenerate him, nor can they remit his
debts, nor can they save him from the everlasting torment, nor can they
reconcile him to God. If these things could save man, then Jesus Christ would
have died in vain and grace would be set aside by the law of works.
Furthermore, if these things could save man, man could boast before God
saying that he deserved or gained salvation. Therefore we preach that
salvation is obtained by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the works of the
law. And we urge both small and great, wise and
unwise, Jews and Gentiles, to repent before God and to believe in our Lord
Jesus Christ and to do works befitting repentance. |
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THE NEW BIRTH
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Man is
dead in his sins and he is on the way that leads to destruction, and
therefore he needs to be regenerated spiritually to enter the |
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THE ATONEMENT MADE BY JESUS CHRIST
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In the
fullness of the time Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, He bore our
sins in His own body on the cross, so that our sins might be forgiven and we
might be reconciled to God the Father through His precious blood. |
Therefore
Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins, by
faith in His blood we have received the remission of sins. His atoning
sacrifice was foreshadowed by the law of Moses, for according to the law of Moses
the priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sins and for the sins of
the people. However while the blood of those sacrifices could not take away
sins from the conscience of the worshipers, the blood of Christ cleanses the
conscience of the man who repents and believes in Jesus and thus it makes him
perfect in regard to the conscience. |
Therefore
it is absolutely necessary for a man to accept by faith the atoning sacrifice
of Christ in order to be saved. Any personal sacrifice and mortification and
any good work done with the intention of buying or meriting salvation is
useless and also blasphemous for it pretends to replace the sacrifice of
Christ and thus it sets aside the grace of God, on which the Gospel of God is
based. If salvation were by works, grace would no longer be grace. But we
preach that salvation is obtained by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus,
and not by works of righteousness. All those who rely on the works of the law
for their salvation are under the curse of the law, for it is written that
everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of
the law, to do them, is cursed. On the contrary, those who have believed in
the Lord Jesus Christ are blessed with believing Abraham because their faith
was accounted to them for righteousness (that is to say, they were justified
by faith) and they have nothing to boast about before God, just as our father
Abraham had nothing to boast about. That’s why we declare to small and great
alike that they must repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ,
because salvation can be obtained only through faith and therefore by grace;
through faith in the Gospel, which is the power of God for the salvation of
everyone who believes. |
Circumcision
is not that of the flesh, but that of the heart which is done by Christ Jesus
when a man repents and believes in the Gospel. Therefore it is we who are the
circumcision, we who worship God by the Spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. |
Through
the death of Jesus Christ on the cross we have been set free from sin for we
died with Christ to sin. Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of
sin might be done away with. However that does not mean we have no sin, or we
have not sinned, for we all stumble in many things. Nevertheless, if we
confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness through the blood of Christ. |
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THE GOSPEL OF GOD
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Jesus
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and
He rose again the third day for our justification according to the
Scriptures, and after He was raised from the dead God caused Him to be seen
by witnesses chosen before by God. |
That is
the Gospel, that is, the Good News, we have accepted by faith, in which we
stand, by which we are saved and which we preach to all men imploring them on
Christ’s behalf to repent and to believe in it, that they might be saved.
That is the Gospel in which man must believe to be saved and reconciled to
God, for it is the word of our salvation Paul and the other apostles of the
Lord (as well as all the other servants of Christ) preached during the first
century after Christ and by which many Jews and Gentiles were set free from
their sins. Whoever says that it is not complete or it is not sufficient for
salvation because God, after the death of the apostles, revealed the fullness
of the Gospel (which is, as a matter of fact, another Gospel) to Tom or Dick
or Harry, is a deceiver, an idle talker, a man disapproved concerning the
faith whose end is destruction; such a person is an accursed child. He is a
poisonous snake and a ravenous wolf of whom we must
beware. We must also beware of all those who after beginning with the Spirit
are now trying to reach perfection by the flesh, that is to say, after they
believed in the Gospel of grace they began to follow Jewish customs and to
force others to do the same, so they began to impose circumcision, the Sabbath
day, the Jewish feasts, and precepts about foods written in the law of Moses
(to mention just some of the Jewish customs), which are all a shadow of the
things that were to come, because the law has a shadow of the good things to
come and not the very image of the things. These people set aside the grace
of God and make void the faith in Christ, and therefore they must be rebuked
sharply. |
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LAW AND GRACE
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The law
was given through Moses on |
Therefore,
let both the Jews and those who are not Jews by birth who think that they can
be justified by the law of Moses know assuredly that they are greatly
mistaken. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who
believes. Therefore a man is justified in the sight of God by the law of
faith and not by the law of works. What’s the law of faith? The law of faith
is this: if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the
heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the Scripture says that whoever believes on Him will not
be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the
same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That’s the Good News of the grace of the
blessed God. |
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THE OLD AND NEW COVENANTS
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After God
brought the Jews out of |
Therefore
the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant because it was established
on better promises. The New Covenant is much more glorious than the Old
Covenant; the Old Covenant is ready to vanish away, while the New Covenant is
an everlasting Covenant and through the blood of this Covenant God brought up
our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of sheep. To Him be the glory now and forever. Amen. |
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THE PURPOSE OF GOD ACCORDING TO ELECTION
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We were
predestined by God before the foundation of the world to obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus. So we repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ
because in His own time God enabled us to repent and to believe (that is to
say, because God gave us both repentance and faith), so that it might be
fulfilled His purpose, that is, the purpose of God according to election,
which does not depend on works but on the will of the One who calls. Is it
not written that of His own will God brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures, and that we did not
choose the Lord but the Lord chose us? Therefore it does not depend on him
who wills, nor on him who runs, but on God, who has
mercy on whom He wants to have mercy. However God not only has mercy on whom
He wants to have mercy, but He also hardens whom He wants to harden. And who
are they whom He hardens? They are those He predestined to go to perdition. |
Therefore
there are vessels of mercy, which God prepared beforehand for glory, and
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. The antichrist, who is coming, is
one of the vessels of wrath, for the Scripture says that he is going to
perdition. There is no unrighteousness with God, for God does whatever
pleases Him and He has the right to do what He wishes with His own things.
Who then can say to Him, ‘What are you doing?’’ or ‘You have done wrong’?
Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one
vessel for honor and another for dishonor? The purpose of God according to
election is of fundamental importance in order to understand what it means to
be saved by grace, but also to understand why not all men are saved by God. |
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THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
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We who are
Gentiles by birth, and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves
‘the circumcision’ (that done in the body by the hands of men), were formerly
without Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the
covenants of the promise, without hope, far from God and without God in the
world. But it pleased God to bring us near to Him through the death of Jesus
Christ. For through the death of Jesus Christ the middle wall which separated
us from God and the Jews by birth was destroyed, because Jesus abolished in
His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in
ordinances. Therefore, by His death on the cross, Jesus reconciled us both
(Gentiles and Jews) to God in one body. We were reconciled to God by the
grace of God through faith in Christ. Now, therefore, we who are Gentiles in
Christ are fellow heirs with those Jews who are in Christ, we are members
together of one body, that is, the Church, and partakers of His promise in
Christ Jesus through the Gospel, that is, the promise of eternal life. We are
no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone of
this spiritual building which is a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.
This mystery was kept hidden in God for ages past, but in the fullness of the
time it was revealed to the saints of God, to the intent that now the
manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Church to the
principalities and powers in the heavenly places. |
Let us
bear in mind this: it was necessary that most of the Jews should disobey God,
so that we who are Gentiles might be forgiven by God (that is to say, so that
God might have mercy on us) and we might become His people; so we received
mercy through the disobedience of the Jews. As we know, in the days of Jesus
and in the days of the apostles, most of the Jews refused to accept Jesus as
the promised Messiah and thus they disobeyed God (most of the Jews all over
the world still refuse to accept Jesus as the Messiah). Then God, disgusted
for their disobedience, had the Gospel of grace preached to the Gentiles as
well, so that they might believe and obey Him; so that, through the believing
Gentiles, He might provoke the disobedient Jews to jealousy. The disobedience
of the Jews was predicted by God through His prophets of old, for God said in
various ways that He would harden the Jews to cause them to stumble.
Therefore they were predestined to stumble; on the contrary, we were
predestined to accept the Word of God. Therefore the hardening in part which |
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The Jews
(or Israelites) are descendants of Abraham and are the people whom God
foreknew and to whom were committed the oracles of
God and with whom God made a covenant after He brought them out of |
Therefore
let us see that we do not say, ‘God has rejected |
We reject
Anglo-Israelism. |
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HOLINESS (SANCTIFICATION)
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We who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ were sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God,
that’s why the Scripture calls us ‘the saints’. So, as is fitting for saints,
we must perfect holiness in the fear of God hating and fleeing what is evil
and clinging to what is good. In other words, just as we presented our
members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more
lawlessness, so now we must present our members as slaves of righteousness
for holiness. And since we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, which calls evil good, and good evil, we
must take heed to ourselves and test all things to understand what pleases
the Lord and what does not please Him. We must test all things through the
Scripture; the Spirit of God, who dwells in our hearts, guides us into all
truth. |
As He who
called us to His eternal glory is holy, we also must be holy in all our
conduct. Therefore we must abstain from the lusts of the flesh and the
worldly lusts of this evil age. Fornication, uncleanness, revelries,
drunkenness, lewdness, envy, debaucheries, sorcery, jealousies, covetousness
(which is idolatry), malice, hatred, murders, contentions, outbursts of
wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, slander, and the like, are
all works of the flesh from which we must abstain (we must not associate with
anyone who calls himself a brother, but is a fornicator or greedy, an
idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler; with such a man we must
not even eat). Those who live according to the flesh are dead even while they
live, and from the flesh they will reap corruption. Going to the cinema, to
the theatre, to the circus, to the amusement parks, going to the beach to put
oneself half-naked in order to get sun tanned or to bathe, going to a soccer
match (as well as to a basketball match, a baseball match, etc.), listening
to the worldly music, watching television, wearing indecent clothes or costly
clothes, to mention just some of the worldly lusts, are all things which are
not fitting for the saints, so we warn believers against these things (as far
as the television set is concerned, we exhort the saints not to buy it nor to
place it in their houses). Friendship with the world is enmity with God. |
We must be
humble, good, meek, righteous, merciful, patient with all, temperate in all
things, hospitable to one another, full of brotherly love (Jesus said that by
this all will know that we are His disciples, if we have love for one
another), ready to confess our trespasses to one another and ready to forgive
as Christ forgave us, and ready to do all kinds of good works as we have
opportunity. |
Without
holiness no one will see the Lord. Fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals,
effeminate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers, idolaters,
liars, murderers, sorcerers, the cowardly, the abominable, and the unrighteous,
will not inherit the |
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THE DECREES WHICH WERE DETERMINED BY THE APOSTLES
AND ELDERS AT
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Around the
middle of the first century after Christ, the apostles and the elders met at Jerusalem
to consider an important question, that is to say, they came together to
decide whether the believing Gentiles had to be circumcised and to keep the
law of Moses or not. They decided not to burden the Gentiles with anything
beyond the following requirements: they had to abstain from things offered to
idols, from blood, from things strangled and from fornication. Therefore we
who are Gentiles in Christ Jesus must keep those decrees determined by the
apostles and the elders at |
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GOOD WORKS
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We
Christians, being people who have repented and believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ, must do works worthy of repentance. These
works are called good works and God prepared them beforehand that we should walk
in them. Christ gave Himself for us that He might purify for Himself His own
special people, zealous for good works. Faith without works is dead, just as
the body without the spirit is dead. Good works must follow faith, through
them we openly confirm our profession of faith, we
honour the Gospel and cause people to glorify God for our obedience to the
Gospel. God rewards us for every good work we do, because God is righteous. |
We are
called to do good to all, especially to those who
are of the household of faith. We must remember the poor among the saints and
visit orphans and widows in their trouble. Anyone who knows the good he ought
to do and doesn’t do it, sins. |
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PERSECUTIONS
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Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Saviour, said that if they persecuted
Him, they will also persecute us His disciples. Therefore we were called to
suffer for His name’s sake. In other words, we were called to partake of
Christ’s sufferings. However we are not ashamed to suffer as a Christian,
rather we praise God that we bear that name. We are fully persuaded that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which will be revealed in us on the day of Christ. So we endure patiently our
sufferings and we commit our souls to our faithful Creator in doing good, because when Christ appears, then we also will
appear with Him in glory, and we will be glad with exceeding joy; while those
who trouble us will be repaid with tribulation. |
Sufferings
are useful because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character;
and character, hope. That’s why we consider it pure joy, when we face various
trials for the Lord’s sake. We must through many tribulations enter the |
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GOD’S JUDGEMENTS
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The Scripture
states that he who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him
disciplines him promptly. Therefore, if an earthly father disciplines his
children for he loves them, how much more will our heavenly Father - who in
His great love did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all - discipline us! If
God spared us His discipline, which we all need, He would not be a good
father but an evil father. Therefore God disciplines us by inflicting His
punishments on us, for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness
and we may not be condemned with the world. Let us see to it then that we do
not despise the chastening of the Lord. |
God
inflicts His punishments on those who are outside too. He is a righteous
judge who expresses His wrath every day. His judgments are in all the earth. |
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THE POSSIBILITY OF FALLING FROM GRACE
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A believer
can fall from grace and go to perdition. For God says that it is impossible for
those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who
have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the good word of
God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away – that is to say, if
they deny the Lord counting the blood of the covenant by which they were
sanctified a common thing and insulting the Spirit of grace – to renew them
again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God
and put Him to an open shame; and God says also that the just will live by
faith, but if he draws back His soul has no pleasure in him. |
Therefore
let us see to it that we stand firm in the faith to the end and we do not
cast away our confidence, which has great reward, and we perfect holiness in the
fear of God abstaining from every kind of evil and doing whatever is good to
the glory of God. In this way we will make our call and election sure, we
will never stumble, and an entrance will be supplied to us abundantly into
the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
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THE CHURCH
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The Church
is the Assembly of the redeemed, that is, the Assembly of all those who have
been delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into the Kingdom of the
Son of God, in whom they have redemption through the blood of Christ, the
forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Therefore all those
who are members of the Church are sure they have been saved from their sins
and from everlasting perdition. One becomes a member of the Church through
faith in Jesus Christ, who loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He
might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He
might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. The Church
is the Body of Christ and every believer is a member of it; however believers
have different gifts according to the grace that is given to them. The head
of the Church is Jesus Christ. |
The local
Church must be ruled by a pastor and a body of elders (or bishops) helped by
some deacons. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he must be
blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good
behaviour, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, but
gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money; one who rules his own house
well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does
not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the Church of
God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same
condemnation as the devil; furthermore he must have a good testimony among
those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
If a man desires the position of a deacon, he must be reverent, not
double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the
mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Both the candidate for the
position of a bishop and the candidate for the position of a deacon must
first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as
bishops and deacons. The pastor and the elders must shepherd the flock of the
Lord (giving the sheep spiritual food to eat, keeping watch over them,
comforting them and admonishing them) not by compulsion but willingly, not
for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over the flock but being
examples to the flock. Deacons must help the pastor and the elders. Those who
are taught the Word must share in all good things with those who teach. Those
who teach are worthy of this, for the Lord has commanded that those who
preach the Gospel should live from the Gospel. No one goes to war at his own
expense. He who tends a flock has the right to drink of the milk of the
flock. Those who rule over the flock of God must be obeyed and esteemed very
highly in love for their work’s sake. Believers must not receive an
accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. |
When
believers come together as a Church, the worship of God must take place in an
atmosphere full of the fear of God and thus in a
orderly way. Therefore the preaching, the teaching, the prayers, the songs
(which can be accompanied by musical instruments), the testimonies, and the
exercise of the spiritual gifts, must be led by a holy fear of God.
Frivolities, jokes and buffooneries must not be allowed, nor must be allowed
or tolerated the following shameful behaviours: women who teach, the so
called ‘holy laughter’, animal sounds, preachers who push people so that they
may fall to the ground, preachers who breathe on people, all kinds of
suggestions to induce believers to speak in tongues, theatrical scenes, and
anything else which can grieve the Holy Spirit by whom we were sealed.
Believers are called to speak the same thing, there must be no divisions
among them, they are called to be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgement. They must be at peace
among themselves, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, and
uphold the weak. Jealousies and quarrellings must not be tolerated. Believers
must greet one another with a holy kiss. |
The Church
must spread the Gospel of the grace of God all over the world. However the
Gospel must be spread not out of envy and strife but out of good will.
Furthermore, the Gospel must not be spread by improper means, such as
theatrical scenes and rock music, which are used by some to attract people.
The Gospel must be preached with power, and with the Holy Spirit and with
deep conviction. Whoever preaches the Gospel must say very frankly to men
that they must repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ –
that is to say, they must believe that He died for our sins and rose again for
our justification – so that they might receive remission of sins and might be
saved, and also that if they refuse to repent and to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, when they die they will be brought down to Hades (hell), and at
the resurrection of the unjust they will be cast into the everlasting fire.
The Church must desire and expect the Lord to confirm the Gospel by signs and
wonders. |
The local
Church is independent and must keep her independence. Therefore she must not unite
with other Churches to form a denomination with a President, a Secretary, a
Treasurer, a General Council, a Statute etc. Such a
form of ecclesiastical organization is not biblical and therefore it must be
rejected. The Church must not ally herself with the State nor ask the State
for privileges, because the Scripture teaches that the early Church was
separate from the State. The history of the Church teaches us that every time
the Church has allied herself with the State to obtain some privileges from
it, the Church has become corrupted and arrogant and has trampled a part of
the counsel of God underfoot. |
Among the
Church there are some people who cause offenses; these people despise both
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the words of the holy apostles. They
are spots and blemishes; they don’t serve our Lord but their own belly, they
set their minds on the things of the flesh, they are arrogant and bold, and
by smooth words and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the simple.
They teach things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.
Because of these people the way of truth is blasphemed. We exhort the saints
to note these people, to expose their evil works and their lies, and to avoid
them. Believers must expel the wicked man from among them. |
The place
of worship is not the house of God, for according to the Scripture the house
of God is the Church of the living God. |
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ORDINANCES
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Water baptism
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Jesus Christ,
before He was received up into heaven at the right hand of the Father,
commanded the apostles to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore whoever believes in the Gospel of the grace of God must be baptized
immediately – by one immersion – in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is an outward act which attests that the
believing person has experienced the new birth: his immersion represents the
burial of the old man, while his coming up out of the water represents his
resurrection with Christ. Therefore we were buried with Christ, through
baptism, into His death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Water baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience. |
Therefore
since water baptism follows faith it does not remit sins nor does it
regenerate man; and in addition to this it must be said that since baptism
must follow faith it cannot be administered to infants. |
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The Lord’s Supper
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The Lord’s
Supper is a rite during which we eat some bread and drink some fruit of the vine
in order to proclaim the death of the Lord Jesus Christ till He comes. The
bread symbolizes the body of Christ, while the fruit of the vine symbolizes
His blood. The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ;
the cup of blessing which we bless is the communion of the blood of Christ.
We reject transubstantiation and consubstantiation. This rite was established
by Christ Jesus on the night He was betrayed, while He was having supper with
His twelve apostles. Before partaking of the Lord’s Supper we ought to
examine ourselves, lest we be judged by God. Yes, because those who eat or
drink in an unworthy manner are struck with sickness or put to death by God. |
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THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
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The baptism
with the Holy Spirit is a baptism administered by Jesus Christ to those who
believe on His name. Through this baptism a Christian is endued with power
from on high, just as the early disciples of the Lord in |
The baptism
with the Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to the salvation from one’s
sins and the regeneration or new birth (which are
experienced by a man when he repents of his own sins and believes in the Lord
Jesus Christ). Therefore through this baptism a believer is not saved nor
regenerated, but he is just endued with power and enabled to pray and bless
God in another tongue, because this is what he who speaks in another tongue
does when he speaks in another tongue. When the Scripture says that the Holy
Spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God it
refers to the praying in other tongues, which is accomplished by believers
through the Holy Spirit. A Christian can receive the baptism with the Holy
Spirit while he is praying as well as while he is not praying, and through
the laying on of hands as well as without the laying on of hands. |
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THE MINISTRY GIFTS
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The Lord
Jesus Christ gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and
some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all come to the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no
longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of
doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful
plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him
who is the head – Christ. Whoever has received one of these ministries must
use it to serve others and not for his self-interest. He is a steward of the
mysteries of God and it is required in him that he be
found faithful. |
The apostle
is one who is sent forth by God to preach the Gospel to a people (or in
unevangelized regions) and who founds some Churches; the prophet is one who
has received the gift of prophecy and revelation gifts (when the saints come
together, let two o three prophets speak, and let the others judge; but if
anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent); the
evangelist is one who goes from one town to another proclaiming the Gospel;
the pastor is one who was called by God to shepherd the local Church, and the
teacher is one who has a very deep knowledge of the Word of God (therefore he
knows the doctrines of the Bible very well), and he has a marked ability to
teach the Word of God and refute false doctrines. |
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THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
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The Holy
Spirit distributes His gifts to each one individually as He wills. These
gifts are the following ones: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge,
faith, gifts of healings, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of
spirits, different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. These
gifts also, like the ministry gifts, are given for the edifying of the Body
of Christ, and for the perfecting of the saints. And these gifts also must be
used by those who have received them to serve others. |
The word
of wisdom is a revelation of a future event (this gift is expressed not only
in foretelling future events, but also in those divine commands and
instructions which make for the development of those future events); the word
of knowledge is a revelation of an incident which has already taken place or
that is taking place; the gift of faith is a special faith through which a
believer is enabled to perform some wonders; the gifts of healings enable
those who have received them to heal the sick; the working of miracles
enables those who have received it to perform miracles; the gift of prophecy
enables believers to speak edification and exhortation and comfort to men
(when the saints come together, all those who have the gift of prophecy can
prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged); the gift
of discerning of spirits enables believers to discern evil spirits in order
to expose their diabolical works and to cast them out in the name of Jesus
Christ; the gift of different kinds of tongues is the supernatural ability to
speak several foreign languages and the gift of interpretation of tongues is
the ability to interpret what is spoken in another tongue to God. Yes,
because he who speaks in another tongue does speak to God, praying Him,
thanking Him and blessing Him or speaking the wonderful works of God. When
the saints come together, if anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or
at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no
interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and
to God. We must eagerly desire spiritual gifts. |
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VISIONS, DREAMS, REVELATIONS
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God speaks
to men through visions and dreams, or through an audible voice only (in this
case, therefore, He speaks to them without a vision or a dream). He speaks to
unbelievers to lead them to Jesus Christ, that is to say, to save them from
their sins and from everlasting perdition. He speaks to the saints to
encourage them, to comfort them, to rebuke them, to teach them, to warn them.
God can reveal them an event which is to happen or an event which has already
taken place, or the true identity of a person, or He can command them to go
to a certain place or to do a particular thing. God can also reveal them the
presence of evil spirits in a person or in a place. |
God cannot
lie, so He can’t reveal a future event that will not take place or an event that
did not take place. Therefore, if anyone predicts an event and that event
does not happen, he who has predicted that event has spoken presumptuously;
if anyone says that the Lord has revealed him an event which has already
happened, but that event did not take place, that person has told a lie. God
cannot reveal doctrines which nullify the Holy Scripture. He cannot reveal
another Gospel, or an alleged ‘full Gospel’ or ‘fullness of the Gospel’ as if
the Gospel which is written in the Bible were incomplete. All the visions and
all the dreams and all the revelations which prove to be presumptuous,
untruthful and contrary to what the Scripture teaches, must be rejected
without hesitation. |
Sometimes
God guides us even by visions, dreams and revelations. I have said
‘sometimes’ because God doesn’t always use these means to cause us to go to a
certain place or to do a particular thing, or to meet someone. In most cases
God guides us through the Scriptures, the impulses that the Spirit of God
gives us inwardly in one direction or another, and through circumstances
which are created and changed by God according to the counsel of His will. |
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HEALINGS, MIRACLES, SIGNS AND WONDERS
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God heals and
performs miracles, signs and wonders. Therefore the sick can be healed by
their faith in Jesus Christ, the blind can receive their sight, the deaf can hear, the dumb can speak, the lame can walk.
The dead can be raised in the name of Jesus Christ. Demons can be rebuked and
cast out in the name of Jesus Christ (it is by the Spirit of God that demons
are cast out). Through faith in Christ other powerful signs, which are
different from those I have just mentioned, can be performed. Through the
healings, the miracles, the signs and wonders performed in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, the Gospel is
confirmed, the saints are encouraged and comforted and unbelievers (a part of
them and not all of them) believe in Jesus Christ. |
Some of
the preachers who heal the sick, cast out demons, and perform signs and
wonders in the name of Jesus Christ, do not live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives, for they are evil workers. We must beware of them and turn away
from them. |
All the
signs and wonders worked by wizards and witches, and by any other minister of
the devil, must be rejected and exposed, for they are works of the devil. |
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PRAYER
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We must pray
God the Father for our brothers, that God may strengthen them, comfort them,
establish them in every good work and word, that they may be filled with the
knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that they
may be fruitful in every good work to the glory of God, that God may deliver
them from the evil one and may heal them; to mention just some of the things
we have to ask God in our prayers we make for them. In our prayers we must
remember our brothers who are in prison and persecuted for the Gospel’s sake.
We must pray God to send out labourers into His harvest. We must also pray
for the labourers who are in the harvest, that God may open to them a door
for the Word and He may enable them to proclaim the Gospel with great boldness,
by stretching out His hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done
through the name of Jesus Christ; and He may deliver them from wicked and
evil men. We must also pray for unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles,
that God might save them. We must pray for all who are in authority
that God may save them, help them, bless them, and keep them. And let us not
forget to thank God for all the good things we receive through the governing
authorities. |
We must pray
for ourselves as well, asking God for both spiritual and material things. We
must not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving we must present our requests to God. Our God
hears the prayer of the righteous. When we are in distress and in need of
something we must call upon God, who promised to answer our prayer. The
effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. We must pray God in
the name of Jesus Christ. If we pray God in faith (or believing), we keep His
commandments, and what we ask is according to His will, He hears us. It is
well to pray on one's knees; it is a most fitting posture for it expresses
humility. However God’s ears are open to our prayers even when we pray
sitting or standing. It is lawful to pray and fast. We must pray without
ceasing. |
It is a
good thing to accompany our prayers, both those we say privately and those we
say publicly, with thanksgivings addressed to God in the name of Jesus
Christ. Let men lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
Every woman must pray with her head covered with a veil, for woman is the
glory of man; she must have a veil on her head because of the angels; the
veil is a sign of authority (every woman who prays or prophesies with her
head uncovered dishonors man, who is the head of the woman). On the contrary,
every man must pray with his head uncovered, for man is the image and glory
of God (every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his
head, which is Christ). We do not know what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered, and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit
is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of
God. That is what happens when one prays in another language. |
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THE LAYING ON OF HANDS
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The laying
on of hands is an act through which hands are laid on another person in the name
of Jesus Christ, so that he (the one on whom hands are laid) may be healed,
or filled with the Holy Spirit, or may be ordained to serve as a bishop or as
a deacon, or may be commended to the grace of the Lord for a certain work to
which the Lord has called him. Both Jesus and the apostles practiced the
laying on of hands. The laying on of hands must not be practiced hastily. |
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MARRIAGE
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God took
one of the man’s ribs and made a woman from it and brought her to the man and
He said: “A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and they will become one flesh”. Therefore marriage was established by God. |
A
Christian man must marry a Christian woman and not an unbelieving woman
because we are not allowed to be yoked together with unbelievers: light has
no communion with darkness. |
The
husband must love his wife just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself
for her, that He might sanctify her and present her to Himself a glorious
Church, a holy and blameless Church. The husband must dwell with his wife
with understanding, giving honor to his wife as to the weaker vessel, that
his prayers may not be hindered. The wife must submit to her own husband in
everything, just as the Church submits to Christ, and she must respect her
husband; so she is not permitted to have authority over her husband. |
Husband
and wife must procreate and they must be willing to accept from the hand of
God all the children God has decided to give to them; so they must not hinder
conception. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Abortion is a murder,
therefore we reject it. We are against medically assisted procreation, for it
is an unnatural procreation. |
Children
must be brought up in the training and admonition of the Lord,
they must not be provoked to wrath, lest they become discouraged. Children
must obey their parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to God. |
Husband
and wife are bound by the law to one another as long as both of them are alive, therefore the bond of matrimony is dissolved only
by the death of one of them. If the wife commits fornication, the husband can
put away his wife but he can’t remarry. Whoever puts away his wife and
marries another woman, commits adultery. (If a believing husband is left by his
unbelieving wife for she is no more willing to live with him, and he marries
another woman, he commits adultery). If, while her husband lives, the woman
marries another man, she commits adultery. If divorce and remarriage took
place before conversion, then the two must remain with God in that state in
which they were called. One who divorced and remarried before his conversion
cannot become a pastor, nor an elder and nor a deacon. |
Widows and
widowers are free to marry. A widow should be put on the list of widows if
she is over sixty, if she has been the wife of one man, well reported for
good works, if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if
she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she
has diligently followed every good work. |
Marriage
should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge
fornicators and adulterers. |
A man can
remain unmarried if he has this gift from the Lord. But if he has not received
this gift, let him marry because it is better to marry than to burn with
passion. Celibacy must not be imposed on anyone; it must be a free choice. He
who gives his daughter in marriage does right, but he who does not give her
in marriage does even better. Anyone who forbids people to marry teaches a
doctrine of demons. |
|
WOMAN
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|
God caused
a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and He
made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to
the man. Therefore woman was created for the man. However the woman was
deceived by the serpent, for he deceived her into eating the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil and she gave some to her husband, who
ate it. Both of them, therefore, sinned in the sight of God and on that day
they died spiritually. However Adam was not the one deceived, it was the
woman who was deceived. |
In Christ
Jesus there is neither male nor female, for both the men and the women who
have been regenerated by God are all one in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless God
made man the head of the woman, and therefore the wife must submit to her
husband, just as the Church submits to Christ Jesus. Therefore the authority
on which the woman depends is man and the woman ought to have a sign of
authority on her head because of the angels, and this sign is the veil with
which she must cover her head when she prays or prophesies. If a woman prays
or prophesies (not only in the place of worship, but also at home and in the
open air) with her head uncovered, she dishonors her head. |
Women must
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and decency. Therefore
they must not wear miniskirts, slit skirts, close-fitting dresses,
sleeveless-dresses and low-necked dresses, costly clothing, see-through
dresses, trousers, and any other dress which is not proper for women
professing godliness. Let them wear long skirts and long-sleeved blouses.
Furthermore, women must not braid their hair nor they must wear pearls and
any kinds of jewelry. In addition to this, they must not wear make-up nor dye
their hair. Let women have long hair, because it is a glory to them. (Men
also must adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and decency.
Therefore they must not wear shorts, close-fitting trousers and shirts,
sleeveless and low-necked T-shirts, costly-clothing, jewelry, etc. Men ought
not to have long hair for it is a dishonor to them, and they ought not to dye
their hair) Women must adorn themselves with good works, which is proper for
women professing godliness. |
The woman
is not permitted to teach or to have authority over a man, but she must learn
in silence with all submission; therefore a woman can’t become a pastor and
she can’t desire the position of a bishop, because both the pastor and the
bishop must teach the Word of God. However a woman can desire the position of
a deacon because a deacon is not called to teach. When believers are gathered
together as a Church, women can pray and prophesy, but they are not permitted
to ask questions for it is shameful for women to speak in church. |
The older women
must be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine,
teachers of good things; then they can train the younger women to love their
husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God
may not be blasphemed. |
Women will
be saved in child-bearing, if they continue in faith, love and holiness, with
self-control. |
|
THE SUBMISSION TO THE GOVERNING AUTHORITIES
|
|
There is no
authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by
God. Therefore, for the Lord’s sake, we must be subject to the governing
authorities and keep the laws of the country where we live. Whoever resists
the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring
judgement on themselves. We must, therefore, respect the governing
authorities and be subject to them, no matter what political party they
belong to or what kind of religion they profess. And we must also pray for
all who are in authority, that God may save them, help them, keep them and
bless them together with their families. And let us thank God for the good
things done by the governing authorities. |
We are
called to disobey the governing authorities only when they command us to do
something which is contrary to the Word of God. In this case we must say the
same thing the apostles said before the Sanhedrin, which had commanded them
not to teach in the name of Jesus, that is to say, ‘We ought to obey God rather
than men’. |
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BONDSERVANTS AND MASTERS
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|
Christians
must labor, working with their hands what is good, so that they may supply
their own needs and the needs of their own families, and may have something
to share with those in need. Lazy people, therefore, must be admonished and
exhorted to work in quietness and to eat their own bread. |
Bondservants
must be obedient to those who are their masters according to the flesh, with
fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice,
as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from
the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.
Bondservants must not talk back to their masters and they must not steal from
them, but they must show all good fidelity, that the doctrine of God may be
honored. Those bondservants who are disloyal and deceitful will be punished
by God in His own time. |
Masters must
give their bondservants what is just and fair, and they must give up
threatening. Those masters who are unjust and keep back by fraud the wages of
their bondservants sin and they will be punished by God in His own time. |
|
ESCHATOLOGY
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|
The state of man after death
|
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Man
consists of body, soul and spirit. When he dies, his spirit returns to God
who gave it, his body returns to the dust because it was taken out of the
ground, while his soul continues to live consciously in another world. |
When a
Christian dies, his soul goes immediately to |
When a sinner
dies, his soul goes immediately to Hades (Greek word which means ‘the unseen
world’), which is a place of torment located in the heart of the earth. Hades
is a place without any order, full of thick darkness, where sinners are
tormented by fire, which causes them terrible pains and sufferings. In Hades
there is weeping and gnashing of teeth and the wicked await
the resurrection of condemnation. |
|
The coming of Christ and our gathering together to
Him
|
|
The Lord Jesus
Christ will come back in His time on the clouds of heaven with power and
glory, and with the holy angels. He will descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in
Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be changed by
the power of God and we will be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. In that day all those who are Christ’s will receive
a body which will be like the glorious body of Christ. Therefore their bodies
will be immortal, powerful and glorious. In that day the redemption of our
body, which we are eagerly waiting for, will be fulfilled. |
The coming
of Christ and our gathering together to Him will take place after the falling
away has come and the man of sin (that is, the antichrist) has been revealed.
The man of sin will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or
that is worshiped, and will set himself up in God’s temple proclaiming himself to be God. He will perform all kinds of
counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and every sort of evil that deceives
those who are perishing. In that day the Lord Jesus will consume the man of
sin with the breath of His mouth and will destroy him with the brightness of
His coming. We reject the doctrine called ‘secret rapture.’ |
The coming
of the Lord is near. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Let us see to it that we abide in Christ, that when He appears, we may have
confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. |
|
The judgment seat of Christ
|
|
After Christ
has come, we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one
may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether
good or bad. Therefore each of us will be rewarded according to his conduct.
That’s why we must live a holy and blameless life, having a pure conscience
before God and men, hating and fleeing every form of evil, because in that
day each of us will give account of himself to God. |
Every
minister of the Gospel must see to it that he builds on the foundation, which
is Christ, with valuable things, that is, gold, silver, precious stones, and
not with vain things, that is, wood, hay and straw; because the day of Christ
will bring to light each one’s work, because it will be revealed by fire; and
the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work
which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work
is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as
through fire. |
|
The millennial reign and the following events
|
|
When
Christ comes, a thousand-year reign will begin, during which Christ will
reign with His saints on the earth. During this reign Satan will not be able
to deceive men because when Christ comes he will be bound and cast into the
Abyss, which will be locked and sealed over him to keep him from deceiving
the nations any more until the thousand years are ended. |
When the
thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go
out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, to
gather them together to battle. They will go up on the breadth of the earth
and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire will come
down from God out of heaven and devour them. Then Satan will be cast into the
lake of fire burning with brimstone (or the everlasting fire), where he will
be tormented forever and ever. |
Then the
heaven and the earth will be annihilated by God (they will flee from the
presence of God and there will be no place for them, and God will create a
new heaven and a new earth) and the final judgment will take place. All the
sinners will rise and appear before the throne of God and they will be judged
according to their works, by the things written in the books. And they will
be cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, which is the second
death, where they will be tormented forever and ever. In that day the angels
of Satan will be judged, who went with him when he rebelled against God, as
well as the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own
abode to fornicate with the daughters of men (God cast those angels into a
prison called Tartarus, putting them into chains of darkness to be reserved
for judgment). |
After the
final judgment, the |
|
OUR POSITION ON VARIOUS THINGS
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Foods and beverages
|
|
We may eat
all things, except things offered to idols, things strangled and blood. For
no food is unclean in itself, but if anyone regards something as unclean,
then let him abstain from it, but without passing judgement on those who eat
everything. He who eats everything must not despise those brothers who
abstain from a certain food because they regard it as unclean. The |
|
Days and feasts
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|
We esteem
every day alike. Therefore we don’t think we must observe Sunday. If a
brother esteems Sunday above the other days and observe it, we don’t judge
him; however he must not impose his conviction on the others nor judge those
who don’t esteem Sunday above the other days of the week. Let each be fully
convinced in his own mind. We don’t observe the
Sabbath day, nor the feast of Passover, nor the feast of
Pentecost, nor the feast of Tabernacles, nor all the other Jewish
feasts, because we were not called to observe Sabbaths and feasts. Let no one
judge us regarding these things. We reject Carnival, Halloween and Christmas. |
|
Violence and self-defence
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|
We are
against every form of violence against our neighbour, even in case of self-defence.
We, being disciples of Christ, must be peaceable and gentle, showing all
humility to all men, that’s why we reject violence. We must not avenge
ourselves, for vengeance belongs to God. We must love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. |
|
Military service and war
|
|
We are
against doing military service because as children of God we must not learn
war. If the governing authorities command us to go to war, we must disobey
them. |
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Magic, spiritism, astrology …
|
|
We are
against magic, against spiritism, astrology, cartomancy, the coffee cup
reading, chiromancy, dowsing, and any other divining art, because they are
all works of the devil, who is the enemy of God and the father of lies. All
those who practice these things will be cast into the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone. We are against yoga, transcendental meditation,
acupuncture, homeopathy, and any other meditation technique and alternative
medicine which is based on occult principles and whose purpose is to make man
feel one with the so called ‘universal energy’, that is to say, to induce man
to believe that he is God. These things are all works of the devil, who deceives people and hurts them. |
|
Superstitions
|
|
We are
against every form of superstition, for superstitions are devices created by
Satan to frighten and deceive people. |
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‘Sacred’ statues and images
|
|
We are
against making the so called sacred images and statues and serving them
because they are idols and any service rendered to them is idolatry; and we
must flee from idolatry. All those who worship the so called sacred images
and statues worship demons. Demons often perform counterfeit signs and
wonders to keep people devoted to idols. |
|
Selling things pertaining to the kingdom of God
|
|
We are
against selling Bibles, hymnals, books of testimonies, books which contain
biblical teachings, etc., for we are convinced that selling things pertaining
to the |
If a
Christian wants to reproduce and spread the Bible or some parts of it, or a
testimony, or a teaching written by a believer, he is free in the Lord to do
it. |
|
Tithing and prosperity
|
|
We are
against imposing tithing on the saints, because tithing is one of those
commandments of the law of Moses we must not keep for we are under grace.
Every Christian must give for God’s work as he purposes in his heart,
bewaring of covetousness. We reject the doctrine which affirms that God wants
us to be rich materially (the so called ‘prosperity message’), for it is
inconsistent with the Scripture, which states that those who desire to be
rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful
lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. |
|
Collection of offerings
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|
We are against
passing an offering-basket in the place of worship. That’s not the right way
to collect the money for God’s work. An offering-box should be put in a
corner of the place of worship and those who are willing to make an offering
for the work of God must put their offering inside that box |
|
Running into debts
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We are
against running into debts, for the borrower is servant to the lender. |
|
Jokes ….
|
|
We are
against telling jokes and uttering any corrupt word. Our speech must be always
with grace, seasoned with salt. Let us speak to one another with psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our heart to the
Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. |
|
The burlesque lie and the ‘white’ lie
|
|
We are
against lying even when lies are told to joke or to do good to somebody. For
the Scripture commands us not to lie to one another. |
|
Swearing
|
|
We are against
swearing because Christ commanded us not to swear. |
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Going to law against brothers
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|
We are
against going to law against those brothers who have wronged us. If any of us
has a dispute with another about the things of this life, he must take it
before the saints for judgment and not before the unrighteous. For Jesus
said: “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go
and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have
gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more,
that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’
And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even
to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. |
|
Ecumenism
|
|
We are against
ecumenism, because we consider it a device of the devil against the Church to
create confusion in the |
|
Voting and taking part in politics
|
|
We are
apolitical, so we do not vote nor take part in politics; and we urge the
saints to be apolitical like us, because our Lord and Saviour was apolitical. |
|
Euthanasia
|
|
We are against
euthanasia because we believe that only God has the right to take our life.
He is the One who gave it to us, and He alone can take it. |
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Organ donation and transplantation
|
|
We are against
organ donation and transplantation because organ explantation harms the
donor. In the case of the transplantation of the heart or of the liver (or of
other non-geminus vital organs), the explantation of these organs kills the
donor, for his organs are explanted while he is still alive. For the so
called brain death, which is certified by doctors before the organ
explantation, is not real death because the heart of the donor is still
beating. |
|
Cremation
|
|
We are against
cremation for according to the Holy Scripture the dead must be buried. |
|
Homosexuality, paedophilia, …
|
|
We are
against homosexuality, paedophilia, prostitution, every form of pornography,
and also against cloning. All these things are an abomination to God. |
|
Taking medicines
|
|
We are
against taking medicines because we consider it to be a lack of faith in the
power of God, who still heals the sick. When a believer is taken ill, he must
call for the elders of the Church, who must pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and
the Lord will raise him up. |
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Hunting and vivisection
|
|
We are
against hunting for the fun of it, but not against hunting for food. It is
lawful to kill animals also when they are a menace to people’s life. We are
against vivisection, that is, the practice of performing operations on live
animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research, for the
Scripture forbids us to be cruel toward animals. |
|
Smoking, drugs, piercing and tattoos
|
|
We are against
smoking, against taking cocaine, heroine, hallucinogens, etc., against
piercing and against the custom of tattooing one’s body, for all these things
damage our body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. |
|
Gambling, …
|
|
We are against
gambling, state lottery, soccer pools, horses races, and any other game based
on betting, for all these things create a lust for riches and encourage
covetousness (which is idolatry), whereas the Scripture commands us to be
content with what we have, not to love money nor to lay up for ourselves
treasures on earth. Those who have given themselves over to these worldly
lusts have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. We trust in God, who has promised He will meet all
our needs. To Him be the glory in Christ Jesus now
and forevermore. Amen. |
|
The grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit be with all the saints. |
|
|
Giacinto
Butindaro |
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