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theChurch
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CEIVED. But praise Goo! Satan
soon shall be removed from earth,
eyes shall be opened to ASTONJSH–
ING TRUTH, and ultimately EVERY–
BODY who ever lived shall have
been called to salvation and eternal
life! But when called, each must
make bis own decision. Sorrowfully
as
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say it, sorne will not repent,
believe, and be saved. This book
emphatically is not teacbing a uni–
versal salvation. Sorne are going to
finally perish in the lake of fire.
Meanwhile God's GLORIOUS
PURPOSE must be worked out here
below according to God's MASTER
PLAN- a step at a time!
Teachings and Beliefs
Now we must summarize the
teaching and beliefs of God's true
Church.
This, naturally, is related di–
rectly to the purpose of the
Church- to call out of Satan's
present world disciples (students,
learners) to be trained to become
kings and priests (teachers) in
God's world tomorrow when God
will open the tree of life (salvation,
immortality) to all flesh.
But doctrinally, remember what
the Church is called to help re–
store- the kingdom, government
and character of God. What was
taken away? God's law, the foun–
dation of bis government and the
very essence of God's character
and divine life.
In other words, the pivota! point
is the SIN question. Sin is the
transgression of God's spiritual law
(I John 3:4).
Satan has deceived this world's
churches into the belief that God's ·
law was done away-that Jesus,
rather than paying the price in hu–
man stead for transgressing the
law, did away with it- "nailing it
to bis cross."
The expression used by Protes–
tants "nailing the law to bis cross"
can mean only one thing. This is
Satan's teaching that by being
nailed to the cross, Christ abol–
ished the law, making it possible
for humans to sin with impunity.
What actually was nailed to the
cross was Christ our sin bearer,
who took on himself our sins, pay-
July/Auguat 1986
ing the death penalty in our stead,
so that we are freed from the ulti–
mate penalty for sinning, not made
free to sin with impunity.
The very basic teaching, belief
ANO DOCTRINE OF God 's true
Church therefore is based on the
righteousness of and obedience to
the law of God. That law is LOVE.
But it is not human love. Human
love cannot rise above the leve! of
human self-centeredness. lt must
be "the love of God ... shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy
[Spirit]" (Rom. 5:5). Ancient Is–
rael could not really obey God's
law. They could have kept it ac–
cording to the strict letter of the
law, but since !ove is the fulfilling
of the law and they had only hu–
man self-centered love, they could
not have kept the law according to
the spirit- because the Holy Spirit
had not yet been given.
This basic teaching includes,
therefore, all the "fruits of the
Holy Spirit"-love, joy, peace, pa–
tience, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, etc.
The teachings of God's true
Church are simply those of "living
by every word" of the Holy Bible.
The first man, Adam, chose to
decide for himself right from
wrong-to decide bis own teach–
ings, beliefs and ways of life. The
world has followed that same
course for 6,000 years. The Church
is called out of the world to live the
way God, through the Bible,
teaches.
Synoptic Hiatory of the Church
Finally, we come to a brief history
of the Church from its foundation
in A.D. 31 to the present.
The Church started on the day
of Firstfruits called Pentecost, in
June of A.D 31. The Holy Spirit
carne from heaven upon the 120
disciples assembled in Jerusalem
with a miraculous display such as
has never before nor since oc–
curred.
The 120 were all of "one ac–
cord." Suddenly "there carne a
sound from heaven as of a rushing
mighty wind" (Acts 2:2). Have
you ever been in a tornado or a
hurricane? I have. Wind can make
a very loud sound . This sound
filled "all the house where they
were sitting." Next "there ap-
peared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon each
of them. And they were all filled
with the Holy [Spirit], and began
to speak with other tongues [lan–
guages], as the Spirit gave them
utterance."
Never has such· a supernatural
display occurred before or since.
Yet the modern sects calling them–
selves "Pentecostal" claim to re–
peat this experience.
But in their meetings no such
sound comes from heaven. No su–
pernatural, divided tongues of
flaming fire sit on their heads.
Sorne do break out in a gibberish
supposed to be sorne foreign lan–
guage, but emphatically not any–
thing like that that happened on
this one day of Pentecost in A.D 31.
Notice what kind of languages
were spoken at the Church's incep–
tion. Many besides the 120 were
present from many countries
speaking different languages. No–
tice particularly, of these strangers,
"every man heard them [the 120]
speak in bis own language. And
they were all amazed and mar–
velled, saying to one another, Be–
hold, are not all these which speak
Galilaeans? And how hear we
every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born?"
Now notice carefully. Every
man-that is, each individual–
heard them, the 120, all speaking
in bis own native language. The
Greek heard the 120 speaking the
Greek language. The Parthian
heard the same 120 speaking in the
Parthian language. The Mede
heard the 120 speaking the lan–
guage of the Medes. They under–
stood what was being said. They
got the message!
Today, in "Pentecostal" meet–
ings one person may break out in a
kind of gibberish that others in the
meeting do not understand (1 Cor.
14:28).
It
says if one speaks in a
foreign language there must be an
interpreter so the others can under–
stand. "But if there be no inter–
preter, let him keep silence in the
church; and let him speak to him–
self, and to God." In verse 33 it
says God is not the author of con–
fusion. In verse 19, God shows the
relative unimportance of "tongues"
by saying: "Yet in the church I had
rather speak five words with my
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