STATEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF
The following
is the Statement of the Fundamental Beliefs
of the Church of God, established in
Modesto. This statement is intended to list
the most basic doctrines of the Church of
God, established in Modesto, and is not
intended to be exhaustive or complete.
However, all additional teachings should fit
within this fundamental framework.
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GOD THE
FATHER. We believe in God the
Father, eternally existing in the
heavens, who is a spirit, a personal
being of supreme intelligence,
knowledge, love, justice, power and
authority, the Creator of the heavens
and the earth and the divine Father of
Jesus Christ.
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JESUS
CHRIST. We believe Jesus of Nazareth
was the Messiah, the Christ, the divine
Son of the living God, begotten of the
Holy Spirit, born in the human flesh of
the virgin Mary, and that He is true God
and true man; that He was God in the
beginning, that He was and is a member
of the Godhead, and that God the Father
created all things by and through Jesus
Christ. We believe without Christ
nothing was made that was made and that
He was the Lord God of the Old Testament
and the God of ancient Israel. We
believe He lived a sinless life, was
crucified to pay for the sins of mankind
and was resurrected after three days and
three nights in the grave as the Saviour
of all mankind.
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THE
HOLY SPIRIT. We believe in the Holy
Spirit as the Spirit of God the Father
and Christ. We believe it is the power
of God with which all things were
created and made, and that through the
Holy Spirit God is everywhere present.
We do not believe the Holy Spirit is a
personage or a separate member of the
Godhead.
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WHAT IS
MAN AND WHAT IS HIS DESTINY. We
believe man was created in the image and
likeness of God, formed of flesh, and is
wholly mortal without possibility of
eternal life inherent in himself, except
as he receives the Holy Spirit as the
gift of God upon the laying on of hands
at baptism. We believe that the reason
for man's existence is to be born into
the family of God at the resurrection to
immortality and to literally become a
God-being at that time. We believe we
are only begotten of the Holy Spirit at
baptism, heirs of the promise not yet
inheritors. We believe the Church is the
Kingdom of God in embryo, and that God
is reproducing himself in man.
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SATAN
THE DEVIL. We believe Satan is a
spirit being and as the devil is an
adversary of God and the children of God
and that he now has dominion over the
world which God has allowed him to rule
for 6000 years.
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THE
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. We believe sin
is the transgression of the law of God
and that the law of God is spiritual,
perfect, holy, just and good and is
summed up in the word love. We believe
that the law involves the two great
principles of love to God, and love to
neighbor, and that the ten commandments
compose the ten supreme points of the
law, and that breaking of only one point
makes one guilty of sin.
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THE
HOLY SABBATH. We believe Friday
sunset to Saturday sunset is the seventh
day of the week and is the Holy Sabbath
of the Lord our God. On this day we
believe we must rest from our physical
labors and pursuits and be spiritually
rejuvenated by assembling together with
God's people to worship God wherever
possible thereby following the command
of Jesus Christ and the example of the
original apostles, the Apostle Paul and
the New Testament Church of God.
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GOD'S
SACRED HOLY DAYS. We believe the
seven annual Holy Days listed in
Leviticus 23 were ordained by God and
commanded to be observed as holy
convocations by his people and were
observed by Old Testament Israel. These
Holy Days and festivals were observed by
Jesus Christ, the twelve apostles, Paul
and the new testament church. Each
festival has special meaning depicting
an important step in God's plan for man.
The festivals and Holy Days are Passover
(a festival but not a holy day), the two
Holy Days during the Seven Days of
Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets,
Atonement, the first day of the Feast of
Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day of
the Fall feast. We believe that these
Holy Days and festivals are preserved in
the Sacred Calendar that God delivered
to the nation of Israel.
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THE
GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. We
believe that Jesus Christ was the
messenger sent by God the Father to
announce and preach the gospel of the
Kingdom of God and that any other gospel
beside that which Jesus preached is a
false gospel. We believe that it is
necessary to repent and believe this
gospel in order to receive salvation.
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THE
CHURCH. We believe the Church is
that body of believers, the first fruits
in God's plan, who have and are being
led by the Holy Spirit; that the true
Church of God is not a denomination or a
corporate body; and that the inspired
name for this spiritual organism is THE
CHURCH OF GOD. We believe that the
mission of the Church is to preach the
gospel of the coming Kingdom of God and
to reconcile to God through Christ such
people as are now called. We believe
only those God the Father draws to the
Church through Christ can become, by
repentance and baptism through
submersion and receiving of the Holy
Spirit by the laying on of hands, part
of the first fruits. We believe the
Church is only the first fruits and not
the end of God's plan of salvation, and
that the Church is being taught and
trained to teach and rule in the
millennium under Christ when Christ sets
his hand to save the rest of mankind.
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THE
MILLENNIUM. We believe at Christ's
return He will establish the Kingdom of
God on the earth and rule the earth with
the spirit born saints under Him for one
thousand years. The government of God
through Christ in the millennium will
bring peace and prosperity to the earth
with salvation open to all mankind. We
believe that in advance of the return of
Christ the government of God has already
been restored to His Church and that all
saints in preparation for ruling in the
Kingdom must be subject to it.
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THE
SPIRIT IN MAN. We believe man is not
and does not have an immortal soul, but
a human spirit which is imparted to the
human brain. The human spirit is not a
conscious element of man, rather it
enables man to reason, to think, to be
aware of his own existence thereby
separating man from animal. Man's spirit
needs to be united with the Spirit of
God in order to fulfill God's purpose
for man. The Holy Spirit united with the
spirit of man enables man to understand
the Bible and the spiritual truths of
the Bible that the human eye cannot see
nor the human ear hear concerning the
things God has in store for us.
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THE
RESURRECTIONS TO LIFE. We believe
there will be a resurrection to
spiritual life of all the faithful
saints who have ever lived at Christ's
return, and that those faithful saints
who are alive at his return will be
changed to immortality. We believe
following the millennium there will be a
resurrection to physical life during the
Great White Throne Judgment spoken of in
Revelation 20 to give opportunity for
salvation and spiritual birth into the
Kingdom of God to all those who have
lived down through history and have
never had the opportunity to know God.
We believe those who have not been
called of God into his Church at this
time have not lost their opportunity for
salvation. We believe there is a
resurrection of the incorrigible to the
lake of fire.
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IDENTITY OF MODERN ISRAEL. We
believe the promise to Abraham of the
scepter which included both the kingly
line and spiritual promises including
Christ the Messiah and salvation through
Him were passed to Judah. We believe
salvation is through Jesus Christ alone
and is not inherited through the
birthright and that salvation is offered
to all nations, ethnic groups and races
of people. We believe the physical
promises called the birthright made to
Abraham and his physical descendants are
being fulfilled in this day. We believe
that the western democracies of English
speaking people are largely the
descendants of Joseph, the son of
Israel; and they are enjoying the
material and national blessings of the
physical birthright which was handed
down through Joseph's sons, Ephraim and
Manasseh. We believe the knowledge that
God is fulfilling the spiritual promise
through Jesus Christ and the physical
birthright promises to modern day Israel
is necessary for understanding prophecy
in our day.
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THE
TITHING SYSTEM. We believe the
tithing system established by God in the
Old Testament, confirmed by Jesus
Christ, and practiced by the New
Testament Church is applicable to and
binding upon Christians today.
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DIVINE
HEALING. We believe that God is our
divine healer. We believe He has
promised to heal us if we come to him in
faith through anointing accepting the
sacrifice of Christ to cover any sins
involved in our illnesses. We believe
that the broken unleavened bread that we
partake of at the annual Passover
service symbolizes Jesus's body broken
to make payment for our physical sins,
which makes possible our physical
healing.
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DIETARY
LAWS. We believe that certain foods
called "unclean" are not to be eaten
under any circumstances as they are
harmful to body and health and also
violate our bodies which are called the
temple of the Holy Spirit of God.
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MILITARY SERVICE. We believe that
Christians as disciples of Christ are
forbidden by him in the Commandments of
God to kill in any manner, directly or
indirectly, to purposely take any human
life. We believe that bearing arms is
contrary to this fundamental doctrine of
our belief and we therefore
conscientiously refuse to bear arms or
to come under military authority.
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THE
INFALLIBILITY OF THE BIBLE. We
believe the scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments are God's revelation and
complete expressed will to man, inspired
in thought and word, and infallible in
the original writings; that they are of
supreme and final authority in faith and
in life. We believe the word of God is
the foundation of all knowledge and the
source of truth. We believe all
teachings contrary to the Holy Bible are
false. We accept the Holy Bible alone,
and not the Bible and something else.
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CHURCH
GOVERNMENT. We believe the form of
government in the Church is expressed in
Ephesians 2:19-21 as being a
hierarchical structure. We believe that
Jesus Christ is the living head of the
Church, and that church doctrine has
been established by Christ through the
apostles. We believe the Bible, for our
time, is complete, and that the Church
has had its fundamental doctrines and
teachings restored by the living Christ
through his chosen apostle, Herbert W.
Armstrong.
Dated December 6, 2000 |
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