God, Jesus and The Bible
We DO NOT believe that all religions are valid paths to the same destination. See Religious Pluralism - Chapter 2 of Choose Life That You May Live We DO NOT believe that Jesus was just a good man and a wise teacher. He was and is God Almighty whose return isn’t far away. (See Section on Jesus). We DO NOT
believe that there are any discrepancies or errors in the Bible nor that it has been changed over the years. The Bible is the Divine and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. See several articles on the reliability of the Scriptures, including fulfilled prophecy, archaeological and scientific accuracy etc. on THIS Page. Also See Section A Remarkable Book Called The Bible We DO NOT
believe in the traditional concept of the Trinity (one God, who exists as three distinct but equal Persons). Although the Bible definitively points to a plurality in the Godhead, there isn’t a shred of evidence that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity. In fact the evidence against is much, much stronger than the evidence for. ”Proof” for the trinity is usually furnished in translations based on preconceived biases (For example many will explain that the New
Testament will use the pronoun “He” for The Holy Spirit. Except that the Greek pronouns used do not necessarily mean “He”). People will also often refer to verses that, if read carefully, do nothing but list Father, Son and Spirit. The origin of the idea that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity came from men with very shady leanings and positively heretical beliefs.  Please note that challenging the doctrine of the trinity DOES NOT mean challenging the Divinity of Christ or the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. (See The Trinity )
Sin, Repentance and Salvation
Sin: We DO NOT hold with the almost universal 'Santa Claus' mentality of rewards for those who's good deeds outweigh the bad, and punishment for those for whom the opposite is true. Nor do we believe sin is simply a violation of the Ten Commandments. None of these views come anywhere near agreeing with the Biblical definition of sin. In light of the fact that because of your sins you have been condemned to death far more surely than any person sitting on death row in a federal penitentiary. In light of which, it is perhaps wiser to find out how God defines sin, rather than to trust in your own ideas.
Repentance: We DO NOT believe in today’s bumper sticker theology that says, "Smile, God Loves You!" or the watered down Gospel message of “just “believe and be saved” heard in so many churches today. What you believe about Biblical repentance is, quite literally, a
matter of life or death. Remember that there is not a single case in the book of Acts where an unsaved audience was told that God loved them. Rather, the Biblical preachers warned their listeners that God's forbearance was not to be confused with His approval. As targets of God’s wrath they were in danger and needed to make dramatic changes in their lives. (See The Wrath of God) Salvation: We DO NOT believe that anyone is necessarily saved simply because sometime in the past they raised their hand, walked an aisle, recited the sinner’s prayer, or signed a card. No one is saved simply by acknowledging Jesus as Savior without enthroning Him as Lord and deferring to Him as King. Look at it this way - why Jesus would want anyone in His kingdom when they show no allegiance to Him
as King and do not bother to obey Him which means they have in effect rejected His Sovereign authority. The Biblical way to salvation is to see Jesus Christ as not only savior but also as Lord. To pledge to obey Him as best you can the rest of your life. [See Sin, Repentance and Salvation] The Atonement
We DO NOT believe that the Atonement is complete. Have you have ever noticed that the New Testament sometimes says that their
salvation is an accomplished fact, but at other times says it is still in the future? This seeming contradiction is not limited to salvation alone but also to other topics of crucial importance - justification, redemption, glorification, and adoption. No matter how much we try to explain these discrepancies the fact remains that an event cannot be both past and future. Either the authors of the New Testament were talking through their collective hats or our belief that we are already completely saved does not square with what the Bible says.
(See The Two Phase Atonement)
Original Sin and Predestination
Original Sin: We DO NOT
believe in Original Sin. It is not only absurd, but plain foolishness to believe that we sinned in Adam thousands of years before we were even born. Sin is not like a virus that can be transmitted from person to person. It is a immoral choice made by the sinner that transgresses God's law. Apart from the sinner who makes the choice then commits the act, sin does not exist. (See Section on Original Sin)
Predestination: We DO NOT
believe that there is any logical nor Biblical reason why a sovereign God by His own sovereign design could not allow creatures made in His image the freedom of genuine moral choice. (See Section on Predestination) Eternal Security: We DO NOT
believe that someone who does not persevere in the faith and does not continue to be obedient to the will of God will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Much as you would like to believe otherwise - If you fall away and live in sin... you will NOT be saved. The New Testament Greek word ekklesia is overwhelmingly wrongly translated "church" when "assembly" or "congregation” is far
more accurate. In Greek it was usually applied to a "called out" group of people. This fits in perfectly with the Bible's overriding theme of separation and holiness. Believers are "called out" or called to be separate from the world, which is one of the two Biblical definitions of "Holiness". However it is not necessarily true that believers will lose their salvation every time they do so, provided.... (See Eternal Security .. aka Once Saved, Always Saved) See The Myth of Faith Alone and What Is Holiness? We DO NOT believe in Inclusivism or Universalism.
Baptism
We DO NOT believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. However all believers must be baptized - You would have to question your salvation if you are willing to ignore Christ’s very first instruction. (See Baptism)
The Contemporary Church
Church Meetings or Services
We DO NOT believe in the modern church which has drifted so far from the original blueprint that there is little resemblance between what
takes place now and what took place in the first century. The word "church" does not mean an organization run by ordained clergy that conducts religious ceremonies in brick and mortar buildings down the road. In fact, "clergy" as a body of ordained religious practitioners did not exist in the New Testament. If you actually read your Bible you will realize that there were no separate Pastors and Bishops in the early
church and a "deacon" was the same as a "minister"... a servant, or one who serves, not someone in a fancy hat. Additionally, the New Testament teaches that gathering together with other Christians is to be a participatory and interactive event, in which each person uses his God given spiritual gifts for the building up of the congregation as a whole.
Finally, if you consider that the New Testament Christians meetings were never called a "worship service", simply because they did not gather together for corporate worship (nor to hear a sermon), one is forced to the tragic conclusion that much of the modern church has little or no idea why it exists at all, or what it is meant to do. Much less how the meetings are supposed to be structured and who they are supposed to be led by. The Church... Then and Now In any case in all too many cases the Evangelical Church is light on doctrine and heavy on music and entertainment.
See The Mile Wide And Inch Deep Flashy Mega-Churches - Very Expensive Entertainment, Wealthy Celebrity Pastors With Deep Pockets And Self Serving Shallow Theology. HERE Dominionism
We DO NOT
believe in Dominionism: an umbrella term for a number of related groups (the most extreme faction of the Religious Right) whose goal is to see every area of life (including governments and all other institutions) placed under God's law. Many of them believe that Christ cannot return until this is accomplished thus are willing to use force if necessary. This ideology is known by several names - The Seven
Mountain Mandate, Manifest Sons of God, Kingdom Now, Joel's Army, Latter Rain, Marketplace Ministry, Reconstructionism etc. It stems not from Scripture but from man's incredible conceit and exaggerated estimate of his own importance - imperialism hiding behind a Christian veneer. It is entirely possible that this delusion will bring about what Jesus’ said about everyone who kills you thinking that he is offering service to God (John 16:2). (See Section Dominionism) ‘Christian’ Courses:
We DO NOT believe in ‘Christian’ Courses being pushed today which, when looked at closely, contain many worldly concepts that run
counter to God's Word. The only purpose that should drive is to live holy lives and to present the clear message of the gospel to an unbelieving world. See ‘Christian’ Courses’ Prosperity Gospel and The Word of Faith Movement:
We DO NOT
believe in the Prosperity Gospel that stems from human greed combined with a self-serving interpretation of certain Scriptural passages. The best thing that can be said about this doctrine is that it is not rooted in the occult. However, the Word-Faith movement, that has taken this belief to an entirely new level, is an entirely different matter. Word of Faith teachers do not refer to faith as a person's belief in - and reliance on the power of God, but teach that the words themselves have creative "power". Thus what a person believes and
says determines his future. See the Prosperity Gospel and The Word of Faith Movement We DO NOT believe in books like Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life that presents a shallow incomplete gospel that cannot save. It is based on a plethora of questionable Bible versions that actually alter the meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek text. It introduces the reader to
a wide variety of, potentially very destructive people including at least one well known New Age leader and at least one Catholic Mystic. Any mention of repentance, discernment, and holiness are glaringly absent from a book that once claimed to be the "Windows system of the 21st-century church." Revival: We DO NOT believe that today’s popular feel good “revivals” are genuine. The test of true revival is that it changes the moral
climate of a community.. In the modern world the term ”revival meeting" is usually applied to a special series of planned church services (usually widely advertised and promoted well in advance) that have at their core a strong evangelistic emphasis. (See Why The Fire
Hasn’t Fallen)
The Occult
We DO NOT believe in believers being Slain In The Spirit, speaking in Tongues, walking Labyrinths, indulging in Contemplative Prayer etc. The allure of receiving some form of deeper spiritual experience has deceived countless millions into accepting demonic counterfeits.
Uncontrollable laughter and animal noises may be new to the church world, but the occult has known such phenomena for a long time. The comparison between the experiences of Toronto/Brownsville/Lakeland and the occult belief in Kundalini is extremely disturbing. In fact, our wholesale sale adoption of these doctrines and practices DIRECTLY derived from the occult have forfeited us any right we have to call ourselves the body of Christ.
Remember the verses in Scripture that speak of The “Falling Away” when some will give “Heed to Deceiving Spirits And Doctrines Of Demons? Well THAT DAY IS ALREADY HERE, and the man of sin isn’t far behind. (See The Modern Church’s Literal Doctrines and Practices of Demons
Contemplative Prayer is a far cry from what the Bible teaches about prayer. The claim that it goes beyond thought and words and provides an experiential union with ‘God is just so much tosh - hopelessly confused with an altered state of consciousness. The scary part is that there is not one, not two, but seven features and experiences common to Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, and agnostic mystical experiences. Yoga:
Although most westerners are under the impression that the sole purpose of Hatha Yoga, the form of yoga most commonly taught in the west, is to build a strong and flexible body, we should never forget is that the word yoga means to join or unite. The ultimate aim of Yoga is to experience spiritual enlightenment - the union of individual consciousness with that of the Universal Consciousness (Brahman). The bodily poses (asanas) are but the path. See Yoga The New Age: We DO NOT believe that Christians should be playing footsie with New Age beliefs and have anything to do with Halloween, astrology, dowsing, ouija boards, Reiki, Shamanism, people who claim to communicate with the dead, (See Section The Occult) or any other kind of psychic phenomena. This includes books like A Course In Miracles (dictated by ectoplasmic fiends from hell), The Secret, the Chicken Soup series and on and on Ad Nauseum. (See Section The New Age)
The Future
We DO NOT believe that the book of Revelation is the territory of the lunatic fringe and describes the "end of the world". Much to the
contrary Revelation is the only sure hope we have today. While there is no question that much is the book is far from pleasant, it tells us that God’s coming kingdom will be preceded by a time of turmoil that the world has never experienced. After which this earth will be the utopia that mankind can only dream of. However, prophetic schemes that essentially tell us not to worry because we’ll all be out of here
before the tribulation starts are a tremendous disservice to God’s people who will not be prepared when the church starts experiencing serious persecution at the hands of the antichrist. However, no true believers will suffer when God’s wrath falls on this planet. (See Section The End of The Age)
Heaven:
We DO NOT believe in a vague Heaven somewhere ‘out there’. Christians who believe they will spend an eternity in "heaven" seem to have little or no idea where this heaven is, what it will look like, or what they will do there. Either they have half formed ideas about some ethereal place, or resort to pious phrases that amount to little more than spiritual gobbledy gook. If this is the best we can do then then it
is little wonder that atheists and non Christians are not in the slightest bit interested in our "heaven", and Christians themselves so rarely seem to look forward to the coming of the day of God. Luckily the Bible isn't at all silent on on where "heaven" is and, even more importantly, what it will be like. In fact, the Bible's description of the coming kingdom is far more practical and certainly a lot less sanctimonious than that of our theologians. (See What And Where is Heaven) Hell:
We DO NOT believe in the traditional view of Hell. The doctrine of the duration of Hell has been so strongly held through so many years of
Christianity that it is assumed that it has always been a core doctrine of the church. The fact is that it took the Christian community hundreds of years to come up with a consensus on the issue. Besides which because most modern challenges have come from the cults, a person who dares to question the traditional viewpoint runs the risk of being labeled a cultist. However, the deeper one delves into the
subject the less persuasive the argument in favor of the traditional view become. Over and over again, Christians routinely go through some astounding verbal and theological gymnastics to take the word death, and make it mean eternal ‘life’ in hell, then take the word “perish” and make it mean "never perish". However, it is totally pointless to embark on a investigation unless one is prepared to set aside one's
denominational presuppositions and other biases, and rely strictly on what the Word says. This seems to be easier said than done for many, if not most, Christians. (See What And Where is Hell)
More Dangerous Bilge
We DO NOT
believe that every person and his brother is “anointed”. All too many Charismatics seem to think the anointing is a commodity that the minister in question can bestow on others and that anything can be 'anointed', including services, speakers, preachers, music, television programs, prayer cloths, swords, oil, cornmeal, red thread etc. etc. However, a study of every instance of the word anoint /
anointing in the Scriptures shows that they are talking through their proverbial hats. The Bible makes absolutely NO mention of any preachers or teachers being "anointed". Much to the contrary the fact that so many are running around calling themselves “anointed”€¯ is an extremely ominous sign of the End of Days. (See A Smorgasbord of Fictitious Doctrine)
We DO NOT believe in the Emerging Church that, in many cases, is doing little but remerging with Catholicism and adopting practices
learned from Buddhism and Hinduism. We DO NOT believe that any Christian should be running around calling the Dalai Lama “Your Holiness”, as some of our ‘Christian’ pastors have been known to do. There is much more to him than meets the eye.
Miscellaneous
We DO NOT believe that the sign gifts have been done away with (See Cessationism), but nor do we believe that every third person is a
“prophet”. Most of the so called “prophets” running around today have a highly exaggerated and delusional concept of their own importance. See Prophets Or Deluded Charlatans
We DO NOT
believe that children’s Scriptural knowledge should be left up to Sunday School and Youth Groups, too many of whom are dedicated to having fun. “They are too young to understand such things” is the devil’s argument to deter parents from discharging their duty. (See Train a Child) We DO NOT
believe that women are forbidden from preaching and teaching. (On the other hand it is perfectly clear that women should not be pastors) The Scriptures that are referenced to support this view are not quite as clear cut as is commonly thought. Please read the articles before you vilify us. We didn’t make it up. (See Section Women in The Church) We DO NOT believe that Homosexuality is just an alternative lifestyle and that Abortion, and Divorce are simply a matter of a choice. (God abhors all three). We DO NOT
believe in the New Ecumenism that generally holds that there are many different paths to God, nor that it is a good idea for a Christian to be a member of the Masonic Lodge. We DO NOT believe that the Prayer of Jabez is a magic formula or that the so-called Bible codes are anything but random chance.
And Just to Vary the Format...
We DO believe that the New Age has positioned itself to usher in the antichrist in the near future. The concept of a coming world teacher who sets up a Golden Age on earth can be found in many world religious systems as well as in the literature of the occult. However, in recent years more and more influential New Age thinkers have spoken about and working towards a soon to come “Planetary Pentecost”
(Other buzz words include shift, awakening, transition, transformation, global or universal consciousness, rethinking, re-imagining and a New Earth, with the so called church echoing the terminology). Occultists and, many New Agers believe that there is a new age dawning and the present phase of human existence is one of transition. While they are wrong about the details and will probably not like the final results very
much, they know the Maitreya, the "Lord of the World" also known as "Sanat Kumara" is on his way.
But the church that should be prepared is doing little but running around to conferences, reading the latest Christian book (most of which aren’t worth the paper they are printed on), and venturing into areas strictly forbidden in Scripture. It is a tragedy of epic proportions that
the New Agers are, in a sense, more prepared than the church. Although wrong... at least they are awake. (See Section The New Age) Footnote on Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near
One of the largest problems in the professing church today is how the Scriptures are interpreted. Either they are being wrested from their
context and used to convey whatever meaning the speaker/author wishes them to convey or (thanks to pre-bias), we are reading more into the text than the words say. CONTEXT: In previous chapters the author of Hebrews has been arguing the superiority of the New Covenant. Verse 19 begins with the word therefore which means he is about to base his conclusions on what he has said before. Verses 22, 23, and 24 all begin with the words "let us".
“Let us draw near with a true heart ..."; "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope..."; "Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
The people could not stir up love and good works" in one another unless they met together. Besides which, there is a good chance that a believer who does not stay connected can fall away from the faith which is why Paul was exhorting new believers to stay close. This was
not a Divine commandment, but a very good idea. AVOIDING PRESUMPTIONS: So what does the text say? The verse in question simply says assembling together. It says nothing about worship, nothing about services and nothing about a church. It does not specify the time, place, and frequency of the assembling together.
Therefore we cannot transform “assembling together” into attending church services every Sunday... ANY Christian meetings or gatherings at any time would satisfy the instruction. Certainly we need to meet together with other Christians but this does NOT mean meeting together every Sunday with anyone who happens to call themselves Christians but whose practices do not conform to Biblical teachings (Apparently few follow Scripture’s instructions to
separate themselves from those who teach and practice false doctrine). See Fraternizing With the Enemy. It also does NOT mean meeting together every Sunday in church services that are NOT conducted according to the pattern laid out in the New Testament. See The Church... Than And Now. The ‘Day of The Lord’ is approaching very very fast and too many of the people we are supposed to be assembling with are snoring in rocking chairs on the porch. | 
