Lesson 36
The True Religion The True Church After the Apostles
AMBASSADOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGE- Dr. Keith Slough
INTRODUCTION
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ONGRATULATIONS! You have now completed the last lesson of the Prove All Things Bible Study Course. You have learned how to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, by repenting of sin (which is the transgression of God's Law), and obeying His Word, literally living by every Word of God (Luke 4:4) (which necessarily includes the Old Testament!). Now I have laid the Truth of God before you. What you have learned in this Bible Study Course is emphatically not my "opinion." It is decidedly NOT my "interpretation" -but is the plain TRUTH of the Word of God! What you do with it is up to you. But let me caution you on something. Knowledge is a dangerous thing! The Bible teaches "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him IT IS SIN"! (James 4:17). The wages of sin is DEATH! (Romans 6:23). Will you now continue to transgress God's Holy Law, or will you repent? Jesus said, "And that servant [a Believing Christian] which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes [severe punishment]. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required"! (Luke 12:47-48). MUCH has been given to you! Now God requires more of you than He does your family -and relatives and people that you believe to be "good Christians" who attend this world's churches but are in darkness -not knowing the truths of God that you now know! What will you do about the truth you have now learned? Will you bury it, like the one-talent man did in the well known parable, and never use it? Will you forget about the Truth of God? Or will you accept it, embrace it wholeheartedly and begin truly obeying the Word of God and His Law? If you accept the very truth of God, the true Religion of Jesus Christ, then I can promise you happiness and joy everlastingly beyond your ability to comprehend! God wants to prosper His people who accept His truth and obey His will. He wants to bless you! God wanted to bless Israel, but first He had to call them out of Egypt. God is calling out people today from the religions and deceptions of this world and into His Truth. If He is calling you, then do not delay to repent and obey Him. Let me also invite you to use these Bible lessons in an in-the-home Bible Study where you can share these truths with your neighbors or those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This one-on-one lay ministry is a vital part of fulfilling the Great Commission often overlooked by most churches. Understand: Every Christian should have a personal ministry! Every Christian should be reaching out to share Christ with others and His precious Truth not known by the world which has been deceived by Satan (Revelation 12:9). However you yourself must begin obeying the truth of God first.
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The Great Commission is not given to anyone man, apostle or evangelist as has been falsely taught by some. Rather the "Great Commission" to go and "make disciples" among all nations is given to every Christian. Fulfilling this Commission to the church starts in your own home and neighborhood. After reading this lesson, contact me right away for a ministerial visit or to meet you where it is convenient, to discuss your being baptized into the true Religion of Jesus Christ and the End Time Church of God. Few human beings have been privileged to learn the truths that you now know. Many are indeed called, said Jesus. But, since so few accept the truth then few are chosen. Will you be one of the few? Will you now accept God's Truth and begin fully participating in this prophesied End Time Work?
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The True Religion From the First Century until Today Learn how the early New Testament Church and. the true Faith continued to survive through all the centuries down to the present day. God may be calling YOU to be a part of His End Time Church. It is not too late to become a member of THAT Church!
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HAT HAPPENED TO the true Church of God from God's Holyday of Pentecost in the first century through the last 1900 years? Believe it or not, Christ's true Religion never died out but has continued to this day. It is a small, despised church. Yet though slandered, persecuted, and HATED by the world, it has continued to survive. Christ has seen to it that a continuous group of true believers in the first century apostolic Faith has survived to the last days. In each century a remnant of the true Religion of the New Testament survived and the Truth continued to be preached. In this brief synopsis taken from the book, A True History of the True Religion, we will see where God's own Religion continued to exist. But in order to properly identify the true church we must know what its doctrines and practices were. The true church is that body of believers over the last 1900 years who has continued to "earnestly contend for the Faith once delivered" by Christ and the apostles! It's that simple. One of the identifying "signs" of the continuation of the first century true Religion is that of Sabbatarianism! They continued to keep ALL TEN of the Ten Commandments (which means they kept the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week) and they continued to keep God's annual Sabbaths (Feast Days or Holydays). The Record of History According to reputable historians for the period, ''the festivals observed by the apostolic church were at first THE SAME with those of the Jews; and the observance of these was continued, especially by Christians of Jewish birth, for a considerable time" (The Life and Epistles of Paul, by Conybeare and Howson, page 346). Did you notice that? The Christians in Judea were primarily Jewish and they continued to observe the festivals of God (found in Leviticus 23). There is now no question that the Jewish Christians continued observing Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, etc., etc. But did the Gentile Christians follow their example in observing the Old Testament Festivals or did they ignore these as "Jewish"? The Bible reveals the answer! The apostle Paul was ''the apostle to the Gentiles," The answer can be found in the writings of Paul's epistles, believe it or not! Notice First Thessalonians 2:1-3. Here Paul said he had preached the Gospel and exhorted them in the Word of God. In verse 13 he tells these Gentiles that they had received the Word
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he had preached. What was the result of having received the Word? Notice verse 14: "Fat ye, brethren, became followers of THE CHURCHES OF GOD which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen [the Gentiles], even as they [the churches in Judea] have of the Jews"! Did you catch that? It is obvious that the churches in Judea were Jewish Christians! For Paul says their countrymen in Judea are ''the Jews" (last part). So we know that the churches in Judea were obviously Jewish, and yet Paul said that the Gentile Greeks in Thessalonica were following the Churches of God IN JUDEA –not Rome! They were following the "Jerusalem model." And these scholars among Ante-Nicene historians tell us unequivocally that the Jewish Christians continued to observe the Festivals of God (Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, etc.); they did not observe the Roman festivals of Easter, Saturnalia (occurring on December 25th in worship of the sun god) and any other pagan Roman festival. Rather they observed what the world called "Jewish" festivals. However these festivals were not innately or intrinsically Jewish. That is, the Jews themselves did not originate these observances, but rather GOD created these festivals. They are His festivals He gave to His children who would enter into covenant with Him. Now Jews have invented their own nationalistic "Jewish" days such as Hanukkah, Purim, etc. etc. Just as Americans have invented the Independence Day celebration of July 4th, and the Thanksgiving holidays, so the Jews are free to invent their own holidays as well. But Passover is not actually "Jewish" but rather a Biblical festival given to mankind by the Creator God for his good. It originated with God and was continually observed by the Jewish Christians for the first five centuries until Constantine and the Roman church persecuted the eastern churches severely to bring them into conformity with Rome! While the majority of the eastern churches did eventually acquiesce or "cave in" to the pressure from Rome, a remnant of true believers survived and continued celebrating Passover, Pentecost, and the autumn festivals. But they were now forced to go "underground" and even live in the wilderness, apart from the main population centers! God never gave December 25th or Easter, Halloween and other supposedly "Christian" (Roman Catholic) festivals to His people. Rather, He gave Passover and Pentecost, etc. to His people. And the true Christians of the first century continued to observe these God-given festivals which He originally gave to Israel in the Old Testament. Yet because God said He would take the same laws and give them in the New Covenant, the true Church of God of the first few centuries continued observing them under the New Covenant according to all historical documents of the period. And notice First Thessalonians 2:14 carefully. Paul said that these Gentiles were "followers" of the Jewish Christians in true Church of God found in Judea. Now look in the margin of your King James Bible beside the word "followers." The margin says that the literal Greek word is better translated "imitators!” Now read the verse again with this understanding. Paul wrote, “For you, brethren among the Gentiles in Greece, became IMITATORS of the Churches of God IN JUDEA!”
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Paul taught his converts among the Gentiles to imitate the JEWISH Christians! This cannot be denied! And historians Conybeare and Howson explicitly state that "the observance of these [Old Testament festivals) was continued by Christians of Jewish birth [in Judea] for a considerable time"! And Paul taught the Gentiles to "imitate" the Jewish churches! Amazing! Why haven't the churches in modern times seen this? Why have nearly all churches assumed that the Gentiles never kept Passover, Pentecost, or the autumn Holydays such as the Feast of Tabernacles? Why? Strong Racism at Rome It is true that the church at Rome due to immense anti-Semitism - abject racial hatred of the Jews and anything perceived to be "Jewish" –had abandoned early on, the seventh day Sabbath and the annual Sabbaths (Holydays or Festivals) in favor of the prevailing heathen Roman festivals which they brought into the Roman church and "converted" into "Christian" customs. Yet the churches of the east condemned the Roman church for doing this very thing and refused to participate in such pagan practices which the Roman Christians had adopted from the popular (pagan) customs of the day. But meanwhile those who followed the apostasy at Rome abandoned the commanded festivals in the Bible for fear of appearing "Jewish" in a part of the world where racism against the Jews was so strong that even in the first century, during the lifetime of the original apostles, the Roman government had actually ordered all Jews to leave Rome!!! This amazing historical fact is recorded in the Bible in Acts 18:2. How could such a supposedly civilized society resort to such abject racism, to force all Jews to leave Rome? It is easy to understand therefore why the early Christians in Rome felt the necessity to hide their religion and create a new religion IN ITS PLACE, yet calling it "Christian." They used human reasoning and decided to abandon the original true Christian Faith for a more favored doctrine which would be more palatable to the Roman citizens. If they were to grow or have influence among these pagan Gentile Romans, they could not continue to practice doctrines that might make them look "Jewish." Thus they quickly abandoned the Passover in favor of the Roman festival of Easter (brought over from Babylon). They abandoned all the autumn Holydays such as the Feast of Tabernacles, etc. They even gave up the Ten Commandments (especially the fourth one) -in short, they abandoned anything that might suggest they could be "Jewish," and invented a whole new Roman religion, yet retained the name "Christian" calling their own religion by the name "Christian." However it did not in any way resemble the true original Christian religion of Christ and the first century apostles. Rather it was a counterfeit "Christianity." This was the apostate Christianity Jesus prophesied about in the Olivet Prophecy
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(recorded in Matthew 24), where He said the day would come when false prophets would actually presume to come in His Name, saying He -Jesus -is the Christ, the Messiah, and yet still deceive many! (Matthew 24:5). The plan did work however and Gentiles now found "Christianity" more acceptable than it had been in its original form as established by Jesus Christ and taught by the original apostles. They could now continue with their Gentile customs and simply call them "Christian" and yet still feel they were saved. Yet an increasing number of Gentiles were not truly converted. In fact, after a time, most did not even know the true Religion of Jesus Christ and the first century church, knowing only the apostate Roman model of organized "Christianity." The church at Rome grew and grew and became more influential among other Gentile churches, especially the church in Alexandria, Egypt which also soon abandoned the Sabbath and the Holydays in favor of the more popular (among pagans) holidays of Rome. The believers in Rome had forgotten that the Bible teaches that "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 16:25). It seemed the right thing to do -to abandon all objectionable Biblical laws that would be hard for racist Gentiles to accept. Rather than convert the sinners to the truth of God, the Roman Christians converted their religion to the popular heathen customs of the day, to be "more acceptable" to the pagan Gentiles, to receive the approbation and approval of men. The Bible commands us to come out ~e world. Instead of obeying this injunction, they wanted rather to blend in with the world. They wanted to remain IN the world, rather than to COME OUT from among them and be separate, as God COMMANDS in His Word (II Corinthians 6: 17). They had also forgotten the condemnation found in John 12:43 which states: "For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God"! The True Religion through 19 Centuries
Once we understand what the true Faith of the first century consisted of and how the apostasy developed in Rome, it is then easy to find God's true Religion down through the centuries to the present day. We know for example that the Passover (not Easter) continued to be observed. Indeed historians reveal that the Passover was observed until at least the fifth century by the Christians in the eastern part of the empire who continued to follow the "Jerusalem model" (rather than the apostate “Roman model�) of Christianity. Rome had never been the headquarters of the apostolic church. Nor was it considered the headquarters of the true Church of God even in the second century. The apostle John assumed leadership of God's true Church sometime after the apostle James (brother of Jesus) died. In the late first century all eyes looked to Ephesus - where John lived - for guidance. After John died, a man he had ordained, named Polycarp assumed the supervision of all the churches. He lived in Smyrna, a town near Ephesus. Since Polycarp was now the Presiding
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Bishop over all the churches (though the apostates in Rome and Alexandria -ruled against God's chosen leadership) then the Church of God at Smyrna now became the recognized Headquarters Church of God. Later after Polycarp was martyred, God chose Polycrates to be the Presiding Bishop, or Elder (President) over the whole Church of God. He still lived around A.D. 200. Severe persecution broke out from Imperial Rome on a11 who professed Christianity. After the 10 years of Diocletian’s "Reign of Terror" (from A.D. 303 to 313) the church (true Christians and apostates at Rome as well) had a respite for several years. (This persecution was actually foretold in prophecy to the Smyrna Church age. See Revelation 2:10). But at the Roman Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, Constantine (who joined the apostate brand of "Christianity" in Rome) threatened all Christians who kept God's weekly and annual Sabbaths with severe persecution. He also required that all who professed to be Christian" keep the Roman festival of Easter. All true Churches of God were forced to relinquish their church buildings to the Catholic Church! Thus God's true Church was forced to go underground. With each succeeding generation the increasingly powerful apostate Roman Catholic Church continued its violent and bloody rampage against true Christians - those who keep the commandments of God and have the (true) Faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). Tens of thousands of true Christians over the next 16 centuries were brutally slaughtered for keeping the Passover rather than the pagan Roman Easter. These true Christians were dubbed "Waldenses" by the world for they dwelt "in the wilderness," many times in hiding from the Roman Church which hated them for their Faith -the true Faith of Christ. Halley's Bible Handbook explains that the Inquisition was primarily instigated to kill all the Waldenses! It is an established fact that the Waldenses were a Sabbath-keeping church scattered throughout Europe. Remember this was long before the eventual Protestant Reformation. Through all centuries Sabbath and Holyday keeping Christians survived, despite all that Satan could do through his church at Rome, to destroy them! Foxe's Book of Martyrs details the horrible atrocities that Rome (principally the Vatican) carried out against these sincere, believing saints whose only crime was to keep the commandments of God thus preventing them from ever joining the apostasy at Rome. The Commandment-keeping CHURCH OF GOD Comes to America! All through the Middle Ages, for over 1000 years, these saints continued to live and worship Jesus Christ in hiding from the "whore of Babylon"! Finally in 1814, the Roman Empire was essentially dissolved and with it, the cruel and heartless power of the papacy in Rome to maliciously KILL God's people. At the end of this period, historians tell us that TENS OF MILLIONS of Christians had been violently murdered by the Roman Catholic Church. Our public schools have merely glazed over this history but have not taught it for fear of offending Roman Catholics in their schools. Yet the history of this period abounds with documented facts of horrible cruelty and massive murder of innocent men, women, and little children (in the name
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of the Pope) in Satan's attempt to use his church to exterminate true Christians down through the ages! This church of the devil is referred to symbolically in the symbolic Book of Revelation as a "synagogue" (the same word used by James in referring to a Christian "assembly"). And John refers to it as "the synagogue of Satan" -a church of Satan! This was the Roman Catholic Church which Satan used to nearly exterminate the true Religion from the face of the Earth. But in the 1600s when Europe was bathed in the blood of the martyrs (those who refused to join Rome in its apostasy) a few set sail for the New World -America -in order to find religious freedom from the satanic persecution from the Roman Catholic church -the spiritual "whore" of Babylon. By the 1600s and early 1700s after some of the worst Catholic persecutions there were precious few Sabbath-keeping Christians left in Europe. Most of the survivors lived in England and Germany. In 1664 the first missionary from the Church of God left England and carne to America, landing at Newport, Rhode Island where he established the first Church of God in the new world. Away from the "seat (or throne) of Satan" (typified by the church in Pergamos; see Revelation 2:13) and the violent slaughter they found in Europe, the true Church of God that came to America with the original apostolic Faith flourished! Here throughout the 1700s and 1800s the Church of God continued to keep God's Passover on the 14th but still refused to keep Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Lent, and other pagan holidays from Rome. They continued to be "commandment keepers" (Revelation 14:12) by keeping ALL TEN of the Ten Commandments. Most churches keep only about eight of the Ten. They traditionally break the fourth commandment by ignoring God's choice for the Sabbath -the seventh day of the week, preferring instead the day of the sun (Sun-day) inherited from their mother: Rome! And they almost completely ignore the second commandment possessing supposed IMAGES of Christ or God. There is apparently only one protestant church that obeys the second commandment refusing to have images of Christ ("graven" images such as statues or "likenesses" such as drawings or painted pictures of a long-haired "messiah" figure). But this same denomination keeps pagan Roman holidays such as Easter and rejects God's Law to keep the Passover. They do not have God's sign (of Sabbath keeping) but rather have the Roman sign of sun worship by keeping not only Easter but also Christmas (the birthday of the "unconquered sun" and the most popular day among sun worshippers in ancient Rome) and of course Sunday, the principal day of Mother Rome. Rome is not only a harlot church, but she has given birth to harlot daughter churches as well (Revelation 17:5) who keep the same pagan (heathen) customs and pagan holidays that the mother church of so-called "Christendom" keeps.
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Satan's Major Attempt to Destroy the True Religion in America
During this time, the Church of God did not have strong leaders. Good sound Leadership was sorely lacking leaving the church vulnerable. It had no school to train ministers to properly guide God's people into the true Faith and to make them wary of false prophets. Thus the church was spiritually weak and susceptible to deception. A diversion from the Truth occurred during this same church era where some in the true Religion who were seduced by a woman calling herself a "prophetess" led a great number away from God's true Religion and into another sect of Protestantism (See where this was actually prophesied to occur, in Revelation 2:20 to the next church era of God's true Religion, pictured by the church of Thyatira). Thus the deceptions from this woman who calls herself a ''prophetess,'' caused many to leave the Sabbath-keeping Church of God to join a new protestant sect called the Seventh Day Adventist Church. When they did this, they gave up the Faith, by abandoning the Passover for a quarterly protestant "communion;" the annual Holydays were completely abandoned and they began once again keeping the pagan holidays of Rome, joining in completely with the protestant doctrines inherited from mother Rome practiced by this newly founded protestant "Adventist church, founded by a woman (who called herself a "prophetess"). While the Seventh Day Adventist church did not technically originate from members of the Church of God who apostatized from the true Faith (for the Adventists acknowledged that they were "protests" from the beginning) nevertheless, this wholesale departure from the true Faith by many spiritually weak members of the Church of God during this period swelled the numbers of the new protestant Adventist sect (which began with about 100 members) and was partially responsible for their rapid increase in adherents to their denomination in 1800s. Today the Adventists number into the millions! But a remnant survived among the true Church of God in America to continue practicing the true Faith until the 20th century. The true Faith did not die out. Jesus promised it would continue and that the "gates of hell" -death itself -would never prevail against it. Thus despite all that Satan can do, it has survived to the present day. Through the centuries Satan has deceived many to leave, to apostatize from God's Word and the true Faith. But in each century there has always been a faithful remnant that has held fast to the true doctrines -the same Religion practiced by Christ and the apostles. That true Religion will never die! Today they are scattered but continue to keep the Passover on the 14th, the annual Holydays and the weekly Sabbath of the Ten Commandments. They do not observe the pagan Roman holy days such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc. This is the true Religion that has survived down to our day from the first century. Satan persecuted it with violence from the whore of Rome and seduced them with deception through the woman "prophetess" in the New World. But the true Religion continued in America. It still exists. Jesus called His true church a "little
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flock" (Luke 12:32). It is not huge in numbers compared to the world, but continues the true Faith of the first century church of the apostles. (It is important that the reader not confuse this commandment keeping –that is to say, Sabbath keeping - Church of God, with any Sunday observing Pentecostal group using the same Biblical name). By the early 1900s the Church of God could be found scattered throughout the U.S. Beginning in 1914 new leadership caused the Church of God to have explosive growth! By the early 1920s; a real modern day apostle by the name of A.N. Dugger became the first Church of God minister in history to have gotten on RADIO to preach Christ's Gospel and His Law -His Truth –to millions in the United States. Under his leadership, missionaries were sent from America back to Europe and new congregations were raised up. Missionaries were also sent to Central and South America. By 1930, the church had grown worldwide in membership, though it was still comparatively small compared to the majority of Sunday observing churches. In the middle 20th century, another generation of new leadership used radio very extensively and was the first ministry of the Church of God in history to ever preach God's truth over television for a period of time! Today, as we enter the first decades of the 21st Century a new Work is prophesied to arise. Just prior to the End, Christ promised that His true Gospel would go to the entire world. While Sunday churches are doing this also to an extent in some places, they are not preaching the "full" Gospel. And they not teaching what repentance really is! Some protestant churches currently baptize people without repentance! Some have even openly ordained practicing homosexuals! Yet despite all the sin in the Sunday churches of this world, Christ still has a faithful remnant who will preach His truth to the world, who will keep ALL His commandments (including the second and fourth commandments)! Today there are thousands of saints around the world that keep God's Passover and Holydays as well as the Ten Commandments. This church was prophesied in Revelation 14:12 and Revelation 12:17. Remember, James teaches us that if we try to keep the whole law but offend in one point (or commandment) then we are guilty of breaking all the commandments (James 2:10). Any church openly breaking any one of the Ten Commandments therefore could not be called a "commandment keeping church" as was prophesied in Revelation 12:17. It sounds astonishing, but it is true! Only the Sabbath-observing Church of God keeps ALL TEN of the Ten Commandments. In addition to keeping the eight commandments that most churches practice, they also have no pictures or statues supposedly being IMAGES of Christ in their church thus obeying the second commandment (which protestant churches following the example of mother Rome, refuse to obey). They also rest on the seventh and last day of every week which is the Sabbath day according to the fourth commandment. This, here is a church that fulfills all of the prophesies found in the book of Revelation for God’s true Religion in THE LAST DAYS. Referring to the End Times true Church of god we read, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and the *True+ Faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). If you want to be worthy to “escape all these things that shall come to pass” (spoken of in
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this same chapter) they you should earnestly seek out this remnant church that keeps all the Ten Commandments of the Bible. There has always been such a faithful remnant that has obeyed God. At times their numbers have been few. They have suffered terribly at the hands of persecutors for holding the true Faith of Jesus, but they have survived. YOU need to become a part of this true remnant church for the End Time. It is still not too late to repent of having kept the pagan days of Rome and their principal days of Rome and their principal day of sun worship –Sunday. It is not too late to begin now to start keeping the seventh day Sabbath as Jesus did and His apostles and the early true Church of God did in the New Testament era. You should begin now –this year –to keep God’s annual Festivals that come in the Spring and Autumn of each year. Remember the Bible promises that God will force all people, all nations and all families of the Earth to keep His Festivals when Christ returns to set up His Kingdom on this Earth (see Zechariah 14:1, 4, 9, 16-19)! All people –Israelite and Gentile will be required to obey and keep God’s Festivals. Any family refusing at that time to keep God’s annual Sabbaths (Holy Days or Festivals) will be severely punished! If you wish to escape this punishment you will have to keep God’s Festivals. Are you willing to repent and begin obeying God by observing these COMMANDED Festivals today? For those who begin keeping God’s Law now in this time prior to Christ’s coming, will be REWARDED then and will be used to help educate the World in God’s Law in that day as kings and priests (Revelation 5:10). Will you begin obeying God today by keeping His Festivals as He commanded? If so, then you can become a part of the End Time true Church of God which has retained the true Faith of Jesus since the first century! You can be a part of this same New Testament church today! Will you repent and seek out this church? You can never understand the real Truth of God unless He calls you. He must “draw” you to Christ and His Truth (John 6:44, 1 Corinthians 1:26). Is God the Father drawing you? Are you being called to a deeper knowledge of His Truth? Is so, then God commands you to repent and begin obeying His Law now. Those with whom God is not dealing, who are not being called at this time will not understand His truth and will not repent. But it may be He is calling you to His true Religion (1 Corinthians 1:26). If so, begin praying earnestly for God to reveal to you (if He is calling you) and open up your heart to accept His Truth.
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An Excerpt from the book “A True History of the True Religion�
The True Church After The Apostles Here is one of the most remarkable, documented accounts preserved of God's true people in the second century just after the original apostles! John was the last living original apostle. After he died, who took his place as the leader of the True Religion? Did the true Church continue to keep the Passover and the Holydays of God? Here is documented proof from secular history to answer these questions. Here is an excerpt from Keith Slough's extensively documented book, A True History of the True Religion. The gates of the grave never prevailed against God's True Religion (Matthew 16: 18). It never completely died out! A remnant has survived. There is a church today that still embraces it. And God wants YOU to be part of it.
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HAT HAPPENED TO the early Church after the apostles died? Did the entire Christian Church engage in apostasy giving up the true Faith as delivered by Jesus Christ and His called and chosen apostles? Or did God's true church retain the true Religion? Did Christ always maintain a Faithful Remnant who remained true to the first century Faith as He and the early apostles taught? And how did ROME enter the picture? Through the Apostle Paul's ministry, a true Church of God was raised up in the city of Rome, the capitol of the Roman Empire and also the leading city of all FALSE religion! Nero in A.D. 64 severely persecuted God's Church in Rome and charged the Christians with burning the city. Eventually the Apostle Paul was brought to Rome and martyred! One by one the apostles of the first century were being put to death and thus the leadership of the true Church dwindled. Before very long most of the leading ministers of the true Church of God in Rome were gone, possibly through persecution and martyrdom and without proper leadership, apostasy began to creep into the church there. After A.D. 70 the true Church was now being led by the few remaining apostles at Pella and Antioch. Peter was soon crucified. James, the leading apostle of the headquarters church, now in Pella, was martyred shortly thereafter. Only the Apostle John was left. He traveled extensively preaching the Gospel of Christ, and was eventually sentenced to be burned in boiling oil. According to record, God supernaturally spared him and so the Roman authorities decided to let him live and banished him to the isle of Patmos where he wrote the final book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. Sometime later, John was allowed to leave Patmos and spent his remaining days in Ephesus. Now that all of the original apostles had been martyred, only John was left to lead the Church of God where he now alone assumed the leadership of the true Church from Ephesus! However before God had allowed John to die of old age (the only original apostle who was not martyred!) he had trained and ordained a mail to replace him as leader of the church: POLYCARP.
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The True Church AFTER the Apostles
When John died that was not the end however of the true Church of God on Earth. Jesus said He would build His church and the "gates of hell [Greek: the grave]" -death itself would never prevail against it! It would never die! But since John closed the New Testament with the Book of Revelation around A.D. 96 we now must turn to secular history for the continuation of the history of God's true church after the apostles! There is a curious statement found in Acts 24:5 concerning the true Church shortly before Paul's martyrdom. While the true people of God called themselves The Church of God, the world called them by pejorative nicknames. Here is a historical record found in the Bible itself as to the leading nickname the world had given the true Church. The unbelievers referred to God's true Church as a religious "sect." They did not understand this was the only true Church of God on Earth! Notice that they recognized Paul as a leader of the true Church. Notice also the world's nickname for the true Church at this time: "F or we have found this man a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the NAZARENES: who also hath gone about to profane the temple..." (Acts 24:5). Of course their accusations were unfounded. Yet notice this historical fact that God's true church was being called by the term ''NAZARENES'', a decidedly dysphemistic term since Nazareth was not a well respected city. Its usage was intended to be derogatory since Jesus had been called "the Nazarene" and these were His followers. So as the New Testament History of God's true people closes with the Book of Revelation, and we enter the second century, the true Church has the distinctive publicly ridiculed name of being called Nazarenes!
Secular History Picks up the Record
The Encyclopedia Britannica contains an article about the TRUE Church of God at the close of the first century and the beginning of the second, under the article ''Nazarenes'' - believe it or not! "NAZARENES, an obscure Jewish Christian sect [notice God's true Church at this time was still considered to be a "sect" -the same word used by unbelievers in the Book of Acts!] existing at the time of Epiphanius' (fl.A.D.370) in coele-Syria, Decapolis and Basanitis (Cocabe). [Notice their main church congregation lived in Pella, the city where the Jerusalem headquarters congregation of God's true Church fled for a time]. According to that authority (Panarion, xxix. 7), they dated their settlement in Pella from the time of the flight of the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem [the Headquarters Church], immediately before the siege in A.D. 70; he characterizes
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them as neither more nor less than Jews pure and simple [because he saw them keeping God's weekly and annual Sabbath days he considered them to be "Jewish"!], but adds that they recognized the new covenant as well as the old, and believed in the resurrection, and in the one God and His Son Jesus Christ"! Notice the "sect of the Nazarenes" which continued pass the days of the apostles were Christians and were NOT of the Jewish religion, even though they continued to keep the commandments of God including God; s outward identifying sign of observing His Sabbaths. For this ancient historian plainly tells us they believed and professed faith in the one God "and His Son Jesus Christ"! Therefore this is a description not of Jewish people but of the true Church of God after the apostles!! The Encyclopedia Britannica continues: "He cannot say whether their Christological views were identical with those of Cerinthus and his school, or whether they differed at all from his own. But Jerome (Ep. 79, to Augustine) says that they believed in Christ the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rose again, but adds that, 'desiring to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither the one or the other "'! (Emphasis mine). Notice how Jerome observing the true Church in his day saw plainly that they obviously were not of the novel and apostate Roman Catholic Religion (called the "WHORE" OF BABYLON in Revelation 17) as he was! From the Roman Catholic view point, he could hardly consider these ''Nazarenes'' to be Christians as they did not keep the days of pagan Rome as does the Roman Church and its daughter churches continue to do to this day but instead they continued keeping the same days JESUS CHRIST observed. Thus he considered them to be "Jewish," yet knew they believed in Christ. Yet, the Nazarenes (as the world then called God's true Church) were clearly NOT CATHOLIC!! -the only "Christianity" poor Jerome knew anything about! Continue: Jerome continues his personal description of the Nazarenes by saying that, ''while adhering as far as possible to the Mosaic economy as regarded circumcision, SABBATHS, foods and the like they did not refuse to recognize the apostolicity of Paul or the rights of heathen [Gentile] Christians (Jer., Comm. in Isa., ix.I). These facts, taken along with the name (cf. Acts xxiv.5) and geographical position of the sect, lead to the conclusion that the Nazarenes of the 4th century are, in spite of Epiphanius' distinction to be identified with the Ebionites (q.v.)." From the article, "Nazarenes," The Encyclopedia Britannica eleventh edition, Volume 19, page 319). Did you catch that? The true Church continued in existence at least until "the 4th century" into the 300s - and continued their distinctive doctrines they had inherited from the original Jerusalem Church before A.D. 69. Because they continued to practice the same beliefs, the nickname "Nazarene" remained also all the way until the fourth century! God's true Religion did not die out as a result of Roman Catholic apostasy from the truth. There were still true Christians who held fast to the same beliefs we find the early church believed in the New Testament! Toward the end of the 4th century we see a new nickname gradually coming into vogue for those who remained steadfast to the true Religion: Ebionites! There were three different groups among those who
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were called "Ebionites." Only one of these three maintained the true doctrines inherited from the true New Testament Church, yet the Catholic Church classified two heretical groups in with the true church and called them all "Ebionites." Thus we see the true Church of God was now grouped together with other groups that indeed were heretical and had perverted the true Faith. From this point on God's true saints were grouped together with "'heretics" from the Christian Faith, many of whom were indeed extremely unorthodox in their beliefs, even farther astray than the increasingly powerful Roman Catholic Church! Jerome was a Roman Catholic and therefore did not fully understand what God's true Church had always believed. We learn from Acts 15 that the early church did not think circumcision necessary. Why then did Jerome think they still did? It was because he saw plainly their outward observance of SABBA1H-KEEPING! Notice he mentioned "Sabbaths" -in the plural sense. Had they not been observing the annual Sabbaths as well he would have hardly considered them to be "Jewish." And notice also he mentions "foods." The true church continued to keep the commandments of God including the dietary laws regarding the Clean and the Unclean found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Nowhere does the New Testament abolish the food laws which God gave us to protect our health. The unconverted heathen of course brought their unscriptural dietary habits with them into the Roman church. The early church understood these truths. Do you? Does your church? Probably not! Yet the early church did! And here we have historical documentation that they continued in these truths at least until the fourth century! POL YCARP, the Next Leader of the Church After John Let's go back now and get the transition from the last original apostle who had been personally ordained by Jesus Christ to the next generation of God's true Church. History records that Polycarp was "consecrated" (ORDAINED) by the Apostle John personally (See The AntiNicene Fathers, Volume I, page 416). Polycarp was ordained the "Bishop" (a word meaning "overseer" and is equivalent to "Pastor") of Smyrna, yet he was also looked upon as the leading apostle of that day, after John had passed from the scene since he had known John personally, was ordained by him, and had met others who had seen Christ personally! (ibid, page 416, in "Irenaeus Against Heresies "). Polycarp was known in that day as a Quartodecimani because he continued to teach the original true Faith which was once delivered to the saints (Jude 3) -the true Religion -which the early true Church held fast to which included the observance of the annual Holydays beginning with the Passover on the 14th. This word "Quartodeciman" means "fourteenth." The Church of God never observed the Roman Catholic "Easter" (the name of a pagan Babylonian goddess of sex, hence the bunnies and eggs representing fecundity and procreation). Rather they continued to observe the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first Biblical month (called Abib) and therefore were given the additional nickname Quartodecimani.
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Eusebius, the famous and very early Roman Catholic historian admits: "But Polycarp also was not only instructed by the apostles and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia [Asia Minor], appointed bishop of the Church of Smyrna. He it was who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus" -who was bishop (or pastor) of Rome around the middle second century - "caused many to turn away from the aforesaid [previously mentioned] heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he had received this one and sole truth from the apostles‌" This must have been extremely persuasive. Here was a minister who had been personally ordained by the Apostle John and perhaps other true ministers of God in Asia Minor who taught only the truth of God according to "the Faith once delivered to the saints." Notice Eusebius admits Polycarp was successful at turning back many of the heretics or apostates to "THE CHURCH OF GOD"! Polycarp, the true leader of God's Church still attempted to bring the apostates at Rome back into the Fold and back into the Truth of God. However he was not successful with the leader of this apostasy, the bishop of Rome. "For neither could Anicetus (the bishop of Rome) persuade Polycarp not to observe if' - the Passover on the 14th - "because he [Polycarp] had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated; and neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it [the Passover], who said that he [Anicetus] was bound to follow the CUSTOMS of the presbyters before him" (in apostate Rome who had long since abandoned the truth in the prophesied APOSTASY!). This amazing quotation can be found in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History book V, chapter 24, in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I! Notice, that Anicetus did not submit to the Authority God had placed in His Church and repent of his apostasy and submit to Polycarp the successor to John as the Presiding Elder or Leader of God's TRUE Church. Instead he was committed to only following the "customs" of men rather than the LAW of God! Jesus said if we put man's traditions ahead of the commandments of God, we worship Him in vain! (See Mark 7:7-9 + 13). Thus the leader of the apostasy at Rome was leading the whole Roman church and those associated with Rome, to worship Christ IN VAIN! The "customs" Anicetus referred to was the universally celebrated "Easter" eventually "Christianized" and transformed into a supposedly "Christian" (Catholic) holiday, but never observed by the early true Church. Easter does NOT commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Write for our free reprint article, "Did Jesus Die on Good Friday?' which proves conclusively that Jesus rose at sunset on Saturday evening, bud NOT near sunrise Sunday morning! This proof is based on a correct understanding of Matthew 12:40. "Easter" (spelled Ishtar anciently but pronounced the same way as we now say "Easter" today) was the heathen fertility goddess of spring and had nothing to do, originally, with true Christianity. But apostate Rome, willing to accommodate the large influx of pagans into the church, compromised, (and compromised repeatedly) the Word of God in order to establish a "universal" (or catholic)
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"Christian" church throughout the world. Today the daughter churches who came out of the whore in protest continue in these pagan customs utterly CONDEMNED by Scripture! Later, after the martyrdom of Polycarp (in the middle second century) a new leader in God's true church ascended to the leadership of God's true Religion: POL YCRATES. He also earnestly contended for the true doctrines and the true Faith which was "once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). From the article "Easter" in the Encyclopedia Britannica, we read about this leader's faithfulness to the truth of God. In reference to the pagan Easter, we read: "The annual festival observed throughout [apostate] Christendom.... The name Easter, like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology‌ According to Bede, it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring [borrowed from the Babylonian goddess, Ishtar]. Continue: “There is no indication of the observation of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers [those who immediately followed the original apostles of the New Testament].... The first Christians continued to observe the Jewish [BIBLICAL] FESTIVALS, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of the events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it of Christ as the true Pascal Lamb and the first fruits from the dead, continued to be observed"!! (Emphasis mine throughout). This is utterly fascinating! This amazing admission can be found in The Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, Volume 8, pages 828-829! (Be sure to read the Biblical reference to this in First Corinthians 5:78!). Notice the true Church of God continued to observe the Biblical Festivals or Holydays of God and the Passover beginning on the 14th but did not observe the pagan Easter! What an admission!! Headquarters Leadership Passes to Polycrates Continuing this amazing account from the Encyclopedia Britannica, we read: "St. Polycarp, the disciple of St. John the evangelist [i.e. the Apostle John] and bishop of Smyrna, visited Rome in 159 [other ancient authorities say 154] to confer with Anicetus, the bishop of that see, on the subject and urged the tradition, which he had received from the Apostle, [that is, the Apostle John, who was taught by Jesus Christ Himself!] of observing the fourteenth day ." Notice Polycarp, the new leader of the Church of God, had learned about keeping the Passover on the 14th day from the Apostle John! Can there be any doubt that God wants His true Church to observe the Passover today? Polycarp was eventually martyred for his Faith. He was burned alive at the stake. But this was not the end of God's Church -that "little flock" who continued to preach the true Faith of Jesus Christ. The Encyclopedia Britannica continues:
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"About forty years later (197) the question was discussed in a very different spirit between Victor, bishop of Rome, and Polycrates, metropolitan proconsular of Asia. That province was the only portion of Christendom which still adhered to the Jewish [that is, Biblical] usage" - the Law of God, and the keeping or the Passover Feast in other words! -"and Victor demanded that all should adopt the usage prevailing at Rome [keeping the pagan Easter]. This Polycrates finally refused to agree to, and urged many weighty reasons to the contrary, whereupon Victor proceeded to excommunicate Polycrates and the Christians who continued the eastern usage [what we now call the Middle East, where the true Church held fast to the Faith once delivered]. He was however, restrained from actually proceeding to enforce the decree of excommunication, owing to the remonstrance of Irenaeus [who also had now surrendered to the apostasy at Rome] and the bishops of Gaul. Peace was thus maintained, and the Asiatic churches [those of the Middle East] retained their usage [of observing the Passover and Holydays] unmolested"! The bishop of Rome could not stop the true church from continuing to keep the Passover as Christ commanded and as observed by the New Testament Church and commanded to the Gentile converts by the Apostle Paul! (I Cor. 5:7-8). Polycrates was now the leader of The Church of God and was referred to as the "metropolitan proconsular" of Asia Minor. It appears from history that he occupied the same office as the Apostle James and was more than a "bishop" or pastor over one congregation, but actually presided over the whole Church of God as the chief apostle, obviously replacing Polycarp as the leader of the Church. Notice that the leader of God's only true Church on Earth, Polycrates, attempted to bring the apostate churches to repentance. But rather than repent, the leader at Rome threatened this true apostle of Jesus Christ with "excommunication"! But so strong were the Christians of the Middle East in their keeping of God's Passover Feast that the apostate Victor was persuaded to leave them alone. At this time the Roman church was not yet powerful or influential enough to enforce their decision. Yet the apostasy now in Rome was totally out of control, and apparently God's true ministers from the area around Jerusalem, Pella, and Asia Minor (modern Turkey, where Ephesus and Smyrna were), the only true Church of God on Earth, had given up hope of ever seeing the apostasy in Europe turned back around to the true Faith. Just as Polycarp was not merely the bishop of Smyrna but the ruling apostle over the entire Church of God, so Polycrates appears to also have now taken this position in his generation as the ruling apostle over the true Church. From the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 773, we read the following commentary on an actual epistle written by Polycrates and preserved all these years! "He [Polycrates] had doubtless known Polycarp and Irenaeus also. He seems to have presided [as president or chief apostle] over a synod of Asiatic [middle eastern] bishops (A.D. 196) which came together to consider this matter of the PASCHAL FEAST [the true Passover]. It is surely noteworthy that nobody doubted that it [the "Paschal" or Passover Feast] was kept by a Christian and APOSTOLIC ORDINANCE"!!
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That is to say, the Feast of the Passover was observed by the true Church by an apostolic COMMAND! What an amazing admission! Here the editors of the Roman Catholic Ante-Nicene Fathers admit that the observance of the Paschal feast (or Passover) on the 14th day of the first Hebrew month, was kept by a Christian and apostolic "ordinance"! Notice the Catholics admit that nobody doubted that the apostles had "ordained" the Passover as a Christian Feast! Why then do they refuse today to obey the commandments given by the apostles of Jesus Christ? History Proves the Passover Feast was Continued in the Church After the Apostles!
Today the whole "Christian" world is DECEIVED into believing that these Biblical Festivals which the apostles commanded us to observe have been replaced by the old pagan Roman holidays. Yes, the whole world has indeed been deceived just as the Bible said it would be! (Revelation 12:9). But, continuing with the very next sentence of this ancient work: "So St. Paul argues from its [the Passover's] Christian observance in his rebuke of the Corinthians. They were keeping it 'unleavened' ceremonially [that is, LITERALLY by putting the leavening out of their homes!!].... The Christian hallowing of Pentecost [another of God's annual Sabbaths or commanded Feast Days] connects with the paschal argument. The Christian Sabbath hinges on these points"! (The Anti-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 773, preface). This is truly an astonishing admission! Next let's examine the actual epistle of Polycrates written in the late second century! Polycrates wrote: "As for us, then; we scrupulously observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia great luminaries have gone to their rest, who shall rise again in the day of the coming of the Lord. I speak of Phillip, one of the twelve apostles... John, moreover, who reclined on the Lord's bosom... Then there is Polycarp, both bishop and martyr at Smyrna [he then continues to mention other great leaders in the true church of the second century such as Sargaris, Papirius, and Melito].... THESE ALL KEPT THE PASSOVER ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, in accordance with the Gospel, without ever deviating from it, but keeping to the rule of Faith�! Notice. They continued to keep the "rule of Faith" - the true Religion of Christ and the first century apostles! This extraordinary letter can be found in Volume 8 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, pages 773774. Notice that the TRUE Church of God still kept the Passover throughout the second century, as Christ and the Apostle Paul had commanded God's true church to do. They called themselves "The Church of God" but the world referred to them as ''the sect of the Nazarenes" (See Acts
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24:5 where the Apostle Paul was known to be a leader of this so-called "sect"). It is obvious then that this specific church of second century Christians is a continuation of the TRUE New Testament Church of God of the Bible! They never did join the apostasy at Rome! -but remained separate from it, keeping themselves PURE to the original true Faith. Yes the true Church continued observing the annual Holydays of God right on through the second century! They knew these Festivals were not "done away" at the cross!! Now notice something important. Polycrates, the late second century leader of the true church stated that he and the others from the Jerusalem area churches observed the “exact day.� What did they DO on that day -the 14th? How did they observe it? Since the destruction of the temple they obviously could not kill a real Passover lamb on that day. How then, did these true Christians of the second century observe the "exact day" of the 14th of Abib? In the next to the last paragraph of Polycrates' epistle he further admits: "Moreover I also, Polycrates, who am the least of you all, in accordance with the traditions of my relatives [what "Tradition" was he speaking of?] ... seven of my relatives were bishops, and I am the eighth, and my relatives AL WAYS observed the day when the people PUT AWAY THE LEAVEN"!! Astonishing! How many churches do this today? Almost no one! The day that Polycrates, the leader of God's true Church and Religion -continued to observe was the 14th of the first month of spring called Abib on the Sacred Biblical Calendar! And notice carefully, that the true church did not merely partake of the unleavened bread and wine on the 14th in a mere New Testament Passover Memorial (commonly called "Communion" or "the Lord's Supper") but rather they did something else. For on the 14th, they "put away the leaven" out of their houses in order to "keep the Feast" -the seven day Passover Festival -as Paul instructed in First Corinthians 5:7-8. Paul said, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us KEEP THE FEAST"! The Passover Festival is also referred to as the Feast of Un leavened Bread (Luke 22:1). Ezekiel 45:21 describes the length of the Passover. It states: "Ye shall have the PASSOVER, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten"! This is what Polycrates was referring to when he said he and his relatives and seven other bishops (Elders or ministers of God's true Church before him, perhaps all the way back to the original apostles) "put away the leaven" on the 14th in order to ob. serve this week long Passover Feast also known as The Feast of Unleavened Bread! (See Acts 12:3 and Acts 20:6). The early true Church kept this week long Feast of Passover, by putting the leavening out of their homes on the exact 14th day. Additional secular records down through the centuries prove that the true church continued keeping God's annual Passover and other Festivals long after the second century all the way into our day today without interruption! This body of believers perpetuated the actual Religion of Jesus Christ and is the same church and same true Religion that the apostles knew. . That true Religion still exists today! It has never disappeared!
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Do you have the same true Religion that the early true Church of God had? Or have you been deceived by Romanism? The Bible commands us to earnestly contend for the Faith (the true Faith) which was ONCE delivered to the saints (Jude 3) in the New Testament Era, by Christ and the apostles. You are now being shown what that ''true Faith" is. What will you do with it?
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The Work of
Christian Fellowship Ministries of The Church of God, Inc. Now that you have completed the Prove All Things Bible Study Course, you are invited to participate in the End Time Work of God to preach God's Truth to the world. The world's churches have inherited religious customs and doctrines not to be found in the Holy Word of God. In the Last Days knowledge will be increased (Daniel 12:4). You have now learned truths hidden from the world but revealed to a select number as no one can come to Christ except they be "drawn" to Him or "called" (John 6:44 and I Corinthians 1 :26). Jesus promised that a Great Work would be done just prior to the beginning of the Great Tribulation and His return to this Earth to rule all nations! (Matthew 24:14). His Truth will be preached by the remnant of those who have His True Religion. You now know the Truth! Perhaps GOD IS CALLING YOU TO BE A PART OF THA T PROPHESIED END TIME WORK! Will you accept the Call?
Y
OU HAVE NOW COMPLETED 36 lessons of the Prove All Things Bible Study Course. With this lesson you have now completed your education in the basic doctrinal course which provides the basis of all future sermons and Bible Studies. What you have learned obviously is quite different than what you have learned from "mainstream religion." But remember, you were asked to "prove all things" from the Bible. If you have done what you were asked to do, you now KNOW that you have found the true Religion of the first century apostolic and New Testament Church of God! Jesus is firm in His commandment to His people who remain in the Babylonian harlot system. He commands, "COME OUT of her My people"!!! (Revelation 18:4). Will you "come out" of the false religious system inherited from mother Rome -called a spiritual "WHORE" in the Bible and the mother of spiritual harlots? Some have asked, "If I leave the familiar religion of my parents and grandparents, then where do I go?" Jesus is not just calling us out of the religious "harlot" system; He is calling us TO something very important! The End Time Work of God Not only are we to walk away from those who are teaching a false gospel and false doctrine, but we are to find the End Time Ministry that God is working with and become a vital part of this prophesied End Time Work. IF we are living in the Last Days, then we have an opportunity to participate in the prophesied Last Work of the End Time Church of God on the Earth!
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You should obey Acts 2:38 by repenting of having followed false religious doctrines and having put your tithes into these churches that teach God's Law has been "done away" and that the Sabbath no longer needs to be observed. You should disassociate yourself from the membership of those churches that keep Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Lent, and other pagan Ro man festivals. If you have paid God's tithe to these churches stop participating in supporting those who teach contrary to the Truth of the Bible! -and immediately begin supporting only those who teach the Truth of God. Next we read in Acts 2:38 that after we repent of sin (which is the breaking of God's LAW - I John 3:4), that we should be baptized. Also you should have the "Laying on of hands" to receive the baptism not just of water, but of the Holy Spirit (according to Acts 8:17). This does not mean you will speak in "tongues" (in modern times not real tongues or languages, but sometimes admittedly fabricated by the speaker) which is a protestant propensity practiced only among Pentecostal people. No scripture says that all who receive God's Spirit will "speak in tongues," prophesy, or manifest any such gifts at all! Contrariwise, the Scripture teaches that it is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that puts you into the very Body of Christ -the true Church of God. If you have not had hands laid on you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, then you are not a member of the Body of Christ - God's Church – and therefore do not belong to Christ! -ARE NOT SAVED! (See Romans 8:9, first part). Water baptism does not save. You must receive the Holy Spirit of Christ or you "do not belong to Him," - are not one of His disciples - and are therefore still unsaved. Read these scriptures yourself! Acts 2:38 commands us to 1) repent. We are to repent by being sorry for transgressing God's Law (including the breaking of His Sabbath, the fourth commandment) and must turn from that transgression by OBEYING His commandments from this day forward. 2) Next we are to be baptized into the true Church of God in order to insure we receive God's Holy Spirit. Perhaps you were baptized into a protestant body as a child or young adult. You may wonder if your baptism was valid. Ask yourself, did you really repent? Did the minister explain to you what sin is, that you must repent from transgressing God's Law, including the partaking of His weekly and annual Sabbaths? Probably not! Jesus said that many hear the Truth of God but then the truths they learn do not "take root." Rather the cares of this life and the lusts of other things come in and choke the Word of God that it takes no root in their lives and produces no "fruit"! (See Mark 4:18-19). Don't you allow this to happen in your life! God may be calling you to a GREAT REWARD in His Kingdom!!! Jesus tells us that if we will keep the Law -even the least of the commandments, and then teach men so -teach others also to obey the Law of God, then we will be called GREAT in the Kingdom of Heaven! (Matthew 5:19). So to have a "great reward" in the Kingdom of God we must do two things: we ourselves must keep ALL the commandments - even the least commandments of His Law; and secondly, we must teach others to do the same! When you share these Bible lessons (beginning with lesson one sharing them in numerical
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order so as not to confuse the person) you are helping to spread God's Truth. You are effectively ''witnessing'' to that person! Or when you open your home for an in the-home Bible Study so you can share the very true Religion of Jesus Christ with others, then you are teaching others. But what if you do not feel capable of personally teaching a Bible Study, or answering Bible questions at this time? Then when you pay God His sacred tithe by supporting His true Work on Earth of preaching His True Gospel and the TRUTH OF GOD as you have learned it in this Bible Study Course, then you are helping others learn the Law - YOU are teaching the Law to others through your support of this Work, and can insure yourself a great reward in God's Kingdom! Repent and Obey the Truth Remember God's Law is referred to in the Bible as God's "TRUTH"! (See Psalm 119:142). In fact ALL God's commandments (and that would include the second and fourth commandments of the Ten) are called THE "TRUTH" (verse 151). Do the churches of this world teach the "Truth" according to the definition given in these Scriptures you just read in your own Bible? According to the very Word of God found in these scriptures, are they teaching you the "Truth"??? Of course not! No! They do not! Will you continue therefore to pay God's tithes to them so they can continue preaching and teaching false doctrine, perpetuating falsehoods such as saying that Sunday is the Sabbath (or "Lord's Day") when we all KNOW it is not and never was? Will you continue to support those who supposedly celebrate Christ's birthday on the old PAGAN Roman festival of Saturnalia, the birthday of the sun-god Mithrais, which the heathen celebrated on December 25th each year? Will you participate in and pay your tithes to a church that keeps Easter, the old pagan sex goddess of Babylon? Will you continue in the paganism of sunrise services practiced by the heathen (as shown in Ezekiel 8)? If you continue supporting such false teachings then you are furthering the propagation of FALSE RELIGION. Though you yourself may not be a "false prophet," if you support those who are, then will you not get the same reward they get? For they cannot spread these falsehoods successfully without your financial help! Stop supporting those who teach doctrines that you KNOW to be false. The Bible teaches that the tithe is holy to God (Leviticus 27:30). It should only go to God's true ministers where HIS TRUTH IS BEING TAUGHT! One of the reasons you may not have prospered from tithing is because you are not paying your tithes to God! Perhaps you know you are NOT giving your tithes and additional offerings to those who truly represent God and His true Religion. How can God prosper you as He wants to when you do this? It is time to repent and COME OUT of all churches that "keep Sunday"! It is time to COME
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OUT of all churches that observe the sun-worshipping religion of Easter, Christmas and other Roman festivals which are condemned in Scripture (Jeremiah 10:1-3). It is a SIN to celebrate or observe these heathen (now Roman Catholic) and pagan holidays! Repent now before you are judged by the returning King of kings! This does not mean you can no longer be friends with those who are still deceived by false doctrines. But it does mean you should now throw your entire support behind God's true representatives who are proclaiming and teaching God's truth -His Law, to the world. Do not participate in their "communions" and other Catholic or Protestant rituals. Begin keeping God's Holydays now - this year! Call now and request a Holyday Calendar so you can begin keeping God's Holydays this year without delay, right in your own home! This year plan to keep the Feast of the Passover, the Day of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, just as the early New Testament Church of God did! Also call (or write) immediately and for a personal visit from a minister of God to answer all your questions about God's commandments, specifically concerning His weekly Sabbath and annual Holydays which God commands us to keep. We will be happy to baptize you into the true Religion of Jesus Christ! The full legal name of our Work is incorporated as "Christian Fellowship Ministries of The Church of God." Since many would mistakenly assume we are connected to a protestant Pentecostal church which uses this Biblical name, publicly on radio and elsewhere we only use the name of the Ministry itself -Christian Fellowship Ministries. However we are also a church and are a spiritual part of an international body of believers who, though small in number, are continuing to keep God's Ten Commandments and His Law just as Christ prophesied that such a church would continue to exist down through the ages. Perhaps you have thought you would like to attend the College to learn more about God's Truth, or to eventually become a fun time instructor or even be ordained into Christ's End Time Ministry, yet you have not had the funds to attend. As a member of Christian Fellowship Ministries of the Church of God, you will be eligible for "member benefits," which may include a giant scholarship on ALL tuition! God wants you to accept His Truth and come out of the deception of the world (I Timothy 2:4). Most of the world's population has never had the privilege of learning God's Holy Bible as you have had!!! Think of it! God may be calling YOU to have a part in His End Time Work. Will you accept the "Call"? If you would like to request a membership application for Christian Fellowship Ministries, call or write today. No one will visit you or call upon you unless you yourself request it. No one will pressure you in any way. This is a personal decision you must make, to accept or reject the true Religion of Jesus Christ. But while no one will pressure you, I sincerely hope you will make this a matter of prayer and meditation. Think about the tremendous truths you have learned! Few people have ever been privileged to know and understand these precious truths of God.
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The entire world will learn them when Jesus Christ returns. But now He is "calling out" a people to Himself before He returns~ to train them as leaders - to become the new kings and leaders of a new Government - the Kingdom of God, which will reign on this Earth for 1,000 years! (Zechariah 14:9, 16-19, Revelation 20:4, Revelation 5:10). If God has opened up your mind to understand His true Religion, then YOU may have a calling to be a part of the world-ruling Kingdom of God in the millennium. It is not too late to repent! But know that an awesome responsibility is now laid on your shoulders to obey the truth God has shown you. We pray that you make the right decision today to repent and to delay no longer to become a part of God's End Time Work and Church!
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