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FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS OF THE CHURCH OF GOD
BELIEFS 9, 10
BELIEF 9 – WHAT IS THE GOSPEL
Mainstream Christianity believes that the gospel (which means “good news”) is the forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which paid the death penalty on our behalf for our sins. Romans 3:23 says, “23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” and Romans 6:23 states, “23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
While forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is part of the gospel, the gospel or “good news” that Jesus preached is the restoration of God’s kingdom and government on earth. God relinquished His government on earth to man after Eve and Adam sinned by taking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God allotted 6,000 for man to rule himself. According to calculations by Bible scholars, 6,000 years since Adam’s creation are already over (in September 2019). Fulfillment of end of the end time prophecies is at our door.
The Gospel of Christ is the “Good News” of the soon-coming Kingdom and government of God on earth, and of the forgiveness of our sins through Christ’s sacrifice. Christ’s Gospel of the Kingdom of God reveals how we are to be qualified by God to be ruling members of His Kingdom (Acts 2:38–39; Mark 1:14–15; Matthew 24:14; Acts 8:12; 17:7; 28:30–31; Revelation 2:26–27).
BELIEF 10 - GOD’S LAW AND SIN; SABBATH & UNCLEAN MEATS
God’s ultimate purpose is to dwell in a family of billions of sons and daughters living in conditions described in Revelation 21:3-4, “3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Without fail, all sin produces pain and suffering. If there is any sin in God’s family, it will produce crying, tears, sorrow, pain, suffering and possibly death. Therefore, to have a universe in which there is no pain and suffering, everyone in God’s family must become sinless, incapable of sinning.
And how do we know what sin is? “Sin is the transgression of the Law” (1 John 3:4). We would not know what sin is if we did not have the Law. The five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are known as the Law. How to live the laws, statutes and judgments in the five books of the Law are elaborated in the rest of the Bible.
God’s spiritual law is summed up in the “Ten Commandments” (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21). Jesus Christ gave the essence of the Law in the two Great Commandments, love towards God and neighbor (Mark 12:30-31, “30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is none other commandment greater than these”; Matthew 33:36-40; Luke 10:27”). The first four of the Ten Commandments teach us how to love God and the last six commandments teach us how to love our neighbor as ourselves. Love for neighbor means having outgoing concern for neighbor.
Paul tells us in Romans 7:12, “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”
In the “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus magnified God’s Law as prophesied in Isaiah 42:21 (“21 The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law and make it honorable”) showing we must obey it in both the letter and the spirit (Matthew 5-7).
Mankind’s experience with keeping the law has not been good. Romans 3:23 tells us, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” As a result, all have earned the death penalty: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
God has called human beings to become perfect, incapable of sinning as stated in Matthew 5:48: “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” How can human beings become perfect, sinless and incapable of sinning? That will become possible after human beings as individuals have answered God’s call, been baptized, received God’s holy spirit, started growing in grace and knowledge and begun to develop God’s holy and righteous character in themselves. God will then through a resurrection give them spirit bodies with power and abilities multiplied billions or trillions of times like the angels (Matthew 22:30), making them perfect and incapable of sinning, like Himself and Jesus Christ.
At present, humans have limited mental and physical capabilities and limited memories. As immortal sons of God with spirit bodies with memory and mental capacities billions or trillions of times greater than human capacity, we will be able to instantly evaluate and apply God’s law to every situation and know how we should behave in every situation. That’s how we will become sinless and live as God’s family where there is no more crying, tears, sorrow, pain, suffering and death.
THE SABBATH
Seventh day of the week, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is the Sabbath of the Creator God and we are commanded to rest from our labors and worship God so that we can stay close to Him throughout our lives.
In Genesis 1, God made the earth’s surface fit for life and then created vegetation and animal life in six days. Then on the sixth day God created man in His own image and likeness. God then rested on the seventh day and sanctified it (set it apart for holy use) as a day of rest for man as stated in Genesis 2:1-3, “1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
The Sabbath day is, therefore, a memorial of creation and identifies the Creator of everything as the God to be worshipped. The Sabbath day was sanctified, or set apart for holy use, which is worship of God, for man to maintain a close personal relationship with his creator. Since it was ordained when man was created, all of mankind, not just the Jews or Israelites, is required to keep it holy. Jesus told the Pharisees in Mark 2:27... “27 The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath because He as the Creator God of the Old Testament (John 1:1-3, 14).
In God’s calendar for reckoning time, days begin and end at sunset because in Genesis 1 when God began His creation each day He started and ended at sunset in Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31. It is still God’s way of reckoning time. In Leviticus 23:32 concerning keeping the Day of Atonement, an annual Sabbath, God instructed, “32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.” The modern custom of beginning and ending days at midnight follows the ancient pagan Roman custom of reckoning time.
Keeping the Sabbath is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. It is stated in Exodus 20:8-11, “8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 provides another reason for observing the Sabbath day, “12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” The additional reason for keeping the Sabbath is that for the ancient Israelites it was a reminder that the Creator God freed them from bondage in Egypt as Jesus Christ has freed us from bondage to sin with His sacrifice.
Leviticus 23:3 tells us that the Sabbath is kept holy by attending a holy convocation or assembly which in today’s language is called a Church service.
In Exodus 31:12-17, God told the Israelites about the Sabbath law that “it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death...15...Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant...” The Sabbath is thus a perpetual covenant (agreement) between God and His people that those who keep the Sabbath are set apart (sanctified) as holy and are His people and He is their God. It is a sign that the true Creator God is their God. That is how important the Sabbath is to God and it should be for every human being.
If you worship God on the Sabbath day, you are worshipping the Creator God. If you are worshipping god on Sunday, you are worshipping the “Sun” god on his day of worship, Sunday. And the Sun is no god. Thus, if you worship god on Sunday, in addition to violating the fourth commandment, you are also violating the first commandment to “have no other gods before the Creator God.”
In Isaiah 66:23 God tells us that in the millennium when Jesus returns to earth and establishes God’s kingdom over all nations, “all flesh (humans) will come to worship before Me.”
Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:31). The apostles followed the example of Jesus Christ and kept the Sabbath. Paul taught the Gentiles and Jews on the Sabbath (Acts 13:42-44, Acts 17:2, 18:4). Nowhere does the Bible indicate that the apostles and the Churches of God changed from the example of Jesus Christ in keeping the Sabbath day holy.
Hebrews 4:9 shows that "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." God has given 6,000 years for man to labor and rule himself. Man’s rule has been full of pain and suffering and hard for many to make a decent living. But then for 1,000 years of God’s kingdom, humanity will find true rest when God blesses humanity with peace and prosperity. The seven-day week pictures 7,000 years of God’s plan for humanity; 6,000 years for man to rule himself followed by 1,000 years of God’s kingdom pictured by the seventh day Sabbath.
Jesus Himself set a righteous example in His life of observing the Sabbath (Luke 4:31), and the New Testament records that His followers continued that practice long after His death and resurrection.
Paul taught the Gentiles (non-Israelites) on the Sabbath (Acts 13:42-44), following both the law of God and the example of Christ. Wherever Paul went he taught on the Sabbath, as was his custom, and established churches that kept the Sabbath (Acts 17:2; Acts 18:4). No example can be found in the writings of the apostles or the practice of the New Testament Church that shows any hint of change in the example and teaching they received from Christ. The original Church in the days of the apostles never worshipped on Sunday.
Hebrews 4:9 declares that "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (NASB). The context of this passage, Hebrews 3-4, presents the seventh-day Sabbath as symbolic of the rest that the ancient Israelites sought—fulfilled in part in their settlement in the Promised Land, but to be ultimately fulfilled in the future rule of God over all nations, when all people will find true rest. Other verses in Hebrews 4 show that Christians now are to be diligent to enter God's future rest as well as the weekly rest that prefigures it (Hebrews 4:4; Hebrews 4:9-11).
Thus, by worshipping God on the Sabbath, we declare that the Creator God is the one we worship. In so doing, we are keeping His fourth and first commandments and following the example of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The Sabbath also pictures the 1,000 years of rest for humanity in God’s Kingdom on earth.
GOD’S FOOD LAWS; CLEAN & UNCLEAN MEATS
The Law (first five books written by Moses) in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 contains instructions regarding meats that can be eaten by humans, designated as “clean” and meats that are not to be eaten, designated as “unclean”.
Many in mainstream Christianity believe that we are no longer required to obey the laws concerning clean and unclean meats. They cite Jesus' statement in Mark 7:18-23 and say that Jesus declared all meats clean. It states: “18...Do you not perceive that whatsoever thing from without enters into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 Because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly, and goes out into the draught, purging all meats? 20 And he said that which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
When you see the context, Jesus was merely referring to all food being eventually purged (eliminated) from the body after the digestive process. He was not discussing clean and unclean meats at all.
Another scripture usually applied in support of the position that God cleansed all meats is Acts 10:11-15, “11 And [Peter] saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12 Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14 But Peter said, not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice spoke unto him again the second time, What God has cleansed, that call not common.”
Peter saw the vision three times and each time refused to eat the unclean animals. He wondered what the vision was about. That very time men sent by Cornelius the centurion, a non-Israelite, arrived at the house and the holy spirit told him to go with them doubting nothing. Then he realized what the vision meant and said in verses 28-29, “28 Then he said to them [Cornelius’s household], “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
Again, this vision had nothing to do with clean and unclean meats. Through the vision, Peter was being instructed to not consider any man common or unclean.
Another scripture used to justify eating unclean meats is Genesis 9:3. Immediately after the Flood, God instructed Noah, "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs." This does not imply that every animal is fit for human food. The instruction simply meant that just as various kinds of plants have different uses for man, so do animals. Some plants are poisonous, can kill humans and should not be eaten. They are not fit for human food. In the same way, all animals are not fit for human consumption. In Genesis 7:2 God had already shown the distinction between clean and unclean animals when Noah was instructed to take seven pairs of clean animals and only one pair of unclean animals into the ark with him.
Jesus certainly did not eat unclean animals because if He had, the Pharisees would have accused Him of violating these laws.
God’s other laws concerning food prohibited eating fat and blood (Leviticus 3:17, “This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood”). In Leviticus 7:22-26, eating fat of animals is prohibited but not that of birds, and eating blood of both animals and birds is prohibited. In Acts 15:19-20, 28-29, the apostles instructed gentile converts not to eat the flesh of strangled animals from which the blood had not been drained.
The difference in approach to God’s Law between mainstream Christian denominations and God’s Church is that God’s Church searches the scriptures for God’s will and obeys what He has instructed. Mainstream Christianity on the other hand tries to twist scriptures to claim support for its position such as eating all meats, including unclean meats such as pork, shellfish and other unclean fish.
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