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FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS OF THE CHURCH OF GOD
BELIEFS 2 - 4
BELIEF 2: THE WHOLE BIBLE IS THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD
God’s Church believes that the Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired word of God, infallible in its original manuscripts, hence the foundation for all truth and authority for all Church doctrines and beliefs. It is a perfect instruction manual for humanity, revealing why God created man, His plan of salvation for all of mankind and how man should live to attain salvation. It also reveals God’s attributes, demonstrates His almighty power through prophecy and its fulfillment in history, which also provides proof of His existence.
For proof that the Bible is the inspired word of God, please read my free eBook “Which Holy Book is the Word of God?", available on my religion website.
SCRIPTURES
Opinion of Jesus, the Prophets and Apostles about the Bible
Scriptures provide us the opinion of Jesus Christ, the prophets and the apostles, and even God’s loyal angels on the Bible that it is the inspired word of God which has not been corrupted. Jesus said in John 17:17: “…your word is truth.” Thus, Jesus emphatically stated that God’s word, the Old Testament in the Bible (which is what was available as scripture when Jesus Christ was alive) is the truth.
Jesus also said in Matthew 5:17-18: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily [or assuredly] I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle [the equivalent of a fullstop or a coma as punctuation marks] shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Here Jesus was saying that everything written in the Old Testament, including punctuation marks, will be fulfilled. Therefore, it is the truth backed by Almighty God.
Jesus said in John 10:35: “If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken.” Here Jesus was saying that the scriptures cannot be broken, meaning that the scriptures are infallible. By the time of Jesus, the Old Testament scriptures had been written and preserved for a time period varying from more than 1450 years when Moses delivered his first 5 books of the Bible to about 450 years since Malachi the prophet wrote his book. Jesus thus confirmed that the Old Testament had been faithfully preserved by the Jews till His time.
Here is what the prophet Daniel thought of the scriptures: “But I will show you that which is noted in the scripture of truth…” (Daniel 10:21). This was probably the archangel Gabriel talking to Daniel, and Daniel recorded what was revealed to him, because he knew it was the truth. Thus, even the archangels of God call the scriptures truth.
The angels of God also keep the sayings of the Bible. The angel that was revealing parts of chapters 21 and 22 of the book of Revelation to the Apostle John said in Revelation 22:6-9: “6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. 7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book. 8 And I John saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. 9 Then says he unto me, See you do it not: for I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.”
When the prophecies in the Book of Revelation were revealed to John, all other books of the Bible had already been written and the final compilation already done by him. Therefore, when the angel said that he was a fellow servant like the prophets and kept the sayings of this book, he also signified that the canonization of books that John had done were also scripture. The angel also signified that the New Testament of the Bible had been completed, and he as an angel of God kept the sayings of the entire Bible as they were faithful and true. As the angel had signified to Daniel the prophet that the Old Testament scriptures were the truth, the angel was now signifying to John the apostle that the New Testament that he had finally canonized with the book of Revelation was the truth and even he as an angel of God lived by its words. Besides Jesus Christ, what greater testimony can we have than that of God’s angels that the entire Bible is the true word of God?
The apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture [meaning the Old Testament and the New Testament, because Paul canonized most of the New testament, though the final canonization was done by John who included his epistles and the book of revelation] is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The literal translation in place of ‘inspiration of God’ is “God-breathed.” Thus, according to Paul, the entire Bible is God breathed or inspired by God. In Romans 1:2 Paul calls the scriptures ‘holy.’
Peter the apostle shows in 2 Peter 1:20-21 that God had an active hand in the writing of the Bible. He said that “No prophecy [which means ‘inspired speaking or writing’] of Scripture ever came by the will of man. Instead, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Thus, from the words of Jesus, the prophets, the apostles and even God’s angels, the entire Holy Bible is the true, inspired and infallible word of God.
In His confrontation with the devil, Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Thus, man is required to live by every word of God in the Bible because it is the truth inspired by God.
BELIEF 3: SATAN THE DEVIL
God’s Church believes that Satan is a real spirit being, originally created by God as the archangel Lucifer with hundreds of millions of other angels. Then the heavens and the earth were created. Lucifer was then given rule over the earth, possibly with one-third of all the angels. But Lucifer and the angels under his rule rebelled against God. Since then, he has become an adversary of God and been known as Satan and the rebelling angels are known as unclean spirits or demons. Satan opposes God at every opportunity and in every project, including deceiving mankind about God’s purpose for creating humans and rejecting His Law.
SCRIPTURES
Everything in the universe including the angels was created by the Word, who later came to earth as Jesus Christ. John 1:1-2, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
The word angel means “messenger” which is what the angels are.
Hebrews 1:7, 14, “7 And of the angels he says [in Psalm 104:4], Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire...14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” They are also called “sons of God” because they were created by God and then saw God creating the heavens and the earth (Job 38:4,7, “4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ... 7 When the morning stars [another name for angels] sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?).
Lucifer was originally created perfect but chose to sin and rebelled against God (Ezekiel 28:12-17). It seems one-third of the angels followed him in his rebellion and attempted to wrest the throne of the universe from God but were defeated and cast down to earth (Revelation 12:4, Isaiah 14:12-15, Luke 10:18, 2 Peter 2:4).
Hundreds of millions of righteous angels still serve God (Revelation 5:11), even though one-third rebelled.
Some of Satan’s character traits are mentioned in the Bible. Satan means “adversary” in Hebrew. The Greek translation of the word is diabolos, from which we get the English word devil. It means “slanderer.”
Satan is called “accuser” of the brethren (Revelation 12:10, Zechariah 3:1), the great dragon and serpent who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9). He is a murderer and there is no truth in him. He is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He is described as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). He is also called a destroyer (Revelation 9:11); tempter (Matthew 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 3:5), and the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), meaning he broadcasts in thoughts, moods, attitudes and feeling.
Satan is referred to by different names and descriptions that denote some of his evil roles, characteristics and actions. Besides "the devil," he is also called Apollyon and Abaddon, meaning "destroyer" and "destruction," respectively (Revelation 9:11); Belial, meaning "worthless" or "wicked" (2 Corinthians 6:15); Beelzebub, the name of a Philistine god meaning "Lord of flies" (Matthew 12:24-27, compare 2 Kings 1); the great dragon and serpent (Revelation 12:9).
Satan is wily (Ephesians 6:11) and seeks to deprive human beings of eternal life (Luke 8:12). However, Satan can only do what God permits him to do (Job 1:12, 2:6).
The Bible also describes Satan’s future fate. At present he is called “the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4), and “ruler of this world (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11). However, his reign will end at the return of Jesus Christ (Revelation 11:15).and he will be bound in the abyss for a thousand years during the reign of Jesus Christ so that he can no longer deceive the nations. Then he will be released for a short time (Revelation 21:1-3, 7-8) and permitted to deceive the nations for the last time. It appears this is a test for the demons to see which ones will follow Satan to deceive the nations again after the millennium (1,000 years).
After that Satan and the demons who followed him to deceive the nations one last time will be permanently removed and "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone" (Revelation 20:10), which is "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41).
It appears that Satan’s fate has already been decided that he is to be permanently destroyed. This is indicated in Ezekiel 28:18-19: “18 You [that is Satan] have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of you, it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you. 19 All they that know you among the people shall be astonished at you: you shall be a terror, and never shall you be any more.”
A normal fire that can consume human beings and material things does not consume spirit beings like Satan and the demons. But God will prepare a special fire (Matthew 25:41) that will consume Satan and the demons who followed Satan to deceive the nations one last time so that they are turned to ashes and are no more (Ezekiel 28:18-19), along with the rest of humanity that failed to repent.
BELIEF 4 – HUMANITY – WHY GOD CREATED MANKIND
This belief of God’s Church is described in detail in my eBooklet “Why God Created Mankind” available free on my religion website (http://www.churchofgodmessage.com/whygodcreatedmankind.html).
God’s Church believes that God first created the angels and then the material universe. Potential of the angels was to rule the universe. God put one-third of all the angels on earth under the leadership of Lucifer. But Lucifer and the angels with him rebelled against God and tried to wrest the throne of the universe from Him. With their rebellion the rebelling angels demonstrated that they lacked God’s holy righteous character as described by the late Herbert W. Armstrong “which is the ability to discern the true and right way from the false, to make voluntarily a full and unconditional surrender to God and his perfect way and to determine even against temptation or self-desire, to live and do what is right.” (Mystery of the Ages, p. 69-70).
God then created human beings in His own image and likeness, of flesh, which is material substance. Human beings like the animals live by the breath of life but are subject to decay and are mortal. That means man does not have an immortal soul. God put a human spirit in man that imparts human intellect which makes mankind much superior to animals. However, the human spirit in man cannot produce God’s holy righteous character in man. That requires God’s holy spirit which God gives to those who repent of their sins, make a total commitment to live God’s way, are baptized and receive God’s holy spirit by the laying on of hands by a minister of God. As the man grows in grace and knowledge of God’s way of life, God’s holy spirit combining with the human spirit in man then begins to produce God’s holy righteous character in that person. Thus, human beings have the potential to become literal children of God as His sons and daughters through a resurrection after developing His holy righteous character. In essence, God is reproducing Himself through mankind.
Those who develop God’s holy righteous character will be granted eternal life. Those who fail to develop God’s holy righteous character will not be granted eternal life. They will face the second death which is permanent death. Their lives will be extinguished forever.
Adam and Eve were given a choice. They could qualify to receive eternal life through obedience to God, or they would die if they disobeyed, which is sin. Under Satan’s deception both disobeyed God’s instructions and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were then expelled from the Garden of Eden to develop their own civilization, systems of government and education, but subject to Satan’s influence.
God allotted 6,000 years for man’s self-rule which will bring mankind to the brink of annihilation of all flesh on earth. However, God will then intervene in human affairs by sending Jesus Christ to earth to take over the kingdoms of the world and set up God’s kingdom for 1,000 years. In God’s kingdom only His way of life as explained in the Bible will be taught and no pagan religions will be allowed to be taught and practiced. God will demonstrate that His way of life works best for the welfare of all and will produce the joy, happiness, abundance, prosperity and justice mankind seeks.
God has a plan of salvation for all of mankind. Salvation is to qualify to receive the gift of eternal life from God through a resurrection and become God’s literal immortal sons and daughters. This plan of salvation is pictured by the weekly sabbath and the seven annual holy days God instituted for mankind to observe which are all described in Leviticus 23.
SCRIPTURES
God created mankind from the “dust of the ground (earth)” (Genesis 2:7; 3:19), gave him the “breath of life” and man became a “living being” (translated as ‘soul’ in the KJV which is not immortal [Ezekiel 18:4, 20 “the soul that sins shall die”]) in His “own image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26-27). That means humans were created with a God-like mind, intellect and emotions. Human beings are given the human spirit which imparts human intellect, superior to that of animals. It helps humans know the things of man (1 Corinthians 2:11). Those who repent of their sins and are baptized receive God’s holy spirit (Acts 2:38-39) which enables humans to understand spiritual things or things of God (1 Corinthians 2:11-14). Through the Holy Spirit God transforms human beings by developing His holy righteous character in them (Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you...”) who when resurrected or changed to immortal beings at Christ's return (1 Corinthians 15:51-54; Luke 20:36) will live with Him forever (Romans 8:11, John 3:16) as children in His family (1 John 3:1-3; 2 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Peter 1:4).
As eternal sons of God, they shall first rule the earth (Matthew 5:5, Psalm 37:9, 11, 22, 29; Daniel 2:44; Revelation 5:10; 20:4-6) and then the universe (Revelation 21:7, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things [the universe]”).
Although God will in His great mercy extend the opportunity for salvation to every human being born, some will still refuse to repent and accept God’s way of life. What is their fate? The Bible reveals that, rather than be tortured forever in an ever-burning hell, their lives will simply be permanently extinguished. They will cease to exist and will be as though they had never been.
Revelation 20:15 reveals that, after the final judgment depicted by the seventh annual holy day called the Last Great Day, "anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."
Revelation 21:8 adds, "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
These verses make clear that the fate of the incorrigible is clearly death, not eternal life of torture. Their lives will be extinguished forever.
Paul also made it plain that the punishment of the wicked is death. He stated in Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death…" Malachi the prophet also described the fate of the incorrigibly wicked in Malachi 4:1-3: "'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the LORD of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,' says the LORD of hosts."
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