Official Statement

Of

Fundamental Beliefs  

THE CHURCH, ITS NAME AND ITS MISSION

The biblical name of the true Church is “the Church of God .” God names things what they are. The name is clearly stated in both singular and plural form in twelve different places in the New Testament—including Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 10:32; 11:16; 1 Timothy 3:15.

The Living Church of God, with its denominational world headquarters in the United States of America, has members in many countries around the world and fulfills a threefold mission: 1. To preach the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14; Matthew 24:14; Ezekiel 3 and 33), and the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12) to all nations as a witness. 2. To feed the flock and to organize local Church congregations to provide for the spiritual and material needs of our members as God makes it possible (1 Peter 5:1–4; John 21:15–18). 3. To preach the end-time prophecies and to warn the English-speaking nations and all the world of the coming Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21).

 THE HOLY BIBLE

The Bible is the inspired revelation from God to mankind. It is the true basis of all Church doctrine (Matthew 4:4; 2 Timothy 3:16). We believe the Bible is inerrant in its original manuscripts and is the authoritative foundation for all true knowledge (John 17:17).

 WHO AND WHAT IS GOD?

The Father and the Son comprise the “Godhead.” There is one God (1 Corinthians 8:4 and Deuteronomy 6:4). Scripture shows that God is a divine Family which began with two, God the Father and the Word (Genesis 1:26; Ephesians 2:19; 3:15; Hebrews 2:10–11)

 God is Spirit and is Eternal:

 The Father is the Supreme Being in the Godhead. Jesus Christ said that He was sent to reveal the Father (Matthew 11:27; John 1:18; 17:24–26) and acknowledged that His Father was greater than He (John 10:29; 14:28).

 The Son, Jesus Christ, is the “Word” (Greek logos), through whom the Father created all things (John 1:1–3), the “only begotten Son” of the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18) and Savior of all mankind (1 John 4:14). He died for our sins and was resurrected that we might be saved from eternal death (Acts 4:10–12).

 THE HOLY SPIRIT

God is Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the very essence, the mind, life and power of God. It is not a Being. The Spirit is inherent in the Father and the Son, and emanates from Them throughout the entire universe (1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 139:7; Jeremiah 23:24). It was through the Spirit that God created all things (Genesis 1:1–2; Revelation 4:11). It is the power by which Christ maintains the universe (Hebrews 1:2–3). It is given to all who repent of their sins and are baptized (Acts 2:38–39) and is the power (Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:6–7) by which all believers may be “overcomers” (Romans 8:37, KJV; Revelation 2:26–27) and will be led to eternal life.

 THE GOSPEL

 SALVATION

Salvation is God’s gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 2:15; Romans 5:10). Upon repentance and baptism, God justifies us from our past sins. We then begin an ongoing process of “being saved” as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Our salvation will be complete at the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:50–54). In observing the biblical Festivals and Sabbaths, we come to understand more deeply God’s plan of salvation, and the steps toward salvation that we take as Christians:

 •Faith in Christ • Repentance • Baptism by immersion • Receiving God’s grace • Receiving God’s Holy Spirit • Exercising “living” faith • Growing in the “grace and knowledge of God”

 ANNUAL FESTIVALS PICTURE GOD’S

MASTER PLAN OF SALVATION

God’s annual Festivals are listed in Leviticus 23 and in Deuteronomy 16. These God-given holy days were commanded to be observed “forever” (Leviticus 23:14, 21, 31, 41). The Apostolic Church observed the annual Sabbaths (Acts 2; 12:3–4; 18:21; 20:6, 16; 27:9; 1 Corinthians 16:8). These Sabbaths will continue to be observed during Christ’s millennial rule (Zechariah 14:1, 9, 16–19).

 God’s annual Festivals picture the seven vital steps in His plan of salvation:

1.      The Passover pictures the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36; Revelation 5:6) sacrificed for us, (1 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus established the New Testament Passover with the symbols of bread and wine (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

2.      The Seven Days of Unleavened Bread typify purging the leaven of malice and wickedness out of the believer’s life, and partaking of God’s nature, the “unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6–13; Luke 12:1).

3.      The Feast of Firstfruits (Pentecost) pictures the small harvest of “begotten” followers of Christ who will be harvested at the “first resurrection” (Revelation 20:4–5), as “a kind of firstfruits” (James 1:18).

4.      The Feast of Trumpets points prophetically to the second coming of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17; Revelation 11:15–18; 19:15; Zechariah 14:9).

5.      The Day of Atonement pictures the banishment of Satan, and man’s becoming “at one” with God (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 15–27; Revelation 20:1–3).

6.      The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the soon-coming wonderful world under the government of Jesus Christ and His saints (Zechariah 14; Matthew 9:37–38; 13:1–30; Luke 12:32; John 7:6–14; Acts 17:31; Revelation 12:9; 20:4–6).

7.      The Last Great Day features the great judgment that will occur at the end of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth (John 7:37; Leviticus 23:36, 39, 33–34; Revelation 20:11–12).

 THE LAW OF GOD

God’s basic spiritual law is summed up in the “Ten Commandments” (Exodus 20:1–17; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4). In the “Sermon on the Mount” and elsewhere, Jesus magnified God’s law (Matthew chapters 5–7; Isaiah 42:21), showing His followers that they must obey both the letter and the “spirit.” “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). It is practicing this way of life—through Christ living in us (Galatians 2:20)—that makes one a true “saint” (Revelation 14:12).

 GOD’S SABBATH

The Word of God reveals that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord” (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14). It is to be observed from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. It is God’s “sign” between Him and His faithful people—picturing God’s “rest” and reminding us that He is the Creator. It also pictures the Millennium—the coming 1,000-year “rest” when Christ returns as King of kings (Hebrews 4:1–4; Revelation 20:4–6). Jesus Christ, the Apostles, and the early Church always observed God’s commanded Sabbath, (Luke 4:16; Acts 17:2), and it will be observed by “all flesh” during Christ’s coming millennial rule over the earth (Isaiah 66:23).

 SIN–AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

“Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). “Sin is the transgression of the law [of God]” (1 John 3:4, KJV). “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages [payoff] of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

THE MEANING OF “BORN AGAIN”

With a physical human birth, there must first be “begettal” (by the male), and “conception” (by the female). With a spiritual birth, there must first be a spiritual begettal and conception. Then, after a period of “spiritual gestation” or spiritual growth (2 Peter 3:18), true Christians will someday experience a literal spiritual “birth,” thereby becoming immortal children of God. We will literally be born again at the resurrection as Christ Himself was, “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).

 GOD’S FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT

The Father is supreme in authority, and His Son Jesus Christ is under Him in rank and authority (John 14:28). The “head [leader] of Christ is God [the Father]” (1 Corinthians 11:3), and “Christ is the Head of the Church” (Ephesians 5:23). God governs with love, and continues this pattern throughout His Church. Under the Father and under His Son, Jesus Christ, are “[1] apostles, [2] prophets, [3] evangelists, [4] pastors and [5] teachers” (Ephesians 4:11). God’s way of governing has always been government from the top down (Exodus 18:21–26). Jesus taught “Servant Leadership” by His Word and example (Matthew 20:25–28).

 DEFINING MARRIAGE

Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman. Since God made us male and female, He is the Author of marriage. Marriage is a type of the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:22–33). With a very few God-given exceptions (Matthew 19:8; 1 Corinthians 7), it is binding on Christians until death (Matthew 19:3–9).

 CHRIST’S SECOND COMING

Jesus solemnly promised His disciples ten times in Matthew 24 that He would assuredly “come again” to this earth (cf. John 14:3). He said “tribulation” would precede the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:29–30). His coming, with a “great sound of a trumpet” (v. 31), will occur when the “seventh trumpet” sounds (Revelation 11:15). That trumpet is also called the “last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). This is the “first resurrection,” and those who take part in that resurrection will reign with Christ on earth “for a thousand years” (Revelation 5:9–10; 20:4, 6).

 THE “LAST JUDGMENT”

There are three great periods of judgment mentioned in the Bible:

1.      The Church Age during which God judges only His own people—those called out of the world into His Church (1 Peter 4:17).

2.      The Millennial Age in which all nations will be exposed to Christ’s truth and to His wonderful way of life for 1,000 years (Isaiah 11:9; Revelation 20:2–6).

3.      The “Last Judgment” Age (called the “Great White Throne Judgment”) in which all who have ever lived—yet who died in sin and ignorance of God’s Truth and His way of life—will be resurrected to a physical life and will have the Word of God opened to their understanding (Revelation 20:11–14; Matthew 10:15; 11:21–24; 12:41–42; Ezekiel 37:1–14).  

 MANKIND’S ORIGIN, INCREDIBLE  

POTENTIAL AND ULTIMATE DESTINY

God created mankind out of the “dust of the earth” (Genesis 2:7). Human beings are made in God’s “image [and] likeness” (Genesis 1:26; cf. 5:3); they are also given a God-like mind and emotions. God planned that those who repent of their sins and are baptized shall receive God’s Spirit (Acts 2:38–39; John 3:16). At Christ’s second coming, all of those converted in this life, whether dead or alive, will be given immortality—born as full “sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36).

 “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5; cf. Psalm 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34). “He who overcomes shall inherit all things [the universe]” (Revelation 21:7).

 According to all the prophecies and promises of the Bible, God’s “firstfruits” (those called in this age) will be rewarded with a place or position of rulership in God’s Kingdom (John 14:1–3; Revelation 3:21; 20:4–6), right here on this earth (Revelation 2:26–27; 5:10; Daniel 2:44). The true saints will become full sons of God—”sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36). God’s purpose is that He is reproducing Himself and that those converted, ultimately, become full members of the Family of God, under the authority of the Father and the Son (1 John 3:1–3).They will share divine glory in the resurrection. Jesus prayed, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:22–23).