Featured Your single most important doctrine...

God send forth to the church a woman who gave both false teachings and inaccurate prophecy?

She is in the same boat as Joseph Smith and pastor russell, all of them NOT of God, but getting "revelations" from the enemy of God!

 

Why? At least you would know just where they stand. Then you could make an educated decision. I visited with a very conservative Lutheran church in the neighborhood for a while. It was obvious from the beginning where they stood docternally ...they did not hesitate to tell me where they stood and one of their elders even told me that my views on llimited atonement was heretical and they would not allow me communion. Their priest /pastor & I had a intense disgussion as to doctrinal differences and we could not agree. He felt that with time he could convince me that he was right and that I would accept them....that's when I cut it off, that I was convinced of my 5 point DoG & so thank you very much. So my point is that at least I went in and outa there knowing where they stood....and it served to sterngthen my beliefs as well.

 

I'm not saying that it's good or bad. Any officer in my church would willingly explain to you where we stand on issues. I was just pointing out that it wasn't something that came up every service. It's not like some church version of fight Club where the pastor stands up and says "The first rule of our church is you do not talk about limited atonement. The second rule of our church is you do believe in free will." (I know that's facetious, but it's trying to make a point).

 

There are in northern New Jersey is why! See most of these churches of every stripe rely on a fresh catch of Roman Catholics to fill the pews so they begin to do things that make fallen away Catholics comfortable....like Saturday evening services, Easter egg hunts for the kiddies, pumpkin carvings at Halloween, the removal of doctrinal emphesis blah, blah, blah.

 

Well then what do you have if not proper doctrine? The church of the group hug?

 

We have a proper doctrine, EWF. Many of the smaller churches around my area, what most would probably call "backwoods," do not have published Statements of Faith. Lacking websites and printed church bulletins, it's never really been an issue for us.

We have the basics of our doctrine, and those are readily evident in our preaching and teaching. Here's a quick list hitting the high points of what we believe:

1. We believe Christ died for all humanity, and it is now man's responsibility to accept or reject Him
2. We believe in free will and free grace
3. We hold to amillennial eschatological beliefs
4. We believe in a general resurrection of both the saved and the lost when Christ returns
5. We believe Baptism imparts no saving grace, but is more akin to an outward sign or our conversion
6. We believe that the Lord's Supper is a divine ordinance of God, and should be undertaken with solemnity and self-examination (though like Baptism, the Lord's Supper imparts no saving grace)
7. We believe that church members ought to take part in the washing of one another's feet, as the Lord taught us
8. We believe God calls only men to preach and Pastor. While all saved persons are responsible for sharing their testimony, only those men called into the ministry should undertake to preach
9. We allow women to teach Bible study classes containing other women and children up to age 13. No woman is to teach any male person in the church after the age of 13
10. We do prefer the use of the KJV Bible, though we do not disallow members to use another translation

Like I say, this is just a high-point list. It would take some time to write out every doctrinal position that we hold to. Now, not everyone in our church holds 100% to these points. Some folks are pre-mil. Some never take part in foot-washing. Some never partake of the Lord's Supper. These are their free choices to make.

 

I began to read the sermons of Spurgeon in 1980 and that was a turning point for me when it comes to doctrine. These sermons gave me a hunger to know the God who is sovereign over all creation and has power over all flesh, John 17:2 I cannot ever be a part of freewill churches anymore. For me to go back would be like renouncing the God of scriptures. As I look back I realize that at one time freewill doctrine was once in my head but now Sovereign grace is in my heart.

 

And that is the place I am at also brother. To me anyway, God has revealed something precious in sovereign grace so for me to ......well you know. Id feel like I was turning my back on a critical turning point in my understanding of my worship mindset. Maybe its just me, but that's my conviction.