Statement of faith

by Jannie

We declare our consecrated, dedicated, appreciative, continual, personal love for God our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit.  Our faith does not rest in the wisdom or philosophy or intellect or reasoning of men, but in that specific finished work of Jesus Christ on His cross at Calvary for us as individuals who have truly repented and are hence forth staying pure and faithful to Christ till the end when He returns to complete His work for a new heaven and a new earth. We can [should] show the manifesting power of a personal relationship with Almighty Triune God as our Father through Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit inside of us by His grace, His mercy and His righteousness alone.

The attempt of a summary of a true theology, as outlined in this statement following, is expanded on in the meditations found in www.gospel-truth.co.za, and is open for correction from [Biblical] Scripture.

The following outline of the Word of God [the Bible comprising 66 books], is currently the foundation of our belief:

 

The Old Covenant consists of at least the following:

– Accurate historical and literal facts on God’s creation, man, and God’s dealings with man; also, different characters [types], how [un-manipulative] God’s provision works, man’s choices and responsibilities with its corresponding results, prophetic images, and the tradition and self-righteous mindsets of mankind.

– A covenant [promise] made to Abraham and His Seed (Jesus Christ), that the Messiah would come as the anointed One to bring the good news of everlasting life through Him, and that He would set the captives free, heal the sick, save the lost; that He would take all God’s wrath [cup] and pay for all sin of all who choose to accept the redeeming offer of Jesus Christ and hence follow Him; that He would be the Cornerstone in the same building that we [collectively and individually] are the stones of, the same city with a lasting glory on earth, with His Spirit permanently indwelling us as Light to the world. We would be His stars, with Him the guiding Star, not the dust [self-righteous religious] of earth.

– Law came 430 years after this promise, and was given to Moses and Israelites, for the period from Moses up to Jesus Christ (Gal 3:19).  The law was given unto them (Rom 9:4); we have mercy and grace and His guidance (Jn 1:17; 14:23-27).  They had religion [by their choice]; we should have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ our Saviour (Jn 1:12,13,17; 14:6; 15:1-5).

– The arrival of Jesus Christ, His ministry and His crucifixion; resurrection and ascension that ended the old system (Heb 8:13; 9:8,26-28).

 

The New Testament that teaches at least the following:

– The teachings of Jesus Christ, His testimony

– Jesus born – sent, not created – as Man to legitimately and really represent all of mankind

– Jesus Christ crucified, giving His life, not losing it.  Jesus was not overcome; He overcame [paid] for us.

–  As God He never ceased to be a Triune God.

– Jesus buried so that we can inherit a legit New Testament (Heb 9:16,17)

– Jesus resurrected [proof of all our sins forgiven as sin cannot escape hell; and His eternal Life for us]

– Jesus’ appearances

– Jesus’ ascension

– Our empowerment on earth with His Spirit dwelling – permanently – within us, by faith

– Jesus’ return – not any moment, but not until… (Heb 1:13; 10:13)

Therefore, we currently believe:

  •  His Word.  The Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments compiled in 66 books, is the fully inspired and written, infallible Word of God.  We accept it as the supreme and final authority in all matters of doctrine, faith and life.  It is one progressive unfolding revelation of God Himself in Jesus Christ.  We reject all contradictions to Scripture.  We force no “gap” between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2; not any human death before Adam, the first man; and believe that the heavens and the earth were created in six literal days by God probably around 4000 years BC.  We reject the “rapture” hoax that profess two returns of Jesus Christ, in stages, separated by some years, also the adoration of any ethnic group, or teachings other than the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We believe the Old had fleeting glories, and the New should show a lasting glory with Holy Spirit indwelling us and that we have the hope of Jesus returning again to complete His greater work for a new heaven and a new earth.
  •  His Godhead.  There is one God Who is a Spirit, self-revealed in three Persons:  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These are the three eternal distinctions in one divine Being, the Creator of all – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; transcendent and almighty and not limited to gender, shape or form.
  •  Christology.  This encompasses the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death on His cross through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of God the Father, His personal future return in bodily form to reign in power and glory when His church has taken control to rule in Christ on earth.  Jesus Christ the Messiah is always the same, yesterday, today & forever.  Only Jesus Christ paid for- and can be our righteousness and holiness before God the Father, so that we can enter His throne boldly by His grace, His mercy and His righteousness alone, not by any of our attempts masked in self-tormenting guilt.  Jesus is the Word that has always been present with God, all things were made and came into existence through Him, in Him was Life and the Life was the Light of men, the exact likeness of the unseen God, the firstborn of all creation, all things were created and exist through Him, and He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist [cohere, are held together] and He alone is the Head of His Body the Church, as He is the firstborn from among the dead.  It has pleased the Father that all the divine fullness [the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes] should dwell in Him and His Body (His followers, His church; His city; His Zion) permanently.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one goes to the Father except by Jesus Christ. Only God can speak things into being, we do not have that attribute – we can only declare that is already declared by God.
  •  The nature and character of God. God is a Perfect Father, a Perfect Provider, a Perfect Guide, a Perfect Counselor, a Perfect Comforter, a Perfect Intercessor, a Perfect Savior, a Perfect Teacher, a Perfect Strengthener.  It is absurd of any human to claim to be “cross” [disappointed] with God at any stage. We draw calamity to ourselves through our own wrongdoing and lack of doing God’s will with our choices, often like poor links in a chain, and should accept responsibility for our own ignorance and arrogance.  True Christians are not play-actors but children of God and will shine God’s Light [Jesus Christ, victorious everlasting Life, Love, hope] to the world always.  We should be the City the world comes to for any good [holy] form of help, guidance, and Love.
  •  Man & sin.  Man was created good and upright in the image of God but man, by voluntary transgression, fell, and his only hope of redemption is in Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.  Our new identity is then in Christ and Christ in us that re-positioned us in sonship to God Almighty irrespective of our works as attempts at merit.  We must, though, be holy for He is holy. It is by faith in Jesus Christ and His successful and fully accomplished work that we appropriate His blessings in our lives on earth. True Christians cannot live in self-tormenting guilt like hypocrites that actually calls God a liar (1 Jn 3:20); neither can true Christians continue to be attracted by anything that God loathes in true Love; there must be no filthiness (obscenity, indecency) nor foolish or sinful (corrupt) talk, nor coarse jesting, no impurity in thought or life, or covetousness (lustful and greedy desire for property of others and greediness for gain) and as Christians must be kind, decent, useful and generous, ready to help where and how we can where the need is.
  • Marriage and homosexuality. The overwhelming stance found in The Bible against [sexual] immorality and sexual lewdness would be illogical if God did not intend faithfulness and commitment in marriage (one man with one woman who can produce “legitimate” offspring and care for them with love that portrays a prophetic image of Christ and His followers – Eph 5:23-32; Mt 25:10; Heb 13:4; Rev 19:7). Concepts such as genealogy, lineage, heritage, [sexual] morality all only makes sense with the existence of marriage as defined by God (not man). Without marriage (clearly gender-specific, only between one man and one woman to each other), [sexual] immorality would be irrational. Our belief and conviction on this matter is expanded upon in the meditations “Marriage” and “Homosexuality, a choice, gender or not” in www.gospel-truth.co.za. The perpetual rebellious sinner hates God’s holiness, and by implication God’s absolute righteousness that by definition must pass a judgement [assessment and punishment] as found in His Word, the Bible.  This hatred will be projected on followers of Christ as well (Jn 15:1-5,18-21).
  •  Provision of salvation. Our salvation has three tenses – past, present and future as one on-going process to still be saved in the end [not backslide]. Through faith in the absolute successful work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary and us having been baptized to lay down our specific sins of the past and bury the old sinful self, we rise for a useful future for God in His Kingdom on earth with Christ and follow Him through the guidance of His Holy Spirit as His disciples so that we may continue as His followers of His will to the end. Man is justified by grace and mercy alone by accepting the price Jesus Christ paid on His Cross and then by following His guidance and precepts and this through faith that receives His Love, His grace, His mercy and His righteousness in Jesus Christ resurrected and not by works of Law but our faith in Him will show as a result of works of good as led by His Holy Spirit at work inside of us.
  •  Acceptance of grace.  They who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour by faith in His sacrifice on His cross are saved and washed by His Blood.  But man is only born again by Holy Spirit by accepting His Word of His finished work on His cross and so become mature children of God and co-heirs with Christ Jesus here on earth.  The new birth is absolutely essential for a kingdom life on earth with immortality and eternal life.  To believe in Jesus Christ as our only Savior, is to trust in, cling to, and rely on Him [only] in continued and habitual joyful obedience in thoughts and deeds to His Spirit to show the fruit of His Spirit on earth.  We accept the regenerative power of His Holy Spirit for us in our renewed minds and in our bodies, believing the blood of Jesus Christ on His cross has removed all sin and has provided all we need inside of us, and accepting His Spirit Word that makes us new creations by His merciful grace alone.  God is [un-manipulative, true] Love, and provided a package [sozo] by the blood of Jesus Christ, and in Christ [and Christ in us] we are justified and glorified to His likeness with signs and miracles able to following us.
  • Pro Life. We vehemently oppose the murder of unborn children that should all be given the same privilege to the possibility of [an everlasting] life than us.
  •   Ordinances.  The Lord Jesus Christ appointed [only] two ordinances: 1. The believer’s baptism by immersion in water as a public witness and confession of our own faith and our own identification with Christ declaring that we have died to “self” with Jesus and have also been raised with Him [in Spirit] to walk with Him in newness of life, symbolical of being baptized in one body, as well as belief in our bodily resurrection at the returning of our Lord Jesus Christ; and 2. The Lord’s Supper as the partaking of the emblems, the bread and the fruit of the vine, as a declaration of His sacrifice and death for us so that we may live, and a prophecy of His second coming by all believers.  The Lord’s Supper can be enjoyed often by all saints, as partaking in His Body and His Blood, joined by His Spirit Word of Truth/Life.
  •  Holiness. (Rom 8:29-39) The sanctifying power of Holy Spirit by Who’s indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a life of righteousness and true holiness [consecration] to Him.  In His love He chose us as His own in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy [consecrated and set apart for Him] and blameless in His sight, even beyond reproach, for Him in love.  For He foreordained us [destined us, planned in love for us] to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His fatherly intent] – so that we might be to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (Light, favor, power, mercy), as He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  We are to be kings [that rules our thought-life] in service to God in His kingdom-plan on earth.  He made us blameless in His sight and lavished upon us the wisdom and knowledge of our mature sonship consummated in Christ.  We should hate what God hates and be responsible as His followers in Christ Jesus. This hate includes a loathing of falsity that includes false dogma and false teachings contradicting Jesus Christ. God’s holiness means that His ultimate and absolute righteousness must have judgement with a resultant salvation or condemnation, depending on what we believe and live out, even in our thought-life – Prov 23:7 (KJV, Ampl); Mt 5:27,28; et al. This judgement [assessment] and condemnation by God is hated by a perpetual sinner. We must be holy for He is holy. God loves a repentive sinner, not an unrepentive sinner.
  •   God’s will for us.   (Eph 5:17, explained by Eph 5:1-9) We thank God in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], because He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm.  God is above the natural, and so want us as His children to be above the natural [victorious].  So, His will for us is to enjoy a supernatural, abundant, joyful, immortal & eternal Life. We are free moral agents and so accept the full authority on earth Jesus Christ paid for in our humble love and joy.
  •  Gifts.  The Baptism of Holy Spirit [as Source] with the voluntary speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and the operation of the Spirit of God [Christ] for the edification of the whole body of Christ (regulated by 1 Cor 14).  God’s gifts empower us in His kingdom here on earth, inside of us and among us, in order for us to see good results (Mk 16:17-20; Jn 17:20; Heb 2:8).  The same Holy Spirit indwells all re-born followers of Christ and can operate freely when unlimited by the minds of man [in offense, reasoning, unbelief or distrust in His Spirit Word].  We can all heal and set free in His authority as sons of God (Mt 10:8; Jn 14:12-13; 15:1-8; 17:15,20-26).  The true gift is not a particular ability, but the choice to demonstrate results of our interest in any of these abilities by faith. The same Spirit is operating in all and provided in equal measure for all re-born believers in Jesus Christ.
  •  Partaking in fellowship.  The Church [ekklesia] is the global body of New Testament people in Christ and Christ in them – the habitation of God through His Spirit with divine appointment for the fulfilment of our great commission each (Mt 28:19,20).  Each Christian believer who accepts the redemption by Jesus Christ and is [truly] born again by Holy Spirit is part of that body and is equal before God.  No individuals or group or nation has higher standing or rank or preferences in the New Testament Kingdom [Church] of God [on earth]. In reflecting the greater body, the new birth and a continuous and habitual personal living confession of Christ Jesus in thoughts, words and deeds are essentials for being part of any local assembly as His body. Christians cannot tolerate dissentions, divisions, [party spirit factions, heresies] and will gather by way of a family informally and also organized.  We, not buildings [by man], are His church, His body, His New Jerusalem [His city build not by human hands], His bride, Zion.  Jesus Christ is Head of His church and we cannot de-nominate what God nominated in Jesus Christ.  No other foundation can be laid by man.  Our names are in the Lamb of God’s Book of Life, by His grace, and any register kept by man has no significance whatsoever in the heavenly.  There is one true Lord, one true faith, one true baptism.
  • Cessation [in part]. Prophets and apostles had specific roles and those roles have been fulfilled (Heb 1:1-2; 2 Pet 2:1). Jesus Christ is the only true foundation that the prophets foretold, and the apostles were eyewitnesses to (Lk 10:24; Acts 1:22). Today we are the living stones as part of the walls – the foundation having been laid – in the same spiritual house in which Jesus is [remains] the chief corner stone; and so today we still have need for the evangelists, traveling missionaries, pastors and teachers of Eph 4:11; but prophets and apostles [eyewitnesses] as an office with men bearing titles of “prophet” and “apostle” are past tense. With God’s Spirit inside of us we all have the same gift of prophecy [to say what He does] – Jn 14:26.
  •  Healing.  The redemptive work of Jesus Christ on His cross provides healing for the whole man: body, soul and spirit.  It is the privilege of all believers by His mercy and grace and a sign following to confirm the preached Word of God – through Christ – to unbelievers.  We heal so we can live, not die, for Him.
  •  Judgement.  The bodily resurrection of the saved who have lost their bodies, to everlasting life with God in a glorified body.  The unsaved will be destroyed in hell [the fire with eternal effect prepared for the devil and his followers.  The followers of Satan chose for themselves this destruction]. If the body dies [prior to Jesus’ return], the saved spirit and soul is with Him until receiving, with all remaining saints, a transformed, imperishable, resurrected body, in honor and glory, fulfilling Scripture for all eternity when Jesus returns.  Just as the Father raise up the dead and gives them eternal life, even so the Son also gives everlasting life to whoever believes Him fully right now.  Even the Father judges no one, for He has given all judgement (the last judgement, the whole business of judging) entirely into the hands of the Son, so that all men may give honor (reverence, homage, trust) to the Son just as they give honor to the Father.  In fact, whoever does not honor the Son Jesus does not honor the Father, who has sent Him.  We judge [condemn, bind] no one and cannot be judged [condemned] by any man [under law, in self-righteousness with own attempts of any works] when we are in Christ [Holy Spirit].   Jesus Christ is not an accuser but our Savior, our Redeemer, our Intercessor, our Brother, our Friend, our eternal Lord but will be our final Judge.  He is only creative and good and in Him is no variation or shadow.  He took the judgement [cup, wrath of God] on Him at His cross at Calvary once for all, so that there is only one who accuses man – Moses and those under law [self-righteousness]. Man can [is equipped to] judge [assess] and should therefore exercise sound judgement.  Judgement is to be positive [set free, admonish, reproach].  No man can condemn another man, but man can certainly judge [assess, review] a fellow human being. The Bible [God] teaches us to exhort and reproof each other in love [Christ] – 2 Tim 3:16-17.