One Faith
The Bible teaches there is only one faith (Eph. 4:5) and it is the faith every Christian is to earnestly contend for (Jude 1:3) – the faith of the Holy Bible, which we believe wholeheartedly. Christians should endeavor to all live by the “same rule” or standard of faith (Phil. 3:16) because all genuine, Spirit-filled Christians will be lead by the same Spirit into “all truth” according to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (John 16:13).
God
We believe there is one, invisible, Spirit-God who eternally exists as one person. God alone is Savior and there is no other person or god beside Him (Isa. 43:11). Most Christian churches claim God is “three persons” but there is not one scripture in the Bible that literally says “God is three people or persons”. No Bible student or preacher can produce one scripture in the Bible that literally says God is “three persons”, proving the “trinity” of “three persons” is a false doctrine. The “holy trinity” was a man-made understanding of God, written many years after the original apostles of Jesus had died, without apostolic and scriptural authority, so the doctrine cannot be considered “infallible “. Because it is not found in the Bible, the teaching on the “holy trinity” is not of God and is an addition to the Word of God. Please see our numerous resources on the Godhead and the video on the “7 Problems With The Trinity Doctrine” for more truth on this subject.
The truth is that the one God reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matt. 28:19, 1 John 5:7) – yet it is the one, self-same person being revealed. The three manifestations or appearences of God – Father, Son, Holy Ghost – are the same person in a different appearance. God the Father is “God above us”, the eternal, invisible Spirit, and Creator of all things. This God revealed Himself in flesh in the body of Jesus Christ, Who is Emmanuel, “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Jesus was NOT a second person of God but was God Himself made manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). All the fullness of the Godhead was and is in Jesus (Col. 1:19, 2:9), so Jesus was NOT in the Godhead, but according to Scripture, the Godhead, or eternal Spirit, was in Him.
The Holy Ghost is a Spirit by definition and is literally God the Father. The Bible never says that there are two different holy spirits, so the Holy Spirit is God the Father Himself. The body of Jesus was conceived of the Holy Ghost (Matt. 1:20) which is further proof that the Holy Ghost is the self same person as God the Father. The Holy Ghost is “God in us”, abiding in our souls, in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. After Jesus ascended, the eternal Spirit that was in Him divided itself and came to live in the Christians on the Day of Pentecost. This same Holy Spirit has been dwelling in the souls of true Christians ever since.
The Bible
The Holy Bible was written by men who were anointed by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21). Every word in the Bible is pure and must not be added to or taken away from (Prov. 30:5-6). There are severe repercussions to those who add or take away from the Holy Bible (Rev. 22:18-19). The Bible is absolute truth, as Jesus taught (John 17:17), and is profitable in every way to make the children of God complete in their earthly journey (2 Tim. 3:16).
Grace
Grace is God’s unmerited favor to all those who accept His gift of eternal life through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Through the death of Jesus Christ, He destroyed the power that death had over every person (Heb. 2:14). All the ordinances or decrees that were against us were nailed to His cross and we are freely forgiven of all things through our faith in Christ Jesus (Col. 2:13-14).
Today, many people understand grace as “being able to live any way you want and still be saved”. That is a gross error, and this false teaching was prophesied of in Jude 1:4. He said that grace would be turned into “lawlessness” or “lasciviousness” and that is exactly what has happened. The truth of grace is that grace teaches believers to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, living godly in this present world and allowing Christ to purify us (Titus 2:11-14). When a person has truly received the grace of God in their hearts, they fall so in love with Christ and His Word that they lovingly want to obey every Word of God, not out of debt or legalism, but out of love. Jesus said those who keep the commands of God are the ones that love Him (John 14:21, 24).
The Bible teaches that grace cannot fail the true believer but unbelievers can “fail” or reject the “grace of God” as Esau did, who despised the Word of God and lived a profane life, which God hated (Heb. 12:14-16 Rom. 9:13). Grace does not allow a believer to continue walking in sin, but promotes a life that willingly strives to perfect holiness (Rom. 6:1-2, 13-23, 2 Cor. 7:1).
Furthermore, the Bible teaches that legalistic teaching (i.e., forcing males to be circumcised) causes one to fall from grace (Gal. 5:4-7). St. Paul taught that we must not vainly receive grace (2 Cor. 6:1), meaning it has no cleansing affect in our lives, but we must continue in grace (Acts 13:43), meaning our lives are continually sanctified to be more like Jesus Christ. St. Paul also taught that grace can be frustrated when one does not obey the truth (Gal. 2:20-3:1). Lastly, St. Paul taught that there are sore punishments for those who live contrary to the grace of God – meaning they despise holiness and a godly life (Heb. 10:28-30).
Salvation By Grace Through Faith
Salvation is a gift of God by grace alone and not by works (Eph. 2:8-10), and yet we are created by God to do the works He ordained us to do. Man must only have faith to believe the gospel and repent of his sins (Mark 1:15). True repentance is rarely found in the world today, as Jesus taught that few would find the narrow road that leads to eternal life (Matt. 7:14). Please see our three part series on “True Repentance” for more truth on this subject.
If a man has true faith, as a gift from God, it will produce works automatically (James 2:14-26), not by legalism of fear, but by his faith that operates by his love (Gal. 5:6) for His risen Savior, Jesus Christ.
God uses three works of grace – justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost – to fully redeem man and bring him to a new birth, just as God uses three steps to bring a natural child to a new birth – water, blood, spirit. Please see our video series on this topic for more truth.
The first work of grace is called justification, which is the declaration by God that man is righteous and thereby “saved” from the wrath of God. In this first work, a man recognizes His need to repent of all this sins and put his full faith in Jesus Christ as His Lamb and Savior. The man will then be fully immersed or baptized in water in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second step of grace is called sanctification. The Spirit of God begins to clean out the mind and daily habits of the new believer, increasing his faith and slowly transforming his life to be a life of Christian faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, and brotherly kindness.
Sanctification makes way for the third and final work of grace called the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is the born again experience Jesus spoke of in John 3 and that which took place on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. This third work is God coming to literally dwell in the Christian, which is called the sealing of their soul until the day of their redemption (Eph. 4:30). This filling of the Spirit endues a Christian with power to live above sin and fulfill the calling God has placed in their life. The Christ-like life of the true believer is the evidence of being born again, as the new Christian will be taught the Word of their day by the Holy Ghost Himself. Please see our video on the “Evidence of the Holy Ghost According to Jesus” for more truth on this topic.
Based upon these truths, a New Testament believer can be saved or justified, but not yet born again, as seen by the disciples of Jesus being believers in His position as Messiah (John 6:69), and yet they were not filled with the Holy Ghost until the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). In Samaria, many believers were baptized and yet the Holy Ghost had not fallen upon them until certain apostles had prayed for them according to Acts 8:12-17. In Ephesus, the believers were aware of Christ as the Messiah and worshipped him but did not receive the Holy Ghost until St. Paul came and expounded upon the baptism of the Holy Ghost according to Acts 18:24-28 and Acts 19:1-12
Three Divine Ordinances
The Bible teaches that we are to keep three physical, divinely-inspired ordinances, which include water baptism (Mark 16:16), feet washing (John 13:14), and communion (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
Water Baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ
Believers who have fully repented of their sins should be fully immersed in water, not sprinkled, while calling on the name of the “Lord Jesus Christ”, according to every baptism example in the Book of Acts (Acts 2:38, 8:14-16, 10:46-48, 19:1-5, 22:16). Those examples from the Book of Acts interpret Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19, proving there is one Name to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – it is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please see our video on water baptism for more truth.
Gifts and Power of the Holy Ghost
Every spiritual gift – all nine of them (1 Cor. 12:1-11) – are available to Christians today, just as they were in the days of the Corinthians, nearly 30 years after the ascension of Jesus to heaven. God has never taken the gifts away from His church. True gifts and the supernatural signs of the Holy Ghost always follow true believers (Mark 16:15-20).
While we believe unknown tongues are a true gift of God, the Bible gives us at least seven reasons why tongues are NOT the evidence of being born again. Please see our video on this topic for more truth.
All nine spiritual gifts are given to men and women – so God freely gives these gifts without any discrimination of gender, as seen by women who could prophesy (Acts 21:9) and had the gift of faith for healing (Matt. 15:28).
The power, ability, or anointing of the Holy Ghost can fall on anyone who has a gift of God – whether they are a true believer or not and whether they are saved or not. The presence of a gift in a person’s life does not prove one is saved, as seen quite clearly through the life and work of the prophet Balaam. The Spirit of God came upon Balaam so he could see visions and trances (Numb. 24:2,4,16) that foretold the coming of the Messiah (Numb. 24:17) and yet St. Peter taught that the “mist of darkness” was forever reserved for men like Balaam (2 Peter 2:15-17).
Jesus taught this concept by saying that the anointing was like “rain” that fell upon the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). Hebrews 6 teaches this concept as well, explaining that both herbs (believers) and thorns (unbelievers) receive rain (the spiritual blessings of God) and yet only one is accepted and the other is burned (Heb. 6:6-8). The teaching of Jesus further solidified this concept as He taught that workers of iniquity, who would be rejected on the Day of Judgment, can have the anointing of the Spirit to do works in the name of Jesus and yet they would be lost (Matt. 7:21-23).
Present Truth
St. Peter taught believers to be established in the “present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). Each time period had present truth that was unique to the plan of God for that generation. One example is with Noah and Moses. Each prophet had the truth for their generation, but each man of God also had a unique portion of the Word to fulfill. Noah built an ark before the worldwide flood but Moses’ commission was to lead Israel out of Egypt. Each man of God had a “present truth” – the Word of God that was being fulfilled in their day. Please see the “Message of the Hour” video for more truth about this subject.
The present truth today is the “restoration” and finishing of the mysteries of God before the sudden, secret catching away of the Bride of Christ, often called the “rapture”, followed immediately by the tribulation and then the great and terrible day of judgment. Jesus said He would send the Spirit of Elijah to “restore all things” (Matt. 17:11), just as the Bible teaches that Jesus must remain in heaven until the restoration of “all things” (Acts 3:21). This Spirit of Elijah was promised to “turn the heart of the children to their fathers” before the earth was smitten with a curse, according to Malachi 4:5-6.
We believe one man, and one man only, was anointed with the true Spirit of Elijah in our generation – William M. Branham (1909-1965). God fully vindicated Brother Branham as His prophet to this age. Please see our videos for more details about the prophetic ministry of this servant of God who was sent to preach the full revelation of the Word of God to prepare the Bride of Christ for the rapture!
While we recognize William Branham as God’s prophet, we do not believe he was infallible and he should be worshipped by anyone – only Jesus Christ is infallible and only He should be worshipped. Every genuine Bible prophet was human, meaning they made mistakes and sinned, but a genuine prophet never made an error when speaking with “Thus Saith the Lord” or “In the Name of the Lord” according to Deuteronomy 18:21-22. We believe William Branham meets this qualification for being a genuine prophet of God.
The Finished Mysteries of God
Revelation 10:7 teaches that the mysteries of God would be finished in the end times. The revelation of the Bible mysteries is extremely important, as the children of God are the only ones who can receive the revelations and these revelations enable His children to obey all the words of God (Matt. 13:11, Deut. 29:29, Gen. 18:17-19).
The New Testament specifically lists 12 Bible mysteries, one of which has seven parable-mysteries of Jesus, found in Matthew chapter 13. Through the supernatural ministry of the end-time prophet of God, William Branham, God has graciously revealed these mysteries to His beloved children around the world.
The 12 specific New Testament mysteries are: (1) The Blindness of Israel and the Gentile Dispensation; (2) The One Body of Elect Jewish and Gentile Christians; (3) The New Testament Church as the Bride of Christ; (4) The Catching Away or Rapture of the New Testament Church; (5) Christ Indwelling the Believer; (6) Godliness; (7) The Seven Stars; (8) The Father, God, and Christ; (9) Iniquity; (10) The Will of God; (11) Mystery Babylon; and (12) The Kingdom of Heaven.
Under the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, there are 7 parable-mysteries of Jesus from Matthew chapter 13 are: (1) The Sowed Seed on Four Grounds; (2) The Wheat and the Tares; (3) The Grain of Mustard Seed; (4) The Leaven Hid in Three Measures of Meal; (5) The Treasure Hid in the Field; (6) The Pearl of Great Price; and (7) The Net Cast Into the Sea.
Modesty, Outward
God inwardly produces a modest, or humble, Christ-like character through the continual, daily work of sanctification, as described above in the “Salvation…” section. Our Lord also commands outward modesty in clothing according to 1 Timothy 2:9 and Deuteronomy 22:5. Briefly, God requires believers to cover their body parts with long, flowing, and loose garments (Rev. 7:9, Rev. 1:13, Isa. 47:2-3), wear no makeup on their faces (2 Kings 9:30, Jerem. 4:30, Ezek. 23:40), keep their hair either long or short (short for men, long and uncut for women according to 1 Cor. 11:1-16), and not cross dress or wear clothes that pertain to the opposite sex (Deut. 22:5). Please see our videos for more details about these truths.
The Five-Fold Preaching Ministry
The Bible teaches that true, Spirit-filled believers will be made complete, mature Christians through the preaching ministry that Jesus sent to the earth in the form of five different, unique preaching gifts – apostle, prophet, teacher, pastor, and evangelist (Eph. 4:7-16).
These five preaching gifts are for men only, as St. Paul taught that he would not allow a woman to usurp authority over men (1 Tim. 2:12-13). He also taught that men ought to speak or preach only in a church gathering and that it was a shame for a woman to do so. If a woman had any questions, she was to wait and ask her husband at home (1 Cor. 14:34-35). Furthermore, Jesus never called a woman to be one of his apostles – all 12 were men (Matt. 10:1-4).
Marriage and Divorce
Contrary to popular opinion, the truth on Marriage and Divorce is quite straight forward in the Bible. The will of God is for one man to marry one woman and be faithful to one another until death (Matt. 19:6, Rom. 7:2). Jesus and St. Paul taught that remarriage is only allowed in two cases.
The first case is that a widow or widower may remarry another believer who does not have a living spouse (Rom. 7:1-3). This is because a widower is no longer bound to their previous spouse because that spouse has died and they are free to marry again, only in the Lord.
The second case is that a man may put away his wife and marry another if she did not confess any fornications she committed before they were married (Matt. 5:32, Matt. 1:18-21), because their vow would then be void due to dishonesty.
There are no New Testament Bible examples of any believer being remarried while having a different living spouse, since that would be adultery. There are no New Testament Bible examples of any believer being allowed to remarry because their spouse committed adultery on them. Adultery does not loose someone from the law of their marriage vow. If adultery takes place in a marriage, the couple must seek forgiveness and remain together, for if they separate and marry other believers, they have committed adultery.
A couple can separate or divorce for sound reasons other than fornication, but their only options are to remain separated or reunite (1 Cor. 7:11). A couple who separates and remarries for any other reason than the two reasons listed above are living in adultery and must repent or they cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-11, Gal. 5:19-21).
At select times in Bible history, God has given grace and forgiveness to His own people who have not followed His marriage and divorce requirements, either due to their ignorance or willful sin. In Moses day, God suffered His people to give a writing of divorcement (Matt. 19:7-8) and God still accepted them (Deut. 24:1-4). In the days of St. Paul, God allowed Paul to give his judgments about marriage and divorce due to the present distress of those times (1 Cor. 7:6,12,25-26). We believe the same grace and forgiveness extends to believers today who were either ignorant or disobedient to the marriage requirements of God. If they confess their marriage-related sins, God is faithful and just to forgive them (1 John 1:8-10) and then they are instructed to “walk” the rest of their days in the marriage relationship wherein they were “called” and enlightened to the truth of God’s Word regarding marriage and divorce (1 Cor. 7:17-24).
The Lust of the Eyes – Hollywood and The Internet
The Bible condemns those who purposely put evil before their eyes (1 John 2:16, Ps. 101:3). Jesus said that looking upon another in lust and harboring lustful thoughts was the same as committing the literal act of adultery (Matt. 5:28), and adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-11). St. Peter taught that the sin your eyes behold daily brings torment or demons into your heart and mind (2 Peter 2:7-8). Based upon these Bible truths, the Christian should abstain from nearly every movie (a few are acceptable) and most websites because of the evil and wickedness that is presented on the film. Recall that grace teaches us to deny any ungodliness (Titus 2:11-12) – especially in what we see and hear.
Predestination
The Bible teaches that all men are predestined or ordained for either eternal life or eternal separation (death) from God (Jude 1:4, 2 Pet. 2:12) based upon the foreknowledge of God (1 Pet.1:2). God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), but because God is eternal He knows in advance the choices men will make and can then predestinate events in the lives of believers that they can be conformed to image of His Son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). While God desires that all men be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), not all will accept the pardoning grace of the Lord Jesus and “many” will have to depart from Christ on the Day of Judgment because of their iniquity (Matt. 7:21-23). Those who are the adopted children of God were chosen in the mind of God before the world began that we might fulfill His divine purpose (Eph. 1:4-5,11).
Revelation
As part of the the church of the Living God, our church is open to receiving more Bible-based revelation from God’s Spirit. It is through God’s revelation that we overcome the gates of hell (Matt. 16:18). We believe God is unlimited, so we will not limit the Holy One of Israel, nor His future revelation. We end this page with a comma, because we believe God can reveal more of His truth to our hearts,