THE NORTHEAST CHURCH OF GOD..What do we believe?

   As I headed for my car after finishing work a week ago, my cell-phone rang. It was my daughter and she had some interesting questions. “Let me hook up my hands-free gadget and I’ll call you right back” was my response. She explained that she and her fiancée had hoped to ask us a few questions about our religion. She was quite aware of what we did but not why. Since she had been raised since a child attending our church, there was quite a lot she understood but she now needed a thorough overview. “Why now?” I asked. She responded that her fiancée had been raised a Roman Catholic and she had agreed to marry in his church. The wedding was still 9 months away but before their marriage they are required to counsel with his priest. She expected she would be asked about her church and she wanted to be sure.

   We are Christians, I explained, but obviously not part of the mainstream Protestant churches. We are best described as Sabbatarians, ‘Primitive Christians’, taking our lifestyle from the teachings in the Bible. So, unlike the Roman Catholic church, we observe a 7^th day Sabbath, and one way or another, our roots go back to the Church of God, Seventh Day. The brethren we meet with are attending a church which was an off-shoot of a larger organization which began as an off-shoot of a Church of God Seventh Day congregation in Oregon. That church had its origins in a split of the Church of God Seventh Day which occurred in 1933 splitting into a Stanberry, Missouri conference and a Salem, West Virginia conference, I believe. Where did this Church originate? I’m not sure. Some claim that there have always been Christian churches observing a 7^th. day Sabbath. Certainly a Sabbath-keeping church appeared in the Americas in Rhode Island in 1670 from England. They became known as the 7^th. Day Baptists and their church spread west to Salem, West Virginia in 1792. So there may be some connection back to the 7^th. Day Baptists.

   And, like the 7^th. Day Baptists, but unlike the Roman Catholics, we believe in complete immersion baptism. Our children were not ‘christened’ at an early age. This practice was introduced by the Catholic Church with, what we consider, the mistaken belief that children carry sin with them and must be ‘christened’, relieved of their sins and brought into the Church when a baby. This was not what was described in the Bible. (Matt. 3: 1-17). John the Baptist carried out total immersion baptism of repenting adults in the Jordan river. He baptized Jesus. God expressed his complete satisfaction at that time with His Son. The Bible explains clearly that adults who understand the meaning of repentance from sins should seek baptism.

   Keeping the Sabbath day holy is the fourth commandment (Ex. 20: 8 – 11). Jesus kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). It was His custom. The Sabbath He kept was the same day of the week the Jews observed. The Roman Church changed the day to Sunday but the Jews have kept the Sabbath day, providing us with confidence that the day we observe is the same one that the ancients kept. Now some people mistakenly believe that this commandment was only for the Jews. There is no doubt that God intended all mankind to keep this day. When he separated out his people the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they were known as Israelites…twelve tribes, and one tribe, the tribe of Judah, we know today as the Jews. But all the tribes received the ten commandments. All were required to keep the commandments.

   And we observe God’s Festivals. Those days are described in Leviticus 23 where God describes His feast days. God’s plan for mankind is described by His feast days. They were abandoned by the Roman Church, and other days put in their place. We know the early church kept these feasts (1 Cor. 5: 7,8; Acts 18:21). So, we don’t keep Easter …we observe the Days of Unleavened Bread, as do the Jews. But of far greater importance is the Passover which precedes the Days of Unleavened Bread. Now we don’t observe the Passover as the Jews do. The Passover as described in Leviticus involved the sacrifice of a Passover Lamb as a reminder of the lamb whose blood was used to mark the doorposts of the house to protect the inhabitants from the Death Angel when it passed over Egypt, killing all the firstborn of the Egyptians (Ex. 1:29). That lamb and its symbolism was replaced by our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. It was Jesus whose sacrifice, His blood, His broken body was shed for us so that we may escape the penalty of sin. Jesus could not observe the Passover on the day when everyone in Jerusalem was observing it for He was nailed to a stake. His death occurred at the same instant that the High Priest in the Temple sacrificed the lamb and sprinkled its blood on the mercy seat. Jesus changed the symbols of the Passover and so we observe them …each year, on that night when He was betrayed, taking the cup of wine and broken bread, symbols of His shed blood and broken body. And we do this as a memorial to Him. Other churches refer to this as ‘communion’ and offer it to be taken many times each year. But we do it just once each year. After all, we don’t hold memorial services just at any time during the year, do we? If we attend a memorial service for the victims of the 9/11/2001 attack on a later year, we observe it on 9/11.

   The Days of Unleavened Bread include a day, following the weekly Sabbath day when the High Priest would wave the first sheaf of wheat before God. It was the first fruit of the spring harvest (Lev. 23:9-11). Jesus Christ was resurrected and presented Himself before the Father on that same day. He was the first fruit of the ‘harvest’ of the many who would be raised from the dead.

   We then count 50 days from that day, the day after the weekly Sabbath within the Days of Unleavened Bread, to arrive at the day of the wave offering, when the harvest is all collected in (Lev. 23:15). This Feast Day, Pentecost, is of great importance to the Church since it was on that day that the Holy Spirit was first poured out by God on the disciples giving them power and strength to begin His Church on this earth.

   In several places in the Bible this ‘Holy Spirit’ is translated as the ‘Holy Ghost’ implying the existence of a person, a third person in the Godhead…God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son and the ‘Holy Ghost’. Hence the importance of the ‘Trinity’ in mainstream Christianity. But the translators have this wrong. The Holy Spirit is the power of God the Father. It is the means whereby God imparts power to His people. A power that can accomplish much (John 16: 1-13).

   There are no ghosts. When people die they do not reappear as ghosts. Paul was quite clear on this, and Peter too. When Peter was imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit on that Pentecost festival after Christ’s crucifixion, he spoke (Acts 2:16 –34) “For David is not ascended into the heavens…his grave is with us to this day”. When we die, we enter a sleep, waiting for the day of our resurrection. So dead people cannot appear as ghosts.

   However, we do believe in the apparitions that are reported as ‘ghosts’. You see, we believe in angels…good angels and evil angels (demons). The angelic realm includes both good and bad angels. Those angels that followed Lucifer, or Satan in an attempt to overthrow God’s throne and take charge of the angelic host, they were cast down to the earth (Isa. 14:12). Satan and his demons have carried out their evil work on this earth ever since. We acknowledge their presence but ‘steer clear’ of anything that could involve these totally evil beings. We need to call on Jesus and His name when confronted with such demons. Satan knows his time is short on this earth so he does not plan to let up.

   The next festival is the Feast of Trumpets, in the Fall, usually September but sometimes in October. This is the day prophesied when the last trumpet will blow and Jesus Christ will return to the earth from the clouds and do battle with the power of evil. (Matt. 24:3 – 30; 1Cor. 15:52). When Jesus returns, His people, the elect, those who have overcome the world, they will be caught up with Him in the clouds and those that died, they will be resurrected to eternal life.

   In order for Christ to begin the process of correcting the problems of the earth, Satan the devil and his demons will be chained and prevented from continuing their evil ways on the earth. This event was symbolized by activities of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement as described in Leviticus 23 and 16. We fast on that day, ‘afflicting’ our bodies. The Day of Atonement symbolized the reconciliation of man to God after Christ returns to earth and the binding of Satan to render him inactive.

   The festival known as the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) follows the Day of Atonement and represents that idyllic time when Christ will rule the earth, the devil will be bound and the earth will be at a glorious peace. This period is believed to last for 1000 years (Rev. 20:3). This Feast is called the Feast of Tabernacles because God wanted His people to realize they were residing in temporary dwellings for one week without the cares of day-to-day living. We observe this by living in temporary hotel rooms for the week. But we live well, enjoying the best of food and the best of times.

   The final Holy Day in God’s calendar, is the Last Great Day, immediately following the week of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus in Jerusalem helped us understand better this day (John 7:37). This day represents the day of the Great White Throne Judgement when all who have died and yet were not raised up in the first resurrection on Christ’s return to the earth, they will be raised again to life to stand before the throne of their creator and the ‘Book of Life’ will be opened and their lives will be judged and some will receive eternal life and some whose names do not appear in the ‘Book of Life’, the wicked ones will be cast into the fire, (Rev. 20:11-15). This is the second death.

   So with all of these festivals, where does Christmas fit in? Of course, it doesn’t. We don’t celebrate Christmas because, as anyone will tell you, Christ was not born on December 25^th. He was not born in December. Almost certainly He was born sometime in September. But the disciples did not celebrate His birth. There is no evidence the early church recognized the day of Jesus’ birth. The Roman Church, in trying to convert the pagan peoples of Northern Europe decided to adopt their pagan practice of observing ‘Saturnalia’..a feast to the sun god at the time of the reappearance of the sun. The date of course would have been slightly later than December 21^st, when the sun was clearly returning at the winter solstice. By turning this into a Christian holy day, the Roman Catholic Church was able to encourage pagans to convert to Christianity. But this is not one of God’s festivals. It is filled with pagan symbols.

   And what of the priest you will meet? Don’t make a big thing of it but we look to Paul to explain that Jesus, after his crucifixion and resurrection, took the place of the High Priest (Heb. 8:1 –13). There is no need for any intermediary between you and God (Heb. 9:11-15). You can go to God and talk to him directly and Jesus will be there as an advocate for you. So in our church we do not have priests, we have ministers…people who minister or serve. They are there to help people….. to preach, to minister at funerals, at baptisms and at weddings. No minister has power over you, neither does a priest, only God the Father and our High Priest, Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:9).

   The purpose of Jesus, the Son of God, taking on the form of a man on this earth was to preach the gospel. And that gospel is the gospel of the Kingdom of God. His message was simply, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 6:33). The Kingdom of Heaven is the goal of all Christians. But what does that mean? It means the establishing of God’s Kingdom on this earth with the earth undergoing a complete change (Isa. 2:1-4). When Christ returns to start the process, those who are His, those elect who are dead, will be resurrected and join those who are alive to meet with Him as He returns from heaven in the clouds (Rev. 7: 1-8). For those who rise from the grave on that day, this is the first resurrection. Later, at the conclusion of the thousand years of Christ’s rule, all mankind who have died and buried will be resurrected (Rev. 7:9) and will be judged. Those whose names are written in the Book of Life, resurrected to life eternal and those who have not repented of their evil, to the second death (Rev. 20:7-15). Everyone gets the chance of salvation. There follows the formation of a new heaven and a new earth and God the Father will dwell with men (Rev. 21: 1-4).

   My car turned into the driveway and we said our farewells. “Good luck with you meeting tonight ... and remember you’re not alone”.

Any questions? Comments? Contact Dr. Don Carruthers at JDCarruthers@worldnet.att.net

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