Church of God and Saints of Christ

Church of God and Saints of Christ

Temple Beth El
Chief Rabbi Phillip E. McNeil

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This We Believe

(A Summary of Specific Beliefs)

  1. We believe in the existence of God the Creator, the Eternal, the Absolute Ruler of the Universe, the God Yahweh revealed to our father Abraham, who is One alone and who alone is to be worshipped and glorified. To God the Creator only do we pray.
  2. We believe that God reveals Himself, speaking through His spokespersons, the prophets. We believe that prophetic revelation did not terminate in ancient Israel; that God reveals His Will continually through His prophets; that by a prophet our forefathers were delivered from Egyptian bondage, and by a prophet we shall always be preserved; that God raised up a prophet in 1892 in Guthrie, Oklahoma in the person of William Saunders Crowdy; and that the Spirit of Prophecy is relevant and operative in our lives today.
  3. We believe that the Commandments of God contained in the Holy Scriptures are immutable and are to be obeyed. Foremost among these are the Ten Commandments that we believe were divinely revealed to the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. We believe that the Scriptures contain universal truths, universal principles, and prescriptive instructions that constitute a full and sufficient guide for the living of a spiritual, righteous, and Godly life.
  4. We believe that God knows all the thoughts and acts of human beings. However, we believe that God has endowed humans with freewill so that they have the option of obeying or disobeying God’s Commandments. We believe that God rewards those who keep His Commandments and punishes those who disobey them.
  5. We believe in the potency and the efficacy of prayer as a means of worshipping and communicating with God. We believe that God hears all prayers and that He does not favor one prayer over another, though the Disciples Prayer taught by Jesus in Matthew 6:9-14 is prominent in our private and public worship. We relish the prayers of the Siddur, and we subscribe to the ancient biblical tradition of praying three times a day.
  6. We believe that there is a resurrection, but that heaven and hell are not geographic locations.  We believe in the coming of the Messianic Age as described in the Prophets.
  7. We believe that Judaism provides a complete guide for relegating all aspects of human life to the will of God. (Judaism is for us neither a race nor a culture, but it is a manner of believing, a tried and true means through which love of, and faith in God is channeled into upright living.) We believe that adherence to its tenets promotes the keeping of the two Great Commandments: (1) Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart… and (2) Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself….