STATEMENT OF BELIEFS
of
The
The Philadelphia Church self-identifies itself as the endtime fellowship
best representing the sixth (Rev 3:7–13) of the seven churches to which
Christ addresses letters to their angels. Its evangelistic efforts are directed
first toward born-from-above disciples who have chosen to remain in sin, and
secondarily toward those individuals who have never known Christ or the Father.
As such, its mission is to return born again disciples to spiritual Jerusalem,
the walls of which are the laws of God written on circumcised hearts cleansed
by faith (cf. Jer
31:33; Heb 8:10 & 10:16). To do this, it preaches the endtime gospel of the
kingdom that all who endure
to the end will be saved (Matt 24:13–14; 10:22). Its understanding of
Scripture is based upon typological exegesis (1 Cor
10:11; 15:45–46; Rom 1:20).
Further, The
Philadelphia Church recognizes that it is a steward of the mysteries of
God, the steward to whom God has entrusted the revelation that the greater Body
of Christ consists of genuine spiritual Israelites enslaved in spiritual
BELIEFS
1.
The
2.
The
Deconstruction of the Tetragrammaton
YHWH reveals the number of deities
present in the name Elohim: one entity
with His Breath is represented by “YH,”
or Yah (see Ps 146:1a; 148:1a;
149:1a) and a second entity and His
Breath is represented by “WH.”
This agrees with the Gospel of John, where in the beginning the Logos [7`(@H], the Creator of all that has been made (John 1:3;
1 Cor 8:6; Eph 3:9; Col1:16; Heb 1:2; 3:3-4), was
with Theon [1,`<], and was Theos [2,ÎH]. Both Theos and Theon are collectively one deity, not as in one
“family,” but as in one hypostasis with one personhood but two
personages. If God were two, then the kingdom of heaven would eventually be
divided against itself and would fail. So the entities composing the one deity
function as one in a manner typified by how parts of one human body function
together, the analogy the Apostle Paul used for the Church. In heaven, the
Father is the Head of Christ, as Christ is the head of the Church in this
physical world.
Further, The
Philadelphia Church teaches that disciples who deny that the pre-existing
Son was the Creator of all that is [Unitarians] deny Christ and will be denied
by Christ when their judgments are revealed. In addition, The Philadelphia Church teaches that disciples [Trinitarians] who
assign personhood to the divine Breath of God [B<,Ø:" ž(4@<] deny that they first received everlasting life
when they received the Holy Spirit; they will inevitably believe that they were
born with an immortal soul. Thus, they deny the existence of the spiritual life
they received through receipt of the Holy Spirit, and as such, they commit
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
3.
The Philadelphia Church teaches that
the Holy Spirit [A<,Ø:" U(4@<] is the Breath of God, "breath" used in
its figurative or metaphorical sense to represent the creative and
life-sustaining power of each member of the Godhead. An individual
doesn’t usually assign personhood to his or her breath. Likewise,
disciples should never assign personhood to the Breath of God.
4.
The Philadelphia Church teaches that
everlasting life is the gift of God (Rom 6:23). Humanity doesn’t have
within itself everlasting life. Rather, the first Adam was banned from the
Garden of Eden before he could eat of the Tree of Life (Gen 3:22). The only
life the first Adam possessed was his physical breath [psuche] (cf. Gen 2:7; Eccl 3:19).
5.
The Philadelphia Church teaches that
born-from-above, or born of Spirit disciples receive actual life in the
spiritual realm when they receive the Holy Spirit (John 3:8; 1 Peter 1:23; Titus
3:5). This life is given when the Father raises the spiritually dead (John
5:21), but this life can be lost when the disciple’s judgment is revealed
at Christ’s return (1 Cor 4:5), for Christ must
also give life to the disciple through the mortal flesh putting on immortality.
Jesus said not to be surprised when some disciples are resurrected to life and
some are resurrected to condemnation (John 5:28-29).
Both the Father and the Son must give life to a
person before this person can enter the supra-dimensional heavenly realm; for
flesh and blood cannot inherit, cannot enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50).
6.
The
Spiritual circumcision separates those who will be
chosen from the many who have been called (Matt 22:14).
All sons of God born of Spirit are as the
descendants of Noah were after the Flood, the baptism of the earth into death.
And of the many descendants of Noah, only the patriarch Abraham believed God
and had his belief counted as righteousness—and from Abraham came one son
of promise, Isaac, who, the Apostle Paul claims, was the antetype
of sons of God born of promise to the free woman, heavenly Jerusalem. Within
the analogy, in the womb of Isaac [Rebekah’s
womb] are two sons of promise, one hated, one loved
though still unborn. The loved son consists of disciples who voluntarily choose
to live as Judeans, observing the laws of God, especially the Sabbath
commandment by which disciples show that they know that God sanctifies them,
and keeping the distinction between clean and unclean, the meaning by which
they show that they know God has consecrated them.
The veil to the Holy of Holies was rent so each spiritually
circumcised disciple can rest under the Mercy Seat, representing Grace, which
remains above the Ark of the Covenant. His or her prayers are offered to God in
lieu of burning incense, and the disciple’s good works represent the Show
Bread offerings. Good works is doing that which the disciple knows is right.
7.
The
All transgressions of the laws of God a person
commits prior to being drawn by the Father are covered by Jesus’ shed
blood at
Jesus will give those sins He presently bears and
will continue to bear until the judgment of disciples is revealed at His return
either to Satan, or to disciples who have left the covenant. The sins He bears
for disciples who will be resurrected to life will be given to Satan when the
reality occurs of which Yom Kipporim is the antetype. By then, He will have already returned the sins
He had borne for disciples resurrected to condemnation to those disciples.
Thus, Christ rests from His labors of creating heirs of the Father.
All disciples who remain in covenant have no sin
imputed to them, and are under no further judgment. They are covered by Christ
bearing their sins. Therefore, these two coverings—one in the physical
realm, and one in the spiritual—represent the reality of the Day of
Atonement, a fast day to be kept in perpetuity.
Further, The
Philadelphia Church teaches that the doctrine "once saved, always
saved" is a false doctrine that does extensive harm to the greater Body of
Christ.
As an aside, the reason why animal sacrifices will
return during Christ’s Millennium reign is that Christ will not carry the
sins of disciples. Before His reign begins, Christ will have returned the sins
He has been bearing to either Satan or to out-of-covenant disciples.
8.
The
9.
The Philadelphia Church teaches that
humanity is presently divided between those individuals who have been drawn and
called by God and those individuals who have not yet been drawn by the Father
(John 6:44, 65), and that those individuals who have been drawn and called as
firstfruits are further divided between those who have chosen to live as
Judeans and those who do not so choose. God, however, is not a respecter of
persons. Every individual will eventually be drawn and called, with the
majority of humanity—those human beings who never knew the Father during
their lifetimes—to be drawn and called after being physically resurrected
during the great White Throne Judgment. This will not be a second chance for
salvation. Rather, to know the Father requires possessing life in the spiritual
realm through receiving the Holy Breath of God. This gift is presently given to
some individuals, those predestined to be called or drawn out-of-season to be
vessels created for special use or for dishonorable usage. The remainder of
humanity is not now in an ever-burning hell, but is in the grave awaiting
resurrection, without knowledge of time or status.
10.
The Philadelphia Church teaches that
the Sinai covenant, the law by which God married physically circumcised Israel
and by which Israel was made His holy nation, has been abolished (Eph 2:15),
thereby physically returning humanity to being one nation. This one new
humanity, though, has been separated spiritually between those who have the
Breath of God and those who do not. This separation will end when the kingdom
of this world becomes the kingdom of God the Father and of His Messiah (Rev
11:15) halfway through seven years of tribulation. Then, all of humanity will be
liberated from bondage to sin; i.e., to the spiritual king of
11.
The
The place of safety for spiritual
Hypocrisy will cause a disciple to be cast into the
lake of fire—hypocrisy is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Hypocrisy is
rejection of the laws of God written on a disciple’s heart and mind by
the Holy Spirit.
If a disciple relaxes the least of the commandments
and teaches others to do likewise (Matt 5:19), which for most disciples is the
Sabbath commandment, this disciple will be called least in the kingdom of
heaven. This means, simply, that the person who in good faith rigorously keeps
Sunday as the Sabbath should be kept will be called least; whereas the person
who knew to keep the Sabbath and did not, keeping Sunday instead, is a
hypocrite and will be cast into the lake of fire. It is the person who is
genuinely deceived and who through ignorance doesn’t keep or teach to
keep the least of the commandments who will be called
least in the kingdom of heaven; this person will be in the kingdom, though. The
person who teaches disciples to be lawless will be denied by Christ when
judgments are revealed (Matt 7:21-23). But the person who knows to keep the
commandments and who keeps them and who teaches others to do likewise will be
called great in the kingdom of heaven.
12.
The
This
concludes the STATEMENT OF BELIEFS as The
Philadelphia Church understands Holy Writ on this day: the 16th of December,
2007 CE.