The Strait and Narrow

You may not know it, but yes the COGOP has a new standard. Some maybe unaware that the church had a new standard of beliefs. Download the BBB from the church page. This is in pdf format.

Read your new Basic Bible Beliefs at http://cogop.org/317810.ihtml

Also read this over at http://www.holyleaven.org this will give you a good perspective of where the church is headed.

Some where the church has missed the target when they speak that we believe in the ”One man for One woman”, but then turn around and say that now under the new standard the church will accept persons in double marriage (adultery)

First what is Theocratic government? Theocracy is a form of government in which God is recognized as the supreme civil ruler. For believers, theocracy is a form of government in which divine power governs an earthly human state, either in a personal or via religious institutional (church) replacing or dominating civil government.

I know this part will be a bit old, and this will be of my own opinion. In 2006, at the Church of God of Prophecy bi-annual General Assembly, General Overseer, Bishop Fred Fisher retired from this leadership role and a new General Overseer was appointed in his place, Bishop Randy Howard. After a week long battle between members at the General Assembly the church changed its long-standing interpretation of acceptable reasons for divorce and remarriage, with ninety-seven standing against the issue. Those standing against the issue, though small in number, stood because they felt the Holy Ghost had not consented and the Church was divided on the issue. The Church of God of Prophecy has always worked from theocratic government, with the Holy Ghost manifesting himself and all present members in complete agreement. Therefore, even if just one person should disagree with changing church doctrine, prayer should take place until God delivers what should be done, with the Holy Ghost giving consent in the issue. The divorce and remarriage issue had been tabled the entire week because an agreement could not be reached. It was supposed to have been dropped from the proxy until the next General Assembly, but Bishop Fisher took it upon himself to open it back up on the last day of the event, when originally no business was to be held. Many attendees had left believing that the issue was to be regarded at a later time. These ninety-seven were overruled, by the overwhelming majority of voting members. Bishop Fisher himself overruled those standing against it.

It may seem it were urgent to past this new change in the divorce and remarriage doctrine in this assembly by the way the “theocratic government” was not put into practice and when many attendees understood that it would be tabled until the next assembly and left the assembly.  Even by the w ay the General Overseer reopened the vote after been tabled all week. That would seem as been urgent and you may ask why? The Proxy System would come to my mind. It would give a broader participation from all around the world to give their vote on any doctrine change. It would give a better prospective of how the COGOP around the world feels about this change. Some feel that if we used the proxy system the outcome would been different. That maybe the reason it was urgent to past the D&R doctrine in that assembly. The proxy system will be used in the 2008 assembly.

This is how it will work:
All Representatives that carry a local church proxy, properly certified, meeting the deadlines, etc., will be registered on Monday of the Assembly by an Independent agency … a company hired to manage the proxy process. They are not affiliated with COGOP and have no stake in the outcome, as they are merely professionals hired to manage the logistics and assure the integrity of the process.
The proxy-carrying representative will be issued a voting card that is bar coded. Lose it? Lose the vote.
There will be x number of seats on the floor of the Sommet Center during the business sessions designated for those carrying the proxies, and ONLY them.
When the time comes for expressing the proxy on an issue, there will be about 15 strategically placed electronic stations at which the proxy holders will be able to use the bar-coded credential to register “yes/no” “for/against” or whatever the two options might be … “A/B.”
The independent agency will tally the results (pretty much immediately) and report them to the person presiding.

The proxy carrying representative would be elected by their local church and the church would have their own business meeting to come to a decision about the proxy in question. This decision is what the representative would vote in the assembly proxy. Then the assembly can tally the proxies to make their decision whether are not to pass the issues in question.  I question the lack of Theocratic government used in these debates and the way that the assembly presbytery reopened this vote even when a good amount of the attendees had left the assembly shows who was operating the church at that time.

There is those that say not to judge the ones that are calling themselves Christians, but their lives tells a deference story by the fruit they bear. Those that cry not to judge speak of the scripture in Matt.7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”  We must understand that this scripture is not implying not to judge at all, but to judge righteous as in John 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”  Some also use the argument of that we all have some sin or that we are not perfect and use the “Get the beam out of your eye before you judge the one who has mote sand in their eye.”(Matt.7:5)

    The understanding of to Judge and Judgment should clear some issues for us. To judge is to weight the fruit that one brings forth.  The judgment is the condition that is giving after the weighting of the fruit.

Jesus came not to judge or to give judgment to the lost, but to bring salvation to the lost and dieing world.

We as his hands and feet are to do the work of God to show the way unto salvation in Christ Jesus. We should do this in a way that is not judgmental, but in love as Christ would show love. We have a great responsibly to show, teach and to preach the gospel of the good news. First not to be a hypocrite and casting out the beam in our own eye we can then help our brother or sister with their sand in their eye: not saying that there is big and little sins, but what should be learned by this scripture is that by removing the large beam will make it possible to see clear to help others.

In the true sense the one with the mote should helped the one with the beam.

   Understanding the scripture which speaks of “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you”. (Matt.7:6)  The stiff-necked and stubborn enemies of the gospel are unworthy to have it preached unto them. (Geneva bible) Other commentaries http://biblecommenter.com/matthew/7-6.htm

So some will not receive the gospel, but would only trample it with their feet and then turn and tare you for judging them.

   Those that say that some people have difficult marriages that then end in a divorce and then remarry and now have a great marriage should not be judged and told that they are in the sin of adultery. They claim that God is forgiving them and claims to be a Christian, but there is more: forgiving and forsaking. This is the part that they have a problem with forsaking and don’t want to be judged. It’s sad that the COGOP is now accepting these as members in a lot of our churches around the world even when Jesus himself says that it is clearly a sin of adultery. Go even further with homosexuality been accepted in Christendom it’s all because they call themselves Christians without any repentance or forsaking are we to go without giving judgment to is abomination?

 “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Cor.6:1-3) 

  “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”(1 Cor.6:9-10)

To judge or not to judge it seems that by scripture the saints are the best to judge the world in righteous.

My brother in Christ over at HolyLeaven wrote about the 2006 Assembly of the Church of God of Prophecy where he shows us the dangerous precedents set before us that in the eagerness to win souls of the divorcess we have open the door to sin that will enter the church. This goes alone with the my last post of “Confession only”.

[This past General Assembly was truly a trying time for those who believe marriage is for life. The decision making process was troubling to say the least. I know for me personally some have questioned my intelligence and have lost confidence in me because I didn’t support what seemed to be the will of the General Assembly. It is certainly not my intent to disrespect authority or to disregard the counsel of my peers but I believed and still believe the reasoning used to pass this report was flawed and extremely dangerous.
So many have thought it was simply the change to the church’s stand on the sanctity of Marriage which caused me and others to be concerned. However, that’s not the case. While I believe in the sanctity of marriage and while I believe the church made a serious error in changing its stand, I am more troubled by the rationale used to come to this conclusion and the precedents those rationales have set.
The first mistake I wish to point out is the use of the “Hospital Analogy” which was continually put forth to support the proposed changes both in 2004 and 2006.]

 Read More at Holyleaven

I found this prospective about our Assembly minutes from the year 2006 that gives the impression that we now accept divorcees by their confession to be a Christian only.  Along with divorcees whom remarried for the cause of fornication may become members.  For me the criteria for membership if only by confession to be a Christian open the door for anyone with sin in their lives to become a member. I found that not every church sees this in the same prospective. What I mean is some do accept those in double marriage for example those that have been deserted then remarry, but not all of the churches. This is not what the Assembly minutes stated so you see how it maybe misinterpreted.  This will lead us down that open door that will sooner or later we will be addressing membership to the Homosexual movement.  If one is accepted only by confession then what is the difference between a person in double marriage and a person that lives a life style of homosexual? Understanding that homosexual is Abomination and double marriage is Adultery. If the church accepts one by confession then they by their own rules must accept the other.

[During the bi-annual General Assembly of the churches, held in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006, the church agreed that people who had been divorced (for the cause of fornication)and were later remarried may become members of the Church of God of Prophecy. May it be duely noted that ninety-seven members (out of an attendance of thousands voting)stood devoutly against changing church doctrine on this issue. The church however still maintains that God's perfect plan for marriage is between one man and one woman for life, but understands that humans are fallible and God has grace. The Church of God of Prophecy accepts divorcees as members. They believe that there is no sin worse than another. Only certain sins bring on worse consequences. Thus stating that it is okay for a person with a previous divorce to be a member. They must only confess to be a Christian. ]

Also  the Wikipedia wrote it this way:”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_God_of_Prophecy

[During the bi-annual General Assembly of the churches, held in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006, the church agreed that people who had been divorced (for the cause of fornication) and were later remarried may become members of the Church of God of Prophecy. However, 97 members stood devoutly against changing church doctrine on this issue, giving that the Holy Ghost had not consented and the Church was divided on the issue. The Church of God of Prophecy has always worked from theocratical government, with the Holy Ghost giving consent with each issue. However, the Holy Ghost never manifested Himself to approve this issue. The Bible firmly teaches against adultery. Therefore, God's true church can not accept it either. The Church of God of Prophecy maintains that God's perfect plan for marriage is between one man and one woman for life. But since it was passed that people who had been divorced for the cause of fornication and later remarried can now become members, many leaders in the Church have abused the idea in its entirity and have now began accepting adulterers as members. Many churches in The Church of God of Prophecy still do NOT accept fornicators and adulterers as members, unless they gotten out of this lifestyle through divorce. No judgement is passed on others, but The Church of God of Prophecy does have a standard to uphold. And even though the General Assembly changed doctrinal beliefs concerning divorce and remarriage WITHOUT the consent of the Holy Ghost, many churches are still holding fast to the vision they have been given of the Church and how it should operate.]

“But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace” (1 Cor.7:15 kjv). Apostle Paul responds to a number of questions that had been submitted to him by various members of the church at Corinth (cf. 1 Cor.7:1). Some of these queries had to do with the relationship of a believer who is married to an unbeliever. The “under bondage” has been viewed as freedom to remarry for many, One has to realize that Paul is speaking not about the marriage bond as in Romans, but about the condition of the Christian concerning his/her relationship with God. Bondage(15) is the Greek term douloo, which means “to make a slave of.”  Enslavement, does not refer to the marriage union. If the unbeliever departs. The brother or sister is not enslaved to maintain togetherness. In no way Paul is giving the authority for remarriage and is not implicitly nor explicitly stated. The “let him depart” has been understood as desertion, but if you let your spouse leave it’s not by law considered desertion. The word “depart” is used by Paul in verses 10, and 11 that if the wife depart (leave, separate) for her to remain unmarried and for the husband to not divorce her. So you see the difference between “depart” and “to put away”. These don’t imply a desertion. In verse 15 has used the same depart (to separate).  Paul in verse 12 said, “But to the rest speak I, not the lord” he is saying this because in the verses before he spoke of the commandments of the lord and didn’t want the people to think that what he spoke in these verses were the Lord’s commandments. That’s maybe why he spoke about a relationship between a believer and a nonbeliever the believer may have been trying to fulfill the commandments. In verses 14  “is sanctified” is about a husband and wife who both were unbelievers and one has believed. By virtue of becoming a believer one declared faith and pledge to abstain from fornication now they find themselves with a spouse that continues to engage in fornication or sin. Therefore, the choice is between disrupting the marriage or living with a fornicating martial partner. If he/she will stay let he/she stay, but if he/she will not stay then let he/she leave.  Paul ended this by saying “For what knowest thou, O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” In no way is Paul giving another exception for divorce and remarriage. For the married believers the commandment is if one departs, they should remain unmarried or reconciled and they should not divorce “and let not the husband put away his wife.” So you see the command to remain unmarried. It doesn’t give the freedom to remarry for desertion or divorce.  Paul simply answered their question for the need to separate between believers and nonbelievers. Note that Paul do not use the phrase “to put away” which mean to divorce, he used the phrase in vesre 11,12, but not in the vesre 15. He used the expression “depart” which should be understood to leave or seperate not to desert for the scripture states ” let him depart” which shows consent on the part of the believer and if the unbeliever departed it was only because of the faith of the believer not for any other reason.