Someone sent me an invitation to attend the local Gateway Church of Christ in Pensacola. As I always do, the first thing I did was go look for their Statement of Beliefs. What I found is a laughable joke! Clearly, as cults often do, they are hiding their beliefs. Seventh-Day Adventist and Jehovah's Witness church cults do this all the time. Beware of these cults! And may I add, any Baptist church that preaches Lordship Salvation is equally a deadly religious cult!
I had to go searching online for what other Church of Christ (COC) cults believe. They all essentially believe that you must stop living a lifestyle of sin to get to Heaven, which is a counterfeit gospel. Case in point, here is a quote from the Statement of Faith of the Clovis Church of Christ in California...
Again, in Acts 3:19 Peter says
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;"
So, if repentance is a requirement, what does it mean and what must we do to meet this requirement? To repent is to change our mind and make the decision that we will change our life to begin serving the Lord as He desires us to serve Him. This is brought about by understanding what God has done for us, and realizing that we are not right with Him in our current condition and that we desire to change so as to please Him. This means, that an immoral person must become moral and upright in lifestyle. For the religious person who has tried to live a life pleasing to God, repentance may involve recognizing that we have not done what God requires of us with regard to salvation and that we must obey the inspired plan in order to be right with Him. If we are in the denominational world, belonging to a church that has a creed or doctrine other than the Bible and/or in addition to the Bible, then we must turn away from such a religion and find a congregation of people that believe in the Bible and only the Bible. (We are certainly happy to help you in any such search.) Repentance then is produced by Godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10) which leads to a change of heart and a change of mind, which is the beginning of a changed life... one that is dedicated to God. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: https://www.clovischurchofchrist.org/resources/the-plan-of-salvation
What you have just read is Satanic! You don't have to “become moral and upright” of your own doing to get to Heaven, you need to receive Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins. Simply believe that Jesus did it all for you! There is no requirement to become a moral person to be saved in the inspired King James Bible. They started off right in COC by teaching that repentance is “a change of mind,” but then they embellished repentance by adding other things to it which are totally unbiblical. The Bible does not say to clean up your life of sin, commit to do better, promise to turn away from sinful bah habits nor to dedicate your life to God to get to Heaven. These things are all proper in their place, but you may do all of these things are never have been saved at all. Jesus emphatically stated in John 3:3b, “Ye must be born again.”
I love and share David's attitude. Psalms 84:10, “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Amen and amen! I'd rather be a doorkeeper in a local Bible-believing church, than to rule in Satan's Hollywood kingdom. I'd rather cut the grass for God's house, than to dwell in Hugh Hefner's mansion. Like Joshua, I'm on the Lord's side (Joshua 24:15).
Here is more damnable heresy taught by the ungodly Church of Christ...
Finally, we must live our lives in faithful and loyal service to our Lord Jesus Christ as God has directed (Revelation 2:10).
SOURCE: https://www.clovischurchofchrist.org/resources/the-plan-of-salvation
That is pure Lordship Salvation, not the free grace Gospel presented in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. Works have no part in God's simple plan of salvation. Romans 4:5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Having to live a faithful life and loyal service to Christ to be saved is self-righteousness, not trusting saving faith. Remember, we are saved by GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, not our own goodness (Philippians 3:9). Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.
Water Baptism Is Not Required To Get To Heaven
The Satanic Church of Christ also corrupts the Gospel by adding a requirement to be water baptized to get to Heaven. Here is what the Clovis Church of Christ errantly teaches...
Acts 2:36-39
"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
This tells us that baptism is necessary for the remission (forgiveness) of sins.
SOURCE: https://www.clovischurchofchrist.org/resources/the-plan-of-salvation
Pastor Curtis Hutson made this helpful statement: A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one. Bravo! Yes, that is exactly right! In umpteen places in the New Testament where we are told to “believe” on Jesus to be saved, there is no mention of water baptism. For example: John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” If water baptism were necessary to get to Heaven, then Jesus would have mentioned it here, but He didn't. The thief on the cross didn't have time to be baptized. It would be very wrong to say that God made an exception, when we are plainly told in Galatians 1:6-7 that there is only one Gospel.
The Church of Christ wrest (twist) the Scripture to their own destruction (2nd Peter 3:16-17). No one in the Old Testament was baptized with water to get to Heaven. In the Epistle of First John, the apostle tells us the purpose of his epistle is so “that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1st John 5:13). Yet, John never once mentions baptism. This speaks volumes as to this unnecessity of water baptism to be saved. The ungodly Church of Christ have changed God's simple plan of salvation, making it works-based instead of faith-based. Please don't buy into their lies!
My father was right, religion is the worst thing that ever happened to this world. Salvation is not found in any religion, but in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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