Contending for the Faith
By: Chief Bishop Samuel Doffee
Jude 3: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
JUDE NOT WRITING TO SINNERS
In this epistle of Jude, Jude was writing to the believers and not to sinners. You can note this in the first few verses when Jude started to write concerning the common salvation, which is the message that "you must be born again" to have eternal life. I want you to notice that Jude called preaching salvation a common thing and that it was no longer a mystery to them. Therefore, he felt it was needful to tell them and us that while we are preaching salvation to the people, we need to earnestly contend for the faith which once was delivered unto the saints. This is not the "faith" for salvation, or the "faith" for healing, or the "faith" for miracles, but I believe according to the scripture that this FAITH that we are to contend for is the forming of a church by the pattern of God like Jesus formed, a body of people, supporting the entire doctrine of the apostles and elders spoken of in Acts 2:41-42: "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." This scripture lets us know that the Church, the true faith, was built upon the true principles and apostles' doctrines of Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, the Church that Jesus set up during his ministry.
THE PROPHECY OF THE FALLING AWAY OF THE CHURCH (FAITH)
The Apostle Paul, who was the Apostle to the Gentiles, stated in Acts 20:28-30: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." I want you to notice verse 29, he stated it would be after his departure that these ungodly men would change the principle doctrines and the course of the true Church of God. Jude, also, in verse 4, explained how the falling away from the faith would come about. "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."
HOW PAUL SAW "THE FAITH"
The Apostle Paul (who was Saul before his conversion), on the road to Damascus, was threatening and slandering against the disciples of the Lord, and persecuted them and even had them killed, thinking and believing he was doing the will of God. We can find in Acts 9, that when Saul was taking men and women bound unto Jerusalem, a great light shined round about him from heaven. It was then he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou me?" When Saul asked the Lord who he was, it was Jesus that spoke and said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecuteth." It was not literally Jesus in person that he was persecuting, but by persecuting the disciples of the Church, it was just like persecuting Jesus himself. (This same thing happens today.) It was after Paul's conversion when he found out there was only one true faith (church), Paul became a prisoner and an apostle and preached this one faith to the Gentiles - the same faith (principles and doctrines) that Jesus brought when he set up the Church. We find in the book of Galatians 1:13 where Paul said "ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:" Galatians 1:23-24: "But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith (church) which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me."
WHAT IS "THE FAITH"
I want you to note verse 13 that Paul stated it was in times past how he persecuted beyond measure the church of God which is the faith that Jude said that we are to contend for to bring it back on its true Bible course again. When he speaks of the church of God that it is that faith, verse 23, Paul said, that we had only heard how he persecuted in times past the church of God, but now preaches the faith which once he destroyed. In the following scripture Paul lets us know that there is only one true faith to go with the one true body.
Paul stated in Ephesians 4:4-7 that "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."
Scriptures supporting that there is only one true church can be found
in Song of Solomon 6:8: "There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
and virgins without number." This means there are many different churches
preaching salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Virgins
without number are people that are born again and going to church (or churches)
and praising the Lord and living the best they know how. As we can all see, this
is what is happening today. A church on every street corner and every one having
a different doctrine.
In verse 9 Solomon said, "My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one
of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw
her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her."
This scripture shows us that out of all these churches and born again people,
God will take a people (church) out of a people (the kingdom of God) to set up
the true church again amongst the Gentiles as it was set up among the Jews, to
restore The Church of God back to its right principles and order that it was in
the beginning when Jesus set it up. For the Bible says in Ezekiel 37:22: "And I
will make them (Jew and Gentile) one nation in the land upon the mountains of
Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two
nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all."
HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY
By the time Jude wrote his epistle, Paul's prophecies had started to come to
pass and the Church of God eventually fell into the Dark Ages, by joining itself
to pagan doctrines and the Catholic beliefs, bringing in those things to dilute
the pure truth of the principles and doctrines of Jesus Christ. Even the truth
of salvation by grace was hidden within Catholic beliefs until Martin Luther
brought forth again to the people the knowledge of salvation by grace. Also
hidden was the doctrine of justification (or sanctification) which Apostle John
Wesley brought forth at a later time. Both these men lost their life because of
bringing these truths to us out of the Catholic doctrine. Years later the
baptism of the Holy Ghost was also brought forth. You can see that when
Constantine and the Catholic Church began to infiltrate the pure truth of the
Word of God, many of the true principles and doctrines of Jesus Christ were lost
in the Dark Age of the Church. They changed it in such a way that it was hard to
recognize where truth ended and heresy began.
I Timothy 4:1-2: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines
of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot
iron;"
Constantine and the Catholic Church have changed so much of the true principles of Jesus Christ, and have changed it so subtly and gradually (seducing), that it is almost impossible to distinguish right from wrong (doctrines of devils and speaking lies, searing the people's conscience). Some of the changes were about Easter and the date of the birth of Christ to intermingle with the pagan gods of the Greeks, the Sun God and Ishtar. It is impossible to list all the changes here, but suffice to say that the true principles and doctrines of Jesus Christ (and the true church) are diluted and have been hidden from the people for many, many years. And so did the Catholic doctrine cause many disciples of Jesus to draw away from the true faith, just as Jude and Paul prophesied. (Acts 20:30: "Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.")
Leaving the true principles and doctrines of Jesus Christ gained strength in the world until 325 A.D. when the true Church of God finally was totally off of its true course and the Dark Age of the church began. There were no messages preached concerning "Church" anymore until 1903, when A. J. Tomlinson went out to Burger Mountain in North Carolina and prayed all night searching for the Church. When he came down off of the mountain on a Sunday morning, he found a group of people who were ready to have church services and he asked them what was their belief. When they told him they believe in the whole Bible, he said, "That makes you The Church of God." And he joined himself to it. Thus was the beginning of bringing forth the Church (with the true faith), and get the Church back on its true course of the principles and doctrines that Jesus delivered to his apostles and prophets. This is the "Contending for the Faith" of which Jude was speaking in his epistle.
The contending for the faith by Bishop A. J. Tomlinson continued until 1922,
when some ministers refused to operate in theocratic principles and caused A. J.
Tomlinson to move forward and start the Church of God of Prophecy, operating the
church on theocratic principles again, still contending and reaching for the
faith and its fullness, which is to have the church ready for the second coming
of Jesus. Shortly after his death, however, the Church of God of Prophecy also
left theocratic government by passing a ruling in 1948 that the General Assembly
was the highest tribune of authority. This action caused (nine years later)
Bishop Grady R. Kent to move forward to bring forth The Church of God at
Jerusalem Acres, continuing to operate on theocratic principles in an effort to
bring the Church to perfection. Some years after his death, once again the
Church of God at Jerusalem Acres left theocratic principles and Bishop Samuel
Doffee moved forward to bring forth The Church of God for all Nations, moving
toward the perfection of The Church of God, operating by theocratic principles,
and Contending for the FAITH of The Church of God of which Jude was speaking.
Therefore, we are contending to bring forth again the true church, operating on
the true principles and doctrines of Jesus Christ, that the we might have the
church ready for the second coming of Jesus. AMEN
