Twenty-Nine Foundation Stones

I’d like to share a little history or background on our Twenty-nine Prominent Teachings. The first 25 teachings of the Church were agreed upon in the 6th Assembly in 1911. The 26th teaching was agreed upon in the 8th Assembly in 1913. The 27th teach­ing was approved in the 3rd Assembly in 1908 (was reaffirmed in the 11th As­sembly in 1915.) The 28th teaching was decided upon in the 11th Assembly of 1915. The 29th teaching was settled upon in the 18th Assembly in 1923 (but it did not appear in the official list of teachings until 1927.) 1908, 1911, 1913, 1915, 1923. Some agreed upon over 100 years ago, all agreed upon be­fore the vast majority of us were born!

My dear brothers and sisters, my dear friends, The Church of God did not create, nor did the Church formu­late or invent these “Teachings Made Prominent,” but our Church forefa­thers searched the Scriptures and sought God through prayer; and God blessed those men and women and they received divine understanding of these Bible truths and agreed upon them as revealed in the Scripture by the Holy Ghost. God, the Great Creator, ordained these in the far-back ages of eternity. They originated in the infi­nite mind of God way before He cre­ated man. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Psalms 119:89 says, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.”

The Bible tells us in Acts 15:1, “And certain men which came down from Ju­daea taught the brethren, and said, Ex­cept ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” Here you have a group of “certain men”—and a certain sect of the Pharisees—that began teaching a doctrine that did not line up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ or His teachings of being saved by grace through faith. They had set forth a doctrine, adding to it that in order to be saved the person must be circumcised like God had commanded Moses way back in the Old Testament. This caused confusion and cast a yoke upon the neck of Jesus’ disciples that was unnecessary. It troubled them, burdened them, and subverted their souls; in other words, it undermined the power and authority of Jesus’ teachings.

The Church did not want, or need, one person to teach one thing, and another to teach something differ­ent—erroneous doctrines that don’t line up with the Bible rightly divided— causing confusion concerning what Jesus’ teachings say. So do you know what the Church did? Why, the Church got down to business! They came to­gether, conversed, shared testimonies about what God had done, had great joy together, and then ultimately com­pared all things to “the words of the prophets; as it is written” (Acts 15:15).

The Bible says that it pleased the Holy Ghost, apostles, elders, and the whole Church (v. 22), and they wrote letters to the churches stating that af­ter due consideration, and guidance from the Holy Ghost, the Church had agreed that it was not necessary for them to be circumcised as certain men had taught, but only to “abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep your­selves, ye shall do well” (v. 29.)

Former General Overseer, Bishop M. A. Tomlinson, said, “The many doc­trines set forth in the name of religion must be tested against the Scriptures. The Church of God is dedicated to the principles of the New Testament doc­trine—the truth rightly divided.”

I say to you again concerning the Twenty-nine Prominent Teachings of The Church of God, that our Church forefathers this side of the Dark Ages searched the Scriptures and sought God through prayer. They came toto­gether by the Spirit of God and, once they received divine understanding that the Holy Ghost and the Word agreed concerning any one of these teachings, wrote their findings down so that there would be no confusion. They are for a hedge of protection to the next generation, i.e., me, you, our children and our children’s children.

If we are going to really know Je­sus Christ then we must also know the doctrine He preached. Someone may ask if Jesus has a doctrine. Well, the Bible says, “And they were astonished at his doctrine…” (Mark 1:22). “…and said unto them in his doctrine” (Mark 4:2). “The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine” (John 18:19). “Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:16). The answer, then, is yes He does and they are the teachings and doctrine of His Father in heaven.

In this world you will find a lot of Christian organizations, or Christian people who say, “Doctrine?! We don’t need doctrine, all we need is Jesus!” “Let’s only preach about Jesus!” “Let’s not talk about doctrines because they cause division and they hurt people.” But that’s not true. Some will say there is no need for Bible doctrine, but these Bible doctrines that the Church up­holds are a never changing standard, a hedge of safety and a sure foundation for The Church of God of the Bible.

The Church is built upon the rock of divine revelation and of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). Our doctrine is vital to this building! We take or accept the whole Bible rightly divided as our rule of faith, and it is out of the Bible that these Twenty-nine Foundation Stones of faith, that are so vital to our salvation, have been derived and brought to the forefront. In a building or edifice, the foundation is known to be the lowest part of the building. It is an integrated stable base that the rest of the building sits upon and one that must bear the entire load of the structure. The material used in the foundation must be good enough to bear the load of whatever is built upon it; in other words, it’s got to be good enough to build upon. A founda­tion stone is the first stone set in the foundation of the building that is to be constructed. It is important because all other stones will be set in reference to this stone and it determines the posi­tion of the entire structure.

This is what the Twenty-nine Prom­inent Teachings represent for you and me today; they are the stones to be used in our foundation. They are the underlying principles, the ground­work, so to speak, a firm foundation upon which the lives of Christian men and women of all ages can be built. The success of our spiritual growth is determined by the strength of our spiritual foundation. Jesus said, “There­fore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these say­ings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matt. 7:24-27). Luke 6:48 adds that the wise man “digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock”.

My dear friends, we are living in perilous times and the light showers of persecution have begun to fall upon the Christians of this world, but in the near future it will be torrential rain. The flood waters of spiritual deceit and de­struction have not yet fully risen, but you can be sure they are well on their way. The winds of false doctrine have been blowing for a long time, but to­day it seems the forces of these winds are more violent, blasphemous and unashamed.

If we “hear” but “do not,” according to the Word of God, we are building our life upon shifting sand. Any build­ing will fall that does not have a sure and solid foundation when the rain descends, the floods come, and the winds blow and beat upon it. Great shall be the fall of it! Nevertheless, if a building has a solid foundation— if you hear and do according to the teachings of Christ in your life—the rain will descend, the floods will come, and the winds will blow and beat upon the building and you will not fall. For you are built upon the Rock! What is that ROCK? The Word of God! A SURE FOUNDATION!

Someone has said, “When life is calm, our foundations don’t seem to matter, but when a crisis comes, our foundation is tested.” Be sure your life is built on Jesus Christ! We should make sure not to build our life on shifting sand or faulty ground such as fame, security, success or wealth. Take these basic Bible doctrines that form the very foundation upon which THE CHURCH OF GOD is built, upon which the Christian life can be built, and you are sure to withstand all the elements of this spiritual tempest that is on the rise, or whatever crisis may come into your life! These are not the Church’s “Declaration of Faith.” They are not all or the only doctrines the Church teaches, practices and adheres to, but we believe they are the first principles of the oracles of God. On these we can and must build!

We are living in a time of constant change—in the world of politics, the geopolitical landscape has been changing. This government has fallen, that government has fallen. This new government has been established and that new leader has been put in. I’ve heard over the radio of this politician or that politician changing his stand on certain national policies. We hear of laws that constantly are amended or changed. So much uncertainty! How can you live with peace of mind in the midst of such change and uncertain­ty? Nationally, we hear of new modes of transportation being considered. Houses, hotels, airplanes, cars, phones, computers, watches and all sorts of other things are constantly being up­dated, revised and made better. I even hear of so-called “climate change.” Now those are physical and natural things that do not worry me too much, although I’m aware of them.

The real concern for you and me is that we not be swept or blown away by the frequently changing principles and shifting beliefs of this religious world, being “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doc­trine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to de­ceive” (Eph. 4:14). We don’t want this to be part of our testimony, that we were deceived and led astray, and finally made shipwreck.

Today there is a constant change and shift of faith that the so called mainstream Christian or religious world has been pressured into by those within their ranks who advo­cate the need to change the Chris­tians’ stand on Bible teachings in or­der to be able to meet the challenge of a continually changing world. A minister of the gospel said it so well one time, “God is not looking for a message and teachings people will love; He is looking for a people who will love His message and teachings!” One Church of God minister put it like this, “It’s not about whether a doctrine is beautiful and good to the eye, but whether it is true.”

Religious institutions may alter what they teach to make it look ap­pealing to the multitudes. Others may abandon the faith once delivered unto the saints. “Nevertheless the founda­tion of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19). I want you to know that the only thing in this life you can count on to never change or shift is the Word of God—it is the same yesterday, today and forever!

Have you ever crossed a creek, from one side of the bank to the oth­er, desiring not to get your shoes or clothes wet? What did you look for? You looked for big rocks, big stones, upon which you could step, that wouldn’t move when you put your weight on them and that were a sure and good footing. Amen? The mo­ment you felt it move it scared you and you didn’t know if it would hold. You didn’t know if it would move, flip over, slide, or shift—but what you did know was that if it moved you would fall into the water. In an attempt to find a sure place to put your foot and get across, you tried this stone and that stone and then the next one until you found one you believed you could count on.

My dear friend, spiritually speak­ing , today we don’t have to go try this thing, go try that thing and go try the other in an effort to get through this old world and into glory and risk fall­ing into the world’s water that will drown God out of our lives and de­stroy our souls. We have “in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a pre­cious corner stone, a sure foundation” (Isa. 28:16), and those who came be­fore us battled “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” and they did battle standing upon this tried Stone, this sure foundation.

If it was good enough for them— if it was good enough for Paul, Peter and young Timothy—then it’s good enough for us today! There is no need for you to stand or build upon some­thing uncertain today, but build your life upon the Word of God and take these Twenty-nine Foundation Stones and build upward toward God. These Twenty-nine Foundation Stones will get you across to the other side!

Bishop R. O. Covey wrote: “Since the Word of God is the only thing that will not pass away, it is reasonable that it is the best footing we can have.”

The Word does not move, it does not shift—it does not teeter totter! This foundation has “no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). You can stand on it! You can build on it! You can count on it being the same to­morrow and 10 or 100 years from now!

Not all Christian churches teach these basic Bible beliefs the way The Church of God does. And many don’t teach them at all. There are all sorts of untrue teachings out there that we are certain to encounter and the enemy of our soul would like nothing better than to confuse people and lead them astray. For this reason it is important to not simply accept and believe these Twenty-nine Prominent Teachings just because your parents, pastor, Church buddies, friends, etc., do. If that is as far as our biblical knowledge goes concerning our prominent teachings (i.e., I believe them because he or she believes them) we can be sure that the foundation we are built upon is riddled with gaps and cracks. We are in danger of sinking or collapsing! We must all search them out and study them out for ourselves.

Didn’t Jesus say, “and digged deep”? Each one has got to dig deep into the Word of God and search the Scriptures, going deeper in our relationship with Christ. We don’t just want to know Jesus, but we need to know about Je­sus and that is what the Twenty-nine Prominent Teachings are about, God’s dictates for His people. Ask God for divine understanding, because once you receive it from God concerning the truth of these Bible doctrines then you will know how important they re­ally are. You will be able to defend the biblical doctrines.

In Matthew 16:13-19, Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was. They responded to Jesus informing Him of who the people thought He was, but then Jesus looked at them and asked them, “But whom say ye that I am?” He no longer wanted to know what others thought and believed, but Jesus was now interested in know­ing what they believed and where they stood concerning Him. Peter an­swered saying, “I know who you are. I am convinced that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” It wasn’t because someone else believed it or told it to him, but because he had re­ceived divine understanding from God above. This is the kind of revelation needed concerning these teachings so that no matter what others may say about them, no matter if others despise them, no matter if others say they are old fashioned, you can say, “I know what they are. I know how im­portant they are. They are God’s Word and a sure foundation”.

But if you only believe because others believe what will happen if oth­ers stop believing? Ask yourself, “How firm is my foundation?” Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32). God’s purpose is that every child of God get in His Word and continue in His teachings, for in doing so you will have divine understanding of the truth and it shall make you free. Free from what? Free from doubt, fear, foolish and unlearned questions, from giving heed to fables and endless ge­nealogies, from profane and vain bab­blings. FREE FROM FALLING!