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(mobile friendly version-click here) THIS IS A SUMMARY OF OUR POSITION by means of A SELECTION FROM PAGES ON THIS WEB-SITE which may assist you,our viewers, in deciding if the purpose of these pages is of interest to you (together they summarise our position) *our history *our name *our purpose *our hope *our responsibilities *lessons from the past *warnings for the present OUR HISTORY John Thomas(later quoted by Robert Roberts)wrote: “Christadelphianism” is a term representative of the system of the Truth taught in the written word con- cerning Christ and His brethren. It represents the Truth disinterred from the rubbish of clerical and denominational tradition”. 'Pioneer Christadelphian Appeal' This was the epoch of the re-discovery of the Truth from the rubbish of history, where it had lain unseen and unwanted, except for the few, during the dark ages of Rome's supremacy. During this time, an Englishman named John Thomas was en- route to America when the ship in which he was travelling was in grave danger of being wrecked. Being deeply moved by the fact that he had little familiarity with the word of God, & its teaching concerning life & death, he made a vow that if he was spared, he would not rest until he had found the Truth. By the providence of God, this was finally achieved. He accepted the Truth and was baptized in AD1847. 'The Messages to the 7 Ecclesias' page 2 OUR NAME During the American civil war, in order to identify a small body of believers who objected to taking up arms, he coined the name 'Christadelphian' - which means 'brother or sister of Christ'…. cp Matt.12v50; Heb.2v11. 'The Messages to the 7 Ecclesias' page 2 OUR PURPOSE this site has been created for the promotion of 2 objectives- SOUND DOCTRINE AND SOUND FELLOWSHIP 'Home Page-Index' - 'Contending for the Faith' OUR HOPE God has given wondrous promises- they include life, land, & kingdom Jesus Christ stated in Matthew 5v5- "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"...this is the only hope of the believer THIS FOUNDATION PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE IS INVOLVED IN THE NEXT TWO PROMISES, THOSE OF LAND & KINGDOM. HOW OTHERWISE CAN WE GAIN AN ETERNAL INHERITANCE? 'God's Wondrous Promises - life, land, and kingdom' John Thomas later wrote 'Elpis Israel' (The Hope of Israel) which is an integral part of the Gospel..cp Acts 28v20. The Sacrifice of Christ has accomplished two things 1 Sin has been condemned 2 The promises have been confirmed Romans 8v3 & 15v8 THEREFORE WE CAN GAIN ETERNAL LIFE AND INHERIT THE PROMISES WHEN JESUS OUR Responsibilities "Unity is a beautiful and desirable thing, but it has conditions and it requires no pleas. Where it exists it exerts itself like a law of nature… THE ONLY PRACTICABLE RULE OF OPERATION AT PRESENT IS FELLOWSHIP ON THE BASIS OF ONENESS OF MIND". Robert Roberts 'Pioneer Christadelphian Appeal' That it is the duty of the friends of the truth to uphold it as a basis of union among themselves by refusing to receive either those who deny any part of it, or those who would receive those so denying. 'Biblical Fellowship - the protection of the Truth'-Robert Roberts By what means shall a community, based on the truth, pre- serve the truth in purity in its midst? Obviously by the means indicated by Paul and John, that is, by exacting of all who are in it an implicit adherence to the things, facts, principles, points, tenets, or whatever else they may be called, which go to make up the truth in its entirety and by refusing to associate with those who oppose or refuse to endorse any of its elements. The ecclesia is not a place for argument; it is for worship in agreement. When a man requires to be argued with, his na- tural place is outside, and if he will not go outside, separa- tion must be enforced by withdrawal on the part of the rest. Division is the inevitable concomitant of an uncompromising adherence to the truth. Peace purchased at the cost of com- promise is doubly dangerous. The truth is the standard and must alone be allowed to rule. 'Contending for the Faith'-Robert Roberts Representatives from assemblies of believers should never be given authority to legislate independently in any way atall. This is totally unscriptural, and has proven to be the downfall of any who have been involved. And it has encompassed a great number of individuals who have renounced their own respon- sibility before God. It occurs in situations where disciples have already lost that love of the Truth which alone will guarantee its preservation from corruption. Looked at in this light, it is seen to be a natural corollary of declension which already exists. True believers will have none of this, and will never abrogate their personal God-given independence of judgment, and their personal responsibility before God. Paul wrote to Timothy: "keep that which is committed to thy trust" 1st Timothy 6v20 Paul also wrote that if we do our humble part, the Lord will "keep that which (we) have committed unto him against that day" 2nd Timothy 1v12 Each assembly and individual should exercise this "independ- ence of judgment and responsibility before God". In so doing, we SAFEGUARD THE TRUTH AMONGST US. This is the freest & fullest expression of liberty in Christ to which we are divinely entitled, i.e. the liberty (as a trust from God-see above) in Christ, to judge for ourselves where the truth of any matter lies. In fact, if we did not enjoy this liberty, we would be subject (as in the apostate "churches") to the greatest dictatorship which is conceivable, i.e. the dictatorship of bondage to error. LESSONS FROM THE PAST The history of the Truth has always been one of a struggle to preserve the integrity of the inspired word of God against all the corrupting influences which occur everywhere about us. In the recording of past events, we provide the facts. Our aim is to highlight the principles involved, which recur time and time again. If we do not learn the lessons of the past, it is in- evitable that the same disasters will ultimately be repeated.. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap"- Galatians 6v7. On page 2 we shall briefly trace the adoption of false teachings into apostate 'Christianity'. We shall also give approximate dates for the inception of unscriptural teachings which are all subversive of the Truth. These only serve to perpetuate the bondage of superstition, and the dictatorship of a fallible order of men who promote idolatry, to their own and their followers' condemnation. 'Departure from the Truth' page 1 Regarding the above,John Thomas wrote-"The Apocalypse was given to the end that the servants of the Deity who are keeping their garments might be able to discern the signs of the times preceding the apocalypse of Christ; and the real nature of things extant in their several generations. No believer, understanding this prophecy, could be seduced into fellowship with the clerical institutions of the world; because he would see them in all their native deformity and sin". 'The Lord's Day' page 1 'The Apocalypse and Fellowship' 'Fellowship and the Seven Ecclesias' So those who adopted these heresies became absorbed into the society in which they lived, instead of being a separate people,dedicated to God through His Son Jesus Christ. One of the perverters wrote thus - "the notions which I derive out of the writings of the Gentiles serve first to water and soften the earthy parts of the soul, that the spiritual seed may be the better cast in, and take vital root in the heart of men". With "friends" like this, the Truth needed no ene- mies, and the slide into disaster became irreversible. 'The Messages to the 7 Ecclesias' page 1 WARNINGS FOR THE PRESENT "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, inconti- nent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away".."even their mind and conscience is defiled". 2nd Timothy 3v1-5; Titus 1v15. No better words could have been chosen to describe this evil age. They apply equally to the "last days" of Jewish & Gentile times. Coincidental with these worldly evils of the flesh has come a re- newed effort by errorists to have their false doctrines adopted by all in their fellowship. And in this we see a "re-run" of events which we have documented elsewhere - link to 'departure'. Those who uphold the Truth in its purity maintain a separate identity so that the precious elements of saving doctrine might be preserved in the earth - link to 'appeal' for more details. 'The Messages to the 7 Ecclesias' page 2 The Truth is made up of various facets, and the basic fundamentals that we highlight on this site are all inter-related. It is impossible to reject any of these truths without undermining the whole. It is similar to a building where one or more of the foundations may be missing, or otherwise is shown to be inadequate. The integrity of the whole structure is compro- mised. In our examination of various false ideas on the Sacrifice of Christ this will be found to be the case. TRUTH VERSUS ERROR ON THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST The hallmark of all heretical teachings is that in some way they present the Lord's sacrificial death as substitutionary, and not representative. The truth is that Jesus needed saving from the re- sults of sin at the beginning, because He was born of a woman. His sin-cursed nature, equally with the nature of those whom He came to save, needed to be condemned by a sinless sacrifice. ERROR 'The Sacrifice of Christ was of benefit for Himself, but only because it involved His final act of obedience. It did not in- volve a personal need for purification from "sinful flesh" by sac- rifice and resurrection'. (we give our ‘Pioneer’ brother the final word) "The word sin is used in two principal acceptations in the scripture..It is that in the flesh "which has the power of death"; and it is called sin, because the development, or fixation, of this evil in the flesh, was the result of transgression. Inasmuch as this evil principle pervades every part of the flesh, the animal nature is called "sinful flesh"..Sin, I say, is a synonym for human nature. Hence, the flesh is invariably regarded as unclean..Sin could not have been condemned in the body of Jesus, if it had not existed there..Sinful flesh being the hereditary nature of the Lord Jesus, he was a fit and proper sacrifice for sin...The great principle to be compassed was THE CONDEMNATION OF SIN IN SINFUL FLESH, INNOCENT OF ACTUAL TRANSGRESSION". - John Thomas, 'Elpis Israel'. One final point should be noted. Because this 3rd application of the messages deals with the period of the re-discovery of the Truth since AD1847, it outlines those events which have occurred within "Christadelphia". It will therefore be of intense interest to all those who would be numbered with the faithful at the coming of Christ. In many ways, these last-day periods are the most remarkable of them all. It is incredible to realise that the messages which Jesus Christ gave to the 7 Ecclesias in the Apocalypse over 1900 years ago are still being worked out before our very eyes today. And it can initially make us feel inadequate for the task ahead. But this has always been the lot of God's people, a "permanent minority" during their pilgrimage. We are encouraged by the words of the Apostle Paul - "If God be for us, who can be against us?". Also, "there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few"... "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty" to the end "that no flesh should glory in his presence" - Romans 8v31;1st Sam. 14v6;1st Cor. 1v27,29. 'The Messages to the 7 Ecclesias' page 3 return to home page-index return to site map we welcome correspondence - our address is webmaster@pioneerchristadelphians.org |