Response to a False Statement of Faith - Galatians 1:8

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

RESPONSE TO A FALSE STATEMENT OF FAITH BY DR. HENRY 3/31/2010 GAL. 1:8

INTRODUCTION: Recently I reviewed the website of a new AOCI member. As president of the AOCI it is ultimately my responsibility to ensure I protect the members from “wolves” dressed as sheep (shepherds). After concluding my research and receiving feedback and commentary from our board of advisors, I wanted to use this individual’s statement of faith to provide commentary and correction to some of the beliefs now attempting to infiltrate the Church of the Living God. The Church of Jesus Christ and its ministers are my passion. I refuse to compromise essential Christian orthodox doctrine for the sake of “adding more members to the AOCI”. In the final analysis, I as well as all other Clergy men and women, will be held accountable for “what we believe”. What we teach and believe is so important that it will make the difference between heaven or hell.

I hope this response to this former member cultic statement of faith stirs you up, challenges you, and assures you that The Association of Clergy International will always stand for sound biblical doctrine as written in the Word of God. Jesus put it this way: ……”ON THIS ROCK (JESUS) I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH AND THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL (BE VICTORIOUS) AGAINST IT” (Matt. 16:18)

(Portions of this former AOCI member’s statement of belief are written first. A response is provided following the word "CORRECTION" by Dr. Henry)

We are a New Testament Free Church, accepting all who come to us with a sincere desire to learn more about how to live a spiritually fulfilling life.

CORRECTION: Although very vague, the purpose of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, to glorify God, and to teach them how to live mature Christian lives. To also be a platform to evangelize the world for the sake of the Gospel. NONE OF THIS WAS REFERRENCED. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen (Matt. 28:19-20).


Trinity Christian Church of Clearwater believes in living a life of Spirituality by holding Jesus Christ as our Ideal. There is no secret to being a good Christian. All we need to remember is that to be a Christian we need to do Christian acts and deeds. To that end we have provided on each page an opportunity for you to "practice what is preached". But most importantly, please enjoy life, help each other, love one another and pray. Each of us has been given wonderful gifts to reveal the Glory of the Creator, use them. It is an exciting opportunity to discover in each new day the wonders of our Creator.
What We Believe

CORRECTION: Nothing points here to the grace of God whereby we are saved. We are not saved by good works; we are created unto good works, BUT NOT SAVED BY THEM. The emphasis here is on doing “good deeds” which is actually cultic. Based on this premise alone, this ministry is pronounced to be a cult. (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:4-8; Rom. 3:23-28)

We believe in one Creator.

CORRECTION: No definition is given about who that creator is. Is it Allah? Buddha? The sun? The Christian Creator is outlined in the bible and there is no reference to any of his communicable or incommunicable attributes here.

We identify the Creator by the name of God and accept that others may identify the Creator by a different name and we will not allow the limitations of language to create any barriers on our spiritual journey.

CORRECTION: Even if we assume they are talking about the biblical Jesus, JESUS IS NOT AN IDEAL. The ontological and biblical Jesus is the Son of the living God, the second person in the trinity, 100% God and 100% man. He is the incarnate of God. God come in the flesh. He is the God man. The above statement implies and propagates somewhat of a “universalistic” or “all inclusive” doctrine. Again very vague. The bible “CLEARLY” defines who God is. In addition the Word of God uses “specific language and words” to articulate who we serve. God is not a “secret agent” and he is not vague. Christianity is an EXCLUSIVE religion. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me. There is no other name whereby mankind can be saved. Accepting other beliefs and identifying and mixing other belief systems of who the creator is does injustice to the God of the bible. We can gain a better picture of who God is only in the word of God. Using and identifying with other belief systems is poison to the Christian faith and sound doctrine. Though we will never understand all of who our Creator is and does, He provides Christians with Clear guidelines and language within the Bible in explaining and understanding the one true living God (our Creator).

We believe in peace, love, forgiveness, and charity to all, as we are all physical manifestations of the One Creative Force.

CORRECTION: Creative force is a huge problem within Christian orthodoxy. God is “NOT A FORCE” God is a spirit. He is a person with feelings, personality, etc. He is NOT SOME COSMIC FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE. GOD IS A SPIRIT (John 4:24).

We accept Jesus the Christ as our ideal.

CORRECTION: Accepting Christ as “an ideal” is not enough to save anyone from the lake of fire. Christians place their faith and belief in Christ in order to satisfy the wrath of God against sinful human beings. We accept Jesus because we will NEVER SATISFY GODS RIGHTEOUS REQUIREMENTS. This is what makes Christianity different than a cult. Christianity called things “DONE” A cult calls things that you have to “DO”. We accept and receive Christ because our righteousness is as filthy rags! Here, this cult fails to really identify the ontological Christ. Who is this Christ? What has he done? This definition fails to tell about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. (Rom. 3:10,12)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the energy of the Creator which can manifest itself in and through all of us.

CORRECTION: The Holy Spirit is NOT AN “ENERGY”. The Holy Spirit is the 3rd person in the godhead (the trinity). The Holy Spirit is a person. Yes, the Holy Spirit can energize us and empower us, but He himself is not an ENERGY. The Holy Spirit is THE SPIRIT OF GOD. The Holy Spirit TEACHES US and HELPS US (John 14:26). He is a person and He even speaks through us (Acts 1:16). The book of Acts 10:38 even makes a separation between the Holy Spirit and power.

We accept the Biblical Scriptures as the basis for our spirituality and believe that there are additional Scriptures and Spiritual writings that contain information that is vital to our growth as spiritual beings.

CORRECTION: As evangelicals and Spirit Filed believers, we have settled the question of “what is actually considered” to be holy writ. The only scriptures profitable for study, correction, doctrine, belief, etc are contained in the 66 books of the Bible. Orthodox Christianity DOES NOT HAVE ANOTHER NEW TESTEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST, nor do we embrace the apocrypha or the pseudo-apocrypha. The Gospel of Thomas for example is not considered to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and included in the canon

We believe in seeking to understand and communicate with those of other belief systems in an effort to discover the common threads which bind all of us to the Creator of the Universe.

CORRECTION: This is clearly a “universalist” approach. Universalism is a very dangerous doctrine which states that all forms of beliefs systems can be acceptable and that God will save All humanity because after all, Christ died for all men. This clearly does violence to orthodox Christian doctrines and will lead many souls to the lake of fire. (Hell)

We believe that dreams are a way for the non-physical universe to communicate to the physical universe.

CORRECTION: Why would a Christian want to communicate to the physical universe? Anyone using dreams to connect to the universe is deceived. We use the word of God as our sole guide and prayer to communicate directly to God through the authority of Jesus. No man goes to the father but by Christ. The subjective experience of dreams have led many astray like Joseph Smith the founder of Mormonism who claimed the angel moroni showed him things and the result was the cult he formed. The Bible WARNS about the dreams of men and vain imaginations: FALSE DREAMS (Jer. 23:32). FALSE VISIONS (Ezek. 21:29). DREAMS OF DECEPTIION CAUSED BY MAN (Jer. 29:8-9). The Bible is our guide not subjective experiences such as dreams. That being said, this does not mean that God cannot use dreams, in fact He has and He still does. But using dreams as a way for the non-physical universe to communicate to the physical universe clearly is new age philosophy and unscriptural.

We accept that correct understanding and analysis of dreams are a key to attaining our spiritual goals.

CORRECTION: Again using subjective experiences to attain spiritual goals is not biblical and anyone using their dreams as a guide will be very disappointed. Christians use the Bible for faith and practice.

We believe in healing through energetics.

CORRECTION: Healing comes through the laying on of hands and believing that Christ is the healer (James 5:14-15). Jesus is the healer not “energetic”. We believe in the prayer of faith, the anointing of oil, and calling for the elders of the church to pray. (James 5:14-15). Yet, any believer can pray for healing. I will say that even though “healing” is contained in the atonement work of Christ, it is not guaranteed. Imagine if when you prayed every single person got healed! We would have a world full of big headed Christians and have no need for doctors….LOL. There is no system or method to receive your healing. Christ will heal who He wants and when He wants. Due to the scope and limitation of this article I will not be able to fully explain this position but for now it suffices to say some of the reasons all do not receive a healing is because: 1. We live in a fallen world 2. Christ himself said that in this life you will suffer. 3. Healing is unlike salvation which is the Lord guarantees that you will be saved. Yet, it requires the person to repent, turn from their wicked ways. Even in salvation, something is required from the individual. Healing is contained in the atonement but not guaranteed. Yet we are to believe and pray for healing. We are to preach and teach what is contained in the Bible even if we don’t fully understand it. Like salvation, God has called us yet we are to respond to that calling. Interestingly, when one is regenerated, God does not take mans will away so from an Arminian perspective, a believer may walk away and turn their heart away from the living God. The Bible also teaches that we are forever secure in Christ. From a Calvinistic perspective, once regenerated the believer is secure with their salvation. Both of these theological schools fall within the pale of orthodox Christianity. So what do we believe and preach and which system of belief does the Bible teach? From my perspective the Bible teaches BOTH. Like trying to explain a two sided coin. One has heads and the other has tails. We simply preach His word and LEAVE THE RESULTS TO GOD. The scope of this blog does not allow me to expand this thought but suffice to say, both are within the pale of orthodox Christianity and we love and embrace believers from both these schools of theology. Let me provide you with an example. I have prayed for people with cancer, tumors, ear disease, etc and witnessed firsthand the miraculous healing of Jesus. Other times, I would pray for healing and the people would die! I am just doing what the Bible says to do: to pray for the sick. I am called to believe this and have faith in God. Christians are NOT TO FOLLOW SIGNS, but the Word of God declares that SIGNS WILL FOLLOW THOSE THAT BELIEVE. 4. I personally believe that one of the many reasons many people that we pray for do not receive healing is because God knows our hearts are desperately wicked and we can be deceived (Jeremiah 17:9). It keeps us all humble knowing that we need to depend on the Lord. If Christ healed everyone all the time, our heads would swell up. My fear is that many of the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science) have crept into the church under the guise of “biblical”. The position written by this so called minister is one that propagates dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard which states a set of ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body. How can something practiced by followers of the cult of Christian Scientology and something written by a science fiction author replace what is contained in the word of God? IT SHOULDN’T! Christians must be aware of such beliefs creeping into the church of Jesus Christ. As ministers of the Gospel we are to be the “gate keepers” of the faith and contend for the faith which was once and for all written and not allow any “private interpretation” to poison its content.

We accept that hands on healing is the healing energy of the Creator working through use and that there are other descriptions of energetic healing with a common goal.
We believe that the subconscious mind is one of the keys to unleashing our Christ potential.

CORRECTION: The Bible DOES NOT STATE that our subconscious mind unleashes the Christians potential in Christ. The Bible teaches a “positional” and “Progressive” SANCTIFICATION process for the believer. Through engaging in the Christian disciplines a Christian can “PARTICIPATE” with the sanctification process. When the Word of God tells us to “work out our own salvations” it is not teaching a works based faith. The Bible teaches that we should engage in the Christian disciplines and virtues and that good works is a by-product of a truly regenerate soul. Put another way, little bible study……Little growing in knowledge of Christ and the Word. Little prayer life……(as one Pentecostal brother put it)….little wonder working power. Little prayer life also leads to a “distant” relationship with Christ. Not going to church? Leads to a stagnant, dry, and complacent life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God being preached (Rom. 10:17). We will grow up to be mature believers if we pray, go to church, read and study the bible, engage in other Christian activities such as witnessing, giving, etc. It is also adequately important to engage in fellowship with other like minded believers and be careful who we allow in our lives that will influence us.

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

Actually the issue really is hermenutics and correct biblical exegesis. Other wise we might as well pick up snakes and marry 10 wives! lol. Your messages below are somewhat contradictory and seem quite un-orthodox in approach. Bottom line is this. THIS WAS A "FALSE" STATEMENT OF FAITH. FAIRNESS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT AND CORRECT BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION IS THE LIFE BLOOD OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. WE ALL STAND IN LIGHT OF WHAT IS WRITTEN IN SCRIPTURE AND SCRIPTURE JUDGES YOU AND ME THE SAME WAY. This response has motivated me ever more stand on the word of God and let God be true and EVERYMAN A LIAR! I would also encourage you as I did Christopher to evaluate your skills in interpretation but quite frankly I don't think you will heed this. YOU ARE CORRECT: WE WILL HAVE TO JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE RABBI.

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

Sorry about the typos. Still getting use to these glasses..LOL....."Entire" is what is correct. Tks

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

Eric, here is where your hermenutics and exegetical skills I believe need to be sharpened as does with Christopher. To quote 1 Cor. 2:2 and then state that "after these two points we again create arguments" does violance to correct bibilical interpretation. One of the keys is to take "THE ENITRE COUNSEL OF GOD" Both old and new testements and derive what the LORD would have us to do and how we ought to live. Scripture is very clear on about the Holy Spirit, the ontological Christ, the exclusive philosophy of the Gospel and teaching us believers what is right and wrong.

God did not leave us orphans and the Bible is clear on the essentials. With this said, the proper decision was reached and agreed upon by myself as well as the AOCI board of advisors. We need to live in reckless abandonment to true biblical interpretation and in defense of the "true gospel of Christ". Other wise we might as well allow all witches, warlocks, universalist, mormans, jevovah witnesses, and any other cult that embraced Christ and Him crucified and that declares that God is one. Makes sense? And at the same time, we must let scripture interpret scripture, taking the enrire bible into account, and teaching and defeanding those tenents that could poison the simple Gospel of Christ. I have seen many of intellectual men think themselves right out of biblical truths.

[Christopher R. Dockrey]

Dr. Henry, we agree that the Statement of Faith, as a whole, does not stand in the light of biblical sound orthodox theology. But would you agree that there are degrees of error? A standard of fairness is valid because, even though we are using the Holy Writ, we are comparing it with something. How we identify what we are comparing it against makes all the difference in the world. As Christians, is it right to interpret something in its worst possible light when there is ambiguity? Is that just and equitable? Would we want others to do the same to us? Just because someone is wrong doesn't give us the right to misrepresent them, and we run the risk of doing that when we take an ambiguous statement and read into it the worst possibility of error.

Which is worse? Comparative study to find common ground as a basis for preaching the Gospel, syncretism, or universalism? I would bet that most of us would say universalism. But here we have a statement that could be consistent with all three, and yet the strongest possible charge is made along with the public mention of the church's name. I don't think that's right, and I don't think that is a "dead issue". The logic seems to be that since the theology is in error, it is okay to make the worst possible charges without respect to the ethical questions about doing so. Would it be okay to charge a thief with pedophilia simply because he is a criminal anyway? The universalism charge is just one example I pulled out of the whole critique to make this point; there are others.

And to be clear, I am definitely not offended. This is the last comment I will make about it, but I think these thoughts are worthy of your consideration.

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

Brother Christopher you are making this much harder than it really is. Bottom line is this: 1. This statement of faith is false 2. It is grossly new age and counter biblical in theology 3. NO Room for justifying anything no matter what you try to do with it. No matter how you try to intellectualize it.....IT DOESN'T STAND IN LIGHT OF BIBLICAL SOUND ORTHODOX THEOLOGY. 4. Your argument of a "standard of fairness" falls to the ground on the basis of Holy Writ. Note: I do realize that you agree with my defense above but it seems you are contending and debating a dead issue. I really don't know what else I can say here and (Pls don't get offended here) I don't really have the time for this type of "ring around the rosies" forum. ....Can someone help me out here please?

[Christopher R. Dockrey]

I agree that the Statement of Faith contains a lot of New Age-type language. And I also agree that Paul's comments in Acts 17 demonstrate an identification with his audience to the end that Christ might be preached; I said as much in my previous post.

The question is whether we can ascertain that this person is a Universalist on the basis of the comment, "We believe in seeking to understand and communicate with those of other belief systems in an effort to discover the common threads which bind all of us to the Creator of the Universe." If he had expounded on the statement, perhaps we could come to that conclusion. But absent any other supporting evidence, this is a hasty generalization, in my opinion. The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. The idea that "for sure" what was meant was something other than what was read into that one sentence statement seems to be based on what was not mentioned rather than the actual substance of the statement. And there seems to be a trend of this throughout the entire treatment of the Statement of Faith.

I certainly am not intending to defend this Statement of Faith. There are a number of problems with it, as I have said. What I do intend to defend is a standard of fairness I would hope others would afford me if such allegations were leveled at me in a forum where I was not permitted to offer a defense.

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

Brother Dockrey, in fact we can know "for sure" that the intention of this statement's referenced passage is NOT the way the Apostle Paul used the passage in Acts 17:22-28. Correct hermenutics and interpretation of these scriptures in Acts crumbles this very thought. So you are correct when you say that your interpretation may not be correct and I would submit to you that it is not even a possibility. Even though Paul preached in ways to identify and communicate with his audience, he always preached "CHIRST" There is obviously no follow through in the statement you referrenced from this new agers statement of belief. .
As you know, many new agers will use very familiar "Christian" verbage in their statements to conceal the truth of the Gospel and to appear "biblical". The fact that 99% of his statement of belief falls to sound biblical theology is another indicator that we can be very confident in this assertation. After all, how much poison can we allow in our drinks?
The Bottom line is even if we give this particular statement in referrence a little "latitude" and even say that after all, the writer is using the rest of his statements to begin discussions on the Gospel, his statement is still so far removed and proven to be new age that any true biblical scholar would pronounce the entire statement as false, unbiblical and un orthodox.

A famous lawyer once said, "if it don't fit, you must aquit" Therefore the entire statement of faith crumbles without any biblically sound lienancy given to his entire statement of belief.

[Rev.Lonnie Bennett M.Div.]

You don't Know how much that means to hear that....
God will Bless you in was only HE can.....that i know.

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

Your welcome Rev. Bennett. Even with all the check points in a ministry like this some will try to infiltrate with their unbiblical doctrines, but we have a secret weapon....Called the HOLY GHOST!!! Glory! Thank you for being a part of AOCI.

[Rev.Lonnie Bennett M.Div.]

Thank you Dr,Henry.