According to Holy Scripture, there is only one way to Heaven: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3; "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts: 4:12; and "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9. Going to Heaven depends completely upon our having accepted God's gift of free salvation, which can only be found in the Name of Jesus, through an act of personal faith, of personal commitment. Going to Heaven is not the result of our having merited or earned it through our good religious works; it is solely the result of Christ's redemptive work on the cross of Calvary; it is a gift of God given freely, by grace.
We dress the way we do to obey Scripture regarding the way women (and men) who profess to serve God ought to clothe themselves according to 1 Timothy 2:9-10. We are admonished to clothe ourselves modestly, respectfully and with sobriety, not with costly apparel or jewellery, so that our good works will be seen and God glorified through these.
The typical answer would be - "Read your Bible!" However, although this is the best place to begin, it is often very confusing for someone who has no idea what God has said, to discover divine truth in totality, all on his or her own. There are many good churches who teach and preach God's Word, and these offer Bible studies to truth seekers. We could direct you to such a Church in your area. We also offer such introductory Scriptural courses FREE OF CHARGE and WITHOUT OBLIGATION at our Bible School via correspondence, home studies, evening or week-end courses.
We are not a denomination, nor are we affiliated to any specific denomination; we believe that denominations, although well intentioned and sincere, are manifestations of believers' flesh (Galatians 5:20). We believe that Scripture teaches that Christian believers are one in Christ, one in the Holy Spirit, and consequently one body (Ephesians 4:4-6), the Holy Universal Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, not Christians divided and separated into particular "confessions"; this is what we are called to live and witness to. This was Jesus' prayer: "...that they may be one, even as we are one." John 17:22. We also believe that we must adhere and identify ourselves solely to one name - that of Christian - and reject man-made religious systems to adhere solely to His Word , as we are admonished to do in Revelation 3:8.
According to a recent definition of the word: "a cult is a teaching, group or
movement which deviates from orthodoxy while claiming to present true
faith." This is a simplistic definition, which can be arbitrarily
attributed to almost anyone. A truer definition would be: "A cult is a perversion, a distortion of biblical Christianity
and/or a rejection of the historic teachings of the Christian Church. A Cult,
then, is a group of people polarized around someone's interpretation of the
Bible and is characterized by major deviations from orthodox Christianity
relative to cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, particularly the fact
that God became man in Jesus Christ." Since we adhere to divine truth
as revealed in Scripture, presented to mankind throughout all Church history in
all the major orthodox Christian groups, we do not believe that we are a cult,
even though we do believe and practice some Scriptural truths which the Church
at large has either forgotten, omitted, neglected or put aside. Those true
Christians who have taken the time and bothered to investigate us, have come to
the conclusion that "Although we are
old fashioned, we are quite orthodox!"
Any sincere Christian always faces the danger of falling into extremes - becoming legalistic or overly permissive, neither of which are appropriate positions for true believers. Although we must obey God, we must be careful that we obey Him as He requires us to (through the inner, indwelling power of the Holy Spirit), and not through our own human strength and innate power (which would be walking in the flesh). Obey, we must; it all depends how we do it! God's way or our own way!
We have been accused of doing exactly this. However, if people must be pampered and if the truth of God has to be watered down supposedly in order for them to "enter into the kingdom of God," then it is possible that the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God is not being preached. Entering into the kingdom of God costs us our all; there are no spiritual "specials" with God, only a false man-made representation of His Gospel. The apostle Paul clearly tells us that as Christians, we must realize this truth: "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, WHICH ARE GOD'S." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. We cannot live as we like or wish, if we are Christians; we belong completely to God and are therefore no longer free to do what we like or wish! So if our obedience to God "turn people off", as some worldly Christian claim, it is not because we are necessarily wrong, but because they are not thorough in their obedience to God, and therefore present and give out a false message!
The Church life, as Disciples of the Holy Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in all levels, should be lived under the complete, total lordship of Christ, in accordance with His divine Kingdom rules and regulations - it is not a free for all party wherein everyone does what he likes and wants as he or she sees it in the Bible or, as it is so erroneously perceived, "under the guidance of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit would never lead anyone to act in contradiction of divine truth as revealed in Scripture. As we study the Church life in the New Testament, we see three levels of Christian living or of believers: a) the uneducated and untrained (the babes in Christ); the learners and trainees (disciples preparing for ministry) and the perfect or mature believers (Church leaders and Apostolic workers). This is what a "normal" local Church should reflect.
Consecration is the natural outcome of a Christian who has matured in the Lord, for He knows that since he no longer belongs to himself but to Christ, he willfully accepts to live out Romans 12:1-2, wherein he presents his body to God as a living, holy and acceptable sacrifice, and will not conform himself to the world, but will allow God to transform him as He wishes to. Consecration comes when we recognize and accept the Scriptural fact that Christ, as our Redeemer, Savior and King, has such legal rights upon us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:13, 16, 19; Romans 12:1-2).. Because we love Christ, we are constrained to offer Him our lives in complete, total consecration. It's as simple as that!
Long ago, someone has wisely said: "The closer you walk with God, the clearer you see yourself as what you really are indeed; the holier a believers gets, the clearer his sees how much of a sinner he really is!" Walking with God, walking in the light of His truth, seeking to be all He wants us to be, makes us fully aware of what we are indeed as fallen, sinful human beings. Being so completely aware of this, we therefore know without a shadow of a doubt that any good we do or accomplish, is done and accomplished in and through the life of Christ dwelling within us - there is therefore no room for self exaltation, self glorying or for daring to think that we are better than anyone else! Should we even dare to go there, God will bring us back into reality pretty quickly! Like every other Christian, we must always keep in mind this Biblical truth: "...the flesh profiteth nothing." John 6:63; "For they that walk after the flesh (our natural human self) do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit (the new spiritual life received when we were born again by the Holy Spirit) the things of the Spirit. For to be carnal (to walk in our natural life) minded is death (produces spiritual death in us); but to be spiritually minded is life and peace... For they that walk after the flesh (in the natural man) cannot please God."Romans.8: 5-6, 8.