Saturday, February 24, 2007

Our Covenant with Each Other and the Lord

Many have forgotten the seven Epistles of Jesus Christ, His letters to the seven churches regarding false doctrine e.g., “the doctrine of Balaam,” “the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes,” “that woman Jezebel,” “them which say they are Jews, and are not,” and “them which say they are apostles, and are not.” These letters composed for our edification included one church without commendation, a church that was beyond doctrine:

Now this church was neutralized, it was useless … petrifying. This church was the kind of church that would say lets all get together in one big happy family. Doctrine divides so let’s not discuss doctrine. Let’s just love each other. And this church is guilty of redefining truth in order to affect a compromise … They sit on the fence. They water down the gospel, then they jazz it up a little bit, then they spoon feed it to a pampered generation. And that’s precisely what this church was involved in doing (The Valley Church, Laodicea, emphasis added).26

A person who is truly regenerate, a person who truly believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will not tamper with the Word of God. If you really trust Christ you won’t tamper with it … there are some people today who come dangerously close. … Going to cut it [Revelation] out of here? Only an unregenerate person could do that. Only a person who has denied the Word of God itself and the fact that it is the Word of God could tamper with this book. These things written here are intended to be understood literally. And God is going to bring them to pass literally. … If Jesus Christ came literally the first time and if Jesus Christ did the things that were literally prophesied the first time, He will do the things that are literally prophesied the second time and all the related events. And you can be absolutely dead certain that the things we have studied … in the book of Revelation, these things will come to past! They are absolutely certain (The Valley Church, God’s Last Words, emphasis added).27

I still remember the summer evening my wife and I found Valley with cross silhouetted against the sky and the witness of a parking lot overflowing. And how we joined others that night in mutual affirmation of the covenant of marriage, a covenant we had made only months before. Hopefully, this letter will be an opportunity to affirm again our doctrinal statement1, our statement of faith, our covenant with each other and the Lord, and to honor the Last Will and Testament of those of our brothers and sisters who served and gave and prayed for this church and are now with the Lord. This is our heritage and their reward.


1Paul E. Steele, ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, (Published by The Valley Church, Cupertino, California, 1978).
26The Valley Church, Laodicea, 4/28/74, (audio tape).
27The Valley Church, God’s Last Words, 8/22/76, (audio tape).

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