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[Craig]

Mr. Smith,

    I recently came across your web-site looking for information.  I have read quite a few of your articles and find them very interesting.  Although I'm not convinced to change my beliefs on some of your positions (I won't go into detail now), others I have agreed with before reading your articles and wholeheartedly support your beliefs (like tithing).
     
    I am interested in your church affiliation.  I am a member of an independent Baptist Church.  Do you a member of a church?  If so, does that church teach/preach the same thing you do?
     
    Thanks.  I'm looking forward to hearing back from you.
     
    Wayne Taylor
     

    Dear Wayne: I am a member of "The Living Church of God" (I Tim. 3:15). I do not belong to, nor attend, nor am I affiliated in any way with any institutionalized church or denomination of men (Rev. 18:4).
    God be with you,
    Ray

[Craig]

Mr. Smith,
 
If you wouldn't mind emailing me your testimony, I can better determine how to respond to your answer.
 
Thanks,
 
Wayne
 

Dear Wayne:  My teachings and my life are my testimony. I have never written out a testimony, or a creed, or a statement of faith, or some other such thing that I have found usually most useless in the lives of others.
God be with you,
Ray

[Craig]

Ray,
 
Sorry for not being more specific.  What I meant by your testimony is your account of being saved and baptized (like the account in Acts 8:26-40 of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch).
 
Thanks, Wayne


Dear Wayne:  No, I knew exactly what you meant, and my answer was accurate. First of all, what is it that you learn about the Ethiopian from the account in Acts 8:26-40? Just where is there a "testimony" in there that is helpful in knowing what kind of a man he was or how he lived his life from then on?  These verses say almost nothing about the man, and much of what is said, is not even Scripture in the first place. The entire 37th verse is spurious and is not found in either the Sinaitic or the Vatican Manuscripts.  So what are we left with regarding this man's "testimony?"  He was a man who didn't understand the Scriptures. Phillip explained some Scriptures to him and baptized him. Thousands and thousands of Jews were baptized by John. They ALL had similar "testimonies," as we know for a fact that John would not baptize the unrepentant Pharisees. And just what became of all these thousands and thousands of disciples of Jesus which He healed and were bapt i zed?
After appearing to His disciples for FORTY DAYS, and was seen by over FIVE HUNDRED at one time, according to Paul (I Cor. 15:6). Yet......AND YET, when Jesus instructed them all to wait at Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit of power, here's how many showed up:
 
"And in those days Peter stood in the midst of the DISCIPLES, and said (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty)"  (Acts 1:15).
 
Only 120 out of thousands and thousands showed up for the most important event in their entire lives. So much for baptismal "testimonies."
 
Wayne, you are going to have to come to learn that the practices and theology of the Church are not Scriptural.  What you are trying to determine is whether MY theology and life in Christ compares favorably to YOURS.  That is NOT the way to learn the Truth, Wayne. Read the material on our site, and you will clearly see exactly what we believe and why and how we are to live our lives.
God be with you,
Ray