This sermon, given in Spokane Washington on April 26, 2019, describes how Israel refused to honor God according to His word and was eventually sent off into captivity. Tragically, spiritual Israel in our time has done the same thing. Most of the churches of God have become corporations run by modern Pharisees teaching their own Talmud; they are teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

The record and explicit warning of scripture is clear. We are not to add to, or take away from, what God has said. We are to point people to God, rather than to man. The most destructive teaching of the Church of God today is that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament. It denies the active personal involvement of God the Father in His creation on the basis that He cannot be in the presence of sin. Replacing God the Father with His Servant is idolatry (Exodus 20:3) and is not something Jesus Christ ever taught or did.

W elcome,

This project, with the appendices, was presented to the Chairman of the Doctrine Committee of the Council Of Elders of the United Church of God (UCG) in July of 2017 and was accepted with the confirmation that it met all the required criteria. The presentation of the material was in accordance with the Process For Submitting Doctrinal And Prophecy Papers and also in compliance with the instructions given by the Council Chairman.

The study began three years earlier when, in serving on the Doctrine Committee, I was tasked with assessing a paper regarding events surrounding the return of Jesus Christ. In that study it became evident that understanding the accounts of Jesus Christ prophetically, required understanding the accounts of both God and Jesus Christ historically; the basis on which the project then continued. Various elements of the study were presented to the committee over the next two years with the research necessarily expanding beyond the initial questions that were raised.

In 2017 the administration prepared a sermon for Steve Myers entitled: "Jesus: The God Of The Old Testament?" which laid out seven points addressing the roles of God and Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. The sermon was given and posted on the archives, and subsequently sanctioned by Victor Kubik as the official UCG teaching. Steve's sermon served as the structural basis for the final presentation of this material.

Some of the edit dates of the appendices are shortly after the presentation date but no substantive changes were made. They are the copies retained in my files. The one-page paper (The Most High God Dwells In The Most Holy Place) is different. It was not part of the original project but was addressed to the Doctrine Committee at its final meeting when a ballot was to be taken and a recommendation to the Council made. This paper was in response to arguments by various members of the Council and the administration that UCG be Christ-centered, including the belief that Jesus Christ was the presence in the holy of holies of the temple, and our relationship to Him includes both our worship and our prayers.

The appendices are study papers rather than doctrinal statements and work on the project continues. The material that was presented to the Doctrine Committee, and then the Council, is being provided in its original form in response to many requests and to assist in a more open discussion concerning the record of God and Jesus Christ in scripture taking place.

All verses, unless noted otherwise, are from the NKJ.

Mark Mickelson

• Jesus: God of the Old Testament? (Sermon: Steve Myers)
• Appendices:
  • God And Jesus Christ in Scripture (scriptures)
  • The LORD Of Hosts
  • John's Use Of God (scriptures)
  • God And Jesus In The New Testament (scriptures)
  • The Creator God
  • The Invisible God
  • The Father As LORD (scriptures)
  • The God Of Abraham
  • The Friend Of God
  • The LORD And The Three Men
  • The Burning Bush
  • The Living God
  • The I Am
  • Make Straight The Way Of The LORD
  • The Rock That Followed Them
• The Most High God Dwells In The Most Holy Place

The following sermons were given over a period of two and a half years. The first one, God (The Father), was included on a CD that was shared with UCG members and was also posted to YouTube. The second one, The Oneness Of God, was printed as an article in the United News. Eventually though, all of these sermons were pulled from public access as not being in compliance with the doctrinal teaching of UCG.

The first Fundamental Belief of UCG (as is listed in the Constitution) states:

We believe in one God, the Father, eternally existing, who is a Spirit, a personal Being of supreme intelligence, knowledge, love, justice, power and authority. He, through Jesus Christ, is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. He is the Source of life and the One for whom human life exists. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is the Word and who has eternally existed. We believe that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the divine Son of the living God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born in human flesh of the virgin Mary. We believe that it is by Him that God created all things, and that without Him was not anything made that was made. We believe in the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God and of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternal.

This statement was overwhelmingly ratified by the elders of UCG in 1995, including myself, and is biblically accurate. It states that the one God is the Father and He is the Creator and the living God. All other descriptions and commentary regarding the first Fundamental Belief were added at a later date and were not ratified by the General Conference of Elders.

None of these sermons are in conflict with the first Fundamental Belief as it is recorded in the Constitution. Some of them are in conflict with various long-held customs and traditions. Page four of UCG's Fundamental Belief booklet states the one God is the Father and page five states the one God is the Father and the Son. It cannot be both.

These sermons are offered as an archive in the form they were given. Growth in understanding is a process and no sermon, or any of man's instruments, can be considered the final word.