Samuel Doffee (February 2, 1931 – April 23, 2010), formed The Church of God for All Nations in 1981. Doffee had been previously associated with the Church of God of Prophecy and The Church of God (Jerusalem Acres), and served in various ministerial capacities in the latter body. Bishop Grady R. Kent founded The Church of God of All Nations (now "Jerusalem Acres") in 1957. After settling on the name "The Church of God of All Nations", Bishop Kent was persuaded by other in the Church Pattern to change the name to The Church of God at Jerusalem Acres.
After the death of Kent in 1964, the church governance gradually moved away from "theocratic" rule through the "Chief Bishop", toward a more democratic rule through the General Assembly. Bishop Doffee continued to preach what he believed was the prophetic message of Bishop Kent, as well as "theocratic" church government, and was disfellowshipped by the Church of God (Jerusalem Acres). In 1980, Doffee believed he was instructed by prophecy to reorganize the Church of God, and chartered the new church in 1981.
The doctrines of The Church of God for All Nations are similar to its parent body, with greater emphasis on theocracy and prophecy. Individuals must experience salvation, justification, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is marked by the evidence of speaking in tongues. Divine healing, miracles, and deliverance from evil spirits are considered present-day ministries. Officers in the church are apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. This group believes very explicitly that the "Great Apostasy" began in AD 325 with the Council of Nicaea and continued until June 13, 1903, when Bishop Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson restored the Church, and that in the interim there was no actual theocratic governmental formed (as Jesus formed it) Church of God upon the earth, but that born-again people were abundant and continued to be "saved" or "born again" according to the Bible.
The Midnight Cry Messenger is the official church publication. Headquarters of the church are in Cleveland, Tennessee. Samuel Doffee served as Chief Bishop until his death on April 23, 2010. This body has one church in the United States and about five churches in Kenya, Africa. The Bishop of Africa is Justus Masika Khisa, and the African offices are being built in Bungoma, Kenya. The Church of God For All Nations became defunct at the death of Bishop Sam Doffee and then restored by Chief Apostle Phil Spears in a merger with The Church of God of which Homer Tomlinson was General Overseer.
Christian eschatology is a minor branch of study within Christian theology which deals with the doctrine of the "last things", especially the Second Coming of Christ, or Parousia. Eschatology – the word derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" (ἔσχατος) and "study" (-λογία) – involves the study of "end things", whether of the end of an individual life, of the end of the age, of the end of the world, or of the nature of the Kingdom of God. Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology focuses on the ultimate destiny of individual souls and of the entire created order, based primarily upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testaments. Christian eschatology looks to study and discuss matters such as death and the afterlife, Heaven and Hell, the Second Coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the rapture, the tribulation, millennialism, the end of the world, the Last Judgment, and the New Heaven and New Earth in the world to come.
Montanism, known by its adherents as the New Prophecy, was an early Christian movement of the late 2nd century, later referred to by the name of its founder, Montanus. Montanism held views about the basic tenets of Christian theology similar to those of the wider Christian Church, but it was labelled a heresy for its belief in new prophetic figures. The prophetic movement called for a reliance on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit and a more conservative personal ethic.
Herbert W. Armstrong was an American evangelist who founded the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). An early pioneer of radio and television evangelism, Armstrong preached what he claimed was the comprehensive combination of doctrines in the entire Bible, in the light of the New Covenant scriptures, which he maintained to be the restored true Gospel. These doctrines and teachings have been referred to as Armstrongism by non-adherents.
The Church of God, with headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee, United States, is an international Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination. The Church of God's publishing house is Pathway Press.
The Church of God or TCOG is a Holiness Pentecostal denomination of Christianity. It is based in the United States. The church's actual name is The Church of God; however, the parenthetical phrase Charleston, Tennessee is added to distinguish it from similar-sounding organizations. The Church of God was organized in 1993 after a schism in the Church of God of Prophecy. Its headquarters is in Cleveland, Tennessee but its postal address is in Charleston, Tennessee. As of 2007, The Church of God operates in 48 countries and territories.
The Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP) is a Holiness Pentecostal Christian Church. It is one of six Church of God bodies headquartered in Cleveland, Tennessee that arose from a small meeting of believers who gathered at the Holiness Church at Camp Creek near the Tennessee/North Carolina border on Saturday, June 13, 1903.
The Church of God is a Holiness Pentecostal body of Christians, formerly based in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Church of God is a holiness Pentecostal body that descends from the Christian Union movement of Richard Spurling, A. J. Tomlinson and others. They consider themselves officially The Church of God, but also designate themselves as The Church of God (1957 Reformation) and The Church of God (Jerusalem Acres), which is the name of their headquarters.
The Latter Rain, also known as the New Order or the New Order of the Latter Rain, was a post–World War II movement within Pentecostal Christianity which remains controversial. The movement saw itself as a continuation of the restorationism of early pentecostalism. The movement began with major revivals between 1948 and 1952 and became established as a large semi-organized movement by 1952. It continued into the 1960s. The movement had a profound impact on subsequent movements as its participants dispersed throughout the broader charismatic and pentecostal movements beginning in the 1960s.
The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian church that split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during an 1863 schism in Hamburg, Germany.
In Christian eschatology, historicism is a method of interpretation of biblical prophecies which associates symbols with historical persons, nations or events. The main primary texts of interest to Christian historicists include apocalyptic literature, such as the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. It sees the prophecies of Daniel as being fulfilled throughout history, extending from the past through the present to the future. It is sometimes called the continuous historical view. Commentators have also applied historicist methods to ancient Jewish history, to the Roman Empire, to Islam, to the Papacy, to the Modern era, and to the end time.
The doctrine of the Trinity, considered the core of Christian theology by Trinitarians, is the result of continuous exploration by the church of the biblical data, thrashed out in debate and treatises, eventually formulated at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 in a way they believe is consistent with the biblical witness, and further refined in later councils and writings. The most widely recognized Biblical foundations for the doctrine's formulation are in the Gospel of John, which possess ideas reflected in Platonism and Greek philosophy.
The Church of God, Alexander Jackson Sr. General Overseer, formerly The Church of God under the leadership of Bishop James C. Nabors, is a Holiness Pentecostal Christian denomination with roots in the late 19th-century American Holiness movement and early 20th-century Pentecostal revival. It shares a common history with The Church of God (TCOG) until 2006 when a separation occurred. The official name is The Church of God. The phrase Alexander Jackson Sr. General Overseer is added to distinguish this group from many others called Church of God.
Theodemocracy is a theocratic political system proposed by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. According to Smith, a theodemocracy is a fusion of traditional republican democratic principles under the US Constitution with theocratic rule.
Homer Aubrey Tomlinson, was an American bishop in the Church of God of Prophecy, a Pentecostal Holiness Christian denomination founded by his father, Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson in 1922.
Ambrose Jessup (A.J.) Tomlinson, a former Quaker, united with the Holiness Church at Camp Creek in 1903. With his drive, vision, and organizational skills, he was elected the first general overseer of the Church of God in 1903. He also served as the first president of the church's Lee College, later known as Lee University (1918–1922). In 1923, Tomlinson was impeached, causing a division which led to the creation, by followers of Tomlinson, of what would become the Church of God of Prophecy.
Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The first followers of Christianity were Jews who had converted to the faith, i.e. Jewish Christians. Early Christianity contains the Apostolic Age and is followed by, and substantially overlaps with, the Patristic era.
Grady R. Kent, was an American theologian and preacher who worked closely with A.J. Tomlinson in the early years of Church of God of Prophecy, and later went on to establish The Church of God. His life included the formation of numerous material programs like the Fields of the Wood and the Joel's Horsemen Christian motorcycle group, which he used to spread the message of the church.
Theocratic Government is a form of Ecclesiastical polity that has been historically associated with the teachings of A.J. Tomlinson and Grady R. Kent. It was previously employed in Church of God and Church of God of Prophecy and now only remains in use with The Church of God and a few smaller organizations. It was designed to be patterned after the same form of government used in the Bible by Moses and Jesus. It consists of an Anointed Leader at the head, Twelve Apostles, Seven Business Overseers, and Seventy-Two Prophets, in addition to having various bishops, deacons and ministers serving under them.
Fields of the Wood is a Christian religious park of more than 200 acres (81 ha) in Cherokee County, North Carolina, owned by the Church of God of Prophecy—a Holiness Pentecostal denomination. It is best known for the largest representation of the Ten Commandments in the world, measuring 300-foot (91 m) wide across a mountainside.
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