God
is the Father.
He
sent the Word to the earth (Jn 1:14)
to send the Son of God (Jn 1:18).
The Word is eternal life (Jn 1:4).
The Word became flesh and died on the cross.
This means He died with us (Jn 10:17-18).
Since He resurrected from the dead after three days,
He came to life like God (Jn 14:19-20).
We believe
that He came to life like God (Jn 20:19).
When He died, the world and the disciples despaired.
However,
He gave the world great faith by His resurrection.
This is the faith of the resurrection (Jn 20:20).
He resurrected, appeared to the eleven disciples,
and gave great gifts, “peace be with you”,
“receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:21)
and “forgive the sins of any”.
The truth does not condemn anyone (Jn 20:23).
○ We believe in the Lord who resurrected.
This faith gave us peace.
This peace is in our spirits.
○ Our faith
is that the Holy Spirit entered us
and will be with us forever as the Advocate.
○ Our faith
does not condemn others in spirit
and is free with all of mankind.
※ It is liberated from the knowledge of good and evil,
free from the Law and conscience,
and does not condemn anyone.

Our church is called a Baptist church, yet for being called a Baptist church, we are currently receiving negative treatment from the current Baptist Denominations in South Korean and it has resulted in chaos. Indeed, we are a Baptist church that gives baptism by immersion in water, yet the term, ‘Independent church’ is a more appropriate term. We are not a church that has borrowed from the name of a denomination, but before this church was established, I received ordination as a pastor from another independent church, and afterwards, zealously preached the gospel and preached the word, and finally established an independent church later on.

Our church follows the Bible as its law, leads lives of faith according to the Bible, and preaches and conducts our ministry according to the Bible. So, although, I, Semuon, studied theology in a Presbyterian Seminary, my heart very much follows the ideals of an Independent church. I started the first years of my life of faith in a Methodist church, but I follow the ideals of an Independent church. Yes, this body of our church was momentarily within the Baptist Denomination, but the ideals of this church was that of an Independent church.

No matter where you go in the world, if they ask you of what denomination you belong to, and you name this church and also mention that you belong to a Baptist church, they will look at you with great suspicion. This is because the churches that belong to the Baptist church denomination regard it is part of their faith to oppose miraculous healings. Yet when they discover that the practice of our faith is the working of miraculous healings, they get greatly confused and will have deep suspicions.

According to the command of the Lord, we must receive the Holy Spirit, and we must- by all means – receive baptism. Therefore, our church shares many similarities with the Baptist church, and shares similarities with Pentecostal churches. We also share similarities with the Presbyterian church in the sense that we have our own elders, and we share some similarities with the Methodist Church because we advocate free will. However, from the very beginning, our church has been an independent church which, regardless of denomination, gives baptism by immersion in water. Regardless of denomination, it is the church that is full of the Holy Spirit and Returns to the Word. This is our identity. Therefore, we discard all elements that are non-biblical, and those things that accord with the Bible we vigilantly safeguard. We are a most sincere independent church that follows ‘The Picture of God’s Will’.

The denominations of the world have been divided into the hundreds, and all the members within these churches fight amongst themselves so that many unfortunate and unpleasant things happen. However, we acknowledge that all churches are under Jesus Himself. The identity of our church, on the other hand, is that of a genuine independent church that genuinely follows the ideals of an independent church. The Head of the Church is Jesus Christ, and the One who gave the Church its law is Jesus. The faith that Jesus spoke and taught comes from God the Father. This church is a Berean Church – an independent church that obeys His word and walks on no other path.

Our speech, our will, our action and our faith is all that of an independent church. We must be spiritual so that we receive no intervention by anyone, are not shaken by any theology, and are not constrained by anthropocentric civilization. Human civilization itself must not take away our souls. Can anthropocentric civilization give salvation? Our souls do no rely on any anthropocentric civilization, but we eternally adhere to the theocentric faith that trusts in God. According to the word of Jesus, when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, we absolutely believe that He is God, and that He abode within the bosom of the Father, later manifesting Himself to us as the Exact Representation of the Being of God. He is God.

Whoever asks us what church we belong to, let us all say clearly, “We belong to an Independent church”. Let us not say that we belong to the Presbyterian church, or the Methodist church. Let us, instead, all clearly say that we belong to an Independent church.

Semuon