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This web page last updated
February 16, 2011

By which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you ...
1 Corinthians 15:2

Holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
Philippians 2:16

Test all things; hold fast what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
2 Thessalonians 2:15

O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge ...
1 Timothy 6:20

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:13

Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. Titus 1:9

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. Hebrews 2:1

But Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Hebrews 3:6

For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
Hebrews 3:14

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Hebrews 4:14

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: Hebrews 10:32

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
1 John 2:24

And now I plead with you, lady, not as I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning; that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
2 John 1:5-6

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:3-4

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent. Revelation 2:5

... And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith ... Revelation 2:13

But hold fast what you have till I come. Revelation 2:25

Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. ...
Revelation 3:3

Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. Revelation 3:11

(All quotes from the "New King James Version" of the Bible)

Welcome

The Church of God Santa Rosa is a very small, independent church located about an hour north of San Francisco, California.  We are a Seventh Day Sabbath and Seven Holy Days keeping Church of God, similar with other Church of God groups.  We share a common spiritual heritage and seek to achieve the same spiritual goals.  We seek to encourage a mutual respect for our spiritual brothers and sisters in other churches with visits, communication, discussion and friendship in Christian love.  However, the Church of God Santa Rosa itself is just the one single congregation with only a few members, there are no other associated congregations at this time.

As a church, our goal with this web site is to help people in their spiritual efforts to "... grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18) -- and to do all things in thanksgiving and to the glory of God our Father (Philippians 4:20; Colossians 3:17). Jesus came to save people, not condemn them for their mistakes (John 3:16-17). In our efforts to be His disciples, we seek to do the same. We do not wish to condemn others who have different beliefs -- or have made mistakes in life, we all have. We strive to be "... helpers of your joy: for by faith you stand" (2 Corinthians 1:24).

We believe in the original doctrines revealed to what was first called the Radio Church of God and later changed to the Worldwide Church of God. However, we differ from most in that we do not believe in an organizational structure patterned after any form of human government -- be that a business, military or national form of government. It is our understanding that the Radio Church of God had a similar belief at first during the early 1930's, but departed from a Godly form of church administration shortly after its initial conception. While this lead to many problems and political maneuvers by some of the church leaders over time, that church still clung to revealed truths from God until the next major changes in doctrine were make 40 years later in the mid 1970's. These were the changes in "Divorce and Remarriage" and a "Monday Pentecost". While divorce is sometimes necessary, in general, we do not believe it is spiritually acceptable to remarry if one has a living mate.

The Church of God Santa Rosa still adheres to observing a Monday Pentecost. The Radio Church of God made two mistakes in how to physically count Pentecost, but by relying on revealed spiritual understanding, still arrived at the right day, a Monday Pentecost. The doctrinal changes in the mid 1970's only corrected one of these errors, how to begin the count. If you also correct the other error, how to end the count, you still arrive at a Monday Pentecost. The original day of a Monday Pentecost was revealed by God -- even if humans originally counted incorrectly according to the Hebrew methodologies to arrive at a Monday. When the church went to the "scholars", they ignored the spiritually revealed conclusion from God and arrived at the wrong day. Pentecost represents the coming of the Holy Spirit, among other lessons. The fruits of God's Holy Spirit include peace and unity, to name a few. These were more in evidence when the Church of God observed a Monday Pentecost. The fruits of a Sunday Pentecost have not been as good -- including the breakup of the Church of God into many separate, sometimes less-than-friendly organizations. These organizations have also made several other changes to the original foundational doctrines God gave at the beginning of His Church of God in modern times.

Another important belief of the Church of God Santa Rosa is the understanding of the spiritual significance of the Day of Atonement in New Testament times. When reading Leviticus 16, we believe the principles laid down in this chapter for the "Congregation in the Wilderness" should be applied spiritually to the New Testament Church. The Day of Atonement as described in Leviticus 16 is a day of "group repentance". First, the high priest had to offer an atonement for his sins and the sins of "his house", the whole priesthood. Later the high priest made "... an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, ..." (Leviticus 16:16). There has never been a perfect Christian and therefore there has never been a "perfect church". The principle described here is that the sins of the individuals defile the place where they worship God and that that place of worship must be cleansed once a year on the Day of Atonement. We believe in applying this principle spiritually to the Body of Christ, His Church in New Testament times. We believe the ministry should lead in an effort to examine what mistakes they as leaders have made in the past year, mistakes that the group, the church, has made and then lead the group in a day of prayerful repentance and cleansing before God. However, it seems church organizations are reluctance to ever admit they make mistakes. They make major changes without ever admitting what they were doing before was wrong. The lack of understanding relative to the importance and spiritual benefit of evaluating the efforts of a gathering of people worshipping before God as a group and asking God to forgive and cleanse the group from past mistakes and sins has major consequences. Those consequences are evident by the multiple divisions within the Body of Christ and the varying changes in core doctrines among them. We believe this could have been avoided with a proper keeping of the spiritual principles of the Day of Atonement as described in Leviticus 16.

We are committed to continue to add to and enhance this web site so that you will find it useful in increasing your spiritual faith in God our Father and Jesus Christ, His Son and our Savior. We ask you to consider that the beliefs of the Church of God Santa Rosa which include a Monday Pentecost, no remarriage if one has a living mate, a spiritual consensus form of church government and a day of group or church repentance on the Day of Atonement, makes us somewhat unique among the Churches of God.