An Open Letter to Family & Friends (Pg.4)
by Fred & Rochelle Hosillos

with the Jewish Christians who insisted that “the Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses (including the Sabbath commandment)” in order to be genuinely Christians. (Acts 15:5-12, 22- 31 NLT). Notice how Peter responded to the Judaizers’ and Pharisees’, requirement to keep the law in Acts 15: 7-11, “Why are you questioning God’s way by BURDENING the Gentile believers with a yoke (law of Moses with more than 600 requirements) that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the special favor of the Lord Jesus”. (NLT) 

 

We have no problem with Sabbatarians, either Jews or Gentiles, who want to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. But when they  insist that Sabbath-keeping is a requirement for salvation, then  they are preaching an un-Biblical Gospel (Gal. 3: 1-14 NIV). In fact, twice, the Apostle Paul warned about these false teachers in Rom. 14: 5- 11, and Col. 2: 13-17 (NIV).

 

Lastly, the writer of Hebrews re-affirms the fact that with the Christ- event comes the New Covenant which nullifies the provisions of the Old (Mosaic) Covenant (Heb. 8: 6-13 NIV). He further states that “the old system of the law of Moses was only a shadow of the things to come, not the reality of the good things Christ has done for us.”(Heb. 10:1-12  NLT)

 

Frankly, we are not looking for a perfect church because there is none. We are not in a hurry to become  “members” of another congregation; but we have found Evangelical Christians here in Central Oregon who have a clearer concept of what the TRUE GOSPEL is,  enunciated by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2: 8-10: We are saved by grace  through faith in Christ- as a gift of God; then the good works that only Christ can do through us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is demonstrated in an already saved and maturing Christian (Gal. 5: 22-23 NIV).

Every Sunday morning and Monday evening, we fellowship with folks who worship God in spirit and in truth  (John 14:6 NIV). The day we worship God in  is of no consequence, because those who worship Him on the first day of week are no more Sun worshippers, than those who worship Him on the seventh day are no more Saturn worshippers.

 

When people ask us what we are now, we are quick to answer, “We are (New Covenant) CHRISTIANS!” We have moved away from “the room  of good intentions” into the “room of grace”. As such, we have given up the “external drive” of religion, and accepted, by faith, the “internal drive” of the Holy Spirit ( Rom. 8: 9; Col. 1:27 NLT)

 

“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value ourselves. Our only power and success come from God. He is the one who has enabled us to represent HIS NEW COVENANT. This is a covenant, not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The OLD ways end in death; in the NEW way, the Holy Spirit gives LIFE. This old system of law etched in STONE led to death, yet it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not  look at Moses’

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