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THE FOUNDATION CHURCH OF THE NEW BIRTH
IS A JUDEO-CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Every belief system has its origins and there will always be individuals who will want to know them. In the western world, the Hebrews of the Old Testament of the Bible were directly responsible for the present-day religions because they worshiped the true (unseen) God instead of heathen idols or the forces of nature. In their souls, they intuitively felt their link with the Creator, whom they called Yahweh, or Jehovah. It was from the Hebrews that western religions derived their concept of Heaven, the home in the afterlife of the good soul -- the Paradise of the Hebrews.
The Hebrew nations were surrounded by pagans and were frequently dominated by them. But in spite of adopting the heathen practices of worship from time to time, they always returned to a soulful worship of Jehovah. This was directly attributable to the influence of their prophets, who reprimanded them for their sinful behavior and warned them repeatedly of the suffering they would endure as a result of turning away from God and His Commandments. The prophets were vitally important to their moral development.
Without these messengers of God and their visions, which fortunately they set down in writings that were later incorporated into their Scriptures, we of today might not be aware of the availability of the Father's Divine Love to our human hearts and souls.
And if Jesus, a Hebrew, hadn't studied the Scriptures from the time he was a boy, he might not have recognized himself as the Messiah of God who was foretold by the prophets, and he might not have undertaken a public ministry. The prophecies shaped his vital role as the Way-shower in the development of the true religion of the soul which God had in store for His children.
The Scriptural writings were Jesus' guidelines to understanding not only what this soul salvation was to be. but in knowing that the qualifications of his own soul, having already received this salvation through its abundant possession of the Father's Divine Love, prepared him to show his fellow man the Way to the New Covenant of the Heart and life everlasting.
To those who now embrace the true teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and are interested in the origin of the teachings of the Foundation Church of the New Birth, the history of the Hebrews which Jesus has given us through Dr. Daniel G. Samuels will serve a vital need. In his seventy-six sermons on the Old Testament of the Bible, we learn how the Heavenly Father tried many times to restore the souls of His chosen people to an at-onement with Him in the natural love, whereby they would again become attuned to the spiritual laws operating through the emotions and spiritual aspirations of their souls -- the ennobling human emotions of love, justice and mercy which were His gifts to them at their creation.
In his sermons, Jesus takes us on an unforgettable journey into the olden days of the Scriptures and, for our greater understanding and sympathy and love, points out to us instances of spiritually courageous souls who lived during those harsh times and rose above the prevailing negative attitudes to become examples to their fellow man of the goodness that can flow from the human heart and soul when the highest spiritual qualities of the natural love are exercised.
We are given an insight into the spiritual growth of the Hebrews, whose daily struggles brought them slowly into an understanding of the true nature of the Creator through an increasing perception of His love for them, first through observing His Commandments and developing in the spiritual qualities of their natural love; and later, through receiving into their hearts and souls His own Divine Essence which bestows the Love and Light and Immortality of His Divinity.
The term "Judeo-Christian" is commonly used today to denote our religious heritage from the Old Testament of the Bible as the historical and spiritual background of western religions. The term is a reminder of what we owe to the spirituality of the Hebrew religion which embodies justice, mercy and democratic principle through adherence to the Ten moral Commandments of the Lord which God gave through His prophet, Moses; and, through its prophecies, the greater promise that God would one day implant His Spirit into man' s heart and render him incapable of sinning because he would then take on God's Divine, eternal Nature and become a very part of Him.
The Church of the New Birth displays this term on its Ministerial Certificates in grateful recognition that the Old Testament of the Bible is the source from which sprang the knowledge of God's Divine Essence of Love which fills the universe and surrounds mankind, waiting to be called into the souls of the Father's children for their redemption and complete reconciliation with Him.
Further, the Church recognizes the importance of the Scriptures to the soul development of Jesus of Nazareth who, as a Hebrew, became the fulfillment of the Scriptural prophecies as God's Messiah in possession of the promised New Heart, and during his public ministry showed his fellowman the Way to true soul salvation (immortality of soul) and the Kingdom of Heaven, through seeking to be Born Again of the Father's own Spirit (His Divine Love).
