If you are looking at this page - you have no doubt seen our ad in the paper for looking for like minded believers in the Cassville area. We just moved to Cassville in January 2008 and have been searching for like minded believers since then. We currently are attending a church out of Springfield, which is the closest we have found thus far, but with gasoline at over $3 per gallon, we can hardly afford to attend regularly.

 First let me take a moment to introduce ourselves and to give a description of what it is that we DO believe and you can go from there. 

 My name is Wally and my wife's name is Leti. We are in our mid 40's and moved here from Texas to start a new life and my own business. Since moving here we have been searching for the fellowship of like minded believers. We soon realized that there were no local congregations already set up that believe what we believe - thus the reason for the ad you saw in the paper. What do we believe? We believe in the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, Creator of heaven and earth and His son, Jesus (or Yeshua if you are of the Hebrew persuasion) and the Holy Spirit. At this point you're probably saying 'I believe in that too' - so let me spell out the differences in what we believe as opposed to what I call 'main stream Christianity' and why we believe it. The reason for us creating this particular web site rather than joining any neighborhood main stream Christian church is (and I think Mark Twain said it best here) "In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten as second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing" (Mark Twain's Autobiography, 1959)  In other words, they have blindly accepted the teachings passed down to them from their parents and preachers without seeing if what they were being taught lined up with the word of God.  We should be more like the Bereans spoken of in Acts 17:10-11.

Our adventure started one day while I was just sitting at home reading over the 10 commandments at home and after reading them I told Leti 'the commandment on The Sabbath has got to be the most ignored commandment of them all.'  No wonder it starts with the word REMEMBER - because this nation has truly 'forgotten'.  That's when we started searching for answers.

We believe;

1. The scriptures are the inspired word of God (1 Tim. 3:16) and it should be studied and obeyed. - The WHOLE bible - all 66 books, not just parts and pieces of it.  We should not add to or take away from God's word - this is KEY Deut. 5:32 states “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left." and Deut. 12:32 also clearly states “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it."  Even in the last chapter of the bible it warns about adding to or taking away from God's word as a serious offense. (Rev. 22:18-19)  As such we must be careful and avoid following the 'traditions of man' that others have established but just smeared God's name on it and called it holy or religious (Isaiah 29:13, Matt. 15:8-9) and realize that we have been taught lies even as children that do not line up with the word of God.  (Jer. 16:19)  Jesus Himself said in Matt. 24:5 that there would be many that will come in 'His' name and even say that He is the Christ - and will deceive many.  Many churches believe this refers to some anti-christs or false prophets claiming that 'they' are Christ but this is not true because it says that MANY will come and will deceive MANY.  How many people have you seen in the news claiming to be Christ?  Not many - just a few here and there - so this is obviously not what the scripture is referring to.  It says that MANY will come in HIS name and they will even say that 'Jesus is the Christ' - but they do not follow nor teach others to follow the commandments of God or what Jesus Himself lived by example - thus deceiving MANY.

2.   As part of #1, this includes the observance of the 4th commandment 'to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy' (Gen. 2:2, Ex. 31:13-23) and that the seventh day is Saturday, THE Sabbath - NOT Sunday as most churches observe.  It is a sign between us and the Lord (Ezek. 20:12, 20)  Another common error is to say that we should take 'a' sabbath - but the Lord did not bless any ol' day and leave it up to us to make what ever day a sabbath that we choose.  This too is a 'doctrine of man' and is NOT biblical at all.

3.    That Jesus Himself quoted from the ancient (Old Testament) scriptures and kept it's instructions and scolded those that did not. (John 7:19).  We do not celebrate holidays that have pagan roots which have had God's name smeared on it to make it seem 'Christianized' such as Christmas or Easter.  We do, however, observe the holy days as prescribed in Lev. chapter 23 and Deut. chapter 16, paying special attention to the words "it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings".  It does not say 'until the Messiah comes' but rather FOREVER.  Do you think that God just forgot to tell us to keep this UNTIL Jesus came, as if He were suffering from senility?  If it was meant to be observed or followed only until the Messiah comes it would have been written so, just as the prophetic word spoken about Judah by his father Jacob was in Gen. 49:10.  Jesus Himself clearly said in Matthew 5:17-19 that He did NOT come to do away with the law.  Paul tells this same thing to the Colossians.  Many think that in chapter 2 that he is saying that the law of God was done away with - nailed to the cross but on the contrary it was the man made traditions - the 'handwritings of ordinances' (which was all the ceremonial, man made traditions that God never told them to do to begin with - things that man had ADDED to the word of God) that was nailed to the cross.  (depending on your bible translation - you may need to dig into the Strongs to find the true meaning in this) He evens tells them not to let anyone judge them for keeping the sabbaths and festivals etc. which God had told them to keep, which are a shadow of things TO COME but to keep in mind it is about Christ and not to get caught up in a bunch of ol' wive's tales and legalism - but to stay focused on what their faith was truly about.

4.  We do NOT believe in the so called 'Rapture'.   It is not biblical.  We believe we WILL have to go thru the Tribulation as described in Daniel and Revelation.  The children of Israel were not 'raptured' out of Egypt, Noah was not 'raptured' during the flood, Lot was not 'raptured' out of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet they were ALL led out and protected by God Himself while those judgments were carried out.  The children of Israel leaving Egypt is a fore-shadow of what will happen again just before Jesus' return.  We drove by a church the other day that had a sign out front saying 'Jesus is coming back - are you ready?'.  It's a true statement but yet deceitful as well as it would be better stated that 'The Great Tribulation is coming - are you ready?' because the tribulation will come BEFORE Jesus returns.  1 Thes. 4:17 speaks of 'then we which are alive and remain' - again, indicating that we WILL be going through that Tribulation time - will then be caught up (or snatched away) when Jesus returns - when does He return?  AFTER the tribulation.  Read Matthew chapter 24 AS IT IS WRITTEN, not as man has told you the story, paying special attention to the timing mentioned in verse 29 and 30 because it says THEN the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heaven.  When?  See the verse before it (29) 'Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days...'

5.  Also in accordance with the loving instructions God gave in the beginning, there are certain foods we are NOT to eat, such as pork, shellfish and other animals listed in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14.  Ignoring this instruction and trying to justify it has only led to a host of physical ailments to our physical bodies.  Also, one of the main problems with our food today - even fresh vegetables and fruits is that they lack the minerals that our bodies desperately need to be healthy because this nation has ignored the commandment of God concerning the care of the land, and letting it rest every 7th year. (Lev. 25:4)   We have just slapped fertilizer on it and kept on going - thus the reason our farm lands and store bought produce are now mineral deficient.

6.  Even though the original scriptures were written in Hebrew and Greek, and there is some richness in understanding those languages and how they are used in the scriptures to be obtained, it is not necessary to know them in order to study and learn God's plan for our lives and humanity.  We do not get hung up on 'the language' each prefers, as some may call the Son of God Jesus, another may call him Yeshua or even Joshua.  We are referring to the same person.  The Chinese call him something different than the northern tribes of Africa or Swahilian, as long as we are referring to the Son of God as the Messiah, it's still the same person. 

7.  Even though certain Jewish people may share some of these same beliefs, it has been our experience that the congregations that we have visited are also thickly laced with 'traditions of man' - they are just 'Jewish' traditions rather than 'American' traditions.  We do not wish to trade one set of traditions for another - but rather to read and obey the word of God as it is written - not adding to His word with a bunch of rituals and ceremonial acts that God did not tell us to do, nor taking away from His word by choosing to ignore what is commanded of us - yet keeping in mind that Jesus did die on the cross for our sins and is considered to be the Lamb of God. (John 1:29,36 1 Cor. 5:7)

Of course this list is not exhaustive but it does highlight the major differences in our beliefs and those in main stream Christianity.  As I mentioned before -there are other believers out there that DO share these same beliefs, as the church we found in Springfield and Joplin but we would like to find those that are closer to our local community.

The scriptures mentioned above are there to be read in support of the beliefs mentioned - please do not breeze over them and dismiss the beliefs as heresy.  If you share these beliefs or would sincerely like to know more about these and others, please use the Contact Us link to the left of the page.  It is not our intentions to stir up trouble or cause an argument so please do not write to rail or criticize our beliefs comparing them to your own.  Again, we only seeking like minded believers.  We were thinking of getting together in our house or even a neutral place to begin with and see where it goes from there.   We believe there are others out there that are beginning to question what they've been taught all these years.   

If you'd like to join us and get together, make new friends and study the bible (and the bible only) together, we'd love to hear from you!