Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

 

 

How can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

According to Holy Scripture, there is only one-way to Heaven: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3; "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts: 4:12; and "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9. Going to Heaven depends completely upon our having accepted God's gift of free salvation, which can only be found in the Name of Jesus, through an act of personal faith, of personal commitment. Going to Heaven is not the result of our having merited or earned it through our good religious works; it is solely the result of Christ's redemptive work on the cross of Calvary; it is a gift of God given freely, by grace.

 

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Why do you dress like that?

We dress the way we do to obey Scripture regarding the way women (and men) who profess to serve God ought to clothe themselves according to 1 Timothy 2:9-10. We are admonished to clothe ourselves modestly, respectfully and with sobriety, not with costly apparel or jewelry, so that our good works will be seen and God glorified through these.

 

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Where can I find answers to my spiritual questions?

The typical answer would be - "Read your Bible!"  However, although this is the best place to begin, it is often very confusing for someone who has no idea what God has said, to discover divine truth in totality, all on his or her own. There are many good churches who teach and preach God's Word, and these offer Bible studies to truth seekers. We could direct you to such a Church in your area. We also offer such introductory Scriptural courses FREE OF CHARGE and WITHOUT OBLIGATION at our Bible School via correspondence, home studies, evening or weekend courses.

 

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Are you a new denomination?

We are not a denomination, nor are we affiliated to any specific denomination; we believe that denominations, although well intentioned and sincere, are manifestations of believers' flesh (Galatians 5:20). We believe that Scripture teaches that Christian believers are one in Christ, one in the Holy Spirit, and consequently one body (Ephesians 4:4-6), the Holy Universal Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, not Christians divided and separated into particular "confessions" (personal preferences would be a more accurate word);) this is what we are called to live and witness to. This was Jesus' prayer: "...that they may be one, even as we are one."  John 17:22. We also believe that we must adhere and identify ourselves solely to one name - that of Christian - and reject man-made religious systems to adhere solely to His Word , as we are admonished to do in Revelation 3:8.

 

We have never considered, stated or thought that we were the only true Christians on this earth, nor the only Church! We do recognize and accept all true Christian believers as brethren in the faith, regardless of their titles, their religious beliefs, experiences, and traditions. We have not come here to try to convert anyone to our particular Church expression! That is not, has never been, nor will not ever be our work. It is and will always be the work of the Holy Spirit!

As French Canadians, our spiritual trek to find God and divine truth, has taken us many places, and has caused us to undergo many individual and corporate spiritual experiences, failures and discoveries. We understand and confess that none of us are perfect, nor infallible, as so many people, unfortunately, claim to be in religious circles. However, we are duty bound, in our conscience, to acknowledge, recognize and accept all true believers in Jesus Christ as our equal spiritual brothers and sisters, if we are to be true to our Lord and to our common spiritual heritage!

 

Our spiritual trek naturally began in the Roman Catholic Church, in which our parents belonged and in which we were born. And although we are not and cannot ever be members of that particular religious institution, we are thankful to God for having known true Christians, whom we still acknowledge, love and cherish, in that religion.

 

As a matter of fact, our motto - In Search of the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth - was first inspired by Theresa of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun, through her dedication and her writings upon the life of our first founding sister in her teens, in the 1950’s in New Brunswick. And our lifestyle of separation from the world, was first inspired by the Hutterites, a branch of the Anabaptist faith, when she was in Ontario in the early 1960’s, and later, in the 1970’s, by the example of Francis of Assisi, when we were first influenced among Charismatic believers in Montreal! So we do hold dear certain aspects of our Roman Catholic childhood and the good influences bestowed upon us by certain dedicated individuals in that religion, which cannot be found in any other Church division in the world today. We have also discovered, that such dedicated individuals were indeed found and were very prevalent in numerous previous non-Catholic and non-Roman Catholic groups in Church history, but these individuals abandoned it later on, when it was no longer in style.

 

Although we recognize and acknowledge that being spiritual members of the Universal Church of Christ means that we can say that we are Catholics, since this expression is a synonymous expression of Universal, we cannot identify ourselves with the Old Catholic Church which was founded by Constantine in 313-330 A.D., nor with the Roman Catholics, which came into being in 1054 A.D, nor any branch of the Protestant and Anabaptist reformations in the 1500, nor with any Church division produced by the succeeding religious movements in Church History, since this would be identifying ourselves with an earthly division of the Church.

 

Although we are orthodox in the faith as many other Christian groups are, and as other individuals claim to be, we have encountered, met and associated with in the past, such as the Baptists. Anabaptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Charismatic and Evangelicals, we cannot identify with such a name, since Scripture tells us that this also makes us divisive, and usually incurs only spiritual pride.  Orthodox means conforming to the faith established by the apostles and prophets. Although we know that we are not better than anyone else, and do not claim to be, we must adhere to divine truth we do know, without imposing it on anyone. Here, we are simply explaining who we are, so that you'll know and maybe understand us.

 

In 1974, two of our sisters, being inspired by the very first Church in Jerusalem and the way Jesus lived with His disciples who became His first apostles, began living a communal life. However, they were insistent in always making sure that those who joined them knew that this was never a condition, nor a necessity to obtain salvation. This kind of lifestyle was always to be entered into by free choice made in obedience to the Lord’s call. Over a hundred people joined them in the course of 5 years. They called themselves “An Open Door” since everyone was welcomed; everyone was always free to either stay or leave at any time! This principle still remains!  Later, under the influence of a spiritual lie taught to us by an American communal group from the state of New York, we established our own communal denomination, which was indeed very dear to us. But a further study of Scripture showed us we had seriously erred before God, for it was dividing the Body of Christ. So it was dissolved in obedience to His will. This was the hardest test of obedience we ever had to make, after separating from every Church division. We believe that the Christian principle of “Community” can be lived and expressed in many different ways, not merely as we live and express it.

 

In 1979, lies and persecution, caused the community to shrink to 14 people and 4 children, and these hardships caused us flee to Manitoba. There, we simply called ourselves “Christian Community in Saint Elisabeth,” as our Bible studies had shown us; and we now had come to see, believe and understand that a Christian must not look to this world or era to find the models of behavior and life God expects him to live. We knew that we were not called to copy the world to “attract and win” souls to Christ! We were to look to the Word of God. Society, throughout all the previous eras, has lived and still lives in selfishness, disobedience, independence and for money! Just look at history! On the other hand, the Christian must give his life for his brothers; must depend on his brothers; and must live totally for God and His Kingdom (the Church). We saw and believed that we must live God’s way, and not according to the dictates of a church’s traditions, not according to the demands of a religion, not according to what seems right to us, nor according to our own opinions. This modern notion that we can choose our own church, live our own life our way, do what we think is best, live according to our own conscience, is simply not a Scriptural teaching, but a diabolical lie. A social concept devoid of all sense of morality and responsibility, cannot come from God, but only from atheists!

 

Paul tells us: “Know ye not (as Christians) that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and you are not your own (you do not belong to yourselves)? For you are bought with a price (through Christ’s Redemption); therefore glorify God in your body (by obeying and doing His will in all things), and in your spirit (your mind, by learning what it is He wants), which are God’s (a true Christian belongs only and totally to God, an no longer to himself)” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This we believed then, and we still do. It revolutionized our lives! Since we belong to God, body, mind and soul through Redemption, then it goes without saying that our opinions, our ideas and our wills must be laid aside, so that He can change and transform us in the image of Christ, which was His intention in Redemption; not merely to make us happy and rich just as we are, as it is falsely taught and believed these days! Not only must we live as God wants and expects us to, we must also think as Christ thinks. This is why He wishes to transform our carnal minds into spiritual minds. Now, we know that He never imposes this upon anyone, and neither can we, as His disciples and His servants. Our society grants every citizen freedom of choice, something that God respects and that we must also do. People are free to make good and bad choices, and we can only give them the freedom that God and society have given them. This is why divine truth can never be forced on anyone. God alone will judge our good and our bad choices, and we will all have to suffer their consequences. This is why we wanted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Our eternal destiny depends on it! But the personal price of knowing the truth is very costly!

 

So, who are we?

We are simply Christians who seek to follow the teachings of Christ, as they are revealed in Scripture. Christianity, as revealed by God, is very simple; but men have complicated it, twisted and deformed it for centuries! We have chosen to go back to the principles, doctrines, teachings and truths given to us by the first apostles. That is our God-given right, and we insist on living by it. Others, must answer to God for their lives and beliefs, just as we must; and we must leave them in His hands! This is where we must stand as true Christians! We judge and condemn no one; that is God’s right and work! History reveals that very few Christians have observed this principle! And this sin still goes on today!

 

We now call ourselves Pilgrim Christian Missionary Society. We are not affiliated with any specific, established Christian religion or denomination; all our members must have been regenerated by the in-working power of the Holy Spirit - a work of God which transcends all religious and denomina­tional lines. Pilgrim Christian Missionary Society is under the sponsorship of Pilgrim Community Ventures.

We are fellow Christian colleagues who have simply assembled together serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To be true and faithful to Christ, we cannot belong to any specific denomination or association of Christian churches. However, we wish to be in active fellowship with all Christians with whom we share a same faith. We seek to live in real Christian unity, which does not come from us, but from the will of God. We wish to bear no other name but that of "Christian," not because we believe ourselves to be better than other born-again Christians, but simple because we wish to obey Revelation 3:8, yet recognizing our spiritual kinship to all Christians. This is why we cannot be attached to no organized, nor centralized denomination. Our only rule of faith and practice must be the Holy Scriptures; so our only spiritual Head is the Lord Jesus Christ. We must renounce all religious creeds and traditions of men, which cannot be supported by Scripture, and which cause divisions, but must accept and believe the Scriptural truths and revelations God, in His grace, has given and revealed to His servants throughout Church History. We can and wish to trace all of our spiritual roots back to the New Testament Age, not just to the Reformation or any other authentic Movement or Revival. Being fully aware of our human limitations, we cannot impose our convictions on anyone, through religious arguments or pressure to prove that we are right, because it would fall into the area of human opinions, and these are of no spiritual value. We must believe and seek to follow the teachings of Christ, of His apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20), which are the sole spiritual authority in His Church. Like Christ, we must deplore Church divisions, which presently exist among those who claim to be Christians, for they have usually only promoted spiritual pride and intolerance among all His children for centuries. So we pray that every denominational group of believers within the Universal Body of Christ, instead of simply tolerating and recognizing one another, will disappear, to humbly give place to a true spiritual unity of all believers, not within a global ecclesiastical structure, but within a local practical Church expression, as Scripture advocates.  We do not seek to make disciples of our group or of “our” Church, but simply to the cause of Christ who calls every believer, everywhere, through the power and inner work of the Holy Spirit, to be sanctified and also to be a visible answer to His prayer - "that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:22). The Church belongs to God and to God alone, and as Christians we have no right or authority to create one to our liking or in our image; that would be creating a division. As for us, we simply want to be disciples of Christ, serving and glorifying Him wherever He wants us to and any way He calls us to do so, within His Church, the spiritual reality which is the Holy Universal Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. Consequently, Pilgrim Christian Missionary Society is not and cannot be a "church," nor yet another Christian denomination. We seek to respect all true believers everywhere and wish to be seen and known simply as a Society of Mission­ary workers, called Missionary Deacons, Deaconesses and Auxiliaries, that is, ser­vants of Christ and of His own, within all Christian churches. We are not instituting another denomination, which would be a division of the Body of Christ! May God preserve us all from such a serious sin and lack of love! We use the term Missionary Society to express the calling and bond we have as missionaries. In Scripture, missionaries were called apostles - the sent-out ones, Jesus Himself being the very first Apostle of His Church! As sent-out ones, as apostles, or if you prefer the more modern term, as missionaries, we have banded into a loose communal society or team.

 

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Are you a cult?

According to a recent definition of the word: "a cult is a teaching, group or movement which deviates from orthodoxy while claiming to present true faith." This is a simplistic definition, which can be arbitrarily attributed to almost anyone. A truer definition would be: "A cult is a perversion, a distortion of biblical Christianity and/or a rejection of the historic teachings of the Christian Church. A Cult, then, is a group of people polarized around someone's interpretation of the Bible and is characterized by major deviations from orthodox Christianity relative to cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, particularly the fact that God became man in Jesus Christ." Since we adhere to divine truth as revealed in Scripture, presented to mankind throughout all Church history in all the major orthodox Christian groups, we do not believe that we are a cult, even though we do believe and practice some Scriptural truths which the Church at large has either forgotten, omitted, neglected or put aside. Those true Christians who have taken the time and bothered to investigate us, have come to the conclusion that "Although we are old fashioned, we are quite orthodox!"

 

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Are you not afraid to be legalistic because of your stand for obedience?

Any sincere Christian always faces the danger of falling into extremes - becoming legalistic or overly permissive, neither of which are appropriate positions for true believers. Although we must obey God, we must be careful that we obey Him as He requires us to (through the inner, indwelling power of the Holy Spirit), and not through our own human strength and innate power (which would be walking in the flesh). Obey, we must; it all depends how we do it! God's way or our own way!

 

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Are you not preventing people from entering the kingdom of God by your visible separation from the world?

We have been accused of doing exactly this. However, if people must be pampered and if the truth of God has to be watered down supposedly in order for them to "enter into the kingdom of God," then it is possible that the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God is not being preached. Entering into the kingdom of God costs us our all; there are no spiritual "specials" with God, only a false man-made representation of His Gospel. The apostle Paul clearly tells us that as Christians, we must realize this truth: "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, WHICH ARE GOD'S." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. We cannot live as we like or wish, if we are Christians; we belong completely to God and are therefore no longer free to do what we like or wish! So if our obedience to God "turn people off",  as some worldly Christian claim, it is not because we are necessarily wrong, but because they are not thorough in their obedience to God, and therefore present and give out a false message!

 

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How do you see the Church life at the local level?

The Church life, as Disciples of the Holy Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in all levels, should be lived under the complete, total lordship of Christ, in accordance with His divine Kingdom rules and regulations - it is not a free for all party wherein everyone does what he likes and wants as he or she sees it in the Bible or, as it is so erroneously perceived, "under the guidance of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit would never lead anyone to act in contradiction of divine truth as revealed in Scripture. As we study the Church life in the New Testament, we see three levels of Christian living or of believers: a) the uneducated and untrained (the babes in Christ); the learners and trainees (disciples preparing for ministry) and the perfect or mature believers (Church leaders and Apostolic workers). This is what a "normal" local Church should reflect.

 

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What is this business about consecration?

Consecration is the natural outcome of a Christian who has matured in the Lord, for He knows that since he no longer belongs to himself but to Christ, he willfully accepts to live out Romans 12:1-2, wherein he presents his body to God as a living, holy and acceptable sacrifice, and will not conform himself to the world, but will allow God to transform him as He wishes to. Consecration comes when we recognize and accept the Scriptural fact that Christ, as our Redeemer, Savior and King, has such legal rights upon us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:13, 16, 19; Romans 12:1-2).. Because we love Christ, we are constrained to offer Him our lives in complete, total consecration. It's as simple as that!

 

One day, an old, quite aged Mennonite bishop came to visit us in Saint Elizabeth, Manitoba. He had received a newsletter, which Sister Frances had sent to a Mennonite Christian in Saskatchewan.  Upon arriving in Saint Elizabeth he shook her hand and said:

"Frances, never in my entire life have I so vividly seen Satan attack a child of God, almost incessantly, as he has attacked you for more than twenty years! God loves you, as well as your little Community! He loves you with a powerful love! God has revealed to you many precious, divine truths that most believers today do not know nor want to know; this is why the enemy hates you so much, and wishes to destroy you! Hang in there, brothers and sisters! Don't give up! I would like it if my people (those for whom he was himself responsible) were more like you!"

 

Her mother’s cousin, a Roman Catholic nun, Sister Eva, once told her as she was relating some of these experiences during a visit:

“My dear cousin, God has chosen you for this special task as a founding sister. Very few people have such a call! But being a special tool in God’s hand to give spiritual birth to a new Community, means that He will allow you to suffer greatly at the hands of Satan, so that you will not get puffed up with religious pride. If this should happen to you, then you would be useless to God! He keeps his special vessels humble and completely dependant on Him! Be courageous and stay humble God’s hand is upon you, I don’t understand why, but I know it and I see it!”

 

This is often the price we have to pay for being consecrated to God and called of Him for a special ministry!

 

While attending Bible School in Toronto, her Bible teacher, Doctor Simmons, an Anglican minister, told his students something, as they we were studying the book of Nehemiah the prophet, that touched and scared her deeply. He explained to us that Nehemiah had an occupation that most Evangelical Christians today would consider improper for a servant of God - he was the king's wine server (barman). He stopped and said to the class:

"There may be someone in this class whom God has called to pursue an untrodden path with Him! A path that will appear to men and to other Christians to be against God's will! My words of advice to such a person are - lean heavily on Jesus no matter what men may say!"

When he spoke those words, a strange feeling came over her. It was as if God was giving her a personal prophecy about what lay in store for her as His servant! It was so scary! Many years later, the following words seconded these two divine prophecies:

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world... and God hath chosen the weak things of the world... and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, hath he chosen, and thing which are nought (con­sidered nothing, unimportant, of no value) ...” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

She then understood that it was God Himself who had chosen and called her to serve Him in a ministry (begetting a non-Catholic and a purely Christian Community of servants of God), that most non-Catholic Christians would not approve of, a ministry they would reject, attack and persecute. This came to be just as she had foreseen and felt it would be beforehand. She had some difficulty accepting to be such a target of the devil and of other uneducated, ill-informed, ignorant and very opinionated Christians!

 

So upon reaching her sixtieth birthday, our founding sister, gave the following testimony, upon reaching her sixtieth birthday, which we would like to share with our website visitors:

“As I look back upon my life, I can actually divide it into three sections of twenty years. The first twenty years, I spent as a happy, very satisfied Roman Catholic in New Brunswick and Quebec, which included a short time in a cloister preparing to be a missionary to Japan. I did not leave Roman Catholicism because I hated that religion, but because I could not find its teachings in Scripture.

“The second more or less twenty years, I spent in Protestantism and evangelicalism, after meeting Christ by faith in 1960 in Toronto. It was a very troubling time for me, for all I discovered, intermingled with some aspects of Divine truth, was religious confusion and hatred. No one sought to know the truth as truth, but they clung to their own interpretations and views as zealously as I had previously clung to my papacy. There were more “unofficial popes” in Protestantism, than the official one in Roman Catholicism. This common attitude: “I am right, and everyone who is not and does not think like me, is wrong!” greatly saddened and discouraged me! With such an attitude, God’s will of true Christian unity is an impossibility! I longed to find a Church that had the dedication and consecration I had found in my former religion. If that religion would have been more Scriptural, I would have gone back to it. It’s modern aspect is devoid of true obedience, for it only seeks to “respect and accommodate” the opinions of people, following modern Protestantism and society’s examples! I wanted, above anything else, Divine truth alone!

“The last twenty years I spent in our Community and local Church getting to know people for who they really are as human beings and sinners by birth. It was quite a revelation, for I always sought to look for the “good” in people. When we disbanded our self-made denomination, I looked forward to what God would reveal to us.

“As I enter into the next twenty year portion of my life, as a Spirit-filled member of His Restored Holy Universal Apostolic Church, new hope has risen in me for His Church as He prepares it for His glorious coming. I thank and praise God that He has given me the grace, honor and privilege to be a part of His plan; I, a poor, insignificant sinner by human birth, am so unworthy of such a great honor! Oh how great and glorious is the grace and mercy of the one true God we serve! May we never forget this! Amen!”

 

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Do you not think yourselves better than other Christians by pretending to be so holy?

Long ago, someone has wisely said: "The closer you walk with God, the clearer you see yourself as what you really are indeed; the holier a believers gets, the clearer his sees how much of a sinner he really is!" Walking with God, walking in the light of His truth, seeking to be all He wants us to be, makes us fully aware of what we are indeed as fallen, sinful human beings. Being so completely aware of this, we therefore know without a shadow of a doubt that any good we do or accomplish, is done and accomplished in and through the life of Christ dwelling within us - there is therefore no room for self exaltation, self glorying or for daring to think that we are better than anyone else! Should we even dare to go there, God will bring us back into reality pretty quickly! Like every other Christian, we must always keep in mind this Biblical truth: "...the flesh profiteth nothing." John 6:63; "For they that walk after the flesh (our natural human self) do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit (the new spiritual life received when we were born again by the Holy Spirit) the things of the Spirit. For to be carnal (to walk in our natural life) minded is death (produces spiritual death in us); but to be spiritually minded is life and peace... For they that walk after the flesh (in the natural man) cannot please God."Romans.8: 5-6, 8.

 

 

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Page updated on March 5, 2006