Selma Baptists have expressed concerns about a local group’s ties to a Colorado-based church that has been labeled a cult by some.
Freedom Foundation and its leader, Mark Duke, moved to Selma three years ago, but it has been only recently that members of the group have spoken out in ways that have concerned area citizens and Baptist church leaders.
The concern became widespread enough earlier this year that more than 800 people gathered April 26 to learn more about the teachings of the Colorado-based House of God from which Duke and other founding members of the foundation came.
Based on what they learned at this meeting (visit www.thealabamabaptist.org for the full story) and months of research by area pastors and cult specialist Allan McConnell, many evangelical Christians are questioning The House of God’s (THOG) belief system.
Micah Gandy, pastor of Elkdale Baptist Church, Selma, in Selma Baptist Association, said, “The way they talk about things privately is different than what they say publicly.”
Gandy has spent time listening to segments of some of Duke’s sermons posted on McConnell’s Web site, www.wewillfindthetruth.com.
McConnell, who first started researching THOG and Freedom Foundation in 2008, was given recordings of more than 100 hours of Duke’s sermons by three former House of God members and one family member of a current member.
Gandy pointed out that while THOG classifies itself as part of mainstream Christianity, its teachings — particularly about the deity of Jesus Christ — reveal otherwise.
“They’ll say that Jesus is the Son of God and God in the flesh, but if you ask them if Jesus is eternally and equally God with the Father, then they would say no.”
In an interview with The Alabama Baptist, Shawn Samuelson, operations director and chairwoman of the board of directors for Freedom Foundation, said, “We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and He is God in the flesh. We believe He is God in man.” But then said, “Jesus was a man that had God’s word and God’s Spirit in Him.”
In a sermon from Dec. 12, 2004, Duke used the example of his relationship to his son to explain the relationship between God and Jesus. “It’s just like William and I. William is my seed and he’s my son. Same thing with God. Jesus was His seed and is His Son; they are apart. We’ve got the same bloodline, but there’s a difference because the Scriptures say you cannot tempt God but Jesus was tempted in all points.”
However, in a recent interview, Duke said, “How I would describe Christ would be not that He is just a man and not that He is just God. No, the beauty of Christ is that He is God in man. He has the deity of God and He has flesh, too.”
When asked if he was contradicting what he has said in his sermons, Duke said the sermons were taken out of context because he was preaching a series on the humanity of Jesus.
But McConnell disagreed. “Quite frankly, for Duke to say that people are taking his words out of context and that he was preaching a series on the humanity of Christ is an outright lie. In listening to more than 100 hours of Duke preaching and teaching, he said several times over a course of years in different sermons that Jesus is not God. He never said it in a context of just teaching about Jesus’ humanity, and even if he was preaching on the humanity of Jesus, saying that He wasn’t God is wrong.”
One member of THOG from 2004 to 2006 said, “He (Duke) would say Jesus isn’t God all the time. It really confused me because I grew up in the Baptist and Methodist churches, and my world of who I thought Jesus was was flipped upside down.”
According to a former five-year member of THOG, it was not only taught that Jesus is not God but also that He was just like Moses and Abraham, simply another prophet.
According to a person with knowledge of THOG, “They believe that Jesus Christ is the example of how we should live our lives.”
Another theological concern for many is the teachings about salvation.
A 2005 House of God document states Duke “saw a church where God’s people could get free from sins. He saw the church portrayed in the Scriptures as a pure and spotless bride.”
The Alabama Baptist recently asked him if THOG has ever taught that people can attain perfection or become sinless on earth and that works are necessary to have eternal life. Duke responded, “I am not perfect. There is only one perfect One that walked on this earth and that is Jesus Christ. We all need to be saved. I believe through Christ we can have eternal life.”
Former House of God members, however, tell a different story.
The former member of five years said Duke taught that there is an attainment of perfection on earth. “A lot of professionals were drawn (to THOG) because we were promised an attainment of perfection.”
When asked if THOG ever taught salvation by works, the former member of two years said it was not taught directly but was implied. “You were constantly painting someone’s house, watching someone’s kids, etc. If you didn’t volunteer to do something, Mark would mention it to everyone in the church to humiliate you.”
After listening to audiotapes of Duke’s sermons from THOG, Gandy said, “In one of Mark’s sermons before coming to Selma, he said we wouldn’t have eternal life if we didn’t do what God said, like in his case, running for mayor (of Selma). If we cross the line that good works keeps us saved or gets us saved, then we’ve taken away from Christ.”
A third theological issue is what THOG teaches about the Christian church.
According to its Declaration of a New Covenant, THOG is the true New Testament church and its “cause,” which a former member said Duke talked so much about, is to bring that church into the world.
When questioned about whether members could attend other churches, the former member of five years said, “Mark would say, ‘You can’t eat off of two plates and stay in this church.’” According to this person, Duke even went so far as to say, “You can’t go to this church and talk to your parents who believe differently.”
Patricia Morin, whose daughter is a member of THOG, can attest to that. “We are an extremely close family, but when she got involved (in THOG), she just separated from us.”
That was five years ago.
“The last time we were together, she indicated that she was upset with us that we weren’t following in the ‘way of truth,’” Morin said. “We haven’t seen her since that [time] that she left.”
When asked about this doctrinal issue, Duke had no comment. (TAB)
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