Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - Oakwood Restoration Branch
Here at the Oakwood Restoration Branch of Jesus Christ, we preach and teach the same Old Jerusalem Gospel that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ preached. We are organized just like the very church Jesus established when He told his Apostles,
“I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it”
(Matthew 15:18).
What did Jesus preach and teach?
He taught the doctrine that His Father in Heaven sent Him to preach. He preached and taught fundamental principles of the gospel that are forever dignified, consecrated, and binding on all mankind. In short, he taught faith, repentance, baptism of water and of the Spirit, the principle of the laying on of hands to heal the sick, resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
What did Jesus teach about faith?
In the open air, under a fig tree on the road between Bethany and Jerusalem, Jesus delivered one of His wonderful gospel sermons. He prefaced it with this single, short, but virile and heart-gripping sentence; “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). Later in His ministry, in fact just shortly before His death, He delivered another short, concise, yet equally dynamic and significant statement; “Ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
What did Jesus teach about repentance?
After John the Baptist had done His work of preparing the way of the Lord, he began to decrease while Jesus began to increase, as John had predicted. We read, Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel”
(Mark 1:14, 15).
What did Jesus preach about baptism?
Jesus told Nicodemus, a wealthy, proud, person of high station, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). In order to see and enter into the kingdom He had announced, entrance to which faith and repentance were required, it was also necessary to be born again – to be born of the water and of the Spirit; to be baptized in water and by the Spirit. Baptism is one doctrine that Jesus chose to emphasize in the most commanding manner conceivable by preaching it after His resurrection. In His final commission to His apostles He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”
(Mark 16:15, 16).
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19, 20). Born “…of the water and of the Spirit,” Jesus began his ministry. Closing it, He sent his disciples out to baptize all nations.
What did Jesus preach about the laying on of hands?
Even as He commissioned His disciples to baptize all nations, He also taught the principle of the laying on of hands. To His disciples He said: “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:18). This principle He previously taught by example; Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them” (Luke 4:40). These blessings came not to the faithless but to those who believed on Him, and were not to gratify idle and curious sign seekers. After Paul had been stricken blind on the road to Damascus by the miracle that led up to his conversion, Ananias was sent by the Lord to lay hands upon Paul to heal him of his blindness and fill him with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17).
What did Jesus teach about the resurrection of the dead?
Jesus, with tears in His eyes, approached the tomb where His friend Lazarus lay dead. He turned to Martha, the sister of Lazarus and answered the question of ages asked by Job; “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). At another time He said: “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that shall hear shall live. The hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:25, 28-29).
What did Jesus preach about judgment?
Jesus reproached the cities and the inhabitants of those cities that had rejected Him, in the most impressive manner Jesus warned them of an impending day of judgment by saying: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you” (Matthew 11:21, 22).
These, then were the great fundamental principles of the gospel that Jesus preached. Here at the Oakwood Restoration Branch of Jesus Christ, we believe those teachings are just as vital today as they were when Jesus preached and taught them. We believe wholeheartedly, the words found in
II John 9, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all men may be saved by obedience to the laws and the ordinances of the gospel.
We believe those ordinances are:
- Faith in God and
- the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Repentance,
- Baptism by immersion for the remission of sin,
- Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost
We believe in the resurrection of the body, that the dead in Christ will rise first, and the rest of the dead shall not live again until the thousand years are fulfilled. We believe in the doctrine of eternal judgment, which provides that men shall be judged, rewarded, or punished, according to the degree of good, or evil, they shall have done.
With all solemnity, by direction of the Holy Spirit, in the language of John, we say, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.” Listen to His gospel and obey it. Come and visit us at the Church of Jesus Christ, Oakwood Restoration Branch, and learn more of the Old Jerusalem Gospel, whose author is Jesus Christ.
