Sunday, January 22, 2012

Church History


The first baptizing done by Walter was in Silvercreek at Pickabo, Idaho on February 3, 1928.

The Oregon City Church was established on December 12, 1933. The first meeting was held in the home of Lawrence Webb on Mt. View Street. The baptizing took place in the Molalla River by Charlie Smith. Two days later, on December 14, Walter baptized three more believers.

The church outgrew the homes in a short time and held meetings in the small Community building on Molalla Avenue. In 1945, the old Claremont School was purchased. This burned on May 20, 1946.

The next building was started at noon July 10, 1946, and held the first meeting September 8, 1945. This building was added onto and the baptismal tank was installed in 1954.

The last baptizing in the Clackamas River was by Walter, April 4, 1954.

The first baptizing in the tank was by Walter, June 13, 1954. Twenty-two believers were baptized that day.

On February 19, 1960, a Box Social was held to raise the money for a new building. At this first Box Social, the church honored Sister Eva on her 80th birthday by selling her basket for $50. There were 205 boxes sold that night.

The second Box Social was held on Sunday, June 26, 1960. On November 30th, the Walker and Green Construction Company bid was accepted and the present building was started on December 4, 1960.

On Sunday, June 25, 1961, the first meeting was held in the new building.

In the Spring of 1968, Walter White decided that he would perform his last baptisms. Between March 17, 1968 and May 5, 1968, Walter baptized 56 people.

12 comments:

  1. It sounds like the church started out with only a few members. I'm just guessing but maybe they were related. So it seems that at some point that "outsiders" must have been permitted to become FOC since the membership grew so much. Do you have any knowledge about this and if so, why it changed? I maybe answering my own question but was it because Walter died and outsiders could join prior to his death?

    Another totally unrelated question:
    I had read your blog and the comments attached to each subject. Since then I have noticed that new comments are added to each topic. Is there a way to see just the new comments? I don't belong to Facebook or Google Friend.

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    1. Yep, you answered it. My parents both joined as adults, because Walter was there to baptize them into the fold. Since his death there has been nobody to perform baptisms, so in their view, only the descendants of those who were baptized have any chance of getting to heaven. Of course, they just made that bit up - there's no biblical basis for it.

      As for viewing new comments on a blog, the best advice I have is to subscribe by email to the comments. This is anonymous - blogspot does not give me or anyone else access to the names or email addresses of people who subscribe.

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  2. So, what was the last sermon he gave, to entice the brethren to want to be saved? And how excactly do you move forward without such a massive part of Christianity? Even if he decided to quit being a christian, why in the "heck" would people follow him. What would possess a man, much less a whole church to abandon the tradition of being saved?

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    1. I'll have to do some research to find the last sermon.

      I'm not sure I understand your question. Walter didn't abandon his faith, he left the Idaho FOC due to theological differences. Those who followed him to Oregon did so because they believed he was right, I would assume.

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  3. He Stopped babtizing the followers of Christ. How many songs are there about being saved, how many sermons did he preach to persuade followers to be cleansed of their sins, and be redeemed? To just stop, it's really confusing. Have you ever heard of another church doing this? It may be the most disconcerting part of this whole church.

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    1. Oh, I see where you're coming from. Read the post from earlier this month, titled "Walter's Dream," in it Jesus told Walter to stop baptizing in three years. That was March 29, 1965. So in the Spring of 1968, Walter followed the instruction from his dream/vision.

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    2. Interestingly legion, it is not the only time it has occurred. There were in the past several groups (related to ours) who in the past disposed of baptism for one reason or another. They usually transformed into a form of quakerism and would separate from the body, usually as the result of a leader's death. There has been in the past few years another movement to remove or mitigate water baptism, but that group is still highly evangelical and believes in "spirit baptism". I believe these story lines have existed in the denominations as well. The odd thing here as that it was stopped through a vision's interpretation, which superseded scripture.

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  4. Thanks for clearing that up. So the truth is that if you werent babtized before his death, your out. If you were, then your counted among the saved. But where did the born into it, and no need for your children to be saved come into it. If the fullness came in 1960? then what about your own children?

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    1. Hey there. Sorry I didn't notice this question sooner. Yes, that is the idea - if you weren't baptized before he died, too late. They believed they were the remnant living in the end times and baptism would not be needed for the young children because Jesus was coming back soon. The "born Holy" thing is, what I understand, something they decided to tell us who were too late so we wouldn't panic.

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    2. So what do they do when they do panic, when the deceptions aren't enough to convince them. You left and found salvation, do other ones leave and give up? Or have you reacquainted yourselves with any who faired as well as you did?

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    3. Well, I didn't leave for the purpose of finding salvation. I won't hide that. But the foundation of my childhood made it impossible for me to discount God.

      Some Followers - actually quite a few - have left to become Born Again Christians. I am in contact with a number of ex-Followers who are in varying degrees of recovery from the legalism of our heritage. Like I have said before, the overwhelming majority of ex-FOC are believers.

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  5. Contradictions, regarding the Bible vs the accepted practices and teachings of the FOC are what is going to drive their children to unbelief. Once your free you get to learn about, and accept Jesus for what he is, then you start to understand the true nature of what living in Christ means. You see every soul as he does, a potentially saved individual. It's not enough to fain sorrow for those unfortunate ones that nobody can do anything to help. I would rather share the good news with anyone who would listen, then let, or help them to find their own path. It's no different than a child holding onto a toy that they know another child wants. They have it, everyone wants and needs it, and they won't share it with anyone else. The high mindedness is astounding.

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