Ambonar Church of God

Ambonar Church of God
Simbahan ng Diyos sa Ambonar
Highest Chruch of God, Ambonar, Xulin, Slokais Islands
Structure	Connexional
High Global Priest	Peter Rizal
Scholar of the Faith	Joseph Bryant
Region	Hesperida, IDU
Language	Ambonar, English
Headquarters	Xulin, Ambonar, Slokais Islands
Founder	Sri Darma Ferindad I
Origin	1687 Cirebon, Ambonar
Branched from	Catholic Church of San Fernando
Members	4,180,000
Other name(s)	Church of God
Official website	Church of God.org

The Ambonar Church of God is a religious denomination of Christianity The Church of God primarily is located within the Ambonar Province of Slokais Islands, the faith has members throughout Hesperida. Founded in 1687 by Sri Darma Ferdinand I of Ambonar, the faith became the state religion of the Kingdom until 1825. Since then the Ambonar Church of God has had a significant political, social, and economic impact on the Ambonar people, and several hardline groups of the faith are considered "cults" by general society.

Name Dispute

The Ambonar Church of God is called the Church of God by most of its members although is officially listed as the Ambonar Church of God in religious statistics. Members of the Church of God refer to themselves as Revivalists, a term that is used sometimes to describe the entire movement.

History

In 1684, King Sri Darma of Ambonar was visited by Francisco de Valer on a diplomatic mission from the San Fernando colony. One of his gifts was a copy of the Bible which Sri Drama took to heart and was led upon a three-year "faith quest". According to Sri Drama, he was given 14 lessons over the course of his three years as King by God. With each lesson intended to help Sri Drama re-found "The Kingdom of God". In the final lesson, Sri Darma is believed to have contacted an unknown figure called "Ra-Guna" or the "Final One" who with the Chruch of God's belief will end the world if "it becomes too corrupted". To prevent Ra-Guna's arrival, Sri Darma founded the Church of God in 1687 with several hundred followers. As King of Ambonar, Sri Darma declares the Kingdom as Christian and removes all traditionalists and Minjian believers from positions in the Kingdom. Sri Darma also takes upon the name "Ferdinand del Este" and establishes strong trade relations with the San Fernando Colony.

Kingdoms Era

The Church of God would grow rapidly across the Ambonar Kingdom, as other faiths soon became socially and politically unacceptable. The Church of God's promise of greater status for converts led to the mass conversion of Minjian and Traditionalists by a popular militia known as the Army of Salvation. Acting independently of Sri Dontak, who was a reformer compared to his father, the Army of Salvation forced thousands of Minjian to take refuge in the Pindai puppet state of Wojiang, leading to a series of border skirmishes. Not seeking a full-out war with the might of the Pindai State, Sri Dontak called on the Army to arrest the Army of Salvation's leadership. This decision led to the foundation of the Order of the Faith, a council of Sri Darma's personal scholars who worked to remove Sri Dontak. In 1725, Sri Dontak was couped by his cousin, Sri Darma Ferdinand II, a more radical king who gave several state powers to Order of the Faith members. The Order of the Faith formalized the Church of God's beliefs in 1733 and divided the Ambonar Kingdom into 22 districts known as Estates, with each corresponding to a local cathedral. The prominent theological idea was the Church of God should focus on enlightening the Ambonar Kingdom and largely ignored the Catholic conversions in neighboring states. In this era, the Church of God funded infrastructure and development projects in the name of building a perfect Kingdom.

In the 1800s, settlers from the San Fernando Valley ventured into Ambonar in search of land for farming, a decision that was met by violence from locals. In response to these attacks, the San Fernando Colony demanded payment for property damages from the Ambonar Kingdom. In return, the Church of God declared Catholicism a "betrayal of Christendom" and expelled the few remaining Catholic traders in Xulin, the capital of Ambonar. This expulsion led to the San Fernando Militia capturing the Port of Xulin and declaring a "free-trade zone", critics called for a full-scale holy war, however, Sri James Paul Gamara simply granted their request. This decision led to the First Great Schism, an internal power struggle within the Church of God which destabilized Ambonar as a result. In 1817, when San Fernando was given to Sanctaria, the Church of God surprisingly approved of the decision. In 1819, Sri James Paul declared Sanctaria "an ally of the faithful" and began diplomacy with the nearby state.

Culture and Practices

Due to the faith being historically centered in only Ambonar, the province's culture is based upon Church of God beliefs. Common practices shared with Christianity as a whole include church attendance, daily prayer, participation in Church programs, and referring from work on Sundays. However, the most significant deviation is moral ideas, with the Book of Divine Communications considered at value with the Bible when answering moral questions. In addition, the conversion while not originally valued as a practice until the 1970s is considered a duty by some Revivalists, these conversions have often been successful in areas without a large Christan presence such as Kaijan, where several Revivalist communities have appeared.

Book of Divine Communcations

Revivalists consider the Book of Divine Communications to be of the same or even greater value than the Bible. Although much shorter than the Bible, being divided into three "Communications", the 14 lessons within are quoted and referenced by Revivalists. The First Communication outlines the authority of God and the authority of those in the Church of God. In addition, the Communication states most famously "Power not given by those of Heaven or the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth should be questioned". Politically, the quote is often used by traditional Revivalists to discredit the authority of non-Christian govermeant officials and argue against the separation of Church and State. The Second Communication outlines practices and morals such as a belief in only "one divine creator" and that life must only be taken if one has been "lost to hell fire". This communication influenced law and justice in the Ambonar Kingdom, with some principles remaining in law within Ambonar Province. The Third Communication is the most significant with God calling upon Sri Darma to take upon the name Ferdinand del Este and found "a Church of God, in the Kingdom of God, in the name of God".

A Ra-Gunna costume used in a theatrical retelling of the Book of Divine Communication.

The most controversial section of the Book of Divine Communications is Section 19 which was written a year after the rest of the Book and describes a being known as Ra-Guna. Ra-Guna is described as a demon who will be born in the future and inhabit the body of a human and if enough believe in him, will end the world and only Chruch of God members past and present souls will be saved from Hell. Ra-Gunna remains a controversial figure, as many claim Ra-Gunna was a character created by Sri Darma's son, Sri Dontak, and published as such. However, many within the Church of God view the prevention of Ra-Gunna as a greater life goal than living by Revivalist morals.

Social Views

The Ambonar Church of God has had evolving social views throughout their existence as religious leaders within the faith have modified the ideas Sri Darma to update to modern social questions, however the religion generally holds the founding principles outlined in the Book of Divine Communications.

Women's Rights

The Ambonar Church of God only allowed women to hold positions as nuns and has only allowed women to hold other positions since 1987 and still today are outlawed from holding senior positions such as High Priests and women over 14 are officially banned from entry to the Highest Church of God, due to the belief they will “tempt the minds of our greatest scholars” From a 1906 decree by Scholar of the Faith, Joseph Primana|. Revivalists generally believe women’s role in society is producing the next generation of revivalists and to find a suitable wife, other pursuits such as non-religious education is considered secondary with Amonar Connexional University, the premier Revivalist institute only accepting women into non-theological degrees after 2004. The Church of God outlaws abortions of “elective choice” and pushed against the legal protection of abortion in the 1980s, although states abortion in cases of the life of the mother, rape or incest is premissable. Women are also expected to be modest in public spaces, especially those who are married with many wearing religious coverings over there head similar to Islam.

Family Structure

Revivalists believe the primary role of the family is to act as the building block of society’s path to creating a “kingdom of heaven” on Earth. Thus activities which would break this family structure such as divorce and same-sex relations are considered taboo. When divorce become protected by law in 1983 and same-sex marriage in 2002, the Ambonar Chuch of God actively protested and passed a motion in the Ambonar Provincal Assembely in 2007 to allow ministers and business owners to refuse services. This law held until 2015, when the Ministry of Justice made it a criminal offense to deny services solely based on marriage type or status.

Polygymy

Contrary to the idea of family structure, several Revivalist communities practiced a form of Polygymy, where men would have multiple wives in order to grow the number of Revivalist. This practice was outlawed by a 1924 law, as an effort to combat armed Revivalist rebels in the Eastern Hills War. Despite legal polygymy being illegal and the Church of God not endorsing the practice, several prominent Revivalists have sexual open relations with multiple people such as billionaire Robert Qiagara.

Modesty

The Church of God has stated immodest dress such as short skirts or clothing which does not cover the full chest is immoral and will lead to the “servants of hell” gaining power on Earth. Modern revivalists have even argued modern social standards have already led to the arrival of Ra-Guuna, and that he inhabits the body of a human being. The Church of God also encourages its members to not wear all-black clothing or undergo body modifications such as tattoos or body piercings.

Interracial Marriage

Prior to the 1900s, marriages were only permitted between members of the Ambonar ethnicity in order to maintain “god’s people”, however the realties of demographics and other factors led to permitting of Revivalists to marry other “Chrtistian people’s” however there remains a racist view of marriages of Ambonar to those not of the ethnicity. This has led to Ambonar ethnicity which accounts for a large majority of membership of the Church of God being ethnically homogeneous with few people of mixed ancestry. In addition these principles apply less to converts to faith which have grown from almost none to about 10% of the faith since 1990.

Education

Education has been a key tenet of the Revivialist faith due to the belief that education leads to a “greater society” {{efn|Speech by Sri Darma at the founding of Amonar Connexional University, then known as “The Ambonar Sanjogee Adhyayan Institute”|]]. In addition to the founding of Amonar Connexional University or ACU in 1714, the oldest non-catholic college in Slokais Islands, the Ambonar Church of God has funded the creation of schools, initially these schools were public, however after 1925 founding of the secular Ambonar Ministry of Education, these schools became private. These schools often remain the premiere institutions with better services and support than regular public schooling, thus even non-Reviavists intend these schools to improve their education. In addition, the Ambonar Church of God was an instrumental force in the founding of Provincial Polytechnic University of Xulin or Xulin Provincial Poly in 1988. Teaching is also considered a noble profession among Revivalists with many becoming both secular and non-secular educators.