Declaration of Religious Jndependence

UN-ORIGINAL, PERHAPS, BUT TO THE POINT!

Allow me to declare my sentiments according to the pattern of the Declaration of
Independence. True, I am not now here being original, yet originality is not my goal at this
moment, but clarity. I allow therefore my detractors to attack this my present failing, as they
have always done my other failings, while missing the entire point.
And so I begin this my declaration: When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary
for one to dissolve the religious bands which has connected one with another, and to assume
among the priesthood of all believers, the separate and equal station to which the Word of
God entitles one, a decent respect to the opinions of Christendom requires that one should
declare the causes which impel one to the separation.
We hold these doctrines to be Scriptural, reasonable and self-evident, that the visible church
of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the
Sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of
necessity are requisite to the same, ( and that the Sacraments are certain signs of grace, and
God's good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken,
but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him, in which Baptism is the sign of
regeneration or the new birth, while the Lords Supper, or Holy Communion, is a sacrament
of our redemption by Christ's death; insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith
receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise
the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ (Methodist Articles of Religion).
That to secure these doctrines, elders or presbyters are ordained to preach the pure Word of
God and to duly administer the Sacraments, that whenever any presbyter or pastor either is
ignorant of these marks of the visible church of Christ or, when knowledgeable of these either
professes a want of understanding or becomes destructive of these doctrines, disseminating
doctrines contrary to our Articles of Religion, it but right that such a presbyter or pastor be
removed from his or her station and be replaced by one who believes in these doctrines.
However, if the particular church to which one belongs is either unable or unwilling to enforce
these Scriptural, rational and self-evident doctrines, it is the right of one to leave this
particular denomination and join oneself to another where these doctrines are taught and
enforced, or (if this is either impossible or impractical) to institute a new particular church,
laying its foundation on these doctrines and organizing its powers in such form, as to them
shall seem most likely to effect the Scriptural, rational and self-evident marks of the visible
church of Christ. For when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce the particular church into a mere human organization,
it is ones right, it is ones duty, to leave such a particular church denomination.
Such has been the patient sufferance of myself and others like me; and such is now the
necessity which constrains one to leave this particular church denomination, the United
Methodist Church. The history of the both the past and present United Methodist Church
both in the Philippines and in the United states of America is a history of repeated injuries
and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of a non-religious and
secularized organization whose main object is the making of money. And when this is pointed
out, pretended claims are made which amount practically to the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over those deemed their disciples.

Therefore, I have decided that it is my sad and unpleasant duty that I should leave the United
Methodist Church for reasons that will be made clear in a short while.
BUT FIRST, A DISCLAIMER: I STILL BELIEVE IN METHODISM!
Let it be first put aside that my unfortunate decision to leave the UMC is in no way because of
any disagreement with its order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline. To the contrary, I fully
accept, believe, practice and do uphold the order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline of the United
Methodist Church.
As to the order of the UMC, I firmly accept, believe, practice and uphold the UMCs episcopal
polity against presbyterianism and congregationalism.
I firmly accept, believe, practice and uphold the UMCs liturgy, rebuking openly those who
through their own private judgment, willingly and purposely and openly break the rites and
ceremonies of the UMC to which they belong.
I firmly accept, believe, practice and uphold the UMCs doctrine, which is historically
Arminian and Wesleyan in emphasis, and consequently is by necessity Sacramentalist in both
theory and practice.
As to the discipline of the UMC, I firmly accept, believe, practice and uphold the three General
Rules, especially as understood in the light of the UMCs doctrinal standards, which include
the Sermons and Expository Notes of John Wesley. To wit
Wesleys Sermons and Notes were understood specifically to be included in our
present existing and established standards of doctrine. (2012 UMC BOD, p. 62)
This especially holds regarding our doctrinal marks of the visible Church of Christ, namely, a)
faith, b) the preaching of the Word, and c) the Sacraments, especially that known as the Lords
Supper or Holy Communion. I firmly accept, believe, practice and uphold with John Wesley
and the historical Methodists that faith is a gift of God and not a decision one makes. I firmly
accept, believe, practice and uphold with John Wesley and the historical Methodists that this
faith is commonly received by hearing the preaching of the pure Word of God (Romans x. 17).
And I firmly accept, believe, practice and uphold with John Wesley and the historical
Methodists that the Sacraments are the normal means for receiving prevenient grace,
justifying (i.e., saving) grace and sanctifying (i.e., perfecting) grace.
In particular, I firmly accept, believe, practice and uphold with John Wesley and the historical
Methodists that it is a stated rule in interpreting Scripture, never to depart from the plain,
literal sense, unless it implies an absurdity (Sermon 74 Of the Church). I also firmly accept,
believe, practice and uphold with John Wesley and the historical Methodists that if we
consider the Lords Supper as a command of Christ, no man can have any pretense to
Christian piety, who does not receive it (not once a month but) as often as he can (Sermon
101 The Duty of Constant Communion).
Thus, let no one slander my intentions by saying that He was not really a believer in
Methodism or He decided to leave because his doctrines are not Methodist or even that He
is disseminating doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrine of The United
Methodist Church. My decision to leave is BECAUSE I have accepted those very same
established standards of doctrine of the UMC.

DELIBERATE IGNORANCE, MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND OPPOSITION

Even though I accept, believe, practice and do uphold the order, liturgy, doctrine and
discipline of the United Methodist Church and there are many who remain in the UMC who
accept, believe, practice and uphold the order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline of the UMC, I
have decided that I should leave the United Methodist Church because for the most part in
Europe and the United Staes, but most especially LGBT movement in the UMC, Methodists
so-called are either ignorant of or misunderstand the UMC's doctrine and discipline, and in
the cases they are known and understood they are not accepted, not believed, not practiced
and not upheld.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to the Church Catholic.

The denomination as a whole has allowed the dissemination of liberal theology in her
seminaries, which undermines the historic Methodist rule in interpreting Scripture,
never to depart from the plain, literal sense.

Many in the UMC are at this time importing foreign doctrines and theologies contrary
to the plain, literal sense of Scripture to complete the works Barth, Tillich and
Bultmann, already begun in our seminaries, and totally unworthy of a denomination
that considers itself the heir of Wesley, the homo uno libris.

The denomination as a whole has identified more with liberal causes, but most
especially the LGBT movement.
The denomination as a whole has not taken steps to enforce her own Discipline,
allowing whole jurisdictional and annual conferences to disobey without
consequence prohibitions against homosexual ordinations and unions.

Many have allowed large bodies of non-Methodist fellowships among our local
churches, i.e., those who are hostile to Wesleyan-Arminian theology, e.g., Baptists,
Calvinists, the LGBT Movement, Liberal Theology, etc.:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Unauthorized Conduct
(e.g., engaging for an evangelist who is not a general evangelist, solemnizing
homosexual unions and performing re-baptisms) which they should commit.

For allowing ordained ministers who commit these unauthorized acts to continue as
such, or when defrocked their ordination is returned to them.

Whole jurisdictional and annual conferences have obstructed the Administration of

Justice by refusing to try those who not only have been found out to have committed,
but also boast about committing chargeable offenses, e.g., the celebration of
homosexual unions and the practice of re-baptism.

The LGBT are allowed to bully and harass delegates of the General Conference, judging
them as bigots, thus pressuring compassionate conservatives into compromising their
deeply held beliefs.

The UMC Council of Bishops, in recommending that the General Conference defer all
votes on human sexuality and refer this entire subject to a special Commission, named
by them, to develop a complete examination and possible revision of every paragraph
in our Book of Discipline regarding human sexuality, have chosen to sit on the fence in
fear of offending both conservatives and liberals, not fearing God.

 Central and jurisdictional conferences have de facto abolished of certain principles in

the UMC BOD, the Book Of Worship and the Book Of Resolutions in their area,
establishing therein a de facto autonomous government, and enlarging its Boundaries
so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same
autonomous rule into the annual and district conferences, as well as local churches.
Many church leaders (ordained and laity) have excited pentecostal enthusiasms
amongst us, and have endeavoured to bring on the members of our local churches,
districts and annual conferences, the cultic practices of mega-churches.
Presbyters, who not only flout the standards of doctrine of the UMC, but shamefully
boast of having committed Unauthorized Acts such as homosexual unions (in the USA)
and re-baptisms (in Africa and in Asia, but especially in the Philippines), whose
characters are thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant on the pretense that
as disciplers their authority over their disciples is absolute, are unfit to be presbyters.
That all this has been allowed to happen throughout the UMC shows that for the most part,
the order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline are virtually unknown in many local churches,
districts, and annual conferences, and in cases where they are known they are widely
misunderstood. John Wesley is anachronistically presented as either a modern charismatic or
penetcostal (in Africa or in Asia) or as a communist or LGBT sympathizer. WesleyanArminian theology is viewed through Baptistesque, Calvinistic lor Liberal lenses.
The First and great mark of one who corrupts the word of God, is, introducing into
it human mixtures; either the errors of others, or the fancies of his own brain. ... a
Second method of corrupting it, by mixing it with false interpretations.
A Third sort of those who corrupt the word of God, though in a lower degree than
either of the former, are those who do so, not by adding to it, but by taking from it;
who take either the spirit or substance of it away, while they study to prophesy
only smooth things, and therefore palliate or color what they preach, in order to
reconcile it to the taste of the hearers.
These are the methods of those corrupters of the word, who act in the sight of men,
not of God. (Sermon 136: On Corrupting the Word of God).
Both Conservatives and Progressives in the UMC have become guilty of corrupting the Word
of God. Faith is reduced to being a decision made once in ones life, and grace redefined more
as a permissive attitude wherein God allows sin to continue unpunished and unsanctioned.
DELIBERATE DISOBEDIENCE TO UMC ORDER, LITURGY, DOCTRINE & DISCIPLINE
The most important reason why I have decided that I should leave the United Methodist
Church is because in the same way, for the most part in Africa and in Asia, but most especially
in the Manila Episcopal Area, Methodists so-called are either ignorant of or misunderstand
the UMC's liturgy and doctrine, and in the cases they are known and understood they are not
accepted, not believed, not practiced and not upheld.
In the Manila Episcopal Area:

The majority of local churches, districts and annual conferences have refused their
assent to the weekly celebration of Holy Communion, the most wholesome and
necessary for the unity of the Church (1 Cor. x. 17), for the remission of sins (S.
Matthew xxvi. 28) and for receiving eternal salvation (S. John vi. 53-58).

The majority of local churches, districts and annual conferences have discouraged their
ordained presbyters from the weekly celebration of Holy Communion unless their
Assent should be obtained; and when weekly Holy Communion is so offered, many
have utterly neglected to attend to them.

The majority of local churches, districts and annual conferences have endeavoured to
prevent the dissemination of the proper understanding of Wesleyan Methodist
doctrine, instead adopting and disseminating doctrines contrary to the established
standards of doctrine of The United Methodist Church, e.g., Baptist and/or Calvinist
theology, etc.

Local church councils have made ministers, pastors and other church workers
dependent on their Will alone for the tenure of their ministries, and the amount and
payment of their salaries, contrary to the plain reading of the words of St. Paul (1 Cor.
ix) and the principles found in the Book Of Discipline.

Local church laity and ordained leaders have opposed the study and implementation of
By Water and Spirit? and This Holy Mystery (Resolutions 8013 and 8014 in the
UMC Book Of Resolutions).

Local church laity and ordained leaders have allowed Baptist polity and theology to
enter into the UMC by promoting the Baptist tomes The Purpose Driven Church and
The Purpose Driven Life.

Local church laity and ordained leaders have allowed Calvinist doctrine and practice to
enter into the UMC by promoting Evangelism Explosion and Four Spiritual Laws.

Local church laity and ordained leaders have encouraged disobedience to UMC liturgy
by adapting charismatic/pentecostal worship as the norm.

Local church laity and ordained leaders have discouraged the use of the UMC liturgy
found in the UMC Hymnal and Book Of Worship, calling them foreign American
expressions of worship while hypocritically adopting American Praise&Worship and
Australian Hillsong.

Local church laity and ordained leaders in the Manila Episcopal Area have refused to
cooperate with the Order of St. Luke (OSL) in affirming the sacramental life embracing
liturgy, preaching, music, and other arts appropriate for the inclusive worship life of
the Church (2012 UMC BOD 1114.14).

Many church leaders (ordained and laity) have altered fundamentally our Church
Polity, creating a de facto presbyterian or even congregational polity, wherein powerful
families are allowed to dictate church policy in favor of promoting themselves.

Many church leaders (ordained and laity) have constrained conscientious Methodists
knowledgeable about the order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline of the UMC to go
against same, to participate in Unauthorized Conduct and Chargeable Offenses and
discouraging the use of UMC liturgy and weekly Holy Communion, especially aspiring
ordinands with the threat of being rejected for ordination if they show knowledge,
understanding and acceptance of the said order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline.

One district superintendent and one senior elder have hypocritically slandered the OSL
as being non-Methodist, the DS saying that he has to protect his district from false

doctrine even when shown when they themselves have submitted to a the nonMethodist false bishop Oriel Ballano and false prophet Cesar Castellanos.

At least two district superintendents have ordered pastors who celebrate weekly Holy
Communion to cease from doing so, and have moved their congregations against such
pastors, contrary to the covenant shared between all clergy.

These same district superintendents, pretending that weekly Communion is a heavy

imposition to local churches, have hypocritically imposed the cultic G12 Vision on their
own districts, making it a requirement for each member of a local to buy devotional
Journals, rebuking those pastors who fail to sell these journals.

That these same district superintendents and other UMC leaders have called weekly
Communion divisive, and yet ignore the fact that the G12 Vision has caused more
division and heresy in the UMC than a weekly celebration of the Eucharist can ever do.

Pastors who re-baptize are not charged, but are instead praised and allowed to repeat
their unauthorized conduct, even by their bishop and district superintendents.

In the same manner as the monk Tetzel, who raised funds for the repair of St. Peters
Basilica by the selling of indulgences, businessmen have persuaded the leadership of
the UMC to sell movie tickets, journals, and other trinkets for the renovation of the
UMC Headquarters in Manila, imposing a burden on local churches already struggling
to pay their apportionments.

I have not been wanting in attentions to my clergy brethren. I have warned them from time to
time of attempts by their fellows that go against the order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline of
the UMC. I have reminded them of the John Wesleys sentiments regarding the plain and
literal interpretation of Scripture and the duty of weekly Holy Communion. I have appealed to
their loyalty to the UMC, and have brought to their remembrance their ordination vows to
accept and uphold the order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline of the UMC. They too have been
deaf to the united voice of Scripture, Tradition, experience and reason. I must, therefore,
acquiesce in the necessity, though I myself would have ordinarily denounce this Separation,
and hold them, as I hold the rest of those who reject Gods Word, Enemies as concerning the
Gospel, yet Friends as touching their common descent from genuine Methodism.
In every stage of these Oppressions I have Protested for Redress in the most humble terms.
My repeated Protests have been answered only by repeated injury. I have been accused of
pride and a want of humility because I insisted on the truth and refused to stoop to flattery
and/or sycopancy. I was pressured by informal means to recant my beliefs and position, and
allow their disobedience to the UMC under the pretended necessity of my having to submit to
their authority, which though valid is exercised in a most hypocritical and tyrannical fashion,
saying that leaders are allowed to be in error (aping as it were the cultic doctrine of the false
bishop Ballano). My application for ordination as presbyter was denied and instead given an
ordination to deacon that has no sacramental authority except in very limited circumstances.
For one whose passion was the Holy Eucharist, such can only constitute a grievous injury.
Thus, it can be clearly seen that in the Manila Episcopal Area, the order, liturgy, doctrine and
discipline of the UMC may be known and understood by many, but they are commonly not
enforced at all, and in fact in many cases are allowed to be discouraged by leaders of the local
church, the district and the annual conferences, so that in a few cases that these four are
known and understood, they are not accepted, not believed, not practiced and not upheld.

Conclusion
So you can see that although I accept, believe, practice and do uphold the order, liturgy,
doctrine and discipline of the United Methodist Church and there are many who remain in the
UMC who accept, believe, practice and uphold the order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline of the
UMC, I have decided that I should leave the United Methodist Church for two main reasons.
First, for the most part in Europe and the United Staes, but most especially amongst the LGBT
movement in the UMC, Methodists so-called are either ignorant of or misunderstand the
UMC's doctrine and discipline, and in the cases they are known and understood they are not
accepted, not believed, not practiced and not upheld.
But most importantly, for me at least, for the most part in Africa and in Asia, but most
especially in the Manila Episcopal Area, Methodists so-called are either ignorant of or
misunderstand the UMC's liturgy and doctrine, and in the cases they are known and
understood they are not accepted, not believed, not practiced and not upheld.
I, therefore, representing my wife and child, appealing to God the Father, to Christ Jesus the
Bishop of our souls, and to the Holy Ghost, the rectitude of our intentions, do solemnly
publish and declare, that I and my family are Absolved from all Allegiance to the United
Methodist Church, and that all religious connection between us are and ought to be totally
dissolved; and that as Free and Independent agents, we have full Power to go where the pure
Word of God is preached, and Holy Communion duly administered every week according to
Christ's ordinance. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of our Lord God, my family and I mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our
Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
I may be questioned us regarding our decision to leave the UMC that we do overreact, that
there are many remaining in the UMC (especially in the Baguio Episcopal Area) where the
pure Word of God is preached, and Holy Communion duly administered every week according
to Christ's ordinance. Why should we leave seeing that the official position of the UMC is on
our side? May not time pass and the UMC will gradually become what it should be, a
Scriptural and Sacramental particular church denomination.
I answer: By rights, it is they who have disobeyed the UMCs order, liturgy, doctrine and
discipline who should leave. I have so often considered charging them myself, yet these
disobedient ones are too powerful for me, and have powerful friends. Many of those who have
disobeyed the UMCs order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline are highly placed members of the
Board of Ordained Ministry, which has shown a tendency to protect their own, as evidenced
by their general tendency to mark and strike down aspiring ordinands who show a better
knowledge and understanding of UMC doctrine and discipline than they.
They object further that my action is akin to the older brother of the prodigal son, refusing to
come in and celebrate the return of the prodigal. To this I answer: They do not return
repentant like the prodigal. Whereas the prodigal son attests to his own unworthiness, these
disobedient souls have not only boasted about the propriety of their disobedient acts, but have
endeavored to cause others to be disobedient themselves. They have forced the practice of
homosexual unions and re-baptisms, and have forced the ceasing of the weekly Eucharist.
Nay, I and my family leave in obedience now to the plain and literal sense of Christs words in
S. Matthew x. 14, And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart
out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. I would have loved to have gone to

either the Baguio Episcopal Area where the pure Word of God is preached or the Eucharist
administered weekly, without having to leave the UMC. But this has become impossible. The
true powers that be in Manila Episcopal Area will forbid it, these false gods. Further, the
corruption that started in the USA and the MEA has already reached their area, with the
falsely named Aldersgate held there which subscribes to the heretical doctrines of Oriel
Ballano and his minions. Better therefore to turn away and slam the door.
After my leaving, I know that slander shall attend my memory, as it did my unhappy brother,
who himself was most atrociously abused by the same false gods. My previous decision to
remain in the UMC estranged me from my brothers. In the end, they have been proven right
about the UMC, a denomination dominated by money and politics. I know that in my heart I
will always be a real Methodist, but the crypto-Baptists, the crypto-Calvinists, the Feminists
and the Progressives will deny me that name, saying I left Methodism. I will allow them this,
and no longer call myself publicly by that tainted name now associated with compromise.
Discussions are now at an end. When before I was in a better position to inform, explain and
to implement the UMCs order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline, they have unanimously
hindered mine efforts, refusing to know and understand Methodist doctrine and practice. And
in the cases they both knew and understood the principle of historical-grammatical
interpretation if Scripture and the duty of weekly Holy Communion, they did everything to
discourage both, corrupting the Word of God and disavowing the necessity of the Eucharist.
I confess that (by John Wesleys suggestion) I am more zealous for the ordinances of Christ
than for the Church itself; for prayer in public and private; for the Lords Supper; for reading,
hearing, and meditating on his word; and for the much neglected duty of fasting. I dare not
stay in a denomination where church unity is more important than either obedience to the
Holy Scriptures or the weekly reception of Holy Communion.
A particular church that may on paper and in theory accepts, believes, practices and upholds
the authority of Scripture and the necessity of the Sacraments for salvation and yet in reality
does not accept, does not believe, does not practices and undermines both the authority of
Scripture and the necessity of the Sacraments is a church on paper and in theory only, but not
really truly a visible Church of Christ. Thus, in leaving the UMC I have not ceased being a
member of the Church Universal.
I end this my declaration with the words of Martin Luther, the first Protestant,
In conclusion, since we have now the true understanding and doctrine of the
Sacrament [of Holy Communion], there is indeed need of some admonition and
exhortation, that men may not let so great a treasure which is daily administered
and distributed among Christians pass by unheeded, that is, that those who would
be Christians make ready to receive this venerable Sacrament often. it must be
known that such people as deprive themselves of, and withdraw from,
the Sacrament so long a time are not to be considered Christians. For
Christ has not instituted it to be treated as a show, but has commanded His
Christians to eat and drink it, and thereby remember Him, (Martin Luther, The
Large Catechism, 39 & 42).
Signed by:

Hope JORDAN D. Guerrero