What are their beliefs on major Christian doctrine?

December 2000
Written by a former member of over 17 years

What are their beliefs on major Christian doctrine?

The basic doctrines like The Trinity, Justification by faith, The Person and work of Christ, original sin and others are fundamental and sound. The group has a few aberrant teachings, which we will discuss below, but for the most part the uniqueness of the Geftakys group is in practice, not doctrine.

George clearly teaches that salvation is just the beginning of the Christian life. One will not grow in Christ if they are not involved in a "corporate overcoming testimony," which is an assembly in his ministry or, if one is ignorant, some other group that is similar to Plymouth Brethren. Other groups are worldly, compromising and lack vision. This is why most believers in America are so shallow, according to George. His teaching conveys the thought that if someone was to leave the assembly and "backslide" into another church they will miss out on God's best, most likely losing their inheritance.

George teaches conditional sanctification, and the possibility of losing one's inheritance. Indeed, most members are pretty sure that they will only get a portion of their inheritance because they are not yielded enough. Proof texts used for this are 1 Corinthians 3, Galatians 4 (slaves don't inherit, only sons do, careless Christians are children, which are the same as slaves, and therefore won't inherit) and others. There is a morbid self-preoccupation due to this teaching. What some have called "The way of the Cross" is given a new, extreme twist in George's theology. Throughout the day, Christ and Self play musical chairs for the throne in the believers heart, with Christ being displaced at the first sign of "Self" asserting itself. Everyone is strongly encouraged to memorize a prayer, called the Selfer's Prayer, and to pray it many times throughout the day, especially if Self seems to be on the throne. The Selfer's prayer, if prayed sincerely, will banish self and restore Christ to His rightful place until such a time as the believer makes a wrong choice and Christ is again forced to vacate the throne. George taught this sort of thing for many years, but most people had difficulty understanding this "spiritual reality." In the late 1980's his wife, Betty, discovered the book "Handbook to Happiness" by Charles Solomon. Dr. Solomon's ideas were trumpeted as a simple explanation to what Brother George had been teaching all those years. George and Betty further modified Dr. Solomon's teachings, so that the assembly practice of "The Cross" is quite different and much more extreme than what Solomon teaches in his books.

Self is surely on the throne if a member has worries, doubts or fears. This makes it very hard to evaluate whether the group is spiritually healthy, because to express doubt is a sure sign that "self" is in the middle, and the life of Christ is not being expressed. The whole Geftakys doctrine on sanctification is a well-cooked stew of Wesley's second work of grace, teachings from the Keswick movement, charts illustrating "Identification Truths" and extreme reaction against "cheap grace" teachings. The main problem with George's teaching is that it does not in any way impart confidence and hope in the believer. Any sort of rebuke from a leading brother causes a faithful member to "realize" just how much "in the flesh" they are, and how the inheritance is at stake.