The Nazarene Church, as it exists today, was brought into being at Pilot Point, Texas (north of Dallas) on October 13, 1908. On that date two denominations, the "Holiness Church of Christ" and the "Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene" united and agreed upon the name, "Church of the Nazarene." The "Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene" was the result of a merger in 1907 at Chicago of the "Association of Pentecostal Churches in America" (concentrated in New York and New England) and the "Church of the Nazarene" (of California).

"The background of the Nazarenes is definitely Methodist; they adhere closely to the original Wesleyan (from John Wesley-B.C.) ideology. Most of the early Holiness groups in this country came out of the Methodist Episcopal Church; five of the original seven general superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene were ex-Methodist ministers, and the Nazarene Manual has been called 'A rewritten and modified Methodist Discipline.'“ (Handbook of Denominations, by Frank S. Mead, page 58).

A Port Arthur, Texas Nazarene preacher, W. M. Lynch, wrote, "Near the close of the 19th Century the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection had become little more than a creedal matter among the larger denominations that once taught it as essential. The Church of the Nazarene was organized by church pioneers to conserve and promote this doctrine." ("Port Arthur News," May 11, 1957.)

The Nazarene Church teaches that one is regenerated and afterward, as a "second work of grace," receives sanctification by means of Holy Spirit baptism. The Bible makes no such distinction between regeneration and sanctification (1 Cor. 6:11) nor does it promise Holy Spirit baptism to any today.

The Nazarene Church is another of the many denominations which are entirely human in origin. In New Testament times disciples were called Christians by God (Acts 11:26); they were called "the sect of the Nazarenes" by men (Acts 24:5). They followed the apostles' doctrine (Acts 2:42), not a manual drawn up by an assembly of uninspired men.

Church Origins
Lutheran

Today there are almost a score of Lutheran denominations, but all of them wear the name "Lutheran," and look to Martin Luther as the founder of the Lutheran Church. Be it said to Luther's credit that he did not intend to found a church nor did he intend for anybody to become a "Lutheran." He even pled for those who followed in his footsteps not to call themselves Lutherans, but Christians.

Martin Luther was born in 1483. He was reared in the Roman Catholic Church. He entered a monastery at 22 and was ordained a priest at 24. Afterward he became a teacher in the University of Whittenberg in Germany. Luther's study of the Scriptures led him to oppose many of the doctrines and practices of Catholicism. He voiced his objections to the sale of indulgences and to the claims being made for them. In 1517 he nailed his famous ninety-five theses of objections to Catholicism to the door of the church building in Whittenberg. After defying a Papal "Bull," Luther was excummunicated.

Luther was the first great champion of justification by faith "only." In his zeal to support it he rejected the book of James, declaring it not inspired and added "only" to Romans 3:28 in his German Language translation of the New Testament. (Dr. Robert G. Bratcher, Baptist, has exceeded Martin Luther; in his translation, "Good News for Modern Man, The New Testament in Today's English Version," published by the American Bible Society, he has added the word "only" in Rom. 3:28 and Gal. 2:16 and the word "alone" in Rom. 1:17.) In 1529 Luther wrote his Longer and Shorter Catechisms; in 1530 the Augsburg Confession of Faith was written by Luther's associate, Philipp Melanchthon. Lutheranism, therefore, traces itself hack to Martin Luther in origin, name and principle doctrines. It was not founded by Christ and is unlike the church founded by Christ in doctrine, name, organiz:ation, mission and worship.