The Bastion of Truth Reformed Churches in the Philippines is a very young denomination of churches all located in Southern Luzon, Philippines. Representatives of three churches who decisively broke with the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement and another group from a Baptist background convened in April 2004 to form a separate denomination of Reformed Churches. The BTRCs, like other faithful Reformed Churches, stand in the tradition of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century. Their eventual establishment as a Reformed denomination originated in the doctrinal conflicts within the Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Philippines, a Pentecostal-Charismatic and a
fundamentally and thoroughly Arminian denomination founded in the United States by controversial woman preacher Aimee Semple MacPherson, over the critical issue of God’s sovereignty in man’s salvation particularly in the believer’s preservation or perseverance unto the end and the Biblical practice of "Christ-centered" preaching. These “Reformed” principles slowly made their way into the instructions of one of this Pentecostal denomination’s Bible Colleges by the introduction of some Reformed literature alongside a growing consciousness of Church history centering on the dramatic period of the Protestant Reformation. Pastors who stood their ground resigned their posts while some Bible College students abandoned their ministerial training as the result of the doctrinal conflict.
Chief among those who stood for the Biblical truths which led to the founding of the Bastion of Truth Reformed Churches is Pastor Ronald R. Santos. He was among the Associate Pastors of the Capitol City Foursquare Church and Director and instructor at Foursquare Bible College of Quezon City. Refusing to retract from the truth he believed to be a matter of life-and-death—heaven-and-hell itself—he chose to resign his office—a much coveted position. Being the person who never drew attention to himself, his marked life of integrity, humility, wisdom, diligence in the study of the Scriptures and an ardent love for God and His Truth drew the confidence of a small band of men and women drawing them into that eternally significant turning point of their lives.
The Bastion of Truth Reformed Churches confess and defend God’s only and true Gospel which is His power unto the salvation of those who believe (Romans 1:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 15:1, 2). It is their conviction that no church or individual person may claim any right to manufacture his own version of the gospel, then stamp upon it his own sectarian brand (e.g. “Foursquare Gospel,” “Full-Gospel” [as if there is a partial one], a "Reformed accent" held by certain apostate "Reformed" churches, etc.). The BTRCs are convinced that in these darkest of times when the essence of the Gospel is rampantly obscured and corrupted the Church must unashamedly declare and confess its unambiguous and absolute message bearing in mind that salvation is impossible itself apart from a sure and certain knowledge of the truth. The Bastion of Truth Reformed Churches therefore understand and confess the true Biblical Gospel to be:
"... the good news that God, out of unmerited favor and love, according to His own eternal purpose, has fulfilled His promise to sovereignly bestow the blessings of salvation to His elect people yet lost, guilty, defiled and hell-deserving sinners, freely giving them the Holy Spirit, Who works in them new birth, faith, repentance, sanctification unto good works and perseverance therein, without any merit of their own and on the basis of no works or willing which they perform, but only through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ freely imputed to them alone and received by God-given faith based upon His eternal determination to glorify his own name."
This Gospel with its ramifications is more comprehensively and systematically taught in the historic Reformed Creeds known as the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster or Presbyterian Standards.
The Bastion of Truth Reformed Churches believe that the faithful bearer of this glorious Gospel in the last 450 years is the historic Reformed Faith proclaimed by faithful Reformed and Presbyterian churches holding fast to the faith of the apostolic church. They unashamedly identify themselves as “Reformed" Churches although the term “Reformed” has been taken by so many apostate churches. Their reason for this is that the significant and colossal battles for Biblical truth were bound within historical circumstances of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Church history, they believe, vindicates the cause of the name “Reformed,” while serving as witness against the unfaithfulness and apostasy of churches who still profess the name "Reformed." The BTRCs are not embarrassed in refusing to call their churches by the Biblical phrases “Church of God in Christ Jesus” or “Church of Christ.” The reason being that not that these are wrong, but because cults and heretical sects in the Philippines drag these Biblical names while holding to doctrines and practices offensive to Scripture.
The Bastion of Truth Reformed Churches maintain fellowship only and exclusively with individuals and churches with similar Gospel convictions and its ramifications to salvation (Mark 16:15, 16). While they themselves avoid a spirit of rash judgmentalism, members of the BTRCs detest compromise and unbiblical ecumenism with churches holding to the damnable teachings of Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism and Arminianism (i.e. all "Arminian-ISMS!") and the unbridled tolerantism among so many professing Calvinists. They are, in the perspective of the BTRCs, objects of solemn rebuke (Galatians 6:8, 9) and evangelism.
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