Our camp is not about activities or about how great our facilities are. It is about spending time in God’s Word, developing lasting relationships with Christian friends, and strengthening the family unit so that we, as Christians, can take the Word of God home to our local churches and edify them with zeal and enthusiasm.
A Walk Around Our Grounds
As you leave Highway 6 and drive through the wooden gate entrance to the campground, the first building you will see on your left is a small tabernacle, where the children’s activities are conducted daily; behind that building further to the west is a cement building which serves as the girl’s dorm. Next, is a row of cabins which house the workers of the camp, with another cement building on the north end, which is the boy’s dorm. The next cement building you will come to is the restroom and shower building; with another set of cabins, that are available to the attendees of the camp on a first come, first served basis. Cabin #12 is the prayer chapel.
In the middle of our walk is the dining hall, where meals are served three times daily. It is also used for the adult afternoon Bible study; for fellowship after the evening service; and for other activities as the need arises.
The little building to the southeast of the dining hall serves the grounds with water and just to the north of this building stands the bell which rings to announce wake-up time; meal times; and service times.
The central building in our walk is the large tabernacle which was built in 1950. Little has changed with its appearance, except for the routine maintenance. On the inside, you will find wooden pews; a platform; with tables in the back for registration and displaying materials. This building is used each day to conduct services.
The rest of the grounds are used for parking and camper hook-ups.
But the grounds do not make up the heart of the Imperial Valley Holiness Camp—it is the people. The people who come each year—some for the entire time; some for a day or just an occasional service. These people consider the camp their “oasis in the desert”, and as they pass back out through the gate at the end of their stay, they purpose in their hearts to reach out to others in their world.
Biblical Holiness
When a person understands the truth about Biblical Holiness, it becomes the most desirable possibility in all of human experiences. There is nothing so beautiful, so satisfying and so natural in all of human life. The very reason for your creation, the purpose for which God made you and the most complete life, is found in Biblical holiness. It is not just a standard someone is trying to live. It certainly is not legalism or narrow-mindedness. Holiness is the work of the Holy Ghost by the Word and by the Blood. It actually lifts man into the image of God. In holiness, we become God-like and God-filled.
No, no, I’m not talking about righteousness. Righteousness is what happens in our body, soul, and spirit when we begin to experience holiness. Righteousness is the work of Holiness. Righteousness is the joy of obedience to God’s ways that results from the inner work of holiness. Holiness cannot start or continue or be completed by righteousness in the many expressions of our living. Holiness is never subject to righteousness. Instead, righteousness is subject to Holiness. The only righteousness that man can produce without Holiness is what the Bible calls self-righteousness and it is deplorable to God Himself. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6).
True Biblical holiness is not hardness, legalism, or mean-spirited people making everyone miserable with their own list of concocted standards. The Bible is a Holy Book from Genesis to Revelation and every standard set in Scripture is the joy of transformed saints. Godly women or men will separate themselves from activities that are declared off limits by the Holy Bible.
A born again person is repulsed by the suggestion that they can continue the old lifestyle of breaking the commandments of God while still professing righteousness.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17).
“True Biblical Holiness” Bible holiness is beautiful. There is a remnant of godly people that the Father Himself has reserved to Himself for this end-time generation. These saints are both pure in lifestyle and attitudes. They do not seek attention nor are they ashamed of their testimony. The Bible is there “paper pope” and they live by every Word of God. Jesus said, “But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).
- “True Biblical HOLINESS” – Joseph Chambers