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The Holy Scriptures
We
believe the Holy Scriptures, consisting of the Old and New
Testaments only, to be the verbally inspired Word of God,
inerrant in the original manuscripts, authoritative,
in-fallible and God-breathed; and that they are the only
supreme and ultimate authority for faith and practice. The
sixty-six books of the Old & New Testament are the complete
and divine revelation of God to man. (II Tim.3:16-17).
We
believe that a correct interpretation of Scripture is to
recognize the dispensational framework of Scripture. A
dispensational understanding recognizes that God’s
revelation has been progressive (Hebrews 1:1,2), that God
has dealt with mankind differently but in accord with His
progressive revelation, and that man’s responsibilities have
varied with each new revelation given. We believe that
according to the “eternal purpose” of God (Ephesians 3:11)
salvation in all dispensations has been and is always “by
grace, through faith,” and rests upon the basis of the shed
blood of Christ.
The Godhead
We
believe in one triune God, existing in three persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in
essence, equal in power and glory and having the same divine
attributes and perfections; yet exercising them in varied
offices. (John 14:7-11, 10:30)
The Person and Work of Jesus Christ
We
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God,
became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived
of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order
that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. (Isaiah,
7:14, 9:6)
We
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, as a substitutionary sacrifice,
and that all who receive Him are justified on the basis of
His shed blood. (Rom. 3:24-26; 4:25).
We
believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our
Lord Jesus Christ and that our redemption and salvation is
guaranteed to us by His literal, physical resurrection from
the dead; in His bodily ascension into heaven; and in His
present life there for us as High Priest and Intercessor. (I
Cor.15:12-19)
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, equal
with the Father and the Son, and of the same substance and
nature. (I John 5:7)
We believe the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. (John 16:8-11) He is the
supernatural agent in regeneration or the new birth,
baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling
and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (Eph. 1:13-14)
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Divine Teacher who
assists believers to understand and appropriate the
Scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty of all
saved to be filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 1:17-18; 5:18)
The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of
God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell and thereby
incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death,
which is separation from God. All mankind has inherited a
sinful nature, became willful sinners with the first
expression of a personal choice, are totally unable to
regain their former position, and are without excuse before
God. (Rom.3:23, 5:12; 6:23)
Salvation
We
believe that salvation is a gift of God brought to men by
grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness
of sins. Salvation is solely through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ who shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins
and being a gift, is not earned by any good works
whatsoever. All those who received Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior are regenerated and become sons of God. (Eph.1:7,
2:8-9)
Eternal
Security
We
believe that the salvation of every believer is secure for
all eternity from the moment of regeneration. This security
is guaranteed to each believer by the fact that the life
received is eternal life, by the keeping power of God, by
the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit, and by the
interceding ministry of Christ. (John 5:24; 10:27-30)
Sanctification
We believe that immediate, positional sanctification
is the act of God whereby believers are, at the time of
regeneration, eternally set apart as belonging to Him by
redemption, thereby being placed in the family of God as
children, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. (Rom. 8:14-17).
This is victory over the penalty of sin.
We believe that progressive sanctification is the
process by which, according to God’s will, we are made
partakers of His holiness; that it is progressive; that it
is begun in regeneration; that it progresses if the believer
is yielded to the Holy Spirit’s control; that it is carried
on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of
the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, self-examination,
watchfulness and prayer. (John 17:17). This is victory over
the power of sin.
We believe that ultimate sanctification will be the
portion of every believer when finally in the presence of
the Lord, complete and entire, with soul and spirit united
in the resurrected body free from every trace or effect of
sin and rebellion. (I Cor. 15:52-54) This is victory over
the presence of sin.
Final Destinies
We
believe in the bodily resurrection of all men with the saved
inheriting eternal life and the unsaved condemned to
judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matt. 25:46; John
5:28-29)
The Local Church
We
believe that a New Testament church is a voluntary and
independent self-governing group of baptized believers who
are a body with Christ as its head, joining together for
worship, service, fellowship, discipline, prayer, teaching,
testimony, the observance of the ordinances, and the spread
of the Gospel into all the world. (I Timothy 3:1-15)
The Ordinances
Baptism.
We believe that immersion is the only form of baptism
revealed and commanded in the Scripture, that it has no
saving power, that it is only for those who are already
saved, and the only Scriptural prerequisite is the new birth
which comes through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. (Acts 2:38; 8:36)
Lord’s
Supper.
We
believe that the Lord’s Supper is partaking of bread and the
fruit of the vine, as symbols of Christ’s body and blood
which commemorate His suffering and death for us and our
continual benefit there from. (I Cor. 11:23-32)
The Responsibility of Believer
We
believe that all believers should seek to walk by the
Spirit, not bringing reproach upon their Lord and Savior,
exercising Christian liberty regulated by love, and
separated from worldly pleasures and practices, and be
separated from organizational association with apostate
groups. (II Cor. 6:14-17)
Creation
We
believe in the Genesis account of creation and that it is to
be accepted literally and not figuratively. The six days of
creation in Genesis Chapter One were solar, that is
twenty-four hour days. All animal and vegetable life was
made directly and God’s established law is that they bring
forth only “after their kind.” Man was created in God’s own
image and after His own likeness and did not evolve from any
lower form of life. (Hebrews 11:3)
The Existence of Satan
We
believe that Satan was originally created a holy and perfect
being, but through pride and wicked ambition rebelled
against God. He became utterly depraved in character, the
great adversary of God and His people, leader of all other
evil angels, the deceiver and god of this present world. He
was defeated and judged at the cross, and therefore, his
final doom is certain. We are able to resist and overcome
him only in the armor of God, by the blood of the Lamb and
through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 2:1-4,
6:11,12)
Separation
We believe that all the saved are called into a life of
separation from sin. “Be ye holy, for I am holy!”
(I Peter 1:16)
Future Events
We
believe the Scriptures teach that at death the spirit and
soul of the believer pass instantly into the presence of
Christ and remain in conscious joy until the resurrection of
the body when Christ comes for His own. The blessed hope of
the believer is the imminent, personal, pretribulational,
premillennial appearance of Christ to rapture the church,
His bride God’s righteous judgments will then be poured out
on an unbelieving world during the Tribulation.
The
climax of this fearful era will be the physical return of
Jesus Christ to the earth in great glory to establish His
Millennial Kingdom. Israel will be saved and restored as a
nation; Satan will be bound and the curse will be lifted
from the physical creation. Following the 1000 year
Millennium, the Great White Throne judgment will occur, at
which time the bodies and souls of the wicked shall be
reunited and cast into the Lake of Fire. (Revelation
19:11-16; Revelation 20:2-15) |
