Doctrinal Statement
I. The Inspiration of the Bible
We believe the Holy Scriptures, composed of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament
and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, are the verbally inspired Word and
Revelation of God. The Bible is inerrant, infallible-God-breathed. The
initial miracle of divine inspiration of the original autographs also extends to the divine
preservation of a pure text to this day. We have, therefore, the very Word of God
preserved through the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus. In the English
language, the only Bible translated from the aforementioned texts is the King James
Version. Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Luke 24:13-28; John 16:12-16;
Psalm 12:6-7; Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 138:2.
II. The Trinity
We believe in the Triune God-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit-coequal and coeternal. Each has His individual identity and separate
responsibilities for the purposes of redemption, yet perfectly united as three Persons in
One. 1 John 5:1-8; John 16:7-18; Matthew 28:19; Genesis 1:26.
III. The Deity and Virgin Birth of Christ
We believe in Deity of Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten, virgin born Son of God,
the second Person in the Blessed Trinity, God the Son, God manifest in the flesh. 1
Timothy 3:16; John 1:1-14; John 14:9; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; John 10:36.
IV. The Blood Atonement
We believe in the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, by the grace
of God, tasted death for every man, and all must be born again or be forever lost. Hebrews
2:9; John 6:44-69; John 3: 118; Romans 3:25; Revelation 1:5; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter
1:18-19. The Lord's atonement was not limited with respect to whom God's salvation is
offered, i.e., His shed blood is sufficient for all sin and, therefore, "who so ever
will" may believe and be saved to the uttermost. 1 John 2:2; Hebrews 7:22-25;
Revelation 22:17. Also, the text "with His stripes we are healed" speaks of
God's remedy for the sin-sick soul through the suffering and substitutionary sacrifice of
the Lamb of God, and is not referring to the healing of the body as proposed by false
charismatic teaching. Isaiah 53:4-6.
V. The Resurrection
We believe in the physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He ascended bodily
into the heavens and is now at the right hand of God as our Mediator, Priest, and
Advocate. Acts 3:12-26; John 20; Hebrews 9:24; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; 1 John 2:1.
VI. The Second Coming
We believe in the Rapture-the personal, premillennial, pretribulational and imminent
return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ "in the air." This has been the
"Blessed Hope" of every born-again believer in the Church Age. At that time He
will receive to Himself the resurrected bodies of those who have "died in
Christ" and also all those who are presently alive and "in Christ." 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:6-10; 1 Corinthians 15:50-55; Acts 1:11; Titus 2:13. He will then
come "with His saints" seven years thereafter to execute judgment upon the
ungodly nations before the inauguration of His earthly millennial reign at His second
coming to the earth. Jude 14,15; Matthew 25:31-46. The Lord will cast the anti-christ and
the false prophet into the lake of fire, send Satan into the abyss and establish His
earthly kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign one thousand years, thus literally
fulfilling the covenant promises made to a believing remnant of Israel through the
Patriarchs of the Old Testament. Isaiah 11:1-16; Revelation 19:19-20; 20:1-6. After the
earthly reign of one thousand years, He will bring all the unsaved dead to the judgment of
the Great White Throne and all who stand before that Throne will be cast into the lake of
fire forever. Revelation 20:11-15; Matthew 7:21-23. Satan will also be cast into the lake
of fire. Revelation 20:10.
VII. The Personality of Satan
We believe in the personality of Satan, "that old serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." He is actively opposing the cause of Christ
on every hand and is the arch enemy of every true believer. His warfare incorporates the
deception of mixing error and truth as well as that which is flagrantly vile and evil. 2
Corinthians 11:1-15; 2 Peter 5:8-9; Revelation 12:9-10; Matthew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17;
John 8:24. He marshals a host of fallen angels that can also serve to deceive the
unsuspecting by "transforming themselves into...apostles of Christ [and] ministers of
righteousness..." (2 Corinthians 11:315). These false spirits can influence the
unfaithful servant to say helpful and even true things and can also themselves energize
ones to do the miraculous. Therefore, every experience and teaching must be examined in
light of the Word of God to determine its true source. Isaiah 8:20; 1 John 4:1.
VIII. Heaven and Hell
We believe that Heaven is a real place of eternal blessedness prepared by God for those
whose garments have been "made white" through faith in the shed "blood of
the Lamb." Hell is a real place of eternal suffering for those whose names are not
written in the "book of life." There is no intermediate state in which the
unsaved can atone for his own sins. John 14:1-6; Revelation 7:13-17; 20:11-15; 21:22-27; 2
Corinthians 5:1-10; Luke 16:19-31.
IX. Creation and Man's Fall
We believe God created all things in a time frame of six literal, twenty-four hour
days. We believe evolution in any form, and this necessarily includes so called
"theistic evolution" and the "gap theory" to be contradictory to the
clear teaching of Scripture. We believe in the universality and exceeding sinfulness of
sin. In Adam all have sinned and, therefore, are guilty before God by nature as well as by
deed. Man was created by a direct act of God and subsequently fell into sin in the Garden
of Eden. Romans 5:12-21 Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 3:10-26; 6:23; Psalm 51:5 Genesis 1-3.
X. Justification by Faith
We believe that man is justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood and
bodily resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 Ephesians 2:8-9. The
all-sufficient and completed work of Redemption accomplished through His death and
resurrection is fully appropriated at the moment in time by those who receive by faith the
free gift of salvation offered in the one true Gospel. The adding of works, baptism,
sacraments, or any other condition placed upon man in order to obtain God's gift of
salvation by faith alone in the finished work of Christ results in "another
gospel" that is under God's curse. Galatians 1:6-10; Romans 1:16 1 Corinthians
15:1-4; John 5:24; Ephesians 5:8.
XI. Eternal Security
We believe in the eternal security of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. Once a
lost sinner has be come a "new creature in Christ," he can never lose that new
relationship in the family of God which is based upon Christ's imputed righteousness and
not his own. The life that God imparts to the believing sinner is not "eternal
life" if it can be terminated. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; John 10:25-29. Sin in the life
of the believer affects his fellowship with the Father not sonship. All who are truly born
of the Spirit and who continue in sin will be dealt with by the chastening hand of God. 1
John 1:5-10; Hebrews 12:6-13 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. All who are in Christ are sealed unto
the day of redemption and will be glorified. We are to "work out" our salvation
not "work for" our salvation; Philippians 2:12. Texts used to supposedly teach
one can lose his salvation are speaking of loss of reward, not the loss of salvation or
the right to be called a child of God. 1 Corinthians 3:8-15; 2 John 8; Revelation 3:11;
Romans 8:29-30; 1 Timothy 1:12; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30.
XII. The Holy Spirit and Body of Christ
We believe all regenerated people are baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy
Spirit the moment they receive Christ as their Saviour. 1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Corinthians
10:32; Ephesians 2:13-18. The Holy Spirit indwells all who have been born again from
above. Also, the baptism of the Spirit is not a separate event apart from the reception of
the gift of the Holy Spirit upon believing on Christ unto salvation. Acts 15:6-11;
Galatians 3:2,14; Romans 10:1317; Romans 8:9. The Church which is Christ's Body consists
of all those who, in the present dispensation, truly believe and accept Jesus Christ as
Saviour and Lord. Romans 8:14-27; James 1:18; John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Matthew
16:16-16.
XIII. Separation
We believe that all Christians are first to be separated wholly unto the Lord, and as a
necessary result, they must be:
1) Separated from worldly and sinful practices. They are to be holy, even as He is
holy, and this desired behavior will always be diametrically opposed to the course of this
present age. 1 Peter 1: 13-16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17.
XIV. The Local Church and Its Mission
We believe God has ordained the ministry of local, independent, indigenous assemblies
of believers to accomplish His work in this dispensation extending from Pentecost to the
Translation of Christ's Body at His appearing. The church's membership is to be composed
of regenerated, baptized believers. The two ordinances of the local church are believer's
baptism by immersion, and the memorial of the Lord's supper until He returns. The church
is to be missionary and evangelistic in spreading the Gospel into all the world. It is not
the mission of the church to "bring in the Kingdom," work for political or
economic justice, major on social improvement, or "Christianize" society. It is
to strive together for the faith of the Gospel, proclaim and maintain purity of doctrine
and practice, and worship and serve the Lord in "spirit and truth." Acts
2:41-47; 20:17-32; Matthew 28:16-20; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34.
XV. Good Works
We believe that all followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should maintain good works, a
"good work" being that which is done in obedience to the will of God as revealed
in the Word of God. Works will determine the reward or loss of reward at the Judgment Seat
of Christ before which every Christian will stand. Every believer must realize his
responsibility before God to "maintain good works," i.e., walk in the light of
the Word of God. The Bible is the believer's absolute Standard of faith and practice, his
perfect Counsel. The Word provides him with "all things that pertain unto life and
godliness" (2 Peter 1:3-4). The Bible, not any form of psychological counseling or
therapy, is the answer. Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14; 3:1-11; 2 Thessalonians 5:23; 1
Corinthians 1:18-29; 3:8-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11.
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