What We Believe
I. CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that the Old and New Testament Scriptures, as originally
written by holy men of God who were borne along by the Holy Spirit,
were God-breathed, both equally and fully in all parts. We believe
these Scriptures are completely without error and are therefore
the final authority in all matters. We believe the Bible is the
only infallible guide for faith and practice. (Matthew 5:17-18;
Mark 12:36; Acts 1:16; Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Timothy
3:16-17; Hebrews 5:12; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 3:15-16)
II. CONCERNING THE TRUE GOD
We believe in one God. We believe in the unity of the Godhead.
There are three eternal and coequal persons, the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, who execute distinct and harmonious offices in
the great work of redemption. (Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 4:35;
6:4; Isaiah 46:9; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19-20; John 1:1-3, 14; Acts
5:3-4; Romans 1:19-20; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 1:3-14; 4:4-6;
Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6)
III. CONCERNING THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He is
fully God and fully man, yet without sin. He voluntarily laid
down His life on the cross of Calvary as a substitute in the sinner's
place to make full atonement for our sins. He rose from the dead
on the third day, and after forty days He ascended bodily into
heaven. He is coming again, first to rapture His saints and then
to establish His earthly kingdom on the throne of David. The rapture
is imminent and will be personal, pre-tribulational, and pre-millennial.
(Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; Matthew 1:18-25; 28:6; John 1:1, 14; 14:3;
Acts 1:9-11; 15:16; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17;
1 Peter 2:22-24; 3:18)
IV. CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit is a Person of the Godhead because
He possesses all the attributes of personality and of deity. He
is equal with the Father and the Son and is of the same nature.
He convicts unbelievers of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He
is the agent of the new birth who immediately places the new believer
into the Body of Christ. He seals, indwells, infills, guides,
and teaches believers the ways of righteousness. We believe there
is a distinction between the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the
Old Testament and His ministry in the New Testament. There is
a new and unique work of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Body
of Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit endues believers with
service gifts upon conversion. We believe the Bible disavows the
authenticity of the sign gifts (prophecy, speaking in tongues,
interpretation of tongues, miracles, and healing) for today and
repudiates the experience-oriented theology and ecumenically-oriented
practice of the charismatic movement. (John 3:6; 7:39; 14:16-17,
26; 16:7-11; Acts 1:5; 4:8; Romans 8:9; 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians
6:19; 12:4-13, 28-31; 13:8-13; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:7-11, 30;
Titus 3:4-7; 1 John 2:20-27)
V. CONCERNING MAN
We believe the Scriptures teach that man was created by a direct
act of God and not from any previously existing form of life.
By voluntary transgression man fell from his state of innocence,
in consequence of which all men are now sinners by nature and
by choice, are utterly devoid of the holiness required by God's
standard, are positively inclined to evil, and therefore are without
defense or excuse under just condemnation to eternal punishment
and to everlasting existence separated from God. (Genesis 1:26-27;
6:5; Psalm 14:1-3; 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; John 5:25-30; Romans 3:10-12,
23; 5:12-19; Revelation 20:11-15)
VI. CONCERNING SALVATION
We believe the Scriptures teach the salvation of sinners is divinely
initiated, wholly by grace, and accomplished only through the
shed blood of the Son of God; that it is wholly apart from works
and comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that in
order to be saved the sinner must be born again, being regenerated
by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith in God's Word and
becoming the recipient of a new nature; that the believer who
has exercised personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is completely
justified and possesses a salvation which is eternally secure.
(Matthew 26:28; John 1:12-13; 3:3-18, 36; 5:24; 6:29; 10:28-29;
Acts 13:39; 16:31; Romans 1:16-17; 3:26; 4:5; 5:1, 9-11; 10:9-13;
Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 3:5;
Hebrews 4:2; 1 Peter 1:18-23; 2 Peter 1:4)
VII. CONCERNING THE CHURCH
We believe the Scriptures teach the Church of Jesus Christ was
inaugurated at Pentecost and must be considered in two aspects:
the local church and the "church which is His body."
The local church is a congregation of baptized believers, associated
by a covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing
the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising
the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word.
Its Scriptural officers are pastors, sometimes called bishops
or elders, and deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties
are defined in the epistles to Timothy and Titus. This definition
of the local church leads to these Scriptural distinctives:
1. Sole authority of the Scriptures for faith and practice;
2. Autonomy of the local church;
3. Believer's baptism by immersion before church membership;
4. Two offices: pastor (elder, bishop) and deacon;
5. Two symbolic ordinances: baptism and the Lord's supper;
6. Individual priesthood of the believer and soul liberty;
7. Separation of church and state.
The "church which is His body" is the entire company
of believers in Christ in this age, whether Jew or Gentile, regardless
of denominational affiliation and present position in heaven or
on earth. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:5, 2:1-4, 41-42; 10:44-48;
1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 1:22-23; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus
1:5-9)
VIII. CONCERNING BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
We believe the Scriptures teach Christian baptism in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the single immersion of
a believer in water to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem
his identification with the crucified, buried, risen Saviour and
to illustrate the believer's death to sin and his resurrection
to a new life. It is prerequisite to membership and privileges
in a local church. We believe the Lord's supper is the commemoration
of His death until He comes and should be preceded by solemn self-examination.
Observance of the Lord's supper is for believers only. The ordinances
of baptism and the Lord's supper must be observed under the discipline
of the local church. They do not have any saving merit. (Acts
2:41-47; 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28)
IX. CONCERNING THE RETURN OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
We believe that the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ to
rapture His people, meeting them in the air is imminent and will
precede the tribulation (Daniel's seventieth week). We believe
in the literal, personal, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus
Christ to set up His kingdom on earth and that this will take
place at the end of the tribulation. Therefore, the rapture is
pre-tribulational and pre-millennial. (Daniel 9:25-27; Matthew
24:29-31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8; Revelation
20:1-4, 6)
X. CONCERNING THE ETERNAL STATE
We believe the Scriptures teach the bodily resurrection of the
just and the unjust. All those who are justified through faith
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will spend eternity in full
enjoyment of God's presence, and those who refuse to accept God's
offer of mercy and grace will spend eternity in everlasting punishment
in the lake of fire. We believe that the terms heaven and hell
refer to literal and distinct places and not to a condition or
state. (Luke 16:19-26; John 5:28-29; 14:2-3; Philippians 1:23;
2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20: 11-15, 21: 1-4)
XI. CONCERNING SATAN
We believe the Scriptures teach there is a personal devil who
is "the god of this age" and "the prince of the
power of the air," who is full of all subtlety, who continually
seeks to frustrate the purposes of God and to ensnare the sons
of men, and who was conquered by Christ on the cross and condemned
to everlasting punishment. (John 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; 11:13-15;
Ephesians 2:2; 6:10-12; Coalitions 2:15; Hebrews 2:14; 1 Peter
5:8; Revelation 12:9; 20:1-3, 10)
XII. CONCERNING PERSONAL SEPARATION
We believe the Scriptures teach that every believer should be
separated unto God from the world and should walk by the aid of
the Holy Spirit in Christian love and holiness, exhibiting qualities
of honesty, integrity, forgiveness, and loving-kindness. We further
believe that any achievement in these characteristics will be
evidenced by sincere humility and genuine zeal for the advancement
of the cause of Christ. We also believe the Scriptures admonish
every believer not to love the world or the things in the world,
but rather to flee evil desires, avoid every kind of evil, and
refrain from questionable practices which destroy one's testimony,
offend one's brother, and fail to glorify God. (Romans 6:11-13;
14:19-21; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20; 8:9-13; 10:23, 31-33; 2 Corinthians
7:1; Galatians 5:22-25; Ephesians 4:22-32; 5:1-21; Philippians
4:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 5:5-6; 1 John 2: 15-17)
XIII. CONCERNING ECCLESIASTICAL SEPARATION
We believe the Scriptures teach that the believer should be separated
from apostasy of ecclesiastical organizations made up of radicals,
liberals, and those who sanction theological compromise. This
doctrine is based upon God's eternal principle of division between
truth and error and upon His specific command to be separate from
unbelievers and disobedient brethren. This truth is to be practiced
with an attitude of devotion to God, humility, compassion, and
conviction so as to create the proper condition and atmosphere
for the salvation of the unbeliever through the Gospel of God
and for the restoration of the disobedient brother. We believe
ecumenical evangelism which involves apostates violates the principles
taught in God's Word (Romans 16:17-18; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 2
Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 1:8-9; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15;
1 Timothy 6:3-5; Titus 3:10-11; 2 John 9-11