The Scriptures
We believe that "all Scripture is given by inspiration
of God," by which we understand the whole Bible is inspired
in the sense that holy men of God "were moved by the Holy
Spirit" to write the very words of Scripture. We believe
that while there was progress in revelation from God, this divine
inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings-historical,
poetical, doctrinal, prophetical and to the smallest word and
inflection of a word as appeared in the original manuscripts.
We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore
without error.
We believe that all Scriptures center about the Lord Jesus
Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming,
and hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly
read or understood until it leads to Him. We also believe
that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction
(Matt. 5: 18; Mark 12:26, 36; 13: 11; Luke 24:27, 44; John
5:39; Acts 1:16; 17:2-3; 18:28; 26:22-23; 28:23; Rom. 15:4;
1 Cor. 2:13; 10;11; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1 ;20-21).
The Godhead
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons-the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit-and that these three are
one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and
perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence
and obedience (Matt. 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts
5:3-4; 2Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).
Angels, Fallen and Un-fallen
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless,
spiritual beings known as angels; that one, "Lucifer,
son of the morning," the highest in rank, sinned through
pride thereby becoming Satan; that a great company of the
angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom became
demons and are active as his agents and associates in the
prosecution of his unholy purposes, while others who fell
are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto
the judgment of the great day" (Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezek.
28:11-19; 1Tim. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 12:3-4).
We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that
under the permission of God and as the adversary of God and
His character, he through subtlety led our first parents into
transgression, thereby accomplishing their moral fall and
subjecting them and their posterity to his own power; that
he is the enemy of God and the people of God opposing and
exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped;
and that he who in the beginning said, "I will be like
the most High," in his warfare appears as an angel of
light even counterfeiting the works of God by fostering political
and religious movements and systems of doctrine, which systems
are characterized by such as the denial of God, the person
and work of Christ as the God-man substitute or salvation
by grace alone (Gen. 3:1-19; Rom. 5:12-14; 2Cor. 4:3-4; 11:3-4;
Eph. 6:10-12; 2Thess. 2:4; 1Tim. 4:1-3; 1John 4:1-3).
We believe that Satan was judged at the cross, though not
then executed, and that he, a usurper, now rules as the "god
of this world;" that at the second coming of Christ,
Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand
years and after the thousand years he will be loosed for a
little season and then "cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone" where he "shall be tormented day and
night forever and ever" (Col. 2: 15; Rev. 20: 1-3, 10).
We believe that a great company of angels kept their holy
estate and are before the throne of God from whence they are
sent forth as ministering spirits to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation (Luke 15:10; Eph.1:21; Heb. 1:14;
Rev. 7:11-12).
We believe that man was made lower than the angels and, that
in His incarnation, Christ took for a little time this lower
place that He might lift the believer to His own sphere above
the angels (Heb. 2:6-10).
Man Created and Fallen
We believe that man was created by God as a human being,
and did not evolve from a lower order of life. We believe
that man was originally created in the image and after the
likeness of God and that he fell through sin and, as a consequence
of his sin, lost his spiritual life becoming dead in trespasses
and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil.
We also believe that his spiritual death, or totally depraved
human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race
of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted; and hence
that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature
which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially
and unchangeable bad apart from divine grace (Gen. 1:26; 2:17;
6:5; Psalm 14:1-3; 51:5; Jeremiah. 17:9; John 3:6; 5:40; 6:53;
Rom. 3:10-19; 8:6-7; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8).
The First Advent
We believe that, as provided and purposed by God and as preannounce
in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God
came into this world that He might manifest God to men, fulfill
prophecy and become the Redeemer of a lost world. To this
end He was born of the virgin and received a human body and
a sinless human nature (Luke 1:30-35; John 1: 18; 3:16; Heb.
4:15).
We believe that on the human side, He became and remained
a perfect man but sinless throughout his life; yet He retained
His absolute deity being at the same time very God and very
man (Luke 2:40; John 1: 1-2; Phil. 2:5-8), and that His earth-life
sometimes functioned within the sphere of that which was human
and sometimes within the sphere of that which was divine.
We believe that in fulfillment of prophecy, He came first
to Israel as her Messiah-King, and that being rejected of
that nation, He according to the eternal counsels of God,
gave His life as a ransom for all (John 1: 11; Acts 2:22-24;
1 Tim. 2:6).
We believe that in infinite love for the lost, He voluntarily
accepted His Father's will and became the divinely provided
sacrificial Lamb and took away the sin of the world, bearing
the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of
God must impose. His death was therefore substitutionary in
the most absolute sense-the just for the unjust-and by His
death, He became the Savior of the lost (John 1:29; Rom. 3:25-26;
2 Cor. 5:14; Heb. 10:5-14; 12 Pet. 3:18).
We believe that according to the Scriptures, He arose from
the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had
lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern
of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers
(John 20:20; Phil. 3:20-21).
We believe that on departing from the earth, He was accepted
of His Father and that His acceptance is a final assurance
to us that His redeeming work was perfectly accomplished (Heb.
1:3).
We believe that He became Head over all things to the church,
which is His body, and in this ministry He ceases not to intercede
and advocate for the saved (Eph. 1:22-23; Heb. 7:25; 1 John
2:1).
Salvation Only Through Christ
We believe that, owing to universal death through sin, no
one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; and that
no degree of reformation, however great, no attainments in
morality, however high, no culture, however attractive, no
baptism or other ordinance, however administered, can help
the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new
nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy
Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation
and only those thus saved are sons of God. We believe also
that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin and was made
a curse for us, dying in our stead; and that no repentance,
no feeling, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts,
no submission to the rules and regulations of any church,
nor all the churches that have existed since the days of the
apostles, can add in the very least degree to the finished
work wrought for us by Him who united in His person true and
proper deity and perfect and sinless humanity (Lev. 17: 11;
Isaiah 64:6; Matt. 26:28; John 2:7-18; Rom. 5:6-9; 2 Corinthians
5:21; Gal. 3:13; 6:15; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 3:4-9; Titus 3:5; James
1:18; 1 Pet. 1:18-19,23).
We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through
faith in Christ and that repentance is a vital part of believing,
and is in no way in itself a separate and independent condition
of salvation; nor are any other acts, such as confession,
baptism, prayer, or faithful service to be added to believing
as a condition of salvation (John 1:12; 3:16,18,36; 5:24;
6:29; Acts 13:39; 16:31; Rom. 1:16-17; 3:22, 26; 4:5; 10:4;
Gal. 3:22).
The Extent of Salvation
We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises that
faith in Christ, which is illustrated and described as such
in the New Testament, he passes immediately out of spiritual
death into spiritual life and from the old creation into the
new; being justified from all things, accepted before the
Father according as Christ His Son is accepted, loved as Christ
is loved, having his place and portion linked to Him and one
with Him forever. Though the saved one may have occasion to
grow in the realiza1ion of his blessings and to know a fuller
measure of divine power through the yielding of his life more
fully to God, he is, as soon as he is saved, in possession
of every spiritual blessing and absolutely complete in Christ,
and is therefore in no way required by God to seek a so-called
"second blessing" or a "second work of grace"
(John 5:24; 17:23; Acts 13:39; Rom. 5: 1; 1 Cor. 3:21-23;
Eph. 1 :3; Col. 2: 1 0; 1 John 4:17; 5:11-12).
Sanctification
We believe that sanctification, which is a setting apart unto
God, is three-fold: It is already complete for every person
because his position toward God is the same as Christ's position.
Since the believer is in Christ, he is set apart unto God
in the measure in which Christ is set apart unto God. We believe,
however, that he retains his sin nature, which cannot be eradicated
in this life. Therefore, while the standing of the Christian
in Christ is perfect, his present state is no more perfect
that his experience in daily life. There is therefore a progressive
sanctification wherein the Christian is to "grow in grace"
and to "be changed" by the unhindered power of the
Spirit. We believe also that the child of God will yet be
fully sanctified in his state as he is now sanctified in his
standing in Christ when he shall see his Lord and shall be
like Him (John 17: 17; 2 Cor. 3: 18; 7: 1; Eph. 4:24; 5:25-27;
1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 10:10, 14; 12:10).
Eternal Security
We believe that, because of the eternal purpose of God toward
the objects of His love, because of His freedom to exercise
grace toward the merit less on the ground of the propitiatory
blood of Christ, because of the very nature of the divine
gift of eternal life, because of the present and unending
intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven, because of
the immutability of the unchangeable covenants of God, because
of the regenerating, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in
the hearts of all who are saved, we and all true believers
everywhere, once saved shall be kept saved forever. We believe,
however, that God is a holy and righteous Father and that
since He cannot overlook the sins of His children, He will,
when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them
in infinite love; but having undertaken to save them and keep
them forever, apart from all human merit, He who cannot fail
will in the end present every one of them faultless before
the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His
Son (John 5:24; 10:28; 13:1; 14:16-17; 17:11; Rom. 8:29,32-39;
1Cor. 6:19; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2; 5:13; Jude 24).
Assurance
We believe it is the privilege, not only of some, but of
all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Christ
as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation
from the very day they take Him to be their Savior; and that
this assurance is not founded upon any fancied discovery of
their own worthiness or fitness, but wholly upon the testimony
of God in His written Word, exciting within His children filial
love, gratitude and obedience (Luke 10:20; 22:32; Rom. 8;15-16;
2 Cor. 5;1,6-8; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 10:22; 1 John 5:13).
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the
blessed Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took
up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of
Pentecost according to the divine promise, dwells in every
believer and, by His baptism, unites all to Christ in one
body and that He, as the indwelling One, is the source of
all power and all acceptable worship and service.
We believe that He never takes His departure from the church,
nor from the feeblest of the saints, but is ever present to
testify of Christ; seeking to occupy believers with Him and
not with themselves nor with their experiences. We believe
that His abode in the world in this special sense will cease
when Christ comes to receive His own at the completion of
the church (John 14:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Eph. 2:22;
2Thessalonians 2:7).
We believe that in this age, based on that which the Holy
Spirit is to the believer, the Holy Spirit has certain well
defined ministries, and that it is the duty of every Christian
to understand what the Holy Spirit is to him, and does to
him, and to be rightly adjusted to the Holy Spirit in his
own life and experience. We believe that the Holy Spirit,
as a special provision of God, is an anointing (2Corinthians
1:21; 1 John 2:20-27), a seal (2 Corinthians 1:22; Eph. 1:
14; 4:30), and an earnest (2 Corinthians 1: 11; Eph. 1: 14).
His ministries to the Christian are the restraining of evil
in the world to the measure of the divine will; the convicting
of the world respecting sin, righteousness and judgment; the
regenerating of all believers; the indwelling of all who are
saved whereby they are sealed unto the day of redemption and
anointed of God for service; the baptizing into the one body
of Christ of all who are saved; and the continued filling
for power, witnessing, teaching, leading, and service of those
among the saved who are yielded to Him and who are subject
to His will (John 3:6; 16:7-15; Acts 1 :8; Rom. 8:3-14; 1Cor.
12:13; Eph. 4:30; 5:18; 2Thess. 2:7; 1John 2:20-27).
The Church, A Unity of Believers
A. The Universal Church
We believe that the church is composed of all who are united
by the Holy Spirit to the risen and ascended Son of God, that
by the same Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles, and thus being members one of another,
we are responsible to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace, rising above all sectarian prejudices and denominational
bigotry, and loving one another with a pure heart fervently
(Matt. 16:16-18; Acts 2:2-7; Rom. 12:5; 1Cor. 12:12-27; Eph.
1:20-23; 4:3-10; Col. 3:14-15).
B. The Local Church
We believe that God's primary (intended) organization of
believers, after the family unit, in the present age is local
assemblies of believers, committed to the Lord and to each
other for the purpose of carrying out the universal church's
visible activities; that is, the communication of God's truth
to the people of God, the worship of and prayer to God by
God's people, the loving care of God's people for one another,
and the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth; that
these assemblies (or churches), though they should endeavor
to cooperate with other Christian assemblies, are to function
under the Lordship of Christ, free from external controls
of any religious organizations beyond the early oversight
by the church founders and the influence of its own mature
leaders; and that it is God's intention that all believers
publicly identify with a visible, local assembly (Acts 2:41-47;
4: 19; 5:29; 1 Corinthians 1: 1-2; 1 Thessalonians 1: 1; Heb.
10:24-25).
The Ordinances of the Church
We believe that Christ, the head over all things to the church
(Eph. 1:22), has commanded us to baptize in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28: 19);
and to partake at the Lord's Supper. The Pastor or someone
else appointed by the Church shall upon authorization of the
Church, immerse those professing faith in Christ in water.
We believe that baptism, as a believer shall be a pre requisite
to church membership. The Lord's Supper was the second ordinance
given to the Church by the Lord Jesus Christ. "When He
had given thanks, he broke the bread and said, "this
is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying,
"this cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often
as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you proclaim the
Lord's death until He comes"(1Corinthians 11:23-26).
Since it is the Lord's Supper, we believe that none that are
His shall be barred, but the Pastor shall frequently state
the scriptural order, which places baptism as a prerequisite
to the Lord's Supper.
The Christian's Walk
We believe that we are called with a holy calling to walk
not after the flesh but after the Spirit, and so to live in
the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not fulfill
the lusts of the flesh. But the flesh with its fallen Adamic
nature, which in this life is never eradicated, being with
us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage, needs to be kept
by the Spirit constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will
surely manifest its presence in our lives to the dishonor
of our Lord (Rom. 6:11-13; 8:2,4,12-13; Gal. 5:16-23; Eph.
4:22-24; Col. 3:1-10; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 1 John 1:4-7; 3:5-9).
The Christian's Service
We believe that divine, enabling gifts for service are bestowed
by the Spirit upon all who are saved. While there is a diversity
of gifts, each believer is energized by the same Spirit and
each is called to his own divinely appointed service as the
Spirit may will. In the apostolic church, there were certain
gifted men, i.e., apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-
teachers who were appointed by God for the perfecting of the
saints unto their work of the ministry. We believe also that
today some men are especially gifted of God to be evangelists
and pastor-teachers, and that it is to the fulfilling of His
will and to His eternal glory that these men shall be sustained
and encouraged in their service for God (Rom. 12:6; 1 Corinthians
12:4-11; Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 4:10-11).
We believe that, wholly apart from salvation benefits which
are bestowed equally upon all who believe, rewards are promised
according to the faithfulness of each believer in his service
for his Lord, and that these rewards will be bestowed at the
judgment seat of Christ after He comes to receive His own
to Himself (1 Corinthians 3:9-15; 9:18-27; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
The Great Commission
We believe that it is the explicit message of our Lord Jesus
Christ to those whom He has saved that they are sent forth
by Him into the world even as He was sent forth of His Father
into the world. We believe that after they are saved they
are divinely reckoned to be related to this world as strangers
and pilgrims, ambassadors and witnesses, and that their primary
purpose in life should be to make Christ known to the world
(Matt. 28:18-19; Mark 16:15; John 17:18; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians
5:18-20; ).
The Blessed Hope
We believe that according to the Word of God the next great
event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of
the Lord in the air to receive to Himself into heaven both
His own who are alive and remain unto His coming, and also
all who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and that this event is
the blessed hope set before us in Scripture, and for this
we should be constantly looking (John 14:1-3; 1Corinthians
15:51-52; Philippians 3:20; 1Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus
2:11-14).
The Tribulation
We believe that the translation of the church will be followed
by the fulfillment of Israel's seventieth week (Dan. 9:27;
Rev. 6:1-19:21) during which the church, the body of Christ,
will be in heaven. The whole period of Israel's seventieth
week will be a time of judgment on the whole earth, at the
end of which the times of the Gentiles will be brought to
a close. The latter half of this period will be the time of
Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), which our Lord called the
great tribulation (Matt 24: 15-21). We believe that universal
righteousness will not be realized previous to the second
coming of Christ, but that the world is day by day ripening
for judgment and that the age will end with a fearful apostasy.
The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that the period of great tribulation in the earth
will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to
the earth as He went, in person on the clouds of heaven, and
with power and great glory to introduce the millennial age,
to bind Satan and place him in the abyss, to lift the curse
which now rests upon the whole creation, to restore Israel
to her own land and to give her the realization of God's covenant
promises, and to bring the whole world to the knowledge of
God (Deut. 30:1-10; Isaiah 11:6-9; Ezekiel 37:21-28; Matthew
24:15-
25:46; Acts 15:16- 17; Romans 8:19-23; 11 :25-27; Rev. 20:1-3).
The Eternal State
We believe that at death the spirits and souls of those who
have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation pass immediately
into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until
the resurrection of the glorified body when Christ comes for
His own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated
with Him forever in glory; but the spirits and souls of the
unbelieving remain after death conscious of condemnation and
in misery until the final judgment of the Great White Throne
at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited
shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated
but, to be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (Luke
16:19-26; 23:42; 2Cor.5:8; Philippians 1:23; 2Thessalonians
1 :7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15).
