THE SCRIPTURAL BELIEFS OF OUR CHURCH AND ITS MEMBERS
THE SCRIPTURAL BELIEFS OF OUR CHURCH AND ITS MEMBERS
We believe in the infallible inspired Word of God. We accept the Textus Receptus manuscript as the foundational material from which we derive the King James 1611. The Old and New Testament Scriptures were written by human authors divinely inspired and edited by the Holy Spirit; preserved, unbroken, and passed down to us today. I Timothy 3:16; John 10:35; I Peter 1:19; II Peter1:20, 21 ; Psalm 119:89
We believe the Genesis account of creation, and that what you believe about your origin will determine your philosophy of life. We believe creation was a direct act of God, literal days, instantaneous, and miraculous. We believe man was created in the image of God and all reproduction was “after their kind.”
We believe God is a real person, externally existing. One true God, but in the unity of the Godhead. There are three eternal and coequal persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the same substance but distinct in subsistence. One Godhead made up of three persons who are the same attributes power, characteristics and desires. Romans 1:17; Hebrews 1:8; Acts 5: 1-3; Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 8:6.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because of His character, His miracles, His influence, His power to forgive sins and to set people free from Satan and because He claimed to be and died making this claim, arose victorious over death. Mark 12:6; John 5:22-23; Matthew 26:63, 66; John 1:1; Hebrews 1:8; John 20:28; Romans 9:5; I John 5:1-5
We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Ghost and in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no person was ever born of a woman, and He is both the Son of God and God the Son. Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:30-35; Isaiah 7:14
Jesus took the saved sinner’s place, bore his sins, met the penalty, through a substitutionary death for all men. Jesus satisfied the law, becoming our accepted substitute; His righteousness, His right-doing, is imputed to us by faith and so we through Him have kept the law. The blood of Christ cleanses instead of merely covering the sins of man. Isaiah 53:5; Acts 20:28; II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:29; I Peter 3:18; Matthew 26:28
The sacrifice made by Jesus is the only basis of salvation, the only means of reconciliation, and the only grounds of justification. We believe that no man cometh to God except through Jesus Christ. We hold and believe many important truths, but the most important thing to every individual is the personal salvation of his own soul. God’s order is : first salvation, then works. Acts 4:12; I Thessalonians 5:9; Hebrews 5:9; John 20:31; Romans 10:9; Ephesians 2:9-10; Titus 3:5-8
We believe that Heaven and Hell are real literal physical places. Heaven is a place of indescribable beauty and glory, just as Hell is a place of indescribable torment and punishment. So throughout all eternity Heaven is the final eternal dwelling place of the saved, and Hell is a place of eternal punishment of the lost and total separation from God. Matthew 6:20; Luke 10:20; John 4:12; Daniel 7:10; Isaiah 33:14; Matthew 13:42; Mark 9:42; Revelation 14:10
Man is wicked, corrupt, and are all under sin. As it is written, “There is none righteous, no not one,” proving that all were alike under sin an unregenerate condition. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Genesis 6:5; Job 15:16; Psalm 14:3; Isaiah 1:6; Jeremiah 16:12; Matthew 23:27; Mark 9:41; Romans 1:24; II Peter 2:12
The Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion concerning the tongues movement of this church age. The Holy Spirit ministers to the Christian, He regenerates, baptizes (not water), indwells, seals and fills the believing sinner. The believer does not get more of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit gets more of the believer. Therefore, these ministries of the Holy Spirit happen instantaneously to the believing sinner. They all occur by faith and are not in the least dependent upon one’s personal emotional feelings at the time. I Corinthians 14:33; Titus 3:5; Romans 5:3-4; Acts 2:4; I Corinthians 3:16; II Corinthians 1:22
We believe that all the saved are called into a life of separation from all worldly and sinful practices. A person, once he has truly accepted Christ as Saviour, is a new creation in Christ and he should separate himself from the world and all its lust in obedience to the command of God. Romans 12:1-2; I John 2:15-17; II Corinthians 6: 14-18; Colossians 2:6; I Peter 2:9; II Corinthians 5:17; II Timothy 2:19
The Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, is coming in the air at any moment to catch up as many as receive Him. Those saved of all ages will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ and enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We believe in the personal, bodily, visible, pre-millennial return (second coming) of Christ. Those left behind will go through a period called the Tribulation, after which Christ Himself, shall return to the earth visible in body to set up His Kingdom of one thousand years of righteous rule; after this the unbelievers of all ages will stand at the Great White Throne to be judged and cast into the Lake of Fire, separated from God forever, while the believers spend eternity in the fullness of joy in Heaven with the Lord. Acts: 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:14-17; Revelation 19:11; Revelation 20:15; Matthew 24:42; Matthew 25:31-34
We believe there are two ordinances of the local church: Baptism and The Lord’s Supper. Scriptural baptism is immersion in water of believers, in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, administered by the authority of a New Testament Church and is a prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation and to the Lord ‘s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial ordinance of the local church members according to the individual examinations and teaching of I Corinthians 11:17-34. The unleavened bread and fruit of the vine, grape juice, are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ. This is a local church ordinance in which anyone who has been saved and baptized is invited to participate. Acts 8:38; Mark 1:9-10
We believe in the personality of Satan; that, he is the god of this world, blinding “the minds of them which believe not,” and the author of all the power of darkness. We believe that Satan was once holy, and enjoyed the heavenly honors; but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels. Satan is the author of all false religions, the chief power of darkness – destined, however, to judgment of an eternal justice in Hell, a place prepared for him and his angels. Matthew 4:1-3; Revelation 20:1-3; II Corinthians 4:3-4; Revelation 20:10; I Peter 5:8; Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:14-17
We believe in the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that He arose bodily “the third day according to the Scriptures” from the tomb, ascended bodily into the heavens, that through His resurrection a sure hope of immortality and everlasting life is given to all who have been saved by His grace. He is at the Right Hand of God as our “Mediator, merciful and faithful High Priest, and advocate.” John 20; Hebrews 9:24, I Corinthians 15:12-28; Luke 24:1-7; Romans 4:25
We believe in the eternal security of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person is born again they have everlasting life which never ends, and cannot be taken away from them. Saved forever; God’s children are kept by the power of God through faith unto eternal salvation and sealed unto the day of redemption. John 10:27-30; I Peter 1:5; Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:35-39; John 5:24
We believe that the Great Commission to evangelize the world was given to the church by our risen Lord and that this evangelization is the mission of the church. The Great Commission was given to the local church who was commanded “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Christ commanded His church to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:…” Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; John 20:21; Acts 1:8
We believe that sanctification is a personal separation from things that are unclean to things that are holy, clean and sacred; that is a progressive work that is begun in regeneration; that is carried on in the hearts of the believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The Sanctification of the believer will be complete after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, will we have body, soul, and spirit. I Thessalonians 5:23; I Corinthians 6:11; I Thessalonians 4:1-10; II Peter 3:18; II Corinthians 3:18; II Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 8:5
We believe that a scriptural church is a visible assembly of baptized believers, covenanted together under the New Testament law for the purpose of carrying out the Great Commission, with an unbroken history from the personal ministry of Jesus on earth to this present day; that this church is a self-governed independent body having Christ as the head, the Holy Spirit for its guide and the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice. The only scriptural officers of the church are the bishop (or pastor) and deacons. The ordinances of the local church are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. On all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, etc. the will of the local church is final. Mark 16:15; Ephesians 1:22-23; I Timothy 3; Titus 1; Acts 20:17-20