NOTE
of INTRODUCTION: These declared positions are not exhaustive in nature, but
hopefully they sufficiently represent our position on the following doctrines of
the Word of God.
BIBLIOLOGY
We believe that
the Bible, which is the 66 books comprising the Old and New Testaments, is the
Word of God, and that it is the complete revelation of God to man.
We believe
God's Word is the verbal, plenary, completely inspired revelation to man and
is inerrant and infallible throughout in the Original Writings.
We believe the
Massoretic Hebrew Text for the Old Testament and the Textus Receptus for the
New Testament are the closest to the Original Manuscripts. Therefore, we
strongly recommend the King James Version because it is an accurate, faithful,
preserved, and reliable translation, which reflects these traditional texts.
THEOLOGY
We believe in
one God eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
each being coequal, coeternal, and coexistent with the other.
We believe all
three were active in the creation of our universe, having created the
universe, visible and invisible, in six literal, twenty-four-hour days,
beginning with no pre-existing materials.
CHRISTOLOGY
We believe in
the pre-existence of Christ.
We believe
Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary.
We believe
Jesus Christ became the substitutionary atonement for our sins and the sins of
all mankind through His voluntary sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary
providing salvation for every sinner who believes.
PNEUMATOLOGY
We believe the
Holy Spirit is a Person as opposed to a force or influence, because He clearly
evidences the characteristics of intellect, emotion, and will.
We believe the
Holy Spirit is necessary in salvation because He convicts of sin,
righteousness and judgment; and because He regenerates the unbeliever, and
indwells, seals, fills, guides, illumines, and assures the believer.
We believe the
Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to believers for the edification of the
body of Christ.
ANTHROPOLOGY
We believe man
was created in the image and likeness of God on the sixth day of creation when
God breathed the breath of life into him.
We believe man
is a tripartite creature, consisting of body, soul, and spirit.
HAMARTIOLOGY
We believe all
sin is rebellion (lawlessness) against God.
We believe Adam
was created with a will that was capable of choosing either obedience or
disobedience towards God; and, therefore, he willfully chose to sin, and thus
originated a sin nature that has passed on to all human beings.
We believe the
sin of Adam resulted immediately in spiritual death and separation from God
and subsequently in physical death.
We believe the
wages of sin is death (both physical and spiritual), and all unbelieving men
are dead in sin, so all are deserving of eternal death in the Lake of Fire.
ANGELOLOGY
We believe God
created an innumerable host of angels as servants to magnify, worship, and
praise God, and to do God's will.
HELL
We believe in a
literal and genuine place for the damned called Hell.
HEAVEN
We believe in
an eternal Heaven for the saved.
We believe
there are three heavens: the atmosphere, the galaxies, and paradise where God
is.
SOTERIOLOGY
We believe
salvation was made possible by Christ's shedding of His blood in His
sacrificial death for all mankind on the cross of Calvary. However, this
salvation is applied only to those who personally repent and receive Jesus as
Saviour.
We believe man
is a free moral agent, and God does not refuse salvation to any who come to
Him.
We believe in
the eternal security of the believer.
ECCLESIOLOGY
We believe the
church is a New Testament institution in the form of either an actual local
assembly of believers, or the future gathering of all New Testament saints in
Heaven. The local church is a visible assembly of immersed believers assembled
in common faith and fellowship for the purpose of observing the two ordinances
and carrying out the Great Commission.
We believe the
membership of the local church is restricted to immersed believers.
We believe the
Great Commission outlines the church's method of self-propagation through
evangelism, baptism, and training.
We believe
baptism is immersion of the believer into water. It symbolizes the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ, the believers death to the old life and
subsequent resurrection to newness of life.
ESCHATOLOGY
We believe in
the imminent return of Christ, known as the rapture. This return for believers
will be pre-tribulational and pre-millennial, resulting in the resurrection of
the dead in Christ and the translation of living believers into the presence
of the Lord.
We believe
that, following the rapture, all believers will be judged at the Judgment Seat
of Christ according to their works following salvation. We believe there will
be both rewards and the lack of rewards based on faithfulness in the Christian
life.
We believe the
Marriage of the Lamb to His bride follows the Bema of Christ.
We believe
Christ's return will terminate the Tribulation when He defeats the Earth's
armies at Armageddon, judges the Nations and sets up His Kingdom.
We believe the
Millennial reign of Christ will demonstrate His victorious rule over man on
Earth. It will be a time of great blessing, and Satan will be bound. However,
Satan will be loosed at the end of the Millennium for his final rebellion.
Upon being defeated, he will be cast into the Lake of Fire with those who
stand before the Great White Throne.
We believe God
will then create the New Heavens and Earth, with the saved living in the
presence of God forever.