Church Beliefs

Beliefs

The Bible

We believe that the Bible, the sixty-six books in the Old and New Testaments is the verbal-plenary Word of God, that it was given by inspiration of God, that it is therefore, inerrant and infallible in the original writings, and that it is the sole authority in all matters of faith and practice. We believe that God preserved His Word through the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text for the Old Testament and the Traditional Received Greek Text for the New Testament. The King James Version is the only translation widely used today that is translated strictly from these texts, and therefore we accept it alone as God's preserved, verbal, plenary, inspired, inerrant, infallible Word for English speaking people. (other modern versions contain God's Word, but they also contain many errors.) Ps. 12:6-7, Ps 119:89, II Timothy 3:16-17, II Peter 1:21

The Trinity

We believe in the one, and only one, true and living God, eternally existing in three eternal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. John 14:7-12, John 16:7, Matthew 28:19

God the Father

God the Father is the first person of the Trinity. He is the personal and sovereign. He is perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power. He is merciful as well as just. He concerns Himself in the affairs of men. He hears and answers prayer, and He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. Eph. 2:4-10, Rom. 8:29-33, Lev. 11:44-45, I peter 1:15-16, Eph 1:19-23, Eph 4:6, Rom 3:21-26, Isaiah 6:1-5, I Cor. 1:25, Job 2:1-6

God the Son

God the Son, Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, is God's only begotten Son, existing in heaven from eternity past, virgin born, and sinless in His life. He made atonement for the sins of the world by shedding His blood in His death upon the cross at Calvary. He arose from the grace bodily, and ascended into Heaven where He is at the right hand of the Father and where He makes intercession for believers. We believe in the personal, imminent, pretribulational, premillennial rapture of the believers. Matt. 1:18-25, John 3:16, I Thess. 4:13-18, I Cor 15:51-58, Rom. 3:24-28, Acts 1:9-11, Heb. 7:25-26, Heb. 4:14-15, Heb 1:13, I Cor. 15:3-4, Matt. 28:5-6, John 8:58, John 17:5

God the Holy Spirit

God the Holy Spirit came forth from God to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement. He is true God, equal with the Father and with the Son and of the same substance. He regenerates, sanctifies, seals, indwells, and comforts those who are saved. He empowers for Christian service. He bears witness to the truth. He testifies concerning Jesus Christ, and He never leads anyone at any time contrary to the teaching of the Bible.

Satan

We believe in the reality of Satan as a distinct personality, who, having been perfectly created for God's purpose, fell from his exacted state through pride which prompted his rebellion against God, leading a multitude of the angelic host in his revolt; that he is the arch-enemy of God, having purpose to thwart the divine counsels, that he is the prince of this world, and the god of this age; that he is the king over the realm of demons as indicated by the name Beelzebub; that he is the adversary of believers and the accusers of the brethren; that he shall be barred from all access to heaven during the great tribulation, at the end of which he is to be bound in the abyss for a thousand years; that he shall be loosed for a little season at the close of the millennium to provoke the final rebellion of mankind against God, after which he is to be cast forever into the lake of fire as the execution of his sentence of judgement from Calvary.

Creation

We believe that the Biblical record of the creation of angels, physical universe and man is literal, and not allegorical or figurative. We believe that everything was created in six literal twenty four hour days. Christ personally created Heaven and Earth. He brought froth all original matter out of nothing. He fashioned changes in species, He ordained species to bring forth after its kind, and He formed man of the dust of the ground. Man did not evolve over a peroid of time, but was created in the image of God by an instant and final action. Every creative act of God was complete naturally wrought during interminable eons of time. All mankind are descendants from the historical Adam and Eve.

Man

We believe that all men are sinners, both by nature and by choice; but that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotton Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We believe, therefore, that all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will rejoice forever in God's presence, and those who refuse to accept Christ as Lord and Savior will be forever separated from God in Hell. Man was created in the image of God, but he sinned and thereby incurred not only spiritual death which is separation from God, but also physical death. We believe that all human beings are born with a depraved sinful nature, and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility sin is imputed to them and they become sinners in thought, word, and deed.

Salvation

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to men by grace and received by repentance toward God and by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. Salvation is solely through faith in that shed blood and is not earned by good works whatsoever. All those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are regenerated and become Sons of God.

Security of the Believer

We believe in the eternal security of the true believer and that it is a privilege of the believer to rejoice in the assurance of his salvation. No act of any creature can separate us from God's love.

The Church

We believe that the local church is God's program for this present age. It is composed of saved people who have been scripturally baptized (immersed) as a testimony of their salvation. There are two ordinances instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ to be carried on only by the local churches: Believers Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The local church is organized for worship, evangelism, indoctrination, ministry, and the observance of the ordinances and fellowship. We believe that the local church is autonomous, that it is the only agency which carries out the great commission, and that its only officers are bishops (or pastors or elders) and deacons. The church also has the responsibility to guard, display, and protect God's Word.

Spiritual Gifts

We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts, that the gifts of evangelists and pastor-teachers are sufficient for the perfecting of the saints today, and that speaking in tongues and the working of sing miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and God established their authority. We believe that God has given service gifts to equip individuals for their places of service in the body (the local church).