|
Doctrinal Statement, Our Beliefs
Inspiration of the Bible
I believe the Bible is God-breathed; that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I believe the Bible is inerrant, infallible, verbally and plenarily inspired of God. By Bible, I mean the one I use, the Old Testament as taken from the Masoretic Hebrew Text and the New Testament of the Texus Receptus, now in the Authorized King James Version, which I believe is a true and faithful translation of these two providentially preserved texts. It is the very word of God. The Trinity I believe in the Tri-unity of God. A personal Being and the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. One living and true God existing in the Godhead as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are equal in essence and in every divine perfection, while having distinct but harmonious work. The Person of God the Father I believe in God the Father, the first person of the godhead. He is an infinite, eternal, self-existing, perfect, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Spirit. The Person of Jesus Christ I believe in the absolute deity of God the Son; the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe in His Virgin Birth begotten by the Holy Spirit; His sinless life; His substitutionary and vicarious death; His blood atonement on the cross; His bodily resurrection; His ascension; His present intercession at the right hand of God on my behalf; His personal, imminent, premillenial and pretribulational return in the air (rapture); His judgment of the nations at His return to the earth and His millenial reign. I believe Him to be true God and true man, existing in all eternity co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as the second person of the Godhead. The Person of the Holy Spirit I believe the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead, is a Divine Person, equal with the Father and the Son and of the same substance and nature; that He is true God; that He convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgment; that He bears witness to the Truth and is the agent of the New Birth, leading men to repentance toward God and to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies, helps and indwells every believer from the moment of their acceptance of Christ. He was active in the Creation and His relation to the unbelieving world is to re- strain the Evil One until the purpose of God is fulfilled. I believe He is a real Person and not merely an influence; a source of power and acceptable worship and service. He is our abiding Comforter and He never takes His departure from the church, nor from the feeblest of the saints. He is ever present to testify of Jesus Christ and seeks to occupy us with Him and not with ourselves or experiences. The Fall of Man I believe that man was created in innocence under the law of God his maker. Although created without sin in the image and likeness of God, he fell by voluntary transgression. Consequently, man is born with a sinful nature and is totally depraved in his natural state having incurred both physical and spiritual death and is justly under condemnation without defense or excuse. Therefore, all men from the day they are con- ceived are sinners by choice in thought, word, and deed. The Freeness of Salvation I believe that all or any who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are justified, their sin is pardoned, and the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed to them; that they are re- generated or born again, and are given spiritual life, manifesting repentance and faith; and that such true believers can grow in grace and persevere to the end. It is without any works of the law. The Salvation of Sinners/The Security of Believers In addition to the above, we are kept by the unlimited power of God, the unbounded love of Christ and the unbreakable seal of the Spirit. Salvation is through the new birth only by faith in the substitutionary death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Saviour. The Doctrine of the Church I believe that a local, visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers associated together by a convenant of faith and fellowship in the Gospel. It is a voluntary, independent and indigenous, autonomous group (observing the ordinances of Christ as governed by His Word); that it seeks to extend the Gospel into all the world; that its only scriptural officers are bishops(pastors) and deacons; that it is a theocratic democracy; that it has the power and right within itself to confess its own faith in accord- ance with the New Testament; and that each congregation recognizes its own democratic self-governing body as its highest authority for carrying out the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Doctrine of Heaven and Hell I believe in a literal Heaven of eternal bliss and reward and face-to-face fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. A place prepared for me there in the abode of God where there is no death or sickness or sorrow or sweat or tears. No hunger or torment, neither sun or moon for the Lamb of God is the Light forever! I also believe in a literal Hell. A place of eternal damnation, prepared for the devil and his angels, where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not; where the smoke of their torment arises forever and ever; a place of loneliness, of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, a place of outer darkness and condemnation, the lake of Fire and eternal separation from God called the Second Death into which all who are not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are cast alive to suffer throughout eternity. Tribulation and Millenial View I am a pre-millenial, pre-tribulational rapturist. I believe after my rapture seven years of tribulation will begin, consummating in the return of Christ to the earth bodily with His saints at which time He will be victorious over the forces of the Anti-Christ and establish His throne and begin His wonderful Millenial Reign. Neo-Evangelicalism I believe the neo-evangelical influence finds its head in Billy Graham, its location in Wheaton College in Illinois and its voice in Christianity Today. It finds association with The National Council of Churches and in my opinion genders a weak attitude toward sin, separation, and the local church. I stand opposed to neo-Evangelicalism. The Ecumenical Movement I believe the ecumenical movement to be a general religious effort to get everyone to- gether in an unholy alliance. Few Biblical successes ever involved majorities, and so the tendency of this influences toward a weak attitude of sin, separation and the local church. I stand opposed to the ecumenical movement. What I Believe and Practice about Baptism I believe baptism is the immersion in water of a believer. Immersion is the only mode of baptism revealed and commanded in the Scriptures and is properly called “believer’s baptism.” As such, it is pre-requisite to the privileges of a church relationship and will not be administered to those not coming for membership. It is the first step of obedience to Our Lord and should be performed without delay as the answer of a good conscience toward God. Baptism shows forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour. It is administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost solely under the authority of the local church. I would re- ceive the baptism of a church of like faith and practice. I would baptize into the body of Christ – the local church. The Lord’s Supper I believe the Lord’s Supper is that ordinance in which the members of the local church by the sacred use of bread and the fruit of the vine are to commemorate the dying love of Christ. Its observance is commanded by Our Lord and should always be preceded by solemn self-examination. It is to show forth His death till He comes and signifies the continual fellowship of the local church with Him and each other in Him. Its administration is solely under the authority of the local church and its observance is as often as the pastor discerns to be pleasing to the Lord. |
|