The
Bible
We
believe the Bible to be the Verbally, Plenarily Inspired Word of
the Living God in all of its parts. It
is Infallible, and Inerrant and speaks truly regarding every issue that it
addresses. It is a completely
sufficient to meet every need and condition of the human experience.
God has worked supernaturally to preserve and protect His Word
through the ages. The proper
fashion of interpreting the Bible is using a literal, grammatical,
historical approach. Many
(though not all) modern
versions are untrustworthy for the student (though not for the casual
reader) as they are dynamic translations and, thus, contain interpretive
information. For personal
study the student should stick with the KJV, or NKJV.
God
the Father
We
believe in a triune God, One in essence, but three in persons, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal, sharing absolutely
in all of the attributes of God.
We
believe God is knowable and that He can be known by means of the
Scriptures.
God
the Father is the only true, Eternal, Holy, and Sovereign God of the
universe. He is omnipotent,
omnipresent, omniscient and unsearchable.
Because God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin in His presence.
Man is utterly sinful and thus is presented with an impassable
barrier to fellowship with God. But God, through His infinite wisdom provided a way for man
to enter fellowship with Him through Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus
Christ is the eternal second member of the Trinity. He was the active agent of creation.
Christ
was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin in the fullness of
time. He lived a perfect life
in obedience to the Law of God. He
was, is and always will be completely sinless.
He yielded His life as a perfect sacrifice, and ransom paid to God
for us sinners. His death was
penal and substitutionary. His
death once and for all actually paid for sin, not just making it possible
to be forgiven and thus actually secured the salvation of all who would
believe. This makes His death particular in that it was for those
who would believe. On the third day He arose from the dead, and walked among
men for 40 days. He ascended
bodily into Heaven where He ever lives to make intercession for us.
One day He will return for His own, and to establish His Kingdom
forever.
Man and Sin
We
believe man was created in the image of God, and that, in spite of sin, he
still bears that image. As a
result of the fall, man is totally depraved and cannot do that which
merits God’s favor without the prevenient grace of God.
Apart from this grace, all men would die and go into eternal
punishment.
We
believe that man was created innocent in the garden, but that, through his
own deliberate act, fell from this estate and entered into a state of
complete depravity. At
regeneration, man is given a new nature which takes the place of the old,
sin-ridden nature.
Salvation
We
believe that Salvation is by Grace alone through Faith alone because of
Christ alone. Man is saved by
means of the application of the Holy Spirit of the Word of God, the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, to his heart and mind, that application producing faith
to believe and be saved. The
death of Christ would be sufficient for all, though God intended it to be effective
and secure salvation only for those
who believe. The Gospel
should be preached to all and all are responsible for their own response
to it.
We
believe that the only true demonstration or assurance of the existence of
saving faith in a life is the presence of real fruit as stated in the
Scripture.
We
believe that once one is truly redeemed, one can rest securely in that
finished work of God. Genuinely
redeemed men are changed by God and that change cannot be undone.
The Holy Spirit
The
Holy Spirit is the third, co-equal person in the Trinity.
He is as much God as the Father and the Son.
Every true believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and has His
ministry as Teacher, Leader, Comforter, Guide, Chastener, and Director.
The
so-called sign gifts were a first century phenomena that served certain
definite purposes and ceased when those purposes were served.
We are non-charismatic, but not anti-charismatic.
Angels and Demons
We
believe in a host of invisible spirit beings, both good and evil.
We believe that good Angels minister to God, to believers, and
serve God’s plan. We
believe that evil Angels seek to harm believers, and thwart God’s plan.
We
believe in a literal Satan, a most powerful spiritual being, once the
highest of angels, now, having rebelled against God’s authority, cast
down and seeking, on earth, to steal God’s glory
in any way that he can. We
believe that in the life of the redeemed, Satan’s power has been broken
by Christ and we can, through Christ, walk in righteousness and holiness
before God.
The Church
We
believe in the autonomy of, but not the independence of the Local Church.
We believe in a plurality of Elders ruling the church with the
Pastor as a “first among equals”. The church’s purpose is the edification and preparation of
the Redeemed. It is to equip
the saints to go forth and win the lost, leading a victorious Christian
life.
Last Things
We
are Pre-Tribulational and Pre-millennial.
We believe that Christ will return for His own at a time in the
future and take them to be with Him.
We believe in a literal 7-Year Tribulation during which all who remain
of National
Israel will be chastened and brought to faith in Jesus Christ. Christ will return personally and reign for a literal 1000
years.
We
believe in the literal judgment of the wicked followed by a real
never-ending eternity of punishment for sin in a literal lake of fire.
Conversely, we believe in an eternity of blessedness for the
redeemed in the presence of God. |
