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What We Believe
The True God
There is one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (I John 5:7).
God the Father — God the Father is perfect in Holiness, boundless in love, infinite in justice, measureless in power, and matchless in wisdom. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
God the Son — Jesus Christ is God the Son, pre-existent with the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, sinless in His nature and life, infallible in His teaching, making atonement for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, His perpetual intercession for His people, and His glorious Second Advent according to the promise. We believe that the promise of the second coming includes first the blessed Hope of the Believer, namely the personal, pre-millennial and pre-tribulational return of our Lord and Saviour to rapture His Church according to I Thessalonians 4:13-18; secondly, His return with His saints to set up His millennial reign on the earth.
God the Holy Spirit — We oppose the Charismatic Movement, but do believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. He came from God to convince and convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He also regenerates, sanctifies, and indwells all those who believe in Jesus Christ. Further, the Holy Spirit comforts, instructs, and empowers every saved person who seeks to glorify Christ and willingly yields to His control.
Scriptures
The Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God. The Bible was given to us by plenary, verbal inspiration, meaning that there was a supernatural moving of the Holy Ghost upon holy men of old who penned God's Words verbatim, so that their writings are as no other writings have ever been or ever will be (II Peter 1:21; II Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible is the complete and final revelation of the will of God to man and so is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct (I Corinthians 13:9-10; Revelation 22:18-19). Further, God has accurately preserved His Words (John 17:8; II Timothy 1:13) for the English-speaking people in the King James Version (Psalm 12:6-7; Psalm 119:89; Matthew 24:35; I Peter 1:25a); therefore we believe that the KJV is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Bible for the English-speaking people.
Man
Man was created in the image of God (ex nihilo on the sixth day of a literal twenty-four hour, six-day creation). He sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. All human beings are born with a sinful nature; and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thought, in deed, and by choice (Romans 5:12; 3:23). Further, mankind in his unregenerate state can digress to all forms of sinful behavior, expressed today in the sinful practices of homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, abortion, and all other types of perversions that are so prevalent in our society today. While opposing all forms of sin, we love the sinner bound by sin and preach a message of forgiveness, deliverance, and hope through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
Salvation
The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sin according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. All those who by faith receive Him as their Saviour, repenting of their sin, are justified by the fact of His blood that was shed for them on Calvary and given the gift of eternal life by His grace, not because of their works (Titus 3:5-6). We believe in the eternal security of every saved person (John 10:27-29; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Philippians 1:6).
Christian Living
Every saved person should manifest the Christ life and consistent walk in the Holy Spirit, fully and constantly yielding his members to the indwelling Christ so that he may always be in life and word showing forth the praises of Him who has called him out of darkness into His marvelous light (Romans 6; Ephesians 5:18). We believe in a separated life for all believers as set forth in II Corinthians 6:14-7:1.
The Local Church
The visible, local church is an assembly of born-again believers in Jesus Christ who have been baptized after a credible profession of faith. They are associated for worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship, and discipleship under the direction of a God-called pastor who has been ordained of God and placed in the office of Pastor (Elder and Bishop are interchangeable terms) to lead the ministry. The other biblical office is that of Deacon with a purpose of supporting and advising the pastor as a servant of the local church. Whereas we believe there is one pastor for each local church, there may be multiple deacons serving each local church. Also, the Bible allows women to speak to other women (Titus 2:4) but is opposed to women preaching to men (I Timothy 2:12) and is opposed to women holding the office of Pastor or Deacon (I Timothy 3:2, 12). God committed to the local church two ordinances for perpetual observance: baptism of believers by immersion and the Lord's Supper. God has laid upon the local church the task of preaching the Gospel to every creature, baptizing converts, and edifying the individual members of the body of Christ (Matthew 22:36-40; 28:18-20).
Further, Satan and his demons are real personalities who oppose God's work and are the enemy of all who seek to please God (I Peter 5:8).
Last Things
There will be a bodily resurrection of all the dead: the saved to eternal life and blessedness in Heaven and the unsaved to the eternal, conscious, suffering and woe in Hell (John 5:29; II Thessalonians 1:8-9). Further, we hold to a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial view of the second coming of Christ for His Church.
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