What we believe - Statement of Faith
- The Holy Scriptures - We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final and sole authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, God-breathed, and Providentially preserved. II Tim. 3:16; II Peter 1:19-21. Further, we believe in the preservation of the Scriptures (Ps. 119:89; Ps. 119:160; I Pet. 1:23-25) in the form of the ancient manuscripts commonly known as the Textus Receptus.
- The Godhead - We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. Matt. 3:16-17; I John 5:7; Eph. 2:18.
- Creation - We believe that God created the Heavens and the Earth and all things therein from nothing insix literal days. Gen. 1:1; Gen. 2:2; Heb. 11:3; Col. 1:16-17; John 1:3.
- The Person and Work of Christ
1. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, became man without ceasing to be God, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-20.
2. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice and that our justification is made sure by His literal physical resurrection from the dead. Rom. 4:25.
3. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven (Acts 1:9), and is now exalted at the right hand of God (Heb. 1:3), where, as our High Priest (Heb. 3:1), He fulfills the ministry of Representative (I Tim. 2:5), Intercessor (Heb. 7:25), Mediator (I Tim. 2:5) and Advocate (I John 2:1).
- The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
1. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8), and that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration (Titus 3:5), spiritually baptizing all believers into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation (I Cor. 12:13), indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30).
2. We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth (John 16:13), and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), the evidence being soul-winning power, and not speaking in tongues. Acts 1:8.
- The Total Depravity of Men - We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell (Rom. 5:12), inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God (Col. 1:21), and that man is totally depraved (Rom. 3:10), and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Eph. 2:8).
- Salvation - We believe that salvation is the gift of God (Eph.2:8-9) brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins (Heb. 9:22). Salvation is of God and by God alone, and not by any works of our own righteousness (Eph. 2:8-9). We repudiate the notion that salvation comes from any religious work, devotion, sacrament, or affiliation (Titus 3:5).
- The Two Natures of the Believer - We believe that every saved person possesses two natures (Gal. 5:17), with provision made for victory of the new nature (I John 5:4; I Cor. 10:13) over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (I John 4:4); and, that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural (I John 1:8).
- Separation - We believe that all the redeemed should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Saviour and Lord (Titus 2:12-14), and that God commands separation from all religious apostasy and all worldly and sinful pleasures (Eph. 5:11), practices, and associations (II Cor. 6:14).
- Missions - We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life (Matt. 5:16) and by word (Matt. 28:19-20; John 15:16) to the truths of Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind.
- The Church
1. We believe that the Church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all redeemed persons of all ages. Rom. 12:4-5; I Cor. 12:12-13.
2. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. Matt. 16:18.
3. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control. Eph. 5:23.
- Dispensationalism - We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs mankind according to His purpose. Three of these - the age oflaw (Exodus), the age of the Church (Luke 16:16), and the age of the MillennialKingdom (Luke 1:32) - are the subjects of detailed revelation in scripture.
- The Personality of Satan - We believe that Satan is a person (Matt. 4:10), the author of sin (Gen. 3:5-7), and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and mankind; and, that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. Rev. 20:10 & Rev. 21:8.
- The Second Advent of Christ - We believe in that “Blessed Hope”, the personal, imminent (I Cor. 15:52), pre-tribulation (I Thes. 4:13-16) and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones (Rom. 5:9), and in His subsequent return to earth (I Thes. 4:14; Acts 1:9-11), with His saints, to establish His Millennial Kingdom. I Thes. 1:10.
- The EternalState
1. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all mankind, the saved to eternal life (John 10:28) and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. Matt. 25:41; Luke 16:19-31
- We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord (II Cor. 5:6-8), where spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. I Thes. 5:23.
- We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in Hell (Luke 16:19-31) until the second resurrection (Rev. 20:13), when with soul and body reunited they shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment. Rev. 20:15; Luke 16:19-31.
- The First Day of the Week - We believe that Sunday should be set aside for special gathering and solemnity in commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ (I Cor. 16:2; Mark 16:2; Rev. 1:10). This day should therefore be observed in a manner that calls the world to remembrance of Him, while not respecting one day above another. Rom. 14:5.
- The Charismatic Movement – We believe that the modern-day Charismatic Movement, with its practice of tongues and divine healers, is not Biblical. Acts 2:1-11; James 5:14-15. We believe that the gift of tongues has ceased (I Cor. 13:8), and that the filling of the Holy Spirit is evidenced by soul-winning power and the living of a Godly life (Acts 1:8; Matt. 5:16; I Cor. 15:58).
- The Ecumenical Movement – We believe that the modern-day ecumenical movement, with its bringing together of all religions and faiths, is not Biblical. Further, we believe that the ecumenical movement, especially as practiced by the World Council of Churches and other similar organizations, will be used to usher in a one-world religion, the False Prophet, and the Antichrist. True believers can never become one in the faith with those who do not accept Jesus Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). We believe all born again Christians are priests (Heb. 7:26) and saints (Phil. 1:1; Eph. 1:1) before God, and are to have no fellowship with darkness (II Cor. 6:14; Eph. 5:11).
- Marriage - We believe that holy matrimony was instituted of God and sanctioned by our Lord Jesus Christ and should be held in honor by all. This relationship is to be between one man and one woman until separated by death. Any other separation and remarriage, except for fornication or abandonment, constitutes adultery. Mark 10:5-9, 11-12; Matt. 19:9.
- Divergent Doctrine - We believe that the foregoing statements included in this “Statement of Faith” are in keeping with the Scriptural admonition to “speak those things which become sound doctrine.” We are, therefore, unalterably opposed to the inclusion of any item(s) that would be divergent in nature. I Tim. 1:10.