WHAT WE BELIEVE

THE BIBLE

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible and are the complete and divine revelation of God to man. We believe God not only inspired every word, but has preserved His word through the ages. We believe the King James Version of the Bible is the preserved Word of God for the English-speaking people.

(Psalm 12:6-7; II Timothy 3:15-17; I Peter 1:23-25; II Peter 1:19-21)

THE GODHEAD

We believe in one God who is eternal, self-existing, infinite, and immutable. We believe He has one nature, one essence, and one substance co-identical in nature and co-equal in power and glory having the same attributes and perfections and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption yet manifests Himself to man in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

(Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 14:10; II Corinthians 13:14; I Timothy 1:17; James 1:17; I John 4:4, 4:26, 5:7).

JESUS

We believe Jesus Christ to be the one and only Saviour of mankind. We believe Jesus Christ to be eternally God and to possess all the attributes of Deity. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born, that He was God incarnate, and that the purposes of the incarnation were to reveal God, to redeem men, and to rule over God’s kingdom. We believe Jesus Christ never relinquished any attributes of His Deity, but merely veiled them. We believe He lived a perfect, sinless life, at the end of which He was offered for all mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice for man’s sin. This sacrifice was a just payment to God for the forgiveness of sin. It was activated by His death through the shedding of His blood on the Cross and was accepted by God upon His resurrection. We believe He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection to be seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the time of receiving His church at the Rapture, and returning seven years later to earth to rule and reign as King for 1,000 years.

(Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 43:11; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 1:3, 14, 18, 29; Romans 3:19-25; 5:6-15; Philippians 2:5-11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 2:5, 3:16; Titus 2:10-15; Hebrews 7:26, 9:24-28; I Peter 1:19, 2:2; I John 1:3; Revelation 20:1-6)

THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe the Holy Spirit of God is a person who has personality and all the attributes of Deity. We believe the Holy Spirit has always been involved in the affairs of mankind. However, we believe He has a special ministry which began at Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture. This ministry includes convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit was also sent to regenerate, sanctify, seal, and fill all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they may do the work of the ministry. We believe that the possession or manifestation of any spiritual gift such as speaking in tongues was never a common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit.

(John 3:5-6, 14:16; Acts 1:5, 2:1-11, 11:15; Romans 12:3-8; I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20, 12:4-13, 12:28, 13:8-10; 14:21-22; Ephesians 4:7-12; Hebrews 2:3-4; James 5:14-16)

THE FALL OF MAN

 We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but, by voluntary transgression, fell from that holy and happy state. The consequences of which is that all mankind are now sinners, by nature and by choice, from birth, and therefore, in themselves, are totally unable to remedy their lost condition.

(Genesis 1:26-27; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:17-19).

SALVATION

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by His grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that repentance and faith are inseparable and essential graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, whereby being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, helplessness and of the way of salvation in Christ, we turn to God with sincere broken heartedness and confession; and at the same time we heartily receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. We believe that all those who reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour are already condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire

(Genesis 5:1-5; Mark 1:15; Luke 13:5; John 1:12; Acts 4:19, 11:18, 16:31, 20:21; Romans 3:10-23, 5:6-12, 6:23, 10:9-13; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; I Peter 1:18-21; II Peter 3:9; Revelation 20:11-14).

ETERNAL SECURITY

(a) We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by the power of God and are thus secure in Christ forever.

(John 5:24; 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:3-5).

(b) We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s word, but our Christian liberty must never be used as an occasion to the flesh

(Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-14; I John 5:11-13).

THE LOCAL NEW TESTMAMENT CHURCH

(a) We believe that the local church, which is the body of Christ, is God’s only institution to carry out His work today and is solely made up of born-again, baptized believers who have voluntarily united together for the purposes of worship, fellowship, service, and the Lord’s Table.

(Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 1:15, 2:41-43, 11:15, 20:28; I Corinthians 12:12-14, 12:27, 15:51-58; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:12-14, 22-23; 5:23-30; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 3:4-15).

(b) We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control.

(Acts 13:1-4; 20:28; Romans 16:1-4; I Corinthians 3:9, 3:16, 5:4-5,13; I Peter 5:1-5).

(c) We recognize water baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as the only scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age; neither of which are prerequisites for salvation but are done by believers in obedience and remembrance after salvation.

(Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2: 41-42; I Corinthians 11:23-31).

SEPARATION

We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God.

(Romans 12:1-2; I Corinthians 6:14-7:1, 8:8-13; II Timothy 3:1-5; I Peter 1:13-16; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11).

THE SECOND ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST

We believe in that “blessed hope,” the personal, imminent return of Christ who will rapture the saints prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the tribulation Christ will personally and visibly return to Earth, with his saints, to establish his earthly Messianic Kingdom which was promised to the nation of Israel. This earthly Kingdom is literal, physical, and visible and will last for 1,000 years.

(Psalm 89:3-4; Daniel 2:31-45; Zechariah 14:4-11; I Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Revelation 3:10, 19:11-16, 20:1-6).

THE ETERNAL STATE

(a) We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment

(Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 20:12-13).

(b) We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord

(Luke 23:43; II Corinthians 5:1-8; Philippians 1:20-23, 3:20-21; I Thessalonians 4:13-17; Revelation 20:4-6).

(c) We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment.

(Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15)