I. The Inspiration of the
Bible
We believe the Holy
Scriptures, composed of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the
twenty-seven books of the New Testament, are the verbally inspired Word and
Revelation of God. The Bible is the inerrant and infallible-God-breathed Word to
man. The initial miracle of divine inspiration of the original autographs also
extends to the divine preservation of a pure text to this day. We have,
therefore, the very Word and words of God preserved through the Hebrew Masoretic
Text and the Greek Textus Receptus. In the English language, the only Bible
translated from the aforementioned texts is the King James Version. Psalm
19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Luke 24:13-28; John 16:12-16; Psalm
12:6-7; Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 138:2.
II. The Trinity
We
believe in the Triune God-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit-co-equal and co-eternal. Each has His individual identity and separate
responsibilities for the purposes of redemption, yet perfectly united as three
Persons in One. 1 John 5:1-8; John 16:7-18; Matthew 28:19; Genesis 1:26.
III. The Deity and
Virgin Birth of Christ
We
believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten, virgin born Son
of God, the second Person in the Blessed Trinity, God the Son, God manifest in
the flesh. 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1-14; John 14:9; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25;
John 10:36.
IV. The Blood Atonement
We
believe in the substitutionary blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus,
voluntarily went to Calvary and there shed His literal sinless blood in our
place. The shedding of His blood was in payment for our sin. All men must be
born again from above or be forever lost. Hebrews 2:9; John 6:44-69; John
3:1-18; Romans 3:25; Revelation 1:5; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-19. The shed
blood of Christ is sufficient for all sin and, therefore, the sinner coming to
Christ may be saved to the uttermost. 1 John 2:2; Hebrews 7:22-25; Revelation
22:17. The text "with His stripes we are healed" speaks of God's
remedy for the sin-sick soul through the suffering and substitutionary sacrifice
of the Lamb of God, and is not referring to the healing of the body as proposed
by false charismatic teaching. Isaiah 53:4-6.
V. The Resurrection
We
believe in the literal physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
ascended bodily into heaven and is now at the right hand of God the Fahter as our Mediator, Priest, and
Advocate. Acts 3:12-26; John 20; Hebrews 9:24; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; 1 John 2:1.
VI. The Second Coming
We
believe in the Rapture-the personal, premillennial, pretribulational and imminent return of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ "in the air." This has been the
"Blessed Hope" of every born-again believer in the Church Age. At that
time, He will receive to Himself the resurrected bodies of those who have
"died in Christ" and all those who are presently alive and "in
Christ." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:6-10; 1 Corinthians 15:50-55; Acts
1:11; Titus 2:13. He will then come "with His saints" seven years
thereafter to execute judgment upon the ungodly nations before the inauguration
of His earthly millennial (one thousand year) reign at His second coming to the
earth. Jude 14, 15; Matthew 25:31-46. The Lord will cast the anti-christ and the
false prophet into the lake of fire, send Satan into the abyss and establish His
earthly kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign one thousand years, thus
literally fulfilling the covenant promises made to a believing remnant of Israel
through the Patriarchs of the Old Testament. Isaiah 11:1-16; Revelation
19:19-20; 20:1-6. After the earthly reign of one thousand years, He will bring
all the unsaved dead to the judgment of the Great White Throne and all who stand
before that Throne will be cast into the lake of fire forever. Revelation
20:11-15; Matthew 7:21-23. Satan will also be cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:10.
VII. The Personality of
Satan
We
believe in the personality of Satan, "that old serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." He is actively opposing the cause of Christ on
every hand and is the arch enemy of every true believer. His warfare
incorporates the deception of mixing error and truth as well as that which is
flagrantly vile and evil. 2 Corinthians 11:1-15; 2 Peter 5:8-9; Revelation
12:9-10; Matthew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17; John 8:24. He marshals a host of
fallen angels that can also serve to deceive the unsuspecting by
"transforming themselves into...apostles of Christ [and] ministers of
righteousness..." (2 Corinthians 11:315). These false spirits can influence
the unfaithful servant to say helpful and even true things and can also
themselves energize ones to do the miraculous. Therefore, every experience and
teaching must be examined in light of the Word of God to determine its true
source. Isaiah 8:20; 1 John 4:1.
VIII. Heaven and Hell
We
believe that Heaven is a real place of eternal blessedness prepared by God for
those whose garments have been "made white" through faith in the shed "blood of
the Lamb." Hell is a real place of literal fire and eternal suffering for those
whose names are not written in the "book of life." There is no intermediate
state in which the unsaved can atone for his sins. John 14:1-6; Revelation
7:13-17; 20:11-15; 21:22-27; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Luke 16:19-31.
IX. Creation and Man's
Fall
We
believe God created all things in six literal, twenty-four hour days. We believe
evolution in any form, and this includes so called "theistic evolution" and the
"gap theory" to be contradictory to the clear teaching of Scripture. We believe
in the universality and exceeding sinfulness of sin. In Adam all have sinned and
therefore, are guilty before God by nature as well as by deed. Man was created
by a direct act of God and subsequently fell into sin in the Garden of Eden.
Romans 5:12-21 Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 3:10-26; 6:23; Psalm 51:5 Genesis 1-3.
X. Justification by
Faith
We
believe that man is justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood
and bodily resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 Ephesians 2:8-9.
The all-sufficient and completed work of Redemption accomplished through His
death and resurrection is fully appropriated at the moment in time by those who
receive by faith the free gift of salvation offered in the one true Gospel. The
adding of works, baptism, sacraments, or any other condition placed upon man in
order to obtain God's gift of salvation by faith alone in the finished work of
Christ results in "another gospel" that is under God's curse.
Galatians 1:6-10; Romans 1:16 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 5:24; Ephesians 5:8.
XI. Eternal Security
We
believe in the eternal security of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. Once
a lost sinner has become a "new creature in Christ," he can never lose that new
relationship with God which is based upon Christ's imputed righteousness and not
his own. The life that God imparts to the believing sinner is not "eternal life"
if it can be terminated. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; John 10:25-29. Sin in the life
of the believer affects his fellowship with the Father not sonship. All
who are truly born of the Spirit and who continue in sin will be dealt with by
the chastening hand of God. 1 John 1:5-10; Hebrews 12:6-13 1 Corinthians
3:11-15. All who are in Christ are sealed unto the day of redemption and will be
glorified. We are to "work out" our salvation not "work for"
our salvation; Philippians 2:12. Texts used to supposedly teach one can lose his
salvation are speaking of loss of reward, not the loss of salvation or the right
to be called a child of God. 1 Corinthians 3:8-15; 2 John 8; Revelation 3:11;
Romans 8:29-30; 1 Timothy 1:12; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30.
XII. Separation
We
believe that all Christians are first to be separated wholly unto the Lord, and
as a result, they must be:
1.
Separated from worldly and sinful practices. They are to be
holy, even as He is holy, and this desired behavior will always be diametrically
opposed to the course of this present age. 1 Peter 1: 13-16; 1 Corinthians
6:19-20; Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17
2.
Separated from apostasy and unbelief. A believer must not be "unequally
yoked together with unbelievers," thereby being identified with unbelief by
association, whether in ministry, worship, or by joint religious activities. 2
Corinthians 6:14-18; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:19-22; 3:1-5; Amos 3:3.
3. Separated from disobedient brethren and doctrinal compromise with respect to all
ministry and service. A believer is identified with the doctrinal positions and
practices of those he is in fellowship with, both before God and man. Separation
from those who are not walking according to truth deters the leavening effect of
compromise, and gives a faithful warning to the erring brother. Romans 16: 17; 2
Thessalonians 3:6,14-15; 2 John 10-11; Galatians 2:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:33.
XIII. The Local Church
and Its Mission
We
believe God has ordained the ministry of local, independent, indigenous Baptist
assemblies to accomplish His work in this dispensation. The church's membership
is to be composed of regenerated, baptized believers. The two ordinances of the
local church are believer's baptism by immersion, and the memorial of the Lord's
Supper until He returns. The officers of the local church are pastors, sometimes
called bishops or elders, and deacons. Their qualifications and duties are
defined in the epistles to Timothy and Titus. The church is to be missionary and
evangelistic in spreading the Gospel into the entire world. It is not the
mission of the church to "bring in the Kingdom," work for political or economic
justice, major on social improvement, or "Christianize" society. It is to strive
together for the faith of the Gospel, proclaim and maintain purity of doctrine
and practice, and worship and serve the Lord in "spirit and truth." Acts
2:41-47; 20:17- 32; Matthew 28:16-20; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34.
XIV. Good Works
We
believe that all followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should maintain good works,
a "good work" being that which is done in obedience to the will of God as
revealed in the Word of God. Works will determine the reward or loss of reward
at the Judgment Seat of Christ before which every Christian will stand. Every
believer must realize his responsibility before God to "maintain good works,"
i.e., walk in the light of the Word of God. The Bible is the believer's absolute
Standard of faith and practice and his perfect Counsel. The Word provides him
with "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3-4). The
Bible and not any form of psychological counseling or therapy is the answer to
man=s problems. Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14; 3:1-11; 2 Thessalonians 5:23; 1
Corinthians 1:18-29; 3:8-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11.
