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We Believe In - :
The Blood Atonement
We
believe that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings, by the shedding of His own blood,
and by His death on the Cross, made a full atonement for all human sin, and that
this Atonement is the only ground of salvation, and that it is sufficient for
every individual of Adam's race. The Atonement is graciously granted for the
salvation of the irresponsible and for the children in innocency but is applied
for the salvation of those who reach the age of responsibility only when they
repent and believe.
Isaiah 53:5-6,
11; Mark 10:45; Luke 24:46-48; John 1:29; 3:14-17; Acts 4:10-12; Romans 3:21-26;
4:17-25; 5:6-21; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Galatians 1:3-4;
3:13-14; Colossians 1:19-23; I Timothy 2:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:9;
9:11-14; 13:12; I Peter 1:18-21; 2:19-25; I John 2:1-2
The
Necessity of Repentance and the New Birth
Salvation comes to the
individual soul as the free, undeserved gift of God through faith in Christ as a
personal Savior. We believe that repentance, which is a sincere and thorough
change of the mind in regard to sin, involving a sense of personal guilt and a
voluntary turning away from sin, is demanded of all who have by act or purpose
become sinners against God.
This will then result
in a godly sorrow for sin in the heart of the individual and the moral nature of
the repentant believer is spiritually quickened and given a distinctively
spiritual life, capable of faith, love, and obedience. Jesus said that unless
people are born again, they can never see the Kingdom of God.
2
Chronicles 7:14; Job 42:6; Psalm 32:5-6; 51:1-3, 7; Isaiah 55:6-7; Jeremiah
3:12-14; Ezekiel 18:30-32; 33:14-16; Matthew 3:8, 11; 11:20-21; Luke 3:1-14;
13:1-5, 16:30-31, 18:9-14; John 3:3-5; Acts 2:38, 5:31, 11:18; 17:30, 20:21;
Romans 2:4; II Corinthians 7:9-10; II Timothy 2:25; II Peter 3:9; Revelation
2:5, 3:19.
The Free Will of Man
We
believe that the creation of the human race in Godlikeness included the ability
to choose between right and wrong, and thus human beings were made morally
responsible. Through the fall of Adam they became depraved so that they cannot
now turn by their own natural strength to faith and calling upon God. The grace
of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people, who will choose
to turn from their sin to righteousness, enabling them to believe on Jesus
Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin, and to follow good works pleasing and
acceptable in His sight.
Genesis 1:26-27,
2:16-17; Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Psalm 8:3-5; Jeremiah
31:29-30; Ezekiel 18:1-4; Micah 6:8; Romans 1:19-20, 2:1-16, 14:7-12; Galatians
6:7-8
The
Necessity of Perseverance and a Holy Life
We believe that every
true child of God being a free moral agent, may, and will be saved eternally, if
he meets the divine conditions of repentance and faith until the end. Habitual
and final failure to meet these basic conditions will bring eternal loss. We
believe that although a Christian is now in a state of salvation, and would be
saved eternally if called before God in his present state, he must be kept under
the saving power of the Holy Spirit until the end, if he would be saved
eternally hereafter.
I Chronicles 28:9; Ezekiel 18:24, 32; Luke 9:62; John
15:1-6; Romans 11:20-22, I Corinthians 9:27, 10:12; I Timothy 1:19-20, 5:12, 15;
II Timothy 1:14-15; Hebrews 4:1, 11; 6:4-6, 10:26-29, 38-39; I Peter 1:8-10,
2:18-22; Revelation 2:4-5.
The Great Commission
We
believe that God has given a mandate to all believers to go into all parts of
the world with the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for mankind in
providing reconciliation, forgiveness, and freedom from the power and guilt of
sin.
Matthew 5:13-16, 9:38, 28:19-20; Luke 16:15,
24:46-48; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:14-15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Revelation 22:17.
The Second Coming
of Jesus Christ
We believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ will come again to the earth in the same way that He left. His
coming again will be a literal, bodily, personal, imminent, and pre-millennial
return. He is coming for His bride, the church and that is the “blessed hope”
set before us, for which we should be constantly looking. He will return to put
down all rebellion and establish His earthly Kingdom.
Job
19:25-27; Daniel 12:1-4; Psalm 17:15; Isaiah 11:1-12; Zechariah 14:1-11;
Matthew 24;
25:31-46; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11; I Corinthians 1:7-8; Philippians 3:20-21; I
Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:26-28; James 5:7-8; II Peter
3:3-15; I John 3:2-3; Jude 14; Revelation 1:7-8; 22:7-20
The Resurrection of
the Body
We believe in the resurrection of the dead. Bodies of
both the just and of the unjust shall be raised to life and united with their
spirits - "they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of punishment."
Matthew 24:31; John 5:25; 1 Corinthians 15:12-58
The Reality of
Heaven for the Saved
We believe heaven is a
real place that is the dwelling place of God. The location is unrevealed, but
the Apostle Paul was called up to this place (the third heaven) but was
prevented from revealing anything about what he saw. It is a place that is
referred to as “glory, and those who enter it will be perfected, made partakers
of Christ’s fullness. Heaven is a place of beauty, life, service, and worship.
Matthew 25:34; John 14:1-3; 1 Peter 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:8; Revelation 19:1-3;
21:1-22:7;
The Reality of
Hell for the Unsaved
Hell in the scriptures is often used has a designated
place of future punishment for the wicked. It is a place where those who have
rebelled and rejected God’s provision for eternal life are separated eternally
from His life. A place where the soul lives forever separated from God and to
eternal torment.
Daniel 12:2; 2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 1:18; 19:20;
20:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Philippians 3:18-21; Matthew 7:13-14; 25:46;
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