STATEMENT OF FAITH
SECTION 1 – THE SCRIPTURES
We believe in the verbal inspiration, and the consequent Divine authenticity and authority of the Old and New Testaments – 66 books in all. We hold to the inspiration of each book, of every word and of every letter down to the smallest particle of a letter, of the original Scriptures. We concede that human infirmity and error may characterize the translation of the Scriptures, but hold that absolute perfection is stamped upon the original writings. The Holy Spirit gave the very words of the sacred writings to holy men of old, and we have in the original manuscript a Divine Revelation that is accurate and all-sufficient for both faith and conduct. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. ; 2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. ; I Corinthians 2:13; Mark 12:26, 36; 13:11; Luke 24:5-27; Acts 1:16).
SECTION 2 – GOD
We believe in the Trinity of the Godhead, and that there is distinctness, mutual relationship and essential quality of each of the three Persons in the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that these three are one God, having precisely the same homage, nature and attributes and perfections and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. We hold that the Godhead subsists in a personality which is threefold, indicated by relationship as Father and Son; by a mode of being as Spirit; and by the different parts taken by each of the Godhead in manifestation and work of redemption. (Genesis 1:1, 26-27; 3:22; 11:6-8; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 63:8; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Acts 5:3-4; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6).
We believe that Jesus Christ our Lord was impeccable as to sin, that there was no sin in Him. He was absolutely holy in birth and nature, as well as in life, and service, and death for our sins, the only human being ever exempted from the curse of Adam’s fall and the sinfulness of the race. We believe that neither death nor judgment had any claim upon our Lord Jesus Christ, but that He voluntarily offered Himself to God as the fore-ordained Lamb to bear away the sin of the world; His death was penal, vicarious and substitutionary. (Galatians 4:4; Luke 1:35; John 8:46; 14:30; I John 3:5; I Peter 1:22-24; II Corinthians 5:21; I Corinthians 15:3-4).
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Personality, co-equal with the Father and the Son in power, position, and glory. We believe that He came down from Heaven on the day of Pentecost to dwell permanently in the church; that He indwells each believer, and is the efficient power for Godly living, Christian service, and spiritual worship. We believe that the Holy Spirit effects the new birth through the Word of the Lord by working in the heart repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We further believe that all this is accomplished by the sovereign will of God. (John 1:12-13; 3:5; 14:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; I Corinthians 3:16; 6:11. 19; James 1:18; I Peter 1:23).
SECTION 3 – THE DEVIL, OR SATAN
We believe that Satan, the open and avowed enemy of God and man, was created a sinless being; he fell through pride and insubordination and is the author of all moral evil. In his fall he dragged down with him into moral ruin a host of the angles of God. Satan is a living personality – a veritable being. His appointed doom is the "Lake of Fire." His present spheres of activity are in the heavens, the air, and the earth. (Job 1:6-12; John 8:44; II Corinthians 4:4; 11:13-15; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12-16; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9; 20:2-3, 10; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Isaiah 14:12-15).
SECTION 4 – CREATION
We believe that the vast scene of creation – the heavens and the earth all that in them is – angels and man, the visible and the unseen, from the greatest archangel down to the smallest insect or least atom of nature – all, the animate and inanimate, were created by the fiat of Almighty God in six literal days, and that He is the source and sustainer of all creation as well as the framer of the ages of time and dispensations of administrations. (Genesis 1 & 2; Colossians 1:15-17; Acts 17:24-29; Hebrews 1:2-3; 11:3).
SECTION 5 – THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that Adam, the head and representative of the human race, was created in a state of innocence, but by voluntary transgression he sinned, and thus the whole human race fell under the penalty of condemnation and spiritual death – the Lord Jesus Christ alone excepted, so as to totally lose all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and subject to the power of the Devil and fleshly evil; and that the ruin of the race is universal, total and irremediable by any human effort whatsoever. (Genesis 3; Romans 1:18, 32; 3:10-23; 5:10-19; I Timothy 2:14; I John 3:8).
SECTION 6 – SALVATION
We believe that the only escape from the condemnation of sin is through the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ, when He voluntarily made full satisfaction to the justice of God for the sin of man. We believe that faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation from sin and this salvation is wholly by grace; that no works, however good make this salvation more secure. (John 1:1-3, 14; 3:1-7; Hebrews 10:4-14; Acts 16:30-33; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7; I John 3:2; Romans 10:9-10).
We believe that all who take Christ as their Savior are born from above and are eternally secure in Christ. (John 10:27-29; Romans 8:35-39; Philippians 1:6).
SECTION 7 – THE CHURCH
We believe that the church universal is a New Testament institution; unknown to the Old Testament prophets; established by Jesus Christ, Who is its sole Head; revealed through the holy apostles; empowered and perpetuated by the Holy Spirit; His "body" for service and His "bride" for glory. It began with the New Testament saints at Pentecost with the advent of the Holy Spirit and will be consummated at the Rapture. (Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:8; 2:1-13, 41-47; 15:14; Romans 16:26; I Corinthians 12:12-28; Ephesians 1:22-23; 3:21; 5:22-33; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).
We believe that the church universal is manifest through the local church, which is a congregation of immersed believers, associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in it by His Word; that its officers are bishops (or, pastors) and deacons; that it has the absolute right of self-government directed by the Holy Spirit, and it is answerable only to Christ, and that in all matters of membership, policy, government, discipline and benevolence the will of the local church is final. (Matthew 18:15-17; I Corinthians 1:2; 6:4-5; 11:16; I Timothy 3:1-15).
SECTION 8 – THE ORDINANCES
We believe that there are but two ordinances: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water and is properly called "Believer’s Baptism." It sets forth in a beautiful and solemn way our faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with the effects of that faith I our lives as it produces death to sin and resurrection to a new life. Baptism is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership. The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of our Lord’s death until He comes, and of our continual fellowship with HIM, and it should be preceded by baptism and always by self-examination. (Acts 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-5; I Corinthians 11:23-32).
SECTION 9 – THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that only such as through faith are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit of God, are truly righteous in God’s esteem; while all such who continue in impenitence and in unbelief are wicked in His sight and are under the curse; and that this distinction holds among men during life and after death, in the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in the Lake of Fire; and in the everlasting conscious felicity of the saved with the Lord. (Malachi 3:18; Romans 6:17-23; Matthew 25:34-41; Luke 6:25; John 8:21; Revelation 20:15; I Thessalonians 4:17).
SECTION 10 – THE RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in the bodily, personal, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ; that He will come before the seven-year tribulation period to catch away His church, coming only into the air, and that He will come with His own at the close of the Tribulation to judge the living nations and to set up His kingdom on earth; that He will reign on the earth for a thousand years. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 19:11-21:20).
SECTION 11 – THE RESURRECTION
We believe in the resurrection of the bodies of the dead; that those which sleep in Jesus will, at the coming of Christ for His church, be raised and caught up with transformed living saints to meet the Lord in the air, and that the wicked dead will be raised at the close of the millennial kingdom and stand in their bodies at the Great White Throne of Judgment to receive their final doom. (John 5:21-30; I Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 7:9-17; 20:11-15).
SECTION 12 - CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We believe that civil government is of Divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society; that we are to pray for magistrates and conscientiously honor and obey them, except in things opposed to the Word of God and the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Kings of kings and Lord of lords, and to Whom all authority in Heaven and earth has been given. We believe in the separation of church and state; that each in it own realm is sovereign. (Romans 13:1-7; II Samuel 23:3; Exodus 18:21-22; Acts 23:5; 5:29; 4:19-20; Matthew 22:21; 28:18; Daniel 3:17-18; I Timothy 6:14-15).