Doctrinal Statement The Trinity Satan and Demons Sin and Hell Salvation Eternal Security The Bible The Church Evangelism The Gospel Baptism Dispensationalism The Apostasy The Ecumenical Movement Biblical Separation and Holiness The Great Tribulation Calvinism Pentecostalism Prayer  —————————————————————————– The Trinity We believe that there is one God in three persons: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was miraculously born of a virgin, Mary. Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is the Creator, the One Who said, “Let there be light!” We believe that Jesus is fully and truly God, and fully and truly man. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, and only Jesus saves from sin. Satan and Demons We believe that the angel Lucifer was created by God and given an important position in Heaven, but then fell from that position through the sin of pride and became the Dragon, cast from heaven, as Satan, the Devil, along with all fallen angels. Satan was able to persuade one-third of the angels to follow him in his rebellion. These fallen angels became the demons. Satan and his demons work to persuade people to commit sin and, in particular, to reject the authority of the true Gospel, Jesus, and the Bible. ANY DOCTRINE THAT PERVERTS WHO JESUS IS AND WHAT HE DID FOR US IN REDEMPTION IS OF SATAN! Satan and the demons will be judged one day in Hell and cast into an eternal Lake of Fire, which was prepared for the Devil and his angels. Sin and Hell We believe that sin is the breaking of God’s law. Whatever is not of faith is sin. In the Garden of Eden, Eve listened to the serpent, the Devil, and sinned first, and then convinced her husband Adam to sin. All sin must be judged. God will judge those who commit sin at His Great White Throne Judgment (possibly on Antarctica). Those men and women whose sins are not covered by the Blood of Jesus will join Satan and his demons in eternal punishment in the flames of the Lake of Fire. Salvation and Eternal Security We believe that salvation is entirely by grace through a one-time decision of repentance (an acknowledgement of sin and guilt before our Holy God) and human faith (John 5:24) in the true Gospel of the sufficiency of the substitutionary atonement, death, and resurrection of Christ, apart from man’s good works. This is the “Born Again” experience found in John 3. Saving faith in Jesus is not a human work, but turning from our sinful condition to Christ for redemption through an individual spiritual decision of repentance, turning to Jesus for forgiveness, through meaningful repentance of a sinful life. Repentance does not mean we list our sins and try to stop them in order to be “good enough” to get to heaven. It means to recognize we are lost and under the judgment and condemnation of Almighty God. People are not born sinful, already condemned, lost, guilty, or reprobate. People become sinners when they first sin. We must realize that the wages of sin bring forth eternal separation from God in hell and that we need to turn to the risen living Lord Jesus Christ to save us from the consequences of our sins. Only His atoning blood, which was shed on our behalf, can wash away our sins. At the precise moment a sinner turns to Jesus to save him or her from sin, the Holy Spirit indwells that person, and through the new birth, that individual is eternally secure, once saved, always saved (OSAS). Once a person, in sincere prayer, turns to Jesus, Jesus does all of the saving, and the sinner does none of it. However, although anyone can be saved, God never forces anyone to come to saving faith. The goodness of God leads people to repent and accept Christ. The Bible We believe that the Bible is God’s inspired inerrant complete revelation to mankind through the written Word. God inspired men to write down, word-for-word the truth about biblical events and about Jesus and how to be saved from hell. We believe that the canon of scripture (the Bible in its original languages) is finished, and so we reject any ideas of extrabiblical revelation (including the Apocrypha). We believe that the King James Bible (KJV 1611) is the best translation of God’s Holy Word available today, having been preserved by God and translated from the original languages into English. Any minor errors in copying or translation from the original languages are minor and do not affect doctrine. The Church We believe that the institution of the local church was set up by God. Attendance and membership in a biblical local New Testament church is God’s plan for the believer’s fellowship and spiritual growth and is not to be forsaken. The church is to be led by a mature pastor who is to feed and care for the spiritual wellbeing of the flock as an under-shepherd and as God’s ordained leader; yet without committing the sin of lording over the flock. The pastor should be confronted in private by the elders if his theology is not in line with sound biblical Doctrine. Evangelism We believe that God commands the church and individual Christians to fulfill The Great Commission by preaching, teaching, and prayerfully sharing the Good News Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the motivation for supporting world and local evangelism and missions (missionaries and ministries) through prayer, encouragement, teaching, preaching, and financial support for the work of the Gospel, in person, through the Internet, and other methods. We understand that most people will reject the witness of Jesus and the plan of salvation offered in the Gospel. The Gospel We believe that the Gospel is the “Good News” of Christ the Messiah’s payment for our sins through the physical death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus from the dead. … Continue reading Statement of Faith