Statement of Doctrine

1. The Holy Bible

We believe all Scripture, Old and New Testament, is inspired by God. This refers to the original languages of Scripture written by the prophets and apostles. God breathed into the minds of writers all that He wanted mankind to know. (2TIM 3:16-17). This means that God inhaled the Scriptures by the agent of the Holy Spirit to the original writers, who without putting in their own ideas (2PET 1:20-21), accurately recorded (exhaled) all that God inhaled to them. Thus, the Bible is without mistakes in the original words.

2. The Trinity

We believe in one God who exists in three persons: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Who are fully and equally God, possess all of the divine nature and attributes, and are totally worthy of our worship and service. (DEU 6:4; MATT 28:19; JOHN 1:14; JOHN 10:30; 2COR 13:14)

We also believe the attributes of God include but are not limited to the following: sovereignty, absolute righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, immutability, and truth. The Trinity therefore shares the same attributes, but has distinct personalities and functions. God the Father designed the eternal plan, God the Son fulfilled it, and God the Holy Spirit revealed it to mankind. (JOH 6:38; HEB 10:7; JOH 16:13; DEU 6:4, MAT 28:19, JOH 1:1, 2 COR13:14)

3. God the Father

We believe that God the Father is the first person of the Trinity, and in His Master’s grace initiated a plan for redemption and reconciliation of mankind through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. (JOH 6:38; HEB 10:7; EPH 1:11; 1COR 8:6) God the Father is the eternal, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, all-loving, completely just and perfectly holy, sovereign Ruler and Sustainer of the universe. He is the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Father of all true believers. (GEN 1:1; EPH 4:6; JOH 1:12-13; JOH 5:19-21; JOH 17:1-5; ISA 40:21-28; ISA 43:10-13; ISA 46:8-11; ROM 8:14-16)

4. God the Son - Jesus Christ

We believe that the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is the only begotten eternal Son of God, and became a true man miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the Virgin Mary. In becoming man, Jesus did not cease in any way to be God so that He is fully God and fully man inseparably united in one person forever. He came to reveal God to man, to fulfill prophecy, and to become the Savior of the lost world. He lived a sinless life. He humbled himself and died on the cross as the substitutionary, all-sufficient atoning sacrifice for all of the sins of all men of all time, so that He might provide salvation to everyone who comes to the Father through Him. (PHI 2:5-7; JOH 3:16; JOH 3:36; JOH 14:6; ACT 4:12)

He was buried; bodily rose from the dead; physically ascended into heaven in His glorified, resurrected body; is seated at the right hand of the Father performing His ministry of intercession; will return in the air to claim His Bride the Church; and will come again to earth in bodily form, personally and visibly, to conclude human history and consummate God’s eternal plan by executing judgment and ushering in His Millennial Kingdom reign to be followed by the eternal state. (JOH 1:1; JOH 1:14; JOH 1:18; JOH 3:16; LUK 1:30-35; PHI 2:5-8; COL 2:3; COL 2:9; MAR 10:45; ACT 2:22-24; JOH 1:29; ROM 3:25-26; HEB 10:5-14; 1PE 2:24; 1PE 3:18; JOH 20:20; PHI 3:20-21; HEB 1:3; ROM 8:34; 1JO 2:1; ACT 1:11; HEB 9:28; 1TH 4:13-18; 2TH 2:7; MAT 24:44; REV 19:11-21; REV 21-22)

5. God the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity Who specially came into the world on the day of Pentecost to glorify Christ and to enable men to appropriate the salvation wrought by Christ. He is the primary agent for the conviction of sin and for regeneration. Simultaneously with salvation, the Holy Spirit imparts new life, baptizes the believer into the Body of Christ (His Church), permanently indwells the believer, and securely seals (stamps for security) the believer unto the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit fills (directs and controls) those believers who are yielded to Him in obedience, enables believers to bear fruit, and empowers believers to live a life free from sin’s dominion. He teaches the believer the things of Christ. We also believe that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers for the purpose of edifying the Church in accordance with the teachings of Scripture. (1COR 13:8; 1COR 14:22; JOH 16:7-15; 1COR6:19; 1COR 12:13; EPH 1:13-14; EPH 4:30; GAL 5:16-17; GAL 5:22-23; ROM 6:14 ;ROM 8:5-13; 1PE 4:10-11; ROM 12:3-8)

6. Sovereignty

We believe that God, existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is sovereign and exercises supreme and absolute rule over all creation as part of, and consistent with, the essence and attributes of His deity. (1 CHRO 29:1, 12: DAN 4:35; PSA 24:1; EPH 1:11; 1TI 6:15; JOH1:1)

7. Satan

We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; but one, “Lucifer, son of the morning”—the highest in rank—sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan. Satan is a created being, not simply the personification of evil. He is a fallen angel and a general in command of all other fallen angels (demons). His main objective is to distract mankind from obeying and following the plan of God. His goal is to disprove God as a faithful, truthful, and just One. He is described as being crafty (GEN 3:1) and cunning (2COR 11:3; 2COR 11:14). He masquerades himself and attacks the truth in every conceivable form. False teachings are his craftsmanship. (GAL 1, 3; ACT 15:1-17; JOB 1:6-7; EZE 28:14-18) Satan, under the sovereign permission of God, has been given temporary rulership of the earth. He was utterly defeated at the cross, but the execution of his judgment has been postponed by God until after the Millennial Kingdom when he will be cast into the eternal lake of fire. In the meantime, he deceives the world and seeks to establish his counterfeit kingdom on earth to discredit and blaspheme God and to tempt, accuse, attack, and destroy believers’ spiritual lives. He can be resisted by the believer through faith, the Word of God, and reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit. (GEN 3:1-5; ISA 14:12-17; EZE 28:11-19; JOB 1-2; 1JOH 5:19; 2COR 11:14; 1TIM 3:6; 1PE 5:8-9; JAM 4:7; REV 12:9; REV 20:1-3; REV 20:7-10)

8. Free Will of Man

We believe that man is created to function with a free will. (2PE 3:9; JOH 3:16; JOH 3:18; DEU 30:19-20; NUM 22)

9. The Total Depravity of Man

We believe that Adam was originally created in the image and likeness of God by God and not as the result of evolution. Thus, he was created perfect without sin. Man was created to glorify God, worship and serve Him, and have fellowship with Him. Adam sinned through disobedience to the known will of God and, as a consequence of His sin, incurred both physical and spiritual death, which alienated him from God. Man’s nature was thus corrupted and he is utterly lost, “dead in trespasses and sins,” and totally incapable of saving himself and coming back into right relationship with God by his own merit or effort. (GEN 1:26; GEN 2:6; GEN 2:17; GEN 3:17-24; ISA 59:1-2; ROM 3:9-19; ROM 3:23; ROM 5:6-8; LUK 18:26-27; EPH 2:1-3)

Through him sin entered the human race causing the entire race to be separated from God. Therefore, all mankind is under the death sentence and penalty of sin. (GEN 1:26-27; GEN 3:6-15; PSA 51:5; ROM 3:23; ROM 5:12)

10. Salvation

We believe that mankind, owing God universal death through sin, needs to be saved. We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross provides the sole basis for forgiveness of sins and salvation, which is the free gift of God’s grace. Salvation is affected by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and cannot be secured by man’s works or per-sonal merit. Salvation is only appropriated by a person placing his faith in the finished work of Christ. We believe that at the moment of faith alone in Christ alone God the Father credits His perfect righteousness to the individual resulting in acquittal of all condemnation, causing justification and reconciliation forever on the basis of grace. The believer also receives a new nature implanted by the Holy Spirit at the moment of faith in Christ. (Act16:31; JOH 1:12; JOH 3:16; JOH 3:18; JOH 5:24; EPH 2:8-9; ROM 3:22; ROM 3:24; ROM 3:26; ROM 3:28; GEN 15:6)

11. The Eternal Security of Believers

We believe that all believers are eternally secured, i.e., salvation cannot be lost when once received. (JUD 1:24; ROM 8:31-39; JOH 6:37-40; 6:44; 6:47; 10:27-30; 1PE 1:5; 1COR 1:4-9)

12. The Christian Life

We believe that every Christian should live for Christ and not for himself and should, by the power of the indwelling Spirit, allow Christ to manifest His life through him to God’s glory. By ever increasing obedience to the Word of God, each believer should mature and progressively become more like Jesus Christ. In the power of the Spirit, each believer should live a holy life, not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, exercise his spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ, witness for Christ, be personally involved in making disciples to fulfill the great commission, perform good works, and bear fruit to the glory of God. (GAL 2:20; 1PE 1:15-16; 1PE 2:11; 2COR 5:14-15; ROM 6:11-13; EPH 2:10; EPH 4:11-12; EPH 4:22-24; 1PE 4:10-11; ACT 1:8; MAT 28:18-20; COL 1:10; JOH 15:8, 16)

We also believe that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them. (1COR 16:2; 2COR 9:7)

13. Spirituality

We believe that spirituality is an absolute condition in the life of a believer in the Church Age, wherein he or she is filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit: walking in love, obedience, and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe spirituality is distinct from spiritual maturity, a believer becomes carnal through an act of mental, verbal, or action sin, and fellowship with Christ is broken and that spirituality or fellowship is restored by personal confession of known sin to God the Father (JOH 7, 8 15; ROM6:11-13; 1COR 11:30-31; 5:6-8; GAL 5:16; EPH 5:18; 1 JOH 1:9)

14. Divine Discipline

1. We believe that God administers divine discipline to every believer who fails to maintain closeness with Him and execute His plan for their lives revealed in Scripture. Even though the believer is permanently secured and loved by God, the believer becomes the object of discipline in three categories when He is walking in rebellion:

1. Warning discipline: This type of discipline is not severe. (1COR 11:30) God ministers a warning-like discipline to alert the believer of His carnal state. (REV 3:19-20)

2. Intense discipline: When the believer does not heed the warning and acknowledge his sins, God intensifies the suffering. (HEB 12:6-11; 1COR 11:30b)

3. Dying discipline: God in His master’s grace removes this individual from the face of the earth (1COR 5:8) without the person fulfilling the eternal plan of God. (PROV 29:1; 1JOH 5:16; 1COR 11:30c)

15. Spiritual Gifts

We believe that God the Holy Spirit, in grace and apart from human spirit, sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts to believers in the Church Age. Some of these gifts are permanent spiritual gifts which exist today: Pastor-Teacher, Evangelist, Administrator, Helper, Giving, Showing Mercy. We further believe that some temporary spiritual gifts ceased with the completion of the Canon of Scripture, and these were: Apostleship, Prophecy, Speaking in Tongues, Healing, and Working of Miracles (1COR 12:13; 1COR 13:8-10; EPH 4:7-13; ROM 12:4-8). 

16. Christian Marriage

We believe that Christian marriage is established and ordained by God as a divine institution only between one original biological male and one original biological female, as set forth in the example of Adam and Eve. (GEN 2:22-25)

17. The Church

We believe that all believers, regardless of race, color, location, or affiliation, constitute the Body of Christ, which is the Church. (1COR 12:12-14; COL 1:18; EPH 1:22-23; 5:25-27). The Church shall be the Bride of Christ.

18. Israel

We believe that Israel refers to all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also known as Jews, the Jewish people, and Hebrews. Israel, we believe, is distinct from the Gentiles, and the Church. Israel was chosen by God to be the recipient of His divine revelation, and record it. Israel was to disseminate the Doctrine of the One True God to the nations, and to produce the Messiah. The Church is not Israel, nor does she replace Israel. Israel was born in the Abrahamic Covenant (GEN 12:1-3). The Church is a new creation made up of Jews and Gentiles and was born at Pentecost. During the current age God has sidelined Israel the nation because of Her rejection of the Messiah, and has postponed the Kingdom Age. However, He will fulfill all of His promises to Israel(ROM 9-11). Israel still has a future.

19. The Local Church

We believe the Local Church is a tangible expression of the universal Body of Christ in a particular location. Since all members of the Body of Christ are united in Christ by the same Spirit, they should live in love, harmony and unity, being intent on the same purpose. The purpose of the Church is to glorify God on the earth by making disciples out of lost men through evangelism and teaching believers the Word of God. (ACT 1:8; 1COR 12:12-27; EPH 1:20-23; EPH 4:1-6; EPH 4:12-16; MAT 28:18-20; JOH 17; COL 1:24-29)

20.  Women and Ministry

We believe that in the Body of Christ men and women stand spiritually equal and constitute the universal Church. We believe women have had, and always will have, their God-given gifts and roles within this body. Accordingly, as the primary role of believing men is to be husbands and fathers, so the primary role of women is to be wives and mothers. We encourage women to have personal ministries, but the Scriptures are clear that male leadership is called to the local church positions of Deacon, Elder, and Pastor-Teacher. No amount of debate can water down what the Bible says about the individual and distinct callings of both sexes in regard to gifts and positions. The role of Pastor-Teacher is reserved for men. (1TIM 2:9-15; 3:1-13; TIT 1:5-9; 2:1-8; 1COR 14:34-35)

21. Church Ordinances

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Ordinance of The Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion, which is to be observed until His return (1COR 11:23-26). Baptism by immersion in the First Century was a teaching aid of Doctrinal truth until the New Testament Scriptures were completed. Baptism by immersion was a ritual which proclaims truth and is now offered only at the request of each individual believer.

22. The Rapture of the Church

We believe the next prophetic event will be the Rapture of the Church when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in the air to receive unto Himself all Church Age believers. (JOH 14:1-3; TIT 2:11-14; 1COR 15:51-52; 1TH 4:13-18; PHI 3:20-21)

23. The Great Tribulation

We believe that the next major event in prophecy will be the rapture of the church. We believe that the rapture of the Church will be followed by the seven-year Great Tribulation period in fulfillment of DAN 9:24-27 and as described in REV 6:1-19:21 during which Israel will be purified, the whole world tested, and the wrath of God poured out against sin and the Christ-rejecting world. (JER 30:7; MAT 24; REV 3:10; 1THES 5:9-11) We believe that during this time Satan will inflict the greatest suffering that mankind has ever experienced. (ZEC 14:4-11; MAT 24:27-31; 2THES 1:7-10; REV 20:6)

24. The Second Coming of Christ

We believe that at the end of the Great Tribulation the Lord Jesus Christ in His second coming will personally and physically return to the earth just as He ascended with great power and glory to execute judgment and usher in the Millennial Kingdom, during which He will reign on earth for 1000 years with righteousness, justice, and peace to fulfill God’s covenant promises to Israel. (ACT 1:8-11; REV 19:11-21; EZE 37:21-28; ISA 11:9; REV 20:1-6)

25. The Eternal State

We believe that the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth will be followed by the final judgment of Satan when he is cast into the lake of fire forever. We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence (2CO 5:8; LUK 23:43; PHI 1:23) and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body, reunited, shall be associated with Him forever (1THES 4:17). But the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery (LUK 16:19-26) until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when, soul and body reunited, shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence and the glory of the Lord” (2TH 1:7-9; JUD 1:6-7; REV 20:11-15). We believe in the creation of a new heaven and new earth, and the eternal state. (Rev. 20-22; 2PE 3:1-14)