We believe that the God who inspired the Scriptures is powerful enough to preserve them in the manner for which He intended us to have them. We believe in the providential PRESERVATION of the true word of God, as well the providential INSPIRATION of the word of God; and that the purpose of this is to preserve the Infallibility of the Inspired Original Text. We believe that the providential preservation of the New Testament concentrated itself on the GREEK text within the sphere of the Greek Church through Antioch of Syria and that the text of the majority of manuscripts from this area is the providential preserved and AUTHORIZED text; the text of the majority is the standard text. This text is the Textus Receptus of the Syrian (Byzantine) extraction coming to the English speaking people through the Reformation of the Balkans and Germany. The final and outstanding representative of this text is the Authorized King James, A.V. 1611, which represents a purified, neutral, inerrant text (Beza’s fifth edition with improvements over Erasmus). We also believe the A.V. 1611 to be the absolute, final, sole authority in all matters of life, faith and practice.
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.
We believe in the Deity and the Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that all the scriptures from the first to the last, center about Him, in His person and work, and in His First and Second Coming; and hence that no chapter, even of the Old Testament is properly read or understood until it leads to Him.
We believe that the Holy Spirit as a Divine person is the source and power of all acceptable worship and service; and that He is our abiding Comforter and Helper; and that He never takes His departure from His church, nor from any of His saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy us with Him, and not with ourselves or our experiences.
We believe that Satan is a person, the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning and the great deceiver of all the nations; that he will finally be overcome by the Lord Jesus Christ as the Seed of woman, and that he will be cast into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, and finally shall be committed to the Lake of Fire with all his angels to be tormented forever and ever.
We believe the Genesis account of creation as being neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man made up of spirit, soul, and body was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.
We believe that there is a literal hell and a literal fire of hell as a place for the eternal and conscious punishment of all unsaved persons.
We believe that man, originally created by God in His image and after His likeness, fell from his high and holy estate by eating the forbidden fruit, and as a consequence of his disobedience, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted, so that his moral nature was not only grievously injured by the fall, but he totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins and subject to the power of Satan.
We believe that this spiritual death or total corruption of human nature has been transmitted to the entire race of men, the Man Christ Jesus alone excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially bad, being enmity against God, and incapable by any educational process whatsoever of subjection to His law.
We believe that owing to the universal death and depravity in sin, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless born again; and that no degree of reformation however great, no attainment in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no humanitarian and philanthropic schemes and societies however useful can help the sinner take even one step toward Heaven; but a new nature imparted by the Holy Spirit through the word is absolutely essential to salvation.
We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin and a curse for us, dying in our room and stead; and that no repentance, no feelings, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any church or of all the churches that have existed since the days of the apostles can add in the very least to the value of that precious blood, or to the merits of that finished work, wrought for us by Him, who united in His person true and proper deity with perfect and sinless humanity.
We believe that salvation is the unmerited gift of God given to man by grace and received by repentance and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. We believe that the shed blood of JESUS CHRIST and His resurrection provided the only grounds for justification and salvation for all who believe; and only such as receive JESUS CHRIST are born of THE HOLY SPIRIT, and thus become children of God.
We believe that all the redeemed are kept by GOD’S power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that it is a privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s word; whoever, the word forbids the misuse of Christian liberty as an occasion to sin.
We believe that we are called with a holy calling to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; and so to live in the Spirit that we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature through the power of the indwelling Holy spirit and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural.
We believe that all the saved shall live in a manner such as not to bring reproach on the Savior and Lord; that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded by God; that each member shall be separated from the world and should show this in action and dress; therefore, the dress of women members should be consistent with scriptural prerequisites. Any woman in leadership capacity (choir, nursery, teaching, pianist, organist, assistants, etc.) shall be consistent in dress in the manner set forth in the scriptures. No one shall serve in any leadership capacity who partakes of alcoholic beverages, uses tobacco or any drugs, etc. Each person shall dress appropriately and modestly as benefits one who walks in the image of God.
We believe that our ministry is one of a faithful witness to all persons; teaching them in the Gospels so as “to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God; that they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by the faith that is in me…”
We are persuaded that we are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; therefore, separation from others whose teaching are contrary to the direct, clear and revealed word of God, is to be strictly adhered to.
We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in Christ for salvation, do, at death, immediately pass into His presence, 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 in the glory; and that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in hell 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 torment from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.
We believe that the world will not be converted during the present dispensation, but is fast ripening for judgement, while there will be a fearful apostasy in the professing Christian body and that the Lord Jesus Christ will come to redeem his church before the Tribulation and shall return at the end of the Tribulation to execute wrath and judgement and to introduce the millennial age, when Israel shall be restored to their own land and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, and that his personal and premillennial advent is the blessed hope set before us in the Gospel for which we should be constantly looking. While the Lord tarries, He has left us a commission to be His witnesses, and to preach the Gospel of the Grace of God to every creature.
We believe that the church is obligated by the word to carry the Gospel forth to all mankind. We shall endeavor to set up and support a home and foreign mission program with our prayers, offerings, and all other means.
We believe in the authority of the local church and its separation from political and state entanglements; that the local church is taught to be a self-governing autonomous body, separate from the state or ecclesiastical interference through religio-politico bosses.
We believe in the unity of all true believers in the church which is the Body of Christ, which was established on the day of Pentecost, and that all believers, from Pentecost to the Rapture, both Jews and Gentiles, are added to this church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the exact time that they trust in Jesus Christ as Savior.
We believe that this church is manifested 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 in accordance with the Pauline revelation; exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His word; and that its officers are pastors and deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the scripture. We believe the true mission of the church is for the edification, perfection, exhortation and comfort of its members in spiritual matters; the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; that the one and only head and shepherd of the local church is the God-called and spirit-filled pastor, just as Jesus Christ is the Head and Chief Shepherd over the entire church; that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel; that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; and that on all matters of membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
We believe the gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12 are given, today, for the ministry to all parts of the body of Christ with the exception of those gifts which are specifically called “signs”. Those gifts which are signs, wonders, or miracles were given by the Spirit during the beginning of the church in the book of Acts for these purposes: (1) to identify an “apostle”; (2) to get the Jews to listen to the gospel or to believe a new revelation; (3) to confirm the word of scripture that was being spoken by the apostles, but not yet written in form as we have the scriptures today. Since there are NO apostles present today and that the gospel ministry is almost totally to the Gentile and we have a complete Bible, as reject “speaking in tongues” and “supernatural healing” as found in the apostolic ministry (we believe God heals today in accordance with His word and divine will through faith and confession) and any other sign or wonder as heresy and “lying signs and wonders” produced by Satanic power in these last days to deceive the whole world.
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water to show forth our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior with its effect in our death to sin and our resurrection to a new life. We also believe that only one baptism is necessary in the life of a believer, hence we will not accept any baptism before salvation.
We believe that the Lord’s Supper or Communion is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. The Lord’s Table is not a barrier to separate believers, but rather a sacred place where all true Christians meet in his remembrance; therefore, we do not adhere to any “closed” communion.