What We Believe

The Bible

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Bible, as it is in truth, the Word of God… (I Thessalonians 2:13). We believe in verbal, plenary inspiration in the original writings, and God’s preservation of His pure words to every generation (II Timothy 3:16, Psalms 12:6-8). The Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and the Received Text of the New Testament (Textus Receptus) are those texts of the original languages we accept and use; the King James Version of the Bible is the only English version we accept and use. The Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice.

We believe that the King James Bible should be used in all preaching services, in the Sunday School, in all Christian literature and publications, in all memory work, and in all other places; that all the verses in the King James Bible belong in the Old and the New Testaments because they represent words that were in the original Texts; and that, for an exhaustive study of any of the words or verses in the Bible, the student should return directly to the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text and the Traditional Received Greek Text rather than to any other translation for help.

The Godhead

We believe in the Deity, unity, equality, and eternality of the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-19; John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 1 John 5:7-8); that these Three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections (Mark 12:29; Acts 5:3-4; Revelation 1:4-6); that They are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience; that this Triune God is the One and only living and true God (Exodus 20:2-3; 1 Corinthians 8:6); that He is everlasting, immutable, of infinite power, wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth (Revelation 4:11); and that He is the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible; subsisting in Three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity (Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:15-16).

The Lord Jesus Christ

We believe in the essential, absolute, eternal Deity, and the real and proper, but perfect and sinless, humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ; that Christ is the eternal Son of God, and God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father (John 1:1-2); that when the fulness of time was come, He took upon Him man’s nature, with all the essential properties thereof, including a perfect human spirit, soul, and body, yet without sin; that He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin, of her substance; that the two whole, perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and Manhood, were inseparably joined together in one Person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; that this Person is very God and very Man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man (Philippians 2:5-8); that, on the human side, Christ became and remained a perfect man (Luke 2:40); that He was without sin throughout His life; that He could not sin; that He retained His absolute deity, being at the same time very God and very man; and that His earthlife sometimes functioned within the sphere of that which was human and sometimes within the sphere of that which was divine.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ in His human nature thus united to the Divine, was sanctified, anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure; that He had within Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; that it pleased the Father that in Him all fulness should dwell; that He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth; and that He was thoroughly furnished to execute the office of Mediator and Surety.

The Blood and Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ

We believe that the doctrine of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is of great importance in the Bible; that Christ’s Blood has been under attack in centuries past as well as in recent decades by modernist apostates, Mary Baker Eddy, R. B. Thieme, Jr., and others; that Christ’s Blood is not a mere figure of speech or “metonym” to be equal to “death”; that Old Testament sacrifices had two distinct parts: (1) the death of the sacrifice; and (2) the application of the blood of the sacrifice; that death was not sufficient, but the blood had to be applied properly (Exodus 12:6-7; Leviticus 16:6, 14, 15); that it is the blood that makes “atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11); that Christ’s Blood was “shed for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28); that Christ’s Blood “purchased” the Church (Acts 20:28); that Christ’s Blood was from God, as to its source, hence, it is Divine (Acts 20:28); that Christ’s Blood provides redemption (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9); that Christ’s Blood is incorruptible (1 Peter 1:18-19); that Christ’s Blood propitiates God the Father; that Christ’s Blood justifies us (Romans 5:9); that Christ’s Blood brings us near to God (Ephesians 2:13); that Christ’s Blood gives us peace (Colossians 1:20); that Christ’s Blood provides forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:22); that Christ’s Blood provides reconciliation to God (Colossians 1:20); that Christ’s Blood purges the conscience (Hebrews 9:14), purifies the heavenly things (Hebrews 9:23), cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7), and washes us from our sins (Revelation 1:5; 7:14); that some of Christ’s Blood was taken by Him to heaven and placed on the heavenly mercy seat thus cleansing the heavenly tabernacle (Hebrews 9:12-14, 18-24; 10:19-22); that Christ’s Blood is now in heaven as the “Blood of sprinkling” (Hebrews 12:22-24); that Christ’s Blood gives us boldness and access to the holiest in heaven (Hebrews 10:19); that Christ’s Blood makes us perfect in every good work to do His will (Hebrews 13:21); and that Christ’s Blood overcomes Satan (Revelation 12:11).

We believe that Christ was made like unto us in all things, sin and its consequences only excepted, from which He was clearly void, both in His flesh and in His spirit; that in fulfillment of prophecy He came first to Israel as her Messiah-King, and that, being rejected of that nation, He, according to the eternal counsels of God, gave His life as a ransom for all (John 1:11; Acts 2:23; 1 Timothy 2:6.); that He came to be the Lamb without spot, Who, by the shedding of His incorruptible Blood in the sacrifice of Himself once made, (1 Peter 1:18-19; Acts 20:28) takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29); that in Him is no sin (1 John 3:5); that all the rest of us, although born again in Christ by faith, offend in many things; and that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (I John 1:10).

We believe that, in infinite love for the lost, Christ voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb whose shed Blood took away the sin of the world (John 1:29); that He bore the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of God must impose (Romans 3:25-26); that His death was, therefore, substitutionary in the most absolute sense, “the just for the unjust” (1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:14; Hebrews 10:5-14); that by His sacrificial death and the shedding of His Blood He became the Savior of the lost.

The Bodily Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ

We believe that, according to the Scriptures, Christ arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died (Matthew 28:6-7; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-6, 39-40; John 20:20, 27; Acts 2:27-31; 5:30; 13:34-37; 1 Corinthians 15:4); and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers. (Philippians 3:20.)

We believe that in departing from the earth in His resurrection body, Christ ascended into Heaven (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; John 20:17; Acts 1:9-10); that there in heaven, He presented His Blood on the Divine Mercy Seat in fulfillment of the Day of Atonement type (Leviticus 16:14-15, 17; John 20:17; Hebrews 9:7, 12-14, 22, 24; 12:22-24); and that He was accepted of His Father and that His acceptance is a final assurance to us that His redeeming work was perfectly accomplished. (Hebrews 1:3.)

We believe that, in Heaven, He now sits at the right hand of God the Father as our Great High Priest, interceding for His own (Mark 16:19; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 1:3; 2:17; 5:9-10; 7:25; 9:25; 12:2; 1 John 2:1); that He became Head over all things to the church which is His body; and that, in this ministry He ceases not to intercede and advocate for the saved.

We believe that Christ will return in this same body to fulfill all the Scriptures pertaining to the events surrounding His Second Coming (Acts 1:9-11); that He will come first in the Rapture of the Church before the Tribulation of seven years (1 Thessalonians 4:16); that He will then return in power and glory to set up the Millennium as the Messiah of Israel (Zechariah 14:4; Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8; Revelation 1:7; 3:21).

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God; that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in creation (Genesis 1:1-3); that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the blessed Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost according to the Divine promise; that He dwells in every believer; that, as the Indwelling One, He is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service; that He never takes His departure from the church, nor from the feeblest of the saints (John 14:16-17; 16:7; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 2:22); that He is ever present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy believers with Him and not with themselves nor with their experiences (John 16:14); that His abode in the world in this special sense will cease when Christ comes to receive His own at the completion of the church in the Rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

We believe that, in this age, certain well-defined ministries are committed to the Holy Spirit, and that it is the duty of every Christian to understand them and to be adjusted to them in his own life and experience; that He restrains evil in the world to the measure of the divine will; that He convicts the world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11); that He regenerates all believers (John 3:6); that He indwells and anoints all who are saved (Matthew 28:20; John 14:16-17; Acts 5:32; Romans 8:9, 15, 23; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 John 2:20-27); that He seals believers unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30); that He baptizes into the one body of Christ of all who are saved (Mark 1:8; John 1:33; Acts 11:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13); that He intercedes for the believers (Romans 8:26-27); and that He fills for power, leading, bearing witness, teaching, and service those among the saved who are yielded to Him and who are subjects to His will (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; John 14:26; Acts 4:8, 31; Romans 8:14, 16; Ephesians 5:18).

We believe that some gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues and miraculous healings were temporary; that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or the filling of the Spirit; and that the deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection (1 Corinthians 13:8-12).

We believe the Charismatic Tongues Movement is an unscriptural error relating to God the Holy Spirit and is not of God; that genuine tongues in the New Testament were authentic languages rather than the present ecstatic utterances which are counterfeit and spurious; that the sign gifts such as speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, special knowledge, and others, were all sign gifts which were manifested during the Apostolic age; that all such sign gifts ceased with the completion of the New Testament canon around 90 or 100 A.D. (1 Corinthians 13:8-12); that this movement seeks to unite apostates with believers in an unscriptural, ecumenical movement; and that true believers should separate from the Charismatic Tongues Movement immediately and completely. (2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1; Ephesians 5:11)

We believe that Divine, enabling gifts for service are bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon all who are saved (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11); that, while there is a diversity of gifts, each believer is energized by the same Spirit; that each believer is called to his own divinely appointed service as the Spirit may will; that in the Apostolic church there were certain gifted men–apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers–who were appointed by God for the perfecting of the saints unto their work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-15); that today there are no apostles or prophets, but there are still some men who are especially called of God to be evangelists, pastors and teachers; and that it is to the fulfilling of His will and to His eternal glory that these gifted men shall be sustained and encouraged in their service for God; and that these gifts of evangelists, pastors and teachers are not given to women (I Corinthians 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-14).

Creation

We believe the Biblical account of the creation of the physical universe, angels, and man ex nihilo (Genesis 1-2; Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:3; and that this account is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of the Triune God in six literal solar days without any evolutionary process, either naturalistic or theistic. (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31)

The Fall of Man

We believe that man was created in innocence, in the image and likeness of God, and under the law of his Maker (Genesis 1:26); that by voluntary transgression Adam fell from his state of innocence (Genesis 3:1-6); that all men sinned in him (Romans 5:12, 19); and that because of this all men are totally depraved, are partakers of Adam’s fallen nature, are sinners by nature and conduct (Romans 3:10-19); and that all men are under just condemnation without defense or excuse (Romans 1:18, 20).

Salvation Through Christ Alone

We believe that the salvation of sinners is Divinely initiated and wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of Jesus Christ,, the eternal Son of God (Jonah 2:9); that Christ, by the appointment of the Father, voluntarily took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin (Matthew 18:11; Philippians 2:7-8; Hebrews 2:14-17); that He honored the Divine law by His personal obedience, thus qualifying Himself to be our Savior; that He shed His incorruptible Blood in His death (Leviticus 17:11; 1 Peter 1:18-19); that He fully satisfied the just demands of a holy and righteous God regarding sin (Galatians 3:13); that His Blood sacrifice consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr (Matthew 26:28); and that this sacrifice was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His own body on the tree (Isaiah 53:4-7; Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 1 John 4:10).

We believe that, owing to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; that no degree of reformation however great, no attainments in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administered, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven (Isaiah 64:6; John 3:5, 18; Galatians 6:15; Philippians 3:4-9); that a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation (John 3:16; Acts 15:11; 1 Peter 1:23; Ephesians 2:8-9); that only those thus saved are sons of God; that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ (Leviticus 17:11; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19); that He was made to be sin and was made a curse for us, dying in our room and stead (Romans 5:6-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Titus 3:5); and that no repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no “lordship salvation,” no submission to the rules and regulations of any church, nor all the churches that have existed since the days of the Apostles, can add in the very least degree to the value of the Blood, or to the merit of the finished work wrought for us by Him who united in His Person true and proper Deity with perfect and sinless humanity (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18).

We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ (John 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; 5:24; 6:29; Acts 13:39; 16:31; Romans 1:16-17; 3:22, 24-26; 4:5; 10:4; Galatians 3:22); that repentance is a vital part of believing; that repentance is in no way, in itself, a separate and independent condition of salvation; and that no other acts, such as confession, “lordship salvation,” baptism, prayer, or faithful service, is to be added to believing as a condition of salvation.

We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again (John 3:3, 5; Ephesians 2:1, 5; 1 John 5:1); that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 2:13; John 3:8); that it happens the instant a person believes on and receives the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior (Acts 16:30-31); that it is instantaneous and not a process (John 5:24); that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God (Romans 3:23; 6:23); that the new creation is brought about by our sovereign God when we exercise personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that this faith comes about under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in connection with our voluntary faith in the gospel of Christ; that its proper evidence appears in a transformed and holy life.

We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises faith in Christ which is illustrated and described as such in the New Testament, he passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual life, and from the old creation into the new (John 5:24; 2 Corinthians 5:17); that, being justified from all things, accepted before the Father according as Christ His Son is accepted, loved as Christ is loved, having his place and portion as linked to Him and one with Him forever (John 17:23); that, though the saved one may have occasion to grow in the realization of His blessings and to know a fuller measure of divine power through the yielding of his life more fully to God; that he is, as soon as he is saved, in possession of every spiritual blessing and absolutely complete in Christ (Acts 13:39; Romans 5:1; 1 Corinthians 3:21-23; Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:4; Colossians 2:10; 1 John 5:1112); and that the believer is in no way required by God to seek a so-called “second blessing” or a “second work of grace.”

The Eternal Security of the Believer

We believe that all who are truly born again are kept by God the Father and God the Son; that, because of the eternal purpose of God toward the objects of His love, because of His freedom to exercise grace toward the meritless on the ground of the propitiatory Blood of Christ (Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7), because of the very nature of the divine gift of eternal life, because of the present and unending intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven (Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2), because of the immutability of the unchangeable covenants of God, because of the regenerating, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are saved (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), we and all true believers everywhere, once saved shall be kept saved forever (Philippians 1:6; John 10:27-30; Romans 8:35-39; Jude 1:1; John 5:24; 13:1; 14:16-17; 17:11; Romans 8:29; 1 John 5:13; Jude 1:24); that God is a holy and righteous Father; that, since He cannot overlook the sin of His children, He will, when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them in infinite love (Hebrews 12:5-7); and that, having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart from all human merit, He, Who cannot fail, will in the end present every one of them faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

The Church

We believe that a local church is an organized congregation of immersed believers, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word (1 Corinthians 11:2; Acts 2:41-42; 20:17-28); that its officers are pastors and deacons, whose qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures (I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11); that the true mission of the church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity rather than the social gospel or social action (Romans 15:26); 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 Superintendent of the church is Christ through the Holy Spirit; that believers should not sue one another in secular courts (1 Corinthians 6:1); that it is Scriptural for true churches to help one another, and to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel; and that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; that on all matters of membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, and of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.

We believe the Church Age, or the Dispensation of Grace began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1); and that there is a unity of all New Testament believers in the Church which is the Body of Christ as members of the family of God (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 1:22-23; 3:1-6; 4:11; 5:23; Colossians 1:18; Acts 15:13-18).