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Beliefs
The Holy Scriptures:
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the
verbally and plenary inspired Word of God. The Scriptures in the
original manuscripts are inerrant, infallible and God-breathed, and,
therefore, are the final authority for faith and life.
God:
We believe there is one and only one living and true God. He is an
intelligent, spiritual and personal being, the Creator, Redeemer,
Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. We believe that Christ is the
eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was
conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. His death on
the cross made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was
raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His
disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion.
Salvation: We believe that salvation is
the gift of God
brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the
forgiveness of our sins.
The Church: We believe that a New
Testament church of the
Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are
associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel,
observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings
exercising the rights and privileges invested in them by His Word, and
seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.
This church is an autonomous body, operating
through democratic
processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation,
members are equally responsible. Its' Scriptural officers are pastors
and deacons.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the
body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all ages (Acts
13:14, 15:19-31, I Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:22-23; Titus
1:5-11).
The Second Advent of Christ: We believe
in that "blessed
hope", the personal, imminent return of Christ who will rapture His
church prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the
Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return, with His
saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom which was promised
to the nation of Israel (Daniel 2:31-45; I Thessalonians 4:13-18;
Revelation 19:11-16, 20:1-6).
The Eternal State: 1. We believe in the
bodily
resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to
judgement and everlasting punishment. We believe that the souls of the
redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord,
where, in conscious bliss, they await the first resurrection, when
spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the
Lord (Matthew 25:46; Luke 23:42; John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; II
Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17;
Revelation 20:4-6, 1-13).
2. We believe that the souls of
unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment
until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited, they
shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into
the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting
conscious punishment and torment (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48;
Luke 16:19-26; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15).
The personality of Satan: We believe
that Satan is a
fallen angel, the author of sin and the cause of the Fall of Man; that
he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be
eternally punished in the Lake of Fire (Job 1:6; Isaiah 14:12-17;
Matthew 4:2-11, 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
Abortion: We believe that human life
begins at conception
and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes
the unjustified, unexcused taking of an unborn human life. Abortion
used as gender selection, birth or population control is unscriptural
and is against the will of God (Job 3:16; Psalms 51:5, 139:14-16;
Isaiah 44:24, 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5, 20:15-18, Luke 1:44). |
