The Scriptures

All Scripture, Old and New Testament, is inspired by God. This refers to the original autographs as written by the prophets and the apostles. Thus, the Bible is inerrant and without mistakes in the original words. We believe all Scripture points to the Lord Jesus Christ and reveals the mind of God to man and the only way of Salvation is through Christ. The Scriptures also are the only guide for our practical, moral and spiritual instruction (Mark 12:26, 36, 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16, 17:2-3, 18:28, 26:22-23, 28:23; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 2:13, 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21).

The Godhead

The Godhead eternally exists in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and that these three are one God, having the precise same nature, attributes, and perfections worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience (Mt. 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).

Angels, Fallen and Unfallen

God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings known as angels; the one, “Lucifer, son of the morning”—the highest in rank—sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan; that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom became demons and are active as his agents and associates in the prosecution of his unholy purposes. Others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; 1 Tim 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6).

Man, Created and the Fallen

Man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God. Afterward man sinned and as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, that he became subject to the power of the devil. This spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man (Gen. 1:26, 2:17, 6:5; Ps. 14:1-3, 51:5; Jer. 17:9; Eph. 2:1-6).

God's Eternal Purpose

According to the “eternal purpose” of God (Eph. 3:11) salvation in the divine reckoning is always “by grace through faith,” and rests upon the basis of the shed blood of Christ. God has always been gracious, regardless of the dispensation, but that man has not at all times been under an administration or stewardship of grace as is true in the present dispensation (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2, 3:9; Col. 1:25; 1 Tim. 1:4).

The First Advent of Christ

As provided and purposed by God and as pre-announced in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this world that He might manifest God to men, fulfill prophecy and become the Redeemer of a lost world. To this end, He was of the virgin, and received a human body and a sinless human nature (Luke 1:30-35; John 1:18, 3:16; Heb. 4:15).

Fulfillment of Prophecy

In fulfillment of prophecy, He came first to Israel as her Messiah-King, and being rejected of the nation, He gave His life as a ransom for all according to the eternal counsels of God (John 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Tim. 2:6). According to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the same body, though now gloried, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrected body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers (John 20:20; Phil. 3:20-21).

Salvation Only Through Christ

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 attainment in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administered, can help the sinner take even one step toward heaven. It is a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, that is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those thus saved are the sons of God.

The Extent of Salvation

The saved one may have occasion to grow in the realization of his blessing and to know a fuller measure of divine power through the yielding of his life more fully to God. He is, as soon as he is saved, in possession of every spiritual blessing and is absolutely complete in Christ. Therefore, in no way required by God, to seek a so-called “second blessing,” or a “second work of grace” (1 Cor. 3:21-23; Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:10; 1 John 4:17, 5:11-12).

Eternal Security

God keeps eternally those He has elected and called to salvation and that none are lost. God will, however, chasten and correct His own in infinite love; but having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart from all human merit, God cannot fail. He will present every one faultless in Christ, and on His merits, before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son (John 5:24, 10:28, 13-1; Eph. 1:3-17; 1 John 5:13). Believers can have assurance that they are the children of God and thus, are eternally kept. This assurance gives confidence and helps the believer grow inner peace and maturity (Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:3-17).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the 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. He dwells in every believer, and by His baptism, unites all to Christ in one body, and that He, as the indwelling One, is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service (John 14:16-17, 16:7-15; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 2:22; 2 Thess. 2:7). We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or of the filling of the Spirit (Acts 4:8, 31; Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 13:8).

The Great Commission

It is the explicit message of our Lord Jesus Christ to those whom He has saved that they are sent forth by Him into the world to make Christ known to the entire world (Mt. 28:18-19; John 17:18; Acts 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:17, 2:11).

The Blessed Hope

The next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord in the air. He shall receive to Himself into heaven both His own who are alive and remain until His coming, and also all who have fallen asleep in Jesus. This event is the blessed hope set before us in the Scriptures, and for this we should be constantly looking (John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14).

The Tribulation

The transition of the church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 6:1-19, 21), which for the church, the body of Christ, will be a time of judgment on the whole earth, at the end of which the times of the Gentiles will be brought to a close.

The latter half of this period will be the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:7), which our Lord called the great tribulation (Mt. 24:15-21). Universal righteousness will not be realized prior to the second coming of Christ, but that the world is day by day ripening for judgment and that the age will end with a fearful apostasy.

The Second Coming of Christ

The period of great tribulation in the earth will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth as He went. The millennial age will follow, with Satan bound; Israel will be restored to her own land and the Abrahamic Covenant will be fulfilled (Deut. 30:1-10; Isa. 11:9; Ezek. 37:21; Jer. 31:31-on; Mt. 24:15-25, 46; Acts 15:16-17; Rom. 8:19-23, 11:25-27; Rev. 20:1-3).