We
believe that the Bible is God speaking in man’s language, and in the original
writings is exactly as He gave it, word for word,
without any error whatsoever.
It has been preserved by God
to be the authoritative standard for every
age and every life.
We
believe that God exists in three persons:
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that
these three are eternal and are one.
We
also believe that God is the sole Creator of the universe.
We
believe that Jesus Christ in the flesh was both God and man, that He was born of
a virgin and that he lived a sinless life,
in which He taught and did mighty
works and signs
exactly as revealed in the four gospels.
We believe that He was crucified,
dying as a penalty for our sins,
and
was bodily raised from the dead on the third day as the scriptures declare.
Later, He ascended into heaven where He is Head of the Church and
intercedes for believers.
From
there He will come again personally, bodily and visibly to this earth to set
up an earthly kingdom, afterward to reign forever as King in His universe.
We
believe that all are sinners and are guilty before God, and as such are worthy
of both physical and spiritual death.
We
believe that since, by in His death, the Lord Jesus Christ
satisfied all the
demands of God’s law,
redeeming mankind by shedding His blood and assuming our
curse,
men, women and children can have a just standing before God.
That is, they can become true Christians.
The single basis for this standing is the death of Jesus Christ
and an
individual’s personal faith in Him.
We
believe that salvation, with its forgiveness of sins,
includes the receiving of
a new nature and the assurance of eternal life.
It is entirely apart from good works such as baptism or church
membership,
but is purely by God’s grace.
We
believe that true believer cannot ever forfeit his standing with God.
However, sin may interrupt the joy of his fellowship with God
and bring
the discipline of a loving Heavenly Father.
We
believe that the Holy Spirit is a person,
that He is God and has all the
attributes of God.
We also believe
that He lives in all believers
and that by His ministry every Christian is made
to be part
of God’s eternal family, is marked off as truly God’s possession,
and is specifically and uniquely gifted for Christian service.
The Holy Spirit also fills or empowers the believer, in response to
confession of sin and yieldedness,
then He teaches and guides the believer for
effective Christian service.
We
believe that all genuine believers are together part of the true Church,
which
in scripture is referred to as the body of Christ, and that a local church is
intended to be a visible expression of this body.
We
believe that Christians, who die,
depart to be with Christ in conscious blessedness.
Some day Jesus will
come again and take away His living people from the earth.
Then all Christians will have glorified bodies
similar to His resurrected
body and share in His glory.
They
will reign with Him forever.
We believe that
Satan is a personality,
the archenemy of God and our defeated foe.
We
believe that those who refuse the offer
of God’s gracious gift of salvation are doomed
to suffer eternal conscious separation from Him.
