Our Beliefs
1. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God, are inerrant, and that they are the absolute and final authority in faith and life (II Timothy 3:16-17). We believe the King James Version is the only accurate translation of God’s inspired Word for English speaking people today.
2. We believe in the trinity of the Godhead, One God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (I John 5:7-8 and Ephesians 4:4-6).
3. We believe in the absolute Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 10:30), His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23), His perfect humanity (that is, it was impossible for our Lord to have sinned – Hebrews 4:15), His vicarious death through the shedding of His blood for the remission of sins (Colossians 1:12-12), His resurrections and ascension (I Corinthians 15:1-5, Matthew 28:6-9, Acts 1:9), His role as mediator (Romans 8:34 and I Timothy 2:5), and in His literal, personal, return to Earth (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; I Corinthians 15:51-52; Revelation 19:11-16).
4. We believe in the personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-13 and I Corinthians 2:9-13).
5. We believe in the reality and personality of Satan (II Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2, Isaiah 14:12-16).
6. We believe that man was created in the image of God (not by any form of evolution – Genesis 1:27); that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. We further believe that all human beings are born with a sin nature. (Romans 5:12-21).
7. We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in virtue of His redemptive work on the cross and that water baptism, the Lord’s Supper, nor any rite, ceremony, or work can avail one whit for the sinner’s salvation. Christ alone saves (Ephesians 2:8-9).
8. We believe that the invisible church, or body of Christ, includes all regenerated persons by the revealing of the Mystery by Paul the apostle. The supreme mission of the church is the worldwide commission as set forth by Paul the apostle in II Corinthians 5:14-21 and Ephesians 3:1-12.
9. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just (I Thessalonians 8:15-18) and the unjust (Revelation 20:12-15).
10. We believe in the eternal security of the believer (Romans 8:38-39, Ephesians 1:13, Colossians 1:13).
11. We believe in the eternal condemnation of the unregenerate (Luke 16:19-27).
12. We believe all saved persons are members of the body of Christ by divine baptism (I Corinthians 12:13). By spiritual baptism every member of the body of Christ is placed into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Water baptism was a Jewish ritual under the kingdom economy and has no scriptural command for this day of grace (I Corinthians 1:17). Therefore, we conclude the one baptism of Romans 6:1-4, Ephesians 4:5, and Colossians 2:11-13 is spiritual baptism.
13. We believe the spiritual gifts of Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4 are not available today. God gave the early church these gifts for a reason and for a season. The reason was to edify and perfect the saints until the revelation of the mystery was complete (I Corinthians 14:3-5 and Ephesians 4:12-13). Upon the completion of the revelation of the mystery, which completed the canon of scripture (Colossians 1:25), the reason for the gifts ended. The only thing needed today for the edification and perfection of the saints is the completed Word of God (I Corinthians 13:8-13 and II Timothy 3:16-17).
14.We believe in dispensational Bible study, i.e., God has temporarily set aside national Israel with the earthly promise of a kingdom and gave this dispensation of grace heavenly promises as revealed only by Paul the apostle (Romans 11:7-12 and Ephesians 1:3). These dispensations are rightly divided by the Biblical words, heaven and earth. God’s program on the earth involved the nation of Israel, and His program for heaven involves the church, the Body of Christ.
15. While there are no clear or specific verses about the beginning of the Body of Christ, we believe the church, the body of Christ had its historical beginning with the separated ministry of Paul the apostle in Acts 13. In Acts 13, Jew and Gentile become equal and we find the first occurrence of Gentile salvation without a Jew. Acts 13 records the first message of justification by faith without the law. Although true for Abraham (Genesis 15:6) and all believing Old Testament saints, we believe that this message was never revealed to man before the ministry of Paul (Romans 16:25-26, Ephesians 3:1-5, Galatians 1:25-27).
16. The authority for the formation of this local assembly comes directly from the Word of God. All local assemblies that are part of the Church the body of Christ are independent, self-governing churches. Paul the apostle’s epistles do not reveal the existence of any synod, conference, association, denomination, or any other form of human organization with authority over the local church leaders. Paul the Apostle gives very specific guidelines for selecting local church leaders (I Timothy 3:1-13).
