STATEMENT OF FAITH
We believe that at death the spirits and souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence and there remain in conscious` bliss until the resurrection of the glorified body when Christ comes for His own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but the spirits and souls of the unbelieving remain after death conscious of condemnation and in misery until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power (Luke 16:19–26; 23:42; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 2 Thess. 1:7–9; Jude 6–7; Rev. 20:11–15).
We believe that all the Scriptures center about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him. We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical 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).
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience (Matt. 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).
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that 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, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Isa. 14:12–17; Ezek. 28:11–19; 1 Tim. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6).
We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that, under the permission of God, he, through subtlety, led our first parents into transgression, thereby accomplishing their moral fall and subjecting them and their posterity to his own power; that he is the enemy of God and the people of God, opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped; and that he who in the beginning said, “I will be like the most High,” in his warfare appears as an angel of light, even counterfeiting the works of God by fostering religious movements and systems of doctrine, which systems in every case are characterized by a denial of the efficacy of the blood of Christ and of salvation by grace through faith alone (Gen. 3:1–19; Rom. 5:12–14; 2 Cor. 4:3–4; 11:13–15; Eph. 6:10–12; 2 Thess. 2:4; 1 Tim. 4:1–3).
We believe that Satan was judged at the Cross, though not then executed, and that he, a usurper, now rules as the “god of this world;” that, at the second coming of Christ, Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand years, and after the thousand years he will be loosed for a little season and then “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,” where he “shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Col. 2:15; Rev. 20:1–3, 10).
We believe that a great company of angels kept their holy estate and are before the throne of God, from whence they are sent forth as ministering spirits to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Luke 15:10; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 1:14; Rev. 7:12).
We believe that man was made lower than the angels; and that, in His incarnation, Christ took for a little time this lower place that He might lift the believer to His own sphere above the angels (Heb. 2:6–10; Psalm 8).
We believe that God created the heavens and the earth, even as the Scripture describes, in six days and six nights. We believe that where Scripture clashes with modern thinking, science, philosophy, religion, or understanding, that Scripture as literally written and naturally understood must always take precedence (Genesis 1 and 2; Proverbs 21:30; I Timothy 6:20; Hebrews 11:3)
We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine grace through faith (Gen. 1:26; 2:17; 6:5; Pss. 14:1–3; 51:5; Jer. 17:9; John 3:6; 5:40; 6:35; Rom. 3:10–19; 8:6–7; Eph. 2:1–3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8).
As believers in Christ, we, like the apostle Paul, are given a “dispensation[1] of the grace of God” for the nations, “which[2] in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as[3] it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.” (Ephesians 3, especially 3:1-7)
We believe that according to the “eternal purpose” of God (Eph. 3:11) salvation in the divine reckoning is always “by grace through faith” in Christ, and has always rested upon the basis of the shed blood of Christ. We believe that God has always been gracious, and that man has at all times been saved by “grace through faith” in Christ, as is true in this present age (cf. Romans 1:17 with Habakkuk 2:4; 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; 3:9; Col. 1:25; 1 Tim. 1:4).
We believe that it has always been true that “without faith it is impossible to please” God (Heb. 11:6), and that the principle of faith was prevalent in the lives of all the Old Testament saints. We believe that it was historically possible that they should have had as the conscious object of their faith the incarnate, crucified Son, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), and that it is evident that they did comprehend as we do, at least to the required extent, that the sacrifices depicted the person and work of Christ (Genesis 3:15; 4:1ff.; Genesis 22; Psalm 2; Judges 13:15–23; Luke 2:25-35).
We believe also that they did understand the redemptive significance of the prophecies or types concerning the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet. 1:10–12); therefore, we believe that their faith toward God in Christ was manifested in works as is shown by the long record, for instance, in Hebrews 11:1–40. We believe further that “by works faith was made perfect” (James 2:22), and that their faith had already been counted unto them for righteousness. Thus, being righteous by faith, they performed their righteous acts by faith, and thus fulfilled the Scriptural promise of salvation by grace through faith alone (cf. Rom. 4:3 with Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:5–8; Heb. 11:7; James 2:17-26).
We believe that, as provided and purposed by God and as preannounced 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 born of the virgin, became flesh, and was without sin. (Luke 1:30–35; John 1:14, 18; 3:16; I Timothy 3:16; Heb. 4:15).
We believe that, on the human side, He became and remained a perfect man, being sinless throughout His life; He emptied Himself of being in the form of God so that He might function within the sphere of that which was human. Christ did this in order to prove what we as men and women could be and do, in and through Him, as He was and did through His Heavenly Father, through faith, while He was in His fleshly body here on earth. He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead“ (Luke 2:40; John 1:1–2; Romans 1:1-4; Galatians 2:20; Phil. 2:5–11; II Peter 1:3,4).
We believe 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 2:22–24; 1 Tim. 2:6).
We believe that in infinite love for the lost, He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took away the sin of the world, bearing the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of God must impose. His death was therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense—the just for the unjust—and by His death He became the Savior of the lost (John 1:29; Rom. 3:25–26; 2 Cor. 5:14; Heb. 10:5–14; 1 Pet. 3:18).
We believe that, according to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers (John 20:20; Phil. 3:20–21).
We believe that, on departing from the earth, He was accepted of His Father and that His acceptance is a final assurance to us that His redeeming work was perfectly accomplished (Heb. 1:3; Heb. 10).
We believe that He became Head over all things to the church which is His body, and in this ministry He ceases not to intercede and advocate for the saved (Eph. 1:22–23; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1).
We believe that, owing to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; and 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; but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those thus saved are sons of God.
We believe, also, that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin and was made a curse for us, dying in our room and stead; and that no feeling, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, 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 now unites in His person true and proper deity with perfect and sinless humanity (Lev. 17:11; Isa. 64:6; Matt. 26:28; John 3:7–18; Rom. 5:6–9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 6:15; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 3:4–9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:18–19, 23).
We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through repentance and faith in Christ, and that repentance is a “change of mind” about the importance of receiving God and Christ as truly divine, the worthlessness of our own dead works, and the need to moment by moment depend upon His Spirit in order to lead a righteous life. True confession, water baptism, prayer, and faithful service are signs, fruits, and acts of true repentance and faith. (Romans 10:9,10; see also John 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; 5:24; 6:29; Acts 13:39; 16:31; Rom. 1:16–17; 3:22, 26; 4:5; 10:4; Gal. 3:22).
We believe that God created man with a will, to choose good or evil (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-13). Even though man spiritually died, as well as, later, physically, as a result of his sin, he still has a will, even in his flesh nature, that is able to choose Christ (Romans 7:18) . Through the testimony of the natural creation; the influence, enablement, and calling of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 20:16; 22:14; John 16:8-11); and the power of the Gospel, “which is come unto you, as it is in all the world (Colossians 1:6),” every man and woman, though spiritually dead, is able to respond to the call of salvation, and thus receive Christ. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17).
We believe that God, without exception, offers His free grace to all men everywhere of every age (John 3:16-16-21; II Peter 3:10-12). We believe Christ is the Savior of all men and nations, especially of those who believe. Whether or not they choose to take His salvation does not change the fact that they could have been saved if they had so chosen, for Christ provided the propitiation for their sin, as well as “for the sins of the whole world” (I Timothy 2:1-8; Hebrews 2:3; I John 2:2).
We believe that those who are saved by Christ are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 2:2) We believe the word “foreknowledge” means that God “knows before” how sinful man will ultimately choose regarding salvation offered to him or her in Christ. Christ is God’s Elect (Isaiah 42:1; I Peter 2:6), representing elect, believing Israel, His Church (Isaiah 45:4), as her believing firstborn Head (Ephesians 1:22,23; Colossians 1:15-18).
Therefore, God chooses to save any and all who will put faith in His Son, this being “the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5; see 1:3-12). Because God has preordained to save all who trust Christ, He “predestinates us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.” If He knows that we will ultimately choose Christ, and thus “life, and not death” (compare Deuteronomy 30:11-20 with Romans 10:4-13), then we not only have a predestined destination (i.e., heaven), but also a predestined new nature (Romans 8:29) as well as predestined work to do for Him (Jer. 1: 5).
We reject all such teaching that implies or holds that God’s foreknowledge of who would choose or reject Christ predetermines that person’s decision for or against Christ. We also reject the notion that the word “foreknowledge” means to “foreordain,” or anything but to “know before,” as the natural meaning of these words in the Old and New Testaments.
We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises that 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; 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. 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. He is, as soon as he is saved, in possession of every spiritual blessing and absolutely complete in Christ. As he or she grows, he or she may also seek other spiritual gifts (John 5:24; 17:23; Acts 13:39; Rom. 5:1; 1 Cor. 3:21–23; 14; 12:31; Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:10; 1 John 4:17; 5:11–12).
We believe “Christ Jesus . . . is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (I Corinthians 1:30), and that such setting-apart unto God is the believer’s by faith in Christ, even as is his righteousness. This sanctification is already complete for every saved person because his position toward God is the same as Christ’s position. Since the believer is in Christ, he is set apart unto God in same measure in which Christ is set apart unto God. We believe, however, that he retains his sin nature, which is his Adamic flesh nature. Therefore, while the standing of the Christian in Christ is perfect, his flesh is no more perfect than it was before he was saved. Thus, a believer needs to be continually “growing in grace (II Peter 3:18),” and to “be changed (II Cor. 3:18)” by the unhindered power of the Spirit, as he or she “walks in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16).” We believe also that when the child of God shall see his Lord, he or she shall be “like Him, for we shall see him as he is (I John 3:2).” (John 17:17; 2 Cor. 3:18; 7:1; Galatians 5:16 -26; Eph. 4:24; 5:25–27; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 10:10, 14; 12:10).
We believe that the whole world is under the Law of God, thus making it guilty before God (Romans 3:19). We also believe that “not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified (Matthew 5:21-48; Romans 2:13).” However, “by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).” Whether the Law is written on their hearts (Romans 2:14-16), or given to them by God through Moses in the Old Testament, all men in their natural sinful states are condemned by the Law (Romans 3:10-18).
Even though believers in Christ are not justified by the works of the Law, they will “fulfill the righteousness of the Law” as they walk in the Spirit (Romans 8:4). Thus, the Spirit of God enables the believer to “fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) And, as the believer or believers fulfill his or their “duty” to God, the promised blessings – spiritual, emotional, physical, financial, civil, and in every other way, as promised in the Old and New Testaments – God will fulfill to the one exercising such faith that produces the required righteousness of the Law (compare Lev. 18:5 with Galatians 3:11-14; Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Mark 10:17-31; Romans 13:8-14). Bringing our tithes and offerings to God is but one modern day example of how believers today should be continually and practically fulfilling the law of God (Proverbs 3:9,10; Malachi 3:6-18; II Corinthians 9;6,7).
We also believe that the Law of God should be the delight of the believer at all times for it reveals the goodness, holiness, and justice of God in all its perfection (Psalm 1; Psalm 119; Romans 7). We also believe that the Law is perpetual, and that the believer should do and teach God’s Holy Law (Matthew 5:17-20).
Finally, we believe that the Law reveals the true spirituality of a believer, a family, a city, a state, and a nation, and exposes their true, spiritual condition before God and His Christ, whom all are commanded to serve and worship here and now as part of the present Kingdom of God (Psalm 2:1-12; Matthew 13:36-52; Romans 7:4-6;14-25). Therefore, every true believer should fully embrace the righteousness of the law in all of its moral and civil injunctions and implications.
Furthermore, the believer should pray and encourage even entire nations to worship the true God of Heaven, and adapt His Law’s moral and legal wisdom, and discernment, especially in the areas of crime and punishment, so that it might “enjoy the blessings of God.” (Isaiah 42:4; 49:23; 52:15; 60:3. 10, 11, 16; 62:2; I Timothy 1:8-10; 2:1-3; II Chronicles 7:14; Ecclesiastes 8:11)
We believe that God has particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, which is a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, to be kept holy. It is a day for rest, and to cease from all work and secular labor, as far as possible in connection with one’s personal Scriptural convictions in the Lord (Exodus 16:23-29; 20:8-11; Isaiah 56:2, 6-7; 58:13; 66:23; Romans 14:4-13, 21-23; Col. 2:16). From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, it was the last day of the week. From the resurrection of Christ till Christ returns, it is the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day (Lev. 23:15,16; I Cor 16:1,2; Rev. 1:10). We should also encourage other believers to keep the Sabbath as a sign to the nations of the presence of God’s people within their borders, and to demonstrate our faith in Christ by giving even our lands Sabbath rests (Exodus 31:13; Lev. 19:3, 30; 26:2, 34-35, 43; Heb. 4:5-11[4]).
We believe that “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13:13), and that if we do endure to the end, it proves that we indeed had, in our life times, become partakers of Christ. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end” (Hebrews 3:14 - NKJV). Because of these, and other reasons: the eternal purpose of God toward the objects of His love (Ephesians 1; I Corinthians 5:4,5); His freedom to exercise grace toward the meritless on the ground of the propitiatory blood of Christ (Romans 10: 11-13; Revelation 22:17); the very nature of the divine gift of eternal life (John 3); the present and unending intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven (Hebrews 7:25); the immutability of the unchangeable Covenant of Promise for those, who like Abraham, have believed (Hebrews 7:13–20); and the sealing of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are saved (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30), that we and all true believers everywhere, once saved shall be kept saved forever (John 10:25-30).
We believe, however, that there are those who become part of the physical Church on earth, and who taste of the blessings of God by being part of the people of God, without fully accepting the sacrifice of Christ for themselves. Thus, they will always end up falling away, and it is impossible to “renew them again to repentance” because they will never have mixed true, Biblical faith with what they have heard of the true Word of God (Hebrews 4:2; 6:1-12).
God is also a holy and righteous Father and since He cannot overlook the sin of His children, He will, when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them in infinite love, even unto the point of death (Romans 8:13; Hebrews 12:5-17). Therefore, it is important that the believer follow Christ, for each one will either receive reward or suffer loss, “but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (I Cor. 3:15; see 3:9-17). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” ( II Cor. 5:10) However, the LORD, will conform every believer to the image of Christ, and in the end is able to present every one of us faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son as we trust in Him (John 5:24; 10:28; 13:1; 14:16–17; 17:11; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 6:19; 1 John 2:1–2; 5:13; Jude 24).
We believe it is the privilege, not only of some, but of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation from the very day they take Him to be their Savior and that this assurance is not founded upon any fancied discovery of their own worthiness or fitness, but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written Word, exciting within His children filial love, gratitude, and obedience (Luke 10:20; 22:32; John 3:16; 6:47; 2 Cor. 5:1, 6–8; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 10:22; 1 John 5:13).
We believe 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, 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. We believe that He never takes His departure from the Church, nor from the feeblest of the saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ; seeking to occupy believers with Him and their relationship with Him, and not with themselves. (John 14:16–17; 16:7–15; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 2:22).
We believe that 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. These ministries include the convicting of the world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment; the regenerating of all believers; the indwelling and anointing of all who are saved, thereby sealing them unto the day of redemption; the baptizing into the one body of Christ of all who are saved; and the continued filling for power, teaching, and service of those among the saved who are yielded to Him and who are subject to His will (John 3:6; 16:7–11; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:30; 5:18; 1 John 2:20–27).
We believe that all gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today, and, as such, there were no so-called temporary gifts, such as speaking in tongues and miraculous healings. However, we do believe that all such spiritual gifts must be practiced in full conformity with the Scriptures, and its instructions and admonitions. These are the commandments of the LORD. To not so practice spiritual gifts in full compliance with the Word of God is to rebel against the commandments of the LORD, and to not be spiritual (I Corinthians 14). We do believe that the basis for all healing lies in the atonement (Isaiah 53:4-6; Matthew 8:16,17; I Peter 3:24). We believe that speaking in tongues is not a necessary sign of the baptism nor of the filling of the Spirit, and that the permanent deliverance of the body from all sickness and death ultimately awaits the consummation of our full salvation in the resurrection (Proverbs 30:5,6; Isaiah 40:8; Acts 4:8, 31; Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 13:8; I Peter 1:22-25; John 14:12; Rev. 22:18,19).
We believe that all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God are members of the Church, which is the body and bride of Christ (Hebrews 11:39,40). As members of the body of Christ, we “have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, . . . ,” but we “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood or sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:18-24; Galatians 4:26) We believe that the Church is the true Israel of God (Gal. 6:10), and that we as Gentiles have been grafted into true Israel, which has always been made up of believing Jews and Gentiles. We who are the Gentile believers need not boast against the “root” (that is, the believing Jewish nation), and need fear, lest like unbelieving, fleshly Israel, we too be cut off from the "tree" of faith, the church of all the ages (Romans 9-11).
Before Christ became flesh, we believe those who were believers among the nations were a part of the same heavenly Church, represented at that time on earth by the believing nation and kingdom of Israel. This happened by faith in the God of Israel and His Son (Psalm 2:10-12; Acts 7:38; Hebrews 2:12). Pentecost fulfilled God’s desire for the witness of believing Israel in the Old Testament to be drawing believers from every nation into the Church, and began to fulfill Christ’s promise to “build My Church” (Matthew 16:18). The Church’s members are constituted of all those of all ages who believe in Christ. We believe that by the same Spirit all believers are baptized into, and thus become, one body that is Christ’s, whether Jews or Gentiles, and having become members one of another, are under solemn duty to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian differences, and loving one another with a pure heart fervently (Matt. 16:16–18; Acts 2:42–47; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12–27; Eph. 1:20–23; 4:3–10; Col. 3:14–15).
We believe that water baptism for believers and the Lord’s Supper are the only sacraments and ordinances of the church and that they are a Scriptural means of testimony (Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19–20; Acts 10:47–48; 16:32–33; 18:7–8; 1 Cor. 11:26).
We believe that we are called with a holy calling, to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But the flesh with its fallen, Adamic nature, which in this life is never eradicated, being with us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage, needs to be kept by the Spirit constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest its presence in our lives to the dishonor of our Lord (Rom. 6:11–13; 8:1-13; Gal. 5:16–23; Eph. 4:22–24; Col. 2:1–10; 1 Pet. 1:14–16; 1 John 1:4–7; 3:5–9).
We believe that divine, enabling gifts for service are bestowed by the Spirit upon all who are saved. While there is a diversity of gifts, each believer is energized by the same Spirit, and each is called to his own divinely appointed service as the Spirit may will. We believe that today, as in the apostolic church, there were certain gifted men and women — including apostles, prophets and prophetesses, evangelists, pastors, and teachers—who were appointed by God for the perfecting of the saints unto their work of the ministry. We believe that it is to the fulfilling of His will and to His eternal glory that these shall be sustained and encouraged in their service for God (Acts 21:8,9; Rom. 12:3-6; 16:1,2; 1 Cor. 12:4–11; Eph. 4:11).
We believe that, wholly apart from salvation benefits which are bestowed equally upon all who believe, rewards are promised according to the faithfulness of each believer in his service for his Lord, and that these rewards will be bestowed at the judgment seat of Christ after He comes to receive His own to Himself (1 Cor. 3:9–15; 9:18–27; 2 Cor. 5:10).
We believe that 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 even as He was sent forth of His Father into the world. We believe that, after they are saved, they are divinely reckoned to be related to this world as strangers and pilgrims, ambassadors and witnesses, and that their primary purpose in life should be to make Christ known to the whole world (Matt. 28:18–19; Mark 16:15; John 17:18; 20:21-23; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:18–20; 1 Pet. 1:17; 2:11).
We believe that God has set up the Kingdom of His Son (Daniel 2:44) which shall never be destroyed, and that the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan. 9:27) took place when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A. D. Since that time, the world has been in times of increasing tribulation that our LORD promised would come (see for instance, Matthew 24:4-8). The Apostle Paul tells us “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."(Acts 14:22) According to the writer of Hebrews, we have been in “the last days” since the coming of Christ to earth and return to heaven (Hebrews 1:2; II Timothy 3:1-9).
In gathering out a people from every nation for Himself, the LORD continues to desire to send times of refreshing and renewal not only for individuals, but also for families, cities, counties, states, and nations, for all those who will trust and obey Him, through His church here on earth. At the same time, the unbelieving and unrepentant world will continue to race towards its climatic judgment. We therefore believe that even whole nations may at any time turn to Christ and embrace and obey His Holy Law (Matthew 5:17-20).
Christ has fulfilled the ceremonial law (Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:19-23; 2:11-23). However, if a nation will obey God’s moral (personal) and civil (societal, especially as it relates to crime and punishment) law as given in the Old and New Testaments, He will send them times of refreshing and blessing, rather than cursing. God will do this now in order that even whole nations (and, not just individuals, families, cities, states, and provinces) might faithfully serve Him, witnessing to other nations of His majesty and glory, awaiting Christ’s glorious return and consummation of history (Psalm 2:10-12; 33:12; Jonah; Isaiah 42:1-4; Joel 2:28-32; compare Acts 2:16-21 and Matthew 24:29-31; Acts 3:19-26; 15:13-21; Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 21:24-26).
We believe that a universal reign of peace, glory, and righteousness could be enjoyed at any time in the history of earth if all nations were but to trust and obey Christ, and fulfill the righteousness of God's "royal law" (James 1:25; 2:8; cf. Romans 8:4) simultaneously before His return. If only a particular number of nations, or states, cities, or families, or individuals turn to Christ at a particular time, then only these will experience God's promised spiritual, emotional, physical, financial and all other blessings, to the extent that they are faithful to follow Christ, and fulfill His Holy Law (Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 19:4; 119:1-176).
Therefore, we are to “disciple the nations,”[5] and pray and work fervently to this end so that we might “help,” as many as possible, “find the blessings of God” in Christ for as long as they are willing to hear and believe the Gospel, and thus be saved (Matthew 28:18-20). We believe that this is the only reason that Christ delays His return – that is, that He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:8, 9) When all who will believe have believed, then, according to the Scripture, the end will come (Matthew 24:14).
When the individuals and nations will no longer turn to Christ (see Luke 18:8), the time of great tribulation will speed to its ever increasing conclusion on the whole unrepentant earth, at the end of which the times of the Gentiles will be brought to a close (Matt. 24:15–21; see also Luke 21:24), and the wrath of God fully poured out on a sinful cosmos (Revelation 6-19). Therefore, we believe that permanent universal righteousness will not be realized previous to the second coming of Christ,. but that without turning to Christ the world is day by day ripening for judgment. We believe that “these last days” will end as they have been progressing, with a fearful apostasy (Thessalonians 2:1-7) and a great persecution of Christians before the return of Christ (Revelation 6:10). As always, the Christian is thus admonished to arm himself with the purpose of suffering (I Peter 4:1-7), and be faithful unto death, whatever the cost (Revelation 2:10). He should “watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36)
We believe that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14). Thus, the period of increasing great tribulation on the earth will be climaxed by the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to the earth as He went, in person on the clouds of heaven, and with power and great glory. The Lord will come in the air to receive to Himself both His own who are alive and remain unto His coming, and also all who have fallen asleep in Jesus. At this time Christ will introduce the millennial age, bind Satan and place him in the abyss, and allow the faithful saints of the LORD to reign with Him for a thousand years. After the thousand years, the LORD will crush all rebellion from among the nations (Ezekiel 38 and 39; Revelation 20:7-9), judge all whose names are not written in the Book of Life, and will usher in the New Heavens and the New Earth. This return of Christ is the blessed hope set before us in the Scripture, and for this we should be constantly watching and working (Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:24-28; John 14:1–3; 1 Cor. 15:51–52; Phil. 3:20; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; Titus 2:11–14; Rev. 20-22).
We believe that all “Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” by which we understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God “were moved by the Holy Spirit” to write the very words of Scripture. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings—historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical—as appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error.
[1] Or “stewardship,” or “administration”
[2] “Mystery of Christ” (see Ephesians 3:4)
[3] That is, “to the same extent,” or “in the same manner”
[4] In the Greek New Testament, the word “rest” is literally “sabbath.”
[5] “Make disciples” is literally, “disciple nations” in the Greek New Testament