The following comprise the Scriptural beliefs of this church and its members:
The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men supernaturally inspired; that it has truth without any error and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the age, the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man and the supreme standard by which all human conduct should be tried. By “The Holy Bible” we mean the collection of sixty-six books from Genesis to Revelation which does not only contain the Word of God but IS the very eternal, infallible, inerrant, Word of God. As God has promised to preserve His Word through the ages, we thus believe that the King James Version is the true, perfect, and preserved Word of God for the English-speaking people and is therefore equal in authority to the original manuscripts. By “inspired” we mean that the books of the Bible were written by holy men of old who were moved by the Holy Spirit so that their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or will be. (Ps. 12:6-7; 19:7; 119:89, 160; Prov. 30:5-6; Luke 24:44; John 12:48; 14:26; 16:13; II Tim. 3:16-17; II Pet. 1:19-21; Rev. 22:18-19)
The One True God
We believe there is one, and only one, living and true God, the Maker and supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each co-eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; John 10:30; 14:10, 26; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 5:7)
Creation
We believe that God created the Earth, the universe, and everything in them in six literal 24-hour days as recorded in Genesis chapter 1, and that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. We believe that the book of Genesis is true and accurate history, and that the worldwide flood of Noah’s time was a real event. We reject the theory of evolution, the Gap Theory, and the Day-Age Theory as being incompatible with God’s Word.
The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary while yet a virgin, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His substitutionary death on the cross; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. We believe that Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Intercessor and Advocate. (Isa. 7:14; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; Acts 1:9; Rom. 3:24-25; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Gal. 4:4-5; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 2:5-8, 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 7:25; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 2:1-2)
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person; equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and is the Supernatural Agent in the new birth and regeneration; and that He indwells, seals, endues, guides, teaches, intercedes, sanctifies, and helps believers unto the day of redemption. We believe that the sign gifts, such as healing and speaking in tongues, were temporary gifts only for the early church and have been done away with. (John 4:24; 16:8-11; Rom. 8:9; Acts 8:18-20; 1 Cor. 13:8; 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14)
The Fall of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s voluntary sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. Every man is therefore a condemned sinner utterly unable to remedy his lost condition or redeem his own soul. (Gen. 1:26; 3:6; Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:10; 23; 5:12; 6:23; Gal. 3:22; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19; Tit. 3:5)
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the free gift of everlasting life through forgiveness of sin brought to man only by God’s grace, and not works of any kind on the part of sinful man. Salvation is received only through personal faith and repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on Calvary as the full and vicarious atonement for our sins. We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus and is instantaneous and not a process, evidenced by the holy fruits of repentance and faith and newness of life. We believe that all the redeemed and saved are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. Salvation cannot be lost. (John 1:12; 3:3, 16; 6:37-40; 8:31; 10:27-30; Rom. 6:23; 8:38-39; 10:13; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; 5:9; Phil. 1:6; Col. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:4-5; 18-19; 1 John 1:9; 5:1, 13; Jude 24)
The Local Church
We believe the New Testament church is a visible, local congregation of baptized believers assembled together to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, edify believers, exercise spiritual gifts, and evangelize the lost. The local church is the only ordained vehicle to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Its two ordinances are baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and its officers of ordination are pastors and deacons, whose qualifications and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church. We believe that the church is solely made up of saved, born-again believers, and that its perpetuity is evident in the Scriptures. We believe the true mission of the church is in the Great Commission: to make individual disciples, to build up the church; and to teach as Christ has commanded. The local church is autonomous and independent from any hierarchy or external authority and is subject only to Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, and His Word. (Matt. 16:18; 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 22:19; Acts 2:41; 6:5-6; 13:2-3; 14:23; 20:28; 1 Cor. 5:1-13; 12:12-14; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:21; 4:11-12; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Pet. 5:1-4)
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the local church; that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, under the authority of the local church, to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, and our death to sin and resurrection to a new life. Baptism is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper, in which the members of the church, by the use of unleavened bread and the unfermented fruit of the vine (grape juice) are to commemorate the dying love of Christ; preceded always by solemn self-examination. (Matt. 3:6, 16; 28:19; Luke 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41; 8:36-39; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 5:11-13; 11:18-29; Col. 2:12)
Separation
We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord. God commands His people to separate from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, associations, and to abstain from all appearances of evil. (Rom. 12:1-2; 14:13; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:14-17; 1 Thess. 5:22; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 John 9-11)
The Imminent Return of Christ
We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, imminent, second coming of Christ Who will rapture His church prior to the seven-year tribulation period, where at its close Christ will personally and visibly return with His saints to establish His earthly kingdom. (Dan. 2:31-45; Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 24:32-44; Acts 1:11; I Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; Rev. 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6)
The Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men; the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. We believe the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where they consciously await their bodily resurrection, when spirit, soul, and the new body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment in Hell until the second resurrection at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment. (Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 23;43; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 3:21; I Thess. 4:17; II Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:4-15)
The Devil or Satan
We believe that Satan was once holy and enjoyed heavenly honors; but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty fell and drew after him a host of angels; that he is now the malignant prince of the power of the air, and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God and His Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author of all false religions and the present apostasy; the lord of the antichrist, the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man; destined however to final defeat by Jesus Christ and to the judgment of eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire. (Gen. 3:1-7; Job 1:6-7; Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:14-17; Matt. 4:1-11; 13:39; 25:41; Mark 13:21-22; II Cor. 11:13-15; Eph. 2:2; I Thess. 3:5; II Thess. 2:8-11; I Pet. 5:8; II Pet. 2:4; I John 2:22; 3:8; 4:3; II John 7; Jude 6; Rev. 12:7-10; 13:13-14; 20:10)
Missions
We believe that God has given the church the Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and that missions and the evangelizing of the lost are the heartbeat of God and need to be the preeminent work of the local church. (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 8:1-4)