Statement of Faith

We believe that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments constitute the complete written revelation of God.

We believe that the Authorized King James Bible is the preserved, infallible, inerrant Word of God in the English language, is “given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), and is the sole and final written authority for doctrine, faith, and practice.

We believe God inspired His words and providentially preserved them so that the believer today possesses the Word of God. We therefore do not believe that lost original manuscripts, modern critical texts, modern translations, or scholarly reconstruction possess authority to correct the Authorized Version.

We believe God revealed truth progressively throughout Scripture and that the Holy Ghost illuminates truths already contained within the completed canon. This does not mean that God is adding new books, new inspired writings, or new revelation equal in authority to the completed Scriptures.

We believe in one eternal God, eternally existing in three distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. These three are one God, coequal and coeternal, possessing the same divine nature, glory, power, and attributes, yet personally distinct.

We reject Modalism, Unitarianism, Tritheism, and every teaching that denies the eternal Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal God manifest in the flesh. He is one Person possessing two complete natures: fully God and fully man.

We believe in His eternal deity, virgin conception and birth, sinless life, true humanity, literal miracles, substitutionary death, literal shedding of His precious blood on Calvary as the complete and sufficient atonement for sin, literal burial, bodily resurrection, bodily ascension into Heaven, present intercession, and future bodily return.

He is the only Savior and the only Mediator between God and man.

We believe the Holy Ghost is a divine Person, not merely a force or influence. He possesses all the attributes of personality and deity and is equal with the Father and the Son.

In the present Church Age, the Holy Ghost convicts the sinner, regenerates the believer, spiritually baptizes the believer into the Body of Christ, indwells, seals, guides, teaches, sanctifies, witnesses with, and empowers the believer.

Every genuinely saved person possesses the Holy Ghost. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is spiritual and distinct from water baptism; it is not evidenced by speaking in tongues.

We believe that God is the Creator of heaven and earth and reject atheistic and theistic evolution.

We believe there is a distinction between the original creation of Genesis 1:1 and the ruined condition of the earth in Genesis 1:2, followed by God’s six-day ordering and restoration of the earth. We hold this as a biblical fact commonly called the Gap Theory, while preferring to regard it as the Gap Fact because we believe the distinction is taught by Scripture.

We believe the six days described in Genesis 1 are literal days and that mankind is a direct special creation of God. Adam and Eve were real historical persons.

We believe Adam was created innocent but deliberately disobeyed God. Through Adam’s fall, sin and death entered the human race.

Every natural descendant of Adam is a sinner and is unable to save himself through morality, religion, sacraments, law-keeping, baptism, or good works.

We believe man possesses a body, soul, and spirit and is morally responsible before God.

We believe God genuinely calls sinners to repentance and faith and that a sinner is responsible to respond to or reject the Gospel.

We believe salvation is entirely by grace and cannot be earned by human works, yet God does not force a sinner to believe against his will.

We reject the teaching that an unsaved person is irresistibly regenerated before believing or that God has unconditionally predetermined certain individuals to eternal damnation without a genuine opportunity to receive Christ.

We believe the Gospel for the present Church Age is plainly defined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

The Gospel is not church membership, baptism, keeping commandments, religious reform, social improvement, sacraments, or human merit.

We believe that in this present Church Age a sinner is saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from works.

A sinner is justified when he personally places his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished redemptive work. Salvation is without water baptism, sacraments, church membership, law-keeping, or human merit.

Repentance

We believe biblical repentance accompanies genuine conversion but is not a meritorious work added to faith. Repentance involves a real turning of heart and mind toward God and away from unbelief, self-righteousness, and rebellion.

We reject the idea that a sinner must reform his entire conduct, quit every sin, or achieve practical righteousness before Christ will save him. Works appropriate to repentance should follow salvation, not produce it.

The Sinner’s Prayer

We believe in the biblical practice of a sinner calling upon the Lord in prayer when receiving Jesus Christ as Savior, and we are not anti-sinner’s prayer.

We believe that a sinner who genuinely believes the Gospel may call upon the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, confessing his need for salvation and receiving Christ as his personal Savior.

The prayer itself does not save by merely repeating certain words or following a formula. Salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The sinner’s prayer is a sincere expression of that faith, not a substitute for it.

We reject both the idea that simply repeating a prayer automatically guarantees salvation and the idea that using a sinner’s prayer in evangelism is unbiblical or should be opposed.

We believe every genuinely saved Church-Age believer is eternally secure.

At salvation the believer is regenerated, spiritually circumcised, placed into Christ, baptized into the Body, indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and sealed until the day of redemption.

A saved believer may lose fellowship, testimony, usefulness, rewards, health, or even physical life through chastening, but he cannot lose eternal salvation.

We believe physical death separates the soul from the body. A saved Church-Age believer who dies is absent from the body and present with the Lord.

The soul of an unsaved person descends consciously into Hell, where he remains in torment awaiting final judgment. After the Great White Throne Judgment, the lost are cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death and their final eternal punishment.

We believe salvation is free, but Christian discipleship calls for obedience, sacrifice, faithfulness, and separation from sin.

A believer should seek to walk in holiness, charity, humility, purity, and obedience to Scripture. Good works do not keep a Christian saved but are expected as the fruit of salvation and will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

We reject drunkenness, recreational drug abuse, sexual immorality, pornography, fornication, adultery, homosexual practice, gambling, corrupt speech, dishonesty, deliberate participation in false religion, and ecumenical compromise that sacrifices biblical doctrine for organizational unity.

Separation does not mean isolation from sinners; Christians must remain actively engaged in evangelism.

We believe the Bible uses the word “church” in more than one sense. One is the Body of Christ, a spiritual body composed of all genuinely saved, born-again believers in the present Church Age.

Every believer is placed into this Body by the baptism of the Holy Ghost at salvation. The Body of Christ is also identified as the Bride of Christ and is distinct from any denomination or individual local congregation.

We believe the entire Body of Christ, both the dead in Christ and living believers, will soon be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at His imminent, pre-Tribulation return for His Church.

We believe another biblical use of the word “church” is the local church: a visible, organized assembly of professing believers who have been baptized by immersion after salvation.

Its purposes include worship, prayer, preaching, Bible teaching, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, missions, mutual aid, discipline, and testimony before the world.

We believe every Christian should faithfully identify with and serve through a sound Bible-believing local church.

We believe every local Baptist church is autonomous and responsible directly to the Lord Jesus Christ under Scripture. No denomination, convention, fellowship, bishop, synod, presbytery, government, school, or outside organization possesses ecclesiastical authority over the local congregation.

We recognize two scriptural offices: pastor/bishop/elder and deacon. The terms pastor, bishop, and elder describe different aspects of the same pastoral office. These offices are reserved for biblically qualified men.

The pastor shepherds, teaches, and oversees the assembly under the authority of Scripture, while the congregation remains autonomous under Christ.

We believe in the priesthood of all born-again believers and their direct access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We reject Baptist Briderism and any doctrine claiming that only one Baptist succession, association, or particular group constitutes the Bride or Body of Christ.

We recognize only two ordinances given to the local church. Neither ordinance contributes to salvation.

Water Baptism

We believe water baptism is for believers only and is administered after salvation by complete immersion. It pictures Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and publicly identifies the believer with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Water baptism does not regenerate, wash away sin, or place anyone into the spiritual Body of Christ.

The Lord’s Supper

We believe the Lord’s Supper is a memorial ordinance for believers. The bread and cup remain symbolic and do not become the literal flesh and blood of Christ.

The Lord’s Supper remembers Christ’s death, calls believers to self-examination, and points forward to His coming. It does not confer saving grace.

We believe every Christian should seek to reach the lost with the Gospel.

This includes personal witnessing, door-to-door evangelism, tract distribution, street preaching, public Gospel preaching, missionary work, prayer, financial support of missions, and every lawful means of making Christ known.

The local church should actively send and support missionaries.

We believe Christians should financially support the work of God through willing, cheerful, regular, and sacrificial giving.

We do not teach that New Testament giving is restricted to a compulsory legalistic ten-percent system, though the tithe provides an instructive biblical pattern.

Giving should be voluntary, proportionate, generous, and motivated by love for God.

We believe God can and does answer prayer and heal according to His will.

However, we reject modern claims to possess the apostolic sign gifts, including supernatural tongues, apostolic healing gifts, revelatory prophecy, visions functioning as divine revelation, and visible manifestations alleged to prove Spirit baptism.

We believe signs were especially connected with God’s dealings with Israel and that the apostolic sign gifts diminished as the Gospel went from the Jews to the Gentiles and the apostolic period closed.

We distinguish God healing from a person possessing the apostolic gift of healing. We also believe Satan can produce lying signs and wonders, particularly in connection with the Antichrist.

We believe God created male and female as distinct and complementary. Men and women are equally valuable before God but possess different roles in the home and local church.

The pastoral and deacon offices are reserved for qualified men. We reject attempts to erase the biblical distinction between male and female.

We believe marriage is the covenantal union of one man and one woman. Sexual relations are reserved for marriage.

We therefore reject fornication, adultery, homosexual practice, and every sexual relationship contrary to the order established by God in Genesis.

We believe the nation of Israel and the Body of Christ are distinct groups in God’s dispensational program.

The Church has not permanently replaced Israel. God’s unconditional national promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David will be literally fulfilled.

Israel presently experiences partial blindness, but the nation will be restored according to the promises of Scripture. We therefore reject Replacement Theology and anti-Semitism.

We believe the Bible must be rightly divided. God does not deal with every person under every covenant in exactly the same manner, although salvation ultimately depends upon God’s provision and redemptive work.

We believe the interpreter must distinguish Israel and the Church; Law and Grace; Old Testament and New Testament; the Church Age and Daniel’s Seventieth Week; the Rapture and Second Advent; the Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven; and the Judgment Seat of Christ and Great White Throne.

We believe Matthew, Acts, and Hebrews contain important transitional features.

We believe Scripture may contain a historical application, a doctrinal or prophetic application, and a practical or spiritual application. Therefore, a passage not doctrinally addressed to the Church may still contain valuable moral and spiritual instruction for Christians.

We reject Hyper-dispensationalism that denies Christians the practical and spiritual application of non-Pauline Scripture. We believe all Scripture is profitable, while not every passage is doctrinally addressed to the Church.

We believe these distinctions do not alter the present Church-Age Gospel: today a sinner is saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from works.

We believe the responsibilities God places upon man differ according to the dispensation. Under the Mosaic Law, faith and obedience to the revealed legal-sacrificial system were connected, and Old Testament saints did not possess Church-Age eternal security in the same manner as members of the Body of Christ.

During Daniel’s Seventieth Week, salvation involves faith, endurance, obedience to God’s commandments, and refusal of the Mark of the Beast. These conditions must not be imposed upon Church-Age salvation.

We believe the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are related but not identical.

The Kingdom of God is primarily spiritual, connected with righteousness, the new birth, and the inward reign of God.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the literal, visible, physical, Davidic, Messianic kingdom promised to Israel and ultimately manifested on earth under Jesus Christ.

We believe in the imminent, pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Body of Christ before Daniel’s Seventieth Week, the future seven-year Tribulation period.

At that event, the dead in Christ will rise, living Christians will be instantly changed, and the entire Body of Christ will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

This event is distinct from Christ’s visible Second Advent.

We believe every Church-Age believer will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ after the Rapture.

This judgment does not determine salvation. The believer’s works and service are examined for reward or loss of reward, crowns, and future responsibility.

A believer whose works are burned remains saved.

We believe Daniel’s Seventieth Week is a future seven-year period occurring after the Church is removed. It consists of a first three-and-one-half-year period followed by a second three-and-one-half-year period. The latter half is the Great Tribulation in the strict sense.

We reject the view that Christ’s earthly ministry already fulfilled the first half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week.

We believe a literal future Antichrist will arise, oppose God, persecute the saints, exalt himself, and institute a system requiring the Mark of the Beast for economic participation. Receiving the Mark and worshiping the Beast results in irreversible divine condemnation.

We believe the 144,000 are literal Israelites, twelve thousand from each of twelve named tribes. They are not the Church.

We believe the two witnesses of Revelation 11 are Moses and Elijah. They minister during the Tribulation, are killed by the Beast, lie dead for three and one-half days, and are resurrected and caught up.

We believe there is a catching up and resurrection of Tribulation saints associated with the end of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, distinct from the Church’s pre-Tribulation Rapture.

We believe in the literal, bodily, visible, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth after the Tribulation.

At His return, He destroys His enemies, defeats the Beast and False Prophet, rescues Israel, restores the Davidic throne, judges the surviving nations, and establishes His earthly kingdom.

The Second Advent is distinct from the Rapture.

We believe surviving Gentile nations are judged in connection with Christ’s return before entry into the Millennium.

This judgment is distinct from the Judgment Seat of Christ and the Great White Throne.

We believe Christ will literally reign on earth for one thousand years. His throne will be established in Jerusalem in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. Israel will be nationally restored, and Christ will rule the nations visibly and physically.

Church-Age saints will reign with Christ according to their faithfulness and rewards.

We believe the Millennium includes both glorified saints and mortal human beings. Mortal survivors of the Tribulation enter the kingdom, reproduce, and remain capable of obedience or rebellion.

At the conclusion of the Millennium, Satan will be released from the Bottomless Pit, deceive the nations in a final rebellion, and then be cast permanently into the Lake of Fire.

We believe in literal bodily resurrection. The Lord Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead.

We believe the dead in Christ are raised and living believers are changed at the Church Rapture. We also believe Scripture reveals later resurrections connected with Tribulation saints and final judgment.

These resurrections must be distinguished according to their biblical context rather than treated as one undifferentiated event.

We believe in the literal Great White Throne Judgment after the Millennium.

The lost dead will be resurrected, judged according to their works, and cast into the Lake of Fire.

The Book of Life is present at this judgment, and final judgment must be understood according to the distinctions Scripture itself makes. Church-Age believers have already appeared before the Judgment Seat of Christ and are not judged here to determine salvation.

We believe that after the Great White Throne Judgment, God will bring forth a New Heaven and a New Earth and reveal the New Jerusalem.

The eternal state is literal and everlasting. God’s redemptive program reaches its final fulfillment in righteousness, glory, and eternal fellowship with Him.

We believe Heaven is a literal place and that God’s throne is in the Third Heaven. Saved Church-Age believers who die are presently with the Lord in Heaven, awaiting the resurrection and transformation of the body.

We believe Hell is a literal place of conscious fiery torment for the souls of the unsaved dead. Hell is not merely the grave and is distinct from the final Lake of Fire.

Before Christ’s resurrection, righteous Old Testament dead went to Paradise, also called Abraham’s Bosom, in the heart of the earth, separated from the place of torment by a great gulf. After Christ’s completed redemptive work, those saints were taken upward.

We believe the Lake of Fire is the final eternal destination of Satan, the Beast, the False Prophet, and all whose names are not found written in the Book of Life. It is distinct from Hell and is called the second death.

We believe that when the Lord Jesus Christ declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30), the atoning sacrifice and payment for sin were completed at Calvary.

Nothing performed by a sinner afterward can supplement, repeat, or complete Christ’s finished work. Water baptism, church membership, sacraments, law-keeping, religious ritual, or human merit cannot add to His atonement.

We also believe His burial and bodily resurrection remain essential historical facts of the Gospel as defined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. The finished atonement at Calvary and the completed Gospel events of His death, burial, and resurrection must be distinguished without being separated.

We believe that after the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, His physical body was placed in the tomb while His soul descended into Hell in the heart of the earth. He was not left in Hell, nor did His soul see corruption, but He came forth from the dead according to the Scriptures.

We believe that before Christ’s resurrection, the heart of the earth contained distinct places. Hell was the place of conscious torment for the souls of the lost, while Paradise, also called Abraham’s Bosom, was the place of comfort for the righteous dead. These places were separated by a great gulf and should not be understood as the same place.

We believe that during His descent Christ proclaimed His victory and judgment to the spirits in prison associated with the days of Noah. We also believe He went to Paradise, where the righteous Old Testament saints awaited the completion of redemption. Having accomplished redemption, He afterward led captivity captive, and Paradise was transferred upward so that the saved dead are now with the Lord in Heaven.

Christ’s descent into Hell did not constitute continued suffering or additional payment for sin. His atoning suffering and payment for sin had already been completed on the cross when He declared, “It is finished.” His presence in Hell therefore does not mean that He was being punished or burned there as a lost sinner.