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Our Statement of FaithTHE BIBLE The bible is the word of God. God has magnified his word above all his name. The bible is given by the inspiration of God. It is not the product of human imagination or creativity.(II Timothy 3:16 and Psalm 138:2) GOD The Godhead eternally exists in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh; the image of the invisible God (John 1:1-18 and I John 5:7) SIN All men are sinners by nature and are unable to save themselves from the debt and penalty of their sins by anything they can do. (Romans 3:21-26) SALVATION God, out of his great love for us, has provided complete redemption (payment for the penalty of sin) through Christ’s death, in our place. He offers to justify anyone freely by His grace through faith in Christ as a person’s all-sufficient Saviour. (Romans 3:21-26) Faith in Christ is the issue of trusting exclusively in His redemptive work on the cross as the means of acceptance with God and not in any of one’s own works of any kind. This act of faith is the decision of one’s own free will in response to the gospel of Christ. The purpose of God in election declares that it is the plan of God to provide salvation for all men, but in accordance with men’s own free will, to save those that believe. ETERNAL SECURITY Eternally secure salvation is the possession of all who trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. (Romans 5:1-21) JUDGMENT Everlasting punishment is the lot of all those who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. (II Thessalonians 1:7-9) PAUL’S UNIQUE POSITION A dispensation of the gospel was committed to the Apostle Paul. This was a “mystery” not made known at any previous time in history, until God raised up the Apostle Paul. To Paul and to Paul alone God committed the revelation of the “mystery of Christ and of the Gospel” The “mystery of Christ” is essentially the mystery of a joint body of believers, all equal in Christ; salvation through the fall of Israel and not their rise; and the WHY of the cross, which was first revealed to Paul. The “mystery of the gospel” is that even Gentiles who were alien from the commonwealth of Israel and not in God’s promises or blessing, could be saved, members of the same body, and partakers of God’s promise in Christ (eternal life) by the gospel. Until God raised up Paul, his program and dealings with Israel were in effect and was being accomplished by the preaching of “the gospel of the kingdom” by The Twelve, of whom Paul was not a part. (I Corinthians 9:17, Romans 16:25-26, Ephesians 2:11-12, Ephesians 3:2, Collosians 1:24-27) THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST The church, the body of Christ in this “but now” age of grace in which we live is distinct from the nation of Israel and God’s program concerning “the Israel of God.” The church, the body of Christ, is not the subject of Old Testament prophecy nor the fulfiller of Israel’s promises and covenants and has not replaced the Israel of God nor has rights to the covenants of promise made to the Fathers concerning the land, the King and the Kingdom. (Galatians 6:16) The Apostle Paul, by his own words in I Timothy 1:15-16 was the first member of the Church, the Body of Christ. Anyone who has ever been saved by the gospel which Paul preached is a member of the ONE body and anyone who ever preached this salvation message got it from Paul. SPIRITUAL GIFTS In accordance with Paul’s teaching in I Corinthians 12-14, the temporary need for spiritual gifts that existed at the beginning of this “dispensation of the gospel” has been superseded by the completion of the written word of God. It was a part of Paul’s ministry to “fulfill the word of God” and, the “perfect” written word of God now being complete, spiritual gifts have been “done away.” Speaking in tongues and gifts of healing are not applicable to the church in this present age. It is a misappropriation of scripture to point to the early part of the book of Acts as a basis for doctrine, since Peter’s messages were clearly a continuation of the gospel of the kingdom. It was the Jews who required a “sign” and only Jews were present on the Day of Pentecost and only 12 Jewish men spoke in tongues. No woman spoke in tongues on the Day of Pentecost since “it is a shame for a woman to speak in church...it is not permitted unto them to speak....as also sayeth the law.” (Collosians 1:25, I Corinthians 14:34-35, I Timothy 5:23, 2 Timothy 4:20, Phillipians 2:26-27, II Corinthians 12:8-9) During Paul’s public ministry, Israel had fallen, but they were still intact as a nation. In Paul’s “provoking ministry” the gifts were very present and very apparent and every individual received at least one of the nine gifts. The Jews require a sign, and both signs and Jews are present throughout the book of Acts. But when Israel was “cast away” and scattered among the nations all the gifts became “inefficient” and dropped away and ceased. No Israel - no signs. THE RAPTURE This dispensation of grace will end with the catching away of the body of Christ. It will be followed by the resumption of God’s program and dealings with Israel, including the Lord’s day of wrath, the restitution of the kingdom to Israel and the kingdom reign of Christ on this earth. (Acts 1:6, Acts 3:19-21, I Thessalonians 4:13-5:10, II Thessalonians 2:1-17) THE KING JAMES BIBLE The preserved and inerrant word of God has always existed. God has never lost His word or became confused about it. It still exists, and is identified today as the received text (Textus Receptus) of the historic Protestant process. The translation of the received text into the English language has produced the inerrant, infallible word of God in English. Though a multitude of English bible translations exist at the present time, the King James Bible is identified and acknowledged by us as the inerrant, infallible, preserved word of God in the English language for English speaking people. We believe that when we study the King James Bible that we are studying the word of God. Psalms 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Psalms 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. |
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