The Scriptures
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 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. We believe that all the Scriptures center on 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; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; 16:13; Acts 1:106; 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)
The Godhead
We believe that God is the all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of all things visible and invisible, who 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 are 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)
The Person and the Work of Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ in the flesh was both God and man. He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. He was crucified, died as a penalty for our sins, and was raised from the dead bodily on the third day. Later, He ascended to the Father’s right hand, where He is the Head of the Church and intercedes for believers. We believe Jesus Christ is coming again personally, bodily, and visibly to this earth to set up His millennial Kingdom.
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ made a perfect atonement for sin through his sacrificial death and shed blood and has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Men are saved and justified on the simple and single ground of His shed blood.
Salvation
We believe that salvation through Jesus Christ, with its forgiveness of sins, imparting a new nature, and hope of eternal life, is entirely apart from good works, baptism, church membership, or man’s effort and is of pure grace.
We believe that a true believer is eternally secure and cannot lose his salvation, but sin may interrupt the joy of his fellowship with God and bring the loving discipline of his heavenly Father.
We believe that all who receive Christ become joint heirs with Him; at death, their spirits and souls depart to be with Christ in conscious blessedness.
The Christian's Life
We believe that every Christian should strive to become a disciple of Christ by growing toward spiritual maturity through the knowledge of and obedience to the Word of God and submission to the Holy Spirit, who indwells, baptizes, and seals all believers at the moment of salvation.
We believe that every true Christian is to be a dynamic part of a local church since this is God’s primary context for spiritual development and community impact.
The Blessed Hope
We believe that, according to the Word of God, the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord in the air to receive to Himself into heaven both His own who are alive and remain until His coming and also all who have fallen asleep in Jesus. This event is the blessed hope described in Scripture, and for this, we should be constantly looking. (John 14:1–3; 1 Cor. 15:51–52; Phil. 3:20; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; Titus 2:11–14)
The Tribulation
We believe that the translation of the church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week, during which the church, the body of Christ, will be in heaven. The whole period of Israel’s seventieth week will be a time of judgment on the whole earth, at the end of which the times of the Gentiles will be brought to a close. The latter half of this period will be the time of Jacob’s trouble, which our Lord called the great tribulation. We believe that universal righteousness will not be realized before the second coming of Christ but that the world is day by day ripening for judgment and that the age will end with a fearful apostasy. (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15–21; Rev. 6:1–19:21)
The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that the period of great tribulation on the earth will climax in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will return to the earth as He went—in person on the clouds of heaven—and with power and great glory. He will thus introduce the millennial age; bind Satan and place him in the abyss; lift the curse that now rests on the whole creation; restore Israel to her own land and give her the realization of God’s covenant promises; and bring the whole world to the knowledge of God. (Deut. 30:1–10; Isa. 11:9; Ezek. 37:21–28; Matt. 24:15–25:46; Acts 15:16–17; Rom. 8:19–23; 11:25–27; 1 Tim. 4:1–3; 2 Tim. 3:1–5; Rev. 20:1–3)
The Eternal State
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. There they remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the glorified body given when Christ comes for His own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory. But after their deaths the spirits and souls of unbelievers remain 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; 23:42–43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1: 23; 2 Thess. 1:7–9; Jude 6–7; Rev. 20:11–15)