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| Statement
of Faith and Doctrine |
This
church receives the Scriptures, both Old and New
Testaments,
as its sole authority in matters of faith and practice.
As a member of the National Association of Free
Will Baptists this church accepts the
Treatises of Faith and Practices of the Original
Free Will Baptists as adopted
November 7, 1935, by the National Association of
Free Will Baptist and its Church Covenant. |
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I.
Scriptures: We believe that holy men of
old wrote the Bible as they were moved (literally
“being borne along”) by the Holy Spirit
(2 Peter 1:21), which harmonizes with 2 Timothy
3:16, which teaches that all Scripture is inspired
(literally “God breathed”) or “breathed
out by God”. This means that the Holy Spirit
so super intended the writers of the Holy Scripture
that, although they utilized their own vocabularies
and experiences, they wrote the very exact message
God intended without any omissions, additions, or
error which means that the Bible is theologically,
historically, scientifically, and geographically
correct since the Holy Spirit is incapable of erring.
Being plenary verbally inspired guarantees the infallibility
and inerrancy of the Bible in every area in which
it speaks and makes it the highest authority and
guide for the believer. We believe the Scriptures
of the Old Testament and the New Testament, are
preserved for us in the Masoretic text (Old Testament)
Textus Receptus (New Testament) and in the King
James Bible. We accept only the King James Version
of the Scriptures as the official standard of use
in this church, both in the Sunday school classroom
and public worship services. We believe the King
James Bible to be the inspired and infallible Word
of God through preservation. |
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II.
Trinity: We believe there is but one true
and living God whose essence is spirit and who exists
in a Trinity of equal persons, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, and that they are each equal
and infinite in their being, power, glory, and attributes. |
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III.
The Father: We believe that God the Father
is the First Person of the divine Trinity who is
absolute in His deity possessing all the attributes
of deity and equal with the Son and the Holy Spirit. |
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IV.
Jesus Christ: We believe in the absolute
deity of Jesus Christ our Lord and that he shares
equally in all the attributes of deity with the
Father and the Holy Spirit. We believe in his virgin
birth, in His perfect and sinless humanity, in His
miracles and their literalness, in His substitutionary,
satisfactory, propitiatory, atoning death on Calvary,
in His bodily resurrection, in His intercessory
ministry, and in His personal return for the Church. |
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V.
Holy Spirit: We believe in the absolute
and full deity of the Holy Spirit, the Third Member
of the blessed Trinity, who is equal with the Father
and the Son. It was the Father who gave His Son,
the Son who gave His life, and it is the Holy Spirit
who today gives spiritually life to those who believe
in Christ. He indwells the believer and empowers
him and Christ’s Church for service giving
the various gifts to the members of the body of
Christ to aid the Church in accomplishing the Great
Commission. |
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VI.
Salvation: We believe in salvation by grace
totally apart from any human merit. Salvation is
bestowed by a gracious God upon unworthy man conditioned
solely upon his faith in Jesus Christ and His finished
work on Calvary (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 3:16). |
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VII.
New Birth: We believe that all men are
born with a depraved nature and are sinful by nature
and by choice and as such are alienated from God,
born dead in trespasses and sin. We believe that
this condition can only be reconciled by the new
birth, which is a work of regeneration wrought by
the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-6; Titus 3:5), conditioned
upon a man’s personal faith in the atoning
work of Jesus on Calvary as sufficient payment for
sins (Ephesians 2:8-10). |
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| VIII.
Security of the Believer: We believe
that God has given to the believer Scriptural
grounds for knowing positively that he is saved;
that God has promised and provided to keep His
children even in times of failure, when they fall
out of fellowship with Him; that God has assured
His followers that as believers they are secure
in Christ and shall never perish (1 John 5:11-13
/ John 10:28,29 / Romans 8:35-39 / Philippians
1:6); but that God has, also, clearly warned the
Christian against the possibility of making ship-wreck
of his personal faith in Christ, and thereby,
becoming an apostate, and that, if such should
happen, there is no way he could be restored to
salvation - his doom would be sealed. (I Timothy
1:18,19 / John 15:1-7 / Colossians 1:21-23 / Hebrews
3:12-14 / Hebrews 6:1-6 / II Peter 2:20,21) |
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IX.
Resurrection: We believe in the future
bodily resurrection of the believer, at which time
he will receive a resurrected glorified body, and
that the new body will be joined with the soul so
that the child of God will spend eternity to come
as a body/soul being. We believe
likewise that the unbeliever will be resurrected
with a body and soul, which will forever suffer
the torments of Hell (Luke 16:19-31; Mark 9:43-49).
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X.
Judgment: We believe in the future Judgment
Seat of Christ at which time the believer will stand
before Christ and be judged for the deeds done in
the body whether they be good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).
We also believe in the Great White Throne Judgment
for the unsaved where their lives will be reviewed
and judged according to their works, which will
determine the degree of their punishment in the
eternal flames of Hell (Rev. 20:11-15). |
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XI.
Devil: We believe in the existence of a
literal personal evil and malicious being call Satan
or the Devil who led a rebellion against God at
some point before creation and was cast out of Heaven
along with the angels who followed him. He and his
demonic hordes seek to tempt men to sin and thereby
doom them to eternity in the fires of Hell. His
doom and that of mankind who follow him had been
pronounced as the lake of fire where he shall one
day be banished and shut up forever. |
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XII.
Creation: We believe in the literal Genesis
account of God’s creating this earth and man
in six literal twenty-four (24) hour days, and that
he rested on the seventh day sanctifying it as a
day of rest (Gen. 1:1-2:3). |
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XIII.
Human Sexuality:
1. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate
sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage
between a man and a woman. We believe that any form
of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality,
incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are
sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. And
therefore, because these acts violate Gods law according
to the Bible, no person committing such acts will
be permitted to hold any office in our church, nor
obtain church membership until they have repented
of and stopped these sinful acts. (Gen. 2:24; Gen.19:5,
13; Gen.26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; 1 Cor.
5:1, 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4)
2. We believe that the only legitimate marriage
is the joining of one man and one woman by mutual
covenant. (Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor. 7:10; Eph.
5:22-23).
3. We believe that men and women are spiritually
equal in position before God, but that God has ordained
distinct and separate spiritual functions for men
and women in the home and the church. The husband
is to be the leader of the home and men are to be
the leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church.
Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure
and ordination to preach by this church, or to preach
in this church (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:8-15;
3:4-5, 12). |
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XIV.
Abortion: We believe that the human life
begins at conception and that the unborn child is
a living human being. Abortion constitutes as the
unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life.
Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that
abortion of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth
defects, gender selection, birth or population control,
or mental well being of the mother are acceptable.
(Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5; 139:14-16; Isa. 44:24; 49:1,
5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44) |
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XV.
Ordinances:
1. Baptism: Baptism by immersion of believers in
Christ is recognized as a Scriptural Ordinance (Matt.
3:13-15; 28:18-20; Acts 8:35-39).
2. The Lord’s Supper: We believe that the
Lord’s Supper is for the truly born again
believer (1 Cor. 11:17-34). The Lord’s Supper
shall be administered in connection with the Washing
of the Saints’ Feet.
3. The Washing of the Saints’ Feet: The Washing
of the Saints’ Feet shall be recognized as
a Scriptural Ordinance and administered in connection
with the Lord’s Supper (John 13:1-17). |
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