Doctrinal Statement  

         I.    THE SCRIPTURES   We believe that both the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and are inerrant in the original writings. Through the providence of God, the Scriptures have been preserved and are the supreme and final and adequate authority in faith and life (Ps 19.7; 2 Tim 3.16; 2 Pet 1.21).

        II.    GOD   We believe that there is only one true and living God existing in three Persons--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--each a distinct Person, but all of one essence and all having the same nature, perfections, and attributes, and each is worthy of precisely the same worship, confidence, and obedience (Gen 1.26; Jer 10.10; Matt 3.16-17; 28.19).

      III.    JESUS CHRIST   We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, that He shed His blood on Calvary as a vicarious substitute, was buried, rose again bodily, and ascended to the Father according to the Scriptures (Isa 7.14; Matt 1.18-25; 1 Cor 15.3; Heb 4.15).

       IV.    HOLY SPIRIT   We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, very God, co-existent with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the chief agent in the regeneration, the chief convictor of sin, and the chief comforter of the believer. Simultaneous with regeneration, the Holy Spirit baptizes the believer into the body of Christ (Matt 28.19; John 16.7-11; Acts 5.3-4; Rom 8.9; 1 Cor 12.12-14).

        V.    MAN   We believe that man is the direct creation of God--body, soul, and spirit--and is not in any sense the result of evolution but is made in the image of God. Adam, the first man, sinned by disobedience. This act resulted in the fall of mankind and incurred both physical and spiritual death for all (Gen 1.26-27; Rom 3.10,23; 5.12).

       VI.    SALVATION   We believe that all who, in faith, receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are born again by the Holy Spirit and thus become the children of God.  Salvation involves redemption, regeneration, sanctification, and glorification (John 1.12; 3.3; 17.17; Rom 8.29-30; Eph 2.8-9; 4.30; Tit 3.5).

     VII.    SECOND COMING *   We believe in the literal, visible, personal, pre-millennial, pre-tribulational return of Jesus Christ for His Church.  At this event the dead in Christ and living believers will be translated to meet Him in the air.  At the end of the seven year tribulation, Christ will visibly descend with the saints to establish His earthly millennial kingdom (Acts 1.11; 1 Thes 4.13-18; Rev 20.1-6). * For students, Article VII reads as follows: We believe in the literal, visible, personal return of Jesus Christ.

   VIII.    SATAN   We believe that Satan was originally created a perfect being. He rebelled against God. As a result, he became depraved, the Devil and adversary of God and His people, and leader of a host of angels who fell with him.  Satan has been judged and defeated at the cross and awaits his ultimate doom at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ (Isa 14.13-14; Ezek 28.13-17; John 16.11; 1 Tim 3.7; Rev 20.10).

       IX.    HEAVEN   We believe in the eternal abode of God and the holy angels, where Jesus intercedes for His people on earth and where the spirits of departed saints await their resurrected, glorified bodies. Heaven is a literal place of conscious bliss to which all saints go upon death and from which the Lord Jesus Christ will come to receive those saints who are alive at His coming. To depart and be in heaven is to be "present with the Lord" and so is "far better" than to remain alive on earth, but the eternal blessedness of heaven is only for those who possess eternal life through faith in the atoning work of Christ (Heb 12.22-24; John 14.1-3; 2 Cor 5.1-10; Phil 1.23, 3.20-21; 1 Thes 4.16-18; Rev 21.1-22.5; John 14.6).