Statement of Faith

I believe in the divinely inspired, progressively revealed, and miraculously preserved Word of God in the original Hebrew OT Masoretic text and the NT Greek Textus Receptus text. I take a dispensational view of the Scriptures and hold exclusively to the King James Bible as the most accurate English translation for faith and practice.

With mankind inheriting a fallen, sinful nature from Adam and Eve, man is in need of redemption. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ – God the Son, was born miraculously of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and fulfilled the righteous demands of the Holy Law of God. Jesus died as a perfect sacrifice on the cross of Calvary and after three days rose from the dead. By His actions, Jesus made salvation available to all who will believe and receive by faith His perfect act of atonement (Isa 53). I believe that salvation is an act of God’s grace available to all of mankind through faith without religious works (Eph 2, Romans 10). If fallen mankind fails to repent and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation they will face eternity in a “lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death” (Rev 20,21).

The baptism of the Holy Spirit follows repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are baptized by the Spirit into the Lord’s body at salvation and sealed unto the day of our redemption (Eph 1). A public declaration of water baptism by immersion follows salvation to symbolize the miracle of rebirth (Acts 2).

The church is the Lord’s body. He is the Head. The membership is made up of saved, baptized believers. While the unsaved or unbelievers may attend a church service, the church’s primary purpose is to educate, edify and encourage the saved to utilize their spiritual gifts to benefit the Lord’s body. Thus, the church is a living organism of the saved who attend to learn the Scriptures and to serve their Saviour.

The primary mission of the church is to bring the gospel message to a lost and dying world. It is the gospel message that is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1). The church collective and the Christian individual have a responsibility to be a witness for Christ locally and globally (Acts 1:8). We have been commanded by the Lord to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15).

While true worship begins with the individual Christian expressing their love to God (Father, Son, and Spirit), collective worship is shared in public services through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord (Eph 5, Col 3). The direction of worship is to God and for the glory of God! I oppose the use of worldly, fleshly musical styles or genres in the Lord’s church.

The pastor’s role is to be defined by three specific offices: Shepherd, Elder and Bishop. As a shepherd the pastor walks with God, prays to God and feeds the church the Word of God. He is to be an Elder or experienced one not a novice in the work of the ministry. He is a Bishop to provide oversight while not being a lord over the Lord’s flock. The pastor’s role is that of undershepherd to the one true Shepherd, Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5).

The Christian has three primary enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil (1 John 2). Since the world is presently under Satan’s domain as “god of this world,” we recognize the potential detriment it has to our spiritual life. Satan seeks to use the temporary allurements of world to blind and keep us from the more consequential and eternal pursuits. If we make our selves friends to the world, we cannot be a true friend of God (James 4). We are to follow the admonition of Jesus that while we are IN the world, we are not to be OF it (John 17).

I believe we are presently living in a parenthetical Church Age – the final age of Gentile rule before our Lord’s return. I believe in the pre-millennial removal (rapture) of the church precipitating the final week of Daniel’s 70th week prophecy (Dan 9) which culminates with the Lord’s visible and glorious return. Thus, I believe the Lord’s Second Coming is in Two Parts: PRIVATELY (rapture) FOR His own (1 Thess 4) and PUBLICLY WITH his own (Rev 19). At His Second Coming, Jesus will establish a millennial reign as King of Kings. After 1,000 years follows the release, rise and rebellion of Satan which culminates in his eternal punishment and the Great White Throne judgment for unbelievers. Then follows the ETERNAL STATE with the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven and God eternally living with His people in a new heaven and new earth (Rev 21.22).

These topics include, but are not limited to, abortion, marriage, the uniqueness of man and woman genders, LBGTQ+, woke culture, etc., etc. The ever-changing cultural views are seen as an attack on God’s original design and intent that is fueled by a rise of an anti-Christian spirit.