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| "A church that cares about the lives of people" |
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We have been asked many times concerning the doctrine and beliefs of our Church. Of course the simplest statement of faith that we could make is this: "We believe the whole Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21." However, we believe that it would be good to set forth some of the things which are most surely believed among us. There are five words that fairly set forth what we believe. Those five words are: Baptist, Fundamental, Premillennial, Missionary, and Independent. By this we mean that we hold to the historic beliefs and practices that have prevailed among Baptists from the time of Jesus. In every period of time, since Christ established His church during His earthly ministry, there have been churches that were Baptist in faith and practice. They did not always wear the name Baptist, but they believed and practiced Baptist doctrine, which is none other than Bible doctrine. Baptists did not come out of the Reformation under Martin Luther, for they were never a part of the Catholic Church. In fact Baptists were on the scene long before the Catholic Church ever came into existence. For those who are interested in studying more on this subject we highly recommend The Trail of Blood, by J. M. Carroll. We do not believe in a so-called "Universal Invisible Church." We believe that Jesus established a local, visible church, and we are sure that this is the only kind of true church that is in existence today. By this we mean, that we accept the so-called fundamentals of the faith as opposed to modernism, which denies the fundamentals of the faith. We believe in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, the Genesis account of creation, the Virgin Birth of Christ, His sinless life, His blood atonement, His glorious bodily resurrection, His ascension, and His second coming. When we say that we are fundamental, we do not mean that this is all that we believe; because we do believe every doctrine and truth in the Word of God without any reservation. No Church or Christian has any right to single out any doctrine of the Word of God and say that it is non-essential. If any of it were non-essential, then God would not have wasted the space by putting it in the Bible. We believe that Jesus Christ is coming back before the Millennial Kingdom is established. Under the government of man, the world is growing worse and worse morally. This is a fulfillment of the Scriptures that says, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." (II Timothy 3:13). When Christ shall come in the air, "the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain (the living Christians) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). Then the Anti-Christ will be manifested here upon the earth and the seven years of tribulation shall begin. At the end of the seven years of tribulation, the Lord will return with His saints and utterly defeat the armies of the Anti-Christ. Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, and then the Lord will establish his kingdom here on earth and reign for a thousand years. (See Revelation 19-21). Every true New Testament Baptist Church should be missionary. Jesus gave the command to His Church in Matt. 28:18-20, that they were to "teach all nations." He also said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). He also said, "ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). If people are to be saved, they must hear the Word of God. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!... So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:13-15,17). To be obedient to Christ, we must send missionaries to the foreign field, while we are missionaries on the home field. It is not enough to be missionary in name, but we must be missionary in practice. This means that we should pray for missions, and support missions with the finances that God has placed in our hand. We receive a mission offering every week. We practice Faith Promise Mission giving. We support sound Bible believing missionaries. Instead of sending the money to some denominational headquarters where 80% or 90% of it is used up in administration costs, we send it direct to the missionary, through their home church. This way he gets 100% of the money and not just 10% or 20%. We have recently raised the monthly support for our missionaries, and by God's grace we intend to continue to raise it. We are not independent to do as we please, but we are independent and unaffiliated, in order that we might do as God pleases. God forbid that we should ever want to be independent from God. We are not "affiliated with" nor do we "belong to" any association or convention. Jesus established the local New Testament Church, and we do not believe that He established any convention or association to lord it over the churches. It is our contention that a true church cannot scripturally join anything nor become affiliated with any outside religious organization. Churches may work together in the work of Christ, but should beware of entangling alliances that bring them under the domination of boards and denominational secretaries. Conventions, associations, and other like denominational organizations are usually started by men of good faith, but they enter into such organizations without one verse of Scriptural authority. Eventually these extra-Scriptural organizations become the citadels of compromise and doctrinal laxness, with an insatiable desire to dominate and lord it over the churches. During the period of time covered in the book of Acts the greatest evangelistic missionary effort in the history of Christianity may be seen. In those days travel was slow, radio, television, and even the printing press was unheard of, yet the gospel spread like a flame. In no other period of Church history was so much done by so few. In 30 short years greater progress was made than in any other period of history, in establishing churches and carrying out the Great Commission. Yet, there was no convention, association, or outside the church denominational organization. The plan used in the book of Acts worked, and it is working today among churches that are trying to use it. It is our desire to contend for the faith without being contentious. We can disagree without being disagreeable. We can stand for the faith without kicking. We do rejoice when the gospel is preached and when souls are saved, even though we might not agree completely with the method that is used. Criticism of another man's method does not constitute obedience to Christ's command to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. We must not only believe in the right way, but we must demonstrate the right way. The church of the living God does not have time for petty arguments, foolish and unlearned questions and the like. This is not the time for factions, frictions, and foolish divisions. This is the time for action. We are approaching the zero hour when we shall soon face Christ. Let us gird up the loins of our mind, put on the whole armor of God and press forward in the battle for Christ. |
How We Got Our Bible The Church's Task Three R's & ABC's William Tyndale