Introduction
Our Creed, Discipline, Rules of Order, and Doctrine is the Word of God as taught and revealed by the Holy Ghost (John 14:26; I Corinthians 2:9-13)."All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (II Timothy3:16,17)
We Believe
We believe that there is One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism, and that in order to escape the lake of fire, the eternal punishment of God, and to have the hope of enjoying the glory of eternal life with Christ, one must be baptized in Jesus' name, filled with the Holy Ghost, and living a holy and sanctified life.
The Godhead
We fully believe in the mystery of the Godhead. We believe in the mystery of the One God manifesting Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. He manifested Himself as Father in creation and in the person of His Son in redemption. He manifests Himself in the Church by the power of the Holy Ghost. (I Timothy3:16; Isaiah 9:6; John 14:6-10; Psalms 132:11; Isaiah44:6,8; Revelations 1:18; 22:16)
The New Birth
We believe that everyone must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). The new birth ("being born again") includes a genuine repentance. In order to experience the new birth, one must be baptized in water in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by immersion, and be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Ghost) with the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of the Lord giveth utterance.
Repentance
The only grounds upon which God will accept a sinner is repentance from the heart for the sins he has committed. "A broken and contrite heart...thou wilt not despise." (Psalms 51:17). Jesus stated that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47), and Peter fulfilled this commandment on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38).
Water Baptism
Water baptism was administered in the name of Jesus Christ, for this was the name given to our Savior before his birth for the purpose of saving His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21); for there is salvation in "none other name (Acts 4:12) whereby we must be saved." The apostles always administered baptism in His name from the Day of Pentecost forward. There is no biblical record of one person ever being baptized, as some believers are today, using he formula "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 28:19).
In administering baptism in Jesus' name our formula should include, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. We believe in baptism once in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins for persons who have reached the age of understanding, and no baptism of infants under any condition. (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12; Acts 2:38).
Baptism of the Holy Ghost
We believe that all full believers receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, as promised by our Lord and as witness to their scripturally based faith in Jesus (John 7:37-39); and that the new birth of the Spirit (John 3:5) is necessary to place the believer in the Kingdom of God or the Body of Christ, the Church (I Corinthians 12:12-13). We further believe that the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost marked a new era in the Spirit's dealing with mankind as prophesied by Joel(Joel 2:28-29; Isaiah 28:11), the Holy Ghost being the gift to every believer in this age of grace: hand-maidens, servants, sons and daughters.
The Holy Ghost does not indwell the believer simply because he says "I believe" as many evangelicals teach. St. Paul shows that the Holy Ghost comes after believing (Ephesians 1:13), not synonymous with it. The Holy Spirit is "the seal of the righteousness of the faith" which the believer has (Romans 4:11), as circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of Abraham.
We believe that speaking with tongues as the Spirit gives utterance(Acts 2:4), is the initial evidence of the indwelling of the Spirit; not only on the Day of Pentecost for the one hundred and twenty, but for all believers for all time. Jesus told Nicodemus "the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8). Speaking with tongues is the sound of the Spirit, heard by every believer. It is synonymous with the cry of the newborn babe in the first birth (birth of the flesh); for God has sent forth His Spirit into our hearts in the second birth (birth of the Spirit) crying Abba, Father (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6).
The Coming of Christ
That Jesus is coming to earth again in person is a doctrine clearly set forth in Apostolic times. Jesus taught it, the Apostles preached it, and the saints expected it. (Matthew 24:1-37; Acts 1:11; 3:19-21; I Corinthians 1:7-8; 11:26; Philippians 3:20-21; I Thessalonians 4;14-17; Titus 2:13-14).
Translation of the Saints
We believe that the time draweth near for the coming of the Lord to make a change in the present order of things, and at that time all the righteous dead shall rise from their graves, and "we that are alive" and living righteous before God shall be translated or "caught up to meet the Lord in the air." (Luke 17:20-37: I Corinthians 15:51-54; Philippians 3:20-21; I Thessalonians 4:13-17).
The Millenium
We believe that the distress upon the world is the "beginning of sorrows" and will become more intense until there "shall be a time of trouble such as there never was since there was a nation, even to that same time" (Matthew 24:3-8; Daniel 12:1), and that period of tribulation will be followed by the dawn of a better day on earth, and that for one thousand years there shall be "peace on earth, good will toward men."(Revelations 20:1-5; Isaiah 65:17-25; Matthew 5:5; Daniel 7:27; Micah 4:1-2; Habakkuk 2:14).
Final Judgment
When the thousand years are finished, there shall be a resurrection of the dead who shall be summoned before the great white throne for their final judgment. All those whose names are not found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, which God hath prepared for the devil and his angels; Satan being cast in first. (Revelations20:7-15; Matthew 25:41-46; Revelations 21:8).
Wholly Sanctified Life
We believe that in order to escape the judgment of God and to have the hope of enjoying the glory of life eternal, one must be thoroughly saved from his sins, wholly sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost; and that a wholly sanctified life is the only true standard of Christian life. (Hebrews 12:14; I Peter 1:15-17).
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