Doctrinal Statement Continued

VI.  God the Holy Spirit
a. We believe that the Holy Spirit as the third member of the Trinity indwells and teaches every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:17; 14:26).
b. We believe in the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, namely, convicting of sin (John 16:8), baptism into the body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13), sealing of the believer until the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13; 4:30), indwelling of every believer (James 4:5; II Tim 1:14), filling of the believer’s soul when he has no unconfessed sins (I John 1:9; Acts 4:31), (teaching (John 14:26), guiding of the believer through God’s Word (John 16:13) and comforting of all the saints (John 14:16, 26; 15:26).
 
VII.  Salvation
We believe that salvation is a grace gift from God. Man receives this gift by means of faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, at which time God the Father credits His perfect righteousness to the individual resulting in acquittal of all condemnation; causing justification and reconciliation forever on the basis of grace (Acts 16:31; John 1:12; 3:16, 18; 5:24; Eph. 2:8,9; Rom. 3:22, 24, 26, 28;Gen. 15:6).
 
VIII.  The Eternal Security of Believers
We believe that all believers are eternally secured, i.e., salvation can not be lost when once received (Jude 24; Rom. 8:31-39; John 6:37-40, 44, 47; 10:27-30; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 Cor. 1:4-9).
 
IX.  Divine Discipline
We believe that God ministers divine discipline to every believer who misuses His grace gift. Even though the believer is permanently secured and loved by God, the believer becomes the object of discipline in 3 categories.
1. Warning discipline: This type of discipline is not severe (1 Cor. 11:30a). God ministers a warn-like discipline to alert the believer of His carnal state (Rev. 3:19, 20).
2. Intense discipline: When the believer does not heed to the warning, God intensifies the suffering (Heb. 12:6-11; 1 Cor. 11:30b).
3. Dying discipline: God in His master’s grace removes this individual from the face of the earth (11Cor. 5:8) without the person fulfilling the eternal plan of God (Prov. 29:1; 1 John 5:16; 1 Cor. 11:30c).
 
X.  The Church
We believe that all believers regardless of race, color, or affiliation constitute the body of Christ which is the church. (1 Cor. 12:12-14; Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27).
 
XI.  The Local Church
a. We believe in the existence of local churches in which members in the body of Christ do assemble for the purpose of assimilation of Bible teaching so that the body of Christ may be edified (Acts 14:17; 20:17, 28-32; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11; 1 Cor. 1:1-2).
b. We believe in the administration of the Holy Communion to the members of the body of Christ as a permanent meaningful ritual instituted by the Lord (I Cor. 11:23-31; Matt. 26:26-29; Luke 22:17-20).
c. We believe in freewill offering as a part of worship for the support of a local church and missionary activities (II Cor. 9:6, 7; I Cor. 9:13, 14; Gal. 6:6; III John 1:1-8).
d. We believe that tithe is a system of taxation under the Mosaic Law, which is not part of the church, the age of grace (John 1:17; Rom. 6:14; 10:4; Heb 7:12, 18).
 
XII.  Satan
We believe that Satan is a real created being, the fallen angel, and a general in command of all other fallen angels. His main objective is to distract mankind from obeying and following the plan of God. His goal is to disprove God as a faithful, truthful, and just one. He is described as being crafty (Gen. 3:1) and cunning (2 Cor. 11: 3, 14). He masquerades himself and attacks the truth in every conceivable form. False teachings are his craftsmanship. Salvation by works is his masterpiece. (Gal. 1:3; Acts 15:1-17; Job 1:6-7; Ezek. 28:14-18)
 
XIII.  Free Will of Man
We believe that man is created to function with a free will (2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16, 18; Deut. 30:19, 20; Num. 22).

XIV.  The Destiny of Believers in Christ
We believe that rapture, which is imminent, will occur and the Lord Jesus Christ will gather all the believers in Christ both the dead and alive to meet Him in the air prior to the tribulation (1 Cor. 15:51-57; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-15).
 
XV.  The Great Tribulation
We believe that the great tribulation will be a time that follows immediately after the rapture. Satan will inflict the greatest suffering that mankind has ever experienced (Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 24:27-31; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 20:6).
 
XVI.  The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that “The Great Tribulation will be climaxed by the pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom” (Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 24:27-31; 1 Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 20:6).
 
XVII.  The Eternal State
We believe that “the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence (2 Cor. 5:8; Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:23) and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body reunited, shall be associated with Him forever (1 Thess. 4:17). But the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery (Luke 16:19-26) until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited, shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence and the glory of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15).
 
XVIII.  Believers’ Duty
We believe that “All believers should seek to walk in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Lord and Savior which includes Biblical separation, though not isolation (1 Cor. 5:9-13; Rom. 12:1; Rom 14:13; 2 Cor. 6:14-17); that it is the obligation and the privilege of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of the holy scripture and to seek to proclaim the gospel to all the world (Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20); that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them (1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:7).