Our Beliefs
Scripture
Scripture is holy writing as found in the sixty-six books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, written by holy men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:20,21) in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally inspired (2 Tim. 3:16) and free from error. To inspire the words written on the original autographs infallibly and then lose them over time would have made their inspiration meaningless. God promised to preserve His words to all generations (Ps. 12:6,7; 100:5; Matt. 24:35).
The Authorized Version (King James Version) is the inspired word of God preserved infallibly for English speaking people and is the supreme and final authority for all matters of faith and practice. The word of God for Italian speaking people is the Diodati.
Godhead
There is one living and true God, existing in three persons, all equal in divine personality and nature, set forth in scripture as the Father, the Word (the Son), and the Holy Ghost (1 Jn. 5:7). Within these three personages is found the expression of the triune God of the universe who is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, worship, confidence, and love by His creatures (Rev. 4:11).
The Person and Work of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ was the eternal God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16; Mic. 5:2). He was begotten by the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:35), born of a virgin named Mary (Is. 7:14) and possessed both full deity and humanity. Jesus Christ was crucified to pay the penalty of our sin (Rom. 5) and He literally and bodily rose from the dead on the third day (1 Cor. 15:3,4) and now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Col. 3:1).
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit in the world today is convicting mankind of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit is fully God and permanently dwells within the body of the born-again believer (Eph. 1:13; Jn. 14:16). The Holy Spirit seals the believer and spiritually baptizes (immerses) him into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation (1 Cor. 12:13). The Holy Spirit aims to teach the born-again believer the word of God and conform him to the very image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:17,18). All spiritual blessings are received at the time of salvation (Eph. 1:3) and the Spirit gives spiritual gifts to every believer so the believer might effectively communicate the love of Christ (1 Cor. 12-13) and edify the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:7). The spiritual gifts of tongues and healing are not active in this age.
The Person of Satan
Satan is a real, historical being. He was a cherub (Eze. 28:12-19) who was lifted up in pride and ambition to be like the Most High (Is. 14:12-14). He rebelled against God and drew after him a host of angels. He is the enemy of God and His Christ and therefore the avowed enemy of all truly born-again believers. He is the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10), the author of all false religions (2 Cor. 4:4), and would have all worship him (Matt. 4:8,9). He is destined to final defeat and judgment of God in the eternal lake of fire (Rev. 20:10), a place prepared for him and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
Creation
The Genesis account of creation is to be accepted literally and not allegorically or figuratively. Adam was a historical person, the first man (1 Cor. 15:45), created by the direct act of God and in His image (Gen. 1:26,27; 2:7). Man was created a trinity of body, soul, and spirit (Gen. 2:7; 1 Thes. 5:23). The creation of man, along with all animal and vegetable life (Gen. 1:3-31), was not due to evolution from lower to higher forms.
The Fall of Man
Adam was created in innocence and perfection and was placed in the Garden of Eden to dress it. Through voluntary transgression, Adam fell from his sinless state and thereby incurred not only physical death but also immediate spiritual death (Gen. 2:17). In consequence of which all human beings are born dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) and possess a sinful nature (Rom. 3:10, 23), and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility become sinners in thought, word, and deed (Jam. 4:17).
Salvation
The blessings of salvation are made free to all by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8,9). Salvation is a free gift, not merited or earned by any works of the flesh or human self-righteousness (Titus 3:5).
Repentance and Saving Faith
Repentance and faith cannot be separated – they work together in the single action of turning from self-effort and trusting on Jesus Christ as Saviour (Acts 20:21). Repentance and faith are solemn obligations wrought in our souls by the quickening Spirit of God; thereby, being deeply convicted of our guilt, danger, and helplessness, and of the only way of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy; at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ and openly confessing Him as our only and all-sufficient Saviour (Rom. 10:9,10).
Justification
Justification is the legal and judicial act of God whereby those who put faith in Christ are declared righteous in His eyes and free from guilt and punishment (Rom. 3:22-26; 4:3-5). In justification, all the believer’s sins are forgiven and the guilt and punishment is removed. The believer may have to pay the rest of his life in the flesh for what he has sowed but eternal punishment is out of the question. The slate is wiped clean and he is declared to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We are justified by His grace (Titus 3:7) at the moment of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The justification is done by God. He is the author of justification.
Eternal Security
Assurance of salvation is absolutely necessary if the believer is to help others spiritually. When a man trembles under a sense of insecurity his chief thoughts are on his own interests, rather than holy gratitude to his Redeemer. Only to the born-again Christian is it said that we are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6) and that we are “predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). Salvation is a free gift which a man receives and when he does he possesses salvation, possesses Christ and Christ possesses him. He is not at the point of falling out of Christ’s hand, nor can anything pluck him out of Christ’s hand (Jn. 10:28,29). Salvation is eternal life. It is the life of God. It is a divine life that could not possibly have an ending because it had no beginning. If a man possesses eternal life, he is saved. He is saved for time and for eternity, for the divine nature that he partakes of is eternal life.
Church
The word church means “a called out assembly.” The most common usage of the word “church” in the word of God applies to a local, visible assembly of Christians (Acts 16:5; Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 4:17; Gal. 1:2). The local church is God’s vehicle to accomplish His work in this age. It is the responsibility of each local church to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 4:11), evangelize the lost (2 Cor. 5:20), disciple the saved (2 Tim. 2:2), edify the believer (Eph. 4:12), and spread the gospel around the world (Mk. 16:15). Local, independent churches should be self-governing and reproduce themselves by establishing other local churches (Titus 1:5).
The officers of ordination in the local church are pastors (or elders) and deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the scriptures (1 Tim. 3:1-12; Titus 1:5-9). Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances left by the Lord to the local church. Scriptural baptism is the immersion in water of a believer in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the authority of the local church, to identify with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. The Lord’s Supper, being the unleavened bread and unfermented fruit of the vine, is to be a memorial in the local church of our Lord’s death until His return (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
A Baptist church is a congregation of baptized believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His word. The local Baptist church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations and that the one and only Superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit. On all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
The word “church” in the Bible can also refer to the spiritual organism of the body of Christ on earth (Eph. 1:22,23; 4:4; 5:23,30,32; 1 Cor. 12:13,18,27; Rom. 12:5; Col. 1:18). God’s Spirit immerses a born-again believer into the body of Christ (Matt. 3:11c; 1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 6:3,4; Col. 2:11,12; Gal. 3:27) thus making him one with all believers (1 Cor. 6:17; 12:12). The body of Christ is made up of all born-again believers from the first century to the Rapture, yet it becomes a visible, tangible force through the countless local churches all over the globe. The body of Christ becomes real and tangible to a believer when he is baptized in a local church as a witness to his new life in Christ.
Marriage
God instituted the home (Gen. 2:24) and Christian marriage should be the finest example of Christ’s relationship to the church (Eph. 5:22-33). Husbands should lead their homes in godliness, wives should live in joyful submission and children should obey and honor their parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1).
Separation
Personal purity and separation from worldly attitudes and practices should be the testimony of every believer in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 6:14-18). This includes a stand against the Charismatic movement and the ecumenical movement.
Hell
The wicked who reject Christ will be turned into hell (Ps. 9:17). Hell is a literal and everlasting prison that God prepared for the Devil and his angels. It is called a “furnace of fire” (Matt. 13:42). Hell is a place of banishment from the presence of God (2 Thes. 1:9). Hell is a place of torment and punishment where the conscious and never-dying souls of the unsaved dead burn forever in everlasting punishment (Lk. 16:23; Matt. 25:46).
Heaven
Heaven is a prepared place (Jn. 14:2) for believers in Christ. It is called New Jerusalem in Revelation 21-22. Heaven is a literal place where the presence of God is manifested and where Jesus sits at His right hand and the angels reside. Immediately at death, the believer’s soul and spirit are in the presence of God in heaven (2 Cor. 5:8).
Resurrection of the Saved and Unsaved
The Lord Jesus Christ will return “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain 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” (1 Thes. 4:16,17). The born-again believer has the same power in his body that raised Christ from the dead and we have the promise of God that He will “quicken” our mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells inside of us (Rom. 8:11). When the Lord Jesus Christ returns “in the clouds” at the Rapture the corrupting body of the believer who is dead will be changed into an incorruptible body and he will come out of the grave and arise to be with the Lord. The believer who is alive at the Rapture will have their corruptible body changed into an incorruptible body and he will never taste death (1 Cor. 15:50-55) but will arise to “ever be with the Lord.” This event will occur “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The literal, physical resurrection of the unsaved dead will occur after the thousand year reign of Christ (Rev. 20:5). Their resurrection will occur and they will stand before the White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:12-15) and “whosoever was not found written in the book of life” will be “cast into the lake of fire.”
Tribulation and Millennial Reign
The Rapture of the body of Christ will occur before the Tribulation begins. In Revelation 2-3 we read of the activity of the local churches. Chapter 4 begins with a call, “Come up hither” (Rev. 4:1). This call matches the detailed promise of the Lord’s call and the church’s departure found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Following this call John (a type of the body of Christ) finds himself instantly before the throne in heaven. The church on earth is not mentioned again during the chapters describing the Tribulation period. The Tribulation is a Jewish dispensation as seen by its being termed “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7); the call to “come up hither” is prior to the whole of the time of Jacob’s trouble. The Great Tribulation period is a time of wrath (Rev. 6:16,17; Zeph. 1:15); the Church Age saints are given the promise that we are not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation from the time of wrath (1 Thes. 1:10; 5:9). The Lord Jesus Christ will return to the earth with His saints to end the Tribulation. He will cast the Beast and the False Prophet into a lake of fire (Rev. 19:20). Likewise, He will slay those who fought against Him (Rev. 19:21). He will judge the survivors on the earth on the basis of whether they aligned themselves with the Jews during the Tribulation (Matt. 25:31-46). The Lord will cast Satan into the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:1-3). Finally, He will establish His kingdom as promised (Rev. 20:4). The Kingdom Age or Millennial Reign of Christ finds fulfillment for the Davidic, Mosaic, Abrahamic, and New Covenants as well as scores of Old Testament prophecies.