DOCTRINE

 

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 Timothy 3:16,17)

 

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.
 

1. 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 Timothy

3:16; Isaiah 9:6; John 14:6-10; Psalms 132:11; Isaiah 44:6,8; Revelations 1:18; 22:16)

 

2. 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.

 

A. 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).

 

B. 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 the 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).

 

C. 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).