BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH OF ANDERSON COUNTY

STATEMENT OF FAITH

   

Authority of the Statement of Faith:

This church holds the following statement of faith as being a summary of Christian doctrine, believed by all members of this church, whose authority consists only in its agreement with the word of God. The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We do believe, however, that the foregoing Statement of Faith accurately represents the teaching of the Bible, concerning major doctrines applied to the local church, and therefore, is binding upon all members.

 

1. The Scripture

The Holy Bible is divinely inspired by God and given to man as the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man.  By inspiration we mean that the books of the Bible were written by holy men of old, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally and verbally given by inspiration of God Himself and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be.  By the Holy Bible, we mean the sixty-six (66) books of the Old and New Testaments from Genesis to Revelation are the complete revelation of God to man. The Scriptures shall be interpreted line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  This therefore, allows God to speak and interpret His word with His own words, allowing the Scripture to speak for itself and eliminating any private interpretations.  We believe the Bible reveals God, the fall of man, the way of salvation, and God’s plan and purpose in the ages.  Because inspiration without preservation would be meaningless, and the original manuscripts of the Bible are no longer in existence, God has supernaturally and providentially preserved His word, without error, for us today who speak English in the AV 1611 (King James Version 1769 edition) of the Bible.  By this we mean that the Authorized King James Bible preserves the very words of God in English for those who speak with the English tongue and is without error and in no need of correction.  Those who seek to correct it in any way utilize the tactics of our adversary, the Devil, and have no place in any form of teaching or preaching within the church.  Therefore the King James Bible shall be the official and only Bible used by Bible Baptist Church and its ministries, as we remain a local church made up of English speaking people.  We do believe that God’s desire is for all men to hear and have His words in their own tongue or language.  We will uphold this belief through the sending of Missionaries both here and abroad to those who must hear in the tongue wherein they were born to understand. 

II Timothy 3:14-17, II Peter 1:19-21, Psalm 119:105, Psalm 119:130, Psalm 119:160, Luke 24:25-27, John 17:17, Luke 24:44-45, Provers 30:5-6, Revelation 22:19, I Peter 1:23-25, John 12:47-50, Isaiah 8:20, Romans 15:4, Ephesians 6:17, Psalm 19:7-11, John 8:47, Psalm 138:2, Psalm 12:6-7, Isaiah 28:9-13, I Corinthians 2:12-14, I Thessalonians 2:13, Acts 2:6-8

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2. The One True God

The Godhead

We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing and manifesting Himself in three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who are equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

Deuteronomy 6:4, Matt.28:19, II Corinthians 13:14, John 14:10, 26, I John 5:7, Genesis 1:26, John 10:30

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of Mary, a virgin, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. He is both the Son of God, God the Son and the Son of man.  He is both man and God; one person with two natures; tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.  His Deity and His Humanity were essential for His qualification as The Atonement for the sins of the whole world and is not something that is fully comprehendible by man while still in vile flesh but must be accepted by Faith. 

Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:26-35, John 1:1-2, 14, II Corinthians 5:19-21, Galatians 4:4-5, Philippians 2:5-11, John 5:17-19, I Timothy 3:16

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished redemption through his death on the cross as a representative, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.  The only means of Eternal Salvation is therefore through His shed Blood and by grace through faith in His Person and Work.

Acts 2:18-36, Romans 3:24-25, I Peter 1:3-5, 2:24, Ephesians 1:7, Acts 4:12, Hebrews 9:13-28

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Mediator, and Advocate.

Acts 1:9-10, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, 9:24, I John 2:1-2, Acts 7:55-56

The Person and Work of the Holy Ghost

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person; equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature. He was active in the creation. We believe that in His relation to the unbelieving world, He restrains the Evil one until Gods purpose is fulfilled, He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and that He bears witness of the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony.

He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.  We believe that He is the Divine Teacher, who assists believers to understand and apply the scriptures. We believe that God is sovereign in the giving of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry.

We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing, were temporary. We believe the miracle signs and gifts belong primarily to Israel, dispensationally speaking, and that these signs, as practiced by the Charismatics, Apostolics, etc. are exercised mainly in the flesh. They are most often fraudulent, and sometimes done by the power of the god of this world in nature, as the false prophets did in the Old Testament.  We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit and that the final deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the completion of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayers of believers for physical healing today.

John 16:8-11, Romans 8:9, I Corinthians 12:12-14, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 1:17-18, 5:18, I John 2:20, 27, Romans 12:3-8, I Corinthians 12:4-11, 28, Ephesians 4:7-12, I Corinthians 1:22, 13:8-13, 14:21-22, John 14:16,-17, Matthew 28:19, Hebrews 9:14, John 14:26, Luke 1:35, Genesis 1:1-3, II Thessalonians 2:7, John 15:26-27, Acts 5:30-32, John 3:5-6, Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 11:16, Deuteronomy 13:1-3

 

3. The Devil or Satan

We believe that Satan was once holy, and enjoyed heavenly honors; but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angles. He is now the prince of the power of the air, and the unholy god of this world.  We hold him to be man’s great adversary, the enemy of God and His Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author of all false religions, the guide of the present day apostasy, the authority of the antichrist, and the author of all powers of darkness.  He is the great imitator of God Almighty who has and will continue to imitate God in order to deceive man into believing that he is God.  However, he is destined to final defeat at the hands of God’s own Son, and to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire, a place prepared for him and his angels, as well as all of the unbelievers of the ages.

Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:14-19, Revelation 12:9, Jude 6, II Peter 2:4, Ephesians 2:2, John 14:30, I Thessalonians 3:5, Matthew 4:1-3, I Peter 5:8, I John 3:8, Matthew 13:39, Luke 22:3-4, Revelation 12:10, II Corinthians 11:13-15, Mark 13:21-22, I John 4:3, II John 7, I John 2:22, Revelation 13, II Thessalonians 2:8-11, Revelation 19:11-20, Revelation 12:7-9, Revelation 20:1-3, 10, Matthew 25:41

 

4. The Total Depravity of Man

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature and became alienated from God. We believe that man is totally depraved, and, of himself, unable to remedy his lost condition.

Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 3:1-7, 24, Romans 1:18-20, 32, 3:10-23, 5:12-19, 6:23, Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:17-19, Galatians 3:22, Ezekiel 18:19-20, Genesis 5:1-3

 

5. Salvation

We believe that Eternal Salvation is the gift of God, totally void of any work that man can offer, and is given to man by grace and received through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. As He was lifted up, so He does and will do as He said, draw all men unto Himself. It is man’s responsibility to receive the Gift of grace freely offered, faith freely given by the hearing of the word of God and repentance granted through the godly sorrow given by Him through His word.  The work was by His grace, the faith comes from His word and the repentance comes through His word and the work of His Spirit.  As man can receive so great salvation, so also can man neglect so great salvation.  We reject modern day Calvinism and rightly divide the word of Truth concerning the elections seen in the Scriptures.  Election concerning Eternal Salvation received during the church age is according to foreknowledge and all men are drawn to the Son as it is God’s will for all men to be saved.  The man that remains in His lost state willingly neglects the Gift that God has offered him and drawn him to.  We hold to the Biblical Truth that Eternal Salvation to any and all men is only obtained through The Lord Jesus Christ’s Atonement, His shed Blood.  Eternal Salvation consists of Eternal forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, and redemption of the purchased possession.

We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again, and that at the moment of the new birth the individual is a new creature in Christ Jesus. It is instantaneous and not a process. In the new birth, the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divide nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God. We believe that the new creature is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but wholly and solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel. Its proper evidence appears in the fruits of repentance, faith and newness of life. For by grace the individual is saved, through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ the Lord and that not of one’s self, it is the Gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

John 1:12, Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10, I Peter 1:18-19, John 12:31-33, Hebrews 2:3, Romans 10:17, II Corinthians 7:8-10, 1 Peter 1:23, John 3:3-18, Acts 20:28, Hebrews 9:12, 1 Peter 1:2, Romans 11:1-33, I Peter 3:18, I John 2:2, II Corinthians 5:17, I Timothy 2:4, Romans 5:9, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 9

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6. The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers

We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that the salvation given by God is eternal and everlasting as He said.  It is eternal because He then indwells the believer and it is everlasting because it began when you called upon the name of the Lord and has no end.  However, we believe that God’s Word clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. 

John 6:37-40, 10:27-30, Romans 8:38-39, I Corinthians 1:4-8, I Peter 1:4-5, John 3:15-16, Galatians 5:13

1. The Church

We believe in the threefold Biblical teaching concerning the Church, visible Old Testament Church in the wilderness, invisible New Testament Church and the visible New Testament Local Church.  The invisible and visible New Testament Church apply to us today.  We believe in an invisible universal Church, which is entered into by an individual at the moment of salvation. The agent of this transaction is the Holy Spirit who baptizes that believer spiritually into the Church invisible: the Body of Christ. We believe that the Church is manifested visibly through the local churches. We believe that a visible church of Jesus Christ the Lord is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and the fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts and privileges invested in them by His word; that its only Scriptural officers are bishops/elders (pastors) and deacons.  We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of an external authority or control.  The pastor being selected according to the spiritual requirements set forth in I Timothy 3, Titus 1 and 1 Peter 5, he is to lead the flock with the oversight and not be a lord over God's heritage in that local assembly. The pastor is responsible to the Lord Jesus Christ and as such stands outside the jurisdiction of any Federal or State governmental authority, however, possesses the ability to voluntarily cooperate with such governments as he deems necessary in accordance with Romans 13. The pastor of this local church is never to stand down within the church concerning teaching and preaching all the counsel of God given through the King James Bible.  This local church's ministries include glorifying the Saviour, edifying the saints, and evangelizing the world for Christ.

Acts 7:38, I Corinthians 12:12-14, II Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:22-33, Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28-32, I Tim.3:1-13, Titus 1:5-11, Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, Romans 16:1-5, I Corinthians 3:9, 16,  5:4-7, 13, I Peter 5:1-4, Matthew 16:17-19, Acts 2:44-47,

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7. Baptism and The Lord’s Supper

We recognize water baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost under the Authority of the Local Church and the Lord’s Supper in which members of the local church, by the use of unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine, are to commemorate the love of Christ shown at Calvary, as the two ordinances.  These are the only scriptural ordinances for the local church.  Salvation and baptism are prerequisite to the privilege of local church membership.  The local church water baptism is a picture of our faith in the crucified, buried and risen Saviour, showing forth our death to sin and resurrection as a new creature, it is in no way a means of eternal salvation.  The Lord’s Supper shows forth the Lord’s death till He comes and should always be preceded by self-examination of each member partaking of the bread and fruit of the vine, and it is in no way a means of eternal salvation.   

Matthew 3:16, 28:19-20, Acts 2:41-42, 8:36-39, Romans 6:3-5, I Corinthians 11:23-31, Colossians 2:12

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8. Giving

We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is instructed to support their local church financially through tithes and offerings. We believe that God has established a tenth of the believer’s income as the tithe and this was established prior to the law as a Biblical pattern.  The tithe is the Lord’s and the time to tithe is upon the first day of the week.  That every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully through the local church for the spreading of the gospel to all nations, the care of the churches, and the support of the ministry.

Genesis 14:20, Genesis 28:22, Hebrews 7:2, Proverbs 3:9-10, Leviticus 27:30, Malachi 3:8-10, Acts 4:34-37, Matthew 23:23, I Corinthians 16:2, II Corinthians 9:6-7, Galatians 6:6, Ephesians 4:28, I Timothy 5:17-18, I John 3:17

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9. Missions

We believe that God has given the Church a Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We only support missionaries who are accountable to a local church of like faith. Because of the Great Commission, we will support these missionaries with our prayers and financial support as God provides and leads.

Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 24:46-48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:13-15

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10. Separation

We believe that all born again believers should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord abstaining from all worldly and sinful pleasures.  We believe in the separation of the local church from all affiliation and fellowship with those who deny the truths of the faith which was once delivered to the saints.  We believe in the separation of church and state.

We believe in separation concerning physical activity outside of marriage between men and women.  We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography is a sinful perversion of God’s original intent for a physical relationship between a husband and wife. 

We believe in separation concerning the sin of abortion.  We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being.  Abortion is murder and we reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable.

We believe in the separation of the believer from the consumption of alcoholic beverages, not including medication if utilized for the correct purpose and intent.  We believe all born again believers should abstain from consumption, concerning any amount, of alcoholic beverages.  No members should ever own a business distributing alcoholic beverages.  We believe in defining wine in the word of God with the word of God, according to the context as oppose to accepting only the definition given at the local liquor store.  We do not believe the wine the Lord made was an alcoholic beverage as we believe in His sinless perfection.  We believe that the word “wine” is used for one of three different definitions in the Bible and context is key concerning the proper definition; (1) wine is used to define pure grape juice or the fruit of the vine as it is found in the cluster of grapes with no addition nor fermentation (Isaiah 65:8); (2) wine is used to define the fruit of the vine which has natural fermentation with no man made process in which it has been mingled with or added to; (3) wine is also used in the Bible to define the alcoholic beverage that man has processed or produced in his sinful nature for the purpose and intention of making one drunken containing excess, this is the wine produced and sold that we are to abstain from.

Rom.12:1-2; 14:13; II Cor.6:14-7:1; II Tim.3:1-5; I John 2:15-17

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11. Creation

We believe that God created and ordered the Universe known to man according to the Genesis account in Scripture.  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The creation placed upon that void earth was in six literal, 24-hour periods as seen in the text as the evening and the morning were each day.  We believe God established His 24 hour day through His creation as the evening first and the morning second for a twenty four hour day.  We accept the account literally, that man was created directly in God’s own image, after His own likeness, and that man’s creation was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary change of species, or development through interminable periods of time from lower to higher forms.  We believe that Jesus Christ the Lord was the Person of the work of Creation and that all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.  He is the creator of all things visible and invisible.  We believe that while man was created in the image of God, due to the fall, he is no longer born in the image of God but in the image of Adam with a sin nature at the moment of conception.  We believe all animal and vegetable life were made directly and God’s established law was that they should bring forth only after their kind.  We reject any and all theory which is contrary to the literal Genesis account of creation or goes beyond the text.

We believe God created man, male and female.  We believe God is the author of the gender and the giver of the gender.  We therefore reject any concept of change of gender and see it as sin against God’s design and plan for each individual’s life.  We believe in maintaining a distinct difference between the male and the female as set forth in Scripture, therefore maintaining a picture of God’s Biblical creation before the lost wicked generations. 

Genesis 1-2, 11, Exodus 20:11, Acts 4:24, Colossians 1:16-17, Hebrews 11:3, John 1:1-3, Revelation 10:6, Romans 1:20, Acts 17:23-26, Jeremiah 10:12, Nehemiah 9:6, Genesis 1:24-27, Genesis 5:1-3

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12. Heaven and Hell

We believe that the soul and spirit of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation do, at death, immediately pass into His presence and there remain until the resurrection of the body at the Rapture when soul, spirit and body reunited shall be present forever with the Lord.  We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery in hell until the Great White Throne Judgment at the close of the millennium.  Then soul, body and dead spirit reunited, shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting torment.

Luke 16:19-26, II Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:23, I Thessalonians 4:13-18, II Thessalonians 1:7-9, Revelation 20:1-15, Malachi 3:18, Genesis 18:23, Romans 6:17-18, Proverbs 11:31, I Peter 1:18, Romans 1:17, I Corinthians 15:22, Acts 10:34-35, I John 2:29, Romans 6:16, I John 5:19, Galatians 3:10, Romans 7:6, Romans 6:23, Proverbs 14:32, Matthew 25:34-41, John 8:21, Luke 9:26, John 12:25, Matthew 7:13-14

 

13. Civil Government

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed.  That God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three basic institutions; the home, the church and the state.  Every person is subject to these authorities, as placed under by God, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and are to be governed by His Word and word.  God has given each Biblical responsibilities and has balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other.  The three are equal and sovereign in their respective Biblical assigned areas of responsibility under God.  We believe in Biblical submission to each institution as assigned by God, except when one infringes upon another by ordering that they not fulfill the will of the Lord Jesus Christ by preforming the Biblical duties assigned.  We believe that we ought to obey God rather than men and understand that we must see God’s command to obey each institute as assigned, unless that institution supersedes its assigned authority and commands the other not to obey the Lord concerning their assigned responsibilities, as He is King of kings and Lord of lords. 

Romans 13:1-7, Ephesians 5:21-6:4, Hebrews 13:17, I Peter 2:13-17, II Samuel 23:3, Exodus 18:21-22, Acts 23:5, Matthew 22:21, Titus 3:1, Acts 4:19-20, Acts 5:27-29, Danial 3:17-18, Matthew 10:28, Philippians 2:10-11, Psalms 72:11

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14. The Second Advent and Coming of The Lord Jesus Christ

We believe in the “blessed hope”, the personal imminent return of Jesus Christ who will rapture His Church prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the Tribulation Christ will personally and visibly return, with His saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom, which was promised to the nation Israel. We believe that the gathering seen in Matthew 24:29-31 refers to the elect of the physical seed of Israel and is not to be confused with the mystery rapture revealed through Paul to the church.  We are pretribulation in our belief concerning the rapture and are looking, longing and waiting for Him to come and receive us, His church.

I Corinthians 15:51-55, Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 1:32-33, Acts 1:11, I Thessalonians 3:13, John 14:1-3, Psalms 89:3-4, Danial 2:31-45, Zechariah 14:4-11,  I Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18,  Titus 2:13,  Revelation 1:7, 3:10,  19:11-16, 20:1-6