Biblical Beliefs
| The Mission Station is an independent, fundamental, Bible-believing, Baptist organization, standing without apology for "the faith once delivered to the saints". We are a local-church based ministry that operates under the oversite of Open Door Baptist Missions, a ministry of Morningside Baptist Church in Greenville, SC, USA. |
Statement of Faith
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` The Psalmist David, king of Israel, wrote: "The Heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1) and the apostle Paul declared: "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" (Romans 1:19, 20).
What We Believe(II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:19-21) TOP God is Triune, and is therefore three eternal, co-equal, Divine persons in the Godhead. These three are one God. (Exodus 20:2,3; Deuteronomy 6:4; 4:35; Psalms 9:7; Matthew 3:16,17; John 10:30; 14:26; I Corinthians 8:6; I John 5:7; Revelation 4:11) TOP God is the Father, and that God is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is also the Father of all those who believe on and receive His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as Savior. TOP Jesus Christ came into this world through the conception of the Holy Spirit, uniting in His Person a human nature without loss, or disruption of His Deity. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is one Person with a divine nature and a human nature. He is not a human person and a divine person, and therefore does not have dual personalities. TOP The Holy Spirit is God! He is the Third Person of the Godhead. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit also is a witness in and through the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit leads believers into all the truth of the Word of God as we rely on Him. The Holy Spirit is the supernatural agent in regeneration. He baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ simultaneously with their new birth, and at the instant of new birth, He indwells and seals the believers unto the day of redemption. TOP The Genesis account of the Origins of the Universe is neither allegory or myth, but a literal and historical account. The universe and all that was created, were created in a literal six, 24 hour days. The universe, along with the earth is very young, being only thousands of years old, and not billions. The flood of Noah's day was universal, covering the entire globe, and that the majority of the geological column was laid down in this catastrophe and the rest from subsequent erosion and catastrophes. Theistic Evolution, the Gap Theory, the Ruin and Reconstruction theory, the Day-Age theory, and any other theory that attempts to introduce additional time into the Genesis Creation Week, deny the Inspiration of the Bible, and are merely man's pathetic attempts at compromise. (Genesis 1,2; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16,17) TOP Man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that by Adam's voluntary sin the original nature created by God was marred, resulting in alienation from God and condemnation. Spiritual death was the immediate result of Adam's sin, with physical death becoming an inevitable future judgment. Adam's race consequently inherited the sinful nature, the resultant alienation from God (spiritual death), and the judgment of physical death. Therefore, man is in a state of depravity and utterly unable of himself to remedy his lost condition. (Genesis 3:1-6, 24; Romans 3:10-19,23; 5:12,19; 1:18,32; Ephesians 2:8,9, 2:1-3; Titus 3:5) TOP Salvation from man's depravity is accomplished solely by the substitutionary atonement of Christ's death on the Cross. Christ took upon Himself our sin, and received in Himself the punishment required for our sin. Salvation is made free to all by the Gospel. This is accomplished apart from any human work. (Matthew 18:11; John 3:16; Acts 15:11 Romans 3:24,25; Ephesians 2:8,9; Hebrews 2:14; I John 4:10) TOP Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Ghost in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, who was a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman, and that He is both the Son of God and God the Son. (Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7;14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Hebrews 1:18) TOP We believe in the literal personality of Satan, that he is the unholy god of this age, and ruler of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgement of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. (Matthew 4:11; John 8:44; II Corinthians 4:4; I John 3:8; 5:18; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 20:10) TOP Every true child of God possesses eternal life, being justified by faith, sanctified by God, sealed with the Holy Spirit, is safe and secure for all eternity, and cannot lose his salvation. However, a Christian can, through sin, lose his fellowship, joy, power, testimony and reward, and incur the Father's chastisement. Relationship is eternal, being established by the new birth, and guaranteed by God; fellowship, however, is dependent upon the obedience of the believer. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as a license to sin (Psalm 121:3; Matthew 6:20; 13:19-21; John 8:31-32; 10:28-29; 16:8; Romans 8:28,35-39; I Corinthians 3:11-17; 5:1-5; 11:30-32; Philippians 1:6; Colossians 1:21-23; Hebrews 1:14, 12:5-11; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 2:19) TOP We believe that sanctification is a setting apart unto God (Jn 17:17, 19). It consists of three steps in the believer's life: Positional: Every believer, by his being "in Christ" and partaking of all He is, has a complete standing before God (1 Cor. 1:2, 30, 6:11; Heb. 10:10, 14). This takes place in the believer's past, at the moment of salvation, and is simultaneous with justification and regeneration. Progressive: Yet every believer, because he retains a sin nature, lives in a present state that is imperfect to the extent that he fails to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit by which to live the Christian life. Therefore, he is in need of a progressive sanctification by growing in grace unto spiritual maturity. (2 Cor. 3:18, 7:1; Eph. 4:24; Heb. 12:10). This takes place in the believer's present. Ultimate: Every believer will be fully and completely sanctified when he shall see the Lord and shall be like Him (Rom. 8_29; Eph. 5:25-27; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Jn. 3:2). This takes place in the believer's future and is referred to as glorification. TOP We believe that separation is a doctrine as well as a practice and that the separation principle runs through the entire Bible. We believe that true spiritual fellowship is the result of common faith and practice. We believe there are several aspects of biblical separation. Political Separation: the separation of the church and the state. Personal Separation: the separation of the believer from sin in order to serve God (Josh. 24:15; Rom. 12:1-2, 14; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; Eph. 5:15-18; Tit. 3:10; 1 Jn. 2:15-17, 4:1; 2 Jn. 10-11). Ecclesiastical Separation: the separation of the church from apostasy (2 Cor. 6:14-18; Eph. 5:11-15; 2 Tim. 4:2-4; 2 Jn. 10-11). Familial Separation: the separation of the believer from an erring brother, when doctrinal or ethical compromise creeps into his life or ministry (Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 5:11; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14-15). TOP We believe in "that blessed hope"; the personal, pre-tribulational, pre-millenial and imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, when the Church will be "gathered together unto Him." (John 14:1-3; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51-58; II Thessalonians 2:1-13) TOP We believe that a local New Testament Church is an organized body of believers immersed upon a credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, having two offices (Pastor and Deacons), congregationally in polity, autonomous in nature, and banded together for work, worship, the observance of the ordinances and the worldwide proclamation of the gospel. We further believe in the church which is Christ's body, the spiritual organism consisting of all believers born-again after Pentecost. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; 6:5-6; 14:23; 15:22-23; 20:17-28; 1 Corinthians 5:11-13; 6:1-3; 11:2; 12:4,8-13; 16:1-2; Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:11; 5:23-24; Colossians 1:18; 1Timothy 3:1-13 I Peter 5:1-3) TOP We believe that the Scriptural ordinances of the church are Baptism and the Lord's Supper and are to be administered by the local church only; that Baptism, by immersion, should be administered to believers only as a symbol of their belief in the death for our sins, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and as a testimony to the world of that belief; and that the Lord's Supper should be partaken of by baptized believers to show forth Christ's death until He returns to earth. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41,42; I Corinthians 11:23-28; Colossians 2:12) TOP We believe in the priesthood of all believers, Christ is our Great High Priest, and through Him every born again person has direct access into God's presence without the need of a human mediator or priest. The believer has the right and responsibility to personally study and interpret the Scriptures, guided by the Holy Spirit. (Hebrews 4:14-16; I Timothy 2:5; II Timothy 2:5; II Peter 1:20,21; Revelation 1:6) TOP We believe that everyone, saved and unsaved, shall face God in judgment. According to the Scriptures, the judgment of the saved will be separate from the judgment of the unsaved. We believe that the Scriptures teach that these judgments are as follows: Saved: Christians shall at this time be judged according to their works from the time they received Christ Jesus as their Savior until the time they stand before Him in judgment. They shall be rewarded or they shall suffer loss according as their works shall be. This takes place at the judgment seat of Christ. (I Corinthians 3:11-15; Ii Corinthians 5:10) Unsaved: All unsaved shall at this time be judged according to their works and cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer forever according as their works shall be. This is called the Great White Throne Judgment. (Revelation 20:11-15) TOP We believe that it is the privilege and obligation of believers to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15; Lk. 24:46-48; Jn. 20:21; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:13-15; 2 Cor. 5:19-20). TOP God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and State should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power. Regarding individual religious liberty, we believe in individual soul freedom. We believe individuals have the right to choose their own beliefs. We believe that Christians are under compulsion by God to preach the gospel to all men, but that Christians are to endeavor to win men by persuasion through the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit, not through coercion of any kind (Gen. 1:27, 2:7; Matt. 6:6-7, 24, 16:26, 22:21; Jn. 8:36; Acts 4:19-20; Rom. 6:1-2, 13:1-7; Gal. 5:1, 13; Phil. 3:20; 1 Tim. 2:1-2; Jam. 4:12; 1 Pet. 2:12-17, 3:11-17, 4:12-19) TOP We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified and unexcused taking of human life and is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, the “mental well-being” of the mother or the unborn child, or any other reason is acceptable according to the Word of God. We also believe that, while Abortion is Murder, God does not give man (outside of government) the right to physically punish or harm those who perform murder. The murder of a baby does not justify the murder of the Dr. who performs abortions. Or, the murder of a baby does not justify the willful destruction of private property, even if it is against those who perform abortions. One wrong NEVER justifies another wrong. (Exodus. 21:22-23; Job 3:16; Psalm 139:14-16; Isaiah. 44:24; Jeremiah. 1:5; Luke 1:44) TOP We believe that God created intimate sexual activity as a beautiful expression of love between husband and wife. We believe also that ANY sexual activity outside the marriage covenant between a husband and wife is declared to be sinful by the Word of God. We further believe that any form of homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, or pornography is a sinful perversion of God’s gift of sexual intimacy. (Genesis 2:24; Genesis 18:20; Genesis 26:8-10; Leviticus. 18:6-23; Romans 1:26-32; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-10; Hebrews 13:4) TOP 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; except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ; who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming Prince of the kings of the earth. (Exodus 18:21-22; 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalm 72:11; Daniel 3:17-18; Matthew 10:28; 22:21; 23:10; Acts 4:19-20; 23:5; Romans 13:7; Philippians 2:10-11; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14,17) TOP The ecumenical movement seeks the eventual union of all religions into one super church. This means that every church, religion or religious body participating in the merger must compromise its beliefs in areas of faith and practice to conform to the will of the whole body. We are opposed to the World Council of Churches and its affiliates as they are the leaders of this movement. We are opposed to the ecumenical movement and to any dialogue with these groups. We purpose to stand true to the purity of the Scriptures, the deity of our Lord and the Christian Faith as outlined in the New Testament. (I Corinthians 6: 11 -18) TOP Neo Orthodoxy is a subtle form of liberalism involving alteration of Biblical terms without strict adherence to the truth of the Scriptures. We oppose this movement. We believe and teach that the Word of God is completely without error, and its authority does not depend upon its acceptance or rejection by man. (Jude 3; Ephesians 5: 11) TOP New-Evangelicalism is a movement which seeks to modify the Word of God through the substitution of man's reason for God's Revelation, placing love above sound doctrine as a basis for Christian fellowship, and advocating the rethinking of the fundamentals of the faith. We take a firm stand against New Evangelicalism and that which promotes this position. (Colossians 2:8; I John 5:2,3) TOP The Charismatic Movement is a counterfeit of true Christianity and as the catalytic agent for a one-world church of antichrist; condemns it as subjective and experience-oriented rather than objective and Christ-centered; we warn Bible-believers against charismatic ministries such as Pat Robertson and The 700 Club, the PTL Club, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Jimmy Swaggart, LOGOS publishers, Melodyland School of Theology, the Full Gospel Businessmen's Organization, and the Oral Roberts' ministries. We consider the so-called laughing revival that is the rage in charismatic circles as a Satanic deception and a substitute for true revival in which there is conviction, repentance, and confession of sin and a renewed emphasis on the might and majesty of Almighty God. We believe it to be further evidence of the subjectivity and mysticism which permeates the charismatic movement and makes it a catalytic agent for the one-world church of the antichrist. This ecumenical spirit is caused by an emphasis on a subjective experience that overshadows reliance on the objective Word of God. It is experience-centeredness causes the movement to move more and more into a false mysticism and to live on the edge of an illuminism with its claims to direct divine revelation. We further believe that the Gift of Tongues ceased with the Early Church, that they were current languages used at the time (not unintelligible babblings), and that they were meant to show God's approval of the new church, rather than being a means of detecting ones religious status. (Portions taken from FBF Resolutions) TOP Evangelicals and Catholics Together is a movement led by Chuck Colson and Richard John Neuhaus to unite Evangelicals and Catholics as fellow Christians and co-laborers in the gospel. The movement is motivated by a desire to downplay doctrine in order to join forces to fight the moral landslide in our society. We believe that these movements are out of harmony with the Word of God, even though genuinely saved people may exist within them, and are to be the object of reproof by biblically grounded Christians. TOP We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and, therefore, we do not embrace any position which negates or eliminates human responsibility in either the proclamation or reception of the gospel message. We believe the saved are the foreknown of God, chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, and that God's sovereignty does not negate man's freedom and responsibility, so that all men are invited genuinely to believe and be saved. TOP While we believe that the King James Version of the Bible is a wonderful translation that has been used mightily by God for over 300 years, we recognize the fact that it is not the original autograph given by God to the writers of the scriptures, and thus not perfect. Those who have fallen prey to the devious plot of the Devil to split Bible-Believing Christianity apart over this issue, rely on Historical tradition, rather than Biblical fact in holding to a 1611 King James Only infallible Bible. The King James Bible currently in use bears little resemblance to the 1611 version, and has gone through over 100 years of additional editing. Just as God led men to translate the King James Version, God has continued to touch men over the centuries to continually place the scriptures in the hands of the common people. This was understood by the translators of the KJV themselves, and can be clearly seen in their Translators to the Readers. Just as the translators of the KJV understood the need for a Bible in the language of the day, so to, we understand that there is a need for this to be done today. We do not speak King James English today, "Doest Thou?" We highly recommend the New American Standard Version of God's Word, as it is the most literally accurate (in the English language) of the versions available today. TOP |
Portions of this document are used by permission from: http://www.frontlinemin.org/statement.asp