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webbservant
Personal Doctrinal Statement
Below is a list of personal held beliefs that emanate from my
study of the scripture. Please read them
carefully and understand that God’s Word is always the final authority, and
thus this statement begins…
I.
The Bible
a. I Believe in the Holy
Scriptures. I accept fully the writings
of the Old and New Testament, 66 books, as the inerrant Word of God. It is verbally inspired in all parts and
therefore altogether sufficient as our only infallible and authoritative rule
of faith and practice allowing the Old and New Testaments to interpret each
other as a closed unit best understood in the original Hebrew and Greek tongues
of its recording. I believe that the
Bible should be taken as it is written, in a literal way as determined by
context. The Bible is to be understood
as God’s revelation of Himself to mankind and God cannot be removed from His
Word.
b. Scriptures
i.
Psalms 119:160
ii.
Proverbs 30:5a
iii.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
iv.
2 Peter 1:19-20
II.
God the Father
a. I believe in One True God
who is best known and identified by his attributes. God is everywhere, all powerful, all knowing,
righteous, just, sovereign, loving, unchanging, eternal, absolutely true and
trustworthy. He is absolutely separate
from and above the world as its Creator, yet everywhere present in the world as
the Sustainer of all things.
God is revealed to us as
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three distinct persons but without division of
nature, essence or being and each having a distinct ministry in God’s relation
to His creations and peoples.
b. Scriptures
i.
Genesis 1:1
ii.
Exodus 15:11
iii.
Psalms 83:18
iv.
Psalms 139:7-9
v.
Ezekiel 16
vi.
Matthew 28:19
vii.
John 10:30
viii.
John 15:26
III.
God the Son
a. I Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the Second Person of the
Triune God, Eternal Word and Only Begotten Son of God. He became man by the miracle of the Virgin
Birth thus to continue forever as both true God and true man, one person with
two natures. He was tempted as we are
and remained without sin making Him the Perfect Lamb of God who willingly laid
down His life as a ransom for all of the sin of mankind. He gave Himself in death upon the cross,
bearing there the sin of the whole world that the many might be saved from the
divine wrath due them. Jesus died on the
cross and remained 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the Earth, was bodily
resurrected and ascended into Heaven to become our Great High Priest and resides
there as our Advocate and Intercessor.
b. Scriptures
i.
John 1:1
ii.
John 10:10
iii.
John 14:6-7
iv.
Galatians 4:4-5
v.
Philippians 2:6-10
vi.
1 Corinthians 15:3-7
vii.
Hebrews 4:4-16
I.
God the Spirit
a. I believe in God the Holy
Spirit who is the third person of the Trinity and a divine agent in nature,
revelation and redemption. He convicts
the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. He regenerates, dwells in, baptizes, seals
and anoints all who become children of God.
He further empowers, guides, teaches, sanctifies and fills believers who
daily yield to Him rather than succumbing to the Old Sin Nature who the Spirit
is constantly set against.
b. Scriptures
i.
John 3:5
ii.
John 14:16-17
iii.
John 26:16
iv.
Romans 8:9
v.
1 Corinthians 12:13
vi.
2 Corinthians 3:18
vii.
Ephesians 1:13
viii.
Ephesians 5:18
II.
Mankind
a. I believe that all men are
by nature and choice sinful, lost and totally depraved. Man was the direct creation of God, made in
His image and likeness. I believe that
by personal disobedience to the revealed Will of God, man became a sinful creature
not separate from God’s perfect will but rather subject to life in a fallen
race both by nature and choice in full deserving full imputation of God’s
perfect wrath, justice and righteousness.
Without faith it is impossible to please God and no work of man can
procure escapement of God’s wrath before, during or after a conversion
experience. All righteousness that can
be done by man is utterly offensive to God and any addition to faith is a
perversion.
b. Scripture
i.
Genesis 1:27
ii.
Gen 3:6
iii.
Psalm 51:5
iv.
Isaiah 64:6
v.
Romans 3:23
vi.
Galatians 3:11
III.
Salvation
a. I believe in salvation by
grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone.
That this salvation is a free gift of God, neither merited or secured in
part or in whole by any virtue, emotional response or work of man, but received
only by personal faith in Jesus Christ in whom all true believers have a
present possession: the gift of eternal life, a perfect righteousness, adoption
into the family of God, deliverance and security from all condemnation. This salvation affects the whole man and
without Jesus Christ, the divine revelation of God, there is no salvation.
b. Scriptures
i.
Ephesians 2:8-9
ii.
Titus 3:5
iii.
John 1:12
iv.
John 3:14
v.
John 14:6
vi.
John 10:28-29
vii.
Romans 8:1
viii.
Philippians 1:6
IV.
Christian Life
a. I believe in righteous
living and Godly works that cause those who examine us in the world to see
these works and glorify our Father in Heaven.
These works are not to be thought of as bringing salvation in any sense,
but rather as proper evidence and fruit of a redeemed life as one demonstrates
cooperation with God’s permissive will and commands. I believe in a judgment of Christians works
not only for good or bad but also for good and better of which all glory and
honor will eventually will be returned to our God and King.
b. Scriptures
i.
Ephesians 2:10
ii.
Romans 12:1-2
iii.
Philippians 2:16
iv.
2 Corinthians 5:10
V.
Spiritual World
a. I believe in the existence
of Satan who was originally created as a holy and perfect being but through
pride and wicked ambition rebelled against God thus becoming utterly depraved
in character. Satan, whose very name
means adversary, has a physical people, servants and leaders on the Earth who
follow him according to various cult, occult deviations and copy-cat religions
from legitimate Christianity in addition to 1/3 of the created heavenly host
who were cast down at a point prior to the creation account of Genesis
1:1. Satan’s powers are vast but limited
by the perfect and permissive wills of God.
Satan was defeated on the cross entirely and is defeated when resisted
by mankind.
b. Scriptures
i.
Isaiah 14:12-15
ii.
Ezekiel 28:1-10
iii.
Ephesians 6:12
iv.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15
v.
1 Peter 5:18
vi.
1 John 3:8
vii.
Revelation 12:8-11
viii.
Revelation 20:10
VI.
The Second Coming
a. I believe in the second
coming of Jesus Christ, not only His coming in the air to rapture away His
chosen ones in the church but also the blessed hope of the deliverance of
Israel at the end of the tribulation period, Daniel’s 70th
week. This is our blessed hope and
always imminent. The second coming will
follow 7 years of judgment of God’s wrath and prior to one thousand year reign
of Christ in a physical kingdom upon the Earth in which Jesus will rule as the
perfect King above any other nation on the face of the Earth.
b. Scriptures
i.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
ii.
James 5:8
iii.
Hebrews 10:37
iv.
Jude 14-15
v.
Revelation 19:11-16
vi.
Revelation 20:4-7
VII.
Resurrection
a. I believe in a future life,
bodily resurrection and eternal judgment.
The spirits of the saved at death go immediately to be with Christ in
Heaven in a wonderous place prepared by Him and that their works shall be
brought before the judgment seat of Christ for reward, which will take place at
the time He comes for his chosen ones.
The spirits of the unsaved at death descend immediately into Hell where
they are kept under punishment until the day of final judgment, at which time
their bodies shall be raised from the grave and shall be judged finally and
cast body, soul and spirit into Lake of Fire with the Devil and his angels.
b. Scripture
i.
1 Corinthians 15
ii.
2 Corinthians 5:8-10
iii.
Luke 16:19-23
iv.
Revelation 20:11-15
VIII.
Government
a. I believe in the separation
of Church and State with each having definite and distinct spheres of
responsibility. Both church and state
function at their best when kept distinct yet in cooperation with each other. Government should be obeyed on the basis that
no authority exists except that which is allowed by God yet when the Government
demands that it replace the position of God in the believers life then it
should be resisted to the point of death.
The church should be primarily concerned with the administration of the
Gospel message rather than politics either local or national yet when the
freedom is there to participate in Government individual Christians should
never shun their duty to participate, defend or otherwise support their
homeland.
b. Scriptures
i.
Matthew 22:21
ii.
Romans 13:1-7
iii.
1 Peter 2:11-17
IX.
Priesthood of Believers
a. I believe in the priesthood
of the believer and that Christ is our Great High Priest. Through Him every born-again person has
direct access into God’s presence without the need of human mediation in any
way. The believer has the right and
responsibility to personally study and interpret the Holy Scriptures as guided
by the Holy Spirit although no interpretation is delivered in a vacuum. I believe that this priesthood excludes the
born again Christian from any secret organization in order to do their ministry
before God and supercedes all public organizational ties including marriage,
enlistment, career path, educational affiliation, club, membership, public
office and/or public agent.
b. Scriptures
i.
John 14:6
ii.
Hebrews 4:16
iii.
2 Timothy 2:15
iv.
1 Peter 2:1, 5, 9
X.
Church Organization
a. I believe in the Lordship of
Jesus Christ and that he alone is Head of the church, the body of Christ, into
which all true believers are immediately identified (baptized) by the Holy
Spirit at the moment of salvation; that all members of this one spiritual body
should assemble and identify themselves in local churches. Since there are no more credible witnesses
there are no more apostles. Since there
is a closed cannon of scripture there are no more ecstatic prophets as of
old. There are two offices in the local
church that are different in calling rather than strata. The office of pastor is the spiritual leader
of the church whose primary duties are prayer and preparation for presentation
of the Word of God. The office of deacon
is the physical worker of the church who is by assignment responsible for the
duties performed in the church both physical and spiritual as each individual deacon
is gifted. I believe a church should
never endeavor to anything that the Holy Spirit has not gifted and enabled
towards, whether they can do it successfully or not. Both pastors and deacons are equally subject
to Christ and are to be appointed only upon careful examination of each
individual’s qualifications according to scripture. Other than definite stipulations governed by
scripture - which always take precedence regardless of tradition or custom - each church is free to do what is right in
areas like worshiping God, ministering and membership as directed by the
congregation either by direct vote or common consensus but always in unity and
self-sacrificing (agape) love.
b. Scriptures
i.
1 Corinthians 12:14
ii.
Ephesians 1:22-23
iii.
Ephesians 4:11-15
iv.
1 Timothy 3:1-13
v.
Titus 1:5-11
vi.
Galatians 1:22
XI.
Church Function
a. I believe in the importance
of the local church and that a New Testament church is a local assembly of
born-again baptized believers united in organization to practice New Testament
ordinances, to meet together for worship, prayer, fellowship, teaching, a
united testimony and to engage actively in carrying out the Great
Commission. The church members are
responsible to God for not only the giving of money to support those who teach,
minister as able and collecting for missions both home and foreign but also for
responsible for the dedication of time and effort to do the physical work of
the church in going out to harvest. The
church is established for the benefit of its non-members, which means that not
all ministries that it engages in are profitable but an eye of stewardship
should be applied at every intersection of finances and ministry with
accountability to God. Every member of
the church is responsible for soul winning, training, giving, visiting, calling
and concern of every other member of the church.
b. Scriptures
i.
Matthew 28:19-20
ii.
Acts 2:41-42
iii.
1 Corinthians 11:2
iv.
Ephesians 5:18-21
v.
Colossians 3:16-17
XII.
Church Autonomy
a. I believe in the
independence and autonomy of the local church and that each New Testament
church is free to govern itself without hierarchical ecclesiastic
interference. The local church should
only cooperate with other New Testament Churches as the Holy Spirit directly
leads thus making the church directly accountable to God. The church does not have the freedom do that
which is wrong nor cooperate with those who do or teach wrong regardless of the
physical benefit.
b. Scriptures
i.
Matthew 18:17
ii.
Acts 6:1-5
iii.
Acts 15:22-23
XIII.
Church Ordinances
a. I believe that there are two
ordinances given to the New Testament church, which are the Lord’s Supper and
Baptism. Baptism (identification) is by
immersion of believers in water in obedience to our Lord’s example showing the
His own death, burial and resurrection showing what has already been effected
on the inside by the Holy Spirit at the point of conversion. The Lord’s Supper is the partaking of the
bread and cup by the believer in a continuing memorial of the broken body and
shed blood of Jesus. While these
ordinances do not provide salvation in any sense they are taken with all
seriousness and solemnity as clear cooperation of the church body with
scripture and the Holy Spirit for proper demonstration in a physical way of a
spiritual reality.
b. Scriptures
i.
Matthew 28:19-20
ii.
Acts
iii.
Acts 8:38-39
iv.
Matthew 26:26-30
v.
1 Corinthians 11:23-34
Any Questions? Contact the Webbservant at… stephen.mack.howard@juno.com
