Gospel Baptist Church 5126 Wilma Edwards Rd. Black Creek, Ga. 31308 912-690-1066 Gospel Baptist Church Beliefs (Some things that sets us apart from most other churches in the area.)      1. Our stand for the Word of God (King James Authorized Version 1611), all other English versions are perversions. (Psalm 12: 6-7), (Ecclesiastes 8: 4), (Psalm 138: 2). There are no errors in a King James Bible.  2. Saved by Grace though Faith, with a Repentive heart, not of works, in this dispensation. (Ephesians 2: 8-9, Luke 13:3,Acts20:21).  3. We believe that God deals with people differently in different dispensations. (Salvation is different in other dispensations). We get eternal life now though our Lord Jesus Christ.  4. We believe that Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles and to the Church in this dispensation (Church Age). (Romans 11: 13)  5. We believe the Word of God has to be Rightly Divided (2 Timothy 2: 15).  6. We believe that all scripture is given by Inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16).  7. We believe that spiritual sins are worse than physical sins; but both need repentance!  8. We believe that some of the world's holidays are often celebrated in a non scriptural manner--such as Christmas(Santa Claus, Elves, etc) and Easter(Easter Bunny, Egg, Egg hunt). (Jeremiah 10: 2-4), (Acts 12: 1-4) 9. We believe in separation of church and state.  10. We believe in the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ.  11. Pre-tribulation rapture and seven year tribulation period.  12. One thousand year millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ from Jerusalem.  13. Cannot loose your salvation in this dispensation (Church Age). (Ephesians 1: 13 and Ephesians 4: 30)  14. We believe in a literal Hell and Lake of Fire.  15. We believe God will create a new heaven and new earth after the 1000 year earthly reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.  16. We believe that we as a Church and as a Nation should support Israel.  17. We believe in supporting KJV Bible-believing missionaries at home and abroad.   18. We believe there are three grounds in the new testament for remarriage (death, desertion and fornication)  19. We believe in giving the Word of God out in any form (tracts or verbal), and letting the Holy Spirit deal with the individual.  20. We believe in the soon physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ to take the church home to be judged and to return at the end of the tribulation period.   21. We believe that a separate curse was placed on Ham's seed, because of what Ham did unto his father Noah. (Acts 17: 26), (Genesis 9: 18-27), (Psalms 105: 23), (Zechariah 14: 20-21)  22. Egypt is a type of this world and Egypt is in the land of Ham.  23. We also believe in the Gap Theory between Genesis 1: 1 and 2. God did not create anything that was without form or void and he told Adam & Eve to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the Earth. Something happened in Genesis 1: 1 to cause God to destroy the Earth like he did in Noah's time.  24. We believe that every one is either, Jew, Gentile or Church of God.  25. We believe that water Baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God and that every saved person should be scripturally baptized, but that Baptism is not necessary for salvation. (1 Peter 3: 21)  26. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh and that He is the Creator. (1 Timothy 3: 16), (John 1: 1-10)  27. We believe in one God and that he is manifest in three persons, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. (1 John 5: 7)  28. We believe that Satan is a created being, that was first named Lucifer and that at one time he was the anointed cherub over the Throne of God. (Ezekiel 28: 14)  29. We believe that all Christians will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ in heaven during the seven-year tribulation period, judged for what they did after they were saved.  30. We believe that all lost people will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment that takes place after the 1000-year reign of our Lord Jesus Christ.      Note: This is some of the reasons that Gospel Baptist Church was started, if we believed like other Baptist churches in the area, then there would not have been a need to start another church. Want to know more? I. The Inspiration of the Bible We believe the Holy Scriptures, composed of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, are the verbally inspired Word and Revelation of God. The King James 1611 Bible is inerrant, infallible-God-breathed. The initial miracle of divine inspiration of the original autographs also extends to the divine preservation of a pure text to this day. Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Luke 24:13-28; John 16:12-16; Psalm 12:6-7; Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 138:2. II. The Trinity We believe in the Triune God-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit-coequal and coeternal. Each has His individual identity and separate responsibilities for the purposes of redemption, yet perfectly united as three Persons in One. 1 John 5:1-8; John 16:7-18; Matthew 28:19; Genesis 1:26. III. The Deity and Virgin Birth of Christ We believe in Deity of Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten, virgin born Son of God, the second Person in the Blessed Trinity, God the Son, God manifest in the flesh. 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1-14; John 14:9; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; John 10:36. IV. The Blood Atonement We believe in the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man, and all must be born again or be forever lost. Hebrews 2:9; John 6:44-69; John 3: 118; Romans 3:25; Revelation 1:5; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-19. The Lord's atonement was not limited with respect to whom God's salvation is offered, i.e., His shed blood is sufficient for all sin and, therefore, "who so ever will" may believe and be saved to the uttermost. 1 John 2:2; Hebrews 7:22-25; Revelation 22:17. Also, the text "with His stripes we are healed" speaks of God's remedy for the sin-sick soul through the suffering and substitutionary sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and is not referring to the healing of the body as proposed by false charismatic teaching. Isaiah 53:4-6. V. The Resurrection We believe in the physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He ascended bodily into the heavens and is now at the right hand of God as our Mediator, Priest, and Advocate. Acts 3:12-26; John 20; Hebrews 9:24; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; 1 John 2:1. VI. The Second Coming We believe in the Rapture-the personal, premillennial, pretribulational and imminent return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ "in the air." This has been the "Blessed Hope" of every born-again believer in the Church Age. At that time He will receive to Himself the resurrected bodies of those who have "died in Christ" and also all those who are presently alive and "in Christ." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:6-10; 1 Corinthians 15:50-55; Acts 1:11; Titus 2:13. He will then come "with His saints" seven years thereafter to execute judgment upon the ungodly nations before the inauguration of His earthly millennial reign at His second coming to the earth. Jude 14,15; Matthew 25:31-46. The Lord will cast the anti-christ and the false prophet into the lake of fire, send Satan into the abyss and establish His earthly kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign one thousand years, thus literally fulfilling the covenant promises made to a believing remnant of Israel through the Patriarchs of the Old Testament. Isaiah 11:1-16; Revelation 19:19-20; 20:1-6. After the earthly reign of one thousand years, He will bring all the unsaved dead to the judgment of the Great White Throne and all who stand before that Throne will be cast into the lake of fire forever. Revelation 20:11-15; Matthew 7:21-23. Satan will also be cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10. VII. The Personality of Satan We believe in the personality of Satan, "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." He is actively opposing the cause of Christ on every hand and is the arch enemy of every true believer. His warfare incorporates the deception of mixing error and truth as well as that which is flagrantly vile and evil. 2 Corinthians 11:1-15; 2 Peter 5:8-9; Revelation 12:9-10; Matthew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17; John 8:24. He marshals a host of fallen angels that can also serve to deceive the unsuspecting by "transforming themselves into...apostles of Christ [and] ministers of righteousness..." (2 Corinthians 11:315). These false spirits can influence the unfaithful servant to say helpful and even true things and can also themselves energize ones to do the miraculous. Therefore, every experience and teaching must be examined in light of the Word of God to determine its true source. Isaiah 8:20; 1 John 4:1. VIII. Heaven and Hell We believe that Heaven is a real place of eternal blessedness prepared by God for those whose garments have been "made white" through faith in the shed "blood of the Lamb." Hell is a real place of eternal suffering for those whose names are not written in the "book of life." There is no intermediate state in which the unsaved can atone for his own sins. John 14:1-6; Revelation 7:13-17; 20:11-15; 21:22-27; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Luke 16:19-31. IX. Creation and Man's Fall We believe God created all things in a time frame of six literal, twenty-four hour days. We believe in the universality and exceeding sinfulness of sin. In Adam all have sinned and, therefore, are guilty before God by nature as well as by deed. Man was created by a direct act of God and subsequently fell into sin in the Garden of Eden. Romans 5:12-21 Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 3:10-26; 6:23; Psalm 51:5 Genesis 1-3. X. Justification by Faith We believe that man is justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood and bodily resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 Ephesians 2:8-9. The all-sufficient and completed work of Redemption accomplished through His death and resurrection is fully appropriated at the moment in time by those who receive by faith the free gift of salvation offered in the one true Gospel. The adding of works, baptism, sacraments, or any other condition placed upon man in order to obtain God's gift of salvation by faith alone in the finished work of Christ results in "another gospel" that is under God's curse. Galatians 1:6-10; Romans 1:16 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 5:24; Ephesians 5:8. XI. Eternal Security We believe in the eternal security of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. Once a lost sinner has be come a "new creature in Christ," he can never lose that new relationship in the family of God which is based upon Christ's imputed righteousness and not his own. The life that God imparts to the believing sinner is not "eternal life" if it can be terminated. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; John 10:25-29. Sin in the life of the believer affects his fellowship with the Father not sonship. All who are truly born of the Spirit and who continue in sin will be dealt with by the chastening hand of God. 1 John 1:5-10; Hebrews 12:6-13 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. All who are in Christ are sealed unto the day of redemption and will be glorified. We are to "work out" our salvation not "work for" our salvation; Philippians 2:12. XII. The Holy Spirit and Body of Christ We believe all regenerated people are baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit the moment they receive Christ as their Saviour. 1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Corinthians 10:32; Ephesians 2:13-18. The Holy Spirit indwells all who have been born again from above. Also, the baptism of the Spirit is not a separate event apart from the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit upon believing on Christ unto salvation. Acts 15:6-11; Galatians 3:2,14; Romans 10:1317; Romans 8:9. The Church which is Christ's Body consists of all those who, in the present dispensation, truly believe and accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Romans 8:14-27; James 1:18; John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Matthew 16:16-16. XIII. Separation We believe that all Christians are first to be separated wholly unto the Lord, and as a necessary result, they must be: 1) Separated from worldly and sinful practices. They are to be holy, even as He is holy, and this desired behavior will always be diametrically opposed to the course of this present age. 1 Peter 1: 13-16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17. 2) Separated from apostasy and unbelief. A believer must not be "unequally yoked together with unbelievers," thereby being identified with unbelief by association, whether in ministry, worship, or by joint religious activities. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:19-22; 3:1-5; Amos 3:3. 3) Separated from disobedient brethren and doctrinal compromise with respect to all ministry and service. A believer is identified with the doctrinal positions and practices of those he is in fellowship with, both before God and man. Separation from those who are not walking according to truth deters the leavening effect of compromise, and gives a faithful warning to the erring brother. Romans 16: 17; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14-15; 2 John 10-11; Galatians 2:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:33. XIV. The Local Church and Its Mission We believe God has ordained the ministry of local, independent, indigenous assemblies of believers to accomplish His work in this dispensation extending from Pentecost to the Translation of Christ's Body at His appearing. The church's membership is to be composed of regenerated, baptized believers. The two ordinances of the local church are believer's baptism by immersion, and the memorial of the Lord's supper until He returns. The church is to be missionary and evangelistic in spreading the Gospel into all the world. It is not the mission of the church to "bring in the Kingdom," work for political or economic justice, major on social improvement, or "Christianize" society. It is to strive together for the faith of the Gospel, proclaim and maintain purity of doctrine and practice, and worship and serve the Lord in "spirit and truth." Acts 2:41-47; 20:17-32; Matthew 28:16-20; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34. XV. Good Works We believe that all followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should maintain good works, a "good work" being that which is done in obedience to the will of God as revealed in the Word of God. Works will determine the reward or loss of reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ before which every Christian will stand. Every believer must realize his responsibility before God to "maintain good works," i.e., walk in the light of the Word of God. The Bible is the believer's absolute Standard of faith and practice, his perfect Counsel. The Word provides him with "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3-4). The Bible, not any form of psychological counseling or therapy, is the answer. Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14; 3:1-11; 2 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 1:18-29; 3:8-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11