We believe in the Verbal, Plenary, Inerrant Inspiration of the Bible. That means, we believe, 2Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." All of the Bible is from God. The Bible is not man writing his own book. Scripture is God using man to write HIS (God's) book. All of Scripture is accurate and true. And all of Scripture is from God.
We believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.).
We believe in Jesus Christ's absolute deity, (John 1:1&14, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God., And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us").
We teach the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1Cor. 15:3 & 4, "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures"). We preach eternal salvation through Christ alone through grace alone, by faith alone (Rom. 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eph. 2:8 & 9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.").
We teach that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead and has a vital ministry in the lives of believers, empowering us to do the work of the ministry, guiding us in truth and convicting us of sin (1Cor. 2:13, "Holy Spirit teaches"; Rom. 8:1, "who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit").
We preach that the Church is the "Body of Christ", a distinct program of God not to be confused with the nation of Israel, (Eph. 1:22, 23 & 5:25-27; ). The Church is made up of born again Jews and Gentiles with no distinction between the two, unlike the Old Testament economy (Eph. 2:11-16, Gal. 3:8, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.").
We believe Satan is a real evil angelic being that opposes God and His children throughout the ages and that the Devil continues in this present time to be an enemy of the Lord and the saints of God (1Pet. 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Eph. 6:11, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." James 4:7, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.").
A fundamental Bible preaching church teaches a bodily return of Jesus Christ (1Thes. 4:13-18; Zech. 14:4-11; Acts 1:9-11).
We believe that all genuine believers in Jesus Christ will be resurrected to spend all eternity with the Lord.
The fundamentals are founded on the truths of Scripture. The Bible is very clear, as to the great importance of sound /good teaching. The early church in, Acts 2:42, "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." Paul in Rom. 16:17, told believers to separate from those teaching false doctrines ("Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.")
The apostle Paul instructed Timothy to stearnly rebuke those teaching falsely (1Tim. 1:3 "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia--remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine".) Paul also told Timothy to teach and follow good biblical teachings (1Tim. 4:6 "If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.") The pastors and teachers in a fundamental church will carefully follow and communicate God's teachings (1Tim. 4:16 "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.") Also, 2Timothy 3:10 "But you have carefully followed my doctrine." Paul told Titus the only way to confront false teachers was to hold on firmly to the true and faithful teachings from God. Those churches that are not holding firm or have already lost their grip on God's Word are not fundamental churches and should be rebuked and separated from. Not because we don't love them, but because God wants them to repent and they need to see the seriousness of their error. Titus 1:9 says "holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict." Sound doctrinal teachers must correct teachers of false doctrine! Titus 2:1 says "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:" When it comes to cooperation with groups that name the name of Christ, but they do not preach the gospel according to Scripture (ie: salvation by works or more than one way of salvation), God has something to say about this kind of disobedience. The apostle John clearly points out the error of eccumenical cooperation in 2John 1:9 "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son." John further adds in, 2John 1:10, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him." Fundamental churches will not cooperate with other groups that add to, water down, or pervert the Gospel. Our unwillingness not to cooperate is not because we are harsh unloving separatist, but rather because we realize we must obey God no matter what the cost. Unfortunately, mislead nonfundamental groups see our lack of participation with them as non loving. These folks need to be reminded of 1Cor. 13:6 "love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth." Paul's words are also appropriate concerning this issue, Eph. 4:14 & 15 "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ." For a more detailed doctrinal statement, Click here! |
"Sound Doctrine is NOT Optional!"Note: this is only a brief discussion on fundamentalism.
