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Doctrine

God:

We believe in the ever-living God, who is a spirit and the Father of our Spirits; infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being and perfections; the Lord Almighty, most just in all His ways, most glorious in all his holiness, unsearchable in wisdom and plenteois in mercy, full of love and compassion, and abundant in goodness and truth. We worship Him, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one Godhead, one in substance and equal in power and glory. Job 11;7-9  John 4:20-24 Isa 40:18-31 Ex 20:1-3 Rom 11:33-36 Matt 7:7-11 Isa 6:1-8 Acts 17:27,28.

The Creation:

We believe that God is the Creator, upholder, and governor of all things; that He is above all His works and in them all; and that He made man in His own image, meet for fellowship with Him, free and able to choose between good and evil, and forever responsible to his Maker and Lord. Gen 1:1 to 2:3 John 1:1-14 Psalm 8 Gen 2:4-25 Col 1:9-20 Psalm 19 Isa 40:25-31.

Jesus Christ:

We believe in and confess the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man, who, being the Eternal Son of God, for us men and for our salvation became truly man, being concieved by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary, whithout sin; unto us He has revealed the Father, by His Word and Spirit making known the perfect will of God; for he fulfilled all righteousness and satisfied eternal justice, offering Himself a perfect sacrifice upon the cross to take away the sin of the world; for us he rose from the dead and ascened into heaven, where He ever intercedes for us; in our hearts, joined to Him by faith, He abides forever as the indwelling Christ; over us, and over all for us, He rules: wherefore, unto Him we render love, obedience, and adoration as our Prophet, Priest, and King forever. Isa 9:1-7 Luke 1:26-35 Matt 4:1-11 Isa ch 53 Luke 2:1-20 Matt 16:13-28 Matt ch 28 Phil 2:1-11.

The Holy Spirit:

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who moves everywhere upon the hearts of men, to restrain them from evil and to incite them unto good, and whom the Father is ever willing to give unto all who ask Him. We believe that He has spoken by holy men of God in making known His truth to men for their salvation; that, through our exalted Saviour, He was sent forth, in power to convict the world of sin, to enlighten men`s minds in the knowledge of Christ, and to persuade and enable them to obey the call of the Gospel; and that He abides with the Church, dwelling in every believer as the spirit of truth, of holiness, and of comfort. Acts ch 2 John 14:25-31 John 16:1-14 Acts 19:1-8 John 15:17-27 2nd Peter 1:17-21 Gal 5:16-26.

Predestination and election are both Biblical teachings. The English "predestination" is translated from the Greek word proorizo which means 1) to predetermine, decide beforehand; 2) in the NT, of God decreeing from eternity; 3) to foreordain, appoint beforehand.1 Predestination, then, is the Biblical teaching that God predestines certain events and people to accomplish what He so desires. The word, proorizo, occurs six times in the New Testament--each time demonstrating that God is the one who is foreordaining and bringing about certain events:

1.      Acts 4:28, "to do whatever Your hand and purpose predestined to occur."

2.      Rom. 8:29, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren."

3.      Rom. 8:30, "and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

4.      1 Cor. 2:7, "but we speak God`s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory."

5.      Eph. 1:5, "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will."

6.      Eph. 1:11, "also we have obtained an inheritance, having beenpredestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will."

You must also note that God predestines people as Rom. 8:30 andEph. 1:5, 11 demonstrate. There is, however, controversy as to the nature of this predestination. In the Reformed (Calvinist) camp, predestination includes individuals. In other words, the Reformed doctrine of predestination is that God predestines whom He wants to be saved and that without this predestination, none would be saved. The non-Reformed camp states that God predestines people to salvation but that these people freely choose to follow God on their own. In other words, in the non-Reformed perspective God is reacting to the will of individuals and predestining them only because they choose God where by contrast the Reformed position states that people choose God only because He has first predestined them.

Election

The word, "election" or "elect," comes from the Greek word eklectos and occurs about 25 times in the New Testament. It signifies "to pick out, choose, to pick or choose out for one`s self, a choosing one out of many."1The one who does the choosing, the electing, is God.

1.      John 13:18, "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I havechosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ˜He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me."

2.      Eph. 1:4,"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him."

3.      1 Tim. 5:21, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality."

Again, there is debate within Christianity as to the means and purpose of God`s election. Some say that God elects individuals, and others say that He only elects nations and/or groups of people. If God elects individuals, this means that God is predestining them, electing them into salvation, and He is not electing others. This does not sit well with many Christians. On the other hand, some Christians state that God elects based upon a foreknowledge of what an individual will do.

Whichever side you believe, remember that predestination and election are Biblical concepts. You must also remember that how you believe or not in predestination and/or election does not affect your salvation. Therefore, you should be gracious to other Christians who differ with you on this subject.


Anthony Phelps Sr