What do we mean by Sovereign Grace?
By
"Sovereign Grace" we mean that God is sovereign in the dispensing of
His grace toward sinners. Grace means unmerited favor. Sovereign means to be
independent of or free from outside influence or control. It is logical and
biblical to say that God is sovereign over all things. He cannot be forced or
coerced into doing anything. Therefore, in the salvation of sinners, God is
sovereign in the matters of foreknowledge, predestination, election,
regeneration, conversion, sanctification, preservation, etc. This
sovereignty is exercised in such a way that God's elect are not robots nor in
any way forced to come to Christ. Since there is nothing that God cannot
do, He is able to work in ways so as to cause men and women to willingly come to
Christ.
What do we mean by Premillennial?
By
the term "Premillennial" we mean that we believe and teach that the
Lord Jesus Christ shall return to earth a second time as King. He will establish
His thousand-year kingdom (called the millennium by Bible students). This
teaching is contrasted with two other views: viz. the "Amillennial"
position and the "Post Millennial" position. Amillennialism says that
there is not going to be a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth.
Post Millennialism teaches that the Lord's people will convert the world and
thus establish Christ's kingdom for Him. He shall return and rule for a
thousand years only after all the world has been converted by the churches.
What do we mean by Missionary?
By
"Missionary" we mean that we advocate the preaching of the gospel
throughout the world. We put our belief into practice by financially supporting
the missionary efforts of sound men sent out, authorized and supervised by
(local) churches to do this work. This view and practice is opposed to the
anti-mission doctrine of the so-called "Primitive Baptists" and others
who hold to a fatalistic view. This view is also in contrast to the
"mission board system" whereby missionaries are sent out and
supervised by a man-made organization. The term "Missionary"
also means that we emphasize the spreading of the gospel by all converted
persons - as European Baptist leader Von Oncken said, "Every Baptist a
Missionary."
What do we mean by Landmark?
By "Landmark" we mean that we believe that Christ established His kind of church or congregation while He was here on earth. We reject completely the theory of any kind of "universal" or "invisible" "church" or "body" made up of all the saved. We do so because there is not even one Bible verse that states that such a "church" exists and because our theology does not demand it. We believe that salvation is in Christ, not in any church. Therefore we do not need any such thing as a "universal church." We do believe that acceptable service to Christ is carried out in and by (local) churches. We further believe that true Baptist churches of Christ can only be organized by a man Scripturally sent out by a previously existing New Testament Baptist church because this is the New Testament pattern. We reject the theory that members of a Baptist church can dismiss themselves from a church and organize themselves into a true church. We also reject the idea that properly excluded members of a church can organize themselves into a true church. Our belief in church discipline and church authority causes us to believe that Scripturally excluded members (or other members acting independently of their church) have no authority to band together and act as if they were a Scripturally constituted New Testament church.
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