PILGRIMS BIBLE BAPTIST MISSION

DOCTRINAL STATEMENT

As members of the Pilgrims Bible Baptist Mission, we subscribe to the following tenets of faith in its entirety:

Of the Scriptures

• The Holy Bible was written by men supernaturally inspired.
• The Holy Bible has truth without any admixture of error for its matter.
• The Holy Bible shall remain to the end of age, the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man.
• The Holy Bible is the true center of Christian union.
• The Holy Bible is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions should be tried.
• By the "Holy Bible" we mean the collection of sixty-six books, from Genesis to Revelation, which, as originally written does not only contain and convey the Word of God, but is the very Word of God.
• By inspiration we mean the books of the Bible were written by holy men of old, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, in such a definite way their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be inspired.

Of The True God

• We believe there is one, and only one, living and true God.
• An infinite, intelligent Spirit, the Maker and supreme Ruler of heaven and earth.
• He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love.
• In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost -- equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

Of The Devil, or Satan

• We believe that Satan was once holy, and enjoyed heavenly honors.
• Through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, he fell and drew after him a host of angels.
• He is now the malignant prince of the power of the air and the unholy god of this world.
• He is man's great tempter and the enemy of God and His Christ.
• He is the accuser of the saints and the author of all false religions.
• He is the chief power behind the present apostasy.
• He is the lord of the antichrist and the author of all the powers of darkness.
• He is destined to final defeat at the hands of God's own Son and to the judgment of an eternal justice in hell -- a place prepared for him and his angels.

Of The Creation

• We believe in the Genesis account of creation -- to be accepted literally, not allegorically or figuratively.
• Man was created directly in God's own image and after His likeness.
• Man's creation was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary change of species or development through interminable periods of time from lower to higher forms.
• All animals and vegetable life was made directly and God's established law was that they should bring forth only "after their kind".
• Since God created mankind into genders distinctly male and female:
  • The only legitimate marriage is that between a man and a woman.
  • No intimate sexual activity should be engaged outside of marriage.
  • Any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sexuality.
  • God rejects any attempt to alter one's gender by surgery or appearance.

Of The Fall of Man

• We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker.
• By voluntary transgression, man fell from his sinless and happy state.
• In consequence, all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but by choice.
• Man is therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse.

Of The Virgin Birth of Christ

• We believe Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous manner.
• He was born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of a woman.
• He is both the Son of God and God the Son.

Of The Atonement for Sin

• We believe the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God.
• By appointment of the Father, He freely took upon Him our nature, yet without sin, and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins.
• Having risen from the dead, He is now enthroned in heaven.
• He is the all-sufficient Savior.

Of Grace In The New Creation

• We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again.
• The new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus.
• It is instantaneous and not a process.
• In the new birth, the one dead in tresspasses and in sin is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life.

Of The Freeness of Salvation

• We believe in God's electing grace.
• It is the immediate duty of all to accept that grace by cordial, penitent and obedient faith.
• Nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the gospel.

Of Justification

• We believe that one blessing which Christ secures to those who believe in Him is justification.
• It includes the pardon of sin and the gift of eternal life on principles of righteousness.
• Not bestowed in consideration of any works of righteousness but solely through faith in the Redeemer's blood.
• His righteousness is imputed unto those who will receive Jesus Christ.

Of Repentance and Faith

• We believe that Repentance and Faith are solemn obligations.
• We turn to God by being deeply convicted of our guilt, danger and helplessness.
• We turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession and supplication for mercy.
• At the same time, heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ and openly confessing Him as our only and all-sufficient Savior.

Of The Church

• We believe that a Baptist church is a congregation of baptized believers -- local and visible -- associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel.
• The church is the propagator of the divine and eternal grace.
• The church observes the ordinances of Christ.
• The church exercises the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by God's Word.
• Its officers of ordination are pastors and elders whose qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures.
• Men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions of men and women in the home and in the church.
• The husband is the leader of the home and men are to hold leadership positions in the church.
• Only men are eligible of licensure and ordination for pastor by the church.
• The true mission of the church is found in the Great Commission. We do not believe in the reversal of this order.
• The local church has absolute right of self-government, free from interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations.

Of Baptism and the Lord's Supper

• Christian Baptism -- the immersion in water of a believer, in the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Ghost, with the authority of the local church, to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried and risen Savior.
• The Lord's Supper -- by the sacred use of bread and the fruit of the vine are to commemorate together the love of Christ, preceded always by solemn self-explanation.

Of The Perseverance of the Saints

• The believers will endure unto the end, being kept by the power of God through faith unto eternal salvation.

Of The Righteous and the Wicked

• We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked:
  • Those who through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly righteous in His esteem.
  • Those who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse.
• This distinction holds among men both in and after death -- in the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.

Of Civil Government

• We believe that Civil Government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society.
• Magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed -- except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of The Resurrection and Return of Christ and Related Events

• We believe that Christ rose bodily "the third day according to the Scriptures"
• That He ascended to the right hand of the throne of God
• That He alone is our merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God
• That He shall come bodily, personally and visibly
• That in that moment, the dead in Christ shall rise first and the living saints shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump
• That the Lord God shall give unto Christ the throne of his father David
• And that Christ shall reign a thousand years in righteousness until He had put all His enemies under His feet.

Of Mission

• We believe that the command to give the gospel to the world is clear and unmistakably given to the churches.

Of The Grace of Giving

• We believe that Scriptural giving is one of the fundamentals of faith.
• We are commanded to bring our gifts into the storehouse (common treasury of the church) upon the first day of the week.

Copyright 2008 Pilgrims Bible Baptist Church & Ministries. Powered by ATG.