of FAITH
flesh, the body of His humiliation, even so in His second advent He will return personally, bodily, visibly, but in the body of His glor ification, to set up His Kingdom and to judge the world in righteous ness (Acts 1:9, 11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:31-46; Rev elation 20:4-6, 11-15). We believe that man, created in the image of God, fell into sin through the sin of the first Adam and thereby brought upon himself death both physical and spiritual; and that all human beings share this guilt and inherit this sin-nature from the first Adam. In order to secure salvation and restoration, man must be born again. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree" (I Peter 2:24). The punishment of the wicked and unbelieving, and the reward of the righteous are everlasting, and as the reward is conscious, so is the punishment (Genesis 1:26-28; Romans 3:10, 22-23; John 3:16; Acts 4:12; 13:38-39; Matthew 25:46; II Corinthians 5:1; II Thessalonians 1:10). We believe that there is a personal devil, a being of great cunning who can exert vast power only so far as God suffers him to do so, and who shall ultimately be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (I Peter 5:8; Revelation 20:10; Ephesians 6:11). We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, indwells all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 6:19), baptizes them into the body of Christ, and seals them unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13). The Holy Spirit convinces and "reproves the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment" (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18-20; John 16:8-11). We believe that the church is the body of Christ, a spiritual organ ism composed of all born-again persons in this present age. The pri mary mission of the church is to witness concerning the Head, Jesus Christ, and to preach the gospel among all nations. The church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air prior to His appearing to set up His Kingdom (Ephesians 1:3-6, 22-23; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Matthew 28:19-20; I Thessalonians 4:16-18).
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