1. The Trinity. There is only one eternal God: consisting of three distinct persons but connected within one spiritual substance, equal in glory: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; we heartily affirm the mystery of the Trinity; and totally reject all forms of Sabellianism, including oneness Pentecostalism (Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; John 1:1, 14; 1 John 5:7).
2. Creation. God created all things in six literal days; and on the seventh day, He rested.
1. The Scientific Community is Ruled by Agnosticism. We reject the concept of theistic evolution: which claims that each of the creation days stand for millions of years. While most scientists today will claim that there is evidence for deep time and evolution, we believe that such claims are only made to secure their own scientific careers, to lend their support to a view that is now old and popular, but not because it is honestly truthful, encouraging scientific activity with an agnostic bias toward scientism, and influenced by the theories of an unbeliever: Charles Darwin. His ideas were borrowed from his grandfather, who in turn borrowed his views from Lucretius, an ancient atheist and Epicurean philosopher from Rome.
2. The Early Christians Believed in a Historical Adam. Lucretius essentially denied the existence of Adam and all creation stories. About 135 years after his death we can find that Luke 3:38 said, “Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God.” Early Christians living in the Roman Empire would have been aware of views like Lucretius had. Yet here is proof that they had faith in Adam as a historical person. Creation-denying views such as those held by Lucretius and Darwin, are contrary to Genesis 1-3, and undermine the most basic teachings of Judeo-Christian faith.
3. The Notion of Deep Time is Without Any Historical Support. We believe that natural history museums like the Smithsonian, and science magazines like National Geographic, are completely agnostic, anti-Biblical in bias, and that the notions they have about homo sapiens living more than 500,000 years ago, are simply imaginative exaggerations. They say that human beings evolved, from some line of apes in Africa, which might even have racist undertones that were used to justify slavery and white supremacy. The only “proof” they have for this are fossilized bones that they’ve patched together with some Stone Age tools. They have no intelligible archaeological artifacts that suggest time periods, no legible writing, no real solid proof of any life histories with times and dates, like you would normally expect when doing academic history. We believe the Genesis timeline, Josephus, the legends of the Jews, Philo, Herodotus, and several ancient historians have shown that the world is about six thousand years old, not billions. Archaeology suggests that legible cuneiform writing only goes about this far back to Mesopotamia, the “cradle of civilization,” and the area where the Garden of Eden is believed to have originally existed.
So we affirm this as the consensus view about creation that was held by Biblical theologians in church history, from Martin Luther to Puritans like James Ussher; and continued by 19th century Scriptural geologists and modern creationists. We totally agree with young earth creationism (Genesis 1-11; Exodus 20:11; 1 Timothy 6:20).
3. Christ. There is only one mediator between God and man: the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the virgin Mary, fully God and fully man, who atoned for the sins of the world on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven; and because Christ is the only mediator, we totally reject the doctrine that Mary is a mediatrix (Colossians 2:9; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:2; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
4. Scripture. The sixty-six books of the Bible are inspired by the Holy Spirit and contain all things necessary for salvation; they contain the perfect law of the Lord that converts the soul, makes men wise, and trains them in righteousness. The Bible is the supreme authority for the Christian; and it should guide all opinions and decisions about life in general. Though there may be difficult passages, and apparently serious contradictions in the Bible, we affirm there is a solution for every textual problem. We believe that the process of canonization by theologians and church leaders, which led to the creation of our English Bibles, was guided by the hand of God. We believe that Scripture not only sanctifies those who obey it in faith, but that it’s entirely trustworthy. We do not, however, believe that Scripture is sufficient in the sense that cessationists understand the term, because noncanonical prophecy is encouraged in the New Testament. We would totally consider higher Biblical criticism as nothing but unbelief in the Bible as the Word of God. True believers are prone to defend the Bible; and will not try to tear it down (Psalm 19:7; 2 Timothy 3:15-16; John 17:17; 1 Corinthians 14).
5. Creeds and Cults. We identify with the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles, certain parts of the Westminster Confession, the Assemblies of God’s Statement of Fundamental Truths, the Free Will Baptists’ Treatise of Faith and Practices, the Global Methodist Church, and all places where the basic fundamentals of the faith are taught. Flowing from these theological traditions, the expressions we would have the most agreement with would be the Wesleyan, Pentecostal, charismatic, and fundamentalist churches. Revivals or movements we would identify with from the past would be the Great Awakenings, the Azusa Street Revival, and the Jesus Movement. Since the Reformation, many cults have cropped up within Christianity. Cults could be defined as organizations that teach a variety of heretical doctrines which contradict an evangelical interpretation of Scripture. Biblical orthodoxy, is by us, generally understood to exist within evangelical Arminianism and Calvinism; and has branched out of conservative Methodism and Presbyterianism. Outside of these streams, however, we have what apologists have defined as cults and world religions, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, Mormonism, occultism or the New Age, Bahai, Unity, sabbatarians, the Unification Church, Scientology, Far Eastern religions, Islam, Rosicrucians, Swedenborgians, Unitarian Universalists, etc. Not only do such identified cults teach what is contrary to the Gospel, but they adamantly argue against it. They are to be avoided and not allowed into our fellowship. There is also another more subtle form of cultism, however, no less dangerous, which also exists within many evangelical churches. This is addressed in the “Ministry” article below and may be called spiritual abuse (1 Corinthians 1:10; John 17:23; Romans 12:16).
6. Liberal Christianity. Originating with the Biblical criticism of the English Deists and certain German theologians in the 19th century, liberal theology is a philosophical system of unbelief in Christian supernaturalism. It rejects the inspiration of Scripture, the virgin birth, atonement, resurrection, miracles, and even the historicity of Christ. It has its main stronghold in what are called the “mainline Protestant” seminaries and churches; and since Vatican II has had a very strong presence in the Catholic Church. Skepticism, unbelief, agnosticism, and even atheism are the spiritual substance of liberal Christianity or “modernism”; although, it often hides behind the mask of a cultural Christian ceremonialism, which comes down to “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” It is anti-paranormal and can usually be identified by a belief in scientific Darwinism and the support of gay marriage. Biblical Christians are warned to “have nothing to do with such people.” They are unbelievers, false Christians, and heretics; and can only draw people away from true faith in the Gospel. While there may be true believers who naively attend such churches, because they do not understand the ideologies supporting these organizations, we believe that sooner or later, God will guide people away from them. Such organizations are not really fit to be called churches in the Biblical sense. We would side with people like J. Gresham Machen, who make a sharp distinction between real Christianity and liberalism. Advocates of liberal theology are to be considered apostate; and should be avoided and rebuked. We totally deny that liberal or progressive Christians are real Christians, because they reject the basic fundamentals of the faith (1 Timothy 4:1-2; 6:20-21, KJV; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 Peter 3:3-5, 15-16; Hosea 4:6; Proverbs 1:7).
7. Roman Catholicism. When it comes to conservative Catholics, who believe in the fundamentals of the Christian faith, we would generally consider them to be part of the body of Christ. They who believe in the authority of Scripture, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, lordship salvation, commandment-keeping, helping the poor, and opposing abortion and homosexuality, are not in this sense “liberal” Catholics. They believe in personal holiness, the paranormal, miracles, the Holy Spirit, and divine intervention. Since we place ourselves in the Wesleyan tradition, we can only come so far as Anglo-Catholicism: a theology that is rooted in the via media of the Church of England, but which occasionally borrows useful theological illustrations, synergistic Arminian teaching, and examples from Catholic theologians and saints. However, we cannot accept any of the Marian dogmas, theistic evolution, monasticism, or anything that would suggest works-based justification, or the idea of earning salvation from Purgatory by doing a series of confessions and good works. No, our view of salvation stays firmly rooted in Romans 3-8, but we still consider many Catholics to be members of the body of Christ: because of their faith in the cross and personal holiness.
8. Original Sin. All men, as the offspring of Adam, are naturally sinful in their flesh; and fallen from the state of holiness; and so, we totally reject any vain talk of Pelagianism which some holiness people profess, by redefining the nature of sin, and uncritically following after all of Charles Finney’s views (Genesis 3; Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12, 14; 7:23).
9. Prevenient Grace. The Holy Spirit draws all men, regardless of their backgrounds, to come to faith in Christ (John 1:9; 12:32; Romans 2:14-15; Titus 2:11).
10. The Moral Law. The ceremonial law of Moses has been abolished by the Gospel; so now true Christians of all nations, Gentiles included, can obey the moral law by faith in Jesus, which comes from a heart filled with Christian love. This is what it means to live by the Bible. But we totally reject the “Hebrew Roots” movement which is a modern version of the Judaizer heresy (Ezekiel 36:27; Jeremiah 31:31-33; Colossians 2:16-17; Romans 3:31; 13:9-10).
11. Repentance. Turning away from sin, or repentance, is necessary when first coming to Christ by faith; and it must continue in the Christian life to keep a clean conscience toward God (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 20:21; 24:16; 26:20; 2 Corinthians 7:9-11).
12. Salvation. By repenting and trusting in the cross, anyone may be saved from a conscious, eternal punishment in the fire of Hell, having their sins justly punished and forgiven by faith. The wrath of God at our sins is done away with by our faith in the blood of Jesus. Those who persevere in faith and holiness to the end of their lives will live eternally blessed in Heaven; but those who do not, will go to Hell after death. God will finally separate the righteous from the wicked on the Day of Judgment. We heartily affirm a Wesleyan Arminian view of lordship salvation and conditional security; and totally reject every version of antinomianism and universalism.
1. What Is Antinomianism? It is a denial of the need for genuine repentance from sin and obedience to moral commands in the Bible. In antinomianism, all that is necessary is faith in the deity of Christ, or the atonement, or the witness of the Spirit, or some other tenet of theological truth, for there are many forms of it. It is a misunderstanding of salvation that has appeared in various Protestant churches since the Reformation. It often takes the expression justification by faith alone to be equivalent with the word salvation. However, the Reformers, the Puritans, the early Methodists, and Pentecostals have all held the view that salvation is the final result of what begins with justification by faith alone and ends with a Christian life characterized by progressive sanctification. Death brings glorification or the final result of salvation in a Christian’s life. This life consists of a war against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
2. What Is Universalism? It is the belief that salvation from Hell is possible without faith in Jesus. It wrongly assumes that God is too loving to have any wrath at sinners, too forgiving to eternally punish human beings he made in his image, and that the good things found in the lives of non-Christians are signs of the saving activity of the Holy Spirit. Universalism comes in many different forms, but is the most popular in liberal Christianity. We would deny that salvation can be found in any non-Christian religion, cult, deistic, or secular lifestyle. It is only through a truly Biblical understanding, faith, and commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that a person can ever hope for salvation from Hell.
3. What Are Lordship Salvation and Conditional Security? Lordship is the Biblical view that salvation is impossible without repentance, or turning away from sin, actively resisting temptations, and studying the Bible to learn and obey the moral commandments of God. This was the view of salvation held by Jesus and the apostles, the church fathers, the Catholic saints, most of the reformers and the Puritans, and the early Methodists. Faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice is only part of the plan of salvation. Obedience to the moral law of the Bible, although it is stained by human imperfection, is also helped by regeneration in the Holy Spirit, and is the practical result of faith, and required to some degree previous to death. Conditional security is the view that final salvation and glorification after death are conditioned on both continual repentance and faith in the blood of Christ. If both faith in the blood of Christ, and obedience to the Bible, drop out of people’s lives and they die in that condition, then there is no promise in Scripture that such a person has remained in the state of sanctification; on the contrary, they die the same death as an atheist (Isaiah 53:4-8; Romans 4:7; 5:1; Luke 19:8-10; John 3:18, 36; 14:6, 21; Matthew 24:13; 25:46; Hebrews 12:14; WCF ch. 13).
13. Sanctification. Holiness, or sanctification, is a growing process of faith and moral improvement in the Christian life. It is energized by the Holy Spirit in prayer, and expressed by loving God and mankind, through obeying the moral law in Scripture and fighting against temptation. We deny that it is possible for original sin to be annihilated in this life prior to death, because a sinful nature exists in the human body: so we totally reject the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification (John 17:17; Romans 7-8; Hebrews 6:1; Philippians 3:12, 20-21).
14. Good Works. Prior to saving faith, all so-called good works are filthy rags in God’s sight; but in the Christian life, the commands of Christ and the apostles are duties to be performed, as signs of our love for God and mankind, and they will be rewarded (Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 5:16; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 6:22; James 2:22; Galatians 5:6; 1 John 2:3, 5; Luke 17:10; Hebrews 6:10; Matthew 25:23, 41-43).
15. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Distinguished from inward regeneration by faith in the Gospel, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an additional clothing or filling, often received in focused Pentecostal worship, when the presence of God is felt, and speaking in tongues comes to express what would otherwise be ineffable or inexpressible praise to God. While there is historical evidence of people like John Wesley experiencing some miraculous gifts, without tongues, the New Testament is clear that speaking in tongues is an unmistakable outward sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Especially the kind of tongues that seem to flow out easily “as the Spirit gives utterance,” with little to no effort, on the part of the person worshiping or praying. But neither Spirit baptism nor speaking in tongues are essential for salvation. Other physical manifestations, besides speaking in tongues, can come from the presence of the Holy Spirit, such as trembling, weeping, Spirit-led dancing, shouting, and even apparent drunkenness and falling down, caused by ecstatic prayer. But we totally reject the so-called “laughing revival” with its hysterical laughter and animal behavior, as that has too many parallels in the occult; and no support in Scripture (Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4; 10:45-46; 11:15-16; 19:6; 1 Peter 1:8; Ps. 119:120; Jer. 5:22; Isa. 66:2; Ezra 9:4; Neh. 8:9; 1 Sam. 1:12-17; 2 Sam. 6:14-22; Acts 2:15; 22:17-18).
16. Prophecy. The Holy Spirit speaks to Christians by means of visions, dreams, voices, interpretations of tongues, and signs, to convey messages of encouragement, warning, and comfort in agreement with Scripture. Such revelations may be shared or prophesied in a church service, but must be spoken with a kind, respectful attitude and remain subject to the godly judgment of church leaders. To increase our certainty about such words, we should expect signs from God or coincidences that provide several instances of confirmation; and we should observe the real life context in which such words are being received, and to consider if the word points us towards holiness or away from it. If a word seems to come from God, and is accompanied by signs, but the practical interpretation and outcome of following it leads to compromise and worldliness, then it is likely from the devil (Numbers 12:6; 1 Kings 19:12; Acts 2:17; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Mark 16:20; Deut. 19:15; Gal. 5:22-23; 2 Cor. 11:14).
17. Healing and Deliverance. It was the practice of the early Christians to pray for healing, by the laying on of hands, with words of knowledge producing miraculous faith. The Bible nowhere states that praying for sickness is meant to stop, before the return of Christ; on the contrary, there are many testimonies of miraculous healings in the lives of saints. We believe that Christians today should regularly pray for the sick, but this does not rule out the need for doctors and medicine. This includes casting out demons in Jesus’ name. We totally reject manifest sons of God and positive confession views, which are sometimes associated with healing ministry; and we reject the view that God always answers the prayer of faith with a “yes” for physical healing. There are limits to healing ministry: in this age of skepticism, very few have broken the religious mold and regularly held healing services. One of the most prominent of these recently was John Wimber, who was unable to heal himself of a heart condition and cancer. However, a questionnaire-based study by a social anthropologist claimed that at one conference in Harrogate, England in 1986, out of the 862 people that Wimber performed healing prayer for, about 32% of them experienced dramatic physical healings (James 5:14-16; Matthew 8:16-17; Mark 16:17-18; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20; Rich Nathan, “A Response to Charismatic Chaos,” pp. 23-24).
18. Predestination and Election. In Scripture, predestination is always expressed generally to the body of Christ, and never to a particular individual: it was always God’s plan, before the foundation of the world, to make the Gospel a part of human experience. It is not sound to draw assurance of salvation from this doctrine. Scripture exhorts us to make our calling and election sure, because only God knows the elect. Election means that God foresees those particular saints who will persevere to the end of their lives with repentant faith in Christ; and it is these saints whom God will choose out of mankind for eternal salvation. However, election may also be an experience. It might be possible to identify the elect as those who feel the presence of God and have true faith: compared with everyone else, whose minds are filled with skepticism, rationalism, and always rely on natural explanations for the paranormal (Romans 8:29-30; 2 Peter 1:10; 3:9; Hebrews 12:14; Matthew 24:13).
19. Believer’s Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Lord Jesus instituted the sacraments of believer’s baptism by water immersion and the Lord’s Supper. These actions confirm our faith in Christ. We totally reject the unbiblical practice of infant baptism, which gives off an antinomian and merely ceremonial understanding of baptism, which supposedly makes salvation automatically possible without true repentance and true faith in the cross. It has become an unsupernatural ritual used by mainline liberal parents to show their desire to bring their children to church. It falsely assumes that all people who have been infant baptized will be saved from Hell no matter what. A similar view of communion exists in the Catholic Church. The Bible will only allow us to maintain a fully supernatural view of both baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both are prophetic symbols of our faith in the Gospel. If they are changed into any other meaning, then they have lost their meaning (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; John 13:4-17).
20. The Church. The people of God, also called the church militant, the true church, and the body of Christ, consists of every repentant believer in Jesus, regardless of church membership. Only those who persevere to the end of their lives will enter Heaven and receive their full adoption as sons and daughters of God. For the present, every visible congregation should occupy its time doing the good works commanded by Jesus, who is the head of the church. However, very many churches are currently in a state of spiritual declension, opposed to revival principles, anti-theological, and filled with spiritual abuse. We would recommend exercising caution with all churches. While it would be wrong to side absolutely with all organized churches, or entirely with the house church movement, we would also say that there are strengths and weaknesses in both of these expressions of Christianity; and that the ultimate purpose of the church is to encourage our faith and facilitate Christian community. We feel that churches should only meet on Sunday. Any events and activities beyond this, are just tiresome to people’s calendars, and smacks of salvation through good works (2 Timothy 2:3-13; Ephesians 1:22; 3:15; 4:12-13; Acts 20:7).
21. The Ministry. Scripture indicates that pastors, deacons, teachers, and evangelists should be good family men; and that women of God can be deaconesses and teachers of women and children. A Spirit-led church board, also known as presbyterian church polity, is what we can see as the form of ecclesiastical government in the book of Acts: although there is no sign that these men were venture capitalists or investors in church buildings.
1. Prophets and prophetesses, according to 1 Corinthians 12-14, are at liberty to share dreams, visions, and voices presumed to be from the Holy Spirit; and should humbly submit these experiences to the church board for judgment.
2. Spiritual abuse should be kept out of ministry: namely, manipulation, rudeness, macho power trips, unquestioning obedience, gossip, discouraging theological conversations, the neglect and abuse of the doctrine of Hell, false and insensitive counseling out of touch with the general guidelines of psychiatric care, selling products in church, and dishonoring spiritual people. Sexual and physical abuses are crimes that should be reported to the police: such things should not be reported to church leaders who might be prone to cover-ups in order to maintain their reputations. Abusive pastors tend to discard the spiritually hungry and thirsty, the true God chasers who are passionate to feel God’s presence and experience deliverance from sin. They will encourage others to ignore and gossip about such people. Maintaining a respectable image and reputation is much more important. They embrace the culture of the squares. They uphold the superficial, beautiful, handsome, rich, popular, and marketably seeker-sensitive. As such, they tend to make true men and women of God nauseous. Most of the time they won’t preach about Hell. If they preach faith, then its without good works. They tend to label people idealistic or legalistic if they think about real Christianity and theology too much.
3. Female pastors technically shouldn’t exist: nor should they preach sermons to grown men; but several of these women in Wesleyan churches are really prophetesses and are speaking, as Wesley said, through “an extraordinary impulse of the Spirit.” However, it can be problematic for women to have spiritual authority over men, just as it would be problematic for a wife to have authority over her husband; and so, female pastoral ministry is not recommended.
4. Godly men of retirement age seem to be the Biblical ideal for a pastor, unencumbered by the cares of the business world, so they can focus more on theology and personal holiness–it may be for this reason that such ministers were called “elders” in the pastoral epistles; and that a young pastor like Timothy was considered an exception to the rule.
5. We totally reject the shepherding movement’s doctrines of coverings and covenant relationships. All Christians should have the freedom of conscience to choose which church they want to attend, without any pressure from controlling pastors. They are under no Biblical obligation to “serve” a pastor they don’t agree with, or to be “loyal” and “committed” to a church they don’t fully respect, to the point of doing menial yard work and cleaning bathrooms for years in an undefined, and manipulated pathway of subservience to qualify for ministry, or to even be able to preach a sermon or share your testimony. Through the Gospel a covenant relationship is developed between God and the individual; and through marriage it is made between the husband and the wife, but there is nothing in all the Bible that implies such a relationship is ever meant to be contracted with a pastor or other Christians. And certainly nothing that implies a pastor should “lord it over the flock” in such a lordly and cultlike manner. The fact that things like this go on in churches today is no defense for the doctrine, but a symptom of a generation that grew up with abusive and authoritarian models of parenting, and then transferred those views into pastoral ministry (Joshua 24:15; 1 Peter 5:3; 1 Timothy 2:12; 3:1-13; 4:12-14; 5:17-21; Ephesians 4:11; 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14-15; Titus 1:5-9; 2:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:5, 15; 14:34, Wesley’s Notes; Romans 13:1-5; 14:1; 16:1, RSV; Acts 13:1-3; 15:1-30; 16:4; 17:11).
22. The State. Christians are to pay their taxes, as Christ said to render unto Caesar what is his; and they are to respect and pray for the governing authorities, because they are established by God. Extreme views about the government should be avoided: on the one hand, we totally reject political enthusiasm; on the other hand, we would advise avoiding unhealthy obsessions, such as wild conspiracy theories about the “deep state” (Romans 13:1-7; Matthew 22:21; Daniel 3; Mark 6:14-29).
23. Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage. Scripture says it is not good for man to be alone; and that God created woman to be a friend and helper for man. Marriage is monogamous and is to be held in high honor; the husband, just as Christ is head of the church, is the head of his wife, and should love, sanctify, nourish, and cherish her. The wife should love, respect, and submit to her Christian husband. What God has joined together let no man separate. Divorce is only permissible on the grounds of adultery, desertion, and cruelty: this last one assumes verbal abuse, physical abuse, or a persistently unsubmissive wife. However, the “cruelty” argument is harder to support from a New Testament point of view. Remarriage is only permissible after the death of a spouse. We totally reject all forms of easy divorce, cohabitation, sexual deviation, alternative sexuality, and polygamy, both past and present. Although Moses and Solomon allowed for men to divorce quarrelsome or difficult wives, Jesus did not allow for this. He corrected them by pointing back to the “one flesh” of Adam and Eve. Jesus held the view that only if the wife commits the physical act of adultery, is there grounds for the man to divorce her; and if he divorces such a woman, then eternal damnation in Hell will happen to either of them if they remarry other people! Jesus only allowed for celibate divorce. Because of the Edenic “one flesh” principle, such a remarriage would count as living in a constant state of adultery. When Jesus looked at people who had an easy attitude about remarriage, he would have put them into the category of the “lustful,” as those who were in Dante’s Inferno. A man with a quarrelsome wife should take her to see a marriage counselor (an LMFT), indefinitely, without a numerical limit on how many sessions they will do; and this will eventually break down her will and make her submissive (Genesis 2:18; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 7:39; Ephesians 5:22-33; 6:4; Titus 2:4-5; Genesis 1:28; Matthew 5:27-32; 12:42; 19:1-12; Luke 16:18; 1 Corinthians 7:11, 15, 39; 13:7; 1 Timothy 3:3, KJV; Proverbs 21:19; Deuteronomy 24:1-4).
24. The Christian Family. The head of the family is the husband, who is charged by God with the responsibility of leading his wife and children, according to Biblical principles. The general rule should be for the father to balance out the principles of nurture and loving instructive admonition in both marriage and childrearing. Family meetings, catechism, and the judging of particular cases and disputes, all fall onto the head of the father who is to be viewed as a sort of king, with the mother being a sort of queen, that assists and remains subject to her king. This king being only a lesser one; and personally subject to Jesus, the King of Kings, by faith in the Gospel.
25. Pornography. Whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed either fornication or adultery in his heart. These sins are damnable if not resisted; and so, pornography is clearly sinful, because it stirs up lust, arouses jealousy, distrust, and anger in marriages, perverts the minds of men and addicts them to profane imaginations. In the Bible, it is linked with prostitution and idolatry. Although this can become a dreadful addiction for Christian men, and God shows grace to those who are engaged in fighting against this temptation, it is not recommended that public confessions be made about such things, which are unneeded and bring shame on the Christian name. Some internet technologies are available to combat and steer clear of this spiritual plague: some weaker and some stronger than others. We believe it is the responsibility of Christian fathers to experiment with these content filtering technologies such as the TP-Link Deco router and the CyberPurify Egg, which can prevent explicit adult content from appearing on computers and other devices. Reaching out to various IT consulting services if needed, is also helpful, in order to find the strongest tech solutions for guarding the minds of their family members. Constant vigilance is needed. These high-tech devices are always changing; and so it would make sense to consult with those who specialize in this area, when one device might need to replace another. We affirm that Biblical sexuality is meant to be monogamous and private; and we deny that Christians should publicly speak about sexuality in an explicit and pornographic manner, as has been the habit of some preachers who lack decency (Matthew 5:28-29; Ephesians 5:12; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 2 Corinthians 10:5, KJV).
26. Homosexuality. Both the Old and New Testaments clearly teach that the gay lifestyle is sinful and detestable, but transformation is possible through repentant faith in Jesus. Romans 1:26-27 shows that homosexual lust is a choice: it comes from men and women willingly “exchanging” and “abandoning” their heterosexual romantic desires for homosexual ones. So, in this sense, both homosexuality and heterosexuality are a choice. The church should be kind and helpful to those trying to forsake the gay lifestyle, but those who refuse to turn away from it will not inherit the kingdom of God. We totally reject the claims of modern psychiatrists who say that homosexual orientation and gay sex are healthy, natural things; and would instead side with those psychiatrists in the 1950s and ’60s who viewed it as a mild mental illness. Their 1952 manual, titled the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I), used to classify homosexuality under the code number 320.6 as a “sexual deviation,” and was associated with acute panic and anxiety. But due to the pressure of gay rights activists concerned about social stigma, the American Psychiatric Association reluctantly voted to soften the definition in 1974, and completely removed it in 1987, although many homosexuals continued to come to psychiatrists feeling distress about their orientation. While original sin inclines the human body to sinful desires, it does not mean that homosexual orientation is a part of God’s creation. It is likely caused by the fall of man, unhealed emotions from sexual abuse, and the ongoing decision to indulge in gay pornography. Scripture even suggests that diseases such as HIV and AIDS are divine punishment for gay sex. Since this is the case, it runs completely counter to the claims of liberal Christians who assert that God makes gays that way.
Jesus used a strong expression when he referred to the day when “Lot went out of Sodom,” and “it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” The apostle Paul continued that sentiment by clearly stating that homosexuals will “not inherit the kingdom of God.” The reformers, Puritans, and early Methodists all referred to gays as “sodomites.” We understand that gays are often subjected to bullying and mistreatment; and we would not support behavior like this. Gays are human beings that God has made in his image, but are currently confused about their sexuality and need to be guided back to heterosexuality. Hate speech has been variously interpreted to mean any rejection of the gay lifestyle, an understanding which we would deny; a proper understanding of that expression should be limited to words inspiring violence, intimidation, or repeat name-calling in the manner of an anti-LGBT hate group. Free speech should allow for this lifestyle to be rebuked as something sinful and unnatural in the eyes of God. Anyone who passively stands by and allows or even promotes that people should live that way are merely being politically correct, and respecting the civil rights of gays, but they are not in that sense expressing a Biblical view of the gay lifestyle. It might be possible that gay men could be gradually cured by a conscious ongoing decision to avoid gay pornography; and instead, focus more on appreciating women from a romantic and sexual point of view. But never allowing for an excess of that sexual lust, as it is with straight pornography (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:24-27; 7:14-25; 1 Timothy 1:8-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Jude 1:7; Galatians 6:1; 1 John 1:9; Song 4:1; 1 Cor. 7:9; Luke 17:29).
27. Abortion. In the majority of cases, abortion is a heinous sin to God and is seen as a form of murder. In the Old Testament, if someone committed an abortion, even by accident, that person was to be executed with the death penalty. While the New Testament does not refer to abortion, Scripture cannot be broken, and the sinfulness of it is still very real, even though the Gospel extends the grace of God to those who are responsible for this sin. While Scripture is silent about abortions that can prevent the death of the mother, church tradition has sided with abortions in that case alone, because the mother has responsibilities to her husband and children (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Lev. 18:21; Exodus 21:22-23; Ecclesiastes 11:5; John 10:35).
28. Profanity. Christians should try to rid themselves of all kinds of filthy language, because blasphemy, swearing, cursing, or cuss words come from a loss of self-control and sexual innuendos; they are idle words, the vocabulary of the devil and his children. They can come in the form of curses or maledictions: which the Bible would consider as evil spells. In their common use, they have a secularizing effect on the mind, and make people to turn away from God and holiness (Exodus 20:7; Colossians 3:8; Ephesians 5:4; Matthew 12:36).
29. Materialism. While we agree that it’s Biblical to be honest and hard working at our jobs, frugal when budgeting and spending money, and careful when analyzing and investing in stocks, out of a desire to provide our families with financial security, and to be generous to the poor: that we should, as Wesley said, “Gain all we can, save all we can, and give all we can,” we also acknowledge the temptation of greed and materialism in the life of business. That spirit of Mammon which whispers to us that business success and material possessions are of more value than the Word of God, theology, holiness, mystical experiences, Christian fellowship, family relationships, and evangelism. We should be careful to resist such greedy, agnostic impressions as the work of the devil; and instead, try to keep ourselves focused on serving God. American materialism comes in both “conservative” and “liberal” forms, but they are both part of the same secular, non-Christian, unbiblical, agnostic economic and political ideology, which is usually called capitalism. Wall Street and its various commentators seem to keep it alive through businessmen and investors. We totally reject the Word of Faith movement and its “prosperity gospel,” which twists the Bible with an attempt to justify conspicuous consumption and materialistic lifestyles. The business world generally runs on secular values like viewing religion indifferently, assuming that greed is a legitimate motivation for hard work, and having egocentric attitudes like self-interest, competition, deception, and cruelty–in a word, Machiavellianism. The people who encourage crass materialism, luxurious standards of living, and the love of money, are usually driven by these attitudes. People like this should be viewed as “carnal” and “worldly,” and simply be avoided, no matter who they are. Especially because they have a tendency to tempt, mock, and ridicule devout Christians who are trying to live by faith (Deuteronomy 8:10-18; Matthew 6:24; 16:26; Luke 12:15; 16:19-31; 1 Timothy 6:9-10, 17-19; Proverbs 30:8-9; 1 John 3:17; Ecclesiastes 11:1-2; Luke 19:11-27; 1 Corinthians 3:1, 3; Titus 2:12; Psalm 1:1).
30. The Antichrist, the Rapture, and the Return of Christ. Scripture is clear that the rapture, or the believers being gathered together to Christ, will not happen until there will be a massive global apostasy from true lordship Christianity, and the man of lawlessness will be publicly revealed. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God, and will set himself up in God’s temple, and proclaim himself to be God. Christ will return in virtually the same hour that believers are raptured up to him in the clouds; and then after being gathered to him with the resurrected saints, they will all descend to the earth, overthrow the kingdom of the Antichrist, and reign on earth for one thousand literal years in an era called the millennium. All of this will happen on what is called the day of the Lord. This was the orthodox teaching of the early church and we continue to affirm this view about the last days. We totally reject the popular doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture, which has its origins in apocryphal writings and was revived in the 19th century by dispensationalists (Rev. 13; Matt. 24:29-31; 1 Thess. 4-5; 2 Thess. 2; Rev. 20:1-6).
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