We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28, 29, 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).

We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; Revelation 20:4-6; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment (Luke16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15).

We believe that salvation is wholly by the grace (unmerited favour) of God, through the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, on the cross. Jesus Christ, by the appointment of the Father, freely took on human flesh, and was born of a virgin: yet He was totally without sin. His death on the cross and the shedding of His precious blood provided full atonement for all sins of all men. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree—the Just dying for the unjust. He paid for every sin of every man and woman who has ever lived, or who ever shall live, leaving nothing to be paid by us. (Matthew 1:18-25; John 3:16; 10:17-18; Acts 13:39; Ephesians 2:8,9; Hebrews 9:22; 10: 5-18; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 1 John 2:2)

Justification is the act of God by which the guilty sinner is declared to be righteous and innocent before God. Justification is made possible both through the shed blood of Christ, and through the power of His bodily resurrection from the dead. It is not bestowed on account of any righteousness that we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s complete work for our salvation. The moment a person puts his complete faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed (accounted) to him as though it were his own. In position (judicially), the redeemed sinner is now considered to be just as if he had never sinned: and he possesses full pardon for sin, and eternal life. The addition of church membership, prayers, baptism, “sacraments,” or any other system of good works, “graces,” or rituals to salvation, is an offense to the redeeming blood of Christ, and constitutes “another gospel” that is under God’s curse. Those who are trusting in their own good works, merit, or religious performance in any way, either to obtain or to keep their salvation, have not been justified, and are still under God’s condemnation.  (Romans 3:19-25; 4:1-8,25; 7:7-14; 11:5-6; Galatians 1:6-9; 3:1-9)

We believe that those who have truly been saved by the grace of God are “kept by the power of God”—that they are saved forever, and can never again be lost, and come into the condemnation of hell. We do not view this as a “marginal” issue: rather, it is the very heart of salvation. If salvation can be lost, then salvation is not truly by the grace of God alone, since the keeping of our salvation would depend upon our own good works. Though believers certainly can fall into sin (in which case God will chastise them, even to the point of physical death), they cannot fall from salvation. A Christian may lose fellowship with the Father, but the Father/son relationship is never broken. The Father holds the believer in the palm of His hand, and none can pluck him out. Christ stands before the Father as the believer’s eternal Advocate, ever declaring the saved sinner to be judicially righteous, and fully pardoned. The Holy Spirit is the seal of the believer’s redemption until the Resurrection Day. For God to cast out those whom He has received would be to deny Himself and His Word. (John 6:37; 10:29; Romans 4:1-8; 8:1; 11:5,6; Ephesians 1:13,14; 2 Timothy 2:13; Hebrews 12:6-8; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 John 2:1; 5:16)