Doctrinal Statement of Maranatha Bible Church
- Maranatha Bible Church and its attendant ministries (including Maranatha Bible Missions) stand unapologetically for the absolute authority of the Scripture, the eternal, plenary, inspired Word of God forever preserved. Its precepts and principles are to be adhered to and followed. The Authorized Version (1611) is God’s Word in English preserved by His power (II Timothy 3:15-17; II Peter 1:19-21; Psalm 119:89). We hold to a literal and dispensational interpretation of the Bible.
- We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – who are co-equal and co-eternal.
- We believe that God is absolutely sovereign in accomplishing His eternal purposes both in heaven and on earth. He is infinite in wisdom, perfect in goodness, and exacting in judgment.
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of Mary, a virgin, and is true God and true man (John 1:1, 14).
- We believe that man was created in the image of God, but that he sinned and thereby incurred both physical death and spiritual death, which is separation from God. Lucifer, an archangel of God, although created perfect, did himself create sin (Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel 28:15). In a diabolical process (Genesis 3) he transmitted his sin to the first human family. In this way the human race fell and are sinners in thought, word, and deed. Man is, therefore, a sinner by nature, choice, and practice (Romans 1-3).
- We believe that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross was voluntary and vicarious (John 10: 17, 18). According to the Scriptures, Christ died for the sins of all men as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. All who believe in him are justified freely by His shed blood.
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave, ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of God, and there serves as our High Priest and Advocate with the Father (I Corinthians 15).
- We believe that repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ constitutes being born again by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Through faith in Christ’s blood, the sinner is justified, forgiven (Romans 3:24-26), and receives eternal life. This eternal life cannot, under any circumstances nor for any reason, be forfeited (John 10:28-30). The believer, as a “new creature in Christ,” has the privilege and responsibility to not be conformed to this world, but conformed to Christ. This is experienced through loving obedience and results in practical holiness of life.
- We believe that every Christian has the privilege of church attendance. It is unscriptural for a believer to be unaffiliated with a fundamental, Bible preaching and teaching church (Hebrews 10:25). Consistent church attendance is a must for growth and testimony. The church is God’s divine institution to bear testimony (worldwide) to the Lord Jesus and His glorious gospel. The goal of the church is to glorify God (Ephesians 3:21).
- We believe in the personal, pre-millennial, pre-tribulation and imminent return of the Lord, when the church will be gathered together with Him. The rapture is when Christ returns in the air and receives His Bride unto Himself. (The Bride consists of born-again ones, living and dead, from Pentecost to the rapture.) After the rapture, the Anti-Christ will be revealed, and the tribulation period will be fulfilled. At its conclusion, Jesus Christ will return bodily in a visible appearance to the earth (Second Coming). He will set things right and reign as King of kings during the millennial time and throughout eternity.
- We believe that the Bible teaches two resurrections: the bodily resurrection of the just to everlasting blessedness and the bodily resurrection of the lost to everlasting punishment.
- We believe that the Scriptural ordinances of the church are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are to be administered by the local church to believers only. Baptism is by immersion, and is a symbol of the believers’ faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord and is a testimony to their faith and death, burial, and resurrection with Him. The Lord’s Supper is to show forth His death till He come.
- We stand firmly on the above stated beliefs. Each believer has the Scriptural mandate to “contend for the faith”. Therefore, we expose all false systems of religion. We stand against the ecumenical movement headed by apostate Rome (Catholic Church), the National Council of Churches, and the World Council of Churches and its affiliates throughout the world. We reject the unscriptural message of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement, and the new-evangelical position which serves as a liaison between the Fundamentalist and the neo-orthodox.